May 20

Simon stood at a payphone outside the sleazy motel he was staying at, the neon lights of the city illuminated the night. Simon had gone on quite the trip, he was exhausted from all of the traveling. The little vacation had been nice though, he had been to LA, Houston, and Chicago. He punched in Kimber’s number, the phone rang, on the third one she answered.
“Simon?”
“It’s me”
“You doing alright?”
“Yeah, just tired. I’ve been all over the map”
“Where are you now?”
“Florida”
“Ooh! Hitting Miami?
“No, I’m in Tampa”
“When do you think you’ll be back”
“Depends, have you heard any buzz about me?”
“Nope but then again I lost most of my contacts on the force”
“Alright, have you been checking up on Ashley?”
“Yeah she’s alright. As good as a psycho can be”
Simon chuckled.
“Cool, I’ll probably head back in the next few days. I’m loving this Florida weather”
They continued with small talk until Simon hung up, Simon turned around and went back to his motel room, he tried not to think about how clean the sheets were too hard. He fell asleep watching a horror movie marathon. 

May 21

Kimber had her car parked outside Ashley’s parent’s home, it was small but nice. Through the window Kimber could see Ashley, she looked a lot better. Ashley never went to the police, she was too high to. Her parents had taken her in, they even called down her sister to look after her while they were at work. Kimber wished she had this kind of family. Her parents were both politicians, they never had dinner as a family like Ashley’s family did. Kimber would always imagine that her parents were at the dinner table instead of the maids and butlers. In the beginning it was her father that was gone, he was a senator, but when he died her mom took his place. Kimber paused to think about her mother, she hadn't spoken with her in a long time, not since she went back to Missouri for Christmas. Once Kimber saw that Ashley was alright, she left to go back home. What Kimber didn’t know was that she was being followed. 

Diego had tailed Kimber from her work, after reading her article about the maniac he figured she could lead him right to the maniac. For the past few days she had occasionally stopped by this house, Diego knew this was tied to the maniac somehow. He just didn’t know how yet, it looked like a normal family. He found it odd that the two daughters rarely left the house, the one was never alone. That fact was curious, were they protecting her? If they were, from what? It was strange, but he didn’t have nearly enough information to do anything. He would have to swing by at a later date, he was unusually busy with contracts lately. He turned his car on drove back into town, he was on his way to collect some bounties. He returned to the buildings he had become familiar with, this was his home away from home. Ever since his family fled from his country he always felt homesick for a home that he didn’t remember, it was a matter that kept him up at night. He was entering the worst part of the city, the worst of the worst resided here. It was getting dark and Diego could see people huddled around fires in trash cans, gang symbols spray-painted on buildings, and thugs getting into scuffles in the street. He parked next to his destination, a club called Dixie’s. Getting out of his car Diego heard snippets of the lives of the residents of the area.
“I don’t need ya bitch! I’ll let the welfare feed ya, you know what I’m sayin!” A pimp yelled
“Was that needle clean?” a teenage girl asked a junkie, he just responded with a shrug
“Man I miss laura, Brian’s a dick” an Asian guy said to another
Diego walked into the bar, the bouncer just nodded to him, he was kind of a legend around here. Diego took the stairs to the top floor, there he saw the seedy image that he always saw when picking up payment. While it was the top floor, it looked like a basement, there were mattresses sprawled out on the bare concrete floor, the lights were either flickering or out completely. Each “bed” had its’ own junkie to keep it warm, Diego didn't mind this room but the further you went the more demented it got. Diego kept walking, he went through a door to reveal the next circle of this building. All through this room were sickly prostitutes ranging from all ages, some were being used and others just sat there throwing up or shooting up. Diego didn’t mind the sight of girls as young as 13 having sex with an obese 45 year old, he could have cared less. He entered the next room room, this one was where people with his job came to get contracts and payment for their jobs. Diego was one of the more “upstanding” people in his field, some of the others that came here were real nut cases. He saw one of the more eccentric people talking to the payment worker. Her name was Esmeralda, and she was weird. The story was that she started off as a prostitute that got beat a little too hard by her pimp, she ended up biting his throat and bleeding him dry. She got a rush from killing that went well with her taste for expensive things, now she killed for money. Once she had all of the shiny things she could buy, she started getting exotic. Attached to her belt was a chain, the chain was connected to a man on all fours. He was wearing a full S&M gear and behaved much like a dog, as she was talking to the man giving her the payment on the contract she petted his leather covered head. Once she got her money, she turned around to see Diego.
“Oh hey there stud….” she said
Just the way she said it made Diego want to throw up, but he couldn’t give even the slightest hint that she made his uncomfortable, it was a sign of weakness.
“Hey…” is all he gave in response
“Is business treating you well?”
“Yeah, you could say that”
She looked disappointed
“Oh shoot. I was hoping you were having bad enough luck to where I could get this guy another brother” She gestured to her man-pet.
Diego didn’t even know how to respond, he just focused on appearing calm.
“Well, things are going good…” is all he could say
“Darn, I wanted to add a latin to my collection” She chuckled
Diego was about to make an expression of disgust breaking his poker face but her pet interrupted. He whimpered through his zipped leather mask and began to piss himself, yellow liquid dripped on the floor. Esmiralda just smiled at him and said in a very calm but unsettling voice.
“I told you this couldn’t happen anymore”
The pet was trembling in the pool of his own piss, he was terrified. She pulled on the chain leash so hard the pet gave out a yelp and was now off of his hands and knees and on his back. She began to kick him and shouted at him. Diego just walked to the desk where he got paid, the man sitting behind the desk was staring in horror at the scene he was looking at. Diego got his payment and left.

May 30 

Simon had almost fully recovered from his wounds, his left arm was still weak. His car was a mess after the extended road trip he had taken, he was heading home. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest knowing that Ashley had not gone to the police. He was still a bit bitter about her drugging him, but he knew she had gone through a lot. He looked back at this mini vacation as a blessing, he got a chance to get away from it all, even Kimber. Truth be told, things were still a mystery between him and Kimber, there was still too much he didn’t know about her yet she knew one of his closest secrets. Also, things seemed to be going too well. There wasn’t that underlying tension that there was with Penelope, but then again that wasn’t the healthiest relationship in the world. Kimber seemed too good to be true, he was afraid that by finding out more about Kimber would break that. He walked into the office of the motel, the Florida heat was a humid, brutal one. The man behind the desk was wearing a wifebeater and reading a porn magazine, he didn’t even act surprised when Simon entered.
“Did you have a nice stay?” he said in a raspy voice
“Uh..yeah, it was great” Simon tried to say convincingly
Simon handed back the keys and walked out of the office, he went to his car and headed home.
The heart monitor gave a slow and steady reading, the hospital room was silent besides the rhythmic. O’Malley was laying in the hospital bend with multiple tubes and machines connected to him, he suddenly shot up out of his coma. The monitors and machines went into a symphony of furious beeping as he gasped for air, almost choking on the tubes in his mouth. A panicked nurse ran into his room and assisted O’Malley with getting all of the life support machines out of their invasive spots.
“What th-Where am I?” He said trying not to throw up
“You’ve been in a coma” She tried to say as sympathetically as possible
O’Malley looked like he had just been hit in the stomach with a hammer, this was a shock to him. For the past couple months he had been in a dream, a dream that he was angry he had to wake up from. For the duration of his stay in the hospital so far, he didn’t even know he was there. O’Malley was in a coma dream that he thought was real, it wasn’t so crazy to believe either. In his dream he never got shot during the raid, he went back to his life and told Kimber about his feelings, he spent years with her and even got married. O’Malley could recall every detail of the years he spent in his dream, waking up to the harsh reality was taxing to say the least. He tried to get up from the bed while the nurse was busy looking at his chart. His knees buckled as his feet hit the ground, the nurse finally looked up and tried to stop him.
“Sir you can-” she tried to get out
O’Malley just pushed her down, he was only fueled by the rage of having his perfect world shattered. O’Malley stumbled out into the hallway, determined to recreate this world to fit his.

Roberts sat in his boss's office, he was getting chewed out for being late all of the time. His boss’s words were drowned out by a daydream, Roberts couldn’t have known what was coming next.
“I need your badge and gun” the Chief said
These words snapped Roberts back to reality.
“Wait….what?”
“You heard me, get out of here”
Roberts couldn’t believe it, but at the same time it wasn’t impossible for him to see how things got here. Roberts should have been angry but for some reason it felt like he was freed, released. 
“I understand” Roberts said turning over his badge and gun
“I’m sorry things turned out this way, you were a fine detective”
Roberts just walked out of the station without packing his things, there was nothing worth going back for anyway. The outside air had a whole new crisp feeling to it, Roberts took a deep breath of relief and went home. On the drive to his house Roberts thought of all the things he could do with his life, he had more time to volunteer, more time to find a decent job . Things were looking up, getting fired was the best thing to happen to him. As he pulled into his driveway the feeling of freedom and hope turned to dread. Sitting on his front porch was Travis, the assistant smoking a cigarette. Roberts got out of the car and greeted the man.
“We haven't seen you in a while…”
“Iv’e been busy”
“Doc’s been getting worried…”
“Really, I’ve been meaning to swing by but pickings have been slim lately”
“There are just as many runaways and whores as ever. We’re beginning to think you are ducking us”
“I’m no-”
“We’re starting to get nervous, and when we get nervous we tend to do things that hurt…”
“I promise I’ll stop by soon”
Travis pulled out a hi-power engraved with swastikas and other nazi carvings.
“Why don’t we go right now?”
“Alright, alright. No need to do that. Let’s go”

Simon finally got home after multiple hours on the road, Simon took a long moment to stretch his legs. Simon entered his suite to find everything was right where it belonged, he left the TV on, it was playing a rerun of “Two and a half men”. Simon walked to the fridge to get a beer and just sat and watched the show. He missed Kimber over his break, he wanted to call her but something kept bothering him. He didn’t really know anything about her other than that fact that she was a journalist, on dates she usually distracted him with questions about himself or other dumb topics like the weather. Looking back at it all she actually seemed evasive or vague when Simon asked questions about her. It was troubling but there was a good possibility that Simon was just overthinking this whole thing. He didn’t know what was going on with Kimber at that very moment.

O’Malley knocked on Kimber’s apartment door, still in his hospital gown. She opened to be shocked to see him.
“Tyler...You’re alright”
“I am and I came to tell you something...can I come in?”
“Uh, sure yeah”
Tyler and Kimber sat down in her apartment, she was shocked to see him like this.
“Sooo, you came here straight from the hospital?” Kimber asked with concern
“Yeah”
“What was it you needed to tell me?”
Tyler sighed and looked into Kimber’s eyes with a mix of passion and sadness.
“When I was in my coma...I had a dream-but it wasn’t really a dream. It was something more than that, the best I can describe it as a vision or some sort of reality.”
Kimber was visibly confused and shaken by this, Tyler continued…
“In this whatever-you-call-it, we were together. We were married, we were happy, we had a kid for christ’s sake! I can remember all these small insignificant things, every birthday party every day at work. It was a perfect life and I can’t just accept the fact that it’s all gone now I-I just can’t…”
Tyler got down on one knee and looked up at Kimber.
“I love you Kimber...I always have, even before my injury. I know I have to make up for a lot of lost time...But I’m ready to spend the rest of my life with you”
Kimber honestly did not know what to say, she had no idea that he had these feelings for her. She didn’t want to crush Tyler but she had just never thought about him like that.
“I’m sorry Tyler, this isn’t going to be easy to hear…”
O’Malley tried to protest what Kimber was about to say
“Kimber...Please don’t do this to me” He said with tears in his eyes
Kimber powered through the guilt
“I just don’t see you in that way, besides I’m kind of dating someone right now”
“Oh don’t give me that shit Kimber!”
“Please don’t be mad”
“How the fuck am I supposed to react to this? I felt every moment of it! What I experienced was real!”
Tyler was all but bawling at this point.
“I’m sorry...And I appreciate the sentiment,but I’m afraid it’s nothing more than a daydream…” Kimber said with tears welling up in her eyes.
Tyler the rest of the way to the ground and began to sob, his cries were sharp and filled with sorrow. Kimber tried to console him but as soon as she place her hand on Tyler’s shoulder he pulled away and stood up.
“To hell with you! You could have had a great life with me, I would have given you everything you ever wanted.”
“Tyler I’m so-”
“Fuck you whore!” Tyler shouted as he stormed off.
Kimber just sat there trying to hold back tears, that hadn’t been easy to her. O’Malley had been her friend, it was a shame he was never more than that. Kimber considered calling Simon about this situation but she elected not to in the end since she didn’t want to just drop this on him. They weren’t super serious in their relationship yet and something like this would probably be seen as unnecessary baggage. Kimber just sat at her table and cried as quietly as she could.

June 2

Ashley woke up in a bright room with floral patterns painted on the wall, it was her old room. Ever since she was a little girl she lived here, when she moved out she almost forgot about it, but now it was home again. Her sister knocked on the door and entered the room, Ellis was the only one Ashley had told what happened to her.
“I made eggs!” Ellis said with a smile on her face
Deep down Ellis was frail and shocked after hearing what happened to Ashley, but she knew she had to put on a happy facade to support Ashley. Ashley groggily got up from her bed and reached for the plate of eggs Ellis was extending. 
“Thanks, I needed this” Ashley said meekly
There was an awkward silence between the two, one that was as uncomfortable as it was long. Ellis really didn’t have anything to say but didn't want to leave Ashley alone either, between Ellis and her parents Ashley had not been alone for quite some time. Out of all of her new caretakers Ashley’s dad had been affected the worst, he was more focused on getting revenge rather than helping Ashley. While Ellis was thinking about this she didn’t notice the anger crawling on Ashley’s face while she was eating the eggs. Ashley slammed the fork on her plate.
“I don’t need you looming over me 24/7 you know!” Ashley exclaimed
“Ashley, don’t do this”
“No! I’m fucking done being on suicide watch!”
Ellis didn’t want to yell back but the reflex took her by surprise
“You can’t blame us, when you came back here Mom and Dad said you were covered in filth and smelled like shit and you had cuts on your wrists! What the fuck are we supposed to do!”
“You’re supposed to help me! Not treat me like a fucking vegetable!”
“Tell me what you want then!”
“I want to leave…”
Another silent period washed over the two.
“....Where would you go?”
“I’m not sure but I just hate see you and Mom and Dad like this...I just want to leave”
“Do you know how much tha will hurt all of us, you can't just cut and run”
“Please….I need to….”
Ashley stared at Ellis with a sadness that easily broke Ellis’ guard.
“Fine, pack a bag and I’ll get you some keys for Mom’s car. Just….Just don’t make me regret this”
The two went to finish their tasks and within a few minutes Ashley was gone.

Simon and Kimber sat at the little coffee shop from where they first really met. Kimber was keeping her encounter with O’Malley a secret, Simon didn’t need to know about it, not yet at least. Simon was telling her about some prank that was pulled in his highschool, something about the principal’s car being put on the roof of the school. She found it cute how he talked with his hands, every word made his hands dance. She smiled and giggled even though she wasn’t really listening to him. Simon wasn’t being real with her either, he knew she wasn’t listening so he was just telling a fake story to fill the silence. The date ended and the two went their separate ways, both parties harboring a mix of sympathy and anger towards one another. Neither of them noticed Diego sitting behind them in the coffee shop, watching them. As Simon walked home his mind was on Kimber and not on the man following him. Diego got closer and closer to Simon, once he was close enough he pulled out the automatic knife in his pocket. Simon was deep in thought about Kimber, he hated being like this, not knowing where he stood with her. As he pulled out his phone to call her he fumbled with it and the phone fell to the ground. Diego swung the knife at Simon but right as he did Simon kneeled down to get his phone. Simon finally realized the man with a knife behind him, both were shock and shared a moment of awkwardly looking at each other. The two got over the embarrassment of the failed attempt and in a blink of the eye they both sprung into action. Simon had no weapons on him at the time so all he could do was run, Diego was carrying a gun but he didn’t want the unnecessary noise. The two sprinted, Simon was just trying to lose the man chasing him. Simon turned left at an intersection and Diego followed, As simon was looking back to check if he was putting distance between himself and Diego he ran into a group of men. He turned his collision into a stumble and ended up facing the men he had crashed into as well as the gaining Diego. One thing stuck out about the men, they were all gang members telling from the tattoos they had as well as the colored bandanas they had on them. One of the gang members who did not get knocked down by Simon pulled an old pistol from his waistband, it looked like it could barely function. Diego rushed past the man with the gun a second before he fired. The man with the gun did not hit Simon or Diego, the barrel looked crooked but it made Diego dive to the ground when he heard the gun go off. Diego moved so fluid it was almost unnatural, he somehow closed the gap between him and the gangbanger from the ground and managed to slice the man’s leg open down the thigh. By this time Simon and the rest of the five man gang group were up now, they had pulled out their weapons now. Simon decided to take this opportunity to run but he had to just take a peek at what was happening behind him. Diego was still moving as fluid as water and using the knife way more effectively than the gang members but to be fair one of them looked like they were using a black powder revolver. Diego yanked his knife out of the last one to see that Simon had escaped, he swore in spanish fled the scene himself.
=======================================================================================================================================
June 7

The buzz of the red neon lights in Simon’s secret room made him feel comfortable, it was better than the maddening silence. The past day he had shut himself in did nothing but clean his guns and worked out. If only for a moment things made sense to Simon when he was cleaning his guns, you disassembled it, worked on it, put it together again. Working out solidified his state of mind, all of his questions about the guy who tried to kill him and about Kimber just didn’t exist. But after a while he knew he had to deal with these things. He left his room and took a cold shower, it felt good, it gave him a feeling of rejuvenation but something still felt off. There wasn’t a real reason but he was thinking about how Penelope used to yell at him about how he wasn’t going anywhere in life. He usually just ignored it and took pills after she left, but now her words were given some weight, and he couldn’t figure out why. He almost killed himself after he killed her with the painkillers, but now he realized that if he died in his encounter with the assassin nothing would be left. Simon began to think about all the times he almost died, but he didn’t care, he didn’t see himself growing old. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to grow old, death never really scared or disturbed him, even his parents or penelope’s deaths affected him because he felt like he failed to keep them safe. Maybe none of this mattered. 

Ashley woke up in the seedy motel, she had been running for so long and she needed a place to rest. Beside her on the bed was her backpack from high school, that housed all of her belongings, a couple change of clothes and some cash she had taken from her parents place. She had a lot of time to accept the reality of her life not being the same, she had to deal with her actions. She also had a lot of time to think about what she was going to do to start and maintain her new life. As angry as she was at Simon and everybody else in the world, she knew that even if that were all to be resolved there would be no place for her in her old world. Her train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the motel door. 

June 8

Roberts sat at his table eating dinner, he had been interrogated at his last “visit”  with Adalbert, Travis and the good doctor were worried that Robert’s had a change of heart about the human sex dolls. After a few good cracks to his face, courtesy of Travis, Roberts explained to them that he had just been low on cash after losing his job. He wasn’t scared of those two, after the incident at the gas station Roberts felt pretty much invincible, almost god-like. He should have died in that trashy gas station but for some reason the bullets missed, he was alive and well. Maybe there was a way for him to redeem himself, all of the things he had done, could they be made up for? He looked across the table to see the lobotomized girl that he bought to avoid being killed by the german doctor. He tried to make eye contact but her glassy eyes gave no comfort to him.


Kimber knocked on Simon’s door, no answer. She knocked again, still no answer. She reached into her purse and pulled out the spare key he had given her, she unlocked the door and searched the apartment. Simon was fast asleep in his bed, she gently woke him up, he groggily came back to consciousness.
“Oh hey...whats up?” He said rubbing his eyes
“I haven’t heard from you in a while, I was worried about you”
Simon was floating in and out of lucidity, his eyes just wouldn’t stay open. Kimber got into bed with him.
“Ah you know, its been pretty wild, some guy tried to kill me a few days ago”
“What?”
“Yeah some mexican dude came at me with a knife, but don’t worry some gangbangers helped out.”
“That had something to do with you? I was seeing that all over the news”
Simon yawned and fell back asleep, Kimber was left bewildered in bed. A few minutes later she left to go get some answers.

Ashley ate her first quality meal since she left her parents house, across the truckstop diner table sat Tyler, his eyes fixed on her. The day before he tracked her down, she was the ex of that scumbag that stole Kimber away from her, he didn’t have an exact plan yet but they both had similar motivations. He kept his rage over Kimber under wraps but it was tough, she was his soulmate and she had to know it. The two would make a perfect team, Ashley thought she was over her anger but she knew it was still there, festering under the surface of her subconscious.
“I know we have mutual interests, and I think if we work together we can achieve them”
“What exactly are they?” ashley asked even though she knew,
“The woman I love is with the guy who screwed you over, I’m proposing that we make Simon go away”
“I’m listening…” ashley said taking a sip of her coffee

June 

Simon woke up with a bottle of whiskey next to him in bed, the last couple of days were a blur. He got out of bed and cleaned himself up, it felt good to shower and shave. His encounter with the assassin left him flattered and unnerved. It was nice to think that he was on the radar to the point where somebody would hire a contract killer to deal with him, but who? It unnerved him because had the chaos on the street not happened he would probably not be alive, he wasn’t going anywhere unarmed from now on. The situation also distracted Simon from his existential funk, he was curious to find out who hired this guy and more importantly he wanted to have a rematch with the assassin. Simon got dressed, took the 4506, and set out to learn more about this guy.

Diego looked at his burner phone, it had buzzed on the night table. The message “call me” read on the small screen, the message was from the police chief. Diego groggily sat up in bed and followed the instruction, the chief picked up.
“What do you want?” Diego said
“Why have I not gotten an update on your job?”
“Because nothing happened, no developments have been made”
“Well that’s a problem, I need you to get OFF YOUR ASS AND GET SOMETHING DONE” 
Diego hung up the phone, for a few seconds it was quiet again. With the same shrill tone the phone resumed ringing.
“Hel-” Diego was cut off
“If you ever hang up on me again Ill see you hang you fucking spic” the chief said in an irate but hushed tone.
“Fine, sorry” 
“I want you to meet me at the top floor of the titan hotel to discuss your progress, tomorrow at 9:00 ”
With that the chief hung up and Diego went back to sleep.