by Kol Anderson
It's crazy but even though our brains can't grasp the concept of oblivion, how sometimes it becomes necessary. Oblivion was the only place where I could picture myself being free and I had grown to get attached to the concept, and I realized it was the only hope I still held.
"Everything okay in there?" I heard Jackies soft voice through the heavy door.
This house, her life, her possessions, I wanted to steal it all. I wanted to know if there was a way I could start living her life instead of mine.
All the nice things she owned when I owned nothing, it broke my heart even more for some reason. The dire living conditions her brother had forced on me and my brother, I wanted someone to pay for it.
I slipped the bottle of Valium in my pocket and opened the door.
She stood there, a glass of whiskey in her hand and there was something in her eyes... in the way her gaze lingered on me, on the open space left by the unbuttoned shirt.
She seemed to have caught herself doing it and promptly went to fix me a drink. "Would you like to eat?" she asked. “I could make you something or we can order in."
I couldn't actually remember the last time I ate a hot meal. I did manage to stuff down some food Trey brought me but I couldn't even taste it.
Food was far from my mind.
"No thanks. Maybe later."
She stopped what she was doing. "You're welcome to stay the night."
Her hands were trembling.
"Okay," I replied and the relief on her face was almost innocent. "Thanks, Jackie."
She brought me the Jack and Coke. We raised our glasses and toasted to her dead father.
I sipped, slowly. But she downed first one and then another glass like it was a shot.
She was tipsy so I offered to pour the drinks the next time.
We talked.
Endlessly, for hours, mostly her.
I checked my watch.
It was time.
TREY
I kept trying to call Jake and continued to pace about.
My mind was thinking of worst case scenarios. Maybe something happened to Jake? I was about to go look for him when the door opened and he walked in.
He looked strange.
A little confused.
"Jake?"
"Where's Weldon?"
"He's still in the room, why?"
Jake barged into the cell. He turned on the light and Weldon stared at him. "Where's my father?"
"Here's the thing," Jake said, and I felt the adrenaline bursting through in every word he spoke. "Your father's dead. Dead as a door nail!”
There was uncontrollable rage in Weldon’s eyes. "Your brother’s dead too then!"
"I don't think so," Jake said, and went out while Weldon and I waited.
Within moments, the door was open again and Jake pushed someone inside.
Weldon tried to make out the person's face, as did I. The female was on the floor on her knees, crying, her makeup running all over her face and the rag that worked as a gag for her mouth.
"Jackie!" Weldon looked speechless. In shock.
Jake placed a gun to her head and cocked it. It wasn't mine, he'd probably gotten it from Jackie’s bedroom vault.
"Where's my brother?" Jake asked, simply.
Weldon kept looking at his sister. "I'll tell you," he blurted. "Please, don't hurt her!"
Jake lowered the weapon. "Start talking."
COLTON
Empty deserted blocks of razed buildings formed a jarring cacophony of silence that surrounded the fifteen story rooftop. I couldn't see through the heavy cloud of darkness and dust that seemed to surround us. One wrong step and we would fall to our deaths. Which was probably the reason why I was there in the first place.
But hours of standing on the rooftop with a weapon in hand had made Stoll exhausted. The tiredness and boredom showed on his face.
Every few minutes, a whisper would startle us both and Stoll would go on alert but none of the whispers of sound ever became more than silence.
But eventually we both heard footfalls, shoes crunching gravel underneath their weight and the sounds kept getting more prominent until there was silence again.
Someone had entered the building and was probably climbing the stairs by now.
I saw it in Stoll's eyes.
The lethargy had been replaced by a circumspect alertness as he shot a watchful glance toward the roof access door, gun cocked.
We waited.
TREY
"It's time," Weldon said.
I was certain he was going to try something. It wouldn't be Weldon if he didn't try to get away.
"Stop with your bullshit, Weldon I'm not buying it."
He glanced at his sister sitting right next to her. “You've disappointed me, Jackie."
Jackie was still a little drowsy from whatever drug cocktail Jake had used on her.
"Shut the fuck up," I said. “Or you're going to get hurt—”
But I couldn't finish the sentence because Weldon’s free hand lunged for Jackie and he started to choke her. I rushed to help but out of nowhere, I felt a hard shove and I was surprised to find it came from Weldon.
I noticed too late his hand was free from the restraint and I didn't know how it was possible.
I tried to take charge of the situation but Weldon’s strength was no match for me.
COLTON
There was a scuffle on the other end of the door and we both were on edge, unable to move a muscle. on one hand, it could be Jake and then I'd have hope but on the other, it could be more danger...
TREY
Weldon slammed me hard against the wall. He was trying to scare me, trying to get to my gun but I wasn't about to go down easy.
"You think I'm going to let you off that easy you piece of shit?" he screamed. He managed to struggle the gun out of my hand and it fell to the floor and we both lunged for it.
COLTON
Whoever it was on the other end was clearly having trouble opening it. It was an old building and the locks were jammed and some of them no longer worked. I'd noticed that when Stoll was bringing me up here.
"Weldon?" Stoll called out. But when no answer came from the other end, he went back to waiting.
Please let it be Jake... please...
At last someone pushed at the door hard and it opened.
A silhouette appeared from the tiny bit of light.
"Weldon?" I noticed Stoll was keeping his hopes up, just as I was.
But when the person stepped out of the shadows, we both knew it wasn't anyone we were expecting.
"You," Stoll said. “You're alive."
The guy who stepped up was older than me but not by much. He looked at me with a gentle gaze, which was strangely calming. Less calming was the fact that he was carrying a weapon, just as locked and loaded as Stoll and now it was also pointed at Stoll.
"Are you Jake?" The question startled me.
"Uh," it took me a while to realize an answer was expected. "No... Jake’s my brother... But how do you...?"
"Don't have time for introductions," he said. “Take his gun. Now!"
"What makes you think I'll give it to him?" Stoll said and laughed.
“Because I know how much you love to be alive," the stranger said. “Me, I’m already dead, so I don’t mind shooting you in the face or throwing you off the building if you piss me off."
The tension on the rooftop was palpable. I didn't know if I had time to think about my choices, so I picked the one that sounded more appealing than dying from Stoll's bullet when his boss turned up.
Apparently, the stranger knew a little about Weldon and his most trusted henchmen.
He fished out a rope from somewhere and I took it and tied Stoll's hands behind his back with all the strength I could muster. My body was breaking down it seemed. Every second that passed I could feel the strength waning and I wasn't sure how long I could keep this up. If they hadn't pumped me so full of drugs I'd probably be in a lot more pain. But rig
ht now my main concern was that I might fall any second.
"I'm Ryan," the stranger said. “What’s your name?"
I hesitated because honestly my brain wasn't even working at half it's usual capacity and the incident with Weldon and the rest of it, mixed with lack of sleep and food made for a bad combination. Eventually, I said it out loud and hoped for the best.
"Colton," I said. “Do you know where my brother is?"
"No idea," he said. “I don’t actually know Jake personally. I know about this whole thing because of Trey. I thought he could use some help."
The mention of that name brought more shitty memories. But there were more pressing matters at hand. "What do we do with him?"
“I have a few ideas," Ryan said and grabbed Stoll's arm and pushed him to the edge of the building. Stoll must have seen his death looming in front of him because he looked terrified. “You said you weren't going to kill me if I gave you the gun!"
"I lied," Ryan said and was about to push Stoll when the door opened and we both heard a new voice. "If you kill him you're no better than the person you hate so much," Jake said.
God, was I happy to see him.
I noticed he was armed but he wasn't pointing it at anyone.
"He's the one who does all the dirty work," Ryan said. “You won’t believe some of the things he did to me!"
"You won't believe some of the things he did to me," Jake responded.
"Look, I know you mean well," Jake continued. “But we can't become him to fight him."
Ryan smiled. "I admire your innocence, Jake."
"How did you—”
"Just a hunch."
"You're Ryan, aren't you?" Jake walked up to us. "You're the one who was...Dead?"
"It's true, I'm Ryan. As for the dead part, appearances can be deceiving."
"That's not what I meant...”
"I'm know. I'm just joking," Ryan paused. "The thing is I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for Trey. I couldn't bear it if he needed me and I wasn't there for him. I had to find a way to help."
"Trey really saved you?" Jake asked and I had a feeling he knew about my encounter with him.
Ryan was certain when he said, "He did. He saved me many times actually and I owe him my life. And whatever Weldon did to make you believe otherwise," Ryan said. “It’s bullshit!"
Jake hesitated and glanced at me. “I saw him trying to hit on my brother," he blurted out. "He said things... that I really don't want to think about.”
"Did you ask Trey why he did it?"
Jake looked away. "He claims it was just so they'd think he was one of them. So he could continue to help us without them knowing."
"I know how hard it is," Ryan said. “To let go of things, trust me I know. Trey's not perfect. No one is, but he has a good heart. That I can vouch for. He'd never try to hit on your brother if he loves you. And I can assure you that he does indeed love you. No one rips apart their own lives to help just anyone."
"Maybe he's telling the truth, Jake." I tried to get him to calm down.
"Maybe?" Ryan looked fake-hurt. "That's kind of a rude thing to say to someone who might literally have saved your ass!"
"I'm sorry..."
"It's a joke! Sheesh you two need to lighten up! Which reminds me: where's Trey?"
"The last I saw him he was keeping a watch over Weldon."
"Wait you have Weldon?" Ryan couldn't believe it. "And you're telling me this now?"
"It didn't come up I guess," my brother said.
“Okay, for future reference?" Ryan said. “If you have the evil overlord in your custody, you lead with that!!!"
Jake grinned. "I'll try to remember."
"Have you nice people decided what you're going to do with me?" Stoll interjected.
"My vote is still for chucking him,” Ryan said.
“No... chucking... please," Jake responded.
"You're really not making it easy to act out my diabolical plan," Ryan complained.
"I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities in the future."
"Let's take this douche bag to his douche bag boss," Ryan said.
Jake was about to say something to me, when a shot rang through the air and forced us to pause whatever we were doing. We watched the front of Ryan’s chest fill out with a deep red. The color of his blood. It happened so fast I was paralyzed.
Jake turned to the shooter who was still hiding in the shadows and pointed his gun at him. "Don't stand in the shadows like a fucking coward!"
At this, the man walked up to us, taking slow steps. "You wanted the douche bag boss," Weldon said. “You got it!"
JAKE
"While you jag offs were thinking of the least effective way to end this crisis," Weldon walked right up to Ryan, who was on the floor, gurgling blood, and fighting to breathe. "I was getting rid of that stupid friend of yours, and my useless whore of a sister."
He pointed his gun at Ryan’s chest. "You should have stayed dead," he spit the words out and I watched him shoot the wounded Ryan twice right in the middle of his chest. "There! Problem solved!" Weldon laughed and walked up to me and Colton. "Now you can leave the big decisions to me, Jake."
I stood there, and his presence was intimidating. I wanted to use my Glock and just blow his face off but I couldn't risk failure. One wrong move and Colton and I would both be dead. A problem that was serious, considering I was low on ammo.
Without wasting a second, Weldon pointed his gun at Colton and I lunged for him but he held up his hand. "I'm not going to kill him," he said. “You know that's not my idea of fun. He's more important to me than this piece of trash."
He returned his attention to Colton. "Untie him," Weldon gestured to Stoll. "Go on! Hurry!"
Colton hesitated but eventually started stepping toward Stoll and untied Stoll, threw the piece of rope aside.
The minute Stoll was free, he stood and grabbed hold of Colton's arm, restraining him.
"Where's Trey?" I asked.
"Dead," Weldon responded.
"I don't believe you."
"Really? And why’s that?"
I glanced at him. "Because that's not your idea of fun."
Weldon grinned. "Gotta hand it to you, Jake. You've gotten stronger since I first saw you. But let's face it, your conscience and your insistence on being fair and hopeful comes in the way of your learning experience."
"You don't know anything about me."
"I'm the only one who does, Jake."
There was the sound of a hip hop song, I had heard it before but I wasn't sure what it was when I realized it was Stoll's phone. Stoll picked it up and answered it but it was obvious something was wrong.
When the call ended, he looked at Weldon. "Sir, the Doc made it out of the cell," the guards are searching him, I'm sure they'll find him soon!"
At first, I wondered who Stoll was talking about, but then I remembered that's what they called Trey.
Trey had escaped!
That was a good thing.
Weldon didn't look pleased, obviously. "I'm sure they will."
He sauntered up to Stoll who was holding Colton. "Let him go, Stoll. He's not going anywhere."
Stoll reluctantly agreed and walked up to me. My eyes were on the gun that was on the floor, the one that Ryan dropped and I lunged for it but Stoll beat me to it. With a nasty smirk, he was closer to me than before.
"I know your brother’s an idiot," Weldon said. “But you disappointed me. I had plans for you."
I could see the fear on Colton's face. It wasn't the first time I saw it, and it wasn’t the first time I wanted to murder the person who had caused it.
"Colton, you shouldn't have relied on your brother," Weldon said, smugly. “You know he's no match for me. He can’t save you, he can barely save himself."
Weldon raised his weapon. The barrel was right in front of Colton's face, mere inches away. "
"Noooo!!!" I ran toward Colton, ready to rip the head off Weldon’s torso, but Stoll was in my way.
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Weldon was still grinning. "I'll give you a choice, Colton. Bullet in the head or fall to your death? There's a fifty percent chance the bullet might prolong your agony, but that kind of fall, will kill you in an instant. So, which do you prefer?"
Adrenaline bursting through me, I kicked Stoll hard in the nuts and got control of his weapon. I cocked it and pointed it at Weldon.
He didn’t seem at all affected. "What're you going to do, Jake? Are you going to use that thing to kill me?" he was still complacent. "Why don't you accept once and for all that you're no match for me—" The sound of the gunshot pierced the air. Colton stood there in shock.
So did I.
The gun in my hand was still vibrating, or maybe that was me.
"Jake." I turned to see Trey standing behind me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Stoll reaching for Ryan's gun and it was easy raising my handgun to shoot him this time, because this time I didn't think. I saw an obstruction and I removed it.
Colton came to me and hugged me.
It felt good to feel him that close but I was still shaking.
Trey's eyes had judgment in them. Even when he was the one who told me I couldn't fight the devil without becoming one, I saw the disappointment in him. I couldn't explain it to him. I couldn't tell him that he was right. Weldon was right. The only way I could be his match was by becoming worse than him.
If that was the price for Colton's freedom, I was happy to pay it.
The sound of approaching police vehicles broke the silence.
"I called the cops," Trey said. "I was part of the shady stuff Weldon made me do, and if I go to jail for the rest of my life, it will be worth it. But someone had to put an end to it. Many innocent people have gone without justice far too long."
"Trey, this wasn't your fault," I told him. "Weldon uses people, that's what he does! He was using you, just like everyone else."
