by Shook, J. E.
"I'm telling you, it won't let me in without a key," he was trying to explain. "It's to keep me from being able to steal. I don't agree with your lifestyle choices, but I want to give you this money so you don't shoot me in the face."
"You'd best not be lying!" the first robber shouted.
"I'm really not. I think it's natural to want to not be shot in the face," Leroy said, beginning to lose his composure.
'Stay strong, kid,' Reginald thought, listening carefully. As he laid there, his temper was beginning to rise. 'I wish there was something I could do without giving myself away. Is there something I could do?"
"Mr Jackson, is there a spare key?" Leroy asked. "Are you sure, if there is, please let me know. None. Well can you come back then and open the register? No, this is no joke. No, I'm telling you it isn't. No, please don't hang up. Please, please, aarrrggghhh!" Reginald heard the phone drop.
'This is bad,' he thought. He heard sobbing coming from next to him. Turning his head to the side, he saw the woman next to him crying. She was trying to keep it quiet, but the second robber had heard her.
"Shut up!" he shouted. Obviously, the extra attention made her sob even harder. "Woman, do you want to die?" he shouted even louder, pointing the pistol at her.
The first robber still had his gun pointed straight at Leroy. "So, there's no way into the register?"
Leroy was shaking. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," he kept repeating.
'Idiots, why don't you use a lever to break into it,' Reginald thought. 'There's no reason for blood to drop here today. There's never a good reason.' His muscles were twitching as his anger rose. His sense of hearing and smell increased dramatically. 'It was a grape soda. The woman who spilled it had perfume like apples when she dropped it two days ago.' As he was ambushed by hundreds of new smells and sounds he felt his fangs drop down over his teeth.
"If you won't cooperate, I'll have to follow through on my promise," the first robber said to Leroy. He leveled the gun at his head.
Reginald heard Leroy's heart start beating even faster than it was. "Man, I've done everything I can. I don't know what else to do!" Leroy shouted.
'This is getting bad,' Reginald thought. 'I shouldn't interfere. There are so many reasons I shouldn't interfere. I'm not brave. I'm no fighter. Why should I interfere? I can live on when these others couldn't.' He turned and saw the woman beside him. 'Is that how I used to look when I was afraid? When I was mortal?'
"We going to have trouble?" the second robber asked his partner, stepping up to the counter.
The first one sighed. "Seems so. We can't leave with this little."
"Fair enough," the second one said, cocking his gun.
'No, I can't let this happen,' Reginald thought, pushing himself to his feet. 'This is not right.'
"Sorry, boss," the first robber said. "We tried not to kill anyone."
Leroy's face turned pure white. "No, please, no!" he shouted.
Just as the robber was about to pull the trigger, he felt something hit him in the back. Swiftly spinning around he saw Reginald standing and holding another candy bar. "You threw something at me. Does everyone here have a death wish or something?"
There was silence for a moment before one of the men on the floor said, "Not me, I want to live."
"Then keep your damn mouth shut!" the second robber shouted, firing a shot into the ceiling.
"I'll have to make an example, it seems." The first robber pointed his gun at Reginald. "Somebody has to die."
Reginald took a deep breath and focused. Everything seemed to slow down to a crawl. He could see, hear, and smell everything that was going on in the room. He smelled the urine that was running down Leroy's leg as he tried to recover from his close call a moment ago. He heard the teeth chattering of a couple of the customers as they shivered in fear. He saw the jugular of the robber's neck as he seemed to slowly pull the trigger. Reginald heard the loud boom as the trigger was pulled, saw the small flash of light as the bullet left the barrel, and smelled gunpowder as he quickly moved to the right as it ripped a hole into his jacket.
"What? How'd you miss?" the second robber asked.
"I didn't. I'm sure of it," the first one said, looking confused. "I know I aimed right. He must have moved."
Reginald began to let his senses overwhelm him. He hadn't felt this alive in his entire life, even when he was young and had trouble controlling his newfound instincts. He had heard that with age, everything became sharper. 'I could do anything,' he thought. 'I feel so alive. I could take them all out. I could take everyone. I don't have to do what anyone wants, but me. I am unstoppable.'
Reginald glanced at the other people around the store. 'I could kill him and him and her. All of them.' He saw the woman still crying on the floor. 'Her tears are useless,' he thought, though he felt some of his anger ebb. One of the men on the floor was saying something under his breath. 'What's he saying?' Reginald listened for a couple seconds. He felt a cold feeling come over him as he realized the man was praying. The memories of the past disappeared except his earliest recollections. 'Just because I can do something, does not make it right,' he thought to himself.
He looked up to see both robbers aiming their guns at him. As the bullets flew, he dove for cover behind one of the aisles. 'What have I gotten myself into?' He began to crawl towards the back of the store as bags of chips, salsa, and other foods rained down on him as the robbers kept firing. 'Got to get away from the others. I can't let them get caught in the crossfire.'
As he heard the gunfire die down, he took off at a crawling sprint. Just as he reached the end of the aisle, he heard a gunshot and felt a light breeze as the bullet soared just past his ankle as he pulled it around the corner. He sat there leaning against the endcap as he heard a set of footsteps crunching as one of the robbers slowly walked down the aisle.
'Just one set of footsteps!' Reginald thought. 'Where's the other one?'
Panic made his heart begin to race again. His ears prickled as he struggled to pick up any noise they could. 'Where, where, right there!' He heard the second robber lightly walking along one of the front aisles as his noisy companion came the same route Reginald had took.
'Is it going to end like this? Is it really going to end here, of all places?' Reginald asked himself as his fight or flight instincts began to kick in. 'This isn't fair! How can this be fair?'
'Who said this world was fair, weakling human?' a voice inside one of Reginald's memories asked. 'You were put here to die, and that is what your purpose shall be.'
Reginald felt his hands clench as anger took him. 'No, there's more purpose to life than that,' he heard himself shouting inside his head. His senses began to burn once more as he became aware of everything in the entire room. He smelled the sweat as his two attackers slowly approached. He heard one of the customers crawling towards the door, one of his shirt buttons lightly scraping the ground as he scooted forward. His skin tingled as if he could sense every little bit of electricity in the air, causing his muscles to twitch involuntarily. His fangs pressed themselves against his lower lip.
Just as the first robber was about to step around the corner, Reginald stood and stepped forward. The robber was shocked to see Reginald make the first move, which gave him the split second he needed. Reginald focused with all of his might and shrugged off his anger. 'Just because you can do something, doesn't mean it's right,' echoed through his head once more. With extreme concentration, Reginald's hand darted out and grabbed the man's forearm. Displaying superhuman strength, he squeezed, hearing bones breaking and shattering, As the gun fell to the floor, Reginald pulled back his arm and aimed it at the man's midsection. Feeling his lip twitch, he breathed out calmly and punched the first robber, sending him flying up and into the wall several feet away. The man hit the floor awkwardly with a loud smack.
Reginald breathed out again as he turned. 'I can still hear his heart beating,' he thought. 'Good.' He watched as the other man seemed to slowly come around the other a
isle. The man's face twisted in confusion and anger as he took in the sight of his partner lying on the floor. Then Reginald watched as his gun came up and pointed directly at his chest.
"You're going to die for this!" he shouted as his finger began to close on the trigger.
Reginald stepped forward and easily grabbed the man's hand as he began to fire. Shoving the arm down, he felt pieces of tile and concrete hitting his pants leg as the robber frantically fired off his gun. As the last bullets hit the ground, the robber kept pulling the trigger, causing a clicking sound to echo through Reginald's head each time.
"What are you?" the robber asked, his look of anger dissolving into panic.
Reginald leaned forward and opened his mouth, then shut it. "I don't know," he said, feeling at a loss of words. With that, he raised his free hand and brought it down onto the man's skull. He crumpled into a pile on the ground.
For a moment Reginald stood there, feeling the intense wave of strength ebbing away. His breaths became ragged and he could feel sweat pouring from all over. His heartbeat was echoing through his head as his body began to try to cooldown. He flinched as a car passed by outside, causing a small beam of sunlight to hit him.
'I can't stay here,' he thought frantically. As he saw everyone begin to get to their feet, he started looking for an exit. His eyes darted all around before seeing a door in the back corner just several feet away. As he took a step forward, he noticed the second robber's bag laying at his feet. Reaching down, he quickly rifled through it until he found his wallet. 'Got to get away. Can't let them know who I am.'
He dove for the door and pushed through it, causing it to slam behind him with a bang. There was a second door on the other side, which lead outside to an alley that ran behind the convenience store. As the sunlight hit him, he felt as if all his energy was draining. He pulled his cap down lower and pulled his coat collar up to give extra coverage for his neck as he stumbled along down the alleyway. He walked side to side as if he were drunk, trying to keep as much of his body out of the sun.
As he came to the street, Reginald groaned loudly. 'This is the opposite direction from the house,' he feebly thought. 'I don't know if I can make it like this.'
He stepped onto the sidewalk and immediately bumped into a man as he was quickly walking. "Watch it, dumbass!" he shouted as Reginald fell back against the wall. He leaned there and watched as people walked to and fro on their way to work. The morning traffic was just as cluttered as always. He felt his eyes begin to blur as he struggled to stay conscious.
He jumped as he realized his surroundings. He forced his eyes to focus. "The river," he hoarsely muttered out loud. "Near the river."
With new determination, he forced himself to quickly walk along the sidewalk. He smiled as he realized he was going in the right direction. He forced himself to stand straight as he waited for the sign to allow pedestrians to cross the street. As he passing to the other side, he felt his leg give out, causing him to trip and fall into one of the idling cars waiting to continue. With a tight smile, he waved and forced himself to get back up.
Now that he had crossed the street, he walked directly towards the river. As he came closer, he looked around and let out a relieved sob. Just down the street along the river, he saw a large set of storage sheds lined up directly on the river's edge. With renewed vigor, he hobbled towards them. Despite keeping his head down, Reginald felt like his face was burning.
"Damn," he muttered, walking inside the gate. "I wouldn't be reacting this badly if not for that whole fight."
He buried his quaking hand into his pocket as he continued forward. Dropping them several times, he finally managed to pull his keys from his pocket.
"I think I can make it," he said, leaning against the side of the wall as he walked forward. The ridges in the tin seemed to help hurl him forward as his legs seemed to turn to mush.
"Here," Reginald said, arriving at one of the larger units. He bent down and fell into the door. With his head pressed against cool tin, he managed to get the padlock unlocked after a couple of tries. With a mighty heave he pushed the door upwards. Diving with the last of his strength, Reginald landed on the cold concrete floor inside. He was already asleep when the door came crashing back down a second later.
Chapter 4
Reginald stood in a hallway outside a wooden door. He looked down at his hands to see them shaking, almost causing the wax from his candle to to drip onto his hand. He managed to keep a firm grip on the candlestick despite feeling his palms sweating. "Come on, Reginald. This isn't something to be worried about," he muttered to himself. He forced himself to take a deep breath. "Come on, be a man."
Just as he thought of reaching for the handle again, the door opened. The surprise almost caused him to fall backwards.
"What is taking you so long, my dear Reginald?" a woman's voice asked.
He forced his eyes to focus and saw one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. It was not the first time he had seen her, though he still felt as nervous with each encounter as he had his first. She had long brown hair that fell down her back and kind green eyes. He saw that a light gown covered her lithe figure.
"Ah, I just arrived," Reginald managed to get out.
"You just arrived?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "It does not take so long to simply check the shutters and the doors. I was believing that we would meet again in the morn for all the time it took."
"I took special care," Reginald said, walking meekly into the room. "There is no moon tonight and the animals will be more attracted to the lights." He put the candle down on the dresser, next to several other candles. The candlelight illuminated the cozy room, with its hand carved bed with the knitted sheets to the double window with its curtains drawn. There was a dresser that had a mirror where Reginald could see himself looking just as uncomfortable as he felt.
"Come now," the woman said, sitting down and patting the bed beside her. "Sit, there is nothing to be afraid or ashamed of, dear."
"Yes, Miss Regina," he said, sitting down a couple feet away from her.
"I use my husband's name, do not forget it," she said, laughing.
Reginald managed to laugh as well, feeling some of his tension ease.
Regina took his hand into hers. "You have been ignoring me lately. You will cease this nonsense now."
Reginald shrugged. "I have not been ignoring you, my dearest wife. There is little enough time in the day with the war being fought. The mayor has a never ending string of errands for me to run."
"That may be so, but there are no others who work quite so hard."
"There are no others who are sons of the mayor," Reginald said, almost hiding his annoyance.
Regina cleared her throat. "That may be so, and I am aware that he has been a most controlling force in your life, but he is not the full cause of this. Your father stopped by today and asked if everything was well with us. He mentioned that it was you who have been asking for the extra duties."
Reginald sighed. "Yes, that is true."
"Have I done something wrong?"
Reginald stood and walked to the window. He frowned as he stared out into the darkness. "No, you are as perfect a wife as I could ever hope to have. It is I that is imperfect."
Regina fidgeted with her hands before responding. "You have no cause to be quite so insecure, my dear husband."
"I am aware that you were quite taken by Daniel Hawthorne when my father approached your parents. He has forced me upon you. Though this is one of the things I am most grateful to him for, I fear this is not the life you wished for. I should have married into my learning rather than to you."
She hesitated for a moment before displaying a confident smile. "I will admit that you are not the man I once dreamed of being married to, but I have come to appreciate and with time, I have learned to love you. I believe that you are, and always will be a great husband, and future father of our children."
"Children," Reginald said, thinking deeply.
"Yes," she said, standing and placing her arms around his chest.
He forced himself to enjoy the warmth without fidgeting. 'She is right. There is nothing to feel ashamed of,' he thought. "Is this something that you truly wish of me?"
"Yes."
"It is yours, and not that of my father's?"
She hesitated. "My parents, as well as yours, are anxious for grandchildren, but the desire is mine as well. I would have it no other way."
Reginald ran his hands over his shirt, clumsily smoothing out the wrinkles. "Very well, dearest Regina, I shall perform my duty." He turned and and tried to focus on his wife in front of him. They just stood and looked at each other for a couple of moments. Finally, she stepped forward and planted her lips onto his for only the second time in their marriage. Reginald was stunned for a couple of moments before he realized she was edging him closer to the bed.
He tried to keep his breathing under control as his anticipation built. He rubbed his clammy hands on his pants to dry them as they neared their destination. Finally they broke contact and Regina smiled. "Help me undo the knot," she said, turning around.
"Huh," was all the response Reginald could muster.
She laughed and said, "Your father has discussed how this works, has he not?"
Reginald laughed uneasily. "Oh, um, no, but yes, I know." He reached for the knot on the night gown. With his shaking hands, he left it in a worse knot than it started in. She laughed and walked over to the mirror and began to help him undo the knot. Just as he was about to finish, they heard their dogs barking from the yard.
"They must have game to chase," Reginald said, glancing towards the window. Regina grunted in agreement as they finished up the knot. As the gown fell to the floor, Reginald fought to remain conscious as he saw her nude for the first time. He reached out and placed his hand on the dresser to steady himself.
"Are you going to be well, Reginald?" she said, looking concerned.
