by Lance Murphy
Instead of finishing the sentence she gestured to the seat next to her.
“Come. Sit with me.”
As I sat down she gently took my hand and gave an embarrassed giggle, “This isn’t exactly a healthy environment for a kid who has suffered trauma like you have. Are you coping okay?”
I didn’t really want to go down this road, because Morgan’s situation served as quite a good distraction. The last thing I wanted was to relive that night for the umpteenth time in my head.
“I’m doing okay, I guess.”
Why would anyone ask me this? How am I supposed to be doing? My family went into the gates of heaven kicking and screaming. I should be asking her how she is doing knowing that the angel of death has been replaced by Shine. She is to be my distraction…not my bargain basement therapist.
“Oh that reminds me.”
Morgan reached for the notepad on the coffee table.
“A Dr. Emily Jenkins called. She asked how you were doing and if it was possible to make an appointment to see you? She said that you could meet with her in her office at the hospital.”
I knew she called and I knew what she said.
“Thanks. We couldn’t finish our talk that night at the hospital, and yeah, that’s probably why she called.”
“She sounds like a very nice lady, and she seems genuinely concerned about you,” Morgan was now using me as her distraction. Well played.
“She is. I will call and talk to her a bit later. Really not ready to talk about that night.”
I figured the longer I put off talking to Ms. Emily, the longer I could stay here with Morgan and the boys. Even though her questions jogged my memory of my family, I still wasn’t ready to describe what happened and truth be told, I was more worried about helping Morgan while there was still time.
“I never even thanked you for warning me Cody, you took a big chance on somebody you didn’t know and that took a lot of guts. I was just so angry and confused, I couldn’t think straight”
“No problem ma’am. It was all in a day’s work.”
For the first time since I arrived I saw a genuine smile on Morgan’s pretty face.
“You’re a real little superhero you know that?”
Six
Other than Morgan trying to make last minute arrangements for Tommy’s party, the day wasn’t very eventful. I have to hand it to her; she functioned quite well given her circumstances. She ordered clowns, a magician, and karaoke machines. There were green and blue balloons everywhere. They weren’t the regular sized balloons; these were unusually larger than normal. I’ve only been here a little over twenty-four hours, but it didn’t take me long to see that Morgan was definitely over the top. Although festive in the mind of Morgan, the oversized balloons stuffed the area to the point that all you could smell was their latex. It was not obvious that the party had been a rushed, last minute situation. It seemed cozy and eventful with each person engaged within an activity. Maybe it was just because I was on edge, all others seemed to brim with smiles and exuberance. I sat becoming intoxicated by Morgan’s over zealousness of balloon placement.
Shine came in from the store, with a huge, gorgeous cake and a gang of presents.
“Hi honey, how are you feeling? Everything ready for the party?” Shine sat the cake down and walked over to Morgan, her back was turned and she was still hanging a ton of balloons.
“Hey honey. I’m actually feeling good today and yes, everything is set. Did you remember to pick up the cake?”
Did she really just utter the word ‘honey’ and tell him that she was feeling good? Morgan was lying about feeling good. Six months of slow torture wasn’t going to blow over in a day, but she wanted to see the reaction from Shine. Whatever made Shine turn into a monster didn’t affect his great detective skills. Thanks to a combination of paranoia and instincts he started to notice the strange turn of events. For starters, why were the kids in their bedroom so early in the morning and why all of a sudden did Morgan want them to have the yogurt? It could have been a coincidence, but what were the odds? He spent the whole day pre-occupied with these thoughts until he started tracing the source of the peculiar activity. Since I came into the picture things were changing. Morgan’s sudden love for me in addition to the yogurt incident wasn’t making sense. He also noticed a change in Morgan despite her best efforts to hide her true emotions. They were both catching each other’s game and the secret tension started to grow.
The party was now underway. After Shine placed the cake on the party table, he gave me a very strange look. In fact, he didn’t take his eyes off me. He was connecting the dots somehow and he was definitely suspecting something. The yard was full of excited kids spraying each other with water guns and jumping in the pool. I felt too uncomfortable to do anything so I decided to just go into the house. Once I got away from all the screaming kids I noticed Shine had followed me.
“Hey there little man. Enjoying the party?” He was standing in the doorway with a rather inquisitive look on his face. I just nodded my head.
“I had a very interesting conversation with Dr. Jenkins today. You remember her don’t you? She was at the hospital the night your family was attacked.”
He knew. He knew everything. I started to break out in a nervous sweat as he just kept staring at me. Instinctively I started to make my way inside again, but he blocked my path.
“It seems you are quite a gifted young boy, maybe too gifted.”
I stepped back and thought about running through the door, but he was deliberately revealing his gun.
“You wouldn’t happen to know what is going on here with my family now would you?”
“Leave him alone you bastard.”
Morgan’s voice sounded like that of an angel, as she came from the kitchen. She pushed past Shine and settled in front of me. Shine’s attitude was very strange. Instead of getting nervous he became more confident.
“Come now darling. Are you protecting the kid that is going to shoot you?”
Shine closed the door behind him, making sure nobody in the backyard could see what was happening.
This familiar scene did nothing to stop my traumatized mind from remembering, from hearing the banshee like screams of that night that bellowed horrible god-awful sounds as my family’s lives ended and blood pools were born. The muffling sounds of the children outside guided me back to the symphony of death that I longed to escape.
“He’s a little maniac. After his traumatic experience a kid like this is capable of anything.” His eyes mirrored those of Beelzebub and his voice took on a darkness beyond midnight. As Shine spoke, his appearance began to morph before my eyes. He was not a man, he was the demonic byproduct of a mortal and the spawn of Satan himself.
As Shine’s hand reached for his gun Morgan pulled me closer to her, but she didn’t back down.
“You deserve to burn in hell.”
Shine pulled out the gun and started ranting like a crazy person.
“You know, I told Linda that the drugs weren’t working fast enough. We should have buried you months ago but noooooo that would have been too risky. All this time I had to pretend to be the loving husband, do you know what kind of torture that is?!”
Morgan shook her head in disbelief and disgust as she asked him, “What happened to you?!”
Shine seemed honestly shocked by Morgan inquiry, “What happened to me?! Try asking what happened to you. Does mother of the year’ include neglecting your husband? Keeping all your money for yourself, not to mention necessary affection. I worked my ass off just to get caught up in this poor excuse of a relationship! At least Linda knows how to treat a man. She understands my real needs. She deserves to be pampered with your precious money.”
Before Shine could raise the gun Morgan jumped forward. She was no match for her husband, but it didn’t stop her from trying. With one heavy blow he knocked her to the ground. I instinctively grabbed his legs. I had no idea what good it would do. I guess I was hoping for a mira
cle. I felt the metal of the gun smash against my head and warm blood ran into my eyes. Shine kicked me to the side then positioned his gun towards Morgan, who was still on the floor. I closed my eyes when I heard the gun go off. The sound echoed and bounced throughout my skull as a ball leaps about jacks. My heart skipped several beats, as I knew deep within my being that Morgan was no more, that my miniscule presence had caused another life to flourish no longer and I was forced to remove the serenity of darkness and open my eyes to face my reality.
When I opened my eyes there was blood splattered all over Morgan’s face, a chill raced down my spine. She didn’t move. Shine’s body slumped down holding on to the chair in front of him, while he clutched his stomach. I didn’t understand what was happening until Danny came down the stairs, still pointing the gun in his father’s direction. Shine had showed him how to open the safe in case somebody ever broke into the house. Apparently, he heard all the commotion from up in his room. Shine even taught him how to use the extra gun. Now those lessons backfired. Danny was breathing very quickly and I could see it took a lot from him to have done what he did. He came to and stood in front of Shine and softly spoke to me,
“Cody, call 9-1-1 for my dad.”
The entire police department was in shock. Nobody saw it coming and nobody thought it would play out the way that it did. We spent the rest of the day giving statements and Morgan told Daniels how she came to know about everything. With this information along with what Dr. Jenkins had told them I had turned into somewhat of a celebrity. Little did I know how important I had become.
I had barely came to grips with the fact that Shine was dead when I was brought back to the police station. As I walked past the pit of desks and interrogation rooms, the faces of the cops revealed sadness while their eyes shouted with glee. They never liked Shine, and they somehow knew that he was a bad seed waiting to take root.
I entered a room that had a two-way mirror as a backdrop with the DA and Tanner on either side of it. They needed me to identify a few suspects that they believed killed my family. I must admit, I never saw this day coming. I figured that I would grow old before anyone took this case seriously, but here I am. Waiting for the mirror to be activated before I look into the faces of death.
“There’s no pressure here kid,” Detective Tanner attempted to be comforting and to get me to speak. This was an astounding lose/lose. I was moments away from looking into the eyes of these animals that I barely escaped. If they would’ve been more thorough, I would have drowned in the pool of blood right along with my family.
As the detective flipped the switch and a light shined down on a line of six men, my heart felt like it dropped through the floor beneath my feet. I knew that they could not see me, but that didn’t stop my eyes from seeing the true them. There they were. Standing side by side in the center of the lineup.
The night leaped through the mirror and I was shown things I didn’t know and wish I still didn’t. But that was not the most shocking part. The dark haired man to the left on the end, he was there. He was with Baxter’s shooter when she butchered her boyfriend. It was her brother.
“It’s those three in the middle.”
“Are you sure,” the raspy nature of the DA’s voice scratched my ears. It was as if she nursed on cigarettes as a child.
I shook my head with a slight tilt. I was a bit annoyed by this smoke drenched flaxen haired stick figure of a woman. Of course I was sure. It’s me, I can see the truth.
“Well, thank you young man. My office will be in touch with your mother.”
My face crinkled like a fresh raisin, this woman knew that my entire family was dead and that my mother was never truly within my family picture. Gone. Buried. Never coming back. Was she that forgetful or just mean?
“He doesn’t know yet Marsha,” Tanner was as red as a spring cherry and he fumbled nervously to reverse the switch and open the door.
As the door opened, there stood Morgan.
“As I told your son ma’am, my office will be in touch with you.”
About the Author
Penny for Your Thoughts is the first short story written by author Lance Murphy. Murphy resides in Atlanta with his wife and two children.
Penny For Your Thoughts is his inaugural online publication. In his next release, Murphy will be providing you with the prequel entitled Momma. Momma will explore the mental illness of Cody’s grandmother and its effect and transference to his ‘Momma’ and throughout the family,
You will be taken on a journey that will grant a better understanding of Cody and his unique gift that he views as a curse. You will be introduced to insights and characters that will cause an even greater love affair with the unlikely hero, a twelve year old who simply wants a normal family.
Be the very first to take advantage of the free promotion OR pre-order the second installment of Cody’s journey. Send requests for free promotional announcements to [email protected] or pre-order ‘Momma’ here.
