by A L Crouch
I listened for the strumming, I longed to know that Donovan was with me, but I heard nothing but the panting of my own breath and the rolling thunder above. What if Donovan used the rest of his energy trying to keep Will from coming after me? What if he was still weak and couldn’t help me? I had to get to Sulley.
I kept running. I was sure that my feet were grinding into nubs and that I would throw up or pass out at any minute, but the sound of Will’s frantic steps behind me forced me to keep moving. Finally, the lights from Sulley’s street glowed ahead and I found new strength to pick up my pace. With a wail, I charged into the paved street and turned for Sulley’s house.
“NO!” Will screamed, a feral roar, behind me.
“Please let Sulley be home, please let Sulley be home,” I gasped as my legs wobbled and threatened to give out from under me again.
Tears streamed down my face and blended with the raindrops that assaulted my cheeks as I ran down the road. When I got closer to the house I saw Sulley’s truck in the driveway. Thank God! I choked back a sob and pushed faster, my heart threatening to shatter under the pressure. I could no longer hear Will’s footsteps behind me, but I knew he was still there. Maybe I had pulled ahead.
“Uncle Sulley!” I forced out a scream as I raced up the driveway and up the steps to the house.
I struggled with the front door and thought with sinking dread that it might be locked because my wet hands could not turn the knob. Wiping them on my pants, I fumbled with the knob again. When it finally turned, I bolted into the house and stopped in the living room when I saw that the lights were on. Sulley was nowhere in sight.
“Uncle Sulley!” I screamed again and he appeared, startled, in the kitchen doorway. He was wiping his hands on a kitchen towel and froze when he saw me.
“It’s Will, Uncle Sulley . . . he’s right behind me! He killed Mom,” I sobbed. “It was him, he’s the one!”
Sulley shook his head in bewilderment as he processed the information that in my frenzy, I was trying to relay to him. Then he dropped the towel suddenly and removed his gun from its holster. He aimed it past me toward the door.
My breath caught in my throat and I slowly turned to see Will in the entryway, gun raised and pointed at Sulley. A crash of thunder fractured the sudden silence.
“Stop right there Deputy,” Sulley warned and then he looked at me. “Get behind me, Alex.
I started to move toward Sulley, trembling, praying that he could finally put an end to this.
“No!” Will yelled and I stopped mid-step. “Alex, you have to listen to me. It was Sulley the whole time. That’s what I was trying to tell you!”
“What the hell are you talking about? Alex, come to me slowly. It’s okay. I’m not going to let him hurt you anymore,” Sulley encouraged. “I should have known . . . I’m so sorry kiddo.”
I took a few more steps forward, keeping my back to Will and locking eyes with Sulley who stretched out his hand to me.
“Alex, it’s true. I got the phone call after I left Brightman’s apartment. My buddy from the NYPD called me back . . . the one I told you about,” Will said staring me in the eyes. “He got a hit on that VIN number from that vehicle that fit the description of what you saw. Turns out the red Bronco was registered to a Mr. Sullivan Wiley. He bought it in Hendersonville two days before the accident.”
I watched as Sulley’s eyes narrowed in anger. Mine grew wider, the shock of Will’s words sinking in. My breath caught in my throat and I turned.
“What?” I croaked, unable to find my voice. I looked back at Sulley who was glaring at Will, unblinking. “What is he talking about, Uncle Sulley?”
“Lies. He’s trying to get you to trust him. None of it is true.”
“It’s over, Sulley. Tell her the truth. Tell her why you did it . . . she deserves that much, don’t you think?” Will sneered.
“Don’t listen to him Alex. He’s trying to confuse you. Come here Kiddo,” Sulley whispered still reaching for me.
I stared in terror from one to the other.
“It couldn’t have been you,” I said to Sulley. “You were in Iraq . . .”
“See, I checked on that too,” Will yelled when I took another step towards Sulley. “And according to Camp Bucca records, SSgt Wiley was released from military service for behavioral concerns less than a week before. He was discharged, Alex. They sent him home.”
“That’s a lie!” Sulley barked and I froze in place. “Everything he is saying is a lie! Did he tell you about his son? I mean, the truth? Or did he give you his version of it like he gives everyone else?”
“You son of a bitch!” Will hissed and stepped closer, gun aimed at Sulley’s head.
Sulley stared directly at me. “I bet he told you that his son accidentally shot himself, didn’t he?”
“Enough!” Will screamed.
“He didn’t want you to know the truth,” Sulley continued, “that he got drunk and shot his own son!”
I whirled around to Will. I could see in his eyes that it was true. Will’s face was a twisted portrait of pain and hatred. Lightning illuminated the doorway behind him throwing his eerie, deformed shadow onto the floor and then just as quickly it was sucked out into the dark night. The power flickered and threatened to go out.
“It was dark in the house. I’d been on a stakeout all night. There was dinking after, yes. I thought someone had followed me home. He was supposed to be in bed! It was an accident!” Will seethed between clenched teeth.
“He’s been lying to you this whole time Alex, and he’s lying now! He’s the master at getting people to trust him. He’s had me fooled for years. I should have known. He got fired from the NYPD because he’s a good for nothing drunk! No one else would hire him, so he came back home. I took pity on the bastard. I had no idea, Alex . . .” Sulley wailed.
I glared at Will. I finally had my chance to ask the question that burned into my soul like an incurable fever.
“Why Will? Why my family? Were we just an accident too? Were you drunk when you hit us? Did you have to kill them to cover your tracks?” I asked, looking Will dead in the eyes.
Will’s face sank. He shook his head.
“No Alex, think about it,” he said. “Sulley’s the one who cut the brake cables in my car. He knew you’d be driving it. He grabbed the keys when my back was turned. He was the one in your house . . . he had a damned key to it! He was in the woods tonight . . . he was wearing a mask when he attacked me. We were struggling for the gun when he shot at you!”
“You knew I’d be driving too! It was your car, your suggestion! You had a key to my house too!”
My mind reeled as I considered all the possibilities. I felt dizzy, like the room, as well as my life, was spinning out of control.
“I didn’t get the key until today, I told you that!” Will yelled at me, the frustration on his face was very convincing.
“His arm, Alex!” he continued. “Tell him to show you his arm! The man who attacked me last night had a bandage on his left forearm, just above the wrist. I saw it when we were struggling over the gun, before I escaped into the woods. Tell him to show you his arm!”
I turned to Sulley, eyes wide, and waited. My heart beat in sync with the pounding of the rain on the old cabin roof. His face was unreadable.
“I never told Will about the scratch.” I swallowed. “Show me your arm.”
Sulley laughed, a loud booming cackle.
“He would know if he were the one you scratched! Tell him to show you HIS arm.”
I tuned back to Will. He looked me in the eyes, their intensity saying a thousand words all at once. He kept one hand on the gun, aimed at Sulley, and with his free hand he hiked the up the sleeve of his uniform. There was no bandage there. He switched gun hands and hiked up the sleeve on the other arm. There was nothing; no bandage, not a scratch.
I turned to Sulley and stepped away from him, my eyes glued to his face, gauging his reaction.
He shrugged. “That doesn
’t mean anything. He could have been working with Brightman. Think about it. They were working together. Why else would he kill him?”
“Show her your arm, Sulley,” Will demanded.
“Just show me your arm. If that’s true, then you can just show me,” I said waiting, my life hanging on his next move.
Sulley hesitated, staring from me to Will.
“I’ll show you Alex, but I don’t dare take my sights off of him. He’ll attack the first chance he gets. Come on over here and pull up my sleeves. Go ahead, I have nothing to hide.”
I glared at him, considering.
“Don’t do it! Run Alex….run for the back door while I have you covered. You don’t have to believe either of us right now. Just run,” Will begged.
“So you can shoot her in the back like you tried to do last night? Enough of this!” Sulley roared just as a deafening crack of thunder erupted from the street and then with a flash the house was plunged into total darkness.
“Alexandra, get down now!” Donovan screamed above the crack of thunder.
“Donovan!”
Without hesitation, I hit the floor as a second explosion echoed in my ears and ripped a blood curdling cream from my throat. A gunshot. And then all was silent except for the pounding of the relentless rain.
For a wild moment I lay there frozen on the floor trying to contain my breath so I could hear any movement around me. I waited for my eyes to adjust, but they found no trace of light to adjust to. I was utterly blind in the overwhelming dark. I strained to hear the strumming, but the wind and rain masked the diminished rhythm.
“This way Alexandra!” Donovan’s strained voice came from my left.
I turned my body in that direction and began to crawl on my stomach towards his voice. It was too quiet. Something was very wrong. I realized with paralyzing horror that I was trapped in the house with the person who had killed my parents. One of the men I loved had been shot and was most likely dead. The other wanted me just as dead.
I scurried soundlessly across the floor towards where I had heard Donovan’s voice. I used my fingers to dig into the plush carpet and pulled myself forward inch by inch.
“Sshh sshh, stop. Don’t move,” Donovan whispered from beside me.
I stopped and listened as the sound of footsteps, slow and heavy, moved across the carpeted floor beside me. The footsteps paused. I didn’t dare breathe. I didn’t know where in the room I was. The darkness that engulfed me was both my saving grace and my condemner. My only hope was that the murderer was as blinded as I was. The footsteps continued across the room in deliberate, slow steps away from me.
“Okay Alexandra,” Donovan panted. “You have to come this way. Come towards me . . . that’s it. Keep moving.”
I continued to claw my way soundlessly forward. There was movement behind me, the sound of fabric being dragged across the carpet; a faint moan. I looked in the direction of the sound as a flash of lightning illuminated the scene before me for a few fleeting seconds.
I was near the kitchen now. A tall figure at the other end of the room, their features drenched in shadow, dragged a body towards the door. The figure turned toward me as the room was again plunged into darkness.
I turned and got up on all fours. With the next roll of thunder I crawled into the kitchen, then froze in place when the thunder faded into the distance and listened. Footsteps, slow and deliberate were moving toward me.
“That’s it. Keep coming this way. Slowly!” Donovan’s voice was strained and desperate, but he remained calm and I clung to his voice.
I crawled towards him, careful not to make a sound against the less forgiving hardwood kitchen floor. When I heard the footsteps pause, I froze. He was listening for me. When he continued his approach, I moved forward again.
Another flash of lightning revealed that I was deep into the kitchen and a wave of relief washed over me as I realized that Donovan was leading me to the back door. I waited for the accompanying roll of thunder before I again scurried across the floor, this time aiming for the back door. Feeling along the cabinets, I kept the image of the kitchen where I had spent so many childhood nights at the forefront of my mind and tried to remember the feeling of safety that had always surrounded me here.
Thunder growled in the distance so I crawled along faster. After a few steps my hands stumbled across the loose floorboard and it pinched my palm as it squeaked. I froze again, my hand still on the board as the thunder came to a stop. I had forgotten about the loose floorboard. Damn!
I didn’t dare move my hand for fear that the board would squeak again. I didn’t know what to do. I listened for the footsteps, they were getting closer.
“Alexandra . . . keep moving, you’re almost there,” Donovan beckoned.
My mind screamed that I couldn’t move and I prayed that Donovan would somehow hear. The footsteps continued closer. In a panic, I grabbed at the floorboard with my free hand, trying to force it still so I could remove the other. To my shock, the board lifted into my hand and my other hand fell into the recess in the floor.
For a second I didn’t move and I listened to see if I had been heard. The footsteps paused for a minute and I remained still until they continued on their path toward me, but they were no faster. Maybe they hadn’t heard me.
I was about to pull my hand out of the floor when I felt something soft beneath my fingertips. I grabbed the fabric and pulled it from below the floor. The buttery cloth was slick between my fingers as I pulled at it. I flattened it out on the floor and ran my fingers along its edge. One fat bulk of fabric surrounded by five narrower ones. A leather glove, I realized with cold dread. And it was slick with moisture.
Shaking, I dared to dip my hand in the hole in the floor again even as the footsteps came steadily nearer. In a craze I felt around until my fingers came into contact with cool metal. I grabbed the object and pulled it from the hole with frenzied curiosity. I had to know what it was, if it was what I was afraid it was.
It too was moist and I clutched at the metal object with one hand and felt along its edges with the fingertips of my other hand. The sharp, pointy edge on one end and the rough, curved coil on the other sent me into an elevated plane of panic and shock. Lightning flashed in succession into the room making me feel as though I were caught in some old horror-movie projection.
My worst fears were confirmed when I looked down at the sinister knife in my hands, covered in drying blood, its snake-shaped handle twisting in my grip. I dropped it with a clang to the floor and covered my mouth in my hands. I looked up in time to see Sulley’s face glaring at me from the kitchen doorway and then the room was tossed into darkness once again.
“Sulley . . . NO,” I choked out the words.
“My God,” Donovan gasped with horror beside me. “I’ve led you right to him!”
I couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be real. It was another nightmare. I had to wake up. The footsteps charged at me from the doorway.
“Run Alexandra!” Donovan screamed.
I got to my feet and bolted for the back door. An explosion erupted in white heat behind me and I ducked as the cabinet beside me burst into splinters of oak finish. With a scream I reached the back door as a flash of lightning illuminated the kitchen. I struggled with the knob as behind me drawer after kitchen drawer burst open, their contents hurling themselves into Sulley’s face as he struggled to get to me, gun raised. When he took aim, Donovan screamed and a cabinet door flung open and knocked the gun from Sulley’s hand.
I twisted the knob and tugged hysterically, but the door would not open. I realized with helpless dismay that the deadbolt was locked. Plunged into darkness again, I felt frantically around the knob and prayed that the key would be in the lock.
“No!” I screamed when my fingers found the empty keyhole.
“Duck!” Donovan screamed and I hit the floor just in time to dodge Sulley’s grasping hands.
His fingers clutched for me in the darkness and tugged my hair. I yanked free an
d scurried across the floor to the other corner. Sulley growled in frustration, the now familiar sound making the hairs on my neck stand on edge.
I backed myself as far into the corner as I could. I could hear panting from next to me and I knew that Donovan was near, but in weakened condition.
“You can’t hide forever, Kiddo.” Sulley’s voice was that of a stranger. “You know, it’s a shame that it had to end this way. It was nice having you back. Just like old times.”
I held my breath in the corner, keeping my eyes focused on Sulley’s voice in front of me. The thunder rolled off into the distance as the storm began to pass. What light broke through the windows was only enough to cause a faint flicker before it vanished and the house was black once again.
“But just like old times you ran off with another man. After everything I did for you. Like mother like daughter,” he dolled. “You both made me do it . . . made me kill my own brothers. First Gary, and now Will. I told you he was no good for you, but that didn’t matter to you, did it?”
Sulley’s footsteps sounded on the kitchen floor beside me, kicking strewn utensils aside as he paced.
“I thought you’d be different, but I could tell right away you were just like her. Do you know the things I did for her?” Sulley ranted.
None of it made sense. My mind whirled, trying to discern his words and the sheer hatred in his tone. What was he talking about?
“I took care of her after she had you. I made her part of my family. I helped her buy that damned house. That was supposed to be OUR home!” Sulley shouted and I bit down on my tongue to suppress a scream
“I only enlisted in the Army in order to better provide for her . . . for the three of us. But that wasn’t good enough for her, was it?”
I remained still, listening, trying to figure out what to do. Someone would have heard the gunshots . . . the police were coming, I told myself. Sulley’s footsteps came to a halt. I heard a series of strange clicks and then a slow, steady hiss.
