Fear Factors

by Peter Sacco

“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t stand up to him,” he replied.

  “It’s better you didn’t. Why stoop to his mentality?”

  “I’ll agree to that,” replied Dave.

  They chatted about everything from school to family.

  “I saw you in Macbeth two weeks ago,” Beth smiled. She had always been a keen fan of Shakespeare.

  “As I watched the play, I felt your passion. It was so sexy,” she grinned.

  Dave was speechless. His blush said it all for him.

  “Here you’ve been all along, a great guy, and I’ve been chasing after losers like Stu.”

  Dave modestly nodded and blushed a deeper shade of red. Donna and Darnel returned. Donna had to get home for supper and Beth agreed she should also be getting home. As they left the mall, the beautiful, soft blue skies had clouded over and rain poured down. Being the chivalrous guy he was, Dave said he would run and get the car. There was no sense in all of them getting wet. Dave got no argument from Darnel, who was more than happy to let Dave get wet. Beth said she would go with him, but Dave softly kissed her cheek and ran for the car. The three of them waited for Dave to return.

  As Dave approached the car, he noticed the windows were down. The rain had really started to teem down on the pavement. Dave ran to the driver’s door which he left unlocked, throwing open the door, almost hitting the car parked beside him. He slammed the door closed and quickly popped the key into the ignition pressing the power buttons to put the windows up, as the cold air from the air conditioner blew against his wet skin sending chills throughout his body. When the windows were finally up, Dave dropped his head back against the seat and tried to catch his breath.

  He closed his eyes for a moment hoping the throbbing in his temples would subside, then collected a deep breath and opened his eyes. Something moved a subtle motion in the gloom from the back seat. “What the heck?” Dave squinted in the half-light, leaning toward the mirror when something jolted his seat from the back.

  Alarmed, Dave whirled in his seat as an arm encircled his neck – a powerful arm, jerking him backward. Only then did he see the reflection clearly. A grotesque shape behind him, in one hand, an ax. Dave shrieked in horror! He could not scream. The hold around his neck was too tight.

  He was now halfway over the seat as his head hit the roof of the car. In no time, he knew he would be on the back seat of the car with that ax in his skull.

  He tried fighting his assailant. He still could not scream. Dave had never been more scared in his entire life. He thought he was going to die. He could feel a moist warmth seeping throughout his underwear and pants. It was creeping up into the base of his tucked in shirt as he was being forced into the back seat. Then all of a sudden the grasp around his neck loosened and he fell onto the floor of the back seat. He landed sideways on the legs of his assailant. Whoever had been choking him began gasping for air, gagging. Dave was beginning to become more cognizant. He heard the back door of the car being flung open and the assailant trying to get out. Dave could feel the rain splashing off his face as it blew into the car. As he tried to struggle out of the floor, his hand grasped a wooden handle. It was the ax!

  Dave quickly grasped the handle tightly as he climbed onto the seat. It felt very light. As he dragged his wet rear end up onto the seat, he stared at the ax. He sighed to himself as he touched the rubber blade. Tears of relief and fear crept out of the corner of his eyes. The excrement in his drawers began to seep down his legs like slime. Stu stood outside the car wiping the sweat away from his face. He held the hideous old man’s rubber face mask in his other hand.

  “Man you’re rotten, Emerson!” coughed Stu. “I didn’t think you would shit your pants!”

  Darnel, Donna and Beth ran to the car. They had come to see what had taken Dave so long. They saw Stu standing at the back of the car. The rain was beginning to diminish. Still somewhat in a state of shock, Dave sat motionless in the back seat of the car. Darnel tried to get his attention, but Dave would not look. Stu ridiculed Dave and told them about how he crapped himself. Beth and Donna thought it was cruel, but couldn’t resist chuckling. Donna began laughing with Stu.

  “Are you all right Dave?” Beth asked, concerned.

  Dave did not answer. He began to weep, still in shock.

  “It was only a joke, Dave. It was only that asshole Stu,” Beth said sarcastically.

  Dave sat motionless. He wanted to go home. Darnel looked at Donna who stood there laughing. He closed the back seat of the car and went around to the driver’s door.

  “Where are you going?” asked Beth.

  “I’m taking him home!”

  “What about us?” asked Donna.

  “Get a ride with your boyfriend.”

  Darnel started the car and the tires squealed on the wet pavement as he skidded away. Darnel drove Dave home. Dave felt better during the ride home and became composed. Darnel only lived two blocks over and walked home. Dave’s mother had just arrived home from work as he came out of the shower. His hands were still shaking. She noticed her son did not look well.

  “Are you all right, David?” asked Marge Emerson.

  Marge was a very pretty, thin lady with chestnut dyed hair. She worked as a receptionist for the Unemployment Center.

  “I’m fine, mom, I’ve just had a bad day.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.”

  Dave disappeared into his bedroom to get changed. He could hear his mother’s voice coming closer to his closed bedroom door.

  “Do you want to come for dinner with your father and I?”

  “What?”

  “Your father and I are going out for Chinese food as soon as he gets home. You’re welcome to join us.”

  Because his father was on the road most of the time, his mother had grown very accustomed to restaurants and take-out.

  “Where is he?” asked David.

  “He went to the mall to pick up a retirement gift for one of the guys from work.”

  The very mention of the mall made Dave cringe.

  “The mall in Mapletown?”

  “Yes, the mall in Mapletown,” she answered, the shadow of a chuckle in her voice.

  Dave thought it was a good thing his father hadn’t seen the episode or he would have surely skinned Stu alive. Dave’s father had served in the Navy before he married Marge and was a take-no-bullshit type guy. His father had been granted a pension from the government when a faulty gun he was loading misfired and the kick back caused minor head injuries.

  Dave decided he would join his parents for dinner. The time out with them would do him good. It would be nice to socialize with mature human beings. As far as he was concerned, he wanted nothing more to do with Beth and her group of friends. When his father finally arrived, he told them the mall was busy, and he had a heck of a time finding a gift. Dave did not recall the mall being that busy, but he dared not correct his father. His father would have surely asked him how he knew it was not busy and would mean that Dave would have to lie about what went on. Dave hated to lie to his parents, so he thought it best to keep his mouth shut. He figured his father was probably late because he spent his usual hour in the book store reading books. It had always been cheaper to browse through the book from cover to cover and get the gist of it rather than buying the damn thing.

  They were about to head out the door when Marge noticed what appeared to be red stains on her husband’s off-white shirt and beige slacks. He tried to pull away, but couldn’t. She had seen them. “Dear, what are those stains? It almost looks like... ketchup.”

  Jim’s face turned red. He did not answer her. Dave watched somewhat intrigued. “I know what those stains are, dear. And I know why you were late. What did the doctor warn you about? Your cholesterol. You’ve been eating those greasy fries again, haven’t you? S
neaking them behind my back. Shame on you!”

  Dave’s father blushed appearing embarrassed. “I better go and change my clothes,” he said kissing her on the cheek. “I promise it won’t happen again.”

  “Boy, I’ve got two sons instead of one. No wonder the two of you are never hungry for my cooking. You’re always picking up junk food.”

  Jim winked at his son before he disappeared upstairs. They went to dinner and had a good time. Dave felt very comfortable and content the day had been put behind them. When he went to school on Monday he would ignore the whole lot of them, as surely there would be rumors circulating about him. He would spend more time with his teachers, whom he really enjoyed the most, and hang out with the boys. He could not wait to get out of school, away from those people and on to university.

  The weekend got even better. After dinner, his father told him he was going to New York City the next day on business and that Marge and he could come along. Dave would have the opportunity to see Columbia in person. He was delighted with the opportunity to go and they made a weekend escapade of it in New York.

  ***

  Dave arrived at school late Monday morning. They had arrived back from New York late. Dave slept through his alarm and sauntered into the school around ten-fifteen. He had always made it a point to arrive at school by eight-thirty to do homework and study for tests during his first class. He had fifteen minutes to spare before the start of his next class.

  He was as ready as he would ever be to face the music. His first class of the day was English literature. Classes were still in, and the halls were empty. He saw Mr. Nelson as he passed one of the classrooms. Mr. Nelson gave him the thumbs up as he always did. Dave had always been one of his favorites.

  Dave walked into the vacated English literature classroom. There was no first period class in that room. Dave sat down and placed his head down on his folded arms. Soon the class would be filled with the chattering and snippets of gossip. They would all talk about how Stu Hargrove had made him shit his pants. Dave figured on hearing the word “shit, “ and all of its synonymous word relatives, along with the name Stu Hargrove, a million times from now until the end of the school year. Dave was right, Stu Hargrove were the first words out of Darnel’s mouth as he climbed into the seat beside him. Dave also noticed how others entering the class appeared somber.

  “What do you think about Stu?” asked Darnel.

  “You know what I think. He’s an asshole who deserves something bad,” snapped Dave.

  Darnel stared at his friend silently for a moment then shook his head. “You don’t know what happened, do you?”

  “Know what happened? He made me look like a fool,” Dave muttered.

  “He’s dead, Dave.”

  Those words splashed through Dave’s ears like a heavy rock dropped into water.

  “Did you say, ‘Stu is dead’?”

  “Not just dead, but chopped up like kindling,” Darnel swallowed.

  “What?”

  “They found him in the parking lot of the mall later that night.”

  “On Friday?”

  “Yeah. He was hacked to death with an ax.”

  “An ax?”

  “Yes,” exhaled Darnel, “it was lying on the back seat of his car.”

  Dave shook his head in disbelief. Darnel had to be pulling his leg. That’s it, it all had to be a continuation of the joke they were playing on him.

  “Yeah, right,” Dave chuckled unbelieving.

  Darnel shook his head and started to speak but Dave interrupted with a relieved chuckle. “I’m not going to buy into this one, bud,” grinned Dave.

  Mrs. Ginty, the English literature teacher slowly walked into the class and grimly placed her school bag on the desk. Her creamy white complexion was paler than normal. Her eyes also were red as if she had been crying. The class was silent. Dave honestly believed Darnel was pulling his leg and turned his attention to the teacher as she cleared her throat and tried to speak. Her words were measured and heavy with feeling.

  “Class, I’m sure you are all aware of the tragedy which occurred over the weekend. Stu Hargrove was a very good student and a very good friend who we are all going to miss. The school has set up room 207 to be used for anyone who needs counseling as we have three trained counselors and a pastor in today for anyone who needs to see them. I know this is a tough time for all but we have to be strong and get through this. None of us are up to the usual lecture this morning so you are free to read, work on the next chapter or do whatever you need to do. I will sit here and grade your essays and if you need me...” her words died softly.

  Several of the students, almost half, left the room. Darnel proceeded to fill in all the details in a loud whisper. No one really paid any attention to either of them. Darnel told Dave how the police had questioned him and the two girls the evening of the murder. He told Dave the police would probably talk to him also.

  Darnel was correct. The police did question Dave that afternoon, seeing if he could possibly provide them with any useful information. He could not. The police asked Dave where he was the night of Stu’s death and where he had been that weekend. For a brief moment, he thought he might actually be a suspect in Stu’s death but the police told Dave he was not a suspect, and his friends vouched for his whereabouts prior to the murder. The police also believed the killer had to be quite large and strong. Stu was very strong and very quick and whoever did what they did to him had to have been stronger. Dave was anything but that. If Dave had ever taken an ax to anyone, they would turn around and use it on him.

  Dave felt a little guilty Stu had been murdered. There was also a part of him really felt he had gotten what he deserved. Naturally he did not tell anyone he felt that way. Life would go on and so would he. Later that afternoon he saw Beth, who was quite shaken over what had happened. They talked for a bit and he told her he was sorry. Beth told Dave she would be attending the funeral as most of the school would be the next morning. Beth had also apologized to Dave for what had happened and for laughing at him. He thought what had happened to him paled in comparison.

  “Would you like me to accompany you to the funeral?” he asked her.

  “That would be nice. I know you did not think much of him, and I don’t blame you,” she answered. “I think you’re a great guy.”

  The shock of the murder did not really sink in until he read the newspaper. There it was in big bold headings:

  THE BLOODY BUTCHER COMES TO TOWN!

  How dehumanizing he thought they should use this as a headline. Dave read the paper repeatedly. He felt like a ghoul dwelling on every little detail. He had seen Stu just a few days ago and now he was dead. “Life really sucks,” he mumbled to himself.

  Dave’s father was due to return from a two-day trip and his mother was out with several other women helping out with the arrangements following the funeral. Dave wondered if his mother would still be so kind if she knew what Stu had done to her son. It was wrong to think that way. The boy had been murdered and Dave should be feeling at least some remorse. The funeral was tomorrow morning at ten and there would be a lot of devastated people.

  He found his navy blue suit in the closet, along with a starched white shirt. He looked around for an already tied tie, but could not find one. Dave had never learned to tie a tie and had always relied on his father or Darnel to tie them for him. He was just too damn lazy to learn.

  He knew his father had some old clip-on ties hanging around in his clothing closet in the garage. Whenever his father grew out of clothing, or it was out of style, he would discard it in the large closet he built over top of the garage. His father had put a little weight on recently, and Dave was sure to find fresh clothing that had been recently discarded.

  The closet reeked of mothballs. All of his father’s old Navy memorabilia was tucked away inside the closet. The
re was also a couple dozen old pairs of shoes which served as residences for the local spider population. Marge never went into the closet; wouldn’t even consider going near that mess. Her husband had made it perfectly clear that the closet was his alone and he could do whatever he darn well wished to do with it. Dave’s search for the clip-on was draining. He spent almost a half hour rooting through the closet before stopping to rest. An old paper bag fell from atop somewhere and hit him on the head. He caught it and was about to toss it back up, when he decided to have a look to see what was inside. Perhaps his father had put some ties inside the bag. He squeezed the bag and it felt soft, like ties.

  Dave poked his hand into the bag but withdrew it quickly. Whatever was inside was rubbery and gooey. Grimacing, Dave reached in once more and withdrew the object. It was a rubber mask; the same rubber mask Stu had been wearing Friday afternoon. But it couldn’t be! What in the world was it doing in his father’s closet? There was something inside the mask. Dave felt around and pulled out folded newspaper clippings. He read them silently as fear crept through his body.

  These were the actual newspaper clippings he had read on microfiche when he did the research on The Bloody Butcher. His father had the actual articles. How? Dave’s fingers touched something the size of a peach pit wrapped in one of the clippings. Dave unwrapped the paper and stared at the school pin in his hand. He swallowed in horror. It was a Mapletown High School wrestling pin. The name Stuart Hargrove was inscribed on the inside of the gold pin. Dave couldn’t believe it. The Bloody Butcher was real! And it was his father.

  Suddenly, terror paralyzed his entire body as he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He was afraid to turn around. He knew who he would see. After a few moments, the hand was removed. Dave collected his breath and let out an enormous sigh. Slowly, he turned, raised his eyes, and scanned the figure standing in front of him. He recognized the shoes, the pants, the sweatshirt, and now the face.

  His father’s face was blank. It reminded him of a figure in a wax museum. His father pursed his lips to speak but nothing came out. Dave had to say something, but what? Without even realizing his lips were moving, he whispered hoarsely, “Why?”