Spanner 9.1: The Morning After

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Chaos Angel Spanner — Chapter 9: The Girl You Want
Part 1: The Morning After (Revision 3)

Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex.
Karl Marx

There is always some madness in love.
But there is also always some reason in madness.
Friedrich Nietzsche

22 september 2014.
daybreak. It is a dark and stormy night. Leila struggles against the strong wind. She feels that she has always been struggling against the wind. Suddenly she realizes that there’s a monster following her. Right now he is the size of a man. But he is growing. When she sees him, she realizes with a shock that she is dreaming.

Wherever she goes, the monster finds her. And it grows even bigger. She hides inside a building. The monster grows yet bigger still; he tears the building off its foundation and throws it away. He reaches down and grabs her in his hand. She struggles in the hand of a giant. And the monster becomes a Spectre in the form of a huge man in dark glasses, and — Shira suddenly appears in Leila’s dream—

“Leila, watch out! He’s Traced you!”

Shira steals the dark glasses from Henry Becket’s face and throws them behind her. His ice blue eyes go wide. She lights up brighter than a thousand suns. He screams in pain like a demon-tortured sinner at the sight of the light. Leila activates her Shield and Repulses him into the next dimension—

—and they wake up together, locked into a tight embrace. The bright morning sun smiles upon them through the window blinds. Leila’s eyes are wide in shock. Shira stares deep into them. They remain motionless, staring at each other, wrapped in each other’s arms, for what seems an eternity.

Leila’s body begins to tremble. Her face takes on an expression of sweet agony. Then she closes her eyes, pulls Shira close, holds her as tight as she can, and kisses her more passionately than she has ever kissed anyone in her young life.

In the shower, Shira soaps Leila’s body slowly with her hands, over and over, at first to make her smooth white skin clean and shiny, but soon enough simply for pleasure. Leila sighs, “I’m sorry...”

“All that matters is that you’re here with me now.”

“I don’t wanna live for myself anymore. I gave you my heart, my soul, and my body. I belong to you. From now on, I wanna live only for you.”

Shira gets down on her knees and kisses Leila’s right breast. Leila squeals then giggles. “What about Oliver?”

Leila grins maliciously. “Fuck Oliver. I want him to know about us. I want him to know that I belong only to you. I want that worm to squirm.”

“I bet he’ll run to Grampa Wally and tell on you like the spoiled brat he is.”

She brings Shira up to her feet and kisses her sweet soft lips. “I don’t care if the whole world knows. Let them freak. Let Jesus America try to kill us. I belong to you, not him or Grampa Wally.”

“Would you even be willing to kill for our love?”

“O love of my life, for you I’d gladly destroy the world.”

school lobby. “Say, weren’t you dead?” says the wide-eyed front-door guard when he sees Leila arrive with Shira, Jennifer, and Polly.

“I don’t look dead,” Leila replies, “if that’s what you mean.”

The guard says nothing more and lets her in with the group. Once they pass the front door into the lobby, Leila holds out her hand so Shira can hold it. Shira takes it and smiles at her. Leila beams happily back. They walk hand in hand into the lobby.

When Fiona spots Leila, she screams and throws herself into her sister’s arms. “Leila!” she sobs. “Why do you keep doing this to me?”

Leila holds Fiona as tight as she can and cries. “I’m sorry. I hurt too much.” Fiona kisses her gently on the lips. Shira embraces Fiona from behind and kisses her on the cheek. They attract a crowd of classmates, either happy that Leila survived or curious about her self-destructive reputation. Rob pushes his way through the crowd, puts his arms around his sisters, and cries together with them.

cafeteria. Charmian and her sister Christian confer with Bart. “I hope you girls have brought me good news,” says Bart.

“She just threw herself off the bridge last night,” Christian replies proudly.

“Good. That dirty whore’s out of our hair at last.”

Shira laughs at them.

Bart and the Fleer sisters look back to see Shira grinning at them in triumph. Leila stands next to her, alive, glaring at the Fleer sisters with absolute hatred. Fiona stands behind them. Shira has her arm around Leila. “I saved her myself. You lose.”

Leila tries to rush the group when Fiona grabs her from behind. “Leila! Please don’t!” Leila falls limp in her sister’s arms and lets out a huge sigh of frustration.

Rob strides by his sisters with revenge on his face. He stops in front of Christian.

“What did I do?” says Christian, feigning innocence.

Rob punches her. She hits the wall behind her hard and slumps to the floor, staring back at him in disbelief.

Charmian screams and tries to stop him. He hits her in the jaw with an upward elbow smash, sending her stumbling backward. She lands hard, barely avoiding a concussion, and stares at him like he’s a maniac.

Bart tries to grab Rob. “What is the meaning of—”

Rob kicks Bart in the groin. The Head Boy doubles over in pain and tries to protect his crotch. “Rape!” He spins to plant a flat-footed back kick in Bart’s face, breaking his nose and sending him reeling. “It’s how you became Head Boy in the first place!” He grabs Bart by the neck, slams him against the wall, chokes him with both hands, fixes him with a death glare; Bart vainly struggles to loosen his enemy’s grip. “If you, your goons, or your harem even so much as harm one more hair on my sister’s head, I’ll tear you limb from limb. If Leila doesn’t kill you first!” He releases his death grip.

Bart puts his hands to his throat and struggles to breathe. “I tell you, I didn’t rape your sister! I’m a man of honor!”

Rob throws back his head and laughs. “Some honor! You’ll be Reno Corson’s bitch in Hell!” He walks away.

As Bart staggers back, Charmian picks herself up and runs to his side with concern. “Darling, are you all right?” He can only stare back at Rob. For the first time, an opponent has made him fear for his life.

Christian comes up to Rob and holds his hand. “Why? Don’t you love me?”

Rob shakes his hand free of hers. His smile is more devastating than his look of hatred. “Why indeed. I could never love you, you inbred little worm.” Christian gasps in horror. He pushes her hard into Charmian and Bart. “Get the hell away from us, you parasites!”

The three stare back at the Shelley twins in shock. Shira says, “You people have already given me everything I need to destroy you with. Leila belongs to me now, so I suggest you leave her alone from now on. Capiche?” She gestures for Fiona to let go and takes Leila into her arms. Defiantly, Leila plants a passionate kiss on Shira’s lips. The mean girls and Tournament Leaders watch on helplessly.

principal’s office. Shira enters followed by her lawyer cousin Angela. Jennifer keeps the door slightly open so she can listen. Falconer barks, “What do you want, Thomas?” The Principal only smiles nervously at Angela.

“Oh, that murder attempt you nearly pulled off last night?”

“I don’t have the slightest idea what the hell you’re talking about. Get out!”

Angela stomps up to the desk and glares at Falconer. “She’s here with me, Falconer, not the other way around. You will listen to her because if you don’t, I’ll take you to court and get you convicted of conspiracy to commit sexual assault. Because face it, you’ve been covering up for your gangster boyfriends Green, Corson, and Skeever. Continue, Shira.”

Shira grins. “I’m afraid that without disposing of the victim, the coverup cannot succeed. Jen?”

Jennifer opens the door. Slowly, deliberately, Leila walks through, keeping her eyes fixed on Falconer with utter hatred. The Major gasps. So that Falconer doesn’t miss a single word, Angela says, “You seem to think...Major...that driving people to suicide is perfectly legal. For that matter, you’ve been acting as if rape is perfectly legal as long as one of your darlings commits it. How very Corporate. From now on, we will consider this a serious weakness in the eyes of the Law. You, more than anyone else, should know that the Law never, ever forgives.”

The Principal sweats even harder. “So w-what do we—”

Falconer slaps him on the top of his head. “Shut up! You have no legal standing, Miss Coyne. You will leave now.”

“Or what? You will call the police? I’ve informed them. The governor? He is not happy with you right now. There is one way you can save yourself, Major, and that is by betraying your Head Boyfriend. Turn him in to the police for aiding and abetting the rape of Leila Shelley... or we will publicize the suspicion that your Head Boy may be your ‘darling’ in a more literal sense. You don’t want scandals. So which is it?” To the girls: “You may go now.”

Shira kisses Leila, takes her hand, and leads her out. Jennifer leaves with them. The door shuts behind them, leaving the principals alone with the most dangerous lawyer in Cascadia.

homeroom. In the five minutes between the first two bells, Shira and Leila meet with Mr Whitmer in his office. Leila says, “She saved my life last night, then made love to me, and now I’m falling in love with her. What do I do?”

Shira holds her tight from the side and gently rocks her. “I couldn’t stop myself. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her three years ago, and now I can’t afford to lose her.”

Mr Whitmer asks them, “Have you ever heard of ‘mad love’?”

Leila glares at him. “As in obsession so insane it destroys both partners? Sorry, Mr Whitmer, but I’ve had enough madness for a lifetime.”

“It could turn out like that if you’re not careful, or if you’re too careful.”

“Oh, great...”

“But the Surrealists who came up with the concept of l’amour fou were not just artistic innovators. They were political revolutionaries. Their leader, André Breton, even cowrote a manifesto with no less a revolutionary than Leon Trotsky. L’amour fou means to give yourselves over so completely to your desire for one another that your love actually damages the social fabric. Your quest for personal liberation through extreme love can actually lead to the destruction of society altogether.”

“Hmmm,” says Shira, “I think he’s got a point.”

“Think about it. Different races, different classes, same gender. Society thinks your love for each other is complete madness anyway.”

Leila looks at Shira. “Love so intense, to the edge of madness, it can destroy society itself...”

Shira smiles. “Let’s do it!”

“I don’t know...”

“You’re having second thoughts already?”

Mr Whitmer puts his hands on their shoulders. “Think about what I said.” Just then, the bell rings. Time for class.

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Copyright © 2011 Dennis Jernberg. Some rights reserved.

[Revision 2, 7/23/11: Rob/Bart scene added to fit with the end of Part 7.6. Corrected text errors.]
[Revision 2.1, 9/28/11: More text corrections.]
[Revision 3.0, 10/6/11: New shower scene to fit Third Revision continuity.]
[Revision 3.1, 10/13/11: Added new replacement chapter epigraphs and a new final scene to introduce a major theme of the Third Revision continuity.]
[Revision 3.2, 10/23/11: Edited to fit new Third Revision continuity, replaced placeholder quotation; text revisions and corrections.]