12:22AM June 15

The clock struck 12:22 in Geralds car, He was right on time. He had to be, he was watching his grandkids and needed to get back soon or else his wife would know he wasn’t getting distilled water for his CPAP machine. One would argue that he shouldn’t be there at all, but hey you have to indulge yourself every once in awhile. Gerald exited his car and headed towards the small pavilion in the desolate park. He had done this sort of thing many times, each encounter was smooth but that didn’t stop him from always being ready for “complications”. He reached the door to the bathroom, Geralds heart couldn’t stop beating. 
“This is it” Gerald thought to himself as he opened the heavy metal door. 
He quickly scanned the seemingly empty bathroom. Gerald then found the sign that everything was alright, a pink backpack.
“Morgan?” Gerald said to the cold room
“In here” replied a timid female voice
Gerald then saw the fuzzy image of a teenage girl’s shoes peeking out from under a stall. Especially in his old age, Gerald had a hard time seeing after going from pitch black to a bright fluorescent light. He pulled the condoms out of his pocket and slowly walked over to the stall where the girl was waiting. 
“Let’s get this done quickly. You gonna let me in sugar?”
“It’s not locked, I’m all your’s.”
Gerald opened the door to see a man wearing a pigeon mask  and pink sneakers waiting on the other side of the stall door. Gerald pulled the knife off of his belt. After all, he was always prepared for “complications”. Before it was all the way out the man kicked the stall door, effectively crippling Geralds arms. Gerald fell to the dirty floor in pain. The man was standing over him now.
“Wow! I can’t believe you bought my voice, I thought it was a bit too squeaky but I guess old-timers like you don’t have the best ears.” The maniac said
“Please...I-I’ll go home and you won’t ever see me again…” Gerald pleaded
“It’s a little too late for that.”
The last thing Gerald saw before blacking out was the pink shoe collide with his face.


Gerald woke up and only saw black. There was an immense pain in his arms.
“Sorry if the mask startled you, but we can’t have you giving a profile to the cops.”
“I won’t talk to the cops, just let me go.”
“Ooh, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“What do you want from me? And what did you do to me”
“Well, I want scum like you off the streets, you’re doing hard time. I have the transcripts, phrases like: My dick is as wide as a coke can, I’d like to lick you all over, I want to feel your insides.”
“What did you do to me?”
“Don’t you have a family? You shouldn’t be saying things like this man!”
“You fucking maniac!”
“Well, I should go. I’m just going to leave this transcript right here.”
As Gerald screamed and cussed, the man just walked away. The only thing the man could think of was how excited he was.


After last night’s events, Simon was exhausted. He just sat on the couch watching TV. With a sharp ring Simon’s phone alerted him.The text said “I’m here”, it was from Penelope. Simon lazily walked to the door of his apartment and opened the door. Her blonde hair was always the first thing he noticed.
“What took you so long?” She inquired with a bitchy tone
“I just got out of bed.”
That was a lie but Simon had come to learn that it was easier to lie than to tell her he just didn’t want to see her. How he stayed with Penelope was a mystery in the first place, and so was how their relationship soured in the first place. They met in high school. She truly was beautiful and captured Simon’s attention from day one, he couldn’t believe that he captured hers. College separated them before anything real could materialize between them. She went on to get small acting roles in local indie films, he went on to get his law degree only to stay in his small apartment. As they moved to the couch Simon could tell she was there to nag him into getting a job.
“You have your degree, why don’t you look for something? Call my uncle if you need to?”
“Don’t worry, I have enough to afford this place, food, and anything I need. I also have the house.”
“You can’t live on your inheritance forever.”
“Says who?”
“Says math! Simon, you can’t do this.”
Simon got up from the couch. He couldn’t take this much longer. She got up to get some water, as she moved towards the kitchen Simon got wide eyes. She didn’t notice as she opened the cupboard to get a glass.
“Don’t open tha-” Simon protested
She opened to cupboard, reached above her head and retrieved a glass.
“What? I can’t have any water?” Penelope replied in her classic tone
Simon regained his composure. 
“Oh nothing, I just thought you wouldn’t like how dingey the glasses are, the dishwasher has been  acting weird.”
“You’re here all day and you can’t bother to fix it?”
The short lecture on laziness that followed was a small price to pay. If Penelope had reached to the left or right of that glass she would have found the knife from last night and Geralds wallet along with other wallets from previous encounters. She got her water and the rest of the visit went normal for them, she nagged and they had flat boring sex. It was already dark outside. They were both sitting on the couch when she pulled out a small bag of cocaine.
“Want some?” she said while making a line on the coffee table
“No thanks, you’re back on that?”
She gave Simon a look that made him instantly regret using his tone. She snorted her line and fell back on the couch jittering. Simon could only sit back and watch as Penelope got up to leave. As she waved goodbye there was a drop of blood running down her nose.


If cities were living organisms,  Crestview was a corpse feeding parasites. Once a home to all, the crime problem rose and now the decent folks were almost all gone. For a while Crestview was the kidnapping capital of the United States. With that title the city spent a lot more on the police force. With their new toys the cops started to think they were exempt from their own law. After a few PR incidents their prestige melted away, then the bribes started to roll in. Once cops were paid to turn a blind eye the crime only spiked. Shopkeepers had to put bars on their windows, even that didn’t help much. Simon recalled a pretzel shop being robbed twice in one night, the second guy was surprised to see that the police were around the corner responding to the overnight security system, This guy was not rich enough to bribe the cops and ended up getting three revolver rounds to the chest. He arrived just as the cops were about to leave. Luck is funny that way. Some of the decent people too stubborn, poor or stupid to leave moved into a little neighborhood on the North side of town. Heavy security from a private company. That still was not enough to deter all the crack addicts who needed something to sell to get their fix. But with the people who had the money to bribe the cops usually moved there too. They kept their activity low in the neighborhood, only doing anything worth hiding in their slum buildings on the other side of town.The North side of town was also home to the factory, the place for honest work. It bottled up soda,water, and tea for outside companies. Simon worked in the office there during college, he didn’t want to work at his parents company, he thought it was “too easy” on him. He regretted that decision once his parents died. They had a jewelry shop on the southeast side of town, a tweaked out meth user came in with a gun. Everyone in the store was killed except one man who sustained enough trauma to put him into a coma. The guy made it out with three duffel bags of diamonds, his mistake was that most of the were not made for jewelry and had certificates of authenticity that he didn’t get. When he tried to sell them he got caught, the cops came and he put up a fight, that one of the first cases of “police brutality” that came about. The guy bit an officer and got beat so hard he became brain-dead. Simon went to the hospital he was at once, they said it would help him get closure. It didn’t. After that Simon sold the business and invested it in various commodities, used his inheritance to get a small apartment building all to himself, at first. He began renting the rooms out to people he deemed good that were too poor to afford a place in the deep north. This area was right on the border. Owning this place is what started his relationship with Penelope.

	Penelope was back from school. Only coming back for Christmas for six years really made her realize how much the city had changed. Her parents owned a lot of it, They had cashed in and bought a nice estate outside of town. She was bar hopping on account of it being the first month of being 21. Her friends were trashed by the first stop, she took a little longer. By the end of the night her friends and her were flirting with the bartenders to get free drinks. This led to attention from the wrong people, She tried to get her friends to leave. One thing led to another and they ended up being chased by unfriendly patrons of the last bar they were at. As they ran to the car only Penelope and one other made it. She drunkenly tried to drive away. Simon was walking back to his house when he saw a car swerve into a fire hydrant and stop, it took him a couple seconds to realize Penelope from high school. He helped her out just in time to see the pickup truck swerve onto the street and stop blocking all traffic. The man that came out started shouting at Simon to let her go and that it was his “tasty treat”. Normally Simon would have been too apathetic to confront this man but tonight was different. The place Simon was coming back from was the hospital where the man who robbed the business was. Tonight this guy represented every evil in the city to Simon, something snapped. He took the telescopic baton out of it's’ holster for the first time. While doing this he just dropped Penelope but she had passed out by that point. The man was shocked by the baton but still looked like he was ready for a fight. The man landed the first blow, and the second one, Simon only got one good swing in the confrontation. The end of the baton landed right on the side of his eye. He held his bloodied eye and ran off shouting obscenities. Simon got Penelope back inside, he laid her down on his couch. When he returned to get her friend out of the car he found that she was gone. There was no point in calling the cops, there was no evidence of where she went and the police force was not known to be great at solving cases like this. In the morning Penelope woke up and recalled the events of the previous night, left for home. She stopped by the apartment complex a few weeks to thank Simon, they hit it off reminiscing about high school, from there they started a relationship. When she wasn’t working on her two-bit acting career, she worked at a local nightclub. You would think that her encounter that one night would make her more cautious of that sort of scene. The nightclub rode the line between the respectable part of town and the hood. It became a portal so both sides could see how the other lived, where they co-mingled. If Simon ever stopped by there he would probably see Penelope lead a young man wearing a bandana into the bathroom, not to come out for a while. 




Simon walked into the small coffee shop, he hated the smell but he had to meet someone. He ignored the young lady at the counter who asked what she could get him. He took a seat and waited for his guy. A few minutes later a short, husky officer walked into the coffee shop. He placed an order and walked over to Simon.
“How have you been Simon?” the officer said
“Cmon Eddie, I gotta go soon” 
Eddie sat down on the other side of the table with a frown. Eddie has greasy hair and smelled like cheap cigars and shitty body spray.
“So business as usual?” Eddie said with his usual monotone voice
“Yeah, is the deal still on?”
“I don’t see why it wouldn’t”
“Alright then, here”
Simon pulled a small gift box from his pocket and slid it over to Eddie.
“How many are in here?”
“The standard 100”
“Alright, I should get the delivery to you tomorrow night, I got some that I think you will like.”
“Thanks, those are getting harder to find by the way, are you sure you don’t want anything else?”
“Nope, I only enjoy these.”
“Junkie”
“Don’t you only do these”
Simon sat silent.
“That’s what I thought” Eddie laughed
“If you say so, and next time...Don’t wear your uniform”
With that Simon walked out the door. A few minutes later, when Eddie was done with his coffee he walked out as well with the box.

The smell of the hospital had become almost nothing to Ken anymore. The smell nearly made him sick the first couple of visits here. He sat in the hallway waiting for the doctor to come out and give him the damage report. Minutes turned into hours, finally the door opened and the woman in the bloody scrubs came out with an apologetic look. She tried to put her hand on his shoulder but he just pushed it away.
“I’m sorry” She said in a weak voice
“You said she was stable” Ken stammered
“She was...I don’t know what happened. If I may ask...where is your son?”
“In the children’s wing, I...I told him his mom would be better”
“I know this is a bad time but we’ll need you to visit the service desk to talk about the payment”
“PAYMENT”
Ken took a swing at the doctor. His fist hit her square in the eye, she fell to the ground letting out a whimper. Ken just walked away and nurses and patients in the hallway stared in shock. Ken got in his car and drove home to get drunk.

A bottle and a half into his old friend Jack, Ken got a phone call. The phone said it was Bobby, Ken answered.
“He-hello?” Ken drunkenly muttered
“Ken, I am so sorry about Marge, man”
“Don’t, fucking worry about it man”
“Ken...don’t do this…”
That is when Ken started to break down and cry.
“I don’t know how I’m going to pay for his treatment Bob. I sold the boat just to pay for Marge’s FUCKING TREATMENT...”
“Ken, take a deep breathe and listen, I might be able to help you out…”

11:15 June 18

The buzzer in Simon’s suite let out its loud shriek. He walked over and and pressed the button.
“It’s me, you ready?” Eddie's voice came through over the crackly speaker.
“Why don’t you come up this time?”
“Isn’t Penelope here?”
“No she’s working tonight”
“Good! I got a great haul for you tonight, this bag is weighing down on me!”
Simon buzzed Eddie in and told him to take the elevator to the top floor. Simon led Eddie to a black door that did not seem to be one belonging to an apartment suite. Simon retrieved a key from his pocket and opened the door. Eddie was shocked to see a room bathed in red florescent lights. The walls were lined with weapons, guns, knives, blunt objects.
“So this is where all of the shit I give you goes”
“Some of it was mine from before”
“Well prepare to make some room on your walls! I swiped a lot of stuff I was supposed to incinerate”
Eddie opened up the duffel bag he brought with him. The first thing he pulled out was a snub nose Smith & Wesson Bodyguard.
“Your standard .38 snub nose, easy to conceal, 5 shots”
The next thing he pulled out was a smaller bag, Eddie spilled it out onto a nearby counter. A myriad of Glock 19 pieces, firing pins, extractors, barrels.
“I know you have a 19 and if you use it this way you can swap out the parts so ballistics won’t link you to crime scenes”
“Nice touch man!”
“We’re not even halfway done!”
Eddie reached into the bag another time and produced a fire axe.
“Holy...fucking...shit…” Simon said slackjawed
“We pulled it from a domestic violence case, fireman brought this home and tried to kill his wife. The guys who responded to it took it away and let him just beat the shi-” Eddie could see the look on Simon’s face.
“Anyways, I think your going to like this next one”
He pulled out a micro uzi with a silencer.
“We got this from one of the gangs in Chinatown, be careful it jams ALOT”
“It’s still cool!” Simon realized he sounded like a kid seeing a toy he wanted.
“And the cherry on top!”
Eddie pulled out a Smith & Wesson Model 4506. Simon could not believe it, the pistol his parents had in the shop they owned. The police had taken it as evidence in their murder and nobody in the police department cared enough to contact Simon.
“Eddie...You have no idea how much this means to me!”
Simon took the gun into his hands and inspected it, this was the gun he learned how to shoot with. All the same scratches on the grips and frame were there.
“That’s not all” Eddie said grabbing an envelope from his pocket
“What’s this?”
“A list of people, we got complaints of a few of them hanging around parks, staring at kids. Some are suspects link to a few disappearances around the area. Just tell me when you are planning on doing it once you have the proper evidence so I can get the arrests.”
“Alright, I’ll probably get to work in a week. Thanks Eddie...this means a lot to me”
“Don’t worry about it, I got what I needed” Eddie held up a small white pill.
“I’m not sure how many more of those I can get, painkillers are being bumped up on the tier list”
“ Whatever happens, you got me some good arrests, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in without these deals.”
“You’re a good guy Eddie, thanks for the pieces.”
“No prob, I guess I’ll head out” Eddie pulled a cigar out from his jacket pocket and lit it up as he turned and walked out the door. Simon just sat there staring at the 4506.

Bobby couldn’t hold down a job to save his life. As a kid his mom died early and his dad dealt with that fact by drinking and smacking Bobby and his siblings. Right out of High school, Bobby started doing small jobs, a month here, a month there. He then got into petty theft, breaking into construction sites to steal and sell raw materials to another company. He made a living off of that until he ran out of people to steal from. Then he moved on to drug trafficking, he thought his life was turning around with how much he was taking in. That was until he got busted after one of his guys, a kid, got busted himself and made a deal to wear a wire. After 10 years in the joint Bobby thought he was going to turn over a new leaf, that did not happen. He got a job from his PO at a supermarket, Bobby hated every second of it. Before he knew it he was running with the same people he was before prison but this time he had acquired a taste for guns instead of drugs. If any two-bit gangster was planning on knocking off a liquor store or a Walgreens, they went to see Bobby first for their throw-away gun. After he got some cash after a few years of that he got bored, with drugs he could always just take some and have fun. He knew he could not go back to selling drugs so he looked to his current customers, he started to think about robbery. He hit his first store soon after, not a ton of money but it kept him entertained. He sold guns as his “day job” and hit stores when he could. He found that he was quite good at robbing places, wear a mask, make whatever teen assistant-manager had the authority to open the safe. He started collaborating with his customers, more people, more possibilities. With help he started knocking off bigger stores, he even got away with a good chunk of money from a credit union. He met Ken when his little sister invited him to their wedding, he was shocked at how well she had done and how beautiful his sister looked, Ken was a stand up guy. After the wedding him and Ken had grown close, he went from never seeing his sister to seeing her and ken whenever they needed a babysitter. He loved his nephew Daniel and he knew that if he let Marge and Ken in on what he did for a living they wouldn’t let him see Daniel anymore. It broke his heart when they found out Marge has health complications, the doctors said it started after years of being borderline malnourished and beat when she was a kid. He blamed himself, he should have done more to help her back then. He dealt with it by drinking, it made things easier to ignore for a while, but it did get him into some predicaments. One night he ran into one of his old junkie customers, apparently he was out of the game for too long, his old customer was kind enough to share his supply of the new designer drug, kingpin. This shit took aspects of the major names, coke, meth, heroin. Bobby was never one for needles but once he got some kingpin in his veins, he felt invincible but made his memory really hazy. One thing led to another and Bobby ended up beating the shit out of a guy, in the morning Bobby woke up to find that his eye socket was caved in, the guy must’ve done more damage than he thought, it must have been the kingpin. They had to remove his eye, it was just damaged too much, the doctors said it had to have been hit with a metal pipe or hard blunt object. That was almost a year ago, he had adjusted to living life with one eye, Daniel though it was cool how he looked. When Daniel got sick Bobby damn near lost it. Multiple sclerosis on top of some genetic problems, Bobby watched as Daniel went from running around in the yard to using leg braces to being confined to a wheelchair and finally being stuck in a hospital bed. What Bobby did not spend on kingpin, he spent on gifts for Daniel, anything to see Daniel’s eyes light up because he forgot he was going to die. After Marge died, Bobby finally broke. It wasn’t fair, she hadn’t hurt a soul, Daniel didn’t deserve it. He was determined he was gonna help Ken give Daniel the best care and the best life he possibly could have, he just needed the money first and he knew just the place to get it.

Simon woke up to his alarm clock screaming at him, 2:30, the prime time. Simon lazily got out of bed and walked over to his computer. He started it up, logged onto the chat room his target was using. He called the guy’s internet provider pretending to be his wife who was suspicious of adultery, when the operator asked what the password was for their account simon just said “HE PUT A PASSWORD ON THE ACCOUNT! HE MUST BE CHEATING” in his best angry wife voice and the operator listed the sites that have been visited, Simon only cared about the two chat rooms that were visited. Simon created an account for both and started doing the usual routine. He pretended to be a lonely pre-teen girl. He usually just started out by writing  a fake diary in the room and waited to see who bit. 
Lonelygurl66: I wish I had someone to love….
Puppiescuppake: Hold on, you’ll find someone :)
Shit like this was said for a good amount of time until.
Freebird_7300: I can be someone to love.
Lonelygurl66: you would love me?
Freebird_7300: I think ur cute ;)
Simon sent this guy a friend request. He accepted, opening this up for a private message.
Lonelygurl66: Hi!
Freebird_7300: hey, how u doin beuatiful
Lonelygurl66: haha, good! I’m Clara
Freebird_7300: My name is Jean, and I think you aren’t the only one who’s lonely.
That name was not on the list the Eddie gave him but it was common for these guys to give fake names.
Lonelygurl66: Maybe we could be lonely together lol
Freebird_7300:That would be nice, how old r u?
Lonelygurl66:11 u?
Freebird_7300:19
Lonelygurl66: ooh, I bet u are strong
Freebird_7300: I am, I bet you are smokin hot ;0
Simon did not know what to say next. But luckily he didn’t have to think of anything because Jean just sent him a photo.

   
The clubs music drowned out any means of speaking. The rhythmic thumping of the speakers pierced the air. Penelope would usually walk around making sure all the guests were having a good time and had full glasses, and then bitching out the wait staff if they didn’t. Tonight was special, a certain guest was on his way. As she walked out onto the balcony  her work friend Jenna turned and smiled at Penelope.
“Hey girl!” Jenna said just hinting at the fact she was high
“What did I tell you about using at work Jenna?”
“Oh, sorry want some?” Jenna pulled a small plastic bag filled with white powder. Penelope grabbed the bag and scooped out a little bit of powder with her nail and snorted it. Penelope jittered a bit and went back to talking to Jenna.
“Where do you get so much?”
“Your guy friend”
Penelope was shocked.
“Simon sells you this?”
“No, your other guy friend”
“Oh, Demarkus”
“Yeah, is he coming tonight?”
“He should be here in a few minutes”
“Ask him if he has any of that new shit, kingpin”
“Will do” Penelope said rolling her eyes, and went back to work. 
About an hour later a young black man entered the club and discreetly made his way over to Penelope. He moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
“Ey girl”
“Demarkus, I’m glad you came”
“You know om not gonna miss mah favorite girl now, right?”
Penelope giggled like a little girl, something about Demarkus just sent her back to a younger, happier state. No one from her work seemed to notice as she disappeared with him for a while. They made their way to the Women’s bathroom. When they had sex, Penelope felt something, the fact that she was having sex in a dirty nightclub bathroom melted away into the passion that she was given with Demarkus.
“When you gonna leave that loser you be actin like you wiff”
“He’s a decent guy, he just…”
“Is his dick better than mine” Demarkus said angrily.
“Oh god no, he’s so small” Penelope said laughing
“Then why aint cho leavin his ass”
“I...it’s complicated, I feel like I owe him for saving me”
“You don’t owe the craka sheet” 
“You don’t understand you weren’t there”
“Bu-”
“I’m done talking about this, I gotta get back to work”
Penelope briskly walked out of the bathroom and got back to work.


Ken knocked on the door to Bobby’s apartment, it was in a shit neighborhood, a guy was passed out in the hallway. Bobby opened the door and let Ken in.
“Ken, I want you to meet some people”
In the middle of the room was a couch. On the couch were two guys.
“The one on the right is Alvin”
Alvin waved his hand silently in recognition.
“The fat one is Jeffrey”
“How ya doin?” Jeffrey said
Bobby and Ken both sat down at a table opposite the couch. Bobby started talking.
“Alright guys, as you know we need money for our boy Daniel. He is sick and we gotta get some cash to make sure he has the best damn care possible. I know a place that hasn’t been hit since it opened up, the Tasteful is what it’s called.”
Jeffrey piped up.
“What kinda cash we looking at, ya know our cut?”
“If the safe is full and we get wallet money plus drug supply, which is all yours. You both are looking at walking away with 10,000.”
“That’s still the biggest pay your gonna get without robbing a bank”
“Still a lot of work for not a lot of reward”
That is when Ken got angry.
“ARE YOU GONNA HELP MY SO-”
Alvin pulled out a butterfly knife and was at Ken’s throat in a matter of milliseconds.
“Everybody chill the fuck out” Bobby said making sure he said it very calmly
Alvin slowly backed away but was still giving Ken a look of pure insanity and hatred only a sociopath was capable of.
“I guess we’ll take it” Jeffrey said with a twinge of disappointment
“Well...let’s get planning then!” 

5:00 AM June 24

Simon woke up to the same nagging of his alarm clock. He had chatted long enough with Jean, he invited Clara over to his house in two days. Simon needed those two days to scope out just where Jean was and what the situation would be, he got Jeans IP address from the messages and traced it to an exact location. Simon walked down the flights of stairs all the way down to the parking area of the complex. It had been a couple days since Simon had been outside, he realized he might have spent too much time getting a stranger to send him pictures of their penis. “All in due time” Simon thought. He finally reached his space, there was his car, a 1982 Celica. His dad used to own the car as a side project, he bought it in a terrible condition and hunted pieces and parts to fix it up. Simon got in and started the car. After a few minutes of driving he came up on the address. 5213 was the house number, it was a small house, but it was nice. Simon noticed that there were two cars in the driveway. After about three hours of waiting he saw a very attractive woman walk out, get in a car and drive off. The other half of the day was painfully boring, nothing happened. This guy just sat at home all day, probably chatting with actual girls instead of Simon. Around 6pm the wife came home, she did not go inside right away though. She sat on the front step and lit a cigarette. After a few drags the front door opened, it was Jean. The two had an argument, Simon could only assume it was because of the cigarette. It ended with the wife leaving in an angry hurry. Simon took this as a good sign and went home. After getting back to his suite on the top floor, Simon looked at his computer. He had a message on the chat board he was using as Clara.
Freebird_7300: Everything is set! I can’t wait to see you, hold you in real life. But most of all, I can’t wait to taste how sweet you are.
Jean also sent a picture of himself holding his penis. Simon was disgusted, he damn near threw up. A few hours later Simon was loading magazines for the 4506, he got hollow points in .45 just for this gun. He heard the door open, Penelope voice called out to him.
“Simon? Where are you?”
“I’m in here” Simon said while furiously trying to hide the gun and magazines. 
Simon ran out of his room to meet penelope in the doorway, she was close to seeing the assortment of bullets.
“Simon, I need to talk to you”
“About what?”
Penelope paused, she wasn’t sure she could do this.
“Holy shit! They got him” Simon exclaimed pointing at the TV in the living room. Like a kid he ran past Penelope over to the TV set. On the screen was Gerald, but Penelope didn’t know that.
“Who is that?”
“The kid diddler they caught in the park, he got 10 years!”
“Didn’t he get caught through illegal means”
“What?”
“Yeah didn’t the cops show up to him already tied up?”
“They still got him, there was evidence right next to him”
“It could have been faked, he shouldn’t be in jail”
“WHAT?”
“Yeah, I actually think pedophillia is just a sexual preference just like being gay”
“Are you kidding me!”
A big fight ensued. Arguments were lobbed back and forth with dramatic gestures to go along with them. It ended with Simon going to his room and Penelope leaving the apartment an hour later.


6:00 AM June 25

Simon woke up to his alarm blaring at him. Remembering what happened walked out into the kitchen to find a plate of cookies and a folded note. The note read: I’m sorry. Simon assumed Penelope felt bad about the fight and wanted to extend the olive branch. Simon ate a cookie and went up to the weapons room. Today was the day. Had Simon read the inside of the note he would have seen the part where Penelope ended things.

Once in the weapons room Simon was confronted by a myriad of choices. The mask, the guns, and the gear. He looked at the lineup of masks under the glow of the red neon lights. He could go with the pigeon mask he used in his last, nah, he didn’t want to use the same one. He looked through the options, wolf no, monkey no, frog no, bear okay. Alright, now that the mask was settled what guns were going to be used. Simon’s gaze fell upon the silenced micro uzi he got a couple nights before. He only had one magazine for it but it was perfect for this particular job. As for gear, He had to go with his favorite, the telescopic baton, even though he desperately wanted to use the fire axe but Simon knew it wasn’t practical for this situation. Other than those choices it was the usual zipties and a copy of the online transcripts, pictures included. Showtime.
Simon parked a block away, it was almost the time Jean told Clara to show up. Simon got out with all the gear on, even the mask. He walked in broad daylight to Jean’s house, The driveway did not have the wife’s car, Simon took that as a good sign. He just walked up to the front door and knocked just as Jean’s invitation had told him. In a matter of seconds Simon heard footsteps coming to the door, they stopped at the door as it opened.
“I have the booze but I could not find condoms so we might have to try ana-”
Simon bodychecked the door, Jean came tumbling over. Simon quick closed the door and extended his baton. Jean tried to get back on his feet but was hit in the face with the baton. Jean screamed and kicked at Simons legs, he got lucky. Simon lost his footing and fell over giving Jean enough time to get up and run. Simon dropped the baton and got back up, Jean was almost across the room before Simon full on tackled him. Jean was still screaming when Simon delivered one good punch to the side of his head for the knockout. Simon quickly zip tied Jean to a kitchen chair and dug through his wallet. Jean’s real name was Gregory Hicks, Simon also took the hundred dollar bill from his wallet. Gregory regained consciousness and started the usual routine
“Who are you?”
“Let me go”
“I won’t do it again”
“You monster!”
Simon put down the printed packet of transcripts, walked into another room and called Eddie.
“Yo, Eddie I have one Gregory Hicks here, wanna come pick him up?”
“Who?”
“Gregory Hicks, he’s on the list right?”
“I looking at it now, there’s no one by that name on the list”
“So I got a random fucker tied up right now?”
“You got  the wrong guy!”
“Well I mean...He was going to have sex with a 12 year old so he’s not really the wrong guy, do you want to still pick him up?” Simon was now looking through the fridge, he saw a bottle of Sweet Leaf tea, the kind the factory bottled. Simon opened it and took a swig.
“No! Without the prior suspicion it looks to obvious that I’m working with you”
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with him?”
“I don’t fucking know, look I’m busy right now. I have to go, just don’t make too big of a mess” Eddie hung up.
Simon put the phone in his pocket and walked back to Gregory, his pants were wet with piss.
“C,mon man that’s gross, the people who find you are gonna have to deal with that man”
“Please let me go!”
“Wish I could but you turned out to be a completely different guy than I was looking for” Simon took another swig of tea and took the micro uzi from his inner jacket pocket and put two rounds in the man’s skull. The shots were louder than he expected, he knew someone heard those. Simon ran out of the house, to his car, he took off the mask and sped off. 


Bobby, Ken, Alvin, and Jeffrey were piled in a van across from a warehouse. Bobby gave them the rundown. 
“Alright guys, this is where we will bring the money, divide it up, and lay low for a while. Got it?”
The others grunted in affirmation.
“Good, everyone know what their jobs are?”
The others gave the same response they did before.
“Alright, sun is coming down, let’s get ready to blow this motherfucker”

Eddie was sitting in his squad car, he was a bit pissed at Simon for fucking up but he figured there are a lot of kid fuckers on the internet, how was Simon supposed to get the exact one. Eddie decided to drive around, it was getting to the end of his shift and he wanted to make O’Malley fill up the car. The night was in full swing now, this is when all the animals came out. As he was driving down the street he passed the Tasteful nightclub, Eddie tried to remember if Penelope was working tonight when he saw four men walking towards the entrance. He recognized one of them as Ken Miller, there was a warrant on him for assaulting a doctor. Eddie pulled over, got out of the car, and started to approach the group.
“Excuse me, are you Ken Miller, I have a warrant for your arrest”
Ken looked surprised and scared. Eddie didn’t have time to say anything else. Bobby pulled a .44 revolver from his waist and fired a shot at Eddie. The round hit him in the head and Eddie was instantly killed. The four men ran into the club, also shooting the bouncer. A chunk of Eddie’s skull was missing as the contents of his head spilled in the middle of the street.  


Simon returned to his suite, cracked open a beer, sat on his couch and watched some tv. Halfway through an episode Seinfeld Simon realized he was still wearing the mask, he found it weird the smell of latex didn’t bother him earlier. As he was taking off his mask Simon got a phone call, the ringing was coming from the home phone. Simon walked to the kitchen counter to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Simon, right?”
It was Penelope’s dad
“Mr. Banks?”
“Yes, there has been an incident”


“Fuck man! We just killed a cop!” screamed Ken
“I did, just don’t worry about it! Focus on the job”
The four men were now in the nightclub. Alvin and Bobby were on crowd control while Jeffrey and Ken were going to get the manager to open the safe. The patrons of the club had already heard the shot from outside and most of them were shaken up, the DJ had turned off the music after hearing the shot. 
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you could just all slowly make your way to the ground, take out your wallets and wait. We will not hurt you unless we have a good reason to” Yelled Bobby
The people did what Bobby said to do. Him and Alvin started to collect the wallets that were now on the ground. Meanwhile, Ken and Jeffrey ran for the back room, they found the manager trying to stuff himself through the window. They grabbed him and Jeffrey pistol whipped him, his nose made a sickening cracking noise before spurting with blood.
“We don’t have time for games, take us to the safe” Jeffrey barked
“Alright, alright…” the manager said in a defeated infliction
The manager got up and led them up a flight of stairs into an attic space. There it was, the safe. Jeffrey was about to yell at the manager to open it up but it he didn’t need to. The manager immediately started to open the safe. Inside was a shelf for money and a shelf full of bricks made up of a brown powder. Jeffrey smiled, he knew what the powder was, it was raw kingpin. Ken bagged the money and Jeffrey bagged up the kingpin. Before they headed back down the stairs, Jeffrey shot the manager.

Penelope was on the ground, the men were nearing her area of the club she was in. One-by-one they took people’s wallets. It finally got to the man laying between her and the men collecting the wallets. She noticed he did not have his wallet out and had a look of defiance on his face.
“Where’s your wallet buddy?” Bobby asked
“Here’s your wallet fucker!” The man pulled out a switchblade and tried to get up. Before he could Alvin was on top of him. Penelope could not believe how fast he moved, it was almost instantaneous. Alvin started to stomp on the man’s wrist until he dropped the blade.
“This is what happens when we get a fucking hero”
Alvin started to stomp on the man’s head. Over and over. People in the crowd screamed, some just averted their eyes. Alvin finish and to everyone’s surprise the man was still alive and conscious.
“Well holy shit, we got a fucking tank here!, I got this Al” Bobby moved Alvin away from the man and bent down to meet his bloodied face.
“Anything you wanna say to the folks before you go under?” Bobby asked
The man noticed Bobby only having one eye and made his last statement through a swollen face and a broken jaw about that.
“That eye sockets empty.... Does your boyfriend over there ever get freaky with it?”
Bobby just laughed as he delivered the final stomp onto the man’s head, finally crushing the front of his skull. It was at this point that Ken and Jeffrey entered the main room with two duffel bags each.
“What the fuck happened?” Ken yelled at Bobby who still had his foot in the man’s head
“Just got a little wild here, we still gotta collect the rest of the wallets”
“Whoa, you know who that is? That’s the Bank’s daughter” Jeffrey exclaimed as he pointed at Penelope.
“So fucking what?” Bobby said
“Her parents are loaded, I say we take her for ransom!”
“NO, robbery is one thing kidnapping is another” Ken said
“Think about Daniel, you knew this job was not enough to get dick for treatment. It’s this or nothing”
“Fine just take her and lets go”
Penelope was picked by Bobby. She screamed and struggled but not as hard as she could after seeing the last person to stand up to the robbers die.

Simon’s celica screeched around the street before parking in the middle of it. The police barricades and flashing lights certainly knew how to draw a crowd. Simon got out of his car and practically ran to the line of cops telling everyone to get back. Simon saw Mr.Banks talking to a detective. Simon waited for someone in the crowd to lean a little too much on the barricade. The officer watching the crowd pushed him back behind the barricade, the crowd pushed back. Simon took advantage of this chaos to slip through a few feet away from the commotion. As Simon walked towards the detective, two gurneys were rolled past Simon into ambulances. Simon did not pay that any mind, he was too busy eavesdropping on Mr.Banks’ discussion with the detective.
“Do you know anyone who has a motive to do this to you or daughter?” the detective said in a gritty voice.
“No, I am loved within all of my spheres of influence”
Penelope’s dad was always kind of a...Well some would call him a bit egotistical at best, the term that circled around the most was “Jackass”. 
“Do you know where they took her?”
“I can assure you, if I did know where they were...let’s just say I wouldn’t need your help. Hehe”
“Well, I guess that is all I need from you now, you know where the ransom drop off point will be. They said the trash can on 34th and Oak.”
“Heh, I suppose I will get the funds there. I just don’t like dealing with terrorists, it’s not like the amount will put a dent in my account. Hehe”
Oh fuck you Simon thought to himself. The detective had the same look on his face.
“Alright Mr.Banks...I’ll keep you updates as the situation progresses”
The detective walked away leaving Mr.Banks to notice that Simon was standing there in the middle of a crime scene. Mr.Banks waved to Simon.
“Simon my boy, how are you?” He said almost as if he didn’t notice his daughter was being held for ransom.
“Uh...good, I guess”
“I just want to let you know, don’t think that this was your fault.”
“I didn’t think it was my fau-”
“I have the funds to get her back and don’t worry, I know my Penelope and she’ll be alright. Listen, I want you to be there when she is released, make a speech about how the law enforcement in this town is top notch.”
“Uhh, okay.” With that Simon walked back to his car and went home, he had some work to do.

The van pulled up to the warehouse. Everyone piled out and entered, Ken was the one carrying Penelope. They used an old rag they found in the van to gag her. Once all inside they dropped the duffel bags of loot on the ground and Bobby started giving orders again.
“Ken take her to the locker”
Alvin spoke for once.
“Ey Bob, can I have a few minutes alone with her?”
Penelope’s eyes widened, it kind of turned Alvin on. Bobby was about to say sure when Ken responded.
“No, out of the question.”
“Why is that?” Alvin said in a slightly sexual tone.
“We don’t need you spraying DNA evidence all up in her”
“I’ll use a rubber”
“Still, no. This was supposed to be a robbery, that turned into a kidnapping, I’m not letting it become a rape” 
“You don’t call the shots, Bob does”
Bobby responded with a no. This caused Alvin to draw his double barreled shotgun and pointed it at Ken.
“Don’t make me do this”
Bobby threw a fist at Alvin, it dropped him, his shotgun clattered to the floor.
“Now listen Al, you’re going to drive me to the pickup spot where I am going to wait for the money. Let’s all cool down and when you get back we can talk about the girl okay?”
Alvin didn’t speak, he just got up, took the keys to the van and walked out the door with Bobby. Ken and Jeffrey were left in an awkward silence. Ken finally walked Penelope over to a metal door, it led to a cold room containing one chair in the center. Ken sat penelope down and ungaged her, he then used some extra rags to tie her to the chair. Even without being gagged Penelope said nothing, she just looked at Ken. She knew he wasn’t like the others, he didn’t seem like a criminal and besides he even saved her. That was a turn on for Penelope.

Simon raced home, hopefully he could stake out the drop off point and see who took Penelope. Simon was in a rush, he sprinted up the stairs to the weapons room. He grabbed the first things he found, a ka-bar, the 4506, and the bear mask. He made one last stop in his suite, he realized he had not eaten anything since one of Penelope’s cookies. Simon quick opened his cabinet in the kitchen, he reached in and grabbed a box of Mike & Ikes and ran out the door. Simon finally got to the trash can where the deal was supposed to go down, he could see an undercover cop car in a nearby alley. Simon was eating his snack in his car, for the moment it seemed like he was more committed to the candy than to the stakeout. Hours went by, it gave Simon a long time to think. Were his actions okay? What made him judge, jury, and executioner? The thought that really scared him was How long will he continue to be lucky? His thoughts were cut short when his cell phone rang. Simon picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hi, may I ask who I am speaking to?” A female voice said, it almost sounded like she was sniffling 
“May I ask who is asking?”
“Look Jackass! I’m calling from Eddie’s phone, this is the last number he called”
Simon did feel like a jackass, his blood ran cold. Simon’s mind jumped to the worst case conclusion.
“Is something wrong?”
“E-Eddie died today-”
“WHAT!”
The woman let out a small whimper and which only served to make Simon feel worse.
“I just wanted to call if you were a friend of his and tell you the funeral is next Tuesday.” 
Simon saw a brown beat up van pull over about a block away and let out a chubby looking man in a wife beater. Simon grabbed a pair of binoculars, he swore he saw the man before. Simon watched as the van turned around and started to drive away. Maybe Simon was just not thinking straight, maybe he was just trying to ignore the woman on the phone telling him about Eddie’s death, maybe it was a combination of both.
“I’ll be there, bye” Simon hung up, put the car in drive and followed the van.

Simon tailed the van to a rundown building. He waited for the driver of the van to get out, Simon watched as the man looked around as he opened a side door and smile to himself. Simon pulled over and got out of his car, he wasn’t being governed by reason or logic at this point, only by a lot of anger and not a whole lot to let it out on. A part of him didn’t even care if they were the people he was looking for, he just saw that guy as scum that needed to be gone. He put on the mask and unsheathed the ka-bar. Simon reached the door he had seen the man go through moments earlier, he just whipped it open just in time to hear Alvin call out.
“I want a go with that bitch we got”
The door closed and the noise got alvin to turn around to see the masked man standing in the doorway.
“Ah fuck” Alvin muttered as he charged Simon.
Simon tried to take a stab at Alvin but he moved too fast, the two were now on the ground. Alvin somehow wrestled the knife out of Simon’s hands in a matter of seconds. Thinking he was about to turn the tables on the masked maniac, Alvin was abruptly kicked off. Simon drew the 4506 from its shoulder holster and fired at Alvin. The .45 round hit Alvin square in the shoulder. Alvin tumbled back, dropping the knife. The sound from the shot was deafening, so loud Simon was too disoriented to see Jeffrey run to the other side of the room to get the shotgun that Alvin had dropped earlier. Jeffrey shouldered the gun and fired 12 gauge buckshot at Simon. Only a few pellets hit Simon’s leg but it still hurt, Simon returned fire at Jeffrey. Simon emptied the magazine into Jeffrey, Simon quickly turned his focus on Alvin who was attempting to get up off the floor. The knife was in reach, Simon dragged himself to the knife and slashed at Alvin’s ankle. Alvin fell to the floor again, Simon then resorted to stabbing Alvin, stab after stab. Simon didn't stop until blood was pooling on the floor. The rage was gone for a moment. Simon just layed there for a while, the blood was soaking his clothes. Finally he got the strength to stand up, it didn’t seem so bad anymore, Simon had gotten so caught up in that encounter he almost forgot what he was there for in the first place. The anger came back, Simon walked over to Jeffrey’s corpse and took the shotgun, checked the chamber to remove the spent shell, he still had one shot. Simon saw the heavy metal door leading to the locker. Simon hobbled as fast as he could over to the door, he really didn’t care what was on the other side, he just wouldn’t admit that to himself. 

Ken was sobbing, he felt safe to do so in front of her, also the room was soundproof so the other guys wouldn’t hear it. He explained his predicament to the girl. He apologized saying he only did it for his son, that he would take all of this back if he could. She just sat there with admiring eyes, looking at her blonde hair Ken could not help but let an impure thought or two cross his mind, he swatted those away instantly since they made him feel like he was no better than Alvin or Jeffrey, or Bobby for that matter. This was not who he was. Penelope sat in silence watching this man cry, she didn’t consider it stockholm syndrome, he saved her after all. His son needed the money, it’s not like her parents couldn’t afford to be robbed, it would be like nothing changed for them and it would make a world of difference for his little boy. If she wasn’t tied up she probably would have tried to seduce him, Demarkus didn’t have to know. For a while Ken stopped crying, he got a hold of himself. Ken’s phone rang. 
“He-snf-Hello?”
“Yes, this is doctor Singh, this is about your son.”
“Oh god is he getting worse?”
“No, not as of yet but we did run some tests, when can you come to my office ?”
Ken didn’t have a chance to respond. The door behind him was flung open, expecting to Bobby or one of the gang he turned around. Ken dropped the phone when he found himself face to face with a blood soaked man in a bear mask wielding a shotgun. The shotgun was casually aimed at Ken’s stomach. Simon pulled the trigger, Ken was tossed to the ground from the force of the shot. Everyone in the room was disgusted with the result of that shot, Ken’s abdomen was the consistency of gel, large intestine trailing out of his body, in his last moments of life Ken threw up at the sight of his own mutilated body. 

Simon felt good inside in a sick way, he did it, he saved the day, he tossed the shotgun to the ground. Then he looked at Penelope’s face, it was splattered with small dots of intestine and blood. She screamed in fear.
“Who the fuck are you!”
Take a wild fucking guess Simon thought
“You fucking mainiac! He was just doing it so he could help his kid get treatment!”
Simon remained silent, partly because he didn’t want penelope to hear his voice, partly because he was disgusted with himself. The two plunged themselves into silence, for a long time. They both just stared at each other. Finally Simon hobbled towards Penelope, she looked scared and even let out a whimper at first. She had a defeated look in her eye, she thought it was over for her. Simon noticed parts of her blonde, silky hair were stained red by viscera, it made Simon a little angry that it just played out like this. Penelope was surprised when she felt her hands and legs untied from the chair. She quickly got up and faced Simon.
“You’re still a monster! Just because you did this doesn’t make you the hero!”
Penelope ran out of the building gasping as she past the bodies. Simon limped out of the room, picked up his knife and the 4506,and hopped towards the exit, he almost left. The four duffel bags caught his eye, he walked over to them and opened on, full of cash. Assuming they all were filled with money Simon strapped them on, it was hell for his leg, the pain was getting stronger. At a snail’s pace Simon made it to the celica, he loaded in all of the bags and drove home.

Simon pulled into his parking space, took of his mask and covered up his car with a tarp since the interior was blood soaked like him. Once inside the apartment building Simon knocked on the first door to the left. This was home to a nice latino family, they were quiet and paid rent on time, the man offered Simon to have dinner with his family a couple times but Simon always politely declined. The door opened up, it was Mr.Valerio.
“Mr.Valerio, is your wife home?”
“Ye-yeah, what happened?”
“I got jumped, guys had a gun”
Simon could tell he wasn’t buying the story but he let Simon in and called his wife over. His Wife was a nurse at the local hospital. She came around a corner and saw Simon leg and immediately went to retrieve their first-aid kit. Simon took of his clothes, except for his boxers and laid down on  the floor.
“Thank you” he said to the man. The wife came back with the kit, she opened it to get some very large and scary looking tweezers. After an hour the wife had gotten all of the shot out of Simon’s leg, disinfected it and bandaged it. Blood was all over their kitchen floor. Simon helped clean up the blood but they protested and told him to get some rest.
“Don’t bother paying rent for the next couple months, it’s on the house”
“Thank you sir”
Simon took his bloodied clothes and walked as fast as he could, which was still pretty slow, up to his suite. He tossed his clothes into the hamper and laid down on his bed, he reached into the nightstand to produce three white pills. Vicodin was going to help him through this just like always, Simon swallowed the pills and floated away. 

Simon was sitting at a dinner table with his parents, he couldn’t see their faces though.
“This is not what we wanted, he has become a monster” his father muttered
“He can’t help it, I think he’s sick”
“I don’t care, we can’t let this go on. This is not what we raised him to be”
“It doesn't matter what we raised him to be, he can’t control his mind”
When Simon tried to defend himself they just ignored it, that made Simon feel small. All of the sudden his chair melted into the floor, so did he. Simon was now looking at a hospital bed with a little boy in it crying and eventually falling limp. Simon then found himself lying in the middle of a city street, it was pitch black, the only light came from the streetlamps. Simon got up and saw a figure at the end of the street. It looked like a female, Simon could only see bright red hair, almost like fire. Something sparked in Simon, he was entranced. She walked around a corner, Simon ran to follow her but no matter how hard he tried he did not get anywhere.
“You know your story doesn’t end with a happily ever after, right?”
The voice came from behind him. Simon turned around to see only fiery orange hair and the barrel of the 4506 pointed at Simon, the gun went off. Simon woke in a cold sweat, everything was normal. His leg was still messed up, the bandage looked dingy and it was stained with blood, did he bleed that much overnight? Simon looked at the alarm clock, he had slept for two days.