Read The Park Page 21

time to fulfill my promise. I'm going to help Manfred the best way I know how to. I have to end his suffering. Well, we do.

  In the end, it's going to be Rita. We've worked it all out. I know I can't pull the trigger. It sickens me, but I know it wouldn't happen, and Manfred deserves to be out of pain. So I'm giving her Susan's old medallion to do it. It's the only one in the house that can afford him any level of dignity. It should be painless. Just a simple shot through the head. That's painless, isn't it? He deserves painless. I just hope my part is enough in this. I promised I'd help.

   

  ENTRY END

  04

  Obituary of Natalie Lorraine Klein (nee Harrison) (1990-2074)

   

  Natalie Klein (1990-2074) was found dead in her home in London, England late last night. The autopsy has revealed a drug overdose as the cause of death. She is survived by Damon Klein and Katherine Thomson. The wake will be held at her home Saturday, June 2nd, at 1 p.m.

  Valued Evenstad Enterprises contributor,

   

  You may have heard of Evenstad's newest project, Evenstad Farms. Our work in Egypt is off to a wonderful start, and we have high hopes for the end results, both for the world food crisis as well as the farmers in Egypt.

  Now is your chance to get in on this. You have, in the past, been very generous in support of our projects. We want to extend the chance to you again. For a small injection of funds, you can be a part of this exciting new initiative. If you are interested, please call our toll free number 1-888-003-8000 A representative will be happy to help you and provide any information you may need.

   

  We look forward to working with you on this and future projects,

  Evenstad Enterprises

  JOURNAL 05CRAIG

  ENTRY 016

  DATE: 5/29/2074

   

  We buried Manfred today. Rita and Blake offered to help me, and I was okay with that. I wish we could have done more for him. He deserved more than that. So much more than that. He was a much better man than I ever would have guessed I could meet in a place like this. He never once wanted to hurt anyone. Not that I could tell, anyway. He was so sweet, and he didn't let this evil damn competition get to him. He stayed pure as ever, and I admire that. I couldn't do it. I killed Susan. Even if it was in self-defense, I ended her life. She might have been innocent before all of this. It could have just been this that made her break like that. I don't know anything about her other than what I saw in here.

  But this isn't about me. I'm too self-centered anyway. This is about Manfred. He's dead. To his family, even though you'll never know, I'm sorry. I had a hand in killing him. Even though it was to put him out of this misery Evenstad tossed him into, I'm so unbelievably sorry for your loss. For the world's loss. You've got to believe me.

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 02CHRISTINA

  ENTRY 017

  DATE: 5/29/2074

   

  Those idiots over at the house with the lights must want to die. They all came out. Three of them, carrying a body. I watched the whole thing. They dug the grave, buried it, and then hung around outside, waiting for me to just come along and take them all out of the picture. Dumbasses. They might think that everything's okay. We're still playing, and we're still in god damn danger. Even me. I know that. If I go over there and things don't go right, I'm done. Dead. But I've always taken risks, and they've gotten me this far. Before all this stupid Evenstad bullshit went down, I had a pretty damn good life. Even if I couldn’t cook.

  And I didn't make it happen by waiting around. I made it happen with action. So that's exactly what I'm doing next. I'm taking action.

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 06RITA

  ENTRY 012

  DATE: 5/31/2074

   

  Well, Evenstad, we got out alive. I'm not totally unscathed, but I'm breathing. You can't get rid of us quite so easily. But kudos to that psycho business suit bitch. Someone else is finally concerned enough with your ratings to give a damn. She's sure as hell good at it, too. So nice choice on her.

  Craig let us all come back here. I don’t know where you found him, but this house is pretty well-protected. He even managed to take apart your medallions and wire them up to make booby traps. I mean, that's pretty fucking cool. Even you have to admit that. Maybe you can keep him alive somehow. At least long enough to pick his brain and figure out what the flaws are with your design. It would sure as hell make my job here a lot easier if I didn't have to kill him. It's not something I'm looking forward to. Not that I can't make it happen, but I really don't want to, if it's at all avoidable. He's another good guy and he definitely doesn't deserve this. Not that anyone does, really.

  Blake's been nursing my injury. He's a sweet kid. I… damn, Evenstad, you're getting some juicy shit on me here, aren't you? Yeah, well fuck it. I can make this confession. I might be seeing Blake as more than just a pawn lately. Maybe. I don't know for sure. Which sucks, and I'm sure whatever psychiatrists and psychologists and other eggheads you hired knew it would suck. Two people thrown together like this for long enough have to form some kind of bond. It seems pretty fucking inevitable to me.

  I still have to kill him. I know that. You know that. When it comes time, I bet the viewers will know that, too. I'm just hoping I can. I mean it. You might have actually beaten me at this by bringing Blake in. As much as I've complained about him to you, maybe you did know better, you slimy little assholes.

  Ciao.

   

  ENTRY END

  TO: Niels Evenstad

  FROM: Marta Evenstad

  SUBJECT: Profits

  SENT 6/1/2074 AT 12:18 p.m. EST

   

  Brother,

  Accounting has given me the projected profits, based upon our current work and our initial investments. I've had them send a copy to your financial department, as well as to your secretary, but I could hardly contain my excitement when I saw the numbers. Assuming that everything goes as planned, we will be clearing 15 million dollars profit within the first three months of this. And that's based only on the farms we've set up in Egypt.

  This is wonderful, Brother. I think this might even be better than you'd intended when you first presented the plan. I will, of course, continue to work. I only wish to make you and the family happy.

   

  Marta Evenstad

  Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Farms

   

  —

   

  TO: Marta Evenstad

  FROM: Niels Evenstad

  SUBJECT: RE: Profits

  SENT 6/1/2074 AT 1:46 p.m. EST

   

  Marta, this is fabulous news. You are doing so much for the family, so much that neither you nor I can truly see the end of the ripples this will cause. All good things, of course. And yes, it is far better than I ever imagined. Carry on with things as you are. I have complete faith in you, and I'm proud to call you my sister. I knew I made the right choice when I suggested you to run this business.

   

  Niels Evenstad

  Chief Operating Officer, Evenstad Media

  JOURNAL 05CRAIG

  ENTRY 017

  DATE: 6/1/2074

   

  It's all gone. Every last one of the CESUs is gone. Which means that somebody got in here and took them. They left the ones I had hooked up, thank God, but that means somebody has the laser I use to work on them. Even worse, they have that golden light one. I'm pretty sure that's what burned down the other trailer. Just thinking about that is what's keeping me from falling asleep now. I don't want to be around if someone else has that damn thing.

  I haven't mentioned anything to the others. As far as they know, I only have what I had on me, and the two I wired up for defense. I want to keep it that way, too. If they found out I lost two CESUs, especially the one that took us down, that could put me in danger. I mean, the only reason Susan kept
me around as long as she did was my brain. If I was stupid enough to lose them… well, it might not be good for my continued health and well-being.

  I just can't believe someone got through here like that. I thought I was well-protected. I thought I fixed it up well enough after Susan got through. Apparently I was wrong. Go figure. One more thing I can't do in this stupid-ass game.

   

  ENTRY END

  JOURNAL 03BLAKE

  ENTRY 011

  DATE: 6/5/2074

   

  Rita's better, finally. Her injury wasn't as bad as I thought. I figure that burn on her leg did some serious work on her, but it must have just been at the surface. I hope the stuff I did was helping and not just getting in the way. I mean, I'm not a doctor or anything. I just tried to make her comfortable. I guess it's not that important. She's good to go now.

  When I think about it, I still can't believe I doubted her. She was the one who told us about the fire so we could get out in time. Sure, I'm not thrilled we still have Craig here with us, but I'll take it over dead any day.

  Rita's still being awesome. Even more awesome than usual. And she's getting kind of… handsy? I guess there's no other way to put it. I mean, we always sleep next to each other, for safety if nothing else, I suppose. But she's been touching and grabbing and… yeah. I don’t know what it means, exactly, but I'm okay with it. Like really, really okay with it. Sticky sheets kind of okay with it. And she always makes me breakfast. Not Craig, just me.

  When it comes around to time, I'll get Craig out of the way. I hope I don’t have to, but it's all got to be fake, right? No matter what happened with Manfred. He was old. A fluke, that's all. God, I'm rambling. And I'm trying to talk myself