Writings

Author: Tabitha Stevens Black
Title: Killing Fred (Chapters 1-8, 12-15)
Type of Work: story
Source: CMv2 #1, 4, 6, 12, 13

Chapter 1: Jessica

“Not tonight Freddie,” Jessica pushed the wandering hand away from the fabric tie around her waist. She looked herself over in the mirror; she was wearing a light blue strapless dress that reached the floor if she stood still enough. It was accented with a bright yellow piece of fabric tightly tied around her waist. “No, Freddie,” she pushed him away again, thins time smacking his hand.

“Hey!” Fred turned Jessica around so she was facing him and slapped her across the face, and then he tried to pull the top of her dress down.

“Fred! Please, I’m tired!” She rubbed her now fire red face where she had received the blow and moved some of her dark brown hair out of her eyes.

“Fine!” Fred stormed out of the room in an alcoholic fury.

“Asshole,” Jessica commented to herself. This had not been the first time Fred had come home drunk, nor had it been the first time he had hit her. She knew she didn’t have to put up with his mood swings or his alcoholic temper, but she couldn’t leave him, he was all she had.

Jessica turned on the radio and moved back in front of the mirror, letting the top of the dress fall down around her waist, revealing many dark bruises from a few nights before.

“And now, for the Beatles with ‘She Loves You’,” the announcer on the radio said. Jessica was crying softly on the floor in front of the mirror.

Chapter 2: November 4, 1963

“Rattle yer jewelry? John, do ye know how much trouble ye could of caused if they had known what ye meant?” Brian Epstein asked backstage after The Beatles performance at the Royal Variety Performance.

“No, why don’t ye tell me,” John Lennon replied in his normal tone.

“Don’t get cheeky with me Lennon,” Brian told him.

“Wow, would ye look at all those press people out there,” Ritchard Starkey, better known as Ringo Starr, commented peeking out the door of the dressing room. George, John, and Paul came over and looked too, they were still amazed at how popular they were.

“Boys,” Brian drew their attention away from the press, “time to go, walk out that door, turn right, and run out the back into the waiting car.” The boys nodded and did exactly as they were told. Interviewers and people snapping photographs ran after them, having no luck catching up to them. Outside the hotel, one member of the press stood hoping for an interview.

“I’m sorry mam, but the boys are very tired, leave a card and ye can have yer interview sometime,” Brian started to push the lady away as she started walking up to them.

Ringo stopped Brian from pushing her, “I think we can ‘andle a few questions, right guys?” Ringo said seeing the bit of hurt in the woman’s face. The guys nodded in agreement.

The woman smiled, “Thank ye sir, but actually, I was just ‘oping for a photo along with how ye thought tonight’s show went.”

“Fab,” Ringo said leading her inside, “lets start with introductions, I’m Ringo Starr, and this here is John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney. You are?”

“Jessica Weasley,” she replied and held out her camera, “Can I get a photo?” Like it was a natural practice, the boys stood in line next to each other flashing their toothiest smiles as Jessica captured the moment. “Great, thanks,” the boys relaxed again and invited Jessica to sit down with them in the lobby under the watchful eye of Brian.

Chapter 3: After the Interview

After the interview, Ringo walked Jessica out to her car as the other boys went upstairs. Ringo liked the look of innocence that Jessica had about her. When they reached her car, Jessica looked up into Ringo's boyish blue eyes with her big green ones. "Thank you, for the interview, I mean," Jessica said in a school-girl tone.

"No problem, it was a pleasure," he replied, biting his bottom lip a bit.

"Well, I should go home and call in the story..." Jessica told him, hoping to end the conversation before anything she regretted had time to happen.

"Yeah..." Ringo trailed off, suddenly coming up with an idea, he scrummaged through his pockets for a piece of paper and a pen, having no luck, he borrowed soem from jessica. "Here...incase you need another picture or something." He handed the paper back to Jessica, along with the pen. Jessica smiled then got into her car and drove off leaving Ringoto his own thoughts.

Chapter 4: Another Fight

"And here are the Beatles, with their latest single, 'This Boy'," the voice on the radio announced.

Jessica looked Fred, her husband, over. He looked quite nice when he was cleaned up, full head of fire red hair, deep emerald green eyes, sun-kissed goldened skin, even in the begining of winter. Tonight he was wearing a blue sweater with blue jeans, a Christmas present she had given him the year before.

Fred walked into the kitchen where Jesica, decked out in a red dress that reached down to the back of her knees, was standing. She had just taken dinner out of the oven and was letting it cool before she put it on a plate. Fred grabbed a beer out of the refridgerator and took a sip of it before walking over to kiss his wife on the back of the neck.

"Mmmmmmm, Freddie..." Jessica smiled, turning around to kiss him, "Yer gonna let dinner get cold..."

"Yea, that wouldn't be a good thing, since you actually didn't burn it this time," Fred chuckled.

"Evil man," Jessica giggled, hitting him in the arm playfully.

=====

After dinner Jessica and Fred sat on the couch together watching TV. Jessica really did want to go to sleep, but Fred had drank six cans of beer and was no longer sober. Not being able to stay awake, Jessica got up to go to bed, half-hoping Fred would come with her so they wouldn't get into a fight.

"Where are ye running off to?" He asked her, drunken slobber running down his chin.

"I'm tired, I'm going to bed," she answered, half-yawning.

"Great!" He screamed, jumping up off the couch, "I get a chance to spend a nice, quiet evening with me wife, and she runs off to bed!"

Jessica jumped back a bit, "I'm sorry, ye know ye could come too and we can fall asleep in each other's arms..."

"I'm not tired," he snapped back, pulling her over and back down on the couch with him.

"Freddie," she tried to release herself from his grip, "I 'ave to go to work in the mornin'... I need me sleep."

He tightened his grip around her arm and pulled her up onto his lap. "Yer gonna sit right 'ere and spend quality time with me, yer 'usband."

"Ow, Fred, yer 'urtin' me," she moved around a bit, finally breaking free. She walked into the bedroom rubbing her arm.

"Don't ye walk away from me," Fred ran in after her and hit her across the face.

"Fred!" Tears began to run down her face.

"Oh, stop yer cryin'," Fred screamed and hit her again, this time knocking her into the vanity, making bottles of perfume among other things hit the floor. Fred looked at them, "I'm leaving, and by the time I get back I want this mess cleaned up!" He stormed out of the house, slamming the door. Jessica began to pick up the items on the floor, blinded by the tears streaming down her face. As she was picking up a perfume bottle, she noticed a piece of paper with a telephone number on it, "Wonder who this is?" She half-sobbed, wiping tears from her eyes. She decided to call it after she finished cleaning up the mess.

When she was done, she walked over to the front door and locked it, hoping Fred forgot his keys. Remembering the piece of paper in her pocket, she went over to the telephone and dialed the number.

Chapter 5: This is not chapter 5, this is chapter 6, you just don't know it yet...

At the hotel, the phone rang in Ritchard's room. Still half-sleeping, he grabbed at the phone, "Hello?"

On the other end of the line, the surprised reporter replied, "Um... hello, sorry to call so late," she had realised that the clock read 11:30 as the phone was ringing, "but, I had found this phone number..." She broke off, noticing the blood running down her ankle.

"Wait," Ringo said with a sudden awakeness, "Is this Jessica?"

Jessica sniffed, "Yea, and forgive me, but I forgot who this number belonged to..."

"Ringo Starr, but ye can call me Ritch."

"Thanks, Ritch."

"Listen, I'll never get to sleep now, mind if I came over or something?"

Jessica was astonished by his wanting to see her that, against her better judgement she agreed and gave him her address.

"See ye soon," he told her, hanging up.

=====

Jessica was pressing a band-aid to her leg when the doorbell rang. She hadn't expected him to get here so fast, they had just hung up a minute ago. The doorbell rang again, "Hold on a sec, I'm comin'!" She walked to the door and unlocked it for him, smiling.

"Why'd ye try to lock me out?" Fred, filled with an even more druken rage then before he left.

"Freddie! I thought... I thought you had your key," she quickly lied.

Fred thought for a second, it was a reasonable excuse, but still, the look on her face when she saw him standing at the door, "I thought ye were goin' to sleep?"

"I was... I did," she again lied, cringing from the smell of beer that was now wafting into the house.

"So yer not tired anymore?" Fred asked, pushing her inside and wrapping his arms around her, nibbling at her neck softly, or so he thought. "That's good," he answered for her.

Jessica squeezed her eyes together tightly, cringing from the pain on her neck. "Ouch, Freddie," she half-screamed, trying to get away. Jessica fell back on the couch with Fred, causing a new bruise to begin to form on the small of her back. "Fred! Off! Yer drunk and ye smell!" Jessica flailed about a bit, then finally was able to roll with him off the couch. Fred's grip loosened around her and he fell completely limp. Jessica got up and looked down at him, "My God, I think I killed 'im"

Chapter 6: Meet the real chapter 6! Coming soon to restrooms near you!

She was pulling him up on the couch when Ritch walked up to the open door, "Um... hi?"

Jessica looked up, startled, she had forgotten that he was coming home, "Oh, hi," she looked down at Fred, "Um, meet Fred, my husband."

Startled, Ritch came inside and shut the door behind him, "Husband?"

"Yea, well, kinda," she searched for the right words, "Until I... he... I think I killed 'im." Jessica turned around and knealt down to pick up the papers that fell on the floor.

"Yer bleedin'," he offhandedly pointed out.

"Huh?" Jessica said looking to where he pointed, "Oh..." she walked into the bathroom and got out the first-aid kit once more that night.

Ringo finished picking up the papers for her and put them on the table. As he was standing back up, Jessica walked back into the room and sat down in a brown oversized arm chair, "That was an eventful evening," she commented with a sarcastic grin.

Ritch softly chuckled to himself, then turned serious again as he sat in the chair next to her, "What the hell happened?"

"Oh, nothing out of the ordinary," Jessica closed her eyes and ran a hand down her leg, smoothing the wrinkled fabric down as best as possible. "We ate dinner, he got drunk watching TV with me, I wanted to go to sleep, and he got angry."

"Angry because you were tired?" He looked at her with concerned eyes.

"Angry becuase he wasn't ready to go to bed and he thinks we should be joined at the hip or sommit like that..." Jessica ran a haired through her hair, "I walked into the vanity, then he left," she trailed at finding a dirty spot on the wall to stare at.

"How'd 'e end up like that?" He gestured to the body on the couch.

Jessica looked at Fred, "After 'e came back home 'e knocked me down on the couch and I pushed 'im off me. I think 'he hit sommit when 'e hit the floor."

Ringo stayed silent, pondering what he had just heard.

Chapter 7: Chapter 7, conviently labeled chapter 7, for your convience.

Ringo gave her an odd look, noticing the look, "What's that for?"

"If he hurt you so much, why did you stay with him?"

Jessica thought for a moment and then quietly stated, "Because... I love him." She kept her eyes to the floor as she said this, fighting back tears, "and.... and he's the only thing I have," she trailed off, letting a few tears fall to the ground.

Ringo walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. She welcomed the warm embrace, but continued to sob harder. He wrapped his other arm around her and carefully pulled her close. She became engulfed in his arms, letting her tears fall freely. Gently rocking her, Ritch gently rested his cheek on the top of her head, breathing in her sweet scent.

As Jessica's tears subsided, she slowly pulled away from him. Ritch took a hand and gently wiped the loose tears that fell from her eyes, "What's wrong?" Ritch looked at her kindly, resting his hand on her cheek.

Jessica sniffed, "I'm sorry," she wiped at some tears falling from her eyes, "I really didn't mean to break down like that, I'm normally a really strong person."

"Aww, Jess," he smiled at her sweetly, "Everyone's entitled to have a breakdown every now and then."

Jessica smiled, still wiping away her last few tears, "Yea, well, I don't breakdown with other people, especially strangers, close by."

Ringo smiled and stroked her hair gently. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say, but he knew he wanted it to be special and meaningful. "Jessica," he searched for the words he wanted to say next, "I think... that you are a very strong person, no matter if you brokedown or not, you had a right to," he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, kissing her forehead.

She smiled into his chest and then looked up at him, "I just have one question."

"What's that?" He smiles, looking into her eyes.

"What are we going to do with him?" she casually nodded towards Fred.

Chapter 8: The chapter after the hardest chapter to write so far!

Author's note: I can't cook, and the chapter names no longer have anything to do with the actual story, because it's to hard to come up with good chapter names, that don't give the story away!

Jessica unlocked the trunk for Ringo, and poped it open. He stuffed Fred's body in there and closed it, "To the Mersey," he stated. Jessica nodded, opened the passenger side door, and got in. Ringo shut it for her, got in his side, and drove towards the river.

When they arrived at the river Mersey, Ritch looked at Jessica, "You sure about this? I mean we could call the cops."

"No, I want this over as soon as possible, the cops would draw it out."

"What about someone filing a missing person report?" he was visibly concerned.

"Who?!? His bar buddies? He doesn't talk to anyone, he never leaves the house, I mean except to go to the bar," Jessica stated flatly.

"What about his side of the family?"

"His twin brother, George, would be the only one that noticed, but I'll just tell him what happened, he'll understand, he knew what Fred was like to me," she looked into Ritch's eyes with a sort of wanting that a child gets at the candy store.

Ritch searches her face, "Okay, let's get this over with then." They both got out of the car and walked around to the trunk. As if they've been doing this their entire lives, Ritch and Jessica took Fred's nody to the river bank and were just about reasy to throw him in when Jess said, "Hold on!" She pulled off her wedding ring, put it in Fred's cold, limp hand and then nodded, "Okay, let's get this scum out of here."

When they completed their task, Ringo took Jessica home, "You take care of yourself, I'll stop by soon as I can to see how yer doin." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and went home.

NOTE: For some reason, Chapters 9-11 never appeared in the Creative Mind. If they ever become available, I'll add them here.

Chapter 12: Damn the last part of the last chapter required lots of thinking.

"Good morning," Ritch smiled and kissed Jessica on the cheek.

Jessica slightly blushed a bit in alarm because he was here so early.

"Morning, Ritch," she said, rather quietly. Then, as if suddenly remembering that george was here she moved back to let Ritch in and then introduced him,

"Ritch, this is Fred's brother, George, George, this is Ritch."

"Hello." Ritch said with half a smile, he really wanted to be alone with Jessica.

"Hi." George said shortly. He recognised Ritch as Ringo Starr, and immediately thought that he was up to no good, and had Jessica in mind. Whatever it was, George didn't like it. "Want some coffee, Ritch?" Jessica asked to break the small tension she felt between George and Ritch.

"Sure," He smiled.

"Refill George?"

"No, thanks, I should be goin' anyway, seein' how Fred really can't help me." George half sarcastically stated.

Ritch began to smile with a bit of thankfulness, but caught himself as Jessica cringed a bit. "Alright then," Jessica said slowly, "I guess I'll see ye later." "Yea. Bye." George stood up and walked out the door.

"Nice to meet ye," Ritch said as the door closed. "Coffee," Jessica smiled and walked into the kitchen, "Ye like it black?" Ritch followed her and just stood in the doorwasy admiring her. She turned around and looked at him opening her mouth to talk, but he cut her off, "Ye look alot prettier today than ye did last night," Jessica blushed slightly. "No, I really mean it, yer alot calmer, more laid back, it suits ye."

Jessica smiled, "Well, how calm did ye expect me to be last night?" "Well, not as calm as ye were, that's for sure." Ritch took the coffee from her and took a sip, it was a welcomed strenght and awakeness. "Ye must of had about as bad of a night as I did." "Well, there was sleep, but I had to turn in a story by eight, so it wasn't much." Jessica walked over to the table and sat down drinking her coffee. Ritch came over and sat down beside her, he set down his coffee cup and put his hand in his pocket, fiddling with the small box he hastily shoved in there when he left that morning.

"Jess," she looked up, "Would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?" Jess set down her coffee cup and nervously answered, "Yes, I...I'd love to."

Ritch smiled and finished his coffee, "great! Ye get ready and I'll pick ye up at 6." he got up and kissed her cheek, taking the small box out of his pocket, handed it to her and said, "Wear this too." He turned around and walked out the door.

Chapter 13: Ack! Scary! I'm a trixadecaphobiac, this is scary!

The author of this story refuses to write this chapter because she is a trixadecaphobiac and is afraid that something bad is going to happen to her.

Chapter 14: And Now Back To The Show!

It was about 5:30 and Jessica was just finishing getting ready, all she had left to do was fix her hair. As she was walking into the bathroom to grab her hair tie, there was a knock on the door. She didn't feel like answering right away, so she took her hair tie and went in her room to put it on the vanity. There was another knock, "Open up mam, it's the police." "The police?" Oh no, they must suspect something. She hurriedly reached into the top of the closet pulling down a show box. "Mam! This is the police! Please, open up!" She reached into the shoebox and felt the gun barrel.

"Um, come in, the door is open!"

Chapter 15: Someone's gonna die, I don't know who, but someone...

"What's all this comotion?" Ritch thought as he drove down the street that Jessica's house was on. There was an ambulance and two police cars with their lights going right outside of Jessica's house. Some of the neighbors were coming outside to view the evening happenings. Ritch quickly parked the car as close to Jessica's house as he could get and got out, half-running to Jessica's house.

When he reached the door a police man who looked as if he's just seen the devil, stopped him from going in, "I'm sorry sir, but I can't allow you to go in."

"Well, I'm..that's...what happened?"

"I'm sorry sir, but I cannot tell you, it's a crime scene."

"Crime scene? Is Jess alright? I'm supposed to take her out tonight."

"Sir, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Ms. Weasly killed herself not half an hour ago."

Ritch looked down quickly, blinking back a few tears, "Can I see her?"

"Sir," the officer put a hand on Ritch's shoulder to comfort him, "It's a pretty nasty sight."

Ritch looked up and swallowed, "I don't care, I wanna see 'er."

The officer led Ritch inside to where two medics were lifting Jessica onto a stretcher. Ritch had to look away because of the sight. Jessica's face was slightly distorted and reddened with blood. When he noticed the gun on the floor, Ritch became very subdued.

An officer tapped him gently on the shoulder, "Sir," Ritch didn't move so he tapped him again, "Sir." Ritch turned around to see a tall brown-haired officer with a hand out near Ritch's shoulder.

He looked up into the officer's face, "Huh?"

The officer couldn't look him in the eyes, so he looked at his mouth instead, "Um, sir, can I please have a moment with you? My name is Officer Marshall Owen, would you by any chance be Ritch?"

Ritch slowly took the officer's words in, "Sure, uh, yeah, I'm Ritch, Ritchard Starkey actually. Why? Did Jess mention me?"

Marshall nodded, "Mr. Starkey would you mind coming down to the station with me?"

Ritch looked back over to the gun and noticed right next to it the necklace he had given Jessica, "Yeah, I'll meet ye at the station." The officer nodded. Ritch went over and picked up the necklace then walked out and sat in his car watching the ambulance drive away with Jessica's body.

"Goodbye Jess, I hope that life treats ye better wherever ye are." He wiped a tear from his eye, put the necklace on the rearview mirror and drove off to the police station.

THE END