Demons [Eddie Brock] Venom

23. Guilt

Eddie couldn't believe his whirlwind of a day; he told himself he was losing it, that he was truly going insane. But, he could locate when it all started, when he broke into the Life Foundation. He got confirmation from Dr. Skirth that she was okay, but he wondered how long that would remain. His thoughts, as he meandered home after Anne and her dumb boyfriend brought him to the hospital, went to Rory.

Guilt flooded him as he recalled the look on her face when he told her what he had done. Years of fears she pushed down and fought and overcame, he brought back with one stupid decision. And it was stupid, though he did it in a slightly jealous retaliation, made that Drake ruined everything for him; now looking back, he was moving on from his previous life, what drove him to do this?

He thought of Rory again, wishing that she had been enough, but other than her, nothing was going well in his life. No work, he lived for his work, bills piling up that he would never be able to pay off. It was adding up and wearing him thin, and he finally snapped when he found out Anne had already given some other guy a key to her apartment.

But then again, he gave Rory a key.

He justified that it was different.

"It's not."

Eddie made a loud exclamation that turned heads as he approached the apartment. He shuddered, ignoring the voice in his head. Was it his voice? No, he wasn't certain, but he didn't think it was his. He had never showed signs of Schizophrenia but perhaps he was predisposed and something that happened that night at the Life Foundation caused it to come out.

"Wrong."

"Oh, get out," he growled as he walked into the apartment building. His mind travelled to how he ran through the Life Foundation like a feral animal, with strength no human being could possess. Looking up the stairs, he wondered if he could do it again, but forced the thoughts away. No, now he was just being crazy.

"Hey!" A voice growled from up the stairs.

Eddie snapped his head up and saw Mike, and something inside him reacted.

"Your little bitch got me evicted!" He waved a piece of paper at Eddie. "She won't open her fucking door, but I guess I'll have to take it out on you."

Eddie's first thought was that Rory had left, and everything in him seemed to freeze over. Then he was angry, angry that there were people like Mike in the world. They didn't deserve to be in the same space as people like Rory. His lip raised in a disappointed disgust, that a majority of men were like this, or even if they weren't, that women had to assume every man was like Drake and Mike.

"I got this."

Eddies body was thrust forward and his shoulder made contact with Mike's chin. The other man stumbled, tripping on the stairs and hitting his head on the stairs, then tumbled down. Eddie had to jump out of the way to not be taken down with him, and his body leapt in a way he knew wasn't physically plausible. He watched as Mike was still on the platform at the bottom of the set of stairs, and backed away, nearly tripping himself on the stairs and then asking the voice in his head with a quiver. "What the hell did I just do?"

"You like your bitch, he insulted her."

"Do not... call her that." Eddie could not believe he was speaking back to the voice in his head, encouraging it, but there was truly no ignoring that demonic growl in there.

"Fine."

Eddie ran the rest of the way up the stairs, then knocked on Rory's door. There was indeed no answer and he knew she was gone. He didn't blame her, not for one second, not after what he dreaded was happening to him. Whatever was in his head, he hoped Dan could figure it out, get it out. But whatever he did at the Life Foundation would to have its consequences, and he didn't want to drag Rory into it more than he already did.

Retreating to his own apartment now, his phone rang. It was Anne. He quickly answered, and she frantically warned him that he had a parasite, and that he needed antibiotics. Dan was there too, explaining it, but the voice in Eddie's head had something to say about that.

"Parasite?!"

"Not now!" Eddie growled.

"Who are you talking to? Is there someone there with you?" Anne asked.

"Uh, no, I can't talk right now." Eddie hung up the phone and shoved it into his jean pocket.

"Eddie?" Rory stepped out of the bedroom, eyes bloodshot and her face pallid.

Eddie looked at her, trying to see if she was really there or if she was just a part of his imagination right now. He was certain she would have fled San Francisco by now, but here she was, looking terrified and shrunken in on herself, waiting for him. He stepped up to her without realizing it, then embraced her, hands holding her tight against him as he realized he was terrified for his life as much as hers. He was trying to ignore the voice in his head, but he simply couldn't pretend that it was going to all go away; but the fact Rory was here, safe, waiting for him, it made things feel like they might be okay if just for a moment.

"Rory, you have no idea how glad I am to see you," he mumbled into her hair. She smelled of some apple scented shampoo. He finally broke apart from her, noticing she was crying lightly. "Look, Ror, I'm real sick... I think maybe..."

"Let's go." Rory looked up at him. "Leave with me."

The offer was disgustingly tempting.

"There's something in my head."

"We'll figure it out." She leaned her head against his chest. "Look, we stay and we both get hurt. But we can leave, we can just run."

"Okay," he agreed. He could leave it all behind, because he stayed for... for nothing. He didn't need to stay in this city, he didn't need to stay for Anne- she moved on. He had no job, nothing was holding him here.

"Do not open that door."

"What?" Eddie asked.

"I didn't say anything," Rory replied, wiping her tears.

A knock echoed through the room, hard and violent.

"Eddie... Eddie don't answer that," Rory begged.

"Listen to her. She has way more common sense than you."

Eddie walked to the door anyways, ignoring both Rory and that voice in his head. He opened the door and there was no one there, and then suddenly he was attacked. Thrown back into his apartment, he cast one apologetic glance at Rory as he realized what he did to her; what was going to happen to her?

"I told you so."

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Okay I have a few things to say; one, I haven't seen the movie in a while, so the dialogue from the film will not be accurate until I own the DVD and can edit this story. So bear with me while I sort of... wing it. 

I'm open to people telling me what is actually said, and I can just edit it in, but I will also be avoiding using TOO much movie dialogue/scenes because I want to write my own stuff, not just rewrite the film. 

I will try to see Venom for a fourth time, I promise.