The Retribution

by Shankar Kashyap

  “Who is it?”

  “It’s me Lenny, open the door please, Vanessa. I am desperate.”

  There was sound of chain being moved and door opened with Vanessa standing looking bewildered in her nightie and rubbing he eyes.

  “Who is that, Vanessa?” John’s voice from the bedroom upstairs sounded gruff. “Do you know what time this is? It is 5’O clock in the bloody morning.”

  “It’s Lenny, love.” Vanessa said as she pulled Lenny inside and shut the door. Turning to Lenny, she continued “What the hell are you doing at this time of the morning? Is that blood on your hands? Are you hurt?”

  Lenny stumbled into the apartment and collapsed on the settee covering his face with blood stained hands.

  “I think I have killed someone, Vanessa.” He sobbed. “I think I have killed Bro. I have killed him. Killed my best mate.”

  He was stuttering by this time and his sobs got worse as he went on. Soon he was sobbing like a baby and Vanessa could see his thin chest heaving through the shirt.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” David had come into the sitting room by then still in his pyjamas. “What do you mean killed someone?”

  “I am telling you Dave. I killed Bro. My best friend Bro.” Lenny was shivering violently now. “What am I going to do now?”

  “Tell me what really happened. How can you kill someone?” David was getting a bit irate now. “You can hardly swat a fly let alone kill someone. What happened to your jacket? You got blood all over your shoes too.”

  Lenny stared at his blood stained hands and his shoes.

  “I don’t know Dave. I can’t remember a thing. It’s like a nightmare.” Lenny had stopped sobbing now, but the words were still coming out slowly at first and then a torrent flooded out. “I can see him lying there with his throat slit open and blood all over the floor. His eyes! I can still see his eyes staring at me Dave. I can’t get them out of my head. I can see them even when with my eyes shut. How could I have done that Dave? How could I kill my Bro? He was my mate and I killed him. He was the best thing that happened to me. Where will I go?”

  “Wait a minute.” David said, trying to stop the torrent and make some sense out of what he was saying. “Tell us what happened from the beginning. You left us in the evening stone cold sober.”

  Lenny stopped and looked at David and then Vanessa as if he could not understand the question.

  “Tell us where you went from here.”

  Vanessa prompted.

  “Uh. Oh.” He stuttered again and looked blank for a minute before starting again. “I needed a fix. So, I went to Sharon’s to see if she got some stuff. I knew she always kept some at home. I was desperate for some, you see.”

  He was almost pleading.

  “Yes. What happened then?”

  “She didn’t have any. Lousy bitch. I am sure she was lying. She wanted it all for herself. That’s why I went looking for Bro. I called him from Sharon’s. He said he would meet me at back lane of near the Garage. I remember getting into his car and picking some mates of his on the way to the house. He had the good stuff. I tell you, Dave. It was really good stuff. You have never had anything like it. He called it the special. I remember him mixing it. I tell you, he was good. I tell you …..”

  “You are rambling Lenny.” David was getting impatient. “Get to the point. How did it happen?”

  “That is it. I don’t know. I don’t know for f**k’s sake. Stop grilling me.” Lenny looked blank. Tears started rolling down his cheeks. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

  There was a desperate plea in his eyes.

  “We believe you Lenny. You got to tell us everything if you want us to help.”

  “I could not have killed him. Do you think I could have killed him? Do you? Do you?” He had his head in his hands again. He could not stop the throbbing. Why doesn’t it go away? “But I woke up with the knife in my hand. And it was my knife. There is blood all over me. There was no one else in the house. I must have killed him.”

  Lenny started to sob again. David could see his thin chest racking with every sob.

  “You are not making any sense. Where is your jacket? Go and get yourself cleaned out.” David said and turning to Vanessa, “Give him a towel and I’ll get some tea for us in the meantime.”

  Lenny looked at himself and shrugged his shoulders.

  “I don’t know. I must have left my jacket and cap at the house.”

  “What house? Whose house?”

  “It’s Bro’s house. Been there before for my fix.” Lenny said. There was a look of desperation in his face.

  “Get yourself cleaned out and let’s talk about it.” Vanessa said handing him a towel.

  Lenny came back from the bathroom a few minutes later as David walked in with the teas.

  “Get this down you and start at the beginning and tell us what happened.”

  Lenny took the mug of tea gratefully and sat on the settee taking a sip before speaking. The story unravelled in spits and spats. And he was stuttering most of the time. David had to prompt him repeatedly.

  “There is not much to tell, Dave. After I left here last night, I went to Sharon for a fix. She would not give me any. I was bad. Real bad. I needed a fix quickly. I called Bro and he asked me to come over to the usual meeting place. I don’t remember much after that. It is all fuzzy. I remember it was dark and I got into a car.”

  He was staring at the wall behind David, trying to concentrate.

  “Go on. Where did they take you?”

  “I don’t know. I …. There were others too in the car.” He stopped and David could see drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. “Wait, they were waiting for us.”

  “Who was waiting for you?”

  “And there was that cat.” Lenny’s eyes were glazed and he could not focus. “I tell you David, the cat was a monster. You haven’t seen anything like it before.”

  “What are you talking about? What cat? What is it got to do with it?”

  “I tell you it was a monster and it attacked me. If I didn’t have my knife it would have killed me.”

  “Did you kill a cat?”

  “No, I could not kill the cat. But it was a monster and kept attacking me. I thought I was a goner, David.”

  “You are not making any sense Lenny.” Vanessa said. “Take your time and think carefully. Tell us slowly what happened from the beginning.”

  It was no use. He was babbling again and it was difficult to understand what he was saying. David went up to him and put his hands on Lenny’s shoulders.

  “Lenny, look at me.” Lenny stopped mumbling. “No, I want you to look at me.”

  Lenny looked up and there was terror in his eyes.

  “You are safe now. You are in our house and there is no cat here. We will look after you. I won’t let any cat get at you.”

  “We went in a car to his place in Harrison road.”

  “Whose place?”

  “Bro’s place.” undisguised irritation in Lenny’s voice. “Been there before for other things.”

  David and Vanessa looked at each other.

  “What other things?” Vanessa asked.

  “You know things. Things that Bro likes doing. He was good to me. Bro was a good man and I killed him.”

  “Stop saying that, for God’s sake. You haven’t killed anybody. You can’t kill anybody.”

  Lenny was sobbing again uncontrollably. His thin body shuddered as he sobbed.

  “I must have killed him. I can see his eyes now. It is as if he was asking why?” He suddenly stopped and looked up at David. “Why did I do that? He was a good man.”

  “What happened next?” David asked. “Did you go in his car?”

  The throbbing headaches came back and Lenny put his hands on his head, squeezing his temples. He sipped his tea again before saying anything else. He thought he could see Bro’s eyes in the tea cup. He squeezed his eyes shut and put the mug down on the coffee table.

  “I do
n’t know. I think there were two more men in the car. Why can’t I remember?”

  “It is important you try to remember Lenny.” Vanessa pitched in.

  “These headaches have come back. It is throbbing. I can’t think.” Lenny was squinting his eyes and trying to concentrate which made his headaches worse. He started to massage his forehead and eyes started to water. He shook his head violently before continuing. “I think it was a big car. I definitely remember there were other blokes in the car.”

  “Who were the blokes? Did you recognise any of them? Are you sure there were only two of them?”

  “No. I never seen them before in my life. They must be his mates. They seemed to be pally like. Bro said it was alright.”

  “How many were they?”

  “I think two others. I am not sure there may have been more.”

  “Was it Bro’s car?”

  “I can’t remember. Bro was there with me. We went to his house. I remember getting into the house with him. I remember sitting at his dining table while he got me the fix. That’s all I can remember. It was good stuff Dave. It was really the best. Next thing I remember is ….”

  His voice tapered off to a grumble and neither David nor Vanessa could make out what he was saying. He was rambling on about ghosts and blood and eyes. Lenny stood up and started to wave his arms about. There was a terrified look on his face and the eyes appear to be focusing on something miles away. Soon sweat was pouring out of his face and mixed with drool from the corner of his mouth started dripping all over the floor.

  For Lenny, the demons had come back. Dark clouds seem to engulf him and the only thing he could see were those blood shot eyes of Bro, staring at him. He thought he could see blood squirting out of the eyes. They seem to accuse him of something. He thought he could hear the eyes shout out ‘Why?’ repeatedly. But eyes can’t talk. Can they? Suddenly that cat was back. It was still huge and had angry eyes spouting fire and claws open to attack him. It hissed at him and it sounded more like a growl. It had come out of the dining room and was poised to jump on him when he screamed.

  “Stop them, Dave! Stop the cat! He is going to kill me! Shoo! Go away. I’ll kill you if you come near me.” He screamed. Staring at Vanessa. He struggled to get his hand into his trouser pocket and brought out empty. He looked at his empty hand stupidly. “Oh my god. Where is my knife? Someone stole my knife. Dave, someone has stolen my knife. I can’t kill that cat monster. You got to help me now.”

  “There is no cat here, Lenny. That is only Vanessa coming in from the kitchen. She brought you some headache tablets. You better take some.” David said trying to control him with his hands on Lenny’s shoulders. “You know we have never had any cats here in our house.”

  But there was no use talking to him. His eyes were again focused miles away and he did not seem to hear anything David said. He wriggled out of David’s grasp and started to ramble again. He had his hands squeezing his head tightly as he kept staring at Vanessa without focussing. But it was not Vanessa he was seeing in the room. He could see him clearly. He tried to scream as the hand holding the knife came down on the back of Bro. But no sound came out. He was so desperate to warn him. The knife came down on his back again and again until he collapsed in a heap on the ground. It was a frenzied attack with blood spurting out of his back. As he collapsed, he turned around to look at Lenny. He reached out to Lenny. But he could not move. It was as if he was nailed to the ground. Then the knife came down and slit his throat, in a deliberate and swift move. That is when he heard the hiss again. It was not the cat this time. It was the last breath of Bro as blood bubbled out of his mouth and eyes kept staring at Lenny. That’s when Lenny screamed finally and collapsed onto the settee.

  “Where is my knife, Dave? Have you taken my knife?” Lenny screamed again shooting out of the settee. “You have stolen my knife. I’ll kill you for that”

  Lenny tried to lunge at David and ended up falling down again helplessly. David and Vanessa helped him up and tried to get him onto the settee. He started to struggle again and mumble.

  “For god’s sake, please stop them. Why me? What have I done? I didn’t mean to kill him. I didn’t mean to kill anyone. Somebody make them go away. I can’t stand it anymore.”

  He was pulling at his shirt and the buttons started popping off and there was the noise of tearing. He had the shirt off and threw it on the ground. He tried to pull at the zip of his pants and got his fingers stuck and he screamed in frustration. David came and tried to restrain him and pulled him down on t the settee. Lenny was struggling and the two of them managed to get him to lie down on the settee. Lenny was waif of a man and it was not too hard to control him. He was thin and quite fragile. He used to be called a ‘string bean’ while at school and since leaving school he had lost even more weight, particularly after starting on the heavier stuff.

  Vanessa got a blanket to cover him. He curled up under the blanket and started to shiver violently. The two of them looked at each other not knowing what to do next. They had seen him like this before, but usually when he was off the stuff for a few days. This is the first time they had seen him like this so soon after a fix. Neither of them were not sure what to do next. They would not dare call the ambulance for the fear of questions being asked.

  They still had the blood stained shoes on Lenny. He might have some blood on his clothes too. David picked up his shirt from the floor and started to look carefully for blood stains. He was a bit puzzled to see no sign of any blood on the shirt apart from the ends of the sleeves. By this time a gentle snore could be heard from under the blanket.

  “I think we better have a good look at his clothes when he wakes up. We will have to get rid of his clothes somehow.” David said looking at Vanessa. “I don’t know what he got himself into this time. I had told him not to carry that stupid knife with him. He wouldn’t listen.”

  “You are right.” Vanessa replied. “Let’s hope we can get some sense out of him when he wakes up. I better get his shirt washed up. I bet he will have blood on his trousers too. Your clothes won’t fit him. What are we going to do?”

  “I am sure Sharon would bring some clothes for him here. Give her a call and see.”

  “What am I going to tell her? Lenny is not with Sharon anymore. You know he has been fooling around with that teenager for a few months. That is why she has kicked him out of the house.”

  “I know, Vanessa. But she still loves the idiot for some reason.” David replied. “I am sure she would help and won’t sell him to the pigs. Give her a call and see what she says.”

  Sharon picked up the phone at the third attempt.

  “Yeah. Who is it?”

  She sounded rough and in a foul mood.

  “It is me Vanessa, Sharon. How are you?”

  “I’m up to my eyeballs with this kids. I have had enough. What do you want?”

  ‘Not very friendly’ Vanessa thought. Wonder what Lenny sees in her. She was much older than Lenny too and foul tempered.

  “It’s Lenny.”

  “Yeah what about him? I haven’t seen him for a couple of days.”

  “He is in some sort of trouble.”

  “What has he done now? The creep was round here last night asking for dope.”

  “I know he keeps some of his clothes at your place. Can you bring a pair along please if you can?” Sharon said doubtfully.

  “Why should I? The creep can rot in hell.” Sharon was screaming down the phone line. Vanessa could hear one of the kids screaming in the background. “He has left me for that floosy who is barely out of school. Why don’t you ask her?”

  Vanessa was quiet for a minute before replying.

  “You are right Sharon. She lives with her mum still. You know I can’t ask her. Chances are, she does not keep any of his clothes at her place. It being her mum’s place anyway.”

  “Go and stuff yourself. Ask that creep to get lost.”

  “Come on Sharon. For old times’ sake. He treat you well when
the going was good wasn’t it?”

  “For ……” the voice trailed off and there was no sound on the line for a minute or two. Vanessa thought she had been cut off. She looked down at the phone and it was still connected.

  “Hi Sharon. Are you still there?”

  Vanessa could hear some kids screaming on the other side and sound of glass breaking. There was a lot of swearing and more screaming from the kids.

  “Yeah. I’m still here. I am bloody sick of these kids. I am going to kill them or they will kill me.” Sharon said exasperated. “You are right. He was good to me when he had some brains. That dope has rotted his brain now. I don’t know what he sees in that skinny bitch.”

  “He is in a bit of trouble now. He needs your help.”

  “What has he done now? Is the police involved? I don’t want to get into trouble with the pigs.”

  “No. The police are not involved.” Not at the moment anyway, Vanessa thought. “We don’t know what has happened. He is zonked out and filthy. I can’t really get him out of the house in his state.”

  “OK. Hang fire. I’ll have to get Mom to come over and keep an eye on the kids before I can bring some clothes over.”

  The line was disconnected before Vanessa could say anything. David was quiet listening to the conversation.

  “Is she coming over?”

  “Yeah. She wasn’t going to at first. Not that I blame her too, the way Lenny has treated her over the last few months.

  “What are we going to do about the sleeping beauty now?”

  “I would let him sleep it off for now.” Vanessa replied. “I might as well get ready to go to work now. No point going back to sleep.”

  “You are going to work?” David said. “We can’t leave him behind in this state. We don’t know what he can get up to when he wakes up. I can’t afford to stay off. You know that. I’ll get sacked even if I miss one more day now.”

  Vanessa was not too pleased with that.

  “I should not have opened the door to the bugger. I can’t afford to miss either. I don’t get paid for days I’m off. Anyway, he is your friend not mine.”