Happy MLK JR DAY. A story I wrote inspired by one of his quotes

One Cruel Man- Final Chapter and Epilogue 

Final Chapter- Colder Than The Devil's Heart

It was freezing outside the confines of the Steiger household as the snow picked up. It was colder than the devil's heart outside. As Emily lay on the cold hard floor, grabbing at the bullet wound near her abdomen, all Alexandra could do was laugh. Her friend was in excruciating pain, but she didn't care. Why should she?
After all, this is what she had been waiting for the past eight years for, a chance for revenge — the people who were related to the man who destroyed her life. Emily called out to her family as they gathered around their youngest. "Judy, are you okay"?
"Am I okay? Are YOU okay? You just jumped in front of her as she tried to kill me. Why did you do something so stupid? It's not like we are sisters"?
"But we are," said Emily in a faint voice. "It doesn't matter
if we're not related by blood, you're my sister Judy; you're part of my family, and family looks out for each other.
Judy sobbed as she started to remember all the times she had insulted her stepsister. Her mother dead from suicide, and now another member of her family dying in front of her eyes, she couldn't bear it." "How touching, it looks as though you're finally starting to make amends. Too bad though you had two years to make up with your sister, and it looks like you're only able to accept her in this state". "Please, this isn't right," Heidy Barked out. "We have Money we can pay you. It might not make up for the loss you've suffered, but we can help you get your life back on track.
So please," she sobbed, "Leave us alone.
"Too late," Alexandra shouted out. "Money can not end my suffering, nor can your tears. I have to do this to teach your husband a lesson. What is your husband's number"?
"Excuse us,"? "If you want to live, give me your husband's telephone number so that we can call him up. You said he's at work in Munich, so give me his number. I want him to hear his family's suffering so he can truly understand the pain he's caused.

"Siemens Munich office number is 498963400 just call him up
he can give you whatever you want, so please just leave us alone.
Sergei picked up the phone off the wall and began to dial the number.
"Hello, welcome to Siemens Munich; how may we direct your call?"
"Please direct me to the office of Aksel Steiger." As the three Steiger family members waited for him to pick up the phone, seconds felt like hours; every breath that they took could be their last. "Hello," a cold, stoic voice answered. "Who am I speaking to"?
"Honey, please help us," shouted Heidy. "They are trying to kill us."
Bang, a bullet fired into the air. "No talking." Yelled Alexandra.
"Was that gunfire"? Aksel asked in an almost uninterested tone.
"Yes, it was; one of your daughters is on the ground bleeding with a bullet hole in her stomach, and the rest will soon follow. MR. Steiger, your crimes eight years ago are finally catching up to you".
"What do you mean"?
"I am Alexandra Brudnov, the sole survivor of the family you sold like cattle as you smuggled us across the wall. NOW listen in horror to the screams of your family as they suffer in agony because of you. Your wife, your daughter, your stepdaughter, all those you love, they're all going to fucking die". This was it, the moment she had been waiting over eight years for her revenge.

"Tell you what, if you beg and scream hard enough, I might let one of them live. Well, come on, what are you waiting for? Beg like a dog, get on your knees, and beg. You're over 580 kilometers away; there is nothing you can do but beg and pray to whatever god there is out there that I let at least one of them live. How does it feel? How does it feel being powerless, being at someone else's mercy? Finally, for a few seconds after eight years, she felt happiness or something close to it, whatever it was that she could feel after all that had happened to her. She wanted to savor this moment forever, but she needed to twist the knife even further, so she began laughing maniacally, Bwahahaha".
"So...what does any of that have to do with me"?
"HUH," Alexandra stopped gloating and began to drip cold sweat.
"What do you mean what does any of this have to do with you? I just told you all those you love are about to die".
"Those I love, I never had such a person. Ever Since I can remember
I never felt these feelings for anyone else other than myself. Emily, Judy, and Heidy all stared at the telephone with shock and awe. "Honey, what are you saying"?
An autism spectrum disorder is what doctors diagnosed me with.
I remember you; you're the girl from eight years ago whose family I helped smuggle across the wall. This is your revenge? I don't understand why, but for some reason, this is important to you. I don't care what you do; just leave me alone. I don't want those pathetic whiners to be part of the Steiger family. It seems to me like you went through an awful lot just to get where you are, and for that, I apologize, but if it makes you feel better, you can do whatever you want to those three. Now, if you excuse me, I have a business meeting to get back to; good day". Click
And just like that, it was over. Shock, despair, loathing, hatred,
warmth, cold, nothingness. Alexandra felt like she had been shot, ripped to shreds, impaled, incinerated, and violated all at the same time.

Then after a few moments, she began to cry. The same little
girl who survived being abused in every way imaginable and only got stronger from it, the same little girl who was raped and beaten within an inch of her life and then shrugged it off like it was nothing, fell to her knees and began to bawl her eyes out all
at the mere words of one cruel man. "So this is it, this is what I sacrificed my childhood for." Going on a lifelong vendetta to hurt a man who was the devil incarnate only to find out he didn't even care about his family. "FUCK. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK
FUCK". He doesn't even give a fuck about his own family. So why did I do this? Why the hell am I even still Alive"? She turned to look up at Sergei.
"Sergei, what do I do"?
"Hold me" She wept as she clung to Sergei as if he were her
lifeline, which he practically was.
"Mrs. Steiger, I apologize on behalf of both of us for what this little girl and I have done; we never intended to hurt you; all we wanted was to make your husband regret his actions. However, that's no excuse for the harm we've caused. If you call for an ambulance now, Emily will probably survive. The bullet went through her, so they won't have to worry about taking it out. He turned back to face Alexandra feeling her tears through his shirt. "It's over, Alexandra, your revenge is over; no, it never even began."
Just like that, the two of them walked out into the snow as
the Steiger family called for an ambulance.
It was freezing outside; it was colder than the Devil's Heart.
NO, nothing could ever be as cold as the devil known as Aksel Steiger. All that was left was for both these two to return to their mediocre lives: Sergei, a waiter at a blue-collar pub, and Alexandra, an orphan with no friends. "Don't worry, Alexandra, I will make him pay for this. However, I'm afraid we can no longer be together". "What why" "you're just a kid; you have your whole life ahead of you; you should enjoy it. I told you that once I helped you get your revenge, we would go our separate ways; you know that this is for the best.
"I haven't been a kid since I was five years old," Alexa said with her head held down to keep her tears from being seen.

"I understand, Sergei, just please promise me you'll come back." "I can't promise you that you knew what would happen if we went through with this; now it's dangerous for us to be together; please, Alexandra, for my sake, don't try to find me. She nodded.
Alexandra looked up at her guardian once again and hugged him
one last time before parting ways

Epilog
November 9th, 1989
It had been many months since the incident at the Steiger household
the weather was much nicer than it was this time last year, and People were flocking outside to see the fall of the Berlin wall.
Children were playing; adults were dancing and taking pictures,
all seemed right with the world...
All except for one little girl who was sitting by herself in an orphanage watching television.
Breaking news from Munich, An accountant by the name of Aksel
Steiger has just been found brutally murdered and mutilated in his apartment. We have just received word that a 24-year-old Russian man by the name of Sergei Andropov has turned himself into the police and is being charged with Capital murder. The motive remains unclear, but this is one of the most grisly murders to occur in our country's history in the past 40 years.

In other news, the Berlin wall is finally coming down after decades of dividing this great nation. "Click"
So this was it; the monster was finally dead. After years of
agonizing pain, Alexandra Brudnov could finally sleep easy at night. Or so she thought. Somehow she felt empty like she was missing something. She opened up her floorboard to take out some painkillers from her hidden stash of narcotics.
She then went to her bathroom to get a glass of water. Just as she looked at herself in a mirror, she thought to herself that enough was enough. "These pills just numb the pain; they don't take it away."
She then proceeds to throw all of her drugs down the toilet.
She lay on the ground, looking up at the ceiling of her bedroom, feeling alone, utterly truly alone.
Just then, there was a knock on her door. "Hello, Alexandra."
One of the orphanage staff members called out, "Can we come in"?
Alexandra opened the door and, to her surprise, saw the Steiger
family.

"What are you doing here"?
"We came to adopt you." Said Heidy. "Please, would you give us a moment"? She asked the Orphanage employee. "Sure thing, it looks like you two know each other, that's great; how do you two know each other"? "It's a long story; please get the adoption papers ready." "I'll go get her papers then." The staff member went
downstairs and left the four of them alone.
Alexandra was shocked why would these people want to adopt
her after she had threatened to kill them.

"There's no need to be scared." Said Emily, we're not here to hurt you. I can understand you being cynical, but we promise you we only want to help you. Alexandra looked down
At Emily's stomach. "Oh, don't worry, the bullet didn't hit any
of my vital organs; the doctors said I was lucky; after a few days, everything was back to normal."
They were all smiling, not sadistic vengeful smiles but those of happiness.
She then began to cry.
As she rushed towards them, she thanked them and started sobbing.
"Thank you, thank you so much, and I'm sorry."
"We're sorry too," Emily replied. "We know your life's been hard
you didn't deserve to suffer like that".

Hours later, as the tens of thousands of people were celebrating the fall of the Berlin wall, Alexandra joined them and began dancing with other kids her age. For the first time in eight years, she felt at peace. Now she could finally be free of her nightmare if only she had let go of her anger sooner, she could have felt
like this every day.
But there was no sense in harping over what was. All she had
to do now was look towards the future and forget all about the atrocities committed by one cruel man.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.- Martin Luther King