Author's Note: This is a modified version of a piece of fiction I wrote for my sophomore literature class (in case anybody is interested in knowing). I will be including the final part of this in Chapter 2 which I will refer to as "The Good Ending". However, if you want to, you can just stop reading with this chapter. I would've ended it with what I have here if I didn't need to include a good ending to avoid any awkwardness with my teacher. Please be sure to review after you're done reading the story. I do not own Dragon Ball Z…if I did Raditz would've been around for a lot longer than he was…
I'm not what you might think. I may seem like an average teenager but, as the daughter of the great Hercule Satan, my life has been anything but normal. Unfortunately, being a crimefighter wasn't the only way I differ from everyone else. There was a darker side of me, I side I tried to hide so no one would have to worry about someone as pathetic as me. I wasn't always as devoid of hope as I am now. There was I time when I confidently believed that I deserved to exist. Despite this my life has been nothing but a torrent of pain and misery without a mother to care for me and a father who only did what was necessary to keep the media at bay. My life descent into oblivion all began the day I was born…
-Flashback to 17 years before present day-
"Congratulations Mr. Satan your wife has just given birth to a healthy girl." The doctor informed my father. My father's eyes began to well up with tears of joy until the doctor told him of the next piece of news. "However, giving birth took a lot out of your wife Mr. Satan. Unable to take the strain, she passed away shortly after giving birth to your daughter." The doctor stated with remorse. The doctor went on to say that her death was caused by cancer that had weakened her to such a feeble state, but my father didn't care. My father had already decided that I was the only reason why she was no loner with us.
"Thank you doctor." my father sharply retorted with malice evident in his voice. His burly hands were clenching together into tight fists struggling to hold back the urge to kill me for my sin. From that day forward my father had raised me the best he could, trying desperately to hide his resentment of my existence. Things had been going relatively well up until 11 years later when my father let me know exactly how he felt.
-Flashback to 6 years before present day-
It was 8:49 P.M. and I had just finished my homework for my English class. It had seemed to me that ever since I had become known as "The champ's daughter" I felt I could only find freedom from his shadow in my studies. The only one who ever truly cared about me for who I was had been my friend Son Gohan. Aside from my social troubles, I was relatively happy with my life in Hercule City up until the day when I found out what had become of my mother.
"Goddamn it you little piece of shit where are ya!" My father yelled in a drunken rage evident by his slurred speech.
"I'm up here dad!" I yelled from my room in the attic. I guess my father had come home from a bar yet again after finsihing up from another of his exhibition tours which, as far as I could tell, he only did for his publicity rather than his fans. Oh, if only the world could see this side of their champion.
"Get yer ass down here…NOW!" my father roared in a feral fury. I rushed downstairs to the living room not wanting to make my father any angrier than he already was. In the few seconds I had taken to get downstairs from my room my father had taken a seat in one of the black leather chairs in the corner of the living room. He cleared his throat and began to talk in an eerily quiet and deceptively serene voice.
"You've wanted to know why you don't have a mother haven't you?" My father inquired snidely.
"Yes sir!" I answered quickly lest I put him back into a rage. My father started to stand up and walk over to the bottom of the stairs where I had been standing in anticipation.
"It's all your fault you know..." my father said in an irritated voice.
"Wha…?" I mumbled out shocked at what my father had told me. At this point he was standing right in front of me. I was easily able to distinguish the stench of beer in his breath.
"I said it's all your fault you goddamn whelp! Your mother gave her life giving birth to you!" As soon as what my father said had managed to hit me so did he. The punch he sent into my gut caused me to drop to my knees winded and in shock.
As soon as I began trying to get to my feet to demand that he tell me this wasn't true I felt another strike on the back of my neck. As I desperately tried to recover my father sneered at my apparent weakness. I tried mumbling out a plea for him to stop but all I could muster was a whimper. "Shut the hell up!" My father roared seconds before he kicked me in the side clearly no longer satisfied with the damage his last attack had done. The last thing I saw before everything faded to black was my father staggering to his room. From that day forward my mental state had begun to deteriorate. It wasn't until 5 years later when things had gotten worse.
-Flashback to 1 year before present day-
There I was sitting with knife in hand on my bathroom floor. Since it was only 3:30 P.M. I knew I had another 5 hours before my father returned home and engaged in his daily ritual of beating the hell out of me. I grabbed the brown handle of the knife I had purchased to "replace a broken one" and began examining the blade. I couldn't believe what I was going to do so I tried to procrastinate by looking around the bathroom and taking everything in, the shower in the corner, the toilet, even the sink and the snow white walls. Upon convincing myself that all I'd heard of self-abuse pain making everything else disappear I managed to summon up enough "courage" to proceed.
After what seemed like a mere couple of moments I took the knife and slowly began to slash my right leg feeling a surge of pain course through my body. It was unbelievable! The pain I felt just seemed to make everything else disappear. I wanted to keep feeling like this, even if it was a little bit of a hassle to clean up all of the blood. I decided that after school, while my father wasn't home, I'd cut my pale white flesh and manage to fill my mind with nothing but the pain. This brings me to the here and now.
-Present Day-
I was on my way to school when Gohan saw me and decided to walk beside me on my way to school. "Hey Videl! How's it going? I was wondering if you'd maybe…um…like to…do something on Friday." Gohan stumbled through what sounded like him trying to ask me out which I found rather cute.
"Sorry, but I can't, Gohan. I promised my father that I'd spend that day working on my fighting technique since he's been seeing some serious flaws in my form." I replied reluctantly. I really did want to spend more time with Gohan since, when I was around him, I felt an odd emotion that I assumed was happiness and another somewhat similar feeling that I couldn't quite put my finger on. However, I couldn't bring myself to taint him with my emotional scars so I sadly had to decline. I knew that if he managed to find any of my cuts that he would get curious and maybe even a little scared. Gohan didn't deserve to go through thepain of knowing I was "torturing myself".
"Um…sure Videl...no problem. However, there is something that I've been meaning to talk with you about. You've been acting really weird in class lately. You never seem to be able to focus on the teacher's lesson and you look like you're kind of staring off into the distance. Almost as though you're looking for something or someone." Gohan replied trying his best to hide his disappointment at my rejection but failing. He never was any good at lying.
I couldn't help but chuckle at this. "I'm fine Gohan. You're worrying too much over nothing." I responded lightly not wanting to make him even more suspicious.
"But…Videl..." Gohan began with worry evident in his voice.
"I said I'm fine now drop it Gohan!" I roared surprising Gohan and even myself.
Later that day when we were in Mrs. Vargas's class our papers were being returned to us that we had turned in the previous week. When she passed my paper back to me I saw that there was a light blue note stapled on the front saying that she wanted to speak with me after class to discuss an "important issue". Gohan, who was sitting next to me like always, couldn't help but notice an odd piece of paper stapled to my assignment, and questioned me about it. I tried to play it off by changing the subject and, although he didn't oppose it, I could see he was still rather concerned. I didn't care enough to make up a reason for not being able to come, so I complied with her message and came to speak with her after school let out.
When I arrived Mrs. Vargas logged off from her computer and looked up at me standing in her doorway as if I were some sort of disturbing figment of her imagination. "Please have a seat Mrs. Satan. Anywhere you like will do."
"I hate to be rude but can we hurry this up?" I complained after sitting in the desk closest to me. "I have some work to do for your class." I stated with quite a bit more than a hint of arrogance and irritation evident in my voice. I really didn't have time for this, whatever this was about.
"This latest poem you turned into me…well…it disturbed me." Mrs. Vargas said with concern. "In order to demonstrate my point I would like to read an excerpt of your paper that I made a copy of for my faculty file." Mrs. Vargas cleared her throat and began to read.
The Truth
As the darkness begins to consume me
I begin to wonder why I even try
To continue living this life
When everything I know is a lie
I've been fighting this my entire life
But it's time for the world to know
That this world is tearing me apart
Flesh, blood, and bones
Everyone I know rejects me
And I know the reason why
Why would anyone accept me
When I'm so pathetic I just deserve to die
This world has taken everything I just can't take it anymore
The entire world is so conformist
That to the world, society is nothing more than a whore
That's it! I'm done! I've had enough of this life!
So when I finally leave this world will anyone even bother to say goodbye
The darkness that surrounds this world is supported by society
If I take my life will I finally be free?
I will no longer fight off the darkness
That threatens to consume my heart, mind, and soul
So long you goddamn bastards!
But before I lave there's one more thing you must know
See it or not you're all slowly beginning to die
Maybe not physically, but all of you have perished on the inside
So that's it so long I've said all I need
So watch as I escape this world
As I take this knife, slash my arm, and begin to profusely bleed
"I have taken the liberty of calling your father to speak with you regarding this pressing matter. He told me that although he has to wrap up a few things he will be home at 6:00 P.M., which is about 2 hours from now. You are free to leave Mrs. Satan." Mrs. Vargas said in a glorified tone.
"Thank you ma'am." I replied solemnly "I'll see you later." I calmly made my way out of the building to not draw any attention.
'Holy shit!' I thought to myself as I began to sprint home. 'Why did I have to be so goddamn stupid?' I yelled in my mind. 'It looks like there's no choice. In order to stop my father from doing it I'll have to take my life tonight.' I concluded.
When I got home I rushed into the bathroom with my knife, I took off my long-sleeved shirt to begin slashing my arms. Knowing what I had to do, I mentally said goodbye to Gohan and Mrs. Vargas, the only people in my life who seemed like they truly cared about me. I began to cut myself what I think was an hour and a half before my father was to come home. Time gets rather distorted when your mind is consumed with agony. 'Damn it!' I thought to myself 'This is taking too long! If I'm going to finish this I need to do it now!' After deciding that it was time to relieve myself of torment forever I stopped slicing my arms and prepared for a one-way trip to the next dimension. I pointed the knife at my stomach and pierced my flesh for the last time. The pain was so intense I knew I knew it would cause me to pass out before long. I took pride in the fact that I didn't let my father do this to me himself as I knew he would've made things far worse.
As I was starting to lose consciousness I heard a door click open and someone's voice echoing throughout my house. "Hey Videl! Are you in here! Sorry to barge in like this but I wanted to know if I could borrow your notes to help me study for tomorrow's test!" Gohan shouted with urgency. 'Take whatever you like Gohan-kun. I don't have any use for it in the afterlife. Mom…if you can hear me I want you to know that I'll be with you soon…for the first time my mother and I can finally be together…this is the happiest day of my life…' I thought as tears began to run down my face blinding me before everything faded to black. In the last few moments of consciousness I finally realized what the feeling was I felt for Gohan. I couldn't put my finger on it because, up until I met him, my life had been completely devoid of it. This wonderful feeling was known as…love.