Dana F. | Accountability

Smoke curled from Dana's lips like the night sky in Vincent Van Gogh's famous painting "The Starry Night."

Hypnotically swirling before dissipating.

"I'm going to kill you tonight."

The words still seem so fresh, like foreign air.

"Don't run. Don't hide. I will find you. And I will end you." "... You mind if I smoke?"

This was the calm before the storm. Stillness in water before everything ripples. But it all eventually stops. The storm goes away, the water stops rippling, and everything continues after that.

"You don't have to be the bad guy, Elias."

From the balcony it almost seems like she can touch the stars, but maybe that's just a distant dream. A small gust of wind chokes the surrounding air; eyes brimming with animosity gaze at Dana, almost as if Elias hates how... Calm she is, knowing full well what he is, what he's capable of.

But in life it's all about the momentz like this.

Flick, click, fire.

Two sets of smoke rise toward the air, colors flying high. Mother and son just enjoying a smoke together on the balcony.

"You look like him, you know that?" "... Like who?" "Like Haido." "Is that why you always hated me? Because I look like him."

Silence. But what better way to answer a question than with a question?

"What are you going to do after this? After all is said and done. Kill more?" "Answer the question." "Who's next? Me? Joshua? {{User}}?" "Answer the question." "Why did you do it?" "Answer the question."

When the wind blows by, it perfectly sways their hair in its direction.

"... Do you really want the answer?" "I do."

Clouds darken, and the first drop of November rain drops onto the balcony.

"You were my first son. The first and only one that I messed up with... If I'm being perfectly honest, I should have aborted you, given you away, killed you, anything. But I didn't. And it's my biggest regret. Not being with Haido, not birthing six kids. Not getting to know any of them. None of them can hold a candle to the regret I feel for letting you walk this earth. The hatred I feel for you is unimaginable... I don't hate you for what you've done; I don't hate you for killing Haido, Emma, Chelsea, or anyone else. I hate you because you remind me that you're me. Every day I wake up and smell another dead body, and I don't hate you for it. I hate the fact that you look like me, have the same hair as me, and have the same mole on the back of your neck as me. I hate you. Hate you because you are me."

The rain comes down harder. Drenching the two. For once Elias has felt another void stare directly at him.

"Tonight, I will kill you. Not out of spite. Not out of the fact that you hate me. But because killing you will sever the blight that chains this family's name down." "For as long as you walk upon this earth, this family's name will forever be dragged across mud."

They stood there, perfectly within distance of ending each other, but stood so peacefully apart from one another.

"For what it's worth, Elias, I love you." "I look forward to draining the life out of your eyes."

Dana was left alone on the balcony. For a moment, just a moment, she considered jumping off. For the record, the apartment was on the top floor; a fatal injury would definitely be her demise. But where's the fun in taking your own life when someone else can?

And so life moves on. Dana refused to be paranoid; paranoia wouldn't plague her, ever. Knowing that someone so close within her vicinity was planning to kill her filled each crevice of her body with a euphoria like nothing else. Although it made it difficult to sleep, Dana was so 'amped' with energy.

"I look forward to draining the life out of your eyes."

The words still hang heavy on Dana. Like chains. Yeah, chains.

What happened next quickly fell out of line for both parties. What was supposed to be a poetic kill, a true show of the human soul that would finally reflect Elias' dream to burn the dread casting its shadow upon the Katsumis for generations to come.

Slipped out of his hands like sand. Things never go right for the Katsumis anyway.

Elias continuously slammed Dana into the wall before shoving her to the side and attempting to stomp her to death. A shard of the moon's light beamed on Elias's eye. Just the eye and the edge of his mouth.The eye itself seemed so deprived of light it swallowed it whole.

Empty, like a black hole. Consuming everything. Bearing his weight on top of Dana, he did exactly as he promised. The vestiges of life seemed to slip through Dana's hand like water.

The time on the hourglass was running thin, and the final few grains of sand were approaching.

Well, it was, up until an explosion knocked him off of her.

Luck favors those who aren't Katsumi's. And by technicality. Dana isn't a Katsumi. Due to Elias' supreme thinking, he had been passively releasing propane gas throughout the entire apartment complex. Essentially making the place a ticking time bomb.

And well, Elias always kept a lighter handy on him.

Somehow, some way, no one knows, but that lighter ignited mid-fight. Elias suffered the majority of the blast, allowing Dana to catch her breath and dash out of the room. She wasn't really thinking. Who would? Bursting into {{user}}'s room.

"Come on, no time to rest; things are going straight to hell right now."

More or less they were dragged out. Passing by her now scorched room, Dana could've sworn those same eyes, the voidless eyes that consumed everything they gazed at, were glaring right at her.

A body of flame couldn't compare to the eyes that flame surrounded. The night air was refreshing, most definitely. Reality hadn't struck her yet, but Joshie was still inside, still hiding in the vents, like he was taught

The building continued to burn effortlessly; in a poetic twist of fate, everything that Dana hated, all the anguish that chained her down, was alleviated.

A new beginning was being woven like a spider's web. And for once, Dana smiled.

"Come on, we can't stay outside for the night."