by Tiana Laveen
Sarah had started off as a good mother, and then, as times passed, she seemed to withdraw into some hard, deep shell that no one could crack. She became angrier, more destructive. He should have seen the writing on the wall; she’d simply given up on life. Harboring hatred had a funny way of doing that. It would eat the host from the inside out. Sarah’s guts, heart, and soul were all torn apart and chewed out. She had unresolved issues stemming from childhood abuse as well, and now, they were making a comeback. There was nothing left of the woman he once knew but a piece of a spirit with no direction, dimension, or desire to be a better version of herself. She reviled tenderness, and worshipped abhorrence. It was comfortable; it was all she’d known. These similar philosophies had, in fact, brought them together; but whatever was created from angst and hostility was not bonded for life – it was bonded for death… and the death of a relationship built on such notions was a sure-fire thing.
“I guess I can leave this outside. I’ll put some tarp on it,” he mumbled as he searched around the base of the large red maple tree.
He reached over and grabbed his toolbox to put his items neatly inside as the dusk reached across the land and colored the sky in soft, billowy hues of purple. Suddenly, his ear caught the sound of what seemed to be a humming bird. He paused, his lips kinked in a smile…and then the smile faded.
Hummingbirds aren’t out right now…
Cautiously, he placed a screwdriver in the bin, clutched the toolbox, and got to his feet, his steps careful and steady as he made haste… but not too fast. A cluster of trees stood a mere fifty feet away, and in that distance, shadows and light interrupted one another, shaky and uneven.
Being an avid hunter, he knew the movements of a deer, wood rats, flying squirrels, and coyotes. His heart beat a bit faster as his brain computed ways to handle a multitude of scenarios, but he paced himself, counted his steps, and made mental inventory. He burst through the doors of the house, relieved he’d made it inside. Whipping out his cell phone, he made his way down into the basement.
“Why are you calling me from your cell phone, silly? I just heard you come inside the house. I’m in the bedroom waiting for you. Bring me up a sandwich, too. You make the best grilled cheeses,” she teased.
“Where did you see me come in at?” He kept moving… maintained his pace.
“You’re in the kitchen being greedy, of course.”
“Mia,” he stated calmly. “I need you to lock the bedroom door, both locks, and put the wedge stick in front of it, too. Then I need you to lock yourself inside our closet but before you go there, set the silent alarm, but on the timer, just like I showed you a long time ago. Put it for twenty-one minutes. If I do it from my phone, it will beep.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I want no noises, no alerts.” He waved his hand frantically around as he moved here and there. “After you go into the closet, I need you to silence your phone and not make one sound. Do NOT, under any circumstances, Mia, call the police right now. If you do not hear from me in twenty minutes or less, then call them but don’t leave that closet until I tell you to. It doubles as a shelter, so you should be fine. Start counting the minutes right now.”
“What in the world?! Aaron what’s going on? You—”
“Now!”
He disconnected the call and burst into the room where he kept his treasure trove of artillery. Fast like lightning, he picked up his 7mm Remington Magnum. He loaded the damn thing, placed it to the side by his leg, then peered to his right. More shadows appeared around the perimeter of the house…
She’ll be safe in the bedroom. It’s the safest room in the house…
He sent her a text message.
Aaron: Baby, stay put.
Mia: I’m scared.
Aaron: Don’t be. What do I always tell you?
Mia: You got this…
Aaron: That’s right. Sit tight.
He turned the volume of his phone off, slipped it inside his pocket, then grabbed two fully loaded Nighthawk 1911 pistols and slid them into double holsters along his waist. As if beating on a drum, he hit a panel, causing the entire house to grow dark. As he expected, the roaches and rats reacted to the sudden change of scenery. Footsteps grew quicker, more frantic as they pounded above his head. He hated how his adrenaline rushed and fed his need to make something bleed…
Turning on a dime, he moved about the place, knowing his surroundings almost better than he knew every curve of Mia’s naked body. Sliding up the wall with guns loaded and ready to wreck shop, he made his way back up the steps, his own breathing too loud for his liking. He paused, closed his eyes, and exhaled.
Muffled voices could be heard from where he surmised was his living room. Suddenly, the basement doorknob turned. Like a damn jackrabbit, he hopped away from the door, hiding in the darkness of the cove below the stairway. He peered through the obscurity, barely able to see his own hand in front of his face until the light from someone’s cell phone shined the way.
At least two are in the house…
He kept his tallies straight as sweat poured down his face.
The stranger’s heavy gait made the wood he treaded upon creak and moan as he descended down the steps… closer…closer…
BAM!
“Ahhhhhhh!” The big fucker fell forward, tumbling the rest of the way down the stairs. Aaron jumped out from his position, blasted the body twice in the gut, and one more time in the leg before making a mad dash back to the first floor. Items were falling, cracking, and breaking all around. Confusion reigned when light met its enemy, and the darkness grew teeth…
…Boy lost in the woods.
Not today, motherfucker…
BAM! BAM! BAM! His gunfire lit up the obscurity like a neon sign ushering in travelling perverts to a titty bar. The odor of the gun smoke seduced him and the sighs of hurt bodies, heavy groans born from the pits of pain, made him feel ten feet tall.
“He’s got another gun!” someone yelled out as he heard the clicking of a weapon that he did not possess. He dropped to the ground and rolled over to the front door.
BAM!
“Fuck!” The sting of the bullet lightly grazed his shoulder. Pushing through the slight burning sensation, he swung the damn door open, causing it to bounce. The glass threatened to crack from the impact on the wall. A running shadow disappeared into the thicket of trees. Hot on the coward’s heels, he raised his gun in the air and shot at the sky.
“It’s huntin’ season, fucker!” he screamed out, his anger coming to a boil.
He gained on the man, just as he knew he would. Craziness made him stronger, faster, better… and that’s just how he liked it. Taking the butt of his gun, he knocked the man down to the ground. Soon, he was staring at his prey…
“Well, well, well… The Devil saved the best for last.” Aaron chuckled as he placed the barrel of the rifle right between the bastard’s eyes. “Welcome to my humble abode, Clyde… So nice to see you again.”
BURIED BETWEEN TWO garbage bags filled with clothing she was donating to a local charity, Mia kept counting… and breathing… and counting some more. The sounds of gunfire continued to ring out, and deep muffled voices she’d never heard before spoke of things she couldn’t decipher. Fear had seized her, and her greatest worries were materializing right then and there.
I don’t even know if he’s still alive!
She looked down at her phone. It had only been six minutes, but felt like it had been five hours.
I should call the police! But he said not to… But what if he is lying somewhere dying? Aaron, hurry up, please!
She leaned further back into the closet and ran her hands nervously over her shaking knees, attempting to calm herself to no avail.
Our baby…
She glanced back down at her phone, plucked it quickly from the ground and dialed…
9….
1….
And then, she stopped. She tossed the phone back on the ground before her, rubbed
her forehead and closed her eyes – tried to imagine the best possible outcome in a cloud of madness.
BOOM!
“Oh my God! Someone’s in the bedroom!”
AARON SNEERED, FILLED with amped enthusiasm as he snatched the gun out of Clyde’s hand.
“You ain’t good for shit, you know that? You’re a born and bred bitch. I take that back. That’s an insult to bitches all over the goddamn world.”
“Don’t shoot, Aaron! This wasn’t even my idea!” The maggot flapped his hand in front of his face, as if his palm could stop a bullet or offer any protection.
“You lyin’, slimy son of a bitch! All of this shit was your idea.” He made a wide, all-encompassing gesture with his arm.
“Who told you where I was at, huh? Let me guess… It was someone who just recently lost a court case. Yeah, that sounds about right. Let me tell you somethin’, Clyde. I was expectin’ you. You used to always tell me how paranoid I was, but not one thing that I dreamed up did not materialize. And now here you are, in the stinkin’ flesh. You’re trespassing… on my land, with guns drawn. Now Clyde, we go way back, don’t we, boy? You know how this works. I’m gonna have to send you back to your maker.”
“Aaron, come on!” the man pleaded as he waved shaky hands in his direction. “We’re friends! We were just gonna scare you a little! Nobody was gonna get hurt!”
“Just scare me a little, huh?” He kept the gun steady on the man with one hand as he cracked a smile. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a cigarette and slid it between his hips, cocked to the side. “Nobody comes all this way just to play chicken. You’ve been tryin’ to snuff me out for a while now. You set me up.”
“What? What are you talkin’ about?” The man huffed, his eyes growing glossy with fear as he lay like a snake in the trimmed green grass.
“You tried to get me killed at that convenience store… You see, I obtained a copy of the incident and had lots of time to look over it since I’ve been living here in peace and quiet. I saw some video footage of the mornin’ Clarence approached me for a shake down. How interesting that Jacob was there, too… Now, most people don’t know who that fucker is, but I know his car, and part of it was in the damn video frame. What the hell would Jacob be doin’ clear across town?”
He watched the color drain from the man’s face.
“You hired Clarence to kill me. It was perfect, wasn’t it? Finally! A plan you could be proud of. You went and found you a goddamn loser, a flunky who was known to be reckless as hell, to take me out. You’d use my death as a catalyst to start a race riot down there in Alabama… the death of a socialist leader by a black thug, right? It would be all over the damn news! Then, that didn’t work, so what did you do? You banked on me getting fucked up and fucked over in Holman. You told lies, spread rumors, and divided the brethren. They turned on each other, and on me, too. Anyone that rallied in my favor was alienated, beaten or relieved of their duties.
“Things weren’t moving fast enough for your liking, so you kept a lot of shit goin’ in there and blamed it on me. You devised a brand new plan since Clarence ended up on the hurtin’ end of the stick. You hoped Clarence would die so my charges would change from assault to murder. You did all of this from afar; now that, I’ll give you credit for. That was ingenious, Clyde. Problem was, you didn’t bank on me still havin’ so many supporters, even after all the lies you told on me. I still get fan e-mails, you stinkin’ son of a bitch! You underestimated the prison code of conduct, and that has led to your downfall.
“Thanks to some of those inmates you thought would turn on me, they ended up stayin’ in my corner, just pretending to be down with you so they could get the money and run! Don’t nobody wanna play with you, fuck boy! ’Cept for stupid ass Winston and he ’bout as brave as a goddamn half dead jellyfish… Now here you are, in the goddamn lion’s den…I ain’t Cecil, and you ain’t no dumb-witted dentist out on an African safari.”
“Aaron, don’t!”
“You in my neck of the woods… This time, the animal known as Pike wins.” He clicked the gun. “Recite a prayer; it will be the last thing you ever say. Hopefully, my father-in-law will put in a good word for you, ’cause you gonna need a man of God, Jesus, and his disciples, his mama the virgin Mary and the three wise men to get you outta this shit right here!”
“Aaron! Please!” the man blubbered as tears streamed down his face.
“Our Father, who art in heaven… Say it, goddamn it!” Aaron screamed out, his eyes watering with insurmountable anger.
“…Our… our father, who… art in…heaven.” Clyde winced, and kept crying like a baby.
“Hallowed Be Thy name…”
“Hallowed… Aaron, God! Hallowed Be Thy name!”
“Now skip to the part where it says we forgive our trespassers.” He smirked. “It’s good you got God’s love, Clyde… ’cause I don’t forgive my trespasser, no sir! Forgiveness is set aside for people that are remorseful and really do see the error of their ways. Hell.” He chuckled. “I ain’t Mamma Mia. I’m not givin’ you nothing!”
“Aaron, PLEASE man! Come on! I’m beggin’ you!”
“I hope you enjoyed your brief stay in Flatwood, West Virginia. You have reached your final motherfuckin’ destination…”
BAM!
“AHHHHHH!” MIA SCREAMED out when someone rattled and knocked against the closet door, screaming obscenities.
She listened intensely as a fight ensued, and she heard people grunting and bodies bumping about.
“Shit!” someone screamed out, and then, a gun went off.
“Oh my God!” She clasped her hands over her mouth. “Aaron!”
She looked down at her watch. It had been nineteen minutes. She picked up the phone, but before she could dial, she heard him say, “I was almost late. Sorry, honey,” he said calmly. “Keep that door closed and locked…need a couple more minutes. Daddy’s got to take the trash out… I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
Two more gunshots rang out and then, complete silence. Slowly, she rose to her feet and tiptoed to the closet door. Resting both hands against it, she waited for her man to return, to get her, to make all of this madness make sense.
Of one thing, she was certain. She’d survived some sort of war, and her lover, her husband, and the father of her unborn child made sure he was the last one standing, just as he’d promised…
THE MOON WAS creamy white, bright as a fractured comet and swollen as if it had swallowed a million stars. Aaron stood there looking at the fresh piles of dirt – four, to be exact. He jammed his heavy shovel into the freshly turned over soil and leaned on it as he unhurriedly crossed his ankles. The odor of thick, sluggish earthworms crawling about from the recent rain flooded his nostrils. Foghat’s ‘Slow Ride’ played on his tiny, static battery operated radio that he’d placed down beside him in the desolate area. He leisurely took a puff of his cigarette, tapped his dusty combat boot covered foot to the beat then flicked the cigarette a few feet away, its glowing orange light still burning, gasping for its last smoky breath as it landed on moist soil and extinguished itself.
He gathered his weathered, stained thoughts as if they were pieces to a puzzle and came to a decision. His tongue slid across his teeth, real slow. On an exhale, his reached for his phone and dialed the number. The thing rang and rang, until finally, a sleepy voice answered.
“Hi Sarah!” he said merrily, feeling much obliged as he placed his hand upon his hip and gazed up at the universe. “I bet you’re shocked as shit to hear from me, aren’t you, baby?!”
“…What are you… what are you talkin’ about? Do you know what time it is?”
“Yes, I know what time it is… time to take out the trash. All of ’em are dead, okay?” He smiled into the phone as a wave of peace coated him nice and thick like a blanket. “Clyde, Winston, Jacob and some big fucker I don’t even know.”
There was a brief silence, and then a full force eruption like thunder beating against a tin roof.
/> “What have you done?!” she screamed out, her voice shrill. He heard something topple over and break, as if she’d knocked a lamp upon the ground and shattered into a million pieces.
I’ve broken lamps, too…
“What have I done? I’ll tell you what I’ve done, sweetheart. Oh, wait a minute; ‘Night Moves’ by Bob Seger is playin’!” He paused and began snapping his finger, the tune sending him down memory lane. “My sweet Patti used to play this all the time! Anytime I took care of business, that’s what I’ve done, too,” he said matter-of-factly as he continued to bob his head and dance about. “You knew you were sendin’ these guppies into the shark tank, didn’t you, darling? But you were so hell-bent on revenge, bein’ silly and butthurt that you didn’t think this through.”
“Aaron, tell me what you’ve done!”
“Oh, I didn’t do shit. You did this… all of this. You gave that man my address, he brought some friends, so now, their blood is on your hands.”
“I did not give anyone your address!” Her voice trembled.
“Why, sure you did! You were always such a liar. That’s another thing I hated about you. See, I’m an asshole and I own up to that. I’m wild, uncontrollable, enjoy physical confrontations, and maybe you were right, I am a psychopath. I’m insane; that much is true, honey. My wife thinks I’m a good guy. I’m tryin’ but people like you make it so goddamn hard!”
He burst out laughing as he cocked his head back and spit a loogie on one of the bodies loosely wrapped up in thin linens, now stained in blood.
“I’ll do just about anything to make her happy, so I’ll keep tryin’… but all efforts will have to stop at least for tonight. Now look, back on topic. No one is goin’ to ever find them. I’m puttin’ ’em in a special place and sooner rather than later, they’ll be wild boar food. I gotta dig these ditches though; wouldn’t want for a fisherman to see these bastards just lyin’ about out here. This way, the boars will get a whiff, come runnin’, and I get left the hell alone. I’ll come back soon after and cart away the bones. Now, you of all people should know I’m a pro at this.” He cackled.
