by David Garaby
Nina rose to her feet, "What happened to her?"
"Bring her, Tom," ordered Margo.
Margo opened the door and everyone heard the shrills.
The Agent set her down besides the hole.
"You can't do that!" screamed Nina.
"Be quiet Nina or I'll put you in there instead."
Adam stared powerlessly as Margo bent down next to Bertha and pushed her down the hole, the body landed with a thump and the dust rose from below.
There was movement now. A little girl peaked her head through the darkness and smiled delicately. Bertha began to move her head and opened her eyes. The thump seemed to have revived her. She looked up at Margo, who bore a horrible grin. Bertha twisted her face in pain, "No," she cried and covered her eyes. Bertha knew she had been defeated, she knew what was coming.
Bertha looked into the darkness and saw a blurry figure. As she wiped her tears she realized it was Margo, her dirty face, in chains, looking helplessly up at her. "Please," said Margo-in-the-hole, "Please Bertha. Take my hand. I will lift you up and we will fly. Darling we will fly away from here. Just you and me. I’ve always wanted this. You know that, don’t you? You know I’ve always loved you." Bertha could see Margo's cold face melt. It was magical, seeing her, unkempt, raw. Margo-in-the-hole extended her arms up at her. Bertha was in heaven, her fear, her sorrow, everything she doubted in this world melted.
Bertha pushed herself up and spread her arms wide, and a smile erupted from within her. The thing down below was smiling, too, but there was malice on the grin.
The creature had no disguise when it began attacking, Margo had to turn away when the glowing little girl was replaced by a reptilian-looking mutilation. Adam rose to his feet and stared down into the hole with his jaw hanging loosely. The creature looked almost human, except for its disproportionately long legs and small torso, it had scales for skin, it looked as if it had been wrapped in golden snake-skin. Its face though, this was something of unspeakable horror. It resembled a lizard, there were thick talons coming out of its spine and narrow, slit-like black eyes. When it opened its mouth its jaw unhinged. It used two thick fangs which sprang from its jaw to bite at Bertha's chest. The creature circled Bertha as she writhed, shaking her legs violently. When she stopped moving, the creature bent down, unhinged its jaw. Its face stretched, in a matter of seconds it contorted its body and swallowed until the whole of Bertha was inside it. When the creature was full it rose and stared up at Margo. There was a peaceful smile on its horrifying face, a satisfaction, as if everything in the world was perfect, all the cosmos were bliss. It was a magnificent, pleasure-filled serenity.
Abruptly, the thing in the hole began to tremble, a faint glow emitted from its rough body. Pieces of scales fell from the creature, the golden flakes floated down slowly and kissed the floor. In a matter of seconds the ground around its feet was covered in a kind of gold-colored snow. There was a gently rustling of chains until it disappeared into the darkness.
Adam stared at the pile. "That's what I think it is, isn't it?"
Margo sighed. "Yes. She's been very good to me."
Nina stood behind Adam, "What the hell is going on? Margo, what is that thing?"
"She came to me when I needed her. She's been giving me gold for a very long time. But that gold comes with a price. Everything in life comes with a price."
"Hudd was right about you! This is how you did it!" bellowed Adam.
"Did what?"
"Became famous," he screamed "The scales. They're gold! You used the gold to buy your way to the top. That's how it happened."
Margo raised her gun, her face twisted in anger, there was terror and humiliation in her eyes as she pointed it at Adam.
The Agent, who had been quiet this whole time walked next to Margo, placed his arms on her shoulder. "Don't," his voice was deep, unemotional. The body seemed to lack spirit.
She never lowered her aim, "I have to."
He kissed her shoulder. "Let me deal with them."
Shrill
THE AGENT TOOK their telephones, smashed them on the ground and used his boots to crush them on the caliche road. Adam felt a gun dig into his back. The Agent’s hoare voice growled in Adam’s ears, “Get in the fucking truck.” He opened the back door of his green and white Tahoe. The sirens over the vehicle let up. "Ladies first," he smirked as Adam slid inside.
Nina followed, she whispered when the door was shut.
"What the fuck is he going to do to us!"
Adam scanned outside the vehicle and followed the Agent through the guard rail. "We have to get out of here."
"We're not illegals. What the fuck is he doing to do with us?" she whimpered. Nina’s eyes widened in a panic.
"He's going to try to get rid of us," said Adam solemnly.
The Agent was quite through the ride but spoke when Adam began fidgeting with the door handle. "Can't open from inside, dummy," said the Agent dryly. "You really think the United States Government is that stupid?"
They were driving through the brush past the Castilian, the beams caught the attention of other Border Patrol Agents. He lit his siren and waved at his co-workers goodbye and they continued their patrol.
"Why is this guy helping her?"
"I don't know."
"I saw them kissing,” said Adam.
"I've never seen him before."
The Agent stared at them through the rear view mirror.
"She needs to eat," his eyes smiled. "I bring her the food."
Adam felt a horror take over, all at once he knew the nature of their relationship. The Agent would catch immigrants for Margo. He was her hunter, they were easy prey. Who would go searching for a missing illegal? And they would be fed to that thing—to whatever that thing was. And then that thing would shed its skin. The gold. They would make a fortune on those people. Monsters! All of them: Monsters!
Adam felt panic set in, his feet trembled, he frantically searched the back seat for something—anything to try to use to fend off the Agent when he felt something poke at his stomach. He remembered he was carrying a vial and a needle and took them out of his pocket. Adam kept it low and signaled to Nina, she knew it was Kemproxin and her eyes lit up. She grabbed the needle and filled it carefully, she didn't bother to tap it, covered the tip and slid it inside her pockets.
They were silent until the car stopped on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande River.
— 2 —
BACK AT THE CASTILIAN, Margo paced inside her room, her hands trembled and her heart thumped.
"Bertha," she cried lightly. "You damned fool."
There was a noise now, a thud coming from the other side of the hall. She kept her gun in her pocket and slowly walked into the hallway.
"Who's there?" she called.
There was silence. The hall was dark, still.
She walked towards her studio and went inside. The unfinished painting Adam had been working at stared at her, Daniel's face, half painted, half drawn stared at her with empty, haunting eye. She turned away, she couldn't look into the eyes. There was another noise, this time louder. It was coming from her mother's room.
"Mother," she said as she looked for the right key. When the door finally opened she found the old woman on the floor, she had fallen from her bed again. Her thick body reached for the nightstand weakly.
Margo's eyes widened, "What happened to you?"
Virginia reached for her pleadingly, "I'm sorry. Lo Siento," she cried.
Margo bent down and instinctively began calling for Bertha but stopped mid call. "You're alright," she said. "We're going to get you back up, Ok."
It was a struggle to get the old woman back up, Margo could see the veins on the side of the woman's neck pound furiously. "Calm down mother. I'll get your medicine." The old woman sat on the bed breathing heavily. "You need to stay calm."
Margo frantically looked for a vile of Kemproxin. "Where did she leave it," she cried as she rummaged through the nightstand. "Where the hell
did she leave it!"
The old woman's breathing became heavier. "He must have taken it," she said.
Margo stopped. "Doctor Waller? Why would he take your medicine?"
Virginia's chest rose and fell rapidly. "No," she sighed, " The boy."
Margo pivoted back at her, "The boy?"
"I just wanted to see you. That's why I told him the story."
She leaned in close, "Old woman, what did you do?"
Her breathing intensified. "I'm sorry. I told him what I knew."
Margo grabbed Virginia's arms, her nails cut into her thin skin. "What did you tell him?"
"I told him about the little boys you found in the river."
Margo could feel a passionate hate now, the betrayal. The sheer, maddening rage engulfed her. She lifted her arms, made a terrible fist and began beating the old woman with all her force. Margo raised her fists and pounded them against the old woman's skin. Every pound was harder than the other, and the old woman weakly fought back but stopped when the pain in her chest overtook the pain of her daughter's fists. "Socoro!" Virginia screamed, but her shrill cries eventually became silent. The old woman's eyes were red and the cold, empty stare of death looked up at Margo Sullivan.
— 3 —
THE AGENT FACED them, his gun aimed at Adam. The river was wild that night, Adam felt that it was hungry, and would soon be given two morsels to nibble on, the Agent's name tag shun in the light: GARRET it read.
"I love that woman," The Agent said coldly, as if he didn't quite believe it himself.
"She's not someone you love, you fucking idiot," said Nina. "She's a fucking lunatic just like you."
He spat on the ground, " Yeah, well, birds of a feather and all that."
Adam and Nina looked at each other, she shook her head and raised her arms defiantly, "So this is it, you're just going to shoot us and drop us in to the river?"
He twisted his face and nodded, "Seems that way, don't it? It's worked before."
Nina extended her arms downward, "We're not going to say anything. We're not! I don't give a shit about that thing you have. We're done! We're fucking done!"
He cocked the gun. "Yes you are. You know your husband had that same arrogant look on his face. He thought I'd let him go, too."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"There's that same spirit," he chuckled. "Yeah. I can see why you married each other. Same fire there. Dumb kid. Thought telling me about his mom would make me let him go. Though t I actually gave a shit about who he was. 'I'm Margo Sullivan's son...I'm Margo Sullivan's son,'" he mocked and laughed. "Dumbass, who the hell do you think sent me to get you!"
Nina froze, "What did you say?"
"You had yourself a greedy little man, and he messed with the wrong people. Tried to steal our little gold mine from the grave house."
Nina shook her her head manically. "Daniel..." tears ran down her face.
"Yup. Greedy little fucker like I said. He was chipping away at the lock when we found him. Think she was calling him, well that's what Margo thought at least. She tries to lure people towards her, she's been driving the old lady crazy for years. Seemed almost hard to do, I mean, how could he control himself? She comes at you as the thing you love the most. He probably thought it was you Nina. Or maybe another bitch, I guess we'll never know. In the end, we agreed, he had to go. He's a weak boy. He wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut. I could have just dumped him in the river, but she came up with something even better. I took him into Mexico. Dropped him in a barrel. Set him on fire."
"Why?" cried Nina. "Why would she...she do that to her own son!"
"Because he wasn't really her son," said Adam, "He was just a prop for her. Everyone is just a prop."
The Agent tilted his head, "Another nosy little fucker."
Adam could see Nina reaching for her pockets, her feet tapped lightly. "No, I thought I was crazy this whole time."
Adam shook his head. "Nina,"
The Agent stepped closer, "Put your hands out of your pocket."
Nina's legs began fidgeting, she turned to Adam, "I saw him again today. I heard him."
"GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF YOUR POCKET!"
"Adam, I know now that he's not coming back." She took out her hand and jabbed the needle into her flesh. The Agent shot his firearm three times, the force of the bullets caused Nina's body to fly off the bluff and into the river.
The Agent lunged towards the river's edge as Nina's body landed with horrible splash.
"Nina!" screamed Adam as he threw the Agent, pushing him off the ledge and into the river below as well. The river swallowed the Agent, its black waves beat hard against him and seemed to weigh him down. The Agent's screams became muffled and distant in a matter of seconds.
Three border patrol trucks raced towards the bluff. Their sirens broke the silent night and woke the sun. Rays of sunlight kissed Adam's face as he turned and faced the Agents and their drawn weapons. He raised his hands to the sky and watched the tears touch the earth.
Epilogue:
From The Daily Standard:
Artistic Deception: Decapitations, Kidnappings, Murder in Deep South Texas
Almost two years ago, famed painter Margo Sullivan shot back into the public spotlight after the body of her son, Daniel Sullivan, was discovered in a remote town in Mexico.
The 32-year-old was on a business trip when he was attacked and beheaded, but new revelations about Mrs. Sullivan raise questions as to whether or not she had any involvement in her son's death.
"She still claims she had nothing to do with the death," Sheriff Henry Fernandez stated via phone interview. Sullivan is currently being held at Lockheed County Penitentiary awaiting trial for the murder of her mother, Virginia Ruiz de la Vega. "When we searched the estate, we found bone fragments buried in various shallow graves."
Despite the fact that some of the bodies have been buried at her estate for less than two years, Sullivan denies knowing anything about the bodies found at her estate, the sprawling eight-acre strip of land called "The Castilian" that rests along the winding banks of the Rio Grande River.
An Art Graduate student from the University of Texas at Austin conducting research for a thesis on the surrealist painter claims that Ms. Sullivan was working hand in hand with a renegade Border Patrol Agent. "She was twisted," said Adam Betancourt, "He told me they would catch illegal immigrants as they crossed the river. I think they used to hunt them down. He confessed to murdering Daniel before the fall. Margo ordered him to do it."
The purported Agent, Thomas Garrett went missing after an altercation with Betancourt near the Sullivan estate. The altercation resulted in the presumed death by of Garret; his body has yet to surface from the River.
— 2 —
ASHLEY EMBRACED ADAM with bear-like force. "I told you not to go down there, you sick son-of-a-bitch." They were in Austin now, it had been two days since the arrest and the television interviews. He was tired, but the moment he made it back into town he met his best friend for dinner and a story.
"I should never have gone," he said as he sat down at the table.
"How are you?"
"I'm better."
"Did you see the way she looked in the mug shot, her eyes were bloodshot. It was horrible."
"She had just killed her mother. How the hell did you want her to look?"
When the waiter arrived both friends ordered mojitos.
"She's a fucking sick ass bitch. What the fuck made her snap like that?" asked Ashley.
He didn't know what to say. He avoided the question when the television reporter asked him that very question. "She was an artist, and artists have their demons."
Ashley nodded, "And sometimes they ARE the demons." She tilted her head, "But why did that Border Patrol agent take you hostage? I don't understand that. And that girl, the daughter-in-law. Why did he shoot her? Was he going to shoot you, too?"
"I don't know why any of it happened. I think the Agent was helping Margo. Th
ey obviously had some scheme going on."
The waiter brought their drinks.
"But why," she said as she stuck a straw in the glass. "I still don't get that. None of the reporters do either. It's weird. What the hell really went on in that house?"
"That was a house of contradictions, Ashley. What's there to understand?"
She shrugged and sipped.
"But I guess it doesn't matter now, Adam. The good thing is that you're safe."
Adam smiled. He reached into his pocket, took out his wallet and removed a check which he had folded and kept for over a week. He handed it over to Amber.
"Holy Fucking Christ," she said. "This is seventy thousand dollars!"
He laughed lightly. "Yeah."
"Can you cash this? I mean, even though that old bag is in prison?"
He took the check back and regarded it carefully. "I could," he said and tore it into pieces.
"What the—Why would you do that?" Ashley reached for the pieces trying to magically set them back together.
He reached for her hands. "I think I know how we can make much more. I found her secret, Ashley. I know how to use it. And I know where it's hidden."
Table of Contents
AHouse of Contradictions
The Proposition
Enter the Storm
The Encounter
Romanticize the Monster
The Crust of Blood
Interview
Adam/Nina
A Matricidal Bitch
Monsters and Chimeras
Instant Gratification is for Pussies
In the Studio
Consciences are Liabilities
Let Misery Sleep
Not in Dallas
The Party.
The Old Woman
A Grave Woman
A Grave House
