Collapse (New America)

by Richard Stephenson

  “You’re home!”

  He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “Yes, dear, I’m home.”

  She smiled at him.

  “I tried contacting you last night to let you know I would be home early. Where were you?”

  “Busy.”

  “Doing what?”

  “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re home.” She sat up and hugged him, kissing his cheek and giggling, much like their daughter, in perfect glee.

  Richard relented. He always made it a point to avoid arguing with his wife when he had been away for a long time. She deserved better.

  The rest of the morning and afternoon were filled with playtime with the kids. Monique loved to watch her husband play with their children; she was so proud to have a loving husband, who was also a devoted father. The family went out to a restaurant that night. Richard couldn’t have been happier, that is, until Monique’s smartphone rang.

  “Hey, now isn’t a good time. … I can’t talk right now, let me call you back. …… Ok, ok, give me a minute.”

  Monique excused herself and disappeared to the other side of the restaurant. A few minutes later she returned and sat down like nothing had happened.

  Richard tried not to show his frustration in front of his kids. “Who was that?”

  Monique smiled and waved her hand away, dismissing his question. “Oh, it was nobody.” She turned her attention to the kids so that Richard would not ask again.

  The family returned home and went to bed after a very tiring and eventful day. Once his wife was asleep, Richard grabbed her cellphone and went into the bathroom. He looked at the call history, determined to know who had interrupted their dinner.

  It was Bryan.

  Richard spent the next thirty minutes reviewing every detail of his wife’s communication with this asshole named Bryan. They called each other every single day during Richard’s last deployment. Richard matched up the dates to all of his deployments from the previous year to discover that Bryan only called when Richard was not stateside. The phone calls were frequent and many lasted for hours. Growing angrier with each passing minute, Richard moved on to his wife’s text messages. If he had any doubts, the texts messages from Bryan erased them completely.

  Hey girl, call me.

  I just want u to know that u r my closest friend and I’m thankful u r always there for me.

  U coming over tnght?

  When r u getting here?

  Make sure u put on the dress Monica gave u.

  Stop freakin out no 1 is going to find out!

  OMG! u r soooo bad! Stop it before Daddy gets the belt! LOL

  Did u make it home yet?

  Had a lot of fun tnght. Call me when u get home.

  I know u felt gulity about last night. I’m sorry. Call me.

  Richard couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t need to read any further; the last text sealed the deal. He knew his marriage was over. Instead of letting himself break down and cry, he instead turned his sadness into rage. At first he focused his anger on himself for marrying that cheating bitch in the first place. He had made the right choice when he joined the Navy. Breaking up with her had been the right thing to do; he couldn’t believe he was stupid enough to marry her.

  In his fury he had completely forgotten about his wife’s lover. Rage poured over him like hot lava. He knew that he needed to stay in the bathroom and not come out or he would do serious harm to the mother of his children. Instead, he took deep breaths and focused his mind like the top-notch Navy SEAL he had spent his life training to become. He thought about his next move.

  He was going to kill that mother fucker.

  Richard had no intentions of ending his stellar military career or going to prison. He would bide his time and plan the death of his wife’s lover, even if it took a very long time to accomplish. Richard was certain he could get away with the crime; he had made a career out of slipping into hostile territory to murder the enemy and get out undetected. Accidents happened all the time. People died of mysterious illnesses; some people even vanished into thin air never to be heard from again. The possibilities were endless. Richard knew he would not be satisfied until he could see the life fade from the man’s eyes. He wanted the piece of shit to know why he was dying.

  The first step of his plan was to meet this guy and enthusiastically shake his hand, thanking him for keeping his wife company while he was gone. He did not want the asshole or his wife to have any indication that he knew about their secret love affair. The next step would be to meet Julia, his wife’s friend and supposed love interest of Bryan’s. He knew the bitch would lie and cover for his wife, but he was confident that he would be able to catch her in the falsehood. He thought about Monique dropping his children off with his Aunt Martha and running off to cheat on him. He knew it wasn’t going to take long to figure out exactly where they had gone.

  Richard was satisfied that he had made the right decision to be patient and not do anything rash. He slipped back into bed and tried to go back to sleep. He had to get up early to take his family to church.

  In the morning, the family loaded up the car and began the thirty-five minute drive to the Winchester Street Baptist Church. Richard had on his Class A uniform as he always did on his rare visits to the church. He found a seat for himself amongst the crowd of five hundred. Monique was singing in the choir, and his children were at Children’s Worship on the other side of the campus. Richard was one of a handful of white faces in a sea of black ones. The fact had never once bothered him; he always felt welcome in the congregation. Richard had always wanted to fly his parents out to go to church with him. He would have a blast watching his father try to swallow his racism. Hell, the old man would probably choke on it before he took his seat.

  When the congregation finished singing, the pastor took the podium and the choir quietly dispersed into two hallways. Each hallway would take them around to the back of the sanctuary so they could take their seats with the least amount of disturbance to the congregation. Richard tried to pretend that he was paying attention the sermon. After a few minutes had passed and most of the choir was seated, he shifted in his seat, checking to see if Monique had made it into the sanctuary after a quick pit stop to check on the kids. Richard sat uncomfortably in his seat for ten minutes and pulled out his smartphone to text his wife.

  “Where are you?”

  A full ten minutes elapsed before she replied.

  “Flo is here and I’m cramping real bad, went home.”

  Richard searched his memory to the night before; he was certain he had not seen any tampons or other tell-tale signs in the trash can. He could not recall seeing the usual boxes of feminine products near the sink as his wife had always left them when it was her time of the month. He thought as hard as he could about what exactly happened during the menstrual cycle and like most men, really had no idea. All he knew was cramping and bleeding were involved and it lasted for five days. Or was it seven?

  Plus, Monique had never just left him and the kids at church unless it was something they had discussed in advance. It was obvious - his wife was lying to him while he was in the presence of the Lord Almighty.

  Did the woman have no shame at all? She couldn’t wait a few weeks for him to leave the country before she started things back up with Bryan? The night before he installed a GPS app on her smartphone and deleted the shortcut from the home screen. It would track her whereabouts anywhere on the planet as long as she didn’t turn it off. He pulled up the app, certain that his wife was not home and he was right. The trusty GPS indicated that she was less than two miles from the church.

  Now he had Bryan’s address.

  He decided to trip her up and texted her.

  “Poor thing, you need me to come home?”

  The reply was practically instantaneous.

  “No, I’m fine. Take the kids to your aunt’s house for the day. I can’t deal with them today and Martha rea
lly wants to see you.”

  Richard’s Aunt Martha was a thirty-minute drive from his house, a full forty-five minutes from where he sat at the moment. He replied.

  “OK.”

  Richard took control of his anger so he could think clearly. He wanted to do some surveillance and relished the opportunity to get his plan underway immediately. The good pastor was known for his very long sermons, so Richard had plenty of time to slip out, drive to the man’s house and check out the situation. He was already thinking about pulling a detailed report on Bryan. He would be back in plenty of time to pick up the kids.

  Richard exited the sanctuary, exchanging smiles with a few of the faithful on the way. He had no idea who they were but they clearly knew him. Once he was in the foyer, he stopped and thought for a minute. He realized that he needed to make sure the kids were attended to in case he needed extra time and couldn’t make it back to pick them up.

  On his way to Children’s Worship, he knew he had to come up with a reasonable excuse and decided that his wife had already come up with a lie he could use. He was going to tell them that his wife was not feeling well, and he needed to take her home. He was also going to add that his wife really didn’t want the kids to miss church on her account and that he might be late making it back to pick them up.

  He made it to the Activities Building and walked in the back, looking for his kids. He scanned the crowd of singing children and began to worry. Seeing the look of panic on his face, a kind old woman suddenly perked up her head and walked over to Richard.

  “Hello, dear, are you looking for your angels?” She smiled and placed her hands in his.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Richard returned the smile.

  “Yes, dear. Things were getting too crowded in here so Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson took some of the younger ones to the nursery to play.”

  “Thank you so much.” Richard smiled and turned to walk out.

  “Is everything alright, dear?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I returned from overseas yesterday, and I just have to see them.”

  “Oh that’s just wonderful dear. They are so precious at this age.”

  “Yes, ma’am. They sure are.” Richard took a step back towards the door.

  “Are you going to stay for the potluck, dear?”

  “That sounds great, we just might do that,” Richard lied, trying desperately to leave.

  “Look forward to seeing you and your lovely wife; she has the most beautiful voice, and I just think the world of her!”

  You wouldn’t if you knew what an adulterous whore she is, thought Richard. The woman finally let Richard leave and once he was in the hallway, he couldn’t remember how to get to the nursery. He could have asked the old woman, but she would have delayed him further, and he was losing time he didn’t have. Richard scanned the hallways and looked for a sign to lead him. Once he finally figured out where he was going, he walked as fast as he could without drawing attention should someone see him.

  Once he arrived at the nursery he reached to open the door to discover that it was locked. Why the hell is the door locked? He knew he was in the right place because he could hear the children playing on the other side of the door. He knocked and waited. After a few seconds he heard a click and the door cracked half an inch. He stood back expecting the door to open towards him. It did not. He opened the door and walked into the most confusing thing he had ever witnessed in his life. His mind took several seconds to process what he was seeing and once he was able to understand what was happening, he froze.

  All of the children were stark naked.

  Thirteen children, ranging in age from two to eight were in the room naked as the day they were born. The children not yet old enough to know shame were running around the room giggling, free from the burden of clothing.

  One of those children was his daughter.

  Richard knew the trouble his wife had putting clothes on their little girl when she was dried off from her bath. She often slipped out the towel her mother wrapped around her and ran around the house laughing as her mother chased her down to put her into her pajamas.

  When his daughter saw him standing in the doorway, she squealed and ran over to him.

  “Daaaaaaadddddyyy!”

  On the other side of the room, Oswald Jefferson opened his eyes and looked at Richard in pure terror. He had been sitting as close to the table as he could, his right arm pumping up and down, his head kicked back and his eyes closed tightly.

  Richard’s adorable girl stood at his feet. She looked up at his face and beamed a smile. Her face looked like a tan porcelain doll. Her mousy little voice practically made Richard cry. “Daddy! We showin Gawd we not shamed our bodies! It’s fun!” Richard’s second born returned to the middle of the room and resumed playing.

  Richard had no idea what to do. Tears streamed down his face. He didn’t know if he should grab his children and run down the hall screaming his head off like the devil was chasing him or let his mind snap so insanity could rescue him from this nightmare. He looked at his innocent toddler playing in the room and realized that she had no idea anything inappropriate was happening. She could live the rest of her life and probably not remember this day. It was then that Richard remembered his six-year-old son was also in the room.

  Richard scanned the room to find his son and two other boys standing in the corner, cupping their genitals and crying. Richard would find out later from his lawyer that the three boys had tried to cover themselves with toys or books and Oswald spanked them for being ashamed of their bodies. The pedophile also told the boys that if they told anyone about their special worship, they and their families would burn in hell for all eternity.

  Richard was shaking to the point of collapse; the blood racing to his head caused it to beat like a drum. The man sitting at the table might have lived had he not opened his mouth.

  “Now, now, now…uh...Mister, you just hold on now a minute! Everything is just fine! You hear me? Just fine! I swear things are just fine! This is not what you think, you just don’t understand. Just let me explain! PLEASE!!”

  Richard let out an awful moan that began as a cry and slowly escalated into a dull roar.

  Seeing the statuesque, chiseled jawed soldier glaring at him, fists balled into rocks, Oswald knew his life was about to end. “Stop now! STOP!! PLEASE!!! Look here now, just listen! I swear I never laid one hand on them, and they didn’t see me do anything down there,” the monster nodded towards his crotch.

  Richard’s son looked to his father with complete and total shame; the look on his face would forever curse Richard Dupree’s slumber until the day he died. His son spoke to him through sobs and said the last thing Richard would be able to remember until moments later when he was covered in blood with two broken hands.

  His naked son was standing in front of him, tears drenching his face, snot running down his chin. “Daddy, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry you and Mommy are going to hell. Please don’t be mad at me, please Daddy, please!”

  Richard let out a scream that petrified the children and could be heard by the congregation on the other side of the campus. He then leapt across the room, knocking down chairs along the way. He grabbed the table with both hands and flung it into the wall, smashing it into tinder. The terrified children ran from the room; however, Richard’s son and the two other boys were trapped behind the broken table.

  With one hand, Richard seized the frail sixty-one year old’s throat and lifted him up onto the wall, his heels kicking three inches off the floor. With his other hand, he grabbed the man’s erection and scrotum into a vice grip, simultaneously pushing up on the man’s wind pipe and pulling down with his other arm. The muscles and ligaments in the man’s groin snapped as his scrotum ruptured, causing him to cry out in anguish. Richard threw him into the adjacent wall and watched as Oswald Jefferson crumpled to the floor, his neck broken. Unaware that the pedophile was dead, Richard attacked his prone body, savagely pounding his face wi
th both fists.

  Members of the Winchester Street Baptist Church began to pour into the room. A deacon would later testify in court that he could hear the bones in Richard’s hands break as he repeatedly pummeled the corpse’s face. It took six men to tear Richard away from the mangled corpse on the floor. Richard broke the first man’s wrist, the second’s arm. The remaining four were able to trap Richard under a dog pile, covering themselves in Oswald’s blood in the process. Completely unaware of what had sparked the chaos, Sheriff Robert Jefferies ran from the sanctuary and drew his weapon on Richard while tossing a set of cuffs to one of the men atop the pile.

  Master Chief Petty Officer Richard Dupree, United States Navy, could no longer call himself a Navy SEAL. His military career ended that day in disgrace.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Chief Maxwell Harris sat at his desk, worried about the task at hand. In twenty-four hours Hurricane Maxine would make landfall near the eastern end of Galveston Island. Maxine was a beast. She was a powerful category five and was only gaining strength and speed. The destruction to Max's little town was going to be complete. Over three-quarters of the structures in the town would take in at least ten feet of water. The remainder of the town would be subject to very high winds and torrential rain. Max could hardly imagine the damage that would be done to the city of Houston, but that was not his concern. He needed to focus on what was important - saving the lives of the people in Santa Fe, Texas.