by K. T. Tomb
He wasn’t going to be taken in by their evil, of that he was sure. He pounded across the planks as his father’s boat came into view. The Northern Nancy after his mother, Nancy. He pulled his bag from his back and checked again that the coins were there. He’d checked before leaving the museum and had been disheartened to only find twenty-seven this time. Nothing he could do about that, but at least most of them would be lost forever. He’d counted again when he’d climbed into his truck, and again when he’d arrived at Savin Hill Park. He was terrified that the coins would magically disappear if they knew that their fate was to be at the bottom of the ocean. But no, there had been twenty-seven each time he’d counted. He had no illusions about who had the third coin. Doubtless that it was Piers, but he could do nothing about that now. If he prolonged this, waited to do what he came here intending to do, he feared that the curse might take him as well. Piers would have to wait.
The bag clunked against the sailboat’s floor as he swung his legs over and climbed aboard. There was shuffling behind him, still on the dock, but very close. And then a voice, a voice he barely recognized.
“Tsk, tsk, Gerald. What do you think you’re doing? You’re not being naughty, are you?”
She wore the same thing she’d worn when he’d been in her dorm the other night, unwashed, unkempt, dirty and wrinkled, but she didn’t notice. Her hair was a matted, filthy mess atop her head, her skin blotchy and pale in the small sliver of crescent moonlight.
“Val, I’m doing what’s best for all of us, okay? Just let me do this.”
He didn’t think it would be so easy, didn’t think she’d just let him be. After all, why was she here if she didn’t plan on stopping him?
“No!” she screamed, stomping a foot on the wooden dock like a child. “No! You’re doing this for you! Not for us! Never for us! You can’t have those coins! Share, Gerald! Share!”
He stared at her, wide eyed and unsure of what to do or how to reply. No amount of reasoning was going to get to her now. He edged backwards slowly, hoping she wouldn’t climb aboard before he could crank the motor and pull away from the dock. No such luck, though. She placed a steady foot in, and then another. So close, only a few feet separating them.
“Give them to me! They’re mine! I deserve them!” She wailed through her tantrum. An injured animal lost in the woods. “Share! Share, share, share!” she demanded as she stomped her foot again, rocking the small boat.
Gerald fumbled through the bag and he could imagine that Valery thought he was complying, that he was going to hand her exactly what she was asking for. That he would give her the leather pouch so easily. She smiled sincerely, believing that she had won, but when he pulled the cold, black steel from the pack, her smile faded and her eyes grew dark.
“Naughty, naughty, Gerald. Naughty. Little boys shouldn’t have such big toys.”
She took a step towards him, and then another. He didn’t want it to come to this. Didn’t want to use it and had hoped that with the gun in his hand and aimed towards her, she would stop. But she didn’t.
“Please, Val. Stop. I don’t want to, I really don’t.”
She reached out to him, her fingertips only inches from his arm. The shot rang through the air like an earthquake, seeming to shake their entire existence down to its bare bones. Valery dropped at his feet, a broken mess of blood and death. He hadn’t wanted to, yet he had. He’d had no choice. He felt himself heaving, fighting back the vileness of it as he pushed her body to the side. He’d have to bend down and lift her over the side, but he didn’t think he could do it. Not just yet, not right this moment while her body was still warm, while the life was still fading slowly from her eyes, while her lips still twitched and her muscles continued to spasm. Let her grow cold, stiff and lifeless before he touched her.
The dock rocked and creaked as feet ran towards him and her body. Gerald let a cry escape. He’d ruined it. The authorities would have him in cuffs and marched to a patrol car well before he had a chance to toss the pouch and its contents over the side. And any attempt to do so would likely result in him losing his life too. He slouched onto the floor, resigned to what was to be, when two shadows leered over him.
“Gerald? Are you okay?”
He lifted his head from his knee to find Julie and Piers standing beside his father’s boat.
“We heard a shot and…” She paused as her eyes found the body pressed against the side rails. “Oh my God! Are you okay? What happened?”
Gerald could barely speak through the hollowness he suddenly felt.
“I swear I didn’t want to do it! She just kept coming at me! She wouldn’t stop!”
“Who? Who is this? Oh God, Gerald!”
She and Piers climbed aboard, sending the boat gently rocking away from the dock. She moved the mass of bloody hair to the side and gasped as she realized who the victim had been.
“Valery! Oh God! You shot Valery? Why?”
She stumbled backwards, Piers catching her as she did. Gerald let out a low sob.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to, didn’t mean to! I told her to leave, to let me do it, but she kept coming at me. She wouldn’t leave!” He put his head in his hand, still vaguely conscious of the gun in his free hand. “I didn’t want to kill her, just warn her off, but she wouldn’t stop!”
Julie placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.
“I know. She was long gone, already. The Valery we knew wasn’t here anymore. It’s okay.”
He looked up at her, thankfully, before realizing who he was talking to, and who was standing just behind her. Piers. He had a coin too, didn’t he? He was corrupted too, wasn’t he? If not already, then soon. Very soon. Could he trust them? Gerald thought not. And if he couldn’t trust Piers, then he couldn’t trust Julie. Gerald stood, leaning against the railing and eyed his friends, trying to find their motives with just a look.
“Why are you here? How’d you know I was going to be here?”
He realized he was waving the pistol around and forced himself to drop his arm and keep the handgun to his side.
“Valery called us.”
She glanced over at the body and Gerald felt his stomach turn again, but he fought it. He would not let himself get sick and weak at this moment. He couldn’t afford to.
“She told us you were here, so we came as fast as we could.”
“Why? What does it matter if I’m here? Why did you come?”
He already knew why they were there, but he wanted to hear them say it. Wanted to see if they could stop him. Wanted to show them that he would pull the trigger on them just as quickly if they even tried.
“We’re here to help, Gerald. We’re your friends, remember?” Julie’s eyes were pleading, but he wasn’t sure what about. He tried to read into them, read what it was that she was asking of him, but he was so tired, and he could understand none of it.
“Are you here to help me, or her?”
He pointed lazily at the unmoving body. Julie didn’t look down, keeping her gaze with Gerald’s. She refused to look elsewhere. What was she trying to tell him?
Piers took a step towards Gerald, but Gerald thrust the gun upwards before he could move any closer. “We’re here to help you. Let us help you.”
Piers smiled as if there wasn’t a hunk of hot steel pointed in his direction, as if the barrel of the gun wasn’t inches from his chest. If Gerald wanted, he could have taken them both out before they knew what was coming. Would that be a mercy? Would it be a friend doing a friend a favor? If he was right, and he was sure that he was, then Piers had a coin and was already under the spell of the curse. So wouldn’t he be doing the right thing by his friend? Still, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not yet, not right now. Right now, Piers was his friend, even if it was just a mask to be worn until the end that he sought was met.
He wasn’t a fool, but he would need help in getting rid of Valery’s body, so he relented. Gun still in hand, he yanked out the keys and then strapped the bag back onto
his back, coins secured tightly within. He would not turn his back to them, would not take his eyes off of them, but for now, he could use them. He nodded to his enemies, once called friends, as he pulled out of Savin Hill Cove and into the channel, towards the Atlantic Ocean. They wouldn’t need to go far out, but he wanted to be sure that if her body was ever discovered, this moment would have been long forgotten by him. As he cleared the Squantum Channel, gliding past Thimble Island to the right and Thompson Island to the left, under Long Island Road Bridge, and the several islands and peninsulas that lined the water way, he could see the crystal waters ahead of him, black in their abyss, welcoming, yet frightening. Clouds were rolling across the moon, obscuring his vision for half minutes at a time, but he wasn’t worried. He was in control. He had the thirty, minus the one on Sheila’s dead, soon to be buried body, minus the one on Valery’s body growing cold at the other end of the boat, minus one more on the still breathing body of Piers. But that would soon be fixed. Soon, all of them would be at the bottom of the ocean. Except Sheila’s, of course. He hadn’t managed to procure that one, not yet anyway.
He’d opened the sails and turned off the engine as the wind had picked up, swaying the small vessel back and forth gently. They’d gone only a couple of miles out, but the lights from the city were dim and, he thought, they were far enough to drop a body. He imagined the creatures were pretty hungry and would waste no time in making a meal of the flesh and meat, or at least he hoped.
“Let’s drop her here!” he yelled, as the wind whipped around them unsteadily.
Piers took hold of her arms while Gerald picked up her legs. She weighed more than she should have and he struggled with it, but it was almost over. All of it. He wanted to grab the coin that he knew was nestled deep in her pocket, but he didn’t, instead bidding his time for Gerald to be distracted. The loss of one coin was certainly a tragedy, but he would soon have twenty-seven more. Twenty-seven and he and Julie could live their dreams without any worries, with no cares in the world except what to do next.
She made an awful sound as skin slapped against unbroken waves. He almost felt sickened at it, but not quite. She floated at the top for a few moments, debating on whether she should sink or not. The water was cold, depressing, and were she to sink to the ocean floor, it wouldn’t take long for the ocean’s carnivores to find her and feast. Maybe there was a part of her still there, still fighting against her death, but he didn’t think so. Valery was gone, long gone, even before Gerald had pulled the trigger and she’d taken her last breath. There was nothing left of her, except that damned coin in her pocket. Even now, Piers fought the urge to reach over the ledge and snatch at the girl’s jeans, searching her pockets for the silver piece. He knew he’d never be able to recover the one from Sheila, but this one, this one was so close, just out of his reach. Then he reminded himself of the twenty-seven that awaited him. Julie wasn’t entirely convinced that this was what they should do, but she would see in time. He’d show her. And if she still didn’t understand, still didn’t see his point of view, well she could go, too. In the meantime, there was Gerald to deal with.
As he straightened up from being hunched over the rail, watching the body bob on the water’s surface and finally the weight begin to pull her down, he noticed a glimmer to his left. Something caught the light of the moon and he jerked his head towards it, hoping to see his coins. To his disappointment, there were no coins, and only the shimmering metal of a pistol pointed at his chest. The handgun shook in Gerald’s unstable hand, but his eyes said that he had every intention to use it if needed. Piers smiled slyly. So, he hadn’t been the only one with a plan, it seemed.
“Where is it, Piers? I know you have it.”
Julie rushed to her fiancé’s side and clutched her fingers tightly around his arm, protectively.
“Gerald, what the hell are you doing? Put it down!”
“He has a coin, Julie. I can see it in his eyes!” He glanced from Piers to her; his aim, though, did not flinch. “Wait, you already know that, don’t you?”
Piers could feel her shaking as she nodded her reply. What did Gerald think he was doing? Did it matter if he had a coin or not? Julie still would not leave his side and surely the man knew that. They’d been together since they’d barely been out of diapers and she would continue to stand by his side. He was crazier than Valery if he thought any differently.
“Julie, you have to see what it’s going to do to him. See what it’s done to Valery, what it did to the others. It’s going to get him killed, and you too if you stick around and let it happen.”
Gerald pleaded to her, but she held tightly to Piers, her nails digging into his flesh creating thin welts. He didn’t mind. She was his soldier, willing to fight with him, for him.
“Don’t worry about us, Gerald. He’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. But you need to put that gun down before you do something you’re going to regret.”
Piers smiled at his little fighter, and he knew Gerald could see it. She wasn’t giving in. Always by his side, now and forever. Now if he could just get those coins.
“We didn’t come here to fight you, Gerald.” His voice sounded sweet, even to his own ears. “We came to help. I don’t want it to come to this, so here,” Piers dug into his jeans and pulled out the silver piece. It was fire in his hand, burning an impression of itself into his skin, but it felt good, like freedom. “Take it if you’re going to get that worked up over it.”
He held out the coin and moved slowly towards Gerald, who looked at him with mistrust.
“You’re giving me the coin?” he asked speculatively.
“Sure.” Piers shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
“You know what I’m going to do with them, right? I’m going to toss them over so they can’t hurt anyone else, ever again.”
Piers did all he could to keep a straight face and not show the rage he was feeling. How dare Gerald take this into his own hands? How dare he assume that the best way to deal with them was to toss them over? Did he ever stop to think of anyone but himself, even if just for a second? He forced a smile as Gerald’s fingers wrapped around the coin.
“We have to do what’s best for everyone, right?”
It felt as though a limb were being ripped from him as the coin left his hand, but Piers knew it would all be over soon, and the pain would become pleasure, amplified by twenty-eight. Twenty-eight beautiful, lustrous silver coins weighing heavily in his pocket. He could almost feel them now. Almost there, almost over. Gerald pulled the bag from his shoulder, struggling with one hand holding the coin and the other holding the pistol. He slipped the bag onto the floor and, pulling back the zipper, rummaged for the small, soft, brown leather pouch.
There would be no better moment for him to act. Piers jumped, landing on Gerald’s back, and throwing them both to the ground. Gerald, though nearly twice Piers’ size, was stunned as he smacked down, the gun tumbling from one hand and sliding across the boat floor as waves tossed them back and forth, while the coin pouch toppled out of the other. Piers made a grab for the coin purse but Gerald butted upwards, tossing Piers to the opposite side of where the coins had fallen and out of his reach. Gerald’s fist came flying from behind, catching Piers in the gut. Piers coughed violently as he heard Julie screaming in the background. It doesn’t matter, love. He thought to himself. It’ll all be over soon. I’ll stop him.
Gerald reared back and caught Piers in the jaw; this time, sending Piers’ head reeling backwards and slamming hard against the flooring. Everything went black for a quick moment, and when things cleared, everything was surrounded by a bright white light, and then his vision cleared completely. Gerald was coming in for another punch and Piers was certain that he couldn’t stay conscious through another round. Even so, he smiled at Gerald as he came closer, knowing that none of it mattered. He was going to be just fine. Gerald, on the other hand, had a lot to worry about.
Piers jerked his head to the side just as Gerald’s fist would have laid
into him. Knuckles smacked into the floor a mere inch from Piers head, echoing loudly in his ear and across the empty waters around them. There was no one else to hear it though. Just the three of them. Gerald jerked backwards, cursing and screaming, at Piers, at himself, at God. Anyone that would listen was hearing Gerald’s wrath at that moment. Piers could see the blood pouring from open wounds and he felt satisfaction. The blood was only part of his reward, though. He wanted the rest of it, all of it, and Gerald was still standing in his way.
Behind the injured man sat a fist-sized pouch holding not twenty-seven, but now twenty-eight, two thousand year old coins, and Piers intended to have them. Gerald used his good hand to pull himself up against the rail, still moaning and groaning over his likely broken hand. Piers pushed himself up, too, but without a serious injury and being a bit smaller and lither, he had an advantage over Gerald and was on his feet first. Before Gerald was even aware that Piers had moved, Piers slammed into him, shoving him against the rail. He was already off balance, so it didn’t take much effort for Piers to shoulder Gerald over the railing.
Julie yelled out as Gerald toppled over the side, grasping desperately for the railing, but only grazing his fingertips across them as his body dropped into the water. Gerald grunted as his body hit the water; an ugly, grotesque humph as the air was forced from him. By then, the winds had really picked up and they were moving too fast for anyone to grab a hold of Gerald, even if they’d wanted to. Piers felt a chuckle in his chest and couldn’t stop himself from bursting out with laughter. Gerald’s face! Oh God, his face had been hilarious! He hadn’t expected Piers to shove him like that. He’d thought he was in complete control, that the outcome to their little spat was sure to result in Gerald being the victor. Piers had shown him, hadn’t he? He chuckled again as he turned to face his fiancé. They would take their little adventure back to the docks and celebrate their victory. Tomorrow, tomorrow he’d find a buyer. Hell, he’d find several buyers and let them outbid one another to their hearts’ content. God only knew how much they’d get with several fighting over the merchandise.
