by Chloe Young
Horace smiled. “It don’t matter where you go or where he goes. It’s the secrets that he leaves behind here that matter. What do you know about his family?”
She uncrossed her arms and took a few steps toward Horace and Megan. “His family? I know he’s an only child. I know he doesn’t talk much with his parents. That’s it.”
“Only child, huh?” Horace laughed. “He ain’t an only child. Might wish he was.”
Megan looked at her friend with curiosity in her eyes. “How do you know about his family, Horace?”
He looked out into the ocean as the pinks and purples of the sky were fading away into subtle darkness. “I seen his family when they came here to vacation. There were four of ‘em. Mom. Dad. Damon. And his little brother. I use to watch ‘em play out in the water. Then one night, I stayed up real late, lookin’ out over the water. There was a full moon, bright as anythin’ I seen. I saw two boys go out in the water. Only one came out of the water. Next mornin’ there were cops everywhere on this beach.”
Megan looked disgusted. “What are you saying? Are you telling us that Damon did something to hurt his little brother? If that’s true, why didn’t you call the police and report what you had seen?”
“I’m sayin’ he killed his brother. I thought about tellin’ the cops everythin’ that I knew. Decided it best to keep to my own business though. I find that people get what’s comin’ to them. Figured Damon would get what’s comin’ to him. Changed my mind though when I saw what he did to my dog, Max.”
Kristi was almost too afraid to ask. “What happened to your dog?”
Horace felt a tear fall down cheek. “He was hanged up from the ceiling. Now I ain’t got nobody out here. Decided it was time to speak up.”
Megan stood up, feeling shaky and a bit unsteady. “Oh my god. That means that Damon could have hurt the guy at the gas shop. We’ve got to get out of here, Kristi. We need to get Mark and go.”
Kristi began to think about Mark being in the house alone with Damon and began to cry. “This is all my fault. I should have never brought us here with him.”
Megan put an arm around Kristi. “It will be okay. We will walk back to the beach house, pretend that nothing has changed, get our stuff together, and leave. We can walk up to the town and find some sort of a bus or cab to get us away from here.”
Megan wasn’t quite sure why she believed that Horace was telling them the truth. Damon’s behavior had been very odd though. The events surrounding Cliff’s murder and the jet ski incident were enough to scare her. She just wanted to get them safely home.
Kristi appreciated her friend’s rational thinking. She envisioned Mark getting away with his girlfriend and his lover. It was hard to imagine Damon as a murderer though. Sure, he was odd and different. But murdering someone went way above and beyond being odd. “How do we know this guy is telling us the truth, Megan? For all we know, he is trying to scare us.”
Horace reached into his pocket and pulled out an article. He handed it over to Kristi. She read the headline aloud “Boy Drowns in Nighttime Swimming Accident”. She continued to skim through the article, “Jonathan leaves behind his mother, father, and older brother, Damon”.
Megan grasped Kristi by the hand and began to jog back up the beach. Horace shouted out after them. “Be careful out there!”
Megan shuddered at the thought of one person killing another. How could someone be responsible for the death of their own sibling? How could someone kill an innocent person? So many ideas whirled through her head, and it seemed to take forever to get back to the beach house.
CHAPTER 32
Horace walked back to his own house, taking his time. There was no one there waiting for him now. No one there to greet him as he walked through the door. He now believed that everyone would get what was coming to them even if another person had to be the one to make it happen. In this case, he was going to guarantee that Damon was getting what was coming to him. He just hoped that those girls could get out of the way before anything else happened.
He had tried to mind his own business. However, Damon had come to his beach and had interrupted his life. He knew that he had done the right thing by warning those girls.
Horace stepped inside and sat on the tattered couch in the living room. How many times had he sat there or slept there with Max by his side? He looked down at his old friend. He looked so peaceful, he only hoped that he really was at peace.
Horace got up and laid a blanket over Max. “Good night, old friend.”
He walked to the back room and began to gather up the supplies that he needed.
***
Sullivan was continuing to speed up as he drove to the beach house. He regretted not interrogating Damon more when he had the opportunity. He knew that something in his story did not quite add up. Damon admitted to being angry with Cliff, but he also claimed to purchase food from Cliff. As far as he could tell, that never happened. So, why lie about it?
There was also something about Damon that he just didn’t like. Something menacing that just radiated through him. Sullivan noticed the dark clouds beginning to form above him. He hoped to get there before the storm began. If he could get back into that beach house, perhaps he would find the weapon that punctured Cliff’s skin and caused his life to come to an abrupt end.
CHAPTER 33
Megan and Kristi stood outside of the beach house. There were still people along the beach. Despite these people, the girls felt all alone. It was so quiet, and no words seemed appropriate to utter at this time. There was no telling what Damon was thinking or what he was doing inside of the beach house.
If it wasn’t for Mark, Kristi would have happily left her belongings there and began the journey back home. She couldn’t leave him behind though; not after she found out how he really felt about her. Poor Megan would find out the truth later. Now wasn’t the time to break her heart.
The girls gazed at the beach house. It was located in one of the most tranquil and beautiful places that they had visited. The house, however, seemed so silent and empty. It was devoid of happy memories and tranquility. What had happened inside of that house?
Megan approached the door and turned the knob. The door was still unlocked. She entered the house. All of the lights were off. Kristi followed her friend inside of the house. They entered the living room and walked very quietly to the staircase. It was rather dark as if the blinds were all pulled shut and not a single light was on anywhere in the house. Megan stood at the bottom of the stairs and listened. She didn’t hear a single sound. She whispered to her friend, “I think he’s asleep”.
Kristi could feel her stomach churning. She wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of that house. She grabbed her friend’s hand and whispered. “If he’s sleeping, then where’s Mark?”
Considering the darkness of the downstairs, Megan assumed that both of the guys had gone upstairs to bed. It had turned out to be a rather long and difficult day. Thinking about the day made her realize how little she had eaten. She immediately felt weak, starved, and tired. Leading Kristi by the hand, she walked up the stairs. She took each stair one at a time, walking as quietly as she possibly could move. Fortunately, the stairs did not even make a creaking sound as she made her way up them.
Megan stopped right outside of the room that she was sharing with Mark. The door was not completely shut. She used the index finger on her right hand to push the door open all of the way. She peered inside, but could not make out a body lying on the bed. She walked over the bed and ran her hand up and down the blanket. Mark was definitely not sleeping on that bed.
She squeezed Kristi’s hand and put her mouth right by her friend’s ear. “He’s not up here. Let’s check downstairs one more time.”
Kristi wondered why he would be sleeping downstairs somewhere. Maybe he didn’t want to have to sleep in the same bed as Megan. Maybe he knew that it was the wrong thing to do to her.
The girls tiptoed back down the stairs and into the living r
oom. Megan reached for a lamp and turned the light on. The house remained completely silent and still. If Mark wasn’t sleeping in the bed or on the couch, then she had no clue where he might be sleeping. “Maybe they left. We should go out on the patio and see if the Jeep is still here.”
Kristi walked towards the kitchen and turned on the light. Despite every effort to be quiet, she could not help but scream as the light came on and she saw Mark’s body lying against the door.
***
Megan ran over to her friend’s side. She could do nothing but drop her knees and sob. “We’re too late. Horace was right. And we are too late.”
Mark continued to sit in a pool of his own blood. Much of the blood had begun to congeal. He sat upright, propped up against the door leading out to the patio. His once white shirt was soaked in red. His eyes were shut, but he had gashes across much of his face, chest, and head. While this site was bad enough, it was not the worst of it. His arm had been nearly severed from his body, and hung very loosely from his shoulder.
Kristi knelt down next to Megan, tears running down her face. She felt paralyzed with fear, unable to comprehend what was happening. She couldn’t help but utter “no…no…I loved him.” Megan was not surprised to hear this confession, and honestly, it didn’t matter now. Mark was gone. Neither of them could have him.
Megan knew that she had to remain in control. Panic would be very bad for the both of them. Rather than think about the loss of Mark, she decided to focus on getting safely out of the house. There would be time to reflect upon what had happened to a guy who she loved. He wasn’t her one and only, but she had loved him nonetheless.
Megan turned to her friend. “We need to get out of here, Kristi. Let’s see if we can find the keys to the Jeep and get the hell out of here. Then we can find a place to call the police.”
Her friend continued to sob. “He’s going to kill us, isn’t he? He knows what I did. He knows.”
Megan didn’t know what Damon knew, but she could imagine that it involved Mark. “Look, why don’t we go over to Horace’s house. He might have a phone and he can help us.”
Just as they headed towards the door, they heard the bedroom door open upstairs.
CHAPTER 34
Sullivan was getting close now. His gut told him that something wasn’t right at that house. In the very least, he would satisfy his own concerns by checking it out. If nothing was wrong, he would be able to get some sleep tonight. Then he would take a whole new approach to the murder case in the morning. He kept thinking about what the neighbor had said to him though. He couldn’t help but wonder about the history of that beach house.
The roadway was empty aside from a couple of trucks and cars here and there. Unless it was prime time for driving to the beach for the weekend, the roads did not see many travelers. The oncoming storm most likely kept people inside their homes too. At this rate, he would be there very shortly. He just hoped that it wasn’t too late to help those people and to figure out what was going on.
***
Damon slowly made his way down the stairs. Despite the darkness, they could hear his heavy footsteps making their way down to the living room area. Megan ran to the front door and turned the knob. Kristi, on the other hand, seemed unable to move. She had never been so afraid in her life. She wasn’t even sure that she had a life any more. The one guy who wanted to have her was gone. Her best friend would probably never forgive her for sleeping with her boyfriend. The guy who she trusted turned out to be a killer. What was the point of running?
Megan turned towards her friend. “Kristi, come on. We can still get out of here. What are you doing?”
Rather than head towards the door, Kristi walked towards the bottom of the stairs. She could see Damon now. He didn’t appear to be carrying anything down with him. He was walking methodically down the stairs. He didn’t appear to be in a rush at all. Damon stared at his former girlfriend as he continued his descent.
Kristi met him at the bottom of the stairs and looked into his eyes. He didn’t appear to be the same Damon; this guy was a complete stranger to her. She had never felt so betrayed in her life. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
Damon laughed. “You’re really something, you know that? You screw your best friend’s boyfriend behind her back and my back, and you want to forget about the whole thing? You just want to move on like everything’s fine.”
Megan stepped back inside. The sting of the reality of Kristi and Mark began to sink in. “Look, Damon. They’re not worth it. They betrayed us, and that’s unforgivable. Let’s get out of here. Go home.”
He stepped down and peered into the kitchen at Mark. “You think that I can just go home and forget about this? He got what was coming to him, and Kristi, now so will you.”
Damon stepped behind Kristi and wrapped his arm around her throat. Kristi let out a shrill cry for help as she could feel the pressure of his arm closing in around her neck.
Megan hesitated for a moment. It would be easy for her to run out the door and leave her so-called friend behind. Kristi had betrayed her, but it really didn’t come as a surprise. She never expected to end up with Mark in the end. Megan realized that she couldn’t leave that house without her friend. Most likely, things would never be the same between the two of them once they left here. Kristi would not be the person who she could trust and come to with her problems. That would be something to deal with once they left the house. Right now, she had to get both of them out of here.
Damon continued to tighten his squeeze on Kristi. He felt great satisfaction as she kicked at him and wiggled to try to get out of his grasp. As the applied pressure increased, her attempts to free herself became weaker and weaker. Not wanting the fun to end too early, Damon released his grasp and threw her to the ground.
Kristi slowly crawled towards the couch. Megan stood in the doorway, not sure if she should run for help or try to pull her friend to safety. Just as Megan was about to make a move towards Kristi, Damon grabbed his ex-girlfriend by the leg and pulled her towards him. After Mark’s death, he had had time to carry objects he might need into the kitchen. He had been waiting for this opportunity, and he wasn’t going to allow his execution to be sloppy.
With Kristi lying on her stomach in front of him, Damon picked up one of the oars and brought it straight down onto her ankle. Kristi let out a loud scream, obviously in pain. With the second forceful blow, he heard something snap and crack. He was pretty sure that it was her ankle. Once again, Kristi cried out in pain. She had never experienced something so agonizing in her life.
The pure terror, experienced by Kristi, gave Damon the rush that he desired. He knew he was put here to punish those who disappointed and betrayed him. In a way, he was providing justice. Justice for himself and in this case, for Megan as well.
Megan watched the scene unfold. “Damon, you don’t have to do this. You can end this now. You hurt your brother, Cliff, and Mark. Don’t hurt Kristi.”
Anger begin to boil over inside of Damon at the mention of his brother. “How do you know about my brother?”
“Horace told us. He saw the whole thing. This needs to end, Damon.”
Damon smiled. “I knew I didn’t like that guy. What has he been doing? Spying on us? He doesn’t know shit about me or my family.”
Kristi reached a hand out to the person who she considered to be her best friend. Megan almost felt a sick sense of satisfaction at seeing her friend being punished. Kristi deserved a little pain. She had certainly hurt other people. However, this kind of pain was not warranted and Megan had to make it stop.
Megan tried appealing to Damon again. “Let me help you, Damon. Let’s talk this out. Don’t do anything else you might regret.”
She could tell that Damon had no regrets or reservations about hurting Kristi or anyone else for that matter. He pulled Kristi into the kitchen and dragged her across Mark’s blood which had spilled across much of the floor. He pulled her right next to Mark’s body. “Ther
e is your lover. What do you think of him now? Still want to screw him behind my back? Huh? Do you?”
Kristi squealed and sobbed. “No, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She couldn’t bear to look at Mark. What Damon had done to him was just sick and wrong. How could someone do that to another human being? How could someone do that to the guy who she finally wanted?
The sensation of Mark’s blood all over her body sickened Kristi more than the snapping of her ankle. She started to realize that her life would end at this beach house. That Damon would win. That she had made a terrible mistake by trusting him and coming here.
Damon looked at the two of them. They appeared to be the perfect couple; two people who only cared about themselves and who were ultimately doomed.
***
Megan looked at her former boyfriend and best friend. This trip had damaged her physically, emotionally, and mentally. She had no idea how it would change her even if she managed to get home alive. She stood in shock as Kristi sat beside Mark’s body, tears flowing down her face. She was obviously in pain; her ankle most likely shattered. Mark’s thick blood coated her body. The scene looked like something from a terrible horror movie in which the writer only wanted to portray the goriness of murder.
