Bruce confronted Max once at school. “So how do you like having my leftovers?”
Max didn’t back down. “I don’t have to steal what’s offered freely. To me.”
Bruce poked him in the chest. “What are you trying to say?”
“That only a little bitch has to steal what they want because they’re not good enough to get it any other way.”
A teacher had broken up the altercation before it got physical. Cassidy knew every time her father saw Bruce, because the beating afterwards always gave it away. The only point of contention between Cassidy and Max was her unwillingness to allow him to confront her father about the physical abuse.
Cassidy’s training with Gwen progressed beautifully. The only skill that had caused them trouble was Cassidy’s ability to ward off her father.
Gwen hugged her tight the morning after a nasty beating. “Honey, it’s the fear in your heart that you have for him. It’s blocking your ability to fight him.”
Cassidy broke down in tears. “I try. I promise. I just can’t do it.”
“You must learn. Bruce is an extension of your father’s hatred, which is why you have the same problem with him. But it will come. When the time is right, the power will be yours.”
By October, Max’s love had become the focal point of Cassidy’s life. With him, she was safe and protected. They knew they had a special, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love, and they constantly looked for ways to spend time together under the radar. Silver Point was their go-to place, the area’s “lover lane”. In truth, it was just a wooded area at the end of a large pond in the center of town that boasted a tall fountain in the center. During the day after school when her parents were working, Max and Cassidy spent countless hours there planning their lives and vowing their love. It was here that Cassidy forgot her life of abuse and unhappiness
On one beautiful autumn day, Max handed her a flyer. “We can do this.”
Cassidy read it over. “A Halloween ball?”
“Yeah. Everyone is in costume. We can dress up and dance right in the middle of everyone. No one will know who we are.”
She kissed him. “I hate this. We shouldn’t have to hide.”
He lifted her and spun her around. “Agreed. But we only have a few more months of school, and we’ll both be eighteen by the time we graduate. Then we can make our own decisions.”
“Eight months. That’s more than a few.”
He lightened his grip and she slid down until her feet touched the ground again. “Don’t get stuck on the details, babe. Keep your eye on the finish line, and it’s just coming in to view.”
Sylvia, as it turned out, was on the decorating committee for the event. Cassidy spent the days before the ball helping her mother carry pumpkins and cornstalks to the town square, along with sunflowers, candles and baskets of gourds and apples. She snuck kisses with Max who helped his Aunt set up the refreshment area.
Bruce glared at both of them from his vantage point on top of the wood-framed structure that would cover the dance floor and be covered in thousands of autumn colored twinkle lights. Cassidy met his eyes one, and the hatred that emanated from them made her shiver.
They met at Silver Point after their preparations were finished. Max pulled her close as they sat on a bench. “I have to take Randy trick or treating before the ball. You want to go with us?”
“You know I’d love to. I just have to sneak out somehow.”
“Isn’t your dad helping with the final details before the dance? You’ll be fine getting out.”
She shoved at his shoulder. “You’re always so confident in yourself.”
He pushed on her shoulder. “And you need to be.”
She jumped off the bench and picked up a chestnut that had fallen to the ground from a nearby tree. “Let’s escalate this up, shall we?”
She threw the chestnut and caught him right in the middle of his forehead.
Horrified, she rushed to him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for that to--”
“To what? Brain me? Cut the top of my head off?”
“Being a little dramatic, are we?”
He picked up another chestnut and lobbed it at her.
“Oh, game’s on, boy. Game’s on.”
They chased each other back and forth before they collapsed in a heat on a pile of leaves.
“I love you, Cassi.”
She kissed him quiet. “I love you too, Max. Always and forever.”
Act Three: But they took it:
Two nights before Halloween, Cassidy and her mother were on their way home when flashing lights slowed them down.
Sylvia rolled down her window as a deputy approached. “What’s going on, Officer?”
“There’s an active crime scene investigation going on, ma’am. We need you to turn around and find a different route.”
Cassidy strained her head in attempts to see which house owned the police activity. A small group of officers were concentrated near the sidewalk. One of them moved away toward the forensics truck, which gave her a better view.
Sylvia started to back up just as Cassidy got her clear view. “Oh my God. That’s Max.”
She leapt out of the car and ignored Sylvia’s hollers. The deputy also yelled as she charged down the street.
The screech of a siren sounded as she reached the officers. Both Max and Randy lay on the sidewalk, both badly beaten.
Her hands flew to her mouth. “What happened?”
One of the cops jumped up. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” He grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, then walked with her away from the crime scene.
“That’s my...my...boyfriend laying over there. What happened to him?” She fought the pain in her throat as tears threatened.
“Do you know anyone who would want to hurt him?”
“Bruce. My ex.” She gave him all of the information. “Are they dead?”
The paramedics worked on the two victims. Both were loaded onto stretchers as they watched, but she noticed the faces weren’t covered.
“Does that mean they’re not dead?”
He nodded. “Neither are dead. The younger guy is in much better shape than the older one.”
“Max. Max is the older one. Randy is the younger guy.”
He made some more notes as the ambulance sped off.
“We’re supposed to go to the Halloween Ball together. And we were taking Randy trick or treating before.”
He clasped her shoulder. “I don’t think there’s going to be any Halloween for either of them this year.”
Halloween eve, Cassidy watched the clock all day at school before she headed to the hospital. After a bunch of begging and pleading, one of the hospital volunteers finally told her where she could find Max. She walked down the long, sterile hall and felt the sadness and pain seeping from the walls. The silence as she walked made it seem twice as far.
Max laid hooked up to every machine possible. Bruises and black eyes covered his face, what she could see of it around the tubes. Tears rolled down her cheek as she held his hand.
Randy was awake when she found him, but he didn’t remember the attack. They cried together before she went to kiss Max until the next day.
“I love you, baby. Hurry and come back to me.”
Fate was not on her side. Max went into a coma.
Halloween day dawned with no change in Max. Cassidy skipped school and spent the day holding Max’s hand, hoping he could hear her through the veil of unconsciousness.
No proof had been found of Bruce’s involvement in the assault although Cassidy knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had blood on his hands. With Randy having no memory of the attacker, there was no other evidence.
Randy tried to cheer her up, despite his own suffering. “He wouldn’t want you like this, Cass. He’s still here,
and he’s still in our hearts. He may even be watching over us even in his coma, if he’s not busy doing something else like haunting your parents.”
“How do you do it? How do you just pretend that everything is okay?”
“Because we didn’t stop living. He’s stuck in that bed, for now. I don’t want to have to explain to him when he wakes up that I quit living. You shouldn’t either. I hate everything about this. He’s my big brother. But if he was here right now, he’d be kicking my ass if he saw me just moping around.”
“You’re too young to be so smart.”
“My big bro taught me stuff.”
Later that day, Sylvia spent the majority of the afternoon explaining to Cassidy that she’d be fine. “Honey, you’re not even eighteen. You don’t know what real love is yet.”
“I do, Mom. Max and I do.”
“That’s teenage stuff. You need to snap out of it before you develop real depression issues and then no one wants you.”
“I don’t care if no one wants me. I don’t want anyone. I want Max. And I’ll be there for him when wakes up.” When I turn eighteen soon, I’m done with you anyhow.
Tom caught her teary-eyed and melancholy, so he slapped her around. “You want something to cry about, I’ll give you something to cry about.”
She fell asleep before dinner and woke happy and cheerful. She looked around her room before she realized that her dream had made her that way. She and Max had been together, planning their future.
As reality set in that it had been a dream, emotion overtook her. She pulled her pillow over her face and laid back on the bed. Deep, soul-wrenching sobs spilled from her heart.
The pillow was ripped from her hands and flung across the room. Tom yanked her off the bed and threw her against the wall.
“What the hell is your problem? Your little boy toy is gone.”
She sank to the floor without answering.
He knelt in front of her and grabbed her cheeks. “This is the last time I’m going to tell you to knock this shit off.”
She twisted away and moved across the room from him. “I hate you. I hate everything about you. You are the most useless sonofabitch I’ve ever met.”
He advanced on her, but she stood her ground. “Girl, you’re going to regret that.”
When Tom and Sylvia left to head to the grocery store, her eyes were mere slits due to the swelling of her face from her father’s repeated blows. Cassidy slipped into out of the house and went straight to Gwen’s house.
“I’m ready to finish learning.”
Gwen handed her an ice pack. “What you need to learn is dark magic.”
“Can you teach me?”
She gave a small nod. “We could call the law. You have that option.”
Cassidy gave a bitter laugh. “I’m not eighteen yet. They’ll just send me home. Tom and Sylvia will have some story and it’ll just happen again. And again.”
Gwen nodded. “I have something for you.”
She brought out an amulet on a silken cord and placed it around Cassidy’s neck. The large fire opal threw off sparks and glowed bright against her shirt.
“With this stone, you will have the power to manipulate the water, and enact the fierceness that you require to resist the darkness. You will know what to do.”
Cassidy clasped the pendant, feeling the strength and warmth course through her body. Gwen handed her a leather-bound notebook.
“Everything you need will be in there.”
Act Four: So, she took them.
She sat on the bench where she had cuddled with Max last and stared at the fountain. Any life she could imagine would end if he died. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see any iota of a future without him.
No one was around when she wandered down to the wooded area where she and Max had spent all those hours planning their lives. She read through the small notebook, feeling the power ebb in the stone of the amulet.
She pulled a pocket knife out of her pocket, one that Max had given her when he’d been on his personal safety kick. She smiled without humor at the memory. “Some good your personal safety skills did you, my love.”
In the glow of the light from the fountain, she looked at the trees in their autumn glory, always her favorite time of year. She sighed, both from sadness and anticipation. Her decision had been made and she was okay with it.
I wish Max was here to help me with what I’m about to do.
She took the only option she could see in her own mind that offered her any happiness. She drew the blade across her palm, until a drop of blood fell on the ground. With the words from the book, she summoned the help she would need to take back her life.
Trick-or-treaters passed by the park, but Cassidy stayed hidden amongst the trees. She watched wistfully. The ball starts soon. We should be going to dance instead of what I’m about to do.
As expected, she watched Bruce pull into the parking lot at Silver Point. His latest conquest, Maureen, was a senior in high school who thought she’d hit the jackpot because a college guy liked her.
She watched them climb into the back of his pickup truck and start making out. The Halloween full moon illuminated them along with the orange, yellow, and red colored lights placed at the base of the fountain. The floating mists from the spraying water appeared very autumn-like and festive.
Cassidy listened as making out quickly turned into something Maureen wasn’t ready for.
“Bruce, STOP!” she insisted.
“Come on baby…. you know you want it.” Bruce yanked her shirt out of the waistband of her jeans. As he tried to maneuver his hand up her shirt, Maureen pushed him away.
“I said NO!” she screamed at him. “Get off me, your asshole!”
As she struggled to stand, Bruce grabbed her and threw her on her back in the bed of the truck. He smothered her screams with his mouth as his hands tore at her clothes.
In the twilight, tufts of fog started to dance on the surface of the pond. With each slight breeze, the mist from the fountain spray acted as a curtain for their performance. The droplets of moisture danced around and around, manifesting together until a woman stepped from the mists, crystalline and ethereal.
Maureen sobbed quietly as she lay curled in a fetal position, her clothes half torn.
Bruce moved off her to regroup. “You know better than to run.” He sweated despite the chill in the air. He took off his shirt, then fumbled with the button on his jeans. “You wanted a real man, baby. Let me show you what a real man wants.”
Suddenly, he felt a cold drizzle trailing down his back, like wet fingers caressing his skin.
“What the f…,” he turned, then froze in terror. The apparition hovered beside the truck. Although almost transparent, he could see the pain in her eyes and the hatred on her face. Rivulets of water slowly dripped off her fingers onto his shoulder.
“Holy shit!” he screamed as he fell away from her.
Her pale hand seized him by the throat and threw him hard to the ground. Cassidy walked up to where he lay.
Maureen took one look and released a primal scream before she fell over the side of the truck and ran into the deepening darkness.
“Not this time.”
Just before blacking out, Bruce saw the cruel smile on Cassidy’s face as her creation again reached her executioner hand toward him.
Tom stood at the Kwik King fueling up his car before everything closed when Maureen ran up to him.
“Help,” Maureen cried as she grabbed his jacket. “Bruce…we…she…” She bent and put her hands on her thighs as she struggled to catch her breath.
“Bruce? What about Bruce?” Tom shook Maureen to calm her enough that he could make sense of her ramblings.
“Cass...i…dy,” Maureen croaked out.
“Were you at Silver Point?” Tom demand
ed. All Maureen could do was nod.
This is bullshit. Tom slammed his car into gear. The bitch just doesn’t learn, and now she’s screwing with Bruce. I’m putting an end to it right now. As he drove off, he left a highly distraught Maureen standing in the parking lot alone.
The only light at Silver Point was the colorful glow from the fountain. Tom checked Bruce’s truck. Empty.
“BRUCE!” Tom hollered into the darkness. The only answer was silence. He squinted as he walked toward the edge of the pond.
The breath sucked out of him as he surveyed the pond’s surface and finally looked at the fountain.
Bruce stood suspended in the middle, his eyes wide with terror. He reached toward Tom and beckoned for help.
Tom backed up. It was as if Bruce floated on the mists. “That ain’t right, boy.” He tripped as he hurried backwards but caught himself. “What the hell happened to you?” Nothing should have held Bruce in the sprays of water.
“Oh, HELL no!” Tom turned to flee in terror. Cassidy stood three feet behind him, the apparition beside her. Desperate to convince himself he was seeing things, Tom closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them, she stood closer.
Cassidy advanced on him and with a savage shove, knocked him to the ground.
“You bastard! You made my life a living hell. Now it’s my turn. No treats for you but enjoy this little trick.” Cassidy’s voice was a mere whisper inside Tom’s head. A cold, dripping hand muffled his screams as he was dragged by the face into the mists on the pond.
Cassidy heard Sylvia on the telephone, her desperate cries regarding her missing husband and “son”. She went to the kitchen, pleased that she for the first time, she no longer had to fear her father’s mood.
“Lose something, mother?”
Sylvia’s eyes were red and swollen. “Your father’s missing. The sheriff’s department found his and Bruce’s vehicles up at Silver Point. They’re turning the fountain off so they can drag the pond for bodies.”
Cassidy wore a wry smile. “It’s such a shame they have to turn off the water. I love that fountain.”
The look on Sylvia’s face at her daughter’s callousness made Cassidy giggle. She grabbed a banana and headed for the hospital.
Tricks or Treats: An Anthology for Charity Page 13
