69Aoi Dragon: Not much to say other than Wes Craven owns Red Eye, and Jackson (Cillian Murphy owns himself), and Lisa (Rachel McAdams owns herself). This is my second draft of the story… the first one being hand written. I had a friend of mine read it, and she couldn't put it down… And she hasn't even seen Red Eye. I did vaguely summarize the plot for her though. Hee hee. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story.
Ch. 1 – Recollection and Obsession
Six months after that horrible flight and fight…
February, 2006, New York City, Times Square… Lisa Reisert had always dreamed of being in the middle of all that excitement, the drama and busy people. She now sat in a Starbucks café with her best friend, Cynthia. Lisa sipped her mocha and gazed up past the bright lights at the barely visible night sky. She saw the blinking lights of an airplane from the nearby airport heading for unknown destinations. She shivered, thinking again of the horrible red eye flight that had taken place six months before. She had met and defeated the notorious manager Jackson Rippner. By permission of the court and her boss, Lisa had taken an extended leave of absence from her job at the Lux Atlantic hotel in Miami to try to put all of her stress in to travel.
Just after the flight with Jackson, Lisa tried to go back to her old routine, but she soon became paranoid. She kept thinking that maybe the person in the car behind her was following her to work, or a person in the grocery store was stalking her. No matter how hard she tried not to see him, too many things reminded her of her experience with Jackson. When she saw ballpoint pens, sea breezes, bay breezes, anyone with blue eyes and brown hair, they all reminded her of Jackson. Her mind was always on him. It was hard to keep from thinking about him. He had such and impact on Lisa that, even though he was in the hospital or in police custody, Jackson Rippner still had a huge impact on her; it was starting to drive her mad.
Lisa tried therapy for several months, and her therapist had told her to get away from Miami for a while to relax and get away from the memories of the man that haunted her.
During her six months of vacation, Lisa had spent a two months in United Kingdom – she especially liked Ireland – and the rest of her time off was spent on a road trip around the United States. Lisa had traveled across the southern border, up the west coast, east through the Rocky Mountains, along the Great Lakes, and ending in New York City for the last week.
Before she arrived in New York City, Lisa called Cynthia and gave her permission to take the week off. Lisa wanted to have some company for her last seven days of freedom before she had to go back to Florida. Lisa and Cynthia went to many musicals and toured the sites of historic New York City. It was their last night in the busy city and they had made the most of it by going to the famous British musical Phantom of the Opera.
Cynthia had seen the movie version of the musical three times before it came out on DVD, and she commented on how different the Broadway version of the musical was compared to the movie version. "Lisa? Earth to Lisa! Come in Lisa." Cynthia's voice snapped Lisa out of her daze, "Are you alright?"
Lisa put her coffee cup down, "Yeah. I was just… thinking." Lisa smiled, "I guess I still have to finish telling you what happened at my Dad's house." Lisa had not told anyone the whole story with the exception of her father and the police. After becoming good friends with Cynthia over the week and knowing that they both shared in the trauma in the attempted Keefe assassination, Cynthia had gained Lisa's trust.
Lisa leaned back in her metal chair. She remembered everything that had happened at her house after fleeing from the Miami airport. Lisa had told Cynthia everything in bits and pieces, and Lisa could finally conclude her experience, "Jackson stood above me glaring at me from the first landing on the stairs. I almost smiled when I heard police sirens, but I dared not look away from him. Help is on the way. I thought. Jackson tugged at the scarf around his neck, 'We'll talk again.' He managed to rasp. I had told him not to move because I held the gun at point blank. I knew I couldn't miss my target. Apparently, Jackson didn't think I'd shoot him, so he tried to bolt towards the door. I pulled the trigger and shot him right in the stomach. The shock made him drop his knife." Lisa shivered as she remembered the look in Jackson's eyes after she shot him, "He kicked the gun out of my hand and tackled me to the floor. He pulled me up by my hair. I thought he was going to kill me. 'Hey!' I heard my Dad's voice yell, and a gun went off. Jackson released my hair as he was thrown backwards." Lisa clenched her hands in to fists, then took a deep breath, "I saw Jackson lying there, defeated, the rage still smoldering in his eyes as he glared at me from the floor… and… flickers of something I couldn't identify… maybe… betrayal? The police came and took Jackson to the hospital and did the formal paperwork."
"What a nightmare." Cynthia murmured.
Lisa took a sip of her coffee, "We had the first session for the trial was to see if charges would be pressed against me. They found no reason to charge me with anything, and I was free to go. I think Keefe had pulled some strings to let me off uncharged. I also got special permission to go to the UK for two months. Keefe and his personnel kept track of where I went in the United Kingdom. I just had to make sure I was back in time for Jackson's trial. I've been waiting for a call for the set trial date as soon as Jackson's wounds heal, but I have heard nothing." Lisa sighed, "And now, six months later, here I am in New York City with my best friend drinking coffee." Lisa smiled.
"Don't you worry that Jackson may have escaped custody?" Cynthia asked, "He sounds like a pretty smart guy from what you've told me."
"If he had, he would have found me and killed me by now. And some of his wounds were fairly severe. I doubt he's even out of the hospital yet, but with Jackson… you never know." Lisa shuddered, "He also promised to steal me… and he NEVER breaks his promises."
For the past two weeks Jackson had been searching all over the surrounding states for any sign of Lisa. He did not want to call the hotel or trap her father in to telling him where she was. That was not his style. Cynthia had also mysteriously taken leave a little over a week ago to go to New York City. It made him suspicious, but he did not follow the lead. Jackson wanted to take Lisa down not Cynthia. He wanted to kill Lisa with his own hands; to watch her squirm as he slowly tortured her to death. He wanted revenge; revenge for letting Lisa make him look like a fool in front of his superiors; revenge on himself for getting to close to his victim; revenge on Lisa for all of the wounds he had received by her hand.
Since his failure, Jackson's jobs had become much more difficult. People were watching him all the time while he was on the job and sometimes when he was not doing a job. Fortunately for Jackson, the people watching him were complete idiots and had a hard time following him. His boss would never forgive him for the loss of a valuable customer to a rival organization. The boss had almost fired Jackson, but he knew that losing Jackson's brains would be an even greater loss to the organization. The company had decided to keep him alive… for now.
In order for Jackson to get back to where he was before the botched mission, he had to plan the most complicated and vicious jobs for the next two and a half years and not fail one. One benefit of these jobs was that Jackson did not even have to leave Miami. He made the perfect plans in Miami and his subservient dogs took care of the mission while he sat in suite 4080 in the Lux Atlantic hotel trying to figure out his one and only obsession: Where is Lisa Reisert?
When he knew no one was watching Jackson drove by Lisa's small house in the suburbs of Miami to see if she had come home. When he had no luck with that, Jackson started to frequently check Lisa's father's mail to see if there were any post cards that could give him a clue as to where she was. He never opened any of the mail, for Lisa's Dad would quickly become suspicious.
The lack of Lisa's presence was starting to drive Jackson insane. His madness started when no one coming to see him at the hospital aside from the nurses, doctors and the various people that had helped him to plan his escape. So, Jackson started concentrating on his escape.
He had been trained in many techniques of how to trick doctors in to thinking their patient is in a coma. When Jackson knew he was at full health after his stitches were taken out, he refused to wake up. The doctors thought he had gone in to a coma as an aftershock to the surgery and left him with a heart and brainwave monitors. Jackson was able to wake without raising his heart rate or brainwaves. His associates distracted the nurses and doctors as Jackson escaped from the hospital.
After Jackson got out of the hospital, he went straight to Lisa's house, planning to kill her and avenge his failure only to find that she had disappeared from Miami. This was very unlike her, according to Jackson's studies of her behavior. However, her house looked like it had been abandoned for quite some time, and she had not been to work for a few weeks. Jackson's blood boiled with frustration every time his resources came up empty. He tried to calm himself by going back home to Ireland, but he continued to obsess about Lisa, thinking about her every second he was away.
Jackson waited outside her empty house in silver Mercedes. He only stayed a few hours at a time so he would not arouse suspicion in the neighbors. He leaned back and absently stroked the crescent scar left from the pen puncture wound on his neck and thought of Lisa.
The last thing he remembered seeing before passing out was Lisa, her hazel green eyes full of pity. He resented the emotions that had flickered within his heart and made him fail his last real mission. His attraction to Lisa had been very mental. She was resourceful, clever, and unpredictable, much like he was most of the time. Jackson had not expected Lisa to be like this. His study of her schedule and her behavior had told him that she would be an easy woman to deal with. She had seemed like a normal, lonely woman when he watched her for those eight weeks before the red eye flight. The mystery of her loneliness had intrigued him so much that he had postponed the original mission completion date to try to find out why Lisa was such a loner. By the time he found out the reason, it was too late. Jackson had tried to suppress his emotions, but after discovering Lisa's scar and after she told him about the rape, the only thing Jackson felt like doing was protecting her. In the end, his emotions had led to his complete and utter defeat. He had felt as if Lisa had betrayed him, but he also felt something else. Jackson decided to call this emotion towards Lisa admiration.
Smooth jazz had become Jackson's favorite music since the red eye flight. He remembered telling Lisa about his associate outside her dad's house sharpening a KA-BAR and listening to smooth jazz. Jackson also always kept his KA-BAR handy.
Jackson waited for Lisa to come back to Miami. He thought about why she had been able to unlock his emotions when no one else could. Jackson still could not fully understand his feelings that he had towards Lisa, and he knew he never would until he had seen her.
He continuously worried about her. Where was she? He often thought. Is she hurt? Does she need my help? Why has she left for so long? And many other thoughts that sometimes shocked his logical being. The most unnerving question that had come to his attention several times made him sneer at himself in disgust every time he thought of it, for why would he worry about how she felt about him? He knew that the puzzle would be complete once Lisa reappeared in Miami again.
Lisa opened her eyes. She was surrounded by darkness. The only light came from two crystalline blue orbs that were coming towards her. She started shaking; death was coming for her; death in the form of Jackson Rippner. Lisa tried to flee, but her feet were rooted to the ground. The darkness parted to show that her worst nightmare was coming true. Jackson Rippner, with an emotionless face, glided towards her with a KA-BAR in hand.
"No…" Lisa whispered, "Jackson, please… I don't want to die."
Jackson's eyes turned gentle, as Lisa backed away, "Then I will protect you." Jackson sheathed his weapon and reached out to her.
Lisa tentatively went towards him. Jackson wrapped his arms around her. She leaned against his strong chest. Jackson took her chin in his fingers and gazed in to her eyes. Gently, he captured her lips in his in a soft kiss. Lisa's eyes widened. What?
"Lisa, wake up." Lisa heard Cynthia's voice. She was shaking Lisa's shoulder, "If we don't leave soon, we'll miss our flight."
"Uhg." Lisa rolled over and out of bed, "Alright." After starting her day, Lisa soon forgot her dream about Jackson.
This was only the second time Cynthia had flown, and she got air sick easily. As they took off, Cynthia leaned over holding her stomach and groaned, "I don't feel so good."
"Suck it up." Lisa grumbled. Cynthia glanced at Lisa and noticed that her knuckles were white and she had a killer grip on the arm rests on both sides of her seat.
"Lisa," Cynthia inquired, "are you alright? What was the 'suck it up' for?
Lisa shivered slightly, "It helps me to not be afraid of flying." She explained.
"Wasn't that something Jackson said to you?" Cynthia asked.
Lisa smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, it was."
"Why do you keep thinking of that bastard?" Cynthia looked worried.
Lisa shrugged, "He made me a stronger person. Now I know I can fight back. I guess I could thank him for that." That's all I understand right now.
Aoi Dragon: Edited: March 27, 2006. R&R reminder… It's the little button on your left… no… your OTHER left… you know, the hand that makes the L? … Wait… they both make L's… Ummm… The hand that makes the L when the palm is facing away from you is your left hand… yeah. Just… R&R PLEASE!