Death of a Loved One: Chapter5

The next day after school Kirsten walked into the living room where her father was watching TV.
Beelzemon looked up at her. “Hey, honey.”
“Hi, Dad.”
Beelzemon sat up. “Hey, I got an idea. Why don’t you put in a movie and we’ll watch it together?”
Kirsten smiled and walked to the entertainment system. “That sounds like fun.”
Beelzemon watched as she sifted through a large assortment of DVDs and tapes.
“Ooh, what’s this, Daddy?”
“What’s what, Kirsten?”
Kirsten pulled a small box labeled “Home Videos” and showed it to Beelzemon.
Beelzemon’s eyes widened. “Those are…those are the tapes yer mom made.”
Kirsten looked at the box in surprise. “Really? Can we watch them?”
Beelzemon shrugged. “I guess so.”
Kirsten grinned and opened the box, excitedly digging through the contents. She pulled out one and held it up for her father to see. “What about this one?”
Beelzemon read the label and shook his head. “You do not want to watch that!”
“Why not?”
Beelzemon looked at his hand, flexing it. “I still can’t grip things correctly with this hand.” He looked up at her, a small grin on his face.
“Why?”
“Because your mom has super strength when she’s giving birth.”
“Oh…what about this one?”
“Alright, put it in.”
Kirsten put the tape in and sat down on the couch beside her father after pressing the play button.
The screen was blank for a few moments, before suddenly the outside of the house came into view.
“Alright, honey. I think it’s on.” Valeri’s voice came from out of view.
“Do ya really gotta videotape the whole damn house?”
“Of course! It’s our first house. Why not?”
The camera view swung over to Beelzemon, who was shaking his head. “Love, yer as bad as yer mom with that thing.”
There was the sound of Valeri giggling. “Alright, let’s go in.”
Beelzemon pushed open the door.
As Valeri walked through the house, she named off the rooms and pointed to where things were going to be placed. “The couch is going here and the TV here. Oh, and the bookcase is going here!”
“Yay and the other TV can go upstairs.” Beelzemon said sarcastically.
“That’s a great idea!”
“Wha?!”
“Yeah! It can go in our room!”
“The really big one?”
“Why not?”
“It’s freakin’ huge! How the hell’d ya expect me ta get it up the stairs?”
“Then you can get the smaller one.”
“That’s only like two inches smaller!”
“I’m sorry, honey. We could hire someone to do the heavy lifting.”
Beelzemon turned away from his girlfriend. “No way! I’m a hell of a lot stronger than any one of them ‘heavy lifters’. Only lazy men hire. I am a strong, sexy man and I don’t need ta hire anybody! This is a test of strength and will power and I shall pass with an A plus!” he said, punching the air.
Kirsten burst into a fit of giggles.
Beelzemon rubbed on the back of his neck. “I didn’t know she filmed that part. I was only kiddin’ around.”
Kirsten looked back at the TV. The younger Beelzemon had hold of the smaller TV and was carrying it up the stairs.
“You’re doin’ great honey! Keep up the good work!”
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
About halfway up the stairs, Beelzemon paused and yelled back down to his girlfriend. “OK, maybe a B!” Suddenly there was a loud crack and he whimpered, “Minus!”
“Honey, are you alright?!”
“Yeah, I think I threw out my back, but I’m just fine.”
“Oh, it’ll be alright. I’ll give you a nice back massage when you’re finished. Are you sure you want to keep going?”
“Hell yes! I can do it!” He looked over his shoulder at Valeri. “Are you filmin’ me?”
“Maybe….”
Beelzemon’s tail coiled in front of his butt. “Now everyone can see my ass,” he muttered. “Is Yuri gonna watch this?!”
“She might.”
“Yuri, I f yer watchin’ this I’m gonna demolish yer head, rip it off , then shove it up yer ass so god damn far it ends up right where it was to begin with, then I’ll sew it back  with your own fuckin’ hair!”
  “My, my honey. You need to watch your language.”
“Ah, OK. But I ain’t kiddin’. How much do you think it take?”
“Huh?”
“How much hair would it take to sew her head back together?”
“I don’t know. It’s rather long.”
“Yeah, but it’s as thin as hell. Ah, I should probably use all of it.”
“Honey…honey! Watch out for that step!”
“What ste-holy shit!” Beelzemon cried out as he tripped on the last step and fell.
“Oh my god! You alright?” Valeri cried as she rushed up the stairs.
“I think so….”
The camera view tilted as Valeri set down the camera, allowing Kirsten and Beelzemon to see her as she tried to help hoist up the fallen Beelzemon.
Kirsten was in a fit of giggles. “Oh my gosh, Dad! I can’t believe you said that about Yuri!”
Beelzemon folded his arms. “I say some pretty mean things about that gal.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
“Just watch the rest of the video.”
When they finished with that video, they watched another labeled “Odd Moments.” It was a mixture of different things that Valeri had taped, all at different times.
The first scene was of Valeri walking into the kitchen. “Alright and here is Beelzemon…cooking? Honey what are you doing?”
“Makin’ cookies.” Beelzemon replied as he pulled open the oven door.
“Oh, I see.” Valeri said as she moved closer.
Beelzemon pulled out the cookie sheet, which was full of  black lumps. “Aw, hell no!”
Valeri giggled. “Looks like you made charcoal.”
Beelzemon frowned, shoved the cookie sheet back into the oven, and slammed the door shut. “Damn it!”
Then the screen went black for a few seconds. It came back on in the kitchen, but the date was different.
“Well, he said he had successfully baked a batch of cookies. Let’s find out, shall we?”
The camera view swung over to the table where a plate of chocolate chip cookies was sitting.
“Well, it seems my handsome man’s a cook…wait a second. What have we here?” As she spoke, the camera view swung over to the trash can and moved as she walked up to it. She trained it on the plastic container as she pulled it out. She sighed. “Oh, silly Beelzemon.”
“Silly me why?”
  Valeri turned around.
Beelzemon’s eyes widened when he saw the container. “Oh, um I can explain.”
Valeri giggled and she turned the camera to face her. She smiled. “And that’s why Beelzemon doesn’t cook.” Then she turned off the camera.
Kirsten turned to her father. “Did you really buy those cookies?”
Beelzemon smiled sheepishly. “Yeah.”
“You do a lot of funny things.”
Beelzemon’s grin widened. “Yah. That’s just the way I am. Besides, you do a lotta weird stuff too.”
Kirsten’s eyes widened. “Really? You got ‘em on tape?”
“Yup.”
Kirsten hopped up from the couch and dug through the box until she pulled out a move labeled “Kirsten” then plunked it in the VCR and sat back down.
The first was of her mother trying to feed her 1-year-old daughter. Food was flying everywhere. It was all over the wall, the floor, Valeri, and Kirsten.
“Please Kirsten! Just eat a little bit!” Valeri said pleadingly.   
Kirsten giggled flailed her arms about.
Valeri looked up at Beelzemon, who was holding the camera. “Honey, help me.”
Beelzemon set down the camera on the table so that it filmed their vain attempts to get their daughter to eat. Soon the lens was covered with food and Beelzemon had to clean it off. Then he turned the camera off after muttering, “Damn kids. And I said I was never gonna have one. Ha! As if.”
Kirsten looked at her in disbelief. “You didn’t want me, Dad?”
“Er…At first no. Because I didn’t think I’d make a good parent, nor have enough patients for one. But since you’ve been here, I wouldn’t give ya up for the world.”
Kirsten hugged her father. “Thank you, Daddy!”
Beelzemon returned the hug, kissing the top of her head and running his claws through it. “No, thank you. If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t be half as happy as I am now.”
Kirsten hugged her father tighter. “I love you too, Dad.”
“Hey, why don’t you go start on dinner and I’ll put in an actual movie?”
“Alright. But I wanna watch the other videos.”
“Kay.”
Kirsten got up and went into the kitchen.
Beelzemon hauled himself to his feet with a grunt and walked over to the box of tapes. He knelt down and started sifting through them. He was looking for one in particular. When he found it, he put it in, pressed the play button, and sat back down.
The scene started up in Valeri’s school auditorium. The view was from the bleachers because Ms. Shinshiju was videotaping. Valeri was standing in the middle of the floor, the rest of the band and choir members behind her. The teacher had just called her out to play a solo in front of the whole school and she was extremely nervous.
“It’s alright honey!” Ms. Shinshiju called to her daughter.
Beelzemon walked out to Valeri. After reassuring her, he stepped off to the side to watch.
Valeri was still nervous, but she began to play.
Tears slid down Beelzemon’s cheeks as he listened to the beautiful song pouring out from the speakers. He put his face in his hands.
Kirsten walked in a few minutes later. “Dad do you…Dad?” She rushed to her father, putting her arms around him. “It’s OK, Dad. It’ll be OK.” She picked up the remote and turned off the television, then returned to comforting her father.
“I can’t take it anymore. It hurts so much.”
“I know it does, Daddy. I hurt too. I miss Momma, too.” Kirsten was crying now.
Beelzemon put his arms around Kirsten, pulling her upon his lap to cradle her. After a few moments, he released her so that she could watch dinner. He sighed and wiped his face on the sleeve of his jacket. “God damn it all.”