Fear Factors

by Peter Sacco

  A large smile filled Dave’s face as Darnel gave him an elbow bash in greeting him. The traditional elbow bash grew from their love of the Oakland Athletics homerun hitters known quite simply as the Bash Brothers. Every time a homerun was hit, they would bash elbows as the hitter touched home plate.

  Before Dave could ask about what was going on at the diner, Darnel pointed out a very pretty, petite redhead standing alongside a shorter, stocky girl. “Take a look at that piece of pie, my man.”

  Beth and Donna were standing on the other side of the diner and could just be seen through the windows. As Darnel pointed in through the windows, a booth of teenage patrons offered him the finger. Dave pressed Darnel’s arm down to save himself from further embarrassment. “Will you cut it out!”

  “Too late, she saw you,” said Darnel.

  Dave’s eyes met Beth’s and immediately his face turned the shade of a juicy tomato. She must have thought it was his finger doing the pointing. “Just great,” he muttered to Darnel.

  Any chance he ever had talking to her was surely ruined by Darnel’s antics. On the contrary, Dave was surprised when she smiled at him when he glanced back over. He definitely knew it was not hip to stare, but you know how it is. You just had to have a look.

  Her smile was pretty, warm and welcoming. Darnel also caught the smile and nudged Dave to smile back. Finally, bashful and modest, Dave forced a smile from the corners of his mouth. Almost immediately, the “go for it” chants started.

  There was no way Dave was going to walk over to her, let alone ask her out for a date. Of course if the other guys had been Dave, they would have been over there in a second. Right! Well, then again, perhaps Tim would have the balls to go over. Darnel, definitely not! And Tom, well Tom was Tom. He would razz only to go with the flow. When it came to girls Tom was an utter coward. Tim had set him up with girls many times, but each time, of course, there was some kind of ball game on television. Dave was fine where he was and he was going to stay put.

  “You don’t have to worry, Davey boy,” cracked Tim, “they’re on their way over.”

  “No way! “ moaned Dave, under his breath.

  Sure enough, the two girls were walking slowly toward them. Darnel looked more concerned than Dave did. Nervously, his hands jumped to his head where they furiously tried to fix what was left of the hair under the cap. Tom grabbed his brother by the arm and they disappeared as the two girls approached. They would be here in less than ten seconds. Dave could feel the sweat accumulating in the palm of his hand. Good thing they were girls and he did not have to shake their hands. It wasn’t hip to shake a girl’s hand. Thank the Lord for that stupid trend. Already, Dave could feel the words fumbling off his tongue and drooling down his body towards his feet.

  “What the heck should I say?” asked Dave.

  “Say anything,” said Darnel with a chuckle.

  Perhaps they would walk right on by. Why in the world would these beautiful girls be interested in them? They were the girls you always watched from afar and fantasized over. Fantasies were not supposed to become reality but dreams became reality as the girls stopped in front of them. They were all silent for a moment. Dave peeked out of the corner of his eyes to observe Darnel was definitely in comatose. It was going to have to be a solo effort until Darnel snapped out of it. Where were his words?

  “Hi, I’m Dave and this is Darnel,” Dave’s voice sounded shaky.

  “I’m Beth, and this is Donna.”

  Donna stood there fidgeting playing with her gum. Absently, she wrapped it around her fingers while half of it was still inside her mouth. The gum thing was quite a turn on for Darnel. He had a nose fixation and she appeared to have an oral fixation. What a pair the two of them would make. She, however, did not appear to be interested in Darnel, or Dave, or the entire situation. Darnel noticed this and tried to get her attention by pulling the gum out of his mouth and mocking her. She turned away but Beth offered Dave a reassuring smile.

  “How’s school going? “Dave was finally able to blurt out.

  “Oh, it’s alright,” answered Beth.

  “It’s there,” snapped Donna.

  “Don’t tell me you don’t like school? “ asked Darnel sarcastically.

  Donna stared at this male specimen who looked like he had just been chucked from a planet inherited by The Three Stooges. Darnel was actually considering leaving, but thought Donna should leave instead.

  “So where are you going to apply for college? “ asked Beth.

  Dave looked at the ground and shrugged his shoulders. “I’d like to go either to Columbia in New York, or Western in Ontario, Canada. They have pretty awesome micro-genetic programs.”

  “You really like science a lot, don’t you, Dave?” asked Beth.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Is that your car?” chuckled Donna, pointing to the jalopy.

  “It’s my father’s,” whispered Dave, somewhat reluctantly.

  “Why don’t you take us for a spin?” teased Donna.

  Darnel gazed at Beth who nodded her approval. Dave was also thinking to himself, Maybe Beth liked him. If so, how long had she liked him?

  She was making the possibility of asking her out seem more and more like a reality. Things appeared to be looking up. But suddenly, the bubble burst. Before the foursome could get into the car, the big man on campus arrived. Dave felt a tap on his right shoulder as he unlocked the passenger door. It was Darnel motioning for Dave to look over his left shoulder.

  “Shit,” Dave moaned.

  Stu Hargrove and some other Neanderthal were heading their way. Stu was not a large boy but was very strong for his age. He had broken and set several high school records in track. He had been one of the best wrestlers to come through any high school system in years. He was also a very handsome, dark skinned young man. He got his dark features and jet-black hair from his mother who was of Greek descent. Whenever he slicked his hair with gel and combed it back, he resembled Elvis in his early years. The girls at the school stopped in their tracks whenever Stu walked by. Beth had actually been his longest relationship, at three months. Unlike most other girls, Beth had been able to tolerate most crap. Stu had treated her better than he had most other girls any way. He had an ego as big as the global sphere at the EPCOT Center in Florida. He was often rude, obnoxious and aggressive.

  Many girls experienced this after a couple of days with Stu and told him to hit the road. He was constantly trying to get into the pants of any good-looking female who would let him. However, for some strange reason, he had been civilized with Beth. It had been the last two weeks when she had suspected he was cheating on her. She heard from good, close sources he had been seen coming out of Sally Jermain’s house at two in the morning one Friday.

  Supposedly, Stu was working that night and could not go out with Beth. Sally’s parents had left for the weekend and she was home alone. She worked at the same restaurant as Stu. They had become too close friends as far as Beth was concerned. One night when she went to pick Stu up from work, she caught them playfully embracing in the parking lot. Stu claimed it was nothing, and Sally had a boyfriend anyway, so not to worry. Sally was a couple of years older than them anyway. What would she want with Stu, a young punk, when she could have older men?

  The job at the restaurant was her career, and she was probably meeting older men all the time given how good looking she was. Beth believed what Stu had told her about the embrace. After all, they were going out so why should he have any reason to fool around. She had not had sex with him yet, but was going to in the very near future. Well, that was until the rumor proved to be true. At first, Beth was skeptical. She was no longer skeptical after she saw Sally drop Stu off in the school parking lot one afternoon before last class and give him a prolonged kiss on the old smacker.

  Beth was supposed to be at her co-operative plac
ement that afternoon. Stu figured the last place she would be is sitting in a car in the school parking lot smoking a joint. Beth had never tried dope, and she never hung out in the school parking lot. Moreover, she was supposed to be on the other side of town. Beth catapulted from the car and walked over to Stu as he headed toward the school. As Stu turned around to respond to her cussing, Beth caught him square between the legs with a front kick, something she had learned in karate. As he lay on the ground writhing in pain, Beth made her less-than-pleasant good-byes. This had been three weeks ago. Stu had been trying to get her back ever since. He would leave notes on her locker. Wait outside all of her classes. He even had a singing telegram sent to one of her classes. None of his antics worked. Her father was getting fed up with the endless phone calls at all hours of the night. Stu was checking up on her wherever she went. She was beginning to despise him more than ever. And here he was checking up on her as she was about to get into Dave’s car.

  “He’s coming to pound you,” Dave whispered to Darnel.

  The last thing Dave was prepared for was a fight. He had never been in one his entire life and didn’t want to get into one with this overgrown pit-bull. Dave was neither lover nor fighter. At this moment, it would be quite all right with him if Beth decided to make amends with Stu. Darnel shared the same sentiment given the look of despair on his face as he sized up the big kid standing next to Stu.

  “Someone’s about to get eaten alive,” whispered Darnel. “What the hell are they feeding that guy?”

  “And that someone is probably me,” moaned Dave.

  Every college and university was trying to recruit Stu for their wrestling teams. Stu was going to be able to pick from the cream of the crop of schools to continue his post-secondary education for free. Like Stu, Dave was also going to be able to have his pick, given his more than impressive grades. The two of them actually had more in common than just their infatuation for Beth. Dave had never exchanged words with Stu on a mutual level. Dave had heard Stu call him dweeb and geek behind his back and to his face. That was as mutual as the two had ever been. And now they would talk again.

  “Well, well, what have we here? Is this the newest chapter of the gearbox club?” chuckled Stu.

  “Why don’t you piss off, asshole?” snapped Donna.

  “Don’t even bother with him, Donna,” sighed Beth. “He’s a grade “A” asshole.”

  Stu wrinkled his face and snarled at Beth. “Surely you can do better than that, Beth. What about skuzzy, two-timing, low life, louse of a cheat?” grunted Stu.

  “Yeah, that just about sums it up,” answered Beth

  “Hey, I made a mistake, but I’m man enough to face it,” Stu barked.

  “Well why don’t you make it right and get the hell out of here Stu?” Beth snapped.

  “I just wanted to say hi and apologize again for my immaturity,” Stu smiled.

  “How many times is that today? Twenty?” snapped Donna.

  “Is this your new stud?” mocked Stu, as he pointed at Dave.

  Beth didn’t answer him. Dave remained silent.

  “Is that your new boyfriend?” quipped Darnel, as he pointed to Stu’s pal.

  Stu and his buddy laughed. “That’s a good one, nose digger,” Stu chuckled sarcastically.” How about I make your beak a little bigger for picking?”

  Dave lifted his hands, palms outward. “Come on, Stu, we don’t want any trouble. We were just going to go to the mall.”

  “To the mall. The four of you were going to the mall? How quaint,” Stu mocked. “A shopping getaway for ladies only!”

  “Let’s just get out of here, Dave. He’s just an asshole with nothing better to do with his time than make other people’s lives miserable,” Beth snorted, in a thoroughly disgusted voice.

  Stu realized they were going to leave and Dave was not going to say or do anything to protect the integrity of Beth, or himself, as Stu had expected. “You take good care of her now, you hear me, Geek. Remember to keep your car doors locked at the mall. The bloody butcher is still at large.”

  As with most generations of teenagers, the monster tales had not been absent during this group’s teenage years. During the last year or so, the old bloody butcher tale had resurfaced. The story had changed from generation to generation, but the theme remained the same.

  A young housewife, Barb, supposedly went shopping at the mall one day. As she walked back to her car she noticed a movement inside it. As she drew closer, she saw an elderly lady sitting in the back seat. She appeared to be very sickly and frail-looking, a walking cane lying next to her on the seat. The window to the back seat had been cracked slightly.

  “What are you doing sitting in my car?” asked Barb, unsure whether to be afraid or compassionate.

  “I’m feeling a little fatigued from the sun’s heat and wondered if you would be kind enough to drive me home?” replied the old woman, a faint smile in her weary eyes.

  Barb, feeling something wasn’t right, said she would offer the old woman a ride but first she had to return to the mall because she had forgotten something. “I’ll be back in a moment. I forgot my in hat in one of the stores,” smiled the housewife, as she briskly walked away from the car.

  Barb felt sorry the old woman had to wait but there was something about the woman which frightened her. Better to be safe than sorry. She would get the cabby parked in front of the mall and pay him to take the lady wherever she needed to go. Barb returned to her car with the cabby slowly following.

  As she approached the car, Barb noticed that the old lady was no longer in the back seat. When she peered into the window to see if the woman was lying down, goose bumps began to swell. On the back seat of the car was the cane and, next to it, was the old lady’s shawl, an ax and rubber mask prominently displayed there.

  The psychopath was known as The Bloody Butcher. He had struck again, this time unsuccessfully. When local papers and police departments had been asked about The Bloody Butcher, they always claimed ignorance to the mentioned episodes. As far as they knew, there had been no reports of any psychopath dressed as an old lady waiting in the back seats of vacant cars. Anything to amuse little minds, the police would joke. They had enough things to worry about rather than chasing after some phantom. And now, as is the pattern with urban legends, the pathetic tale of the bloody butcher had resurfaced in Mapletown.

  As a project for a modern history course Dave had taken the previous year, he and Darnel conducted a research project into the tale of The Bloody Butcher. Dave and Darnel went to all of the nearest libraries and found books dealing with the topics of legends of the macabre. Darnel truly believed The Butcher was more truth than fiction. Dave reluctantly went along with the quest. For the projects the students had selected were supposed to be as original and creative as possible. And theirs was.

  They found very little evidence or information on the exploits of The Butcher. There were a couple of books which mentioned the legend as an old wives’ tale. They found a piece of microfiche containing a detailed story of how some woman had been butchered to death by someone who had left ax and wig in the back seat of her car. This had taken place at a mall somewhere in the city of Montreal only four years ago. A second newspaper article also discussed a similar event occurring at a mall in Rochester, New York. They found nothing else given their limited resources. With the little information they had, they used other real life stories and tales of serial killers to compensate. The topic was definitely something Dave had never imagined researching, however the search for clues made it somewhat exciting.

  Dave remembered how his father cringed at the thought of himself partaking in such a project. Dave’s father held a very prominent quality control position with a local winery. He was constantly on the road doing business in other cities. Dave had drilled his father with questions surrounding the events in the hope that his father mig
ht remember reading it in the paper, or seeing it on the local news. Like many other fathers, Dave’s dad, Jim, was an avid news junkie. He could not go twelve hours without having to know what was going on in the world around him. Jim brushed his questions off regarding The Bloody Butcher, and told Dave he should be researching other more pertinent topics which would enhance his knowledge base for college.

  “What the heck are they teaching you kids. I’ve got a good notion to go to your school and give your teacher a piece of my mind.”

  Dave was worried his father may actually go in and ream Mr. Nelson out. Mr. Nelson had been one of his favorite teachers and he did not want his father to embarrass him. As it turned out, his father’s extensive travel kept him from seeing Mr. Nelson. The project only lasted two weeks, and by the time his father returned, all was forgotten.

  ***

  The trip to the mall was better than Dave had expected. The four of them were silent as Dave drove. It had been Dave’s idea and he did not even ask the others if they wanted to go or not. Telling Stu they were going to the mall had been all he could think of. Nobody had objected. Dave, not to mention Darnel, was quite surprised to see that Donna was actually getting along with Darnel. Darnel gained the respect of Donna when he stood up to Stu. Anyone who hated that asshole, and had the nerve to tell him, couldn’t be that bad after all. The two of them actually took off together to the arcade to see who was really better at air-hockey.

  As for Dave and Beth, they did quite alright together. Beth bought each of them a milkshake and they sat in the food court and chatted. Beth felt really bad for the way she and Stu carried on in front of Dave and how he had to be dragged into the situation.

  “I’m sorry he bothered you like that,” she said.