Generation 1, Chapter 56

After Vallari had threatened the hapless child in the cellar, she dragged a chair over the trap door in the floor. She considered gagging the boy but the less she interacted with the child the better. She relished the thought that she now had complete control over his father, her ex-husband through this child. With a cold, sinister glint in her eyes she turned the TV on and she laughed at the image of a distraught Peter, begging her to return his son safely. She eagerly watched, muting the sound of his nonsensical dribble. Speaking to his image on the screen "Beg all you want, Petey. You'll never see your son again, at least not alive."

As the evening turned to night Vallari wandered into the kitchen for a sandwich. Briefly she considered giving one to the boy, grumbling to herself "Let the little brat starve."

Grimly munching on her tasteless sandwich she caught her reflection in the mirror across the room. She could hardly believe that was her, she had aged badly and looked older than her fifty-one years. She grimaced at her reflection thinking it was one more injustice she could blame Peter for. Everything wrong in her life could be traced back to him and beyond. Her mind drifted back to the first time she had come to this cabin, her father's cabin.

She had spent the whole day with Daddy, while mommy had been working. She loved her golden haired blue-eyed Dad and loved the feel of his whiskers tickling her face when he kissed her.

As she ate, tears trickled down her cheeks as she remembered the day her world fell apart. A dark haired man showed up, demanding to talk to mommy. She had just turned five and she had hovered by the window listening to the man. "Elizabeth she's my daughter. I have a right to see her."

"Where were you for the last five years? You left the night I told you I was pregnant. You didn't really think I wouldn't move on did you?"

"As I recall you said you weren't sure who the father was. Just look at her, she looks just like me." Laughing mirthlessly he continued "I bet you told Henry she was his, didn't you?"

"So what if I did? He loves me. He doesn't need to know anything different."

"Oh I think he does. I've got a court order for a DNA test. After that proves I'm her father, I'm suing for custody. Then we'll see how long your Henry sticks around."

"Get out," her mommy screamed at the man. Vallari scrambled further into the bushes so that she wouldn't be seen. She wondered what that man was talking about. Was he talking about her? She knew her Daddy wouldn't let him take her away.

Things weren't the same after that. Daddy kept looking at her as if he were searching for something. He never smiled like he did before, it was like he was in pain and pretending he wasn't. Vallari didn't understand why she had suddenly lost her best friend.

A letter arrived late one evening by hand courier. She knew it wasn't good news as her parents grimly opened it and her mommy burst into tears as her Daddy said "She's not mine." Not understanding what was going on Vallari ran up to him saying "I'm yours always and always." Wrapping her small arms around his leg and squeezing tightly. He looked down at her with tears in his eyes, he pried her arms from around him and silently walked out into the cool night air.

Mommy cried after him "Henry please, I'm sorry. Please don't go." Daddy never came back, a few months later Mommy received divorce papers.

Vallari got up and threw her dishes into the sink. If it was the last thing she did, she would get her revenge. After the divorce her Mother started drinking heavily and one night she lost control of her car and wrapped it around a tree. She was killed instantly. The social worker assigned to Vallari's case had tried to get Henry to adopt her but he refused, telling the social worker to contact her biological father. Vallari had been ten years old when she was sent to live with Richard Chandra.

She learned later that Henry had remarried and hadn't wanted her to complicate things with his new family. They had everything she wanted but most importantly they had her Daddy. The same daddy who had rejected her and one day she vowed she would make him pay. The day she met Peter, had been no accident. She had been stalking him, learning his habits, his routine all in the name of research. She had been obsessed with Peter since before he left Bridgeport. She had watched him from afar since he was a small child. She waited for her chance to get him alone, away from his family. Her chance finally came when he moved to Appaloosa Plains, an outcast just like her, rejected by the same Father who had rejected her.

Vallari sat in the dark listening to the restrained sniffles of Elliot locked in the cellar. A wicked grin spread across her face as she listened to his choking sobs. Her smile faltered as she drifted back to being the child crying as her mother yelled at her in her drunken state. It was all Henry Van Winkles fault he destroyed her dreams, her mother, her life. He deserved to suffer for how he made her suffer.

She had lived with her biological father, who had tried to welcome her into his home. His wife had tried to bond with her but Vallari wouldn't allow them to become close. She fought with them at every turn and refused their attempts of love and affection. It broke their hearts as they had always wanted children but couldn't have any of their own together. Vallari couldn't see their love for her over her obsession and hared of her 'daddy'.

She hoarded every magazine she was able to find with articles about Henry. When she was twenty she found an article in Sim Science Digest that went into depth about Henry and his family. She seethed with hatred as she poured over pictures of the family. He had three sons, two young teenagers about 13 or 14 and one young son about 5 years old. As she stared at the pictures of that little boy, she ached to wipe that happy grin off his face, to replace it with one of fear and pain.

Sitting in the dark, deep in thought Vallari recalled the day she 'bumped' into Peter. It was his first day in Appaloosa Plains, he was so young and the spitting image of his father. When they were first married, Vallari had imagined her daddy had come home to her again It irked her that Peter had insisted on having children right away. She couldn't believe she had four worthless brats with him! Taking Peter's attention away from her, doing things with them that her 'daddy' used to do with her. As her jealousy grew, she obsessed about how she could get her hands on Peter's inheritance. It should have been hers not his, it never occurred to her that Henry would have disinherited Peter, his favorite child. She never expected Peter to stand up to her, to leave her, to fight for his kids, to actually want them above all else. Why couldn't Henry have wanted her that way?

She sighed loudly in the dark room, delighting in the sound. If only Windy would have kept to the plan. That worthless girl was supposed to have snuck Elliot out of the house and brought him to her. But she gave into fear and remorse, refusing to help. Now Vallari had to do it herself, getting her hands dirty by kidnapping the child herself.

It was a brilliant plan, bribing Galen into releasing his experimental dog as a diversion. Diverting everyone's attention into trying to save the victim, it was an added bonus that it was her daughter's boyfriend. Vallari knew that Galen would eventually break and admit to what he had done but by then it was too late to stop her. The only thing she hadn't counted on was for someone to try and stop her. That idiot principle deserved what he got.

Vallari laughed harshly in the dark, savoring the near completion of her long awaited revenge. She dialed the number, smiling at the sound of the strained voice saying "Hello."

"I have what you want."

"Vallari if you harm my son so help me I'll..."

"Temper, temper so unlike you Petey. If you hope to see your son alive follow my instructions exactly as I tell you."

"I'm listening."

"Good," Vallari laughed and licked her lips in anticipation. "First no police. I'll be watching. I see one and your son is dead."

Peter gripped the phone, his breathing was rapid and his heart pounded in his ears as he listened to Vallari's demands.

"Next follow the path that's behind the house until you find a package. Drink the contents of the vial. Drink it all, I'll be watching. If you don't your son is dead."

"What do you want? This makes no sense. If you want money, I'll give you all I have. Just don't hurt my son." Peter pleaded into the phone.

"Ah poor Petey," she said unsympatheticly. "How does it feel to be powerless to help those you love?" She shouted through the phone. "It's time you pay for the sins of your father."

"What does he have to do with this?"

"He has everything to do with this," Vallari spat at him "Once you drink the vial walk north through the woods. I'll be watching."

 

"What about my son?" Peter screamed at her.

"He'll be here when you arrive and if he's a smart boy he'll run home. If not he can stay and watch."