Every New Year’s I come to this site and state loudly, “This is the year, baby!” The year I take writing seriously, the year I blog more regularly, the year I actually use my office for more than just a place I put my Doctor Who action figures.
So…
This is the year, Baby!
Next post in 2015!
“Hold on girl, these bones aren’t as quick as they used to be.” A weathered old man with wild hair wheezes and lurches down the dark alley. He clutches in one hand a German Luger, in the other the frayed and yellowed notebook that was illegible to all but him. The old Austrian leans against one of the buildings gesturing a silent, dismissive, “feh” after the girl’s bobbing ponytail.
So much haste that one had, always jumping out of the squad car and jumping to conclusions. No, to catch the fugitive, one must be methodical, cautious. Weigh the evidence against the gut. It was why he was asked to come out of retirement and advise the Major Crimes Task Force. Certain criminals could only be caught with precision, not brawn. The girl was one of the best in her Academy class, quick, strong, yet so determined to use the muscles in her arms rather than the one in her pretty blonde head.
“Always running, always running.” The old man chuckles as he reaches behind his ear and starts encrypting his notebook in his lead pidgin calculations, all the while muttering to himself the variables.
“If he was running at top speed…”
“…combat boots…”
“Alley ends in a dead end…but this road actually curves…”
He scribbles faster and faster, his body starts rocking forward and back like a Chasidic rabbi making new headway in the Rashi. Suddenly he snaps to attention. His tired body straightens like a greyhound spotting a hare in the field; a wild maniacal grin splits his face.
“A Ha! Albert, you’ve done it again!” He spins in a small circle, dancing madly, briefly. Absent of eyes witnessing his fumbled attempts at aping Zev Tevye, the dance you do when you’ve impressed yourself yet again and no one is around to accuse you of self flagellation.
The old man, dances with his arms flailing in the air making individual circles. “One, two, three, four, five, six…”
When the old man hits seven he stops dancing and sticks his foot out slightly into a blind curve in the alley. A man running for his life from a perky blonde slams into the leg and sails into a far wall with a sick wet thud, sliding downward unconscious.
The blonde arrived seconds later, finding the old man slapping bracelets on the sleeping, disfigured man. Her eyes searches for an answer in the crazy world that not only was she outran but she was out copped by this grandfather.
“I don’t get it, Albert, why…how?”
“We’ve done it again little Lisa. We have apprehended the Brother Killer.”
“But I was chasing him… and we doubled back!”
“Ah, my dear, sometimes when trying to catch a man accused of killing his brother…it’s a relative. At least that is my theory.”
***
“So do we have any leads on this crew?” The chief was looking stressed. The bank heist was nearly a week old and the only concrete evidence was five bodies getting colder in the morgue.
“Nothing firm. The one we got outside the bank with the female hostage had a letter on him.”
“Addressed?”
“No, just written to a ‘Mom,’ the asshole didn’t have it in an envelope. Most we got is some background information.”
“Scotty, for fuck’s sake, my patience is wearing thin. What particulars?”
“Like most guys in this town, he was an actor.”
“Christ save us all let me see the letter.”
“So does this give us an idea? Says he was on that bullshit Einstein cop show.”
“We are looking into it but the character had a prosthetic face or something. We have a call out to their casting agency but honestly they have every fresh face in this town, it’ll take some time.”
“This is about the only lead we have. When we get an 8×10 we should be able to get some info.”
“ID might be an issue too, remember he took about have a magazine to the face.”
“Fuck.”
Southern Gothic
Cyberpunk
Sword & Sorcery
Femslash
Black Comedy
Picaresque
With a start, Glory awoke, flushed and dripping with sweat. She tossed aside the bed clothes to find the mattress was soaking wet.
The nightmare seemed so real, her hands were still shaking. The attackers were masked and so angry.
Glory felt as though she was supposed to be somewhere else. Her stomach told her she was supposed to be eating.
She made her way to the lift, gave two sharp tugs on the descend pulley. She idly shuffled her feet as the gear work platform grinded to life and lowered her towards the kitchens. Outside the window of the glass lift, Glory could see her cousin Bromhold’s Gearwing brigade going through maneuvers. They were forming an attack pattern. Glory frowned as she watched them head over the castle walls towards the Mountains of the Dragon. She strained to keep them in view.
Black dots on a sky of red.
Glory tried to maintain her genteel breeding and not break into a ravenous run when the lift stopped at her desired floor. The guards were as always polite and lowered their sparkspears in deference as she shuffled by. Their mumbled, “Your Highness” still had a hint of shame to it. Her brother the Heir Apparent had been killed over a year ago; you would think they would be able to get over it.
Mebold the Cook was not in the kitchen, when Glory arrived so she helped herself to some fruit and started walking toward the dining hall. She heard her father before they saw each other and quickly hid herself in a Maidwalk, a small door way that lead to secret passages that hid the servants from the eyes of her King Father.
“How goes the front Reginald?” Her Father’s booming voice was in complete Monarch bellows today.
“Not good, my liege. And if you want to get a report from the front you can look out the window. The enemy is camped within a day’s ride.” Reginald was Lord Cog, chief war advisor. “Our last sortie was a disaster; two full score of clockkights are dead. Probably eaten.”
“Two SCORE!”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“How did this happen? Did you not consult the Oracle Engine? The Number Warlocks said the calculations were perfect.”
“Yes your Majesty, but again I stress, we are mistaken to trust the machines to strategy.”
“I tire of this argument, Reginald.” Glory winced. Her Lord Father was most unpleasant when tired.
“With respect, Your Majesty, the difference engine works on variables that we are used to. Your empire has grown tenfold since our mastery of the Oracle. The Number Warlocks are true pioneers, but we are not facing a familiar threat. The enemy has a true wizard leading them. And they fight with primitive weapons. Swords, spears, and mounted horse. Our pistoleers and magazines cannot hold the line.”
Glory heard her Father curse, loudly, and throw a glass against a wall. “My army has conquered the Five Nations of Umpuntu. The Steppes of Kron and the Hegemony. A few peasants who fight with sticks and swords against bullets and our flying Gearwings? These are excuses for your leadership my Lord Cog.”
“I beg forgiveness, Your Greatness, but I come with other news.”
“Changing the subject Reginald? This better be good.”
“The Witch King Morgaz has settled fifty Orlock legions inside the Basilisk Forest. Rumors are spreading that the Wizard has control of the Dragon. All this power is within a day of this castle. Our supplies are falling short and our men bleed.”
“Get to the point!”
“I have received terms from the Wizard.”
“Terms!” Glory’s Father’s rage was unintelligible.
“My Liege, not terms of conquest. Terms of Peace!” Reginald screamed the last words to get the message over her Father’s bellowing.
“Peace? PEACE?”
“Yes, Morgaz will retreat to the other side of the Mountain of the Dragon and never step foot under the shadow of the Ticking Tower, your family’s ancestral home.”
“What will it cost us?”
“My liege, it will cost us Glory.”
Glory’s gasp was so loud, louder than it would seem as silence had settled in after Reginald’s last words.
“GLORY! Get in here.” Her Father knew she was listening and will most probably beat her, or send her to study. Glory hoped it was a beating.
“Yes my honorable Father?” The curtsey was half textbook, half sarcastic.
“How much did you hear?”
“I hear that to save our land and peoples I am to be given to the Witch King Morgaz.”
“Y-yes, My Lady,” Reginald always stammered when Glory looked at him. “The Witch King will take you to bride and hostage to ensure we will not act against him.
“They say Morgaz is a Wizard over 7,000 years old.”
“They say a lot of things, your Highness, some of which may be true. P-peace, is a t-truth we must all believe in. Though the loss we shall suffer will be most unpleasant.”
“Reginald,” Her Father baleful eyes fell on his chief consoler. “Why would Morgaz retreat, he is winning.”
“I do not know, but if there is a chance I feel we must take it.”
Later, Glory found herself being fitted for a bridal gown, a long bath, and lessons on spousal etiquette by a nun that although was about as old as Morgaz had no experience in what she was talking about.
Glory spent the rest of the evening in her apartment surrounded by her friends, daughters of the court. She did not pay much attention. There was an itch on her neck and a dull headache that was growing stronger just above her left eye. Maddening it was but not as much as the feeling that, Glory was missing something. Somewhere she was supposed to be.
“Married, you are so lucky, even if it is with Morgaz the Bloodless.”
“Quiet, Diroa, you are just scaring her.”
“Glory, how do you feel about this?”
“Hmmm?”
“I asked you, how do you feel about being married to that corpse?”
Their voices were shrinking to whispers, and a great blinding light was enveloping the apartment. It was focused through the door, a portal opening that shone the brightest light. There was a pulse to the light that matched the throbbing above her left eye. A compulsion pulled at her, a cloying feeling of bliss through the strange light. Glory was supposed to be somewhere and that light seemed to be the way.
Glory heard screaming as she succumbed.
* * *
“Nametag says Gloria.”
“What are we looking at?”
“Shot through the skull, above the left eye. Glancing blow to the brain, bleeds all over the place. Probably took a few minutes to finally pass.”
“She the teller that pulled the alarm?”
“That’s what the bank manager said.”
“Any personal effects, any sense of who she was? She died a hero.”
“Her coworker, Martha said she was leaving early to go to a dance recital for her daughter tonight. She usually doesn’t make it, so it was going to be a surprise.”
“Take her to the morgue. Poor woman, we never seem to get to where we need to be”
He hated this more than anything, but after a year of making this bullshit trek to the Eastvale, Tom had to admit that maybe it worked. Still, he took the last deep breath to calm himself before he entered the doors of the psychologist’s office.
Doctor Carter seemed bored at the start of the session. Idly brushing lint off of his pants. Tom sat in the corner of the couch.
“So, Tom…last week we spoke about some…uh…anxiety you were having about your granddaughter…”
“Yes,” Tom swallowed hard, anxiety was an understatement. Soul crippling, piss your pants fear would be closer to the mark. “Yes, my granddaughter made me anxious.”
“Made? As in past tense? Are you feeling better about the speech?” Brush, brush, brush.
“I actually did it on Thursday.”
“Really?” Carter stopped fidgeting and looked at Tom. “Let me first say that I am very proud of your progress. I truly did not see that coming. How did it go? How long did you speak? What did you talk about?” Carter leaned closer to the couch, his eyes wide with eagerness.
“Uh…I guess it was about an hour and I mainly talked about Cu Chi. I suppose it went well enough they asked me back.”
“Tell me all the details about Thursday.”
***
The lecture hall at West Desert University was nearly empty. About thirty college aged kids sat randomly throughout the four hundred seat room. Tom’s granddaughter was sitting behind a small table next to the lectern with an older woman. Tom was not impressed by her looks at all. No tits to speak of and eyes that made her look like the word “man” was as filthy as the word “cunt.”
Tom’s granddaughter rose and went to the lectern, “Thank you everyone who showed up for tonight’s WDU History Alive Club special event. For those of you attending from Helen Maynor’s class please stay until after so that I can sign your attendance slips.” Tom sees several rolling eyes.
“ Viet Nam. One of the most controversial conflicts in this nation’s history. A proxy war deemed unnecessary by the younger generation, and the only salvation from Sino-Russian conquest by the older generations. Communism was an evil that infected most of the United States policies at the time.
“Today, Viet Nam is considered a mistake. A black eye on the military, the White House, and the surviving soldiers. Tonight, my grandfather, Sergeant Tomas Black of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, survivor of what is called “the Devil’s Half Acre.” The applause was sparse.
To the kids Tom felt he must look like a joke. When he was their age he was five foot six and chubby. Now at sixty-three he had lost the baby fat and three inches of height. He lost those things because of old age. The three missing fingers, left ear, and glass eye came from the war.
Tom started out slow. Tiny drips of information, high school, the draft, boot camp, all the boring bullshit that most movies cut out because it is agonizing. Tom felt it was important though. He was blind in a sense, a butterball fuck thrown into Tigerland, by the time he arrived in the Shit his body was hardened but his man still dripping with the fat of youth.
It wasn’t until he joined the Tunnel Rats when he felt he became a soldier. “They built the Cu Chi HQ out there because it was the only clear spot to get supplies in an out during monsoon, but soon after they built it they got attacked inside the perimeters. Turns out the Cu Chi land was honeycombed with over 200 miles of tunnels. The commanders couldn’t send most troops down in the tunnel because the Viet Cong were short bastards. So they came to me and some other guys all under 5’6”. They gave us a pistol and a flashlight and the orders to clear.
“I did maybe sixty drops into that hell. The tunnels were bent back every 100 meters or so. Every step forward was another step into ambush alley. Most of us died. But we were all short Napoleons that lived for the next dive.
“My last mission was simple, find the radio console. The VC dropped land mines around the shaft that killed five of us and took my ear. I rounded the corner and took shrapnel near my eye. I laid under the bodies of my squad for three days before more Rats came down and pulled me out.”
Tom continued with details, stark, real. His granddaughter beamed with pride. This is what her organization was about. Seeing the survivors of history speak truth. Tom’s hands were shaking nonstop.
***
“So how did that make you feel?” Brush, brush, brush.
“Like a fucking kid.” Tom wiped away tears.
“Interesting, speaking to a room of people is frightening, when jumping down into a Viet Cong tunnel is…” A soft digital beep sounded through the room. “I’m sorry Tom, that’s our time this week.”
“I have to go to work anyway.”
***
Tom stood in the corner of the bank, smiling at the pretty girls and sizing up any man that walked in. That’s what you do when you are barely five foot and carry a pistol. The gun the security agency gave him was shit. A snub nose revolver barely long enough to get the muzzle flash away from your knuckles. He longed for Romana, that sleek cobalt 9mm that was his only true companion while he crawled around in VC tunnels. All for freedom.
Movies, Tom felt were bullshit; he could tell within an instant if an actor had ever held a gun before. You can tell someone told them how to place their hands and how to duck walk, but they always lacked the familiarity one has with their weapon. When Tom had Romana, his entire fucking body swaggered. His dick was in his hand and all the pretty bitches were getting some.
The four guys who busted through the bank door were holding their dicks. They filed in fast which each covering an angle through the door. Short guy first, gun straight ahead, second guy over the left shoulder of the lead, third guy over the right shoulder of the guy in front of him, and the fourth covering the rear.
They all had military issue M4’s, Desert Eagles strapped to their legs, and bullet proof vests.
Professionals.
As Tom fumbled for his shit gun, a bullshit Asian dick, he had a smile on his face. At least it wasn’t some horseshit gangbang amateur.
The third soldier spotted him and shot Tom four times, once in the thigh, moving up and putting two in his chest, one in the face.
The alarm didn’t go off. When I finally did open my eyes those big red numbers are showing a number I can’t quite comprehend. It’s supposed to go off at 5:30 AM every morning to beat cross town traffic.
The clock glares 8:45.
I drank way too much last night.
I drag myself out of bed into the bathroom. The reflection showed a ghoul. Somehow during the course of the night I turned from a mild mannered data entry clerk into a shambling hangover monster.
I cut myself shaving.
While on hold trying to get my boss, I stub my toe on the transfer plate in between the dining room and kitchen, a maniacal brass shiv in the middle of my floor.
My boss is not happy.
I finish getting dressed, only grabbing my phone as I race out of the door. The message light is blinking. Four unread text messages, two missed calls, and a voicemail, all from Darlene. I get a queasy feeling in my stomach. I wasn’t with Darlene last night; I was out with the guys. Before I blacked out I remember them telling me that I should let Darlene know how I feel.
I cue the voicemail.
“Bill, fuck you. Who the fuck do you think you are? My pussy stinks? Grow the fuck up and lose my number. My pussy stinks? Find some other whore to lie to you and tell you your dick is a good size. Fucking pathetic. My mom has cancer you fuck not a bad hairstylist and you know that…”
I wonder how I’m going to get back the ring.
The local Starbucks people know me by name and one good look at my slack jawed and bleary eyed face they start making me the trente espresso with a million extra shots.
It is hot, and I spill it on my crotch driving into the parking lot at work.
“What’s up Bill? A little too much fun last night?”
“Whoa! Bill, looks like you pissed yourself.”
“Bill, did you forget that you take it out of your pants first, again?”
“Bill, the boss wants to see you.”
My boss is one of those beautiful bastards that actually believes what we do here is important. Checking one excel spreadsheet against another. Rinse, repeat, slash wrist. He “came up through the ranks!” We were supposed to look up to this guy but I doubt we would piss on him if he was covered with badgers.
“Bill, this is the third time you’ve come in late.”
“This month?”
“Since you’ve started…”
“I’ve worked here three years!”
“Exactly, your lack of dedication to your job and chronic tardiness is worrying. I didn’t get where I am today by not showing up for my shift. In fact I showed up an hour early and stayed late every night. And now I am the Shift Supervisor. If you weren’t trying to be so cool and not care about your work, in a few more years you could be like me.”
“Three times in three years? That’s not chronic, it’s just sad.”
“It is sad. Sad that I have to do this. Here are your exit papers.”
“What? Exit…I don’t understand.”
“We won’t be needing your services anymore.”
Boom, fired.
The drive back to my shitty fucking rental house in a shitty fucking neighborhood is the longest it has ever been. My foot is throbbing from the stubbed toe. Makes it hard to push the pedals. My pants still aren’t dry.
At least I can go back to sleep.
You know maybe today isn’t so bad. That job was just a big fucking roadblock. Maybe I can finally dedicate my time to my webcomic, “Eat Ninjas, Shit Pirates.” You know this could fucking work. I feel oddly victorious. At least it could be victory I’m feeling, more than likely digesting whiskey boiling in my stomach.
The radio station starts the first three notes of a Spin Doctors’ song. With a scream of anguish I look to change the station, the car in front of me stopped.
I smack into her, my sore foot not reacting to the brake pedal fast enough.
Wrecking one’s car is the best response to a Spin Doctors’ song.
I realize that my car insurance expired last week.
Then I see that the girl driving the car in front of me is Darlene.
Fuck.
She thought she saw a cat; my car is fucked, fluids draining out of it faster than…a thing that leaks fluid. My brain isn’t really working.
Her car isn’t in that bad of shape and I have no insurance.
She bitches me out in the same vein as her voicemail earlier as I see my car drive off on a tow truck.
She gives me back the ring. Luckily, there is a bank across the street, and I had just gotten my tax return. I offer her $700 dollars to make her go away.
“Maybe I can fix my car and the smell in my pussy? Fucking asshole.” We head over to the bank. She is just radiating heat and hate into the back of my skull.
The bank is pretty crowded, first of the month, and I’m about to empty my account. And with no job. My foot really hurts.
I hand her the envelope full of all the cash I had in the world, and head for the exit.
That’s when four guys in skimasks rush in with automatic weapons and shotguns.
The guard makes a slow reach for a side arm and is shot dead.
“Everybody get the fuck down!”
We all drop. I catch the eyes of a cop kneeling next to a pretty lady. They both look to be weeping.
I keep my eyes down and only here randomness. Sobs, grunts, screams, gunshots, and finally the ringleader asking us all for our wallets. I throw the sad empty Velcro thing in front of me. I see Darlene slide the envelope next to it.
The goons grab the cash and some hostages and head out into the fray.
Darlene looks shaken up, but I’m more concerned about the cash.
Hours later, after the cops are done with us, Darlene offers me a ride home. She tells me that maybe I was drunk last night and she shouldn’t blame me. In fact, maybe I’m a good guy, with a decent job (I haven’t told her about the firing, like I need that spiking the kool-aid).
We slow to a stop at an intersection about a block from my place.
She looks at me meekly, those perfect lips slide over perfect teeth. “Bill, I’m sorry. I’ve been such a bitch lately. Can I have my ring back?”
I hand it over and we move through the intersection. We are moving into a new relationship, a new understanding. Everything is forgotten and washed away.
That’s when the bus hit us.
“It’ll be ok, trust me…” She could barely look me in the eye. She is so scared. Those lips that I have kissed a thousand times mouth the words “my God,” in an endless litany. “Shhh, baby, it’ll be over soon, just stay cool and we’ll get through this.” She finally catches my eyes and the anguish and fear is palpable, a pale horse driving a wedge between us.
The groan of a turning combat boot startles me with its nearness. I could smell the gun oil. He is so close. “Just don’t look at him honey, eyes to the floor.”
“Hey, fucko! You got something to say?” He pushes my head forward savagely, I stay quiet. “I’m talking to you mother fucker!” He presses the gun barrel to my temple.
I raise my head and can’t help but take in the scene. Lunchtime, first of the month, bank is packed with people trying to deposit checks to cover their bills. Twenty hostages all on their knees with hands behind their heads. Four heavily armed men, two white, one black, one Latino, all wearing masks but leaving their forearms bare. Living machines of guns and knives.
My wife of twelve years kneeling beside me, weeping, desperately wanting to grab my hand and bury her face in my shoulder. We were on our way to lunch at Tessaro’s. I was planning on giving her an early anniversary gift. The small hinged box in my pocket feels heavier than it should. But first we had to deposit a check…
“Like I thought, fucking pussy.” He drives the gun barrel into my head hard, and I piss my pants. Then he walks off.
I lower my head in shame. I should be at work now, miles away from this bullshit. It’s all her fault. I can’t walk in a fucking straight line. Over a decade of “hey babe get this, hey babe let’s stop here…” Again and again. I wanted a fucking burger. Lunch hours aren’t that fucking long, a fucking hour. Sixty god damn minutes to steal in the middle of the bullshit day. But no…
She is crying again, hard, agitating the robbers. One of the whites and the Latino are at the counters, the black guy is on crowd control and the other white guy is watching the street. There are five kids here.
The security guard is dead. Shot in the very beginning of the event. His blood has been making a straight red line to where I kneel in a puddle of my own piss.
The white guy on the door starts screaming profanities and runs back to the counters. “That fucking cunt hit the alarm!” He unloads four bullets into the fat lady behind the computer. I think her name was Gloria.
“Fuck man, we have to get out of here.”
“Too late, three fucking berries just pulled in.”
“What the fuck…Jake what are going to do?”
“Not use our names you fucking dipshit. Grab a couple of hostages. Bitches.”
The robbers, now full of direction, dash into action. The black guy walks over to my wife. “Come on bitch.” As he grabs her arm savagely, I think two distinct thoughts:
The first thing I think is that the black guy as a weird scar on his inner forearm.
The second is that this is the moment you always see in movies. “No, take me, not her.” Chivalry, heroism, all that shit. I look into my wife’s eyes as she is pulled pleading towards the front door. We are locked. We see each other souls at that moment and I turn my head.
Heroes die, cowards live.
The leader, “Jake” starts asking us to empty our pockets. I slide the little hinged box as far away from me as hard as I can. The security guard’s blood makes it a difficult task.
Jake is smiling as he picks it up. He kneels in front of me, “This is a nice locket, Jennifer and Mike until the stars turn off…” He turns his head to wear the black guy is holding her like a shield against his body, the non-gun hand fiercely molesting her breast.
“Sure, you don’t want us to, you know, take you instead? Seems like you love her a lot.”
Jake gives me a mocking smile through the hole in his ski mask, snot comes out of my nose as a snob racks my body.
“Didn’t think so, what a fucking hero.”
The run out of the door shielded by my wife and three strangers.
I roll on my side covered in piss.
***Six Months Later***
I am walking in a flea market over at the La Costa Drive-In. There are kids everywhere, screaming, the noise nearly kills me.
My phone rings, collection companies hunting me down. Since the divorce my credit went to shit, so here I am looking for a used coffee table.
Yet I don’t find much. I wander down the aisle and tables. I spend much of my time alone.
In the back, near the main screen I see a table with some nicer things. Silver vases, televisions, DVDs, and jewelry. My nights really consist of me hiding from the reporters that hang out in my yard every night. I jerk off two or three times before going to bed.
I cry a lot.
DVDs are always a welcome distraction so I head over, killing time browsing.
“Hey man, what are you looking for? I kind of have a hard on for organization so you want horror, mystery, anything like that I’ll show you what box. The uh, adult stuff is in the red box.” The speaker is a burly black guy with a not-quite-there mustache.
I mumble something and continue looking. I can’t find anything I can’t live without and get ready to walk away when I see a small hinged box with a locket.
My knees buckle a bit and great sob wracks me. The black guy comes over, “You like that one? Fifty bucks man.” When he points I see a funny looking scar on the inside of his forearm.
I throw everything in my wallet on the table, grab the locket and run away.
Behind me I hear the guy say, “Thanks Officer.”
Hello, are you awake? Good. I’m afraid my associate has a distinct lack of a light touch. Ugh, that’s going to bruise.
I know, I know, this is very confusing. Let me guess, “Where am I?” That’s usually the first question, followed by another much more important, “Why me?”
Why me? Might be the most important question in the world. Well we’ll get to that one later.
Where am I? You are in a warehouse with the words “Jenkins Cannery” on top of a red roof. The outside veneer is more of slate gray siding. We are next to the Tuna Bee distribution center and the Baby Acres Warehouse. They are blue and I guess “steel” colored respectively.
The road we are on is Industrial Drive. If you were to take it East you will meet with Franklin which will take you to the 70. Highway 70 East towards Harmerville is home.
Hold on, there’s more.
Outside the door there is a forest green ’96 Pontiac Grand-Am. There is slightly less than a half tank. The keys are in the center console. Careful, a wind storm hit the driver’s door when I was going to Taco Bell one day and jackknifed the door open. I had to pry it out of the quarter panel with a screwdriver. It makes a god damn awful racket when you open the door. What else?
Plates are good, lights all work, as long as you drive about five over the limit you shouldn’t get pulled over. If you do, I forged a registration in your name in the glove box. Your wallet is over here on my work table. See?
I know that look, you want to know why I’m telling you all this. I’m getting to it. Just a couple more things for the…prologue, if you will.
Your room is back there, it has a cot and a working toilet. Your door will be locked at night but a stiff kick will bust it open, it barely even qualifies as cardboard.
At night, my associate will be keeping guard. He has a little desk with a TV and a laptop with an internet connection. So he’ll be engrossed with porn or the NFL network at any given time. He will be armed with a tazer, buck knife, and a 9mm Beretta. Now this is important, are you paying attention?
He is left handed. That means if you see his right hand go into his coat he’s grabbing the knife, the reverse, left hand, right side of coat means bang bang. Got me?
On my work table which is right next to the door to your room are my tools. Lots of gnarly shit but you should focus on the Desert Eagle .50. It will be enough to handle my associate. Serial numbers are scraped as well as any identifiers. I oil it every morning so I promise you it will not jam.
Now why am I telling you all this? Your escape is all but guaranteed if you heed my directions. The main doors are locked but after you shoot my associate you will find the keys in…. Paul, where do you keep the keys? Left front pocket? Thanks.
The keys are in the left front pocket.
So kick door, grab gun, shoot Paul, get keys, unlock main door, get into Pontiac, go home. Simple enough.
But I don’t think you’ll do it. You’re smirking. You must one devious bad ass mother fucker, am I right? I played right into your hands, like I’m some dipshit Bond villain giving you the goods while you are strapped down. Damn it, man I am just dumb.
But there is that other question. I answered, “Where am I?” But if you bolt out of here first night, you’ll never find out, “Why me?”
Hmm?
Now I don’t see why during all of this we can’t be friendly, or even become friends. There’s no reason to behave uncivilized towards each other.
However, I am very good at my job and I was paid $750,000 plus expenses to bring you here. That’s an awful lot of money, and I am the very best. Someone has a hate boner for you.
Now comes the unfortunate time where I prove to you how good I am at getting information. This first time I won’t be asking a question. Just applying my trade to your left inner thigh. It will hurt. Hurt more than anything you’ve ever experience.
You need to do something for me. Picture in your mind the happiest day ever. The day you got that puppy, the first time you got to second base, uh Rush live in 1978. Whatever, just think about it hard.
Now shut your eyes and put yourself in that one shining moment, the light in the darkness…
***
She is standing there with a pout on her face, idly toying with one of her braids. Her whole body is selling the slump in her shoulders. Boredom, thou art defined. The carnival is small this year, just a Ferris wheel and scrambler. The games are the usual throw a dart, throw a ring, everyone is a winner.
When her father glances back at her for approval, she rolls her eyes. Thirteen years on the planet and she is not impressed any more. It has been discovered, weighed, and assessed. Lame. Boring and lame.
She doesn’t see her father ring the bottle with the star, so she is taken completely by surprise when he walks to her with a big grin and even bigger purple stuffed unicorn.
She squeals and kisses him on the cheek…
***
Sorry about all of that. How bad was it? Where you able to focus on something? Good, remember it you are going to need it more and more.
So, um, leave the bandage on all night. I left some antiseptic in your room.
Tomorrow we will start for real.
Your homework tonight is to think on two words, “Why me?”
There are few things I actually know for sure. At this age you should probably be more certain, but alas, mysteries abound.
One thing I know is that a bull is colorblind. They don’t hate the color red. I am missing most of my thigh muscle in my left leg, which was carefully dressed in drab black when I learned the errors of my ways.
Another thing I know is that the love of a woman will be the greatest happiness and sadness you can know. And you will love and cherish those emotions.
The last thing I know for sure, is that there was a tiny ship that for a time was orbiting the earth. It spun madly around the world, faster and faster until it lost its trajectory and burned up in the atomsphere. It was a glorious meteor of metal and passenger.
Inside the ship was a dead dog.
I am cursed, have been since I was a boy.
My dad said it was because he fucked a gypsy in Peoria.
Every time I fell in love with a girl, they moved away.
Every rock star I loved, dead at 27.
Even the food I love will suddenly stop being sold at grocery stores .
Literally, I am a dead end for dreams of fulfillment. If you want to go somewhere in life, don’t let me know about it.
My dad knows all about my curse. Used to beat me every night. He told me it was my fault Twilight Zone got canceled. To hear him, I’m to blame for everything from the cancellation of Star Trek to the Kennedy assassination, both of them.
My penance has been four broken clavicles, a detached retina, internal bleeding, and a few anal fissures.
But,I’ve decided my revenge, every thing I love and idolize dies.
Dad you are my hero…
I want to be just like you…
Everything you do is right…
It’s been ten years of worship.
My wife has a restraining order against me and my son is in traction.
I saw a movie once.
I know big deal right? No this one was cool, it was like this insurance guy talking into a old school tape recorder. Only it wasn’t like on cassette or anything, it was totally like the Flintstones. Anyshits, this guy is confessing all this ill shit he did with this chick.
Yeah that was cool.
So I’m most probably dead right now. Or going to be soon. I recorded a couple of files to play after this one. Those are the goodbye tapes. This is more like a commentary track on how it feels. Fuck man, it’s just cold.
Cold and empty.
Look man, no need for me to bum you out even more. Let’s just say that the end is fucking heavy dude.
Oh shit! I think they are here. I’ve got to go, remember play the tapes in order. Hey man, I lo…
**
Remember that time we tickle Patrick so hard he shit himself?
That was cool.
Hey this is Tape 1 side two and I’ve a confession to make. I made these tapes in advance and mailed them to you. Problem is I didn’t have your address. So I made some calls. Gloria is not happy with you at all…
***
Welcome to tape 4.
Like I was saying. You need to watch who it is you are messing with. They know, dude, they know…
***
Tape 2 back in school.
So Gloria was telling me you turned me in….
***
Boop! Tape six
Not necessary to run. Before they come for me I’m going to tell them every…
***
Tape ten is in
You deserve everything you assho…
***
Tape one side one
I love you dad
defconwhiskey 