Ultimate Weapon

Setting: At Pandora’s newest flat / 20th July 2024

Leon: Pandoraaaaa!!!! (He tackles her and pushes her against a wall. A family picture that was hanging there falls down from the impact and it shatters.) How could you do this?! HOW?!

Pandora: Hihi. So your most precious treasure you say?

Leon: Don’t piss me off!!! (He prepares to punch her but Mother stops him.)

Mother: No, Leon. You should never touch a woman like this.

Father: (Falls down to his knees) Why… why did you do this to us, my daughter…?

Pandora: (released from Leon) Because I hate you! I hate you all! And I like watching you suffer! Ahahah!!

Father: Pandora… I thought that the illness was changing you. I don’t recognize you anymore, this is not how you were before. Is the illness making you do this, too? Are you trying to hurt us so that we don’t like you anymore and therefore we wouldn’t mourn your death?? Is that what your plan is??

Pandora: Dad, you’ve gone senile. That grey hair is not just for a show, I see.

Leon: After everything our parents gave you!! After everything we did for you! We are basically homeless right now because of you!

Pandora: Mission accomplished, I guess?

Leon: Look at our dad!! He aged by 15 years in the last 18 months! He was worried about you so much! I would often find him crying in the middle of the night! You even ruined his career!

Mother: Pandora, you destroyed everything we ever worked for. (Emotionless)

Leon: Now it all makes sense. Your behavior for the past two years.

Mother: Is there something we should know?

Pandora: Yep. I hope you all drop dead so that I can live here alone. Hihi.

Father and Leon go speechless, Mother frowns and speaks calmly.

Mother: Even I know that you just crossed a line, young lady. You’re an adult now, you have to take responsibility for your actions. Get out. Get out of our home and don’t come back.

Pandora doesn’t say anything. She goes to her bedroom and leaves her family be. Leon grits his teeth. Her Mother is still facing the wall where Pandora stood, unwavering. Father is on his knees and tears flow down his eyes.

Father: Where did everything go wrong? What should have we done? Did we fail as parents?

Leon: No way! You raised me, I would never do something like this! It’s not your fault. It’s hers. She’s been possessed by a devil himself…

Father: What are we going to do now?

Leon: I don’t know. She destroyed my future. I bet everything on my business and I sold it. With no higher education, what am I supposed to do now with my life?

Pandora comes out of the room just with a small bag pack.

Pandora: I still have enough cash to survive for a long time. You did fund me royally when you thought I was about to pop off, hihi.

Leon turns his head slightly Pandora’s way. She heads for the door but the family dog starts jumping at her again, barking. The others don’t see what is going on in the hall, they just hear the barking.

Pandora: (whispering to the dog) Aww, my good boy~. I won’t leave you here with them, you can’t stay here. Come with me~.

She opens the door and slams it.

Setting: At the psychologist / present

Doctor: I rooted for your brother to hit you hard. You deserved it.

Pandora: Did you find your new favorite character?

Doctor: You really are a brat. From the perspective of your family, everything that transpired was beyond cruel. You lied to them for 1 and a half year that you were terminally ill. That can break anybody.

Pandora: After that, I had nowhere to go really. I stopped coming to the school, saying that I moved out back to the Village. I could go to Grandpa’s house in the Village but since there were issues with my Mother’s brother, I didn’t want to risk being found and getting him involved. And I didn’t want to spend the money on hotels. So the only solution was…

Setting: Village, apartment building / 20th July 2024

Pandora knocks on a certain familiar door, when it opens, Benimaru is shown.

Benimaru: Pando-

Pandora suddenly kisses him on the lips, much to Benimaru’s surprise. She keeps kissing him, Benimaru closes his eyes and enjoys what is going on. He squeezes her bottom and pulls her inside. She grabs his arms and stops him.

Pandora: That’s enough, you filthy bastard.

Benimaru: What are you up to this time?

Pandora: From today, I am living with you.

Benimaru: …huh?

Pandora: Oh, and it’s not just me. Come here, little boy! (she faces the open door)

Her dog Lucky comes inside.

Benimaru: Woah, woah, woah! No animals allowed here!!

Pandora: Awww, what a pity. In that case, I will go find somebody else… (she takes Lucky and pretends to leave)

Benimaru: Damn! Okay, fine! The dog can stay! Will you explain what’s going on??

The scene changes as now they both drink a cup of tea in the dining room that is connected to the kitchen.

Benimaru: I see. So you lied to your family and destroyed their lives. Why did you do that? You even wanted me to get back to your mother.

Pandora: I am not obliged to tell you anything about my reasons.

Benimaru: You’re evil. I like it a lot. (he sticks out his tongue)

Pandora: Don’t disgust me even more. … So here are my rules. I will stay here and you can pretend we’re lovers in front of your friends, if you have any. I won’t mind kissing you from time to time or changing my clothes in front of you but you will never touch me without my consent. Also, absolutely no sex.

Benimaru: Tsk. Why are you even here then?

Pandora: I can leave.

Benimaru: No! Stay…

Pandora: Heh.

Benimaru: You’ve got some nerve, coming here with all these rules. What makes you so certain I won’t try anything while you are here?

Pandora: Do I look stupid to you? I made preparations. I gave this address to my friend. I told him I would send him a message twice a day. If I fail to do so even once, he will go to the police. I made sure he has your photos, full name, and other stuff that would help the police identify you quicker than you could pull down your pants.

Benimaru: Wahahah! This is gonna be one hell of a ride!

Pandora: And now, if you’ll excuse me.

She stands up and takes her bag pack, she opens the door but finds a bathroom. She opens another door and finds a messy bedroom with a double bed. She looks around and sees just a sofa and a TV in the other room that is connected to the dining room and a kitchen. Pandora realizes that the flat has just one bedroom.

Pandora: W-where is my room?

Benimaru: Looks like you’ll be sleeping with me~.

Pandora: Like hell I will! You’re sleeping on the couch! (She enters the bedroom and slams the door. After a few seconds, she opens it and yells.) I am sleeping with a stun gun, one wrong move and you’re a fried meat! (slams the door again)

Setting: At the psychologist / present

Doctor: Did you decide to throw away your pride after the break-up with Valdo?

Pandora: Vulcan … I mean, there was no other choice at the time. And I still needed that bastard Benimaru for my plans.

Doctor: How long have you been living with him?

Pandora: For a couple of days.

Doctor: Who was the friend you were talking about?

Pandora: That was just a bluff.

Doctor: Oh.

Pandora: Do I really need to spell out everything for you? Just how simple are you, woman?

Doctor: You’re not paying me for degrading me. This is no OnlyHand.

Pandora: Anyway, the first night, I got a lot of messages from Mother, asking where I took our dog. I didn’t respond.

Doctor: And what about your Father and Leon?

Pandora: Mother said she was writing to me on behalf of my Father as well. But she wrote that Leon decided to go work overseas. I knew that with no future in this country, that was his only option. And so that incident when he wanted to punch me was the last time I saw my brother…

Doctor: And the parents? You think that the parents pillar was not destroyed after all of this?

Pandora: I felt that my parents still didn’t give up on me. I hurt them quite a lot but it wasn’t enough. They were my parents after all. It’s not easy to stop loving your own child.

Doctor: Oh but is it easy to never start liking you.

Pandora: I’m not paying you for degrading me.

Doctor: I know. Long-term clients get it for free.

Pandora: After a couple of days, the messages stopped coming from my parents. I realized the elections were approaching and so I called the journalist I gave the short interview to before and asked him to meet me.

Setting: Village, a certain restaurant / 24th July 2024

Pandora and the Journalist sit on a coffee on an outside terrace of the restaurant. The Journalist has a recording device on while he asks questions.

Journalist: So, Ms. Pandora, why did you decide to give another interview?

Pandora: My dad is a horrible person. And I wanted the whole nation to know that a politician like this should never get another chance to govern this country!

Journalist: So what happened?

Pandora: After I told the truth to you before about him getting involved in my school, he beat me at home. Then he got gradually more and more violent with me to a point when he couldn’t even talk to me in a normal tone. He was always raising his voice or screaming. After I finally stood up to him, he made me leave home. Now I am living by myself…

Journalist: That’s a horrible thing to experience, especially for a young girl like you. Why didn’t you file a criminal complaint against him with the police?

Pandora: I was worried about my Mother. I didn’t want him to hurt her. But I would like to say one last thing to the citizens of this country. The future is in your hands, please do not vote for my Father!

The live interview scene changes from the real life event to a TV reportage that Pandora and Benimaru watch together in their living room.

Benimaru: That was savage. Hehe.

Pandora: I didn’t ask for your opinion. Hehe. (sarcastically imitating him)

A message pops up in Pandora’s phone. It is from her Mother.

Mother: (in the message) Pandora. Why all the lies? Didn’t you hurt your Father enough? When are you going to stop?

Pandora: (replying to the message) I am having fun~.

In a fantasy, Pandora sits with crossed legs while she watches the pillar connected to the statue of her little self crack further.

Setting: Village, Benimaru’s flat, living room / 25th July 2024

Pandora and Benimaru watch the news on the TV again.

Benimaru: Where’s the dog today?

Pandora: Shut up and watch the TV.

A certain man in a suit is having a press conference in front of the journalists.

The man: With all the accusations of the member of our political party, as its leader, I must defend our name. We cannot have among us anybody who uses political power for his own benefit and domestic violence for his own frustrations. We are firing Mr. Kazuo.

Father is revealed to be called Kazuo. Pandora receives another message from her Mother.

Mother: (in the message) I know you’re watching it. Do you see what you caused? Your Father was delivered a letter today from his leader. He collapsed upon reading it. Right now the ambulance is taking him to the hospital.

Pandora: (replying to the message) Awww, what a pity. (She takes a picture of Benimaru next to her and sends the photo to her Mother) But I have a better man for you anyway. (winking emoticon)

Setting: At the psychologist / present

Pandora: My Father was almost finished. There was nothing else I could individually do to him. All I could do was to unleash my ultimate weapon, Benimaru. But I had my doubts since my Mother was fending off all of my attacks like a freaking cheater in an RPG.

Doctor: I’ve had my suspicions but after gathering more data from you, I am certain now.

Pandora: Did you figure it out?

Doctor: Your Mother… she has a certain… disorder, doesn’t she?

Pandora: That’s right. Took you long enough to notice.

Doctor: Alexithymia.

Pandora: A rare condition when a person is unable to recognize, identify or describe any emotions. My Mother is the most serious case, she is not able to feel anything whatsoever. When you try to hurt somebody, how do you do that if they can’t feel mental pain? And so she became the last obstacle on the road to my death. The final antagonist.

CHAPTER 21: END

Author’s note: The story heads towards its climax! Only three chapters left!