Distorted Perceptions

by Diana W

  “I’ll be up in a little. You sure you don’t need help up the steps?” I was prepared to get up.

  “Nah, it’ll take me awhile, but I got it,” he smiled.

  “Ok,” I responded still uneasy about it, but I let it go. Elliott wasn’t used to being confined to home, much less to the bed. Him coming down to the sofa was a hard-fought compromise because I planned on following his hospital release orders of strict bed rest to the T.

  “Love you.”

  “Love you more.”

  I smiled unexpectedly, something I hadn’t been able to do in a while, as I opened my laptop prepared to give Dan something of an explanation. Going into my business email account, I was alarmed at my inbox that had at least ten messages with the same subject, COME ALONE and a sender with a weird letter number combo for a name. I would’ve written it off as spam but looking at the times they were sent, they seemed to be all exactly five minutes apart.

  I clicked on the newest message and my heart dropped. I panicked at the sight of Denise and Gerald tied up by the hands.

  My sister’s eyes were beet red. Her hair frazzled. And Gerald looked no better off. I prayed Tyler wasn’t in any of the photos as I nervously clicked through them all. I was about to scream out to Elliott but the wording just above the picture gave an address with the same warning of the subject line in addition to threatening to kill them if I didn’t adhere to the instructions. My thoughts were weighing every option including calling the police and even Lucas, but I couldn’t take that risk. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to them.

  Maybe I could reason with Julian. If Elliott was right about underestimating Julian’s love for me, maybe I could find a way to fix the situation.

  I pushed the laptop off me and made my way to the front door. Quickly but quietly, I put on my shoes, glancing up to the top of the steps hoping Elliott wouldn’t call down to me. My mind was already made up.

  Chapter 26

  The feeling of dread crept up my spine as I approached the dilapidated warehouse. The nighttime sounds of the woods had me swiveling in every direction thinking somebody was approaching me. I wanted to turn back. Everything in my body was telling me to but thinking of only myself was the sole reason I was in this mess. I was desperately trying not to be that self-centered person anymore and even this situation wouldn’t change that. My only comfort as my hands trembled towards the large metal door of the entrance, was that I made my peace with Elliott, Denise, and myself.

  I pushed the unlocked door open into complete darkness. Not being able to see my hands in front of me, made me stop in my tracks. I pulled my phone from my back pocket, prepared to turn on the built-in flashlight. The lights above me suddenly flickered on dimly as if they were warming up. Thankfully, they were bright enough to take away the uncertainty of what I was walking into.

  I was surprised at how clean the space looked. Somebody seemed to be maintaining it despite its outward appearance.

  “Julian,” I called out with a shaky voice still cautiously walking further into the building.

  When I didn't get a response, I felt a little bolder repeating his name again.

  “Julian, I’m here and I want my family released.”

  I got nothing but the sound of my feet hitting the concrete flooring.

  “Cass.”

  I spun around and saw Julian walking into the entrance. “What are you doing here?” He seemed alarmed.

  “I’m doing what you asked,” I kept my distance, confused by his rhetorical question. “Where’s my sister?”

  “Where’s your sis-” He look bewildered. “I didn’t...” His eyes grew almost double in size. He ran towards me prompting me to take off in the opposite direction in fear. He caught me by the arm before I could get a stride away but oddly enough, he was pulling me in the opposite direction towards the entrance.

  "Run Cass! Get back in your car and call the police!”

  “Hold it right there!” Lucas emerged from the warehouse office near the entrance with a gun pointed at Julian.

  “Lucas!” I broke free from Julian’s grasp and ran towards my unspoken savior. I threw my arms around him in the tightest embrace. I don’t think I’d ever been so relieved to see anyone in my life.

  “How did you know I was here?” I asked. “He has Denise and Gerald.” I rambled off everything that I should’ve called and told him the second I received Julian’s email.

  “Cass!” Julian yelled frantically. “Get away from him!”

  Confused, I looked back at Julian’s panicked face and then up to Lucas’. He said it so harshly that it made me pause to assess the situation.

  “How did you know I was...here?” I loosened my grip on Lucas. The feeling in my gut took a souring turn.

  Lucas’ stern expression, completely honed in on Julian, transformed into a more sinister one as his eyes fell to me. The hairs on the back of my neck raised, making me remove my hands from him completely.

  “Lucas?” I asked in disbelief and more so, fear.

  “God dammit Cass!” He slapped his thigh excitedly. “You know I sat here wondering how long it would take you to figure out everything but this whole clueless victim role is becoming of you, woman.”

  “What?” I backed away from him.

  “She has nothing to do with this!” Julian came rushing in our direction.

  The gun fired and I screamed, slamming my hands over my ears from the blast. Julian bellowed down to his knees. Blood now trickling from his thigh.

  “And I told you never to cross me,” Lucas gritted through his teeth.

  My eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. “You know... each other?” I was still too stunned to get the words out.

  “Know?” Lucas smirked as he continued to watch Julian moan in pain. “We’re practically buddies. Isn’t that right, J?”

  “Fuck you man!” Julian spit as he attempted to stand.

  “You had it so easy. So fucking easy,” Lucas spoke animatedly with the gun aimed in his direction. “And then poof, your moral compass appears. You thought I would’ve been okay with that?”

  “What did you do?” I looked between the two of them in disbelief. There was no way this was real. “What about Shanice?”

  Lucas’ eyes twitched at the mention of her name. “Shanice. My dear, dear Shanice,” he almost sang. “So beautiful,” he seemed trapped in the thought of her. “She was too weak for this world,” he spewed out. “She fucked up everything in my life from the time my family took her in.”

  “She was a child,” I defended.

  “That couldn’t keep her fucking mouth shut, but I see now why you two were friends. Somebody had to be the obnoxious voice for the lost cause.”

  “Fuck you!” I lunged towards him in a rage trying to swat the gun from his hand. He caught me by the wrist and twisted my arm behind my back.

  “Looks like we have a fighter on our hands!” He placed the gun to my head as I cried from the heat of the recently fired muzzle. “I see why you love her so much, J.”

  “Let her go, man! I’m here and I’m who you want. I swear to you, I haven’t said shit about them to anybody,” Julian pleaded.

  Them?

  “What do you know Julian?!” I screamed.

  Julian looked to be on the verge of crying as his eyes frantically looked to me and then the floor. “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “What did you do?!”

  If I was going to die, I wanted to die knowing the truth about everything.

  “Tell me!”

  “Yeah J, tell little Miss Cassie what you did!” Lucas taunted shooting the gun in his direction again. This time it hit by his feet and I knew it was a deliberate miss.

  “Fuck!” Julian howled moving out the way. “Right before I met you,” he started frantically, “me and a few of my friends robbed that pizza spot near the university. It was supposed to be a way to get some quick cash. I needed the money for school,” he reasoned like commi
tting the crime would somehow be justifiable to me.

  “Shit went south, and I ended up shooting the owner,” his voice wavered.

  “What?” I muffled out.

  “I…I thought he was reaching for a gun,” his eyes fell. “Me and one other person got caught running out and he was the officer who got me,” Julian nodded in our direction referring to Lucas. “He told me he’d make sure I’d never go down for the murder if I did some things for him,” Julian sniffled as tears rolled down his face. “What was I supposed to say?”

  “Julian,” I sobbed with conflicted emotions. I was angry that he kept something of this magnitude from me. He didn’t just commit some petty robbery. A man died. But I pitied him for feeling like he had no other options.

  “I didn’t know what he was doing to the girls I picked out for him until...I started seeing them act different. A lot of them withdrew from school. That’s why I was so protective over you Cass. I didn't want him or anybody else fucking with you.”

  “Yeah, he got to keep you alllll to himself,” Lucas licked the side of my face from my cheek up to my temple as I tried not to vomit from repulsion. “You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do that.”

  “I swear to God I’ll kill you!” Julian attempted to come our way. Lucas fired off another shot, catching him in the shoulder. Julian howled and fell again.

  “Please stop it!” I begged.

  “Oh, don’t start feeling too sorry for him Cass,” Lucas responded calmly. “I saw how he used to treat you. He wasn’t the nicest guy.” He stressed. “He could use what he did for me as an excuse, but I know better. Getting rid of Shanice was a thrill for him.”

  The air left my lungs.

  “Shut the fuck up!” Julian belted.

  “Awwww, I think you hurt her feelings, J,” Lucas must have felt the change in my demeanor. “Don’t you worry though. Her mouth and other parts went to good use way before that happened. Having access to her in the same house was so much easier than those bullshit dorms,” Lucas chimed in laughing.

  My infuriation was to the point of nausea. I started blindly kicking trying to claw at Lucas’ arm. “She was your sister!” I screamed wishing I could rip his face off.

  “Calm the fuck down!” Lucas spun me around to face him and delivered a blow to my cheek. I fell backward onto the concrete flooring and quickly sat up, holding my throbbing face.

  “Yo, what the fuck is wrong with you?!” Julian yelled towards him. He weakly attempted to come to my aid, but I started swinging at him too.

  “Don’t you fucking touch me!” I pushed away from him.

  The more I replayed he and Lucas’ conversation, the more I realized how disgusting this situation actually was. That story at hospital Lucas gave about the little girl being molested was all bullshit. He knew exactly why Shanice was the way she was. “You did that to her?” I looked to Julian in disbelief. “She trusted you! I trusted you! Was that your baby too?”

  “Cass, I swear I didn’t know about the baby until afterwards,” Julian tried to reach out to me from his sitting position on the ground. “I couldn’t risk her saying anything. I don’t even know how she knew what was going on with him.”

  “You sure you don’t know?” Lucas asked skeptically. “Because a part of me thinks you fucking said something to her,” he gritted. “You and I were the only two people involved in this.”

  “What?” Julian seemed confused as he held onto his shoulder. His voice getting weaker with every response. “Why would I risk telling her?”

  “You tell me,” Lucas approached him placing the gun to the center of his head. I scrambled away from them. “I’m sure you needed an ally to rat me out. Is that why you went on your little hiatus?”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Julian’s breathing became rugged. “That would mean, I was giving myself up.”

  “You say that but you know what’s funny? I tried searching for you after you disappeared and it’s like you vanished off the face of the earth,” Lucas’ lifted his hands in an exaggerated fashion. “And you know what? I was ok with that. I dealt with the questions about the girls and it eventually all died down but the minute you stepped back onto my territory, I couldn’t take that risk again.”

  Lucas looked over to me, "I had a feeling you’d come back though.”

  My eyes fell at his implication that I was the reason.

  “I'm a very patient man. All the exhausting events I had to set up for you two to meet and still neither one of you could sense shit. Your nose was so far up her ass, you didn’t even see it coming.”

  “See what?” Julian asked apprehensively.

  “I just witnessed you attacking your ex-lover, who you’ve continuously harassed in addition to setting up an attack on her husband. You abducted two members of her family and I was able to set them free but not before killing you.”

  My eyes grew wide.

  “Bye Julian.”

  The gun exploded and I screamed as Julian’s back hit the concrete.

  Lucas shifted the focus of the gun to me as I desperately tried not to hyperventilate. “I tried to save you from your obsessed ex, but I was too late.”

  I sobbed already anticipating what was coming, “Just tell me why me. Please.”

  Lucas snorted, “Honestly Cass. You were a casualty of war. Nothing more. Nothing less. And all loose ends must be accounted for.” He stepped closer to me.

  “You don’t have to do this,” I pleaded. “I won’t say anything I swear.

  “Cass,” he sighed. “If only that was enough.” If I wasn’t pressed for time, we could’ve had some fun, but I’ll make sure Elliott and that delicious sister of yours grieve properly.”

  I closed my eyes preparing for his next move. I was angry at myself for looking past the obvious signs. Lucas was always around when I was in trouble. I thought it was by luck but no, this was all clearly calculated. I just hope Elliott or Denise could figure it out.

  “DROP YOUR WEAPON!”

  Alarmed, my eyes popped open. I looked past Lucas at the three police in uniform that lined the entrance of the warehouse.

  “Stand down! I’m an officer and this woman is armed!”

  I looked up to him frantically and then back at them. “I swear to you I don’t have a weapon! Please help me!” I didn’t want to make any movements for fear of getting killed accidently.

  “I SAID DROP YOUR WEAPON!” The same officer repeated.

  “And I said this woman is armed!” Lucas repeated. This was his attempt to shoot me or get me shot. I knew too much to stay alive.

  “PUT THE GOD DAMN GUN DOWN!” Another officer belted.

  Lucas repositioned his grip on the gun. His eyes crazed.

  “He’s going to shoot me!” I yelled.

  Lucas and I continued our stare down and I knew that’s exactly what he planned. He didn’t want me talking even if he was dead.

  Shots rang out and I dropped backwards, bringing my knees to my chest and hands over my ears. The noise suddenly ceased and something heavy landed on me. I opened my eyes to Lucas’ lifeless ones.

  I panicked as I tried to push him off. “Get away from me!”

  “Ma’am calm down,” I didn’t realize the cops had surrounded me. Two of them shifted Lucas’ body off of mine.

  “Are you okay?” The one kneeling asked.

  “No,” I touched my chest, trying to hectically wipe the blood from my shirt. “How did you know I was here?”

  “Your husband. He told us about the situation with your ex and the tracker he put on your phone.”

  Tracker? When did he do that?

  “My family!” I panicked. “He has my family!”

  “We have them,” the second officer helped me stand. “They’re waiting in the unit outside.”

  “Oh, my God!” I cried into his chest. “Thank you!”

  Epilogue

  “You sure you’re up to this?” Elliott held my hand across the center console.

  Almos
t a year and a half had passed since the warehouse incident. It had also been eleven months since Victoria’s body showed up in the Mississippi. We found out that Lucas attacked one of her little sisters and beat her almost to the point of death. It was the threat of finishing her off that forced Victoria to help him because of her limited alternatives. She was a known prostitute whose reputation would’ve surpassed her believability. That seemed to be Lucas’ thing: Manipulation. All of us, including Denise and Gerald, were attempting to find our normal again. This was my last step in that journey.

  I glanced out of the window towards the small run-down cottage styled house. “I’m positive.”

  “Ok,” he gave my hand a squeeze and got out. He crossed in front of the car, and opened my door for me. I stepped out and looked to him trying to mask my nervousness.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to come in with you?” Elliott asked again. It’s the same question he’d been consistently asking me since I told him I wanted to do this.

  “I got it,” I smiled confidently.

  “Ok. I’ll be standing right here if you need me,” he kissed my hand.

  I carefully walked up the steps towards the front door and rang the doorbell. I looked backed at Elliott who was leaning against the car, intently watching me.

  The door opened and an older white woman, who looked to be in her late fifties, answered.

  “Hi,” she said apprehensively. “May I help you?”

  “Hi, my name is Cassandra Watson and-”

  “You were Shanice’s friend, right?” She interrupted. “I remember you from the funeral.”

  “Yes,” I was shocked that she even knew that. “I wanted to know if it was possible to speak with you about her for a minute?”

  “Uhh sure,” she nodded with tired eyes. “You can come in.” She opened the door further.

  I looked back at Elliott and threw up my hand, signaling I’d be right back. He nodded in return and held up his phone to say he was right there if I needed him.

  I stepped in the house, quickly noticing how unkept it looked. The white and grey blends of the painted walls were beautiful but it was overshadowed by newspaper piles and random items on the floor.