The Social Media Murder Corp

by Stephen Signorelli

  “Mom, anyone who doesn’t accept Jesus in their hearts is going to hell right?” one of them asked one day.

  “Yes, they will burn in hell for not accepting our Savior,” she replied.

  “What about babies who die early, before they can understand anything?”

  “They didn’t accept Jesus, so they go to hell.”

  “What about aborted babies, or babies who die inside their mother?”

  “Again, they go to Hell.”

  “Mom that doesn’t seem fair.”

  “Don’t question God, child.”

  “Jesus didn’t come to Earth until only about two thousand years ago right?”

  “That is correct dear.”

  “So, uh, what about all the people on Earth who lived and died in the thousands of years BEFORE Jesus even came to Earth? They had no idea who he even was, so they could never have accepted him.”

  “They are also in hell dear, they never accepted Jesus.”

  “But, Mom, they lived BEFORE Jesus was here.”

  “Don’t question God, child.”

  “Mom, it doesn’t sound fair at all.”

  “I SAID do NOT question GOD!”

  “Sorry Mom.”

  “You both have been rather rebellious lately, this is a sign that Satan is trying to influence you to his way of thinking. You have to remain pure in thought and action. Remember, only the saved go to heaven. You DO want to go to heaven right? It will be glorious, an eternity of nothing but praising God and worshipping him.”

  Jacob shook his head as he listened to Cassie further poison the minds of their children. He had long ago stopped caring. Now there was a new situation he had to deal with. A young child had caught Cassie’s eye and she was planning on pressuring the single mother of the child to sign custody over to her and Jacob. Jacob had protested, stating that they had neither the time nor the resources for another kid, and that the mother may be poor, but she was raising her child ok. Cassie would hear none of it, declaring the mother a ‘sinner’ and that the child, a 2 year old girl, ‘needed’ to be saved. Cassie had already begun to apply massive pressure to the mother, manipulating her with every trick she had, into signing her daughter away to Cassie and Jacob.

  Jacob new it was pointless to resist, and since he didn’t care anymore, he dropped the entire matter.

  He found an excuse to go into the city to go shopping. For once, this is exactly what he planned to do, he didn’t feel like visiting the local brothels, so it was off to shop he went.

  “Excuse me,” the beautiful woman with long dark hair cooed, “Can you help me lift this case of water?”

  Jacob smiled at the vision before him. A lovely 20 something Hispanic looking woman, smartly dressed, subtle makeup, piercing eyes, he felt that all too familiar urge inside him.

  “Sure, I can help,” Jacob replied.

  As he lifted the case of water into the woman’s car, his tattoo, “John 3:16”, was briefly visible. The woman smiled.

  “Thank you so much, you are a true gentleman,” she said with a smile.

  “Just doing the Lord’s work,” Jacob replied with a grin.

  “Ah a man of God, how noble. Tell me, did you save any souls today?” she asked.

  “No, not yet. I am good at saving souls,” Jacob said with a grin.

  “So tell me,” she said as she stood closer to him, “Do you think I need to be saved?”

  Jacob leaned in closer.

  “Yes, you are on a path to wickedness and need to be saved as soon as possible,” he said softly.

  Jacob awoke three hours later handcuffed to a bed in the Quinta Real Hotel. He frantically thrashed around on the bed, his mouth gagged. His eyes wide, and pulled and pulled at his bonds, to no avail. He looked down and saw his arm bandaged up. Had he been drugged? He remembered going to the hotel with the woman, going into her room, kissing her aggressively, then, nothing. His mind raced, he must have been drugged. He looked over at the table and saw his phone and wallet still there. He hadn’t been robbed, this made no sense. If it was a robbery then all of his stuff would be gone, but it was all still there. And the bandage on his arm perplexed him, he could not remember hurting it, he could not remember anything actually.

  Jacob struggled and struggled to no avail. He began to panic. How long would he be trapped here before someone in the hotel staff came to the room? What time would the maid show up? How would he explain his present state of restraint? He had enough money to bribe the staff to silence, and he would insist no police would get involved. But how would he explain his absence to Cassie? He stopped and saved some souls, would she fall for it?

  He would not have to worry about that, because as he plotted his excuses in his head, the door to the hotel room came crashing open. There stood Cassie, the kids, the hotel manager, and the head of the Missionary group that sponsored their activities.

  Oh shit.

  Cambodia

  “Based on the DNA sample you provided to me, he is the father of the twins,” the doctor employed by Stepan announced.

  “Thank you Sensei,” Stepan said bowing.

  The doctor returned the bow and left the room.

  “Now we know,” Stepan said.

  “I figured as much, thank you for this, at least I know,” Genesis said.

  “It is good to know, in the unlikely event of any medical issues, though the doctor has stated many times they are healthy and strong,” Stepan replied.

  Genesis walked to the window of the room and looked out into the garden and sighed.

  “Is everything ok?” Stepan asked.

  “Yes, it just occurred to me, the girls may be confused as to whom they are. A Honduran mother, an Irish father, born in Cambodia. They will not know what they are.”

  “They will know you are their mother, which will be more than enough.”

  Genesis smiled as she looked out into the garden.

  “And telling them of the circumstances of their birth, of this place, of this life, I almost don’t believe it and I am here living it.”

  Stepan walked to beside Genesis and joined her in looking out into the vast garden.

  “This life we chose, it is full of many things. Death, violence, terror. But it is also filled with beauty, honor, and a code of ethics. They balance each other out. That is what the universe is, a constant state of balance. We tip the scales to even when one side gets too heavy.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Your twins, they will balance out what we do here. They will balance out some of the actions we sometimes have to take.”

  The two continued to stare into the garden, watching the sunshine, the flowers, the kittens playing.

  “You should have been their father,” Genesis said softly.

  The twins

  Genesis smiled as she held her twin girls in her arms. The birth had been easy. She was in the garden when her water broke. Minutes later, she was in the room prepared in advance for this moment. After a few hours of labor, she gave birth to the girls. The first, Gabriela Katerina Rossmery, was born at 4:54 pm. 4 minutes later, the second twin, Marcela Anna Rosita, came into the world. Genesis placed both girls on her chest and, with tears in her eyes, beheld them. They were perfect, absolutely perfect, and as they lay on her chest crying, the two twin’s hands touched and they grasped onto each other.

  Later that evening, as the girls slept, Genesis sat in the large rattan chair in the main living room. She was worn out, tired but not tired, and thankful to God for what he had blessed her with. Stepan came into the room and sat opposite her and smiled.

  “They are beautiful,” he stated.

  “They are perfect,” Genesis replied with a smile.

  “Children are born innocent, what they become is up to us, to the whole world,” Stepan told her.

  “My girls will never have the life I had, they will never go through what I went through, I will make sure of that,” Genesis answered.

  “You will be an excellent
mother and teacher to them, I am sure of it, but now I must inform you that I have business to attend to, something has come up suddenly that I need to handle personally. Yuki will remain here at the house with you,” Stepan informed her.

  “I will not ask what it is, but I will ask you to be careful,” Genesis said sadly.

  “Your concern is touching, but you worry for no reason, it is trivial. I leave in the morning, and I hope to be back in a week.”

  “I will worry no matter what you say,” Genesis said with a smile.

  Stepan sighed.

  “I have defeated many a foe in my lifetime, but in the time I have known you I have learned you will always defeat me,” he laughed.

  “Oh come now, isn’t it my job to worry about you?” she asked.

  “This will be the last time I will have to go anywhere,” Stepan said unexpectedly.

  A puzzled look came to Genesis’s face.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “This is my last run. Forever. After this, I am done with what I do.”

  “Done? Why?”

  “I am not good with expressing myself, I never have been. I have never had someone in my life I felt even the smallest of feelings for. Oh yes, I care for Yuki on a human level, and I would miss her, but my life would continue on as usual if she chose to leave. However, with you I find myself……”

  His words trailed off.

  Genesis smiled and stood up, she walked over to Stepan and took his hand.

  “We have found each other,” she said.

  4 years later

  “Its icky!”

  “Touch it!”

  “Noooo its icky its all green and slimy!”

  “You are a big fraidy cat doo doo head!”

  “No you are the doo doo head!”

  “I may be a doo doo head but I am not afraid of this frog!”

  Gabby poked the large and bored frog with a stick. She grinned at her sister, who was clearly terrified of the amphibian.

  “See? I poked it with this stick and its just sitting there!” she said.

  Marcy looked at the frog, her eyes wide.

  “He is probably thinking how he will eat my face!” she cried.

  “No, he is more scared of you than you are of him. Go ahead. Touch him!”

  “He will bite me!”

  “Marcy, frogs don’t bite they don’t have teeth!”

  Marcy put her finger out and slowly inched it towards the frog.

  “See? Look how brave you are!” Gabby said proudly.

  “Icky icky icky,” Marcy repeated over and over as she put her finger closer and closer to the frog.

  Her finger reached the face of the frog and, summoning her last ounce of courage, she touched the frog.

  RIBBIT!!!!! It croaked as it leapt at Marcy’s face.

  Marcy ran into the house screaming in terror. She ran to her mom, who was sitting on a chair reading a book, and began to cry.

  “Mommy a frog tried to eat my face!”

  Genesis looked at Marcy and sighed.

  “Marcy, you know I don’t speak Khmer, please repeat that in English.”

  “Mommy it was icky it had fangs it tried to eat my face it was icky!”

  Genesis sighed, she had wanted the twins to learn the language of the nation they were born in, Cambodia, but she expected the girls to use English or Spanish full time. Unfortunately, the twins refused to learn Spanish (calling it weird), and were already eloquently fluent in Khmer. They spoke English, but when they got excited or angry (or mischievous) they reverted to Khmer. Genesis couldn’t make heads or tails of the language, and it frustrated her.

  “Marcy, dearest, English.”

  Marcy caught her breath as she clung to her mother’s leg.

  “A frog, it tried to eat my face!”

  Genesis chuckled. Marcy was curious, but sometimes it got her in trouble. Frogs had always spooked her, despite her efforts to learn to accept them for what they were.

  “Marcy while your face is oh-so adorable, I think its safe to say the frog was not interested in eating it.”

  “It had fangs! Big fangs dripping with poison!”

  “Marcy, don’t you think you are exaggerating a little bit?” Genesis asked.

  Marcy sighed.

  “Maybe. But it was still icky.”

  “It’s ok dear, frogs cannot hurt you. Go back in the yard and keep an eye on your sister, ok?”

  Marcy smiled as she hugged Genesis’s leg.

  “Ok mommy I will keep her in line!” she laughed, bounding out of the room and back into the yard.

  Genesis shook her head. Gabby would be the one to keep Marcy in line, but she wouldn’t let her know that. Genesis felt something at her feet and looked down, only to see the newest kitten to be born into the house dressed up in a ridiculous doll’s outfit. The kitten looked angry, as angry as a cat could possibly look. Laughing to herself, Genesis picked up the hapless cat and began to undress it.

  “Poor thing, Marcy sure does like to dress you up,” she chuckled.

  “Let me guess, he got dressed up again,” Stepan said has he strode into the room carrying two cups of coffee.

  “Yes, poor thing,” Genesis replied.

  “And that name, Fluffywoogums, I don’t understand that at all,” he sighed as he placed the coffee on a small table next to Genesis.

  “Actually its MISTER Fluffywoogums,” she laughed as she put the kitten back on the floor.

  “My apologies to you good sir,” Stepan said as he nodded at the now free of doll clothing cat. It looked at Stepan and snorted, then walked away.

  “I swear that cat is never in a good mood,” Stepan sighed as he drank his coffee.

  “Marcela likes to dress him up, I am just surprised he takes it without fighting back,” Genesis laughed.

  “Have you thought about what we discussed earlier?” he asked.

  “Yes, I have, and I think it’s a good idea. A private tutor would be far more suitable for them, given their temperament and behavior, plus I think the situation of two Khmer speaking white girls in a Cambodian school would raise too many questions they aren’t able to answer.”

  “They will get a world class education, I know a few teachers from the International Schools here who are grossly underpaid, I will hire them on,” Stepan informed her.

  “Good,” Genesis smiled as she drank her coffee.

  “I also have an idea, and one that I will only put in action with your 100% approval. It concerns educating them in, other matters,” Stepan said slowly.

  “What do you mean?” Genesis asked.

  Stepan elaborated;

  “It involves their physical fitness and other forms of, let’s say, self-preservation. The truth is, we live in a dangerous world. Compound that with the fact that someone like me has, over the years, made quite a few enemies. While our mutual code prohibits the targeting of family members, there is always a chance outsiders or someone who violates the code, could do something stupid.”

  Genesis sighed.

  “You want to make them killers, is that it?” she asked.

  “Not at all, in fact, what I have in mind is merely for their own survival. I am much older than you and them. I will not be here forever, and we both know that. You are too old to be trained in what I have in mind, they are the perfect age. I will teach them to defend themselves so that no one, and I mean NO ONE will ever be able to hurt them.”

  Genesis sipped her coffee and thought, she didn’t want her daughters to have the kind of life Stepan had, which she had always refused to learn more than a few bare facts about, but he was right in the point that the girls needed to know how to handle the world they did in fact live in.

  “I don’t want them to hurt anyone, I don’t want them to do whatever it is you used to do, which I mean as no dis-respect,” she stated.

  “You cannot offend me, I understand your concerns. When I depart this world you and the girls will inherit massive amounts of wealth, wealth
large enough to perhaps give reason to some unscrupulous people to try and take. Yuki is also getting older, and will not be able to protect you from everything. If the girls are strong, others will see this and respect the transition to them. They will inherit all I have built, to do with as they see fit. I will give them the education and training I had to learn on my own, the hard way, with many painful mistakes.”

  Genesis nodded her head.

  “I want to see what you do, the physical part of it, I want to see what my girls are capable of,” she said.

  Stepan drank some of his coffee.

  “They have remarkable instincts, they do things together without saying a word, and they are fearless. They will be magnificent.”

  Training

  The building was large and all open space. It looked like a large gymnasium inside, but was full of various types of equipment. Pegs were all the walls, bars hung from the ceilings. Various heavy bags were placed here and there, all suspended on chains. Two vaulting horses, several exercise machines, and various ladders, poles, and barrels completed the scene.

  Gabby and Marcy peered out onto the assorted equipment from behind the protective shield of Genesis’s legs, wide eyed with wonder.

  “This is neat!” Gabby cried.

  “There aren’t any frogs in here are there?” Marcy asked.

  Stepan laughed.

  “No dear, it has been de-frogged. Why don’t you both go have a look?”

  The twins, holding hands, stepped forward and slowly walked into the confusing array of equipment arranged before them.

  “This stuff is neat!” Marcy said.

  “Yeah it’s cool!” Gabby replied.

  “Is this ours?” Marcy asked her sister.

  “I think so, I hope so!”

  “English please,” Genesis said.

  The twins walked around and poked at the various pieces of equipment.

  “Look a rope!” Marcy said happily, “race you to the top!”

  Marcy jumped onto the rope and began to climb. Seeing her sister, Gabby jumped onto the rope hanging next to her and began to climb as well.

  “Wait wait girls get down!” Genesis cried as she ran forward.