by H. T. Night
Once again, I exhaled. I looked at Marlene. “So, you are ready to hear what happened the rest of the night. “
Marlene looked at me with anticipation in her eyes and nodded her head. I knew she was ready. I just needed to jump into this one head first.
“Those greaser punks started going missing the following week. It was all over the papers and news. Are you telling me, you had something to do with that?” Marlene asked.
I stared straight at the wall, avoiding her face. “It wasn’t that simple,” I said. “If I can tell you what happened, then hopefully you won’t see it for the gruesome tales you read in the paper.”
“I refused to read the details because I was afraid, at the time, that a part of me would be pleased because of what they did to you. Now, I don’t know what to think.”
“I told you what happened on the night of the stabbing. That was all you asked to know. So, let’s just leave it at that.”
“You are telling me you had nothing to do with those boys' deaths?”
“Are you seriously interrogating me now?”
“I don’t know what I am doing,” Marlene said. “I guess I finally want to know. After all these years, I have my suspicions. But I want to hear it from your mouth. What exactly happened?”
“What if it changes how you view me.”
“I don’t know if it will, Todd. I expected something fishy happened all those years ago.”
“And you still fell in love with me?”
“Whatever it was, wasn’t who you are. The years you have had with me. You have only ever been my tender, loving knight in shining armor.”
I nodded my head and it felt like it was spinning like a dreidel.
“Where do you want me to start?” I asked Marlene.
“I want you to tell me everything. So figure out where the beginning of everything is and start there.”
“Everything, huh?”
“Everything concerning those guys.”
“The greasers?”
“Yes, Todd, the greasers.”
It was time to tell her. After sixty freaking years, she finally wanted answers. I sank deeper into the sofa for comfort and decided to start the story where it made the most sense.
I stopped talking.
“You know what happened,” I said to Marlene.
“I do, but I have never heard it from you.”
“You were in court that day when I read my deposition.”
“I was. But I have known you all my life. I knew on that day you left something out. Some very important detail that you weren’t sharing with anyone. Especially me.”
“Why now, Marlene? Why are you seeking the truth now? We have lived together happily all this time and we have never discussed these atrocities out loud.”
“If I don’t find out the truth I am afraid that I won’t be able to leave when it is my time to go. Could I leave this world behind peacefully without knowing the truth?”
“And you want to know exactly what I saw when I arrived at my parent’s house.” I paused. “Or could it be you feel my parents were my first kill?”
Marlene was quiet for a moment. Then she said, “Just tell me the truth, Todd. What did you find when you arrived at the scene?”
I began sweating. Marlene’s interrogation was in full force. She was going to ask any and all questions until I told her the truth and nothing but the truth.
“Marlene, once I peel this scab back there is no turning back,” I warned her.
“I feel it’s time for me to know who the man I have been cohabiting my life with after all these years is.”
“Are you afraid I’m a monster?”
Marlene was quiet.
Her silence was deafening
For the first time in my life, I felt as if Marlene didn’t trust who I was. I had hidden so many memories deep in my psyche that I had no idea what feeling would come over me after exposing these truths to the sunlight... or moonlight as it were.
Chapter Eleven
I stood up off the sofa and began pacing around the living room. I didn’t know what she wanted to know or how much of it. So I decided to be direct and just ask her what she wanted to know.
“I want to know what you saw when you arrived home at your parent’s house that night.”
I nodded my head. She wanted to hear it from my mouth, so I told her exactly what I told the police.
“And that is everything that you saw that night?” Marlene asked.
I nodded my head.
“Why is it that I know, in the depth of my gut, there is much more to the situation?”
I looked at Marlene, and refused to let her break me.
“Todd, why were your parents killed by a cult group. Who was the cult group? Why wasn’t a cult group ever found?”
I took a deep breath and walked out to the backyard again for some fresh air. After a moment of contemplating my situation, I walked back into the living room with one thing to say. And one thing only that I needed for Marlene to understand.
“Marlene, I did not kill my parents!” I was indignant, and she needed to know whatever her spidey senses were telling her it sure as hell wasn’t that I had killed my parents.
“Who did? You know. You have always known, and you never came forward with who did it.”
Wow, Marlene was zeroing in on one specific moment. If I told her any of it, I would have to tell her all of it. What would she think of me? I didn’t want the last years of her life spent hating me or being disgusted with me.
“I was visited by a man before the police came to talk to me.”
“The killer?”
“Not exactly. A messenger.”
“Who was he?”
“The same man who drew blood from my neck and made me drink his. The man responsible for my newfound skin condition.”
“Did he look the same as he did when he was in your hospital room?”
“Exactly the same. All the way down to his black eye-liner.”
“What did he want? What did he say?” Marlene looked at me expectantly, waiting for an answer she had thought about for sixty years.”
“He told me what I was. And he told me who had killed my parents.”
“Who killed them?” Marlene asked, leaning forward in her seat.
“He told me Santino and his crew were looking to finish the job they had started on me. When they showed up, I wasn’t there and they decided to kill my parents instead.”
“You believed him?”
“I did,” I answered.
Marlene nodded her head. She knew the next part of this story was what she had dreaded all this time.
“Santino and his friends were killed in a way similar to your parents.”
I was quiet. Her face told me that she felt she was onto something and maybe she was. But if she wanted to know the truth about the deaths of those greasers, she was going to have to sit down and allow me to explain everything that happened over the next three nights.
***
Suddenly, one of Tommy's ferocious growl snores took me out of my memory.
I stood up from the kitchen table and gave one last look at the monitors and walked into the living room where everyone was sleeping.
Chapter Twelve
I took a deep breath and stood up to pace around the kitchen. I looked over at Tommy and he couldn't have looked any more different from this group of people. He had an undying loyalty to Josiah that went back years; I heard. Before Josiah had even been turned.
Once again, I started getting light-headed and decided to sit down as another vision began taking over my senses.
It was another vision about Tommy. He was driving east on the 91 freeway in the black Mustang I had seen in previous visions. He was driving carefully and I watched as he drove past the 57 freeway. Having lived in Orange County for most of my life, I knew exactly where he was.
There was a family of three in a blue minivan in front and to the right of him. It appeared Tommy was followi
ng the blue minivan because his eyes kept flicking to look over at them more than was normal.
Then out of nowhere, a gray truck came barreling from behind, its tires squealing. Tommy watched in his rearview mirror as it flew up the freeway, zig-zagging through traffic and swerving around cars without slowing down or using a signal. The man driving the truck had long blond hair that was pulled back in a messy ponytail. He was driving recklessly, nearly clipping the vehicles he swerved around. He drove up on Tommy and the blue minivan and I could see he was about to pass the blue minivan. The minivan was driving just fast enough that the guy in the truck couldn't get around without muscling it over to the right. Tommy let his foot off the gas to slow down in an attempt to give the guy enough room to get around both the minivan and his Mustang safely.
The gray truck swerved around the Mustang, barely passing in front of Tommy. Had Tommy not let his foot off of the gas, the truck would have clipped the front of his car. Just as it swerved in front of Tommy, the truck jerked and the driver lost control. It swerved and smashed into the blue minivan with ferocious speed. The head of the man driving the minivan whipped forward and back, and then he lost control of his vehicle.
The gray truck knocked the blue minivan with a terrible force of ripping metal and fiberglass crashing through the guardrail causing the blue minivan to roll over and over finally landing in the ditch along the side of the freeway. The minivan landed, rocking hard on its four tires. All I could do was watch from above and pray that the family had survived the crash.
Having stopped safely on the side of the freeway with a little damage on the front right side, the driver of the truck shook his head, looked around and with tires smoking, drove away from the scene. Tommy slowed and stopped his Mustang about two hundred feet from where the family in the minivan had landed in the ditch. People in traffic honked in irritation, trying to get around the accident. Tommy was the only one who had stopped.
Tommy jumped out of his car and ran down the litter-strewn ditch toward the van like all of hell was chasing him. He eventually reached the minivan and stood in front of the vehicle, seemingly in shock. The front windshield was cracked and broken, splattered with blood.
Tommy continued to stare inside the vehicle in front of him. The anguish and fear on his face told me he knew and loved the people in that crumpled up vehicle. This wasn't some random family he was driving near on the freeway. He pulled a cell phone from his pocket, flipped it open and punched in the numbers 911. Nothing happened. His phone had no signal. He growled in frustration and pushed it back into his pocket.
Then Tommy screamed from outside the van, “Are you guys okay?” He couldn't see inside because the front windshield was shattered, resembling a massive spiderweb, and the center was on the driver's side. He raced around the van and tried to open the doors, but they refused to budge no matter how hard he yanked. The roof of the van had smashed down into the doors, wedging them shut while it had rolled.
Then Tommy jumped on top of the smashed hood and broke through the windshield to get inside the vehicle. It was humanly impossible, but Tommy wasn't exactly human. The male driver was out cold... or worse. Tommy reached out and touched the man's neck. He must have felt a pulse because he said, “You're alive. Daniel, please hold on.”
Tommy climbed through the shattered window and into the empty front seat. He looked into the back seat where two blonde women were sitting. The seats were mangled and twisted. Then Tommy screamed, “Please, God! No!” Tommy must have nicked his face while crawling through the broken windshield because he had blood streaming down his face along with tears.
The women both appeared to be unconscious. He reached out and touched the younger woman's cheek and cried out, “Maya, please say something to me.”
Oh, my gosh! The young girl was Maya. Tommy's one true love and Josiah's sister. The man in front must be Josiah's father and the older woman in back must be his mother. What I was witnessing seemed sacred and personal. But, nonetheless, my vision was locked in to what was happening.
Then Maya’s eyes fluttered open just a little.
“Maya! I’m here! It’s Tommy.”
“Sweetheart. I… I… I’m in so much pain.” Her clothes were soaked in her own blood, and it was spreading.
“Hang on, baby,” Tommy cried out. “Hang on!”
“Tommy…” Maya whispered.
“What is it, sweetie?” Tommy didn't know what to do. He was helpless, and it was written all over his face. This strong warrior had come up against an adversary he couldn't defeat.
“Tommy, I love you,” Maya said a little louder.
“I love you, too, sweetie. Please, hang on.” Tears, blood and snot ran down Tommy's face and he begged Maya, “Don’t you leave me!”
Tommy and reached into his pocket again and dialed 911 on his flip phone. This time he had service, and the call went through. He told them there had been a horrible accident and gave them his exact location. He plead with the operator to send three paramedics as fast as possible. The conversation ended with him saying, “You will need to bring the Jaws of Life because the doors are wedged shut. I had to crawl through the broken windshield.”
Then I heard him say, “I can’t. I have to render first aid and I can’t talk to you when people are bleeding to death. Just come!”
Tommy hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket. Maya’s eyes were barely open. “My head hurts so bad,” she said.
“I know, baby. You’re hurt bad. Maya, I love you so much. Please, don’t leave me! Hold on! Help is coming.” Tommy kissed her forehead and face. Then he ripped off his shirt and pressed it against her head to stop the bleeding as best as he could.
Then Maya closed her eyes and became unresponsive.
“No!” Tommy shouted. “Someone help us!” He screamed loudly at the passing cars.
Tommy asked Maya, “Does your neck hurt?”
She did not reply. He took out a knife from his pocket and cut away the seat belt that was holding her in place. She sagged into him and he climbed into the back seat and gently laid her down in his lap. Then held his T-shirt on her bleeding head with one hand. With the other hand, he gently nudged the woman sitting next to them.
“Margaret!” Tommy said, and touched her shoulder again. He touched the side of her neck and couldn’t find a pulse.
Margaret wasn’t giving him any response. He sat in the back seat, holding Maya and her mom’s hand and praying out loud. “Please. Please. Please.”
Tommy called 911 again and pleaded for them to get there faster. Immediately.
“Daniel, can you hear me?” Tommy called out from the back seat.
He held Josiah's sister in his arms and just rocked her, kissing her forehead. Whispering, “Please, please, please.” into her blood stained blonde hair.
When help finally arrived, there were three ambulances, two fire trucks and five police cars. The first responders moved fast. This was not their first rodeo. They were blocking oncoming traffic, pulling out gurneys. The firefighters brought out the Jaws of Life immediately and they were able to secure all three of them onto gurneys and wheel them into the waiting ambulances.
Tommy left the minivan in a bloody mess. He had scratches on his face, hands and arms from breaking through the windshield and climbing into the van. He seemed oblivious to anything but the beautiful blonde being wheeled away on a gurney.
“We should treat you, too,” one paramedic said waving to his wounds. “You are cut up pretty bad.”
“Don’t waste your time on me. Save them.” Tommy begged.
A police officer approached Tommy and asked, “Did you see how this happened?”
“Yes, sir.” Tommy made a couple of statements about the gray truck to the police. The paramedics prepared to take all three victims to the hospital in separate ambulances.
Tommy asked if he could ride along in the ambulance that was taking Maya to the hospital.
“You know her?” the paramedic asked as he was about
to close the doors.
“She’s my fiancée. Tommy answered.
“We had no idea.”
“I know. I was following them to a restaurant.”
“Were you involved in the accident, too?”
“No, I was just a witness.”
The paramedic nodded. “Hop in, hold on, and stay out of our way.”
“Thanks.” Tommy climbed in, sat on a bench off to the side and held Maya's hand the whole way to the hospital, careful to give the paramedics the room they needed.
“We’ve got a pulse,” the EMT said. “It’s weak, but she’s hanging on!”
Tommy waited in the emergency room lobby, shirtless and bleeding from his various wounds, while his fiancée and Josiah's parents fought for their lives.
Tommy pulled out his phone and called Josiah.
“Fine. Hey,” Tommy said. He was trying not to cry.
“Josiah! Wait!” Tommy said. “I have something very important to tell you. Your parents, your sister. It’s bad. They have been in a bad car accident, a real bad accident.”
Then Tommy said, “Maybe, Josiah! Meet me at Anaheim Hills Memorial. Get here quick, but don’t run any red lights or do anything crazy. I’m in the lobby of the ER. I’m here for you, bro.” Tommy hung up the phone.
A nurse came out to the waiting room and told Tommy he needed to come back into the emergency room so they could clean up his wounds and for a tetanus shot. He nodded.
Tommy followed the nurse to the back in a daze and sat in the curtained off area she pointed out to him. He pushed the curtain open and watched the nurses and doctors working on Daniel, Margaret and Maya. He backed into the bed and sat down. Captivated by the life and death battle in front of him.
The doctors and nurses stopped working on Daniel. A masked man shook his head in frustration. The medical workers pulled off their masks, disappointment etched into their faces. Some even had tears in their eyes.
“7:55 p.m. Call it,” one doctor said. Tommy looked confused, until someone replied, “Time of death. 7:55 p.m.” Daniel Reign. Josiah's father had been pronounced dead. Tommy looked like someone had punched him in the gut. His face scrunched up in pain and all of the air in his lungs whooshed out in a grunt.
