The Differences Between Surviving And Raised To Be

(Note, this story is a continuation of Ten To Midnight on January Seventh, however the two can be read by themselves as well. The story also contains a reference of suicidal thoughts)

Micha was standing there, hunched over panting. It was as if he ran a marathon, pumped with a thrilling adrenaline nothing else could replicate. 'Save for what I've just done.. Of course..' He thought to himself, attempting to straighten his posture, drawing himself to reality. The sound of Harley's laugh entered his ears.

"Oh you're so bloody, Micha!" She hollers, her wide excited eyes meeting his, her brown hair had turned rusty after their activity. His mouth twitched in response to her words.

"You're one to talk." He barked. "Now move, I'm not done." He says officially standing straight. She rose a brow at him, her hands on her hips.

"What did ya just say?" Harley asks eyeing him up and down. "We have a deal, Micha. You get to kill men like your daddy and I get to play with 'em-" Micha started to walk towards her. "And you killed the guy," She says taking a step back, folding her arms over her chest. "So let me clean him up and put him in my fucking shop."

Micha felt that frustration wriggle and twist inside of him again, making it feel like he would burst at the seams if he didn't do something about what he felt. And this was the only release he's found: not even what his wife Sally suggested helped. Only this did. And he wanted more- no, he needed more. "I'm. Not. Done." He repeats staring down at her.

He saw a flicker of fear pass through her eyes, and a tang of regret pumped through him. He swallowed it down however, he knew Harley, he knew her games. "Micheal, we had a deal." She says sternly, her familiar playful cat like eyes turning to that of a dragon. "You don't want to break a deal with me." Harley says, taking a step close to him. He couldn't help but let out a loud laugh at that.

"I don't want to break a deal with you?" He scoffed. Micha's expression matched Harley's: shocked, and terrified. He couldn't believe he's just said that. A grin came to his face though. He liked that he said that. He stood up for himself, in a small way, just then. "You don't want to fuck with me." Micha says with a low growl, his hand gripping around the crowbar that killed the man between the two: their vent. Their artwork.

Harley let out a laugh this time. "Oh shite Micha! You think because you've killed a few men you can come against me, huh? Huh?" She asks, her eyes growing more and more deranged as the seconds passed. Micha didn't mind though, he merely smiled. His instinct to was right as well: because that smile of his, made Harley falter. "What's so fucking great, Micha, huh?" She barks, running a hand through her hair. He rotated his fist, swinging the crowbar.

"Oh I don't know, Harley." He says softly. "I think I cracked." His voice dropped to a whisper. The woman blinked, and much more than just a flicker of fear moved through her eyes. Micha knew he wouldn't touch her, he wouldn't even yell at her: he would never be like his father. But Harley didn't need to know that. Micheal would do whatever he wanted to get to mess this guy up more. To ensure that his daughters and his husband would never have to know the pain and suffering of an abusive father.

Micha walked closer and closer to her. And that lovely, lovely paralyzing fear that often held their prey in place, overtook dear Harley. "I think you've made me like him." He says, just above a whisper, ever so close to her face. And just like that, Michael broke her. The all powerful, the all knowing, the all deadly Harley, fell to her knees in tears. Begging for life.

In seemingly seconds Micha dropped the crowbar, the metallic sound making Harley flinch and whimper. He turned and lunged towards the dying man who couldn't process anything at all, and picked him up with all his might. Micha groaned a little at the sudden need for strength, but nonetheless started to drag the bastard towards Harley's van.

Harley let out a terrible agonizing scream when she caught sight of Micha. "You fucking bastard! He's mine! We made a deal!" She howled so many things as she started to run towards him. A pinch of remembrance of his father came into Micha, making him pause.

She grabbed the crowbar, and that pause showed just how deadly that mistake was. Within seconds Harley was on top of Micha and the most likely dead man the two killed together.

Micha twisted and turned, using the dead man as a shield. He threw the man onto her too, ensuring he could start running from the lady. The two scrambled, fought and ran from one another for what seemed to be an eternity before Harley gained control of the situation once more. She tackled Michael, she tackled him and like a baseball player would bat a ball, Harley made her former friend and partner in crime into mere mush.

Attempting to wipe his blood off of her face, but really only smearing it, Harley stood up panting and soaked in sweat. "He's really far from his daddy, huh.." She says to herself, the sky and the Heavens, her eyes searching for something within the clouds. Harley lets out a long heavy sigh, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry Sally." She whispers to herself. "But he just hadda go." She looks towards the ground dropping the crowbar. She lets out another sigh, making her way towards her van.

She eyes the bits of blood as she made her way there, feeling vines of cold shame bolt up through her. Flashes of her life before all of this coming to her. The cold days where red was the only color she could see. The days where she screamed "No father, no!" and the days where she told her brother she dreamed of dying, leaving this world behind.

The days where she limped all the way to school and back. The days where she stared at the sky feeling nothing in her head and feeling everything done to her. The days where she felt excited at the sight of blood. The days where she-

It was October twenty second. Harley was running home with a smile on her face, one that was as bright as the Sun itself. She made a few new friends during lunch, and couldn't wait to tell her brother about it all. It was a pretty day out too, maybe she, her brother and her new friends could go out and play in a local park nearby. She knew her brother would like that.

For what seemed to be forever, she finally made it her way home. Zipping up her excitement and smile, she opened the door to her house zooming her way through. She put her things in their proper places, remembering her mother's scolding and spankings whenever she didn't do such.

Harley wandered throughout the house, picking things up and reorganizing them. "Mother, father, brother!~" She calls out in that famous sing song voice of hers. "I'm home!~" She couldn't help but giggle, making her way to the halls. The eerie silence of not even a slam of a door greeting her, starting to snake it's way to her ears, making chills go down her tiny little spine.

"Mother, father, brother, I'm home!~" She repeats again, in that lovely voice of hers. She quickens her pace a little, anxiety seeping into her entire being. "Mother, father, brother!" Harley calls out. And just like the previous two times, no one answered her. None at all.

Fear hit her then, finally. Her calling out to her family members in joy of today's earlier events quickly turned to terrified shouts of a child. Harley checked and opened every open room, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, the game room. And then she checked the ones with doors, the bathrooms, the bedroom she shared with her brother, the guest rooms and then last but not least, her parents room.

The panicked steps turned to one of moving through concrete as she approached her parents room. The silence infecting her with dread and a paralyzing fear that not even her mother or father ever caused within her. She took deep breaths as she put her hand on the doorknob, and even more when she twisted her hand and pulled it towards her. "Mother...? Father...? Brother...?" She calls out in a whisper-y shaky breath.

As she walked further and further into the room, she continued to call out into the darkness. Harley found a pool of blood, and she screamed. And more screams came from her as she learned of more and more blood splattered around the room. Harley started to slip and fall within her panic and fear growing, her voice rising and rising. Her calls for her family simply turning into calls for her brother William as she found their bodies, one... By one... By one...

Harley inhaled deeply shoving her hands onto the cool metal of the van, her heart making her feel as if she ran three marathons in a row. Her eyes turning to what she used to call the rage of her father and the despise of her mother. Her lips curled up into a snarl and with a single short growling howl a storm of fists rained down on her vehicle, her shouts to the police coming to reality here and now.