by Dawn Cano
Alex wanted revenge; there was no denying that. She knew she was, at heart, a good person, but there are only so many bad things that can happen to good people before those good people start demanding Karma to take action. Now that she was Karma, she certainly had the power to take action. If Alex had her way, she would prevent all of these men from ever harming another soul. Was it worth her spending an eternity in Hell? When she was alive, she never believed in Heaven and Hell, or God and Satan. She never saw proof of their existence, so why should she? Now, she could honestly say that her time as Karma certainly changed her opinion of that, and although the prospect of living forever in a fiery pit of fire and brimstone didn't thrill her, she was certain the need for revenge, the need to stop these monsters, was even greater. She'd face the consequences when she was caught. Since Alex didn't want to have to explain her presence to her mother should she arrive unexpectedly, she closed her eyes and pictured the front of Jeremy's house. It was time to have some fun.
8
ALEX MADE HERSELF appear outside the front door of Jeremy's house, and she tried the doorknob. Finding it locked, she knocked on the door knowing Jeremy would be the one to answer. She waited for a few seconds, then knocked again, even harder. Eventually, her former pimp unlocked and opened the door and stood before her in disbelief.
“You? You're supposed to be...I saw the video...you're dead!”
Alex took advantage of the moment and pushed her way past Jeremy. “Surprise,” she said turning around to face him. The smile she wore scared him.
“How the hell are you standing here? Did that fucker rip me off? I'll find him and cut his goddamn balls off.” Jeremy slammed the door behind him, obviously not realizing the danger he was in.
“No, you're right, Ryan killed me. He cut my tongue out, just as you requested, then took it a step further and cut my lips off before burning me alive. You're pathetic. You didn't even have the balls to find me yourself so you paid someone to torture and kill a seventeen-year-old girl.”
“If he killed you then how the fuck are you standing here? What kind of fucking game are you two playing? Whatever it is, it's not funny!” Alex saw the terror in Jeremy's eyes and knew the word "ghost" must have been running through his mind. She walked slowly toward him until she was within touching distance. She reached out and touched his arm just as he made a move to get away from her and as she did, he fell backwards, hitting his head on the door with a sickening crack.
“How the fuck...?” he asked, rubbing the back of his head.
“Careful there. I don't want you to hurt yourself.” Alex was smiling a feral grin that added to Jeremy's fear.
She held out her hand to help him up. He refused to take it and stood up on his own. He steadied himself by placing his hands on the door behind him.
“Let's go have a talk, shall we? We can go to the kitchen and chat, since I know the girls are asleep right now. We won't be interrupted.” Alex knew he'd take her up on her offer, because it would put him in a better position to get a weapon. She was ready for that and with proper planning, he'd be dead in a few minutes.
“Fine, a talk is exactly what we need. You can explain to me how you're standing here in my fucking house when I saw you die.” With that, Jeremy walked past Alex and down the hall toward the kitchen. He pointed toward the dining table. “Sit down. You want a beer?”
Alex didn't need to eat or drink anymore, and she doubted she would feel the effects of alcohol, but she needed to buy some time for her plan to work so she accepted.
Jeremy took two bottles of Corona out of the fridge and moved over to the drawer to retrieve the bottle opener. He made a show of not being able to find it, digging around and cursing under his breath, but Alex knew exactly what he was doing. She saw him suddenly straighten up before exclaiming he found what he was looking for, but Alex was banking on the fact that he just shoved a knife in his pants.
He opened both bottles and set one down in front of Alex before sitting down next to her. His fear all but vanished, confirming Alex's suspicions and she was getting excited to see if she could pull off his murder.
“What's this all about?” he barked.
Alex took a sip of the beer and cringed. She didn't remember it tasting quite so vile.“I am Karma,” was all she said.
Jeremy began laughing and as he cackled, Alex wondered if slapping him counted as a touch. Once he pulled himself together, he repeated her statement. “You're...Karma.”
“That's right.”
“Prove it.”
She touched his arm, making him flinch. “All will be revealed soon enough.”
Jeremy removed the knife from the inside of his pants, where he had it stored sideways so as not to cut off anything he considered important.
Alex began her speech. “You see, mortals consider Karma an act of the universe. Something that happens to you based on your actions and, honestly, I agree with most of that statement. Karma, however, is not an act of the universe. It is a person and guess what? I am Karma.” She stared at Jeremy, letting her words sink in.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You expect me to believe that Karma is a person?”
“Let's set aside all that for a moment.” She placed a hand on Jeremy's arm and in her most condescending tone said, “I forgive you.”
He stared at her, dumbfounded for a moment before saying, “You forgive me for what? What did I do to you that makes you think you should forgive me. I took you in off the streets, gave you something to eat, bought you clothes and paid all the bills. Why...”
Alex interrupted. “You paraded me around in front of a bunch of fucking pedophiles and let them do whatever they wanted to do to me. You charged people money to fuck me. I was fourteen. I was still a kid and you took what was left of my childhood away from me.”
Jeremy didn't realize he had the knife in his hand, the tip of the handle resting on the table and the point sticking straight up. He looked at the knife, then back at Alex.
She touched his arm one last time. “I'll see you in Hell.”
Jeremy tilted his head back then threw it forward with more force than Alex thought he was capable of. The knife blade stabbed him in the right eye, going all the way through to his brain, killing him instantly. As he lay there impaled on his own knife, Alex smiled. This was the kind of power she could get used to. She sat in the chair breathing deeply and allowed her eyes to close. She pictured her father's house and knew that's where she needed to be.
9
WHEN ALEX OPENED her eyes, she was standing once again in her old bedroom. She didn't bother looking around this time and simply walked out of the room in search of her father. She didn't have to search long and found him asleep in his recliner in the living room. Alex stared at her father. What had happened to him? Until the abuse started, he loved her and would never hurt her. Hell, he never even spanked her when she acted up. Alex pushed away the sad feelings and walked to her dad's room. She opened the drawer of his bedside table, removed the Ruger he always kept there, and opening the chamber, noticed the gun was fully loaded. She wondered if he knew she was aware of the gun he kept next to the bed, then realized it really didn't matter. She walked back to the living room, pulled up a chair, and sat down next to her dad, placing the gun in his lap and thinking about what she was going to say when he awoke.
Her father must have sensed her presence because he awoke with a start, staring right at her. Alex wasn't ready for him to wake up, but allowed her rage to fuel her words.
“It's about time you woke up.”
“Alex...”
“Shut up. I'm talking, you're listening. I thought a lot about our last conversation—about you finding Jesus. Tell me, what does Jesus think about what you did to me? Does he approve?” She laughed, a harsh cackle that made her father jump in his seat. “Wait! Let me guess, he's forgiven you.”
“Yes, he's forgiven me. I've atoned for my sins. I'm...I've changed, Alex. He'll forgive you too if you ask him.”
&n
bsp; “Forgive me? What have I done that I need to be forgiven for?”
“I'm sure you've made mistakes in your life. Ask Jesus for forgiveness. I'll pray with you.”
Her face reddened. “You'll pray with me? You mean the same way I prayed for you to stop fucking me every night? Your Jesus didn't help me then. He never answered my prayers when I asked him to do something to keep you from coming home at night. He didn't do a fucking thing when I prayed you would die so I wouldn't have to endure one more night of your abuse. He offered no comfort when I would lay on my bed sobbing, broken and bleeding after a night with you. Your Jesus doesn't fucking exist! Your Jesus didn't help me, and you know what? He's not helping you either. Once a pedophile, always a pedophile. I can't in good conscience, allow you the opportunity to hurt another child the way you hurt me.”
“But I've changed...”
Alex had nothing left to say. She touched her father's arm and he slowly raised the gun to his open mouth, and stared at her in shock. “Daddy, Alex is home.” She touched him again and he pulled the trigger. She looked away and whispered, “Karma's a bitch. Isn't she, Daddy?”
10
ALEX THOUGHT THAT getting revenge on those who hurt her would be fun, and it was, but she found the whole process more emotionally draining than she expected. After her father committed suicide, she sat next to him sobbing, cursing him and every other man and woman on the planet who took it upon themselves to hurt children. Despite what she had said to her father, she knew Jesus was real and she knew she'd never get the chance to meet him. Her actions would certainly land her in Hell. She chided herself when she found her thoughts wandering to what Satan looked like and if she'd ever get to meet him. She didn't have time for such thoughts. There was one more person she had to visit and although Alex knew she didn't require sleep, she felt exhausted. She also realized she had to leave her father's house before someone, like her mother, came along and found out what she had done. After she took care of the last person on her list, she really didn't care what happened to her.
She stood and closed her eyes, picturing the inside of the warehouse where Ryan took her life. She hoped he'd be there and if he wasn't, that she wouldn't have to wait long for him to arrive. She opened her eyes and found herself standing outside the rundown building. As her luck would have it, Ryan wasn't there. She sat down with her back resting against a tree as she tried remembering the layout of the inside of the warehouse.
There was a metal table in the middle of the room and a small office space over to the right. Although she never saw the toolboxes, she knew he had to have a place to store the tools he used to perform his murders and remembered hearing him root around in at least one during her time there. Although she couldn't be physically injured or killed in her current state, she didn't like the thought of getting into a fight with this guy.
Alex let her mind wander to the day Ryan killed her. She remembered the amusement in his eyes as he cut her lips off with scissors and the way he left her in the drum to burn to death. She remembered the feeling of utter hopelessness and despair. The feeling of being alone. She wondered how many other people Ryan had tortured and vowed to get revenge for not only herself, but for all his other victims. Ryan had to die slowly and painfully and Alex thought she knew exactly how to make his death as unpleasant as possible.
After what seemed like an eternity, Ryan finally pulled up in his SUV. Alex stayed sat against the tree, watching him remove a unconscious, bound and gagged woman from the passenger seat of his vehicle. She waited until he went inside and closed the warehouse door before she got up and slowly made her way to the back of the building. She knocked on the wall of the building as hard as she could, hoping she'd give him a fright.
Inside, Ryan heard the knock as he was chaining his latest victim to the stainless steel table. He jumped, but avoided making any noise and was glad his victim was still out cold. Once he finished securing her to the table, he quietly walked over to the corner of the room and picked up his sledgehammer. He made his way to the door of the warehouse and waited for another sign that someone was waiting outside. All was quiet and he began to wonder if what he heard was an animal or maybe the wind.
Animals don't knock, dumbass.
Ryan stood by the door holding his breath until he heard his victim start to come around. He turned around and started walking back to the table when there was another loud knock, this time on the door. Not one to back down from a fight, he unlocked and opened the door just enough to see who was on the other side without revealing his victim chained up in the center of the room.
Alex stood outside the door, smiling. “Hi there. Remember me?” Just as Jeremy had done, Ryan stared at Alex with his mouth open. “What's wrong? Never seen a walking dead person before? I think we need to have a talk, don't you?”
Ryan opened the door wide enough for him to fit through. He still had the sledgehammer in his right hand and he closed the door with the left.
“How...”
“It's a long story and the how doesn't matter. I only came here to talk.”
“So talk,” Ryan said, visibly upset. He twisted and turned the sledgehammer in his hand.
“You're not afraid of me are you, Ryan? I can assure you that I'm not a ghost and I'm as real as you are.” As she finished her statement, she reached out and touched the hand holding the sledgehammer. “See, I'm real.” When she removed her hand from his, the sledgehammer fell from Ryan's grip and landed on his foot. He hissed in pain, but to his credit, didn't say anything.
“Is there some place comfortable we can have this conversation. I'm really tired of standing here and you're being rather rude by not inviting me inside.”
“Fuck off. You're not supposed to be here, so cut the crap and tell me how and why I'm talking to you right now.”
“Why do you do this, Ryan? Why kill people? Certainly you have talents in other areas.”
“You came here to lecture me on my life choices? I kill people because I enjoy killing people. Besides, you can't beat the money.”
Alex looked him in the eyes and asked the question she really didn't want the answer to. “How many people have you killed?”
Like many killers, Ryan was narcissistic enough to love talking about himself. Alex counted on the fact that by getting him talking, he'd lower his guard.
“You know, I've lost count. Since I started, I'd say...maybe 40 people? That's including you, of course.”
“Since I'm standing here, I don't think I count.”
As the two carried on their conversation, Alex saw Ryan relax as he seemed to forget all about his victim still chained to the table inside. Maybe Alex could save one life by exchanging it for another. “So, now that you know I'm not here to hurt you, can we talk somewhere else?”
Ryan wasn't dumb enough to let Alex into the warehouse, so he motioned for her to move over to his vehicle. He dropped the sledgehammer on the ground and reached into his pocket, producing a large, black knife. “Say hello to Dorothy,” he said with a smile. “Try anything stupid, and Dorothy and I will fuck you up.”
Alex just smiled.
Ryan unlocked the SUV with is key fob and the two climbed into the vehicle, closing the doors behind them. He extended the knife and kept it in plain sight.
“Dorothy is a stupid name for a knife.”
Ryan looked hurt. “It's better than something ridiculous like 'Mr. Stabby.' I know you didn't come here to talk about my blade. What the fuck do you want? I'm a busy man, but I figure since you're going to die here today—again—that I might as well give you a chance to amuse me.”
“Do you remember what you did to me? Do you remember cutting out my tongue, cutting off my lips? Do you remember when you set me on fire?”
Ryan grinned. “Of course I do. After I cut your lips off you were always smiling. I still laugh when I think about it.”
Alex wasn't amused. “I know Jeremy paid to have me killed, but why did you have to go to such extremes? Why not just
put a bullet through my head? Surely that would have been faster and easier for you.”
“What you don't understand is that killing is fun. It's a rush like nothing I've ever felt before! Sure, shooting someone in the head is great sometimes, but playing God? Having people beg you for their lives, knowing you hold all the cards and get to decide who lives and dies? It's absolutely spectacular! Yes, I could have shot you or snapped your neck, but why would I when there are so many other things I could do? The longer and bloodier the kill, the more fun I have with it.” Ryan got a distant look in his eyes. “Cleaning up the mess is a bitch, though.” He looked back at Alex. “Does that answer your question?”
Alex stared at the man, wondering how people like this could exist. “I suppose it does.” She touched his arm and he flinched. “I just want you to know that I forgive you, but I also have to warn you that only one of us is walking away from this, and it won't be you.”
They both sat staring at each other, neither of them saying anything. Ryan looked down at Dorothy and pointed the blade toward his own heart. He looked at Alex and plunged the knife into his chest.
