by Stormi Lewis
“Okay, fine,” James said, suddenly knowing exactly what he was going to tell her when he got on one knee to ask her to marry him. The exact date didn’t matter. Only that he could call her his for life.
Chapter 11
M ario couldn’t understand why Sophie wanted to meet at home. They hadn’t stepped foot near Kansas City since the night he had pulled her from the closet. Quite honestly, it was too painful for them both. Tina’s message had stated to clearly be here, so maybe Sophie was finally able to move past the pain. The thought made his heart swell like a proud father.
Mario, however, still needed work. He had accepted long ago that he lost the love of his life to Jack, but there wasn’t even a chance for Mario when it came to the nerdy scientist.
Mario had resented Jack for years when Jess told him. It’s not hard to despise the guy that was the reason for your heart shattering into tiny pieces. However, Jess’ heart was never Mario’s to begin with. And Jack was harder to hate the more Jess had forced Mario to get to know him. Jack was her perfect fit.
Although Jess had written off their affair as more of a fling due to the stress and excitement of their job, it had always meant more to Mario. Jess was a whirlwind of life that would change Mario forever. He just wasn’t brave enough to ever tell her. However, they fought more than they made love. It was always over the same thing. The old man’s hold over her.
Mario knew he had done things to Jess. Even brainwashed her. The older she got, the more she was able to break away. Nevertheless, a simple phone call would bring her back every time. Jess always said it was for Clarice, but Mario had a hard time swallowing that fact.
Clarice was a walking psychopathic basket case. He would never understand Jess’ need to protect her. It wasn’t totally Clarice’s fault. The old man tortured her to no end mentally. He refused to give Clarice the one thing she ever wanted…love.
Jess was always determined to be the one thing Clarice would never get from her father, even if she didn’t appreciate it or accept it. Mario was certain it was because Clarice wasn’t capable of accepting love. Jess refused to see it that way.
Then Jack came and broke the spell the old man had over Jess. He was the one human being that was able to free Jess from the old man’s hold, and the he despised Jack for it, making Jack the biggest target of all. Until they found out they were pregnant.
Although Mario came to like Jack, it didn’t make it any easier being around the super couple of love regularly. Mario continued to take jobs on the side as an excuse not to be dragged out to be a third wheel. When he had heard Jess was pregnant, it was just too much to take at the time, so he packed his schedule full of dangerous missions, not caring if he didn’t survive.
Nine months later, Jess had cornered Mario and insisted that he come to the house. She was savvy enough to know that he couldn’t tell her ‘no’ to her face when she looked at him with her puppy dog eyes. Mario had reluctantly agreed. He showed up at the house for dinner, and immediately had a red headed blue eyed baby girl shoved into his arms despite his protest.
“Get used to her,” Jess had smirked. “I refuse to have an absent godfather in her life,” she had said over her shoulder as she walked away.
Mario froze, and stared at the creature currently cooing in his arms. “I’m sorry, what?” he had asked racing after her.
“Godfather,” Jess repeated as she had continued making dinner. “And not the Marlon Brando kind either,” Jess had emphasized pointing the knife in her hand in his direction before she went back to cutting vegetables.
“I don’t know a thing about children,” Mario had protested. “I don’t even know if I even like them,” he had added honestly.
“Well, you’d better like this one,” was all Jess had said.
“Why me?” Mario had asked completely confused and trying to hand Sophie back to her.
Jess had put the knife down with a sigh.
“Because there’s no one else I trust with my life when danger comes knocking at my door,” she had said staring at him sadly. “You’re the only one I trust to always keep her safe should something happen,” Jess had added looking into Mario’s eyes. “Besides,” Jess had said, “it will be a good challenge for you. You know if she’s mine, she’s going to be a handful. I need all the help I can get!” she had chuckled, not knowing how true that statement actually was. Neither of them had known then, that it would be Mario raising Sophie for half her life.
Mario had stared back down at the child whose eyes seemed to look straight into his soul. “Well, you’re screwed, Kid,” Mario had said to her. Sophie giggled in his arms, and his life changed forever.
He got off the bus and immediately stretched his stiff body. Man, was he getting old. He looked around the station. He didn’t see any trouble waiting for him.
Mario tossed his bag on his back and headed off to catch his uber. He was too caught up in his memories to see Clarice watching him from a distance. A shiver shot down his spine. The wind blew with a warning around his body, but he couldn’t hear what it had to say. He took one look around the station before climbing into the black 2010 Lincoln MKZ, not knowing it would be his last.
The uber pulled up down the street to the old Harris household in Blue Springs. The old man made sure it never went on the market and it remained a shrine for his most epic kill. It disgusted Mario to his core. Another reason why they never returned “home”.
He spotted the stakeout a mile away sleeping in a black sedan across the street. When Mario snuck up to it, the kid inside was already dead. A wind gust circled him once more, but Mario missed the warning being sent. Instead, he blindly rushed inside to try to save Sophie, and was struck immediately from behind with a solid object that made the room spin immediately. He fell to his knees falling forward.
“Hello, old friend,” a woman’s voice chuckled as he hit the ground.
“Sophie?” Mario asked confused.
“Try again,” sneered the woman.
“Clarice…” Mario breathed out as the darkness consumed him.
“You’re as easily manipulated as usual,” Clarice barked as she threw a bucket of water at Mario’s face.
He struggled to get the room back in focus. They were in an abandoned warehouse somewhere surrounded by cement, pillars, and dust. It was obvious no one had been in there for years. Mario shook his head trying to get his mind to work as he listened for cluing sounds outside.
“Still making Jess proud, I see,” he slurred, buying himself some time.
“Poor Mario,” Clarice chuckled. “Still pining over a woman who never wanted him in the first place.
Ugh, this woman was obnoxious. “Focus,” he heard Jess’ voice ring in his ears.
“Trying to,” he said annoyed to no one.
Clarice just rolled her eyes at the man tied to the beams above them. Topless, wet, out of shape, and aging poorly in her opinion. He was 6’3” with a grey beard and mustache, small gold hooped earrings, and a black skull bandana wrapped around the top of his head. His black cargo pants and boots had seen better days.
At first glance, you would assume he belonged to a biker gang of some sort, but Clarice knew better. The hair on his chest had turned grey like all the others, and although his weight didn’t overpower his frame, it still lacked its 20-year-old firmness. She would have to pace herself. He was much easier to kill in this state, however, it wasn’t about being quick. It was about getting her ten plus years of frustration out.
“Wow,” she chuckled. “Someone’s really let themself go over the years.”
“What do you want, Clarice?” Mario asked flatly as his head bobbed around trying to find clarity to his situation.
“Our dear Sophie, of course,” Clarice shrugged as her heels clicked against the cement as she walked around her prey.
Mario laughed so hard it made his head throb. “Good luck with that,” he smiled.
“Oh, she’s closer than you think,” Clarice smiled.
&nb
sp; Mario’s body tightened in anticipation. Clarice took pleasure in his inner torture.
“And you think killing me in front of her is going to get her to sign right up?” Mario asked bewildered at Clarice’s planning process. Had she really not thought this all the way through even a little?
“The end result is none of your concern,” Clarice shrugged as she eyed him from head to toe, wondering how she wanted to torture him first.
“Wow,” Mario said shaking his head. “Jess always said you were smart. It’s a shame she can’t see how wrong she actually was.”
Clarice stopped and fisted her hands. “I think I will start with jumper cables,” she said with a growl.
“I’m not going to tell you anything,” Mario said sounding bored.
“I don’t need anything from you,” Clarice said sweetly, getting the cables from the table. She clipped an end to each earring. “This is just for fun,” she smiled as she turned on the battery and Mario’s body convulsed before her.
“Mario,” Jess pleaded in his ear.
His breathing was shallow, and he tasted the blood in his mouth. He felt it running into his ears, and his eyes almost swelling shut. It had been a couple of hours he had guessed.
From the noises outside, Mario guessed they were in the West Bottoms just immediately west of downtown Kansas City. Where no one would hear screams since the haunted houses were closed and no one would venture out at night to this side of town.
Mario knew he was no longer hanging from the rafters. Clarice was using every form of torture known to mankind on him. Now, his hands were handcuffed behind his back, and his head throbbed from all the blood and organs being electrocuted and attacked.
His options were limited. Clarice was taking her time torturing him. He figured over ten years of pent-up anger was bound to cost him something. A chuckle escaped his lips at being the cause of her suffering for so many years.
“What’s so funny?” Clarice snapped from behind him.
“You don’t want to know,” Mario answered honestly. His head hung low. The warehouse reeked of cooked skin and blood.
“You might as well share your last thoughts,” Clarice said smiling as she walked to face him.
“Fine,” Mario said, pulling his overly heavy head up to meet her glance. “I was just thinking how funny it was that I was the one that kept Sophie from you all these years, and you weren’t able to even come close to her,” he said smiling.
Clarice screamed out her frustration as she punched him in the face breaking his nose. He turned his head and spat out the blood quickly filling his mouth.
“Told you that you didn’t want to know,” Mario shrugged.
It wasn’t Clarice that held his attention anymore. It was something much more important. He had almost missed hearing her slide in carefully. He sensed her anguish immediately. His heart shattered to pieces even worse than the day Jess had told him she was in love with another man.
The West Bottoms was an odd place to meet. She was thankful it wasn’t her old house. Sophie was much more willing to come to the corporate made haunted houses than the real one that rested in the heart of Blue Springs, MO. The wind gusted around her and blew a chill down her spine. “S.o.p.h.i.e,” it called, but she was too focused on the past to hear it.
She reached forward to turn the knob on the metal door entrance.
“No!” Jess warned.
Sophie froze at the urgency in her mother’s voice. Something wasn’t right.
Sophie looked around the old, abandoned building until the skylight caught her eyes. She quietly scaled the creaking building in the pitch-black darkness and slid in quieter than a mouse. She was not prepared for the sight before her.
Mario was half naked and completely defeated, handcuffed to a chair. An ash brown haired thin woman of almost six feet towered over him dressed oddly in heels with black ops attire. Her curly chin length hair was thin. It reminded Sophie a little of her mother’s. Her facial features were sharp and almost skeletal like, and the blue eyes that contained a hollowness that Sophie had never seen before. It was the woman from the pool.
Sophie’s chest tightened and she could no longer breathe properly. Anxiety consumed her as she watched the sight before her. “Breathe,” her mother coached in her ear, but Sophie’s body refused to follow her orders.
“It’s a shame,” Mario called out, knowing time was limited. “Jess always thought you were better than this.”
Sophie froze at her mother’s name.
Clarice laughed out loud at his random statement. “Clearly she was wrong,” she shrugged.
“She doesn’t have to be,” Mario said.
“Now, you’re pleading for your life?” Clarice said tapping her foot against the cement floor.
“No,” Mario said admittedly. “I know my time is up,” he emphasized. “But it would be such a shame to break Jess’ heart,” he added, watching Clarice carefully.
“Yeah, well, payback’s a bitch,” Clarice said, clearly shaken by his statement. “I guess it doesn’t pay to be daddy’s favorite, after all,” she shrugged trying to regain her focus.
“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” Mario asked softly.
“We’re here because you’ve been a pain in my ass for over ten years, and I’m over it,” Clarice said firmly as anger invaded her voice.
“Jess wanted her free,” Mario said in his fatherly voice. “Just like she wanted the same for you.”
“Yeah, well, she didn’t exactly make the best choices for me to follow, now did she?” Clarice snapped back. “She buried herself,” she mumbled.
“If that’s what helps you sleep at night,” Mario shrugged.
Clarice glared at him. “I sleep just fine,” she lied.
Sophie couldn’t process the information she was collecting. Panic was taking over as her body struggled between flight and fight. “Sophie, don’t,” her mother begged inside her swirling head, but Sophie’s ears were deaf to her pleading.
“I know it’s hard to see that Jess only ever had love for you, seeing that you don’t know what love actually is,” Mario continued, hoping that Sophie was listening to the words he was carefully sharing.
Clarice threw her head back wildly as she cackled liked a laughing hyena.
“She was just another pain in my ass,” she grumbled. “Daddy’s pet that went rouge,” Clarice said smiling a wicked smile as she leaned closer to Mario’s face. “Love only gets people killed,” she said sweetly.
The words pierced Sophie to her core, as grief consumed her entire body making it impossible to move.
“I disagree,” Mario said. “Every love will make you fight harder, and every heartbreak will only make you that much stronger,” he said. Sophie’s ears perked up as her eyes became laser focused. “Each death will be fuel for your fire to go on,” Mario stressed.
Sophie knew these words. They were words her mother spoke to her before she had fought Simon to the death. Mario seemed to know them by heart as if he had heard them to.
Sophie pulled her hands over hear ears. This was going to be yet another sacrifice for the cause that she never signed up to fight. Anger fueled at her core.
“Each magical moment will remind you what you fight for,” Mario continued, swallowing hard to desperately push the lump lodged in his throat. “These ghosts are not to haunt you and make you weak,” he said, staring at Clarice with a message meant for Sophie. “They are the silent army that carries you to victory.”
“Victory?” Clarice said in confusion.
Then her eyes quickly lit up with sickening excitement as realization took over. She grabbed the gun from the back of her pants, and shoved it against Mario’s head as she held him in a headlock.
Sophie’s blood boiled with rage. Her cheeks reddened with the heat that radiated through her body. She only saw red when she looked at her godfather who was telling her goodbye.
“Sophie Lee,” her mother warned inside her ears, but the warning only
fell on deaf ears as she jumped from the beam she had been crouched on.
Sophie landed gracefully on the balls of her feet, using her left hand to balance while holding her right arm in the air. Her vibrant dark red wine-colored hair hid her face. Her chest exaggeratedly rose and fell quickly with her amplified breathing.
“Oh, look,” Clarice cooed. “The parodical child has arrived.”
“SOPHIE!” her mother screamed out inside her head.
When Sophie slowly raised her head to meet Clarice, her eyes were completely dilated, and she heard nothing that was being said.
Mario shook with fear of the creature that looked back at them. He had never seen Sophie in this condition. He knew she was hurting, but if he didn’t get through to her it would be the end of them all.
“Hey, Kid,” Mario whispered softly with fatherly concern oozing in his voice. “Sorry you had to come.”
Sophie’s head whipped in his direction and tilted at the sound of his voice.
Clarice jammed the end of the gun hard into Mario’s skull. He winced at the pressure against his already swollen brain, and Sophie let out a low gutted growl.
“Shut up!” Clarice ordered. Sophie’s attention came back to Clarice.
“I don’t regret a single second,” Mario pushed on, trying to find Sophie’s eyes again. “You made me a better man,” he smiled weakly.
“What part of shut up don’t you understand!” Clarice shouted as she pushed the gun even harder against his skull, except it was already too late.
Sophie’s pupils were shrinking, and the blue shined like a diamond beacon being held up to the light. The redness retreated, reverting her skin back to the paleness of the moonlight.
“I’m sorry,” Sophie said as tears ran silently down her cheeks.
“Don’t be,” Mario assured. “See you on the other side,” he smiled.
“ENOUGH!” Clarice screamed.
The gun shot echoed down the empty streets outside. What was left of Mario’s body fell forward before Sophie. She closed her eyes quickly and sucked in a breath of shock as blood splattered all over the front of her. She stood still with her eyes held tightly closed. She breathed heavily as she tasted his blood in her mouth.