The Good Listener

by B. M. Hardin

  “Just like I was choked, beaten, slapped and tortured, I want to do you the same way. I want you to feel the pain that you and your mother caused me. I want you to know what it feels like to go to be every night in pain, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I want you to suffer just like I had to do for years.”

  He grabbed a hand full of my hair and held onto it tightly.

  He talked to me as I swatted at his hands, but he never let go of me.

  “Remember when you asked me what I would say to my mother if I could say one last thing to her? I said that I would ask her to forgive me, but that was for being responsible for setting up the death of her son, my brother. But you know what I would say to her for killing you, my sister? I would tell her, “You’re welcome” because I know that killing you would have made her happy. You were never supposed to be born in the first place.”

  I wailed loudly as he spat on me and smacked me with his free hand.

  “When you get to wherever you’re going, tell that bastard father of ours that I said hello, would you,” He said and squeezed my jaws together tightly.

  “Please, please,” I managed to say.

  I begged him as he placed his hands around my throat.

  His eyes were glazed over, and I could tell that his evil personality had stepped in.

  I tried to fight him off, but it only seemed to piss him off, and he started to scream and squeeze.

  I struggled to breathe as he continued to choke me.

  “I hate you. You don’t know how hard it was to pretend that I liked you! You don’t know how hard it was for me to pretend that I could stand your presence! So many times I wanted to kill you, right there as you talked to me. Just die! I just want you to die! Good Listener my ass! Die!” he yelled, but the sudden loud noise stole his focus.

  “Freeze!”

  His hands didn’t move from my neck so the officer screamed again.

  “Freeze! Now! Put your hands up where I can see them! Now!”

  Slowly Blake let go of my neck and stood up straight.

  I gasped for air as I saw that it was Officer Parks.

  He was holding a big rifle and staring right at Blake.

  They stared each other down for only a second.

  “Put your hands up where I can see them. Hannah, can you get up and come over to me?”

  “No. No. My feet are tied.”

  “Don’t move.”

  Blake started to chuckle loudly.

  He laughed historically.

  He looked back at me and smirked and then back at Officer Parks.

  I saw his foot move.

  “I said, don’t move,” Officer Parks repeated.

  “Yeah right,” Blake responded as he lunged for the gun on the edge of the couch.

  And Officer Parks fired.

  The bullets hit Blake in the chest, and he fell to the ground, face first.

  Officer Parks ran over to me and started to untie my feet.

  “Are you okay?”

  “No. No, I’m not.”

  “Let’s get you out of here.”

  He froze as a shot went off.

  Blake had fired the gun, hitting him in the back.

  Officer Parks waited for just a second, before looking back at Blake.

  “Yeah right,” he grunted and mocked Blake as he fired several times at Blake causing him to scream and then hit the floor again.

  Blake didn’t move again.

  Blake was dead.

  With my feet free, I helped him up and turned him around.

  The bullet had gone through his shirt and was resting deep inside of the bullet proof vest.

  Thank goodness.

  He helped me out, and a swarm of officers ran in.

  I noticed Mr. Calvin and ran in his direction.

  “What are you doing here?” I embraced him.

  “After your conviction, before we knew that you saw Summer, I asked Joel to get me the files that you had been working on. Something just didn’t seem right. He gave me Blake’s folder. I forgot all about it since you were free but today I spotted it and before I called you to tell you that I had it, I opened it. I read a few of you notes and I knew right then and there who he was. He was your father’s son. I’d always told your father that leaving him behind and starting a new life without him was the wrong decision and that one day he would regret it. I knew that it was a bad choice from the start but he thought that it was best. It was something about your mother that just made him want to erase everything about himself from the past and change. Though it was a little harsh, with your mother he changed for the better. But someone still had to pay the price. I guess his karma was passed down to you.”

  “So you knew? You knew he had been married and about his other child? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It wasn’t my place to tell you, Hannah. It wasn’t anyone’s place to tell you but your parents, and they’d made it clear to everyone that you didn’t need to know about the past. But never did it cross my mind that his long lost son, your brother, would have become one of your patients and do something like this. But I knew from the things that he said that it was him. And his name wasn’t Blake; it was the same as your father’s. William Jr. William is his real name.”

  “But how did you know? How could you tell from my notes? I’d been studying them for months. I’ve reread them so much that I can quote them to you. Never, not once did I pick up on the fact that he was talking about me or referring to my dad.”

  “I listened to everything that he didn’t say. I listened to what you didn’t write, but what you should have heard from something that he’d said. It was all right there.”

  He sounded just like Blake…or William.

  Or whatever.

  Officer Parks came back over to us.

  “How did you know where I was?”

  “Well, when he came to us and said that he couldn’t reach you and that he thought that you might be in trouble, I tapped into the location device that I had placed on your car when you were suspected for Summer’s disappearance.”

  That’s how he always knew where I was.

  “So you were illegally locating me? You put a tracking device on my car without my knowledge or consent? You know that’s against the law?”

  “I know,” he said.

  I smiled.

  “Thank you. Thank you.”

  I hugged him for saving me, but I was still suing the crap out of them.

  As he hurried off, I was interviewed by the police, and once they were done with their questions, they suggested that I go to the hospital just as a precaution.

  Mr. Calvin wrapped his arms around me and led me towards that ambulance so that I could be on my way.

  Glancing back at the shack, I saw Blake being rolled out in a black body bag and without my permission, my lips curled into a small grin.

  “How about you tell our father that I said hello, brother,” I mocked him under my breath and then turned the other way.

  ~***~

  Months Later…

  I rubbed my stomach as the baby kicked.

  That’s right.

  I was pregnant!

  Joel was gone, but he’d left behind something more precious than gold.

  I was pregnant with a baby girl, and I couldn’t wait to meet her.

  Come to find out, when I tried to commit suicide, it was too early to tell, but the seed had already been planted.

  Of course, I’d been sick since then, but I thought that it was all as a result of all of the hell and sadness that I had been going through in my life lately.

  But that day that Blake had tried to kill me, once I was at the hospital to be checked out, I found out the big news.

  I couldn’t believe it.

  I was so glad that I’d tried to use sex to break down Joel when I’d thought that he was hiding something about Summer because even though I didn’t get a confession that he wouldn’t have had, I got something that meant so much more.

&nb
sp; Things hadn't gone according to plan, but I was glad that I would now have a piece of him with me forever.

  I’d taken a settlement, fast, quick and easy, and I’d taken all of my money and moved to the west coast.

  I didn’t have any family or any friends, but I was fine with that. I was going to be fine with just me and my daughter, and I was planning on keeping it that way for the rest of my life.

  I’d changed my mind about a husband. I was having a baby, so I didn’t need one anymore and considering what I’d gone through, there was no way that I would trust anyone ever again. My daughter was the only friend that I would ever need.

  After suing the state of Texas, I never had to work again, and I didn’t plan too.

  No more counseling or patients.

  I was going to enjoy every moment of my life with her and dedicate my life to making sure that all of her dreams come true. I was going to teach her some of the valuable lessons that I’d learned and hope and pray that she made smart and great decisions.

  This was my purpose. This was my destiny.

  I stood on the front porch and rubbed my belly as the mailman walked up with a smile.

  “You’re about to pop.”

  “I know. I can’t wait.”

  “Boy or girl?”

  “Girl.”

  “I have two daughters. You picked out a name yet?”

  “Yes. China.”

  He smiled, handed me my mail and walked away.

  I’d decided to name her China because of Joel and his love that he’d had for her. And somewhat as a token of mine too, despite some of the things that she did.

  I missed them both, I really did.

  Looking through the stack, it didn’t appear to be anything important and then something caught my eye.

  It was a postcard.

  From Hawaii.

  My heart skipped a beat, and my hands started to shake as I flipped it over and attempted to read the small writing.

  “Congratulations on the baby Hannah. Pregnancy really does look good on you. Well, I just wanted to say that it looks like you fixed me after all, considering that I’m in Hawaii, and I left you “alive” in Sacramento. Yes, I’ve known where you were for months, but the urge is gone.

  P.S. You didn’t really think that I was dead, did you? Don’t ever forget what I taught you. People and Papers lie. No one can ever truly be trusted. Not even the man holding the gun. Ever heard of bean bag rounds? Goodbye Hannah.

  Your Brother,

  “Blake”

  The End.

  ********************************************

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