Miracle on Slutty 4th Street Ch. 14

There was no doubt now. Something WAS happening here. Something dark and evil encroaching her. Doris could feel it, and seeing Janet modeling for a billion-dollar company only cemented this feeling. What had Janet done to suddenly appear so youthful and attractive? Nothing good, no doubt. For changes like that... it felt otherworldly. She truly considered the idea that she had made a deal with the devil, or some dark force. And it felt like 'North Pole' was somehow affiliated with that same darkness.

Luckily, it seemed like the Morris's were holding out. Rog was a stubborn man, and Doris couldn't imagine him selling his house and upending his own life. He was not the type of guy to change the status quo unless absolutely necessary. Doris was relieved, knowing they would never sellout.

She would not be so lucky.

Out-of-nowhere, seemingly, Sylvia just up and left her husband, leaving the area. And the truth was too salacious to hide. Sylvia was caught in bed with her daughter's husband Jon. And not only that, she was caught in the act by her daughter, his wife. The rumors were true. Sylvia and Jon were screwing around. Doris couldn't believe something so scandalous could actually have happened in this neighborhood. All those other things were rumors too, but after having this rumor be confirmed, Doris couldn't help but give more weight to the others.

But in the here and now, Sylvia had absconded with Jon, tearing apart her family in the process, dredging up bad memories for Doris. Sylvia's husband Roger had never seemed so old in the aftermath, and realizing that his home was far too much house for him, he put it up for sale.

'North Pole' bought it before the ink on his divorce papers was dry, and they had him moved out completely within days, ready to get to work and get new people living there.

It was only then, after all her neighbors had been either replaced or absorbed by the oozing slime of 'North Pole', that one of them showed up at Doris's doorstep. A smug little bitch, Hannah something, came to her doorstep, smiling, as if so proud of herself, and made a large money offer to buy her house. She said they would put her up in a nice place across town, but this only angered Doris more. This house had been hers for decades. It would be hers and her family's for decades more. So, Doris, unlike all her neighbors, put her foot down, saying no. She would not be selling her house. But surprisingly enough, Hannah seemed amused by this outcome. She seemed almost excited to have an obstacle in her way.

She would find no help from her neighbors, as they were all seemingly on the side of 'North Pole'. Suddenly, Doris was surrounded by so many new faces. Surrounded by the oozing slime of big business and its dark influence. And those people she knew either had been seemingly absorbed by that darkness, like sweet Lacey, or had joined along with it, like Bruce. It scared her when she went to Lacey for help in all this, only for the sweet young woman to urge her to sell the house. She wasn't even the same person anymore. She had fallen, and that same evil was knocking at Doris's door. But Doris prided herself on being a beacon for honesty and goodness. A beacon for the values of Christmas. And as far as she was aware, her and her family had escaped the dark influence that was spreading across this world so far. But as she was about to learn, the Carrolls had not been so lucky.

First, her son Tim got divorced. She'd heard about it a month or so prior, but it was only later that she discovered the truth. That he had cheated on Viv with his ex, the same one who'd stolen money from him before. And in cheating on her, she'd stolen money from him again. How could Tim have been so foolish? But worse than that, what kind of woman could be so evil as to steal from the same person over and over again? To Doris, this was just another sign of the spreading evil going over not just Fourth Street but the world. Sin and corruption, it was on the news. The movies. Pop culture. And now, it had reached it her family.

To Doris's knowledge, her Frank hadn't taken part in any cheating, but according to Denise, he'd been extremely busy at work, to the point where she sometimes barely saw him. But based on everything Doris had been seeing around her lately, with people succumbing to lust, some details raised her alarms. The fact that he had a new partner, a woman, who he spent a lot of time with. Plus, he'd taken part in an operation where he was stationed at a strip club for weeks on end. She trusted Frank, but this seemed like a risky situation to put himself into. Plus, there were articles being posted about the police force he worked for, it being called one of the most corrupt in the country, specifically with its officers stealing money and doing inappropriate things with women. Her Frank would never do anything like that. Maybe some of fellow officers did, but not him. He was a good man, a just man, and he would never take part in such corruption. But it did give her pause.

Her oldest, Dan, had seemingly been well-behaved as well, but his children gave Doris a bit of distress. Now at college, Gwen seemed to take the opportunity to dress like a harlot, posting pictures of herself on social media in short shorts and tight tops, hugging her desirable body and showing far too much skin. She even wore clothes that exposed her underwear, doing that thing that girls did where the straps of her underwear rose above the hem of her shorts or pants. Doris didn't want to look too closely, but it appeared that her underwear was inappropriately small. How could someone who used to be so kind and virtuous dress like this? She was raised going to church! How could she behave in such a way? How could Dan let her get away with this? In pictures that showed Dan visiting Gwen at college, he didn't seem to mind at all, standing next to his daughter as she wore such revealing clothes, beaming with fatherly pride. Something seemed off to Doris, but as it was when she heard the rumors about Polly and her own grandson, she found these thoughts so impossible that she immediately pushed them away.

But it was Max who gave her the greatest level of distress. Max, this handsome virtuous young man, was both his mother's pride and joy and Doris's greatest hope for the future. In an ever-changing world, if a man like him could still come around, there was hope. Even as the world around her got worse, even as her friends abandoned her, her neighbors left her, and the evil 'North Pole' spread closer to her, she held out hope for good, because of him. She dismissed all of Janet's nasty rumors. She had faith in him. She believed in her grandson.

Then his mother called and broke the news.

Max had dumped his girlfriend, dropped out of school, and was now in a relationship with a much older woman.

Apparently, Max had called her, and had explained this all very vaguely. And when his mother demanded answers, the mystery woman, a voice she didn't recognize, got on the phone. She coolly told her that he would be well cared for, and with a cold dominance in her voice, told Connie to never call this number back. Needless to say, Connie was flipping out about this, and Dan was certainly concerned as well. But Doris... her reaction was almost greater than either of them.

Janet was right. Max... Max liked older women. He preferred older women. He'd... lain with older women. And if this was true, that also all but confirmed Janet's other boast.

Janet and Max had sex.

Doris was crushed by this revelation. Shattered. Max was so kind and optimistic and good-hearted, and he too had fallen to the sins of the flesh. And not just to anyone, but to Janet, the woman Doris hated more than anything. An old, nasty, evil whore! That woman had won over this kind, generous, intelligent young man and corrupted him. And if he could fall, anyone could.

This was when Doris's optimism about the world died.

If Janet was right about this, it probably meant she was telling the truth about all of it. Maybe Doris had been too blind to see. Too old-fashioned to understand the way the world worked now. She'd ignored all those nagging doubts, all those nasty rumors, even as evidence amounted. But if she could be so wrong... maybe she was wrong about all of it. Maybe Fourth Street, its families, and the world at large had been corrupted to the core.

Maybe Polly did have sex with her own grandson. Maybe Polly's son cheated on his wife with a slut who sold lingerie. Maybe her oldest son was palling around with two young whores. Doris already knew about Sylvia's dirty dealings. But maybe her son Liam had been absorbed into the evil of 'North Pole' as so many others had, getting seduced into submission by one of their execs. Maybe Kevin Burkhouse did cheat on his wife. Maybe Lacey did have sex with that brutish beast Bruce.

And maybe... maybe her family was just as poisoned as the rest. Maybe Frank had become a corrupt cop and fooled around and caroused with all sorts of nasty women. Maybe Dan was having sex with his own daughter. And she already knew Tim had cheated, but if she knew that, she could only imagine the bad stuff she didn't know with him.

Maybe the world was corrupt. Forever broken. Maybe Doris had been the last holdout.

But now she was surrounded. Enemies all around her, no friends in her neighbors' houses, only those who'd surrendered to the evil of 'North Pole', excluding Doris from all neighborhood events in the process. Her neighborhood wasn't the same anymore. A shining veneer to the artificiality of 'North Pole'. It looked brighter, fancier, and more expensive.

It didn't look like home.

Doris suddenly hated being at home. Hated that she had no more friends. Hated that her family had been touched by the sins of the world. Hated that the little street she'd nurtured for her whole life had been destroyed in such a short amount of time. The world was poisoned, Fourth Street had rotted, and the Carrolls had been broken.

She'd failed. Her life's work, a failure.

It certainly didn't help that 'North Pole' was hammering at her in every legal way it could, trying to drive her out. Almost the next day after that bitch came to her door asking Doris to sell her house, she began getting lots of robocalls on behalf of 'North Pole', speaking of all their successes, to the point where Doris had to unplug her landline to escape it. She began getting stuff in the mail, both catalogs from 'North Pole', and mailers about retirement homes for the old and enfeebled.

It all took its toll on the old woman. Her whole world had collapsed around her, and she didn't have the strength anymore to stand up to all this. How could one woman hope to stand against a billion-dollar organization? It was time to cut her losses.

Doris called up that bitch Hannah and offered to sell the house. Ever smug, Hannah offered her less than her initial offer, less than what she'd offered any of her neighbors. But at this point, Doris simply took the deal.

By the time Christmas hit, Doris had been moved to a far smaller house on the other side of Deerberg. She brought up maybe living with Dan and Connie for a bit, but Dan, while sympathetic, was not really keen on this idea, not voicing his true reasoning on how it would impact his own personal business. So, as Christmas approached, with so much going on, Doris was alone. Dan and Connie were back home with Gwen, still reeling from the fallout of Max's choice. Frank had been so busy with work that he wanted to stay home with Denise and his daughter. Tim... God knows what he was up to. He'd been in a drunken stupor since his divorce. The world had upended all of them, and that left Doris alone with her failures. She couldn't stop thinking about the house she lost, the life she'd lost. She had to see what had become of it.

She had to see Fourth Street one more time.

That night, she drove across town, driving down towards Fourth Street for the first time since leaving. Snow was falling, but the roads weren't bad yet. Despite her history living there, she kinda hoped Fourth Street would be desolate as the world rejected them and their corporate ways. But when she made the turn on the street leading to Fourth Street, she had to come to a stop quickly.

There were cars backed up the entire road, just hoping for a glimpse of Fourth Street. She'd never seen it so packed. Doris couldn't even get close. She had to park her car on a side road and walk the rest of the way.

The street was lit up, not just by Christmas lights, but with spotlights, beams of light swirling in the air. Each of the houses were covered in Christmas lights, blinking in some pattern controlled by computers, all in sync with Christmas music. The lawns were adorned with all sorts of decorations, as were the streetlamps, and the archway at the head of the street was now permanent. Families young and old were driving by or walking along the sidewalks, just in awe of this incredible Christmas display. Doris swore she could even see some actual reindeer in one of the lawns at the end of the street.

Doris was overwhelmed by what she saw as she got to the entrance to Fourth Street. What had they done to her Fourth Street? It was all so flashy and garish. Gone was the cozy, humble little hamlet that she'd lived her life on. Here now was this flashy modern display. And she could see merchandise stands set up, with workers selling things to the people enjoying the sights. It seemed tragic to Doris, but to everyone else, they were in awe. The Christmas display on Fourth Street was more popular than ever.

Standing at the end of the street, she looked towards her old house, now adorned like crazy with Christmas decorations to an almost overwhelming degree. It was all so tacky. Doris watched the front door open, only to see that bitch Hannah step out, dressed in an ugly Christmas sweater, with decorative reindeer horns on her head, dancing with the Christmas music. Did she live there now? Did that bitch live in her house? Hannah scanned the crowd happily, savoring the fruits of her labor. And as she did, she caught sight of Doris at the end of the street, the old woman looking at this garish display on her former home with disgust.

Hannah waved at her.

A sickeningly sweet, knowing wave, the mask of friendliness hiding a true evil behind it. Doris turned away, sighing, a spark leaving her at this. That final bit of hope and positivity left her forever. It was officially over. She had lost. She had lost her home to this evil corporation. To that evil bitch.

Fourth Street always felt like the last holdout of the old Christmas traditions. The old Christmas ways. But there was a war happening between that old, traditional Christmas, and the new one. The modern one. This evil, soulless holiday. This warped version of the greatest holiday in the world.

And the worst thing was that this new Christmas was winning.

If you want evidence of it, if you want evidence that the world was falling victim of to the avarice of sin and flash this holiday now represented, you only had to do one thing.

Just look at Fourth Street, and what it had become.

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(In another place...)

The elder community of 'Silent Valley' was not the type of place where much of interest ever happened. Located not terribly far from Deerberg, it was an apartment complex that housed old folks. It was not the kind of place with people that needed constant care, but a dwelling where the elderly would settle and still be able to live a normal life, but with a staff that would be able to help them out if needed. Located in the middle of a decently sized city, nothing of great importance ever really happened there.

Until today.

One occupant, an occupant who had been there for a few years now, had a pretty incredible history, one she never shared with anyone. After what had happened to her, she was looking for some peace and quiet to live out the rest of her years, and this place ended up providing her what she needed, an escape from her past. Unfortunately for her, that past was coming back to meet her.

A pair of heavily armored SUVs pulled up to the front door of this quiet apartment complex. From the rear vehicle, two beefy bodyguards emerged, tall and intimidating looking, dressed in suits. With them was a woman, a pretty blonde woman in glasses, although at the moment, she looked a bit tired and worn out. But she shook it off as she and the two large men entered the apartment building, meeting with the front desk, looking for quiet, discrete entrance into the building with no interruptions. The woman negotiated with the large woman at the front desk, the blonde using her boss's high standing to gain permission to enter the building and the info on the person they were looking for. Once this was secured, one of the bodyguards headed back to the front door, waving the occupants of the other SUV inside. Two more large bodyguards emerged from that SUV, one of them opening the back door, waiting for his boss to emerge.

And emerge she did.

From the SUV emerged an amazingly stunning woman. A brunette with long lustrous hair and truly gorgeous features, sharp hazel eyes, a thin nose, and plump, smooth sneering lips. She looked to be maybe 30 or so. Her body was clad smartly in a form-fitting red business suit. A thin red blazer with white trim around the pockets, worn over a silky white, button-up top, each doing their best to contain her absolutely mammoth breasts, while also highlighting her slim waist. Down below, a slim, red pencil skirt, clinging to her firm thighs and perfect, upturned ass. Her calves were left exposed by the knee-length skirt, and her feet were adorned in expensive looking red stiletto heels.

Carrying a small, fashionable purse and flanked by two beefy bodyguards, she began walking towards the apartment building, heels clicking on the sidewalk. Once inside, they were joined by the other two bodyguards and the blonde assistant as they made their way into the building. They gained attention as they moved, catching the stares from the old folks as they walked by.

The woman in red... was she famous? Was she a star of some sort? Was someone here related to her? People tried to recognize her, but they couldn't quite place her. She was wearing these big, gaudy sunglasses that obscured her face somewhat. It looked like the thing celebrities would wear when they were out in public and didn't want to be recognized. And it seemed to be working, because no one could figure her out. And that... that was by design. She made it a goal not to be recognized. Even though she was uncommonly gorgeous, she was too important and too prominent to put her face out there. She had too many enemies to do that. That being said, she was a bit of an exhibitionist by nature, so keeping a low profile went against every fiber of her being. But she found an outlet for that. Even though she kept her identity hidden from the public, let's just say she wasn't shy about showing off other parts of herself to the world.

The group packed themselves into an elevator with the woman in red at the center, surrounded by her entourage. As soon as they reached their floor, they marched out of the elevator and down the hall, towards room 823. As soon as they reached that door, one of the bodyguards knocked on the door loudly. The group waited impatiently as they heard footsteps from behind the door. Finally, the door was pulled open, and from within emerged an old woman. A head shorter than the woman in red, with shoulder-length white hair, she had a friendly face, with a warm smile and these small glasses that old ladies always seemed to have. She also had puffy cheeks, and a fair number of wrinkles. She was an old lady... that usually comes with the territory. She was a stout, short woman, a bit thick around the waist, a victim of the weight gain that always seems to come with aging. She was dressed conservatively, with a green sweater and a long, ankle length dress. She had a smile on her face as she greeted her guests, but when she saw the woman in red, her smile collapsed.