by Jauwel
Before he could follow through with his plan, Rajahn heard a familiar voice. “Rajahn?” Theresa called as she descended the basement stairs, wondering what was taking him so long. “Hey, you down here?” She questioned as she continued down the steps, wrapped in a towel, when she unexpectedly saw a horrifying scene. “Rajahn?” She called out to him in a shaky voice. She wasn’t sure if she should have let him see her, but she was shocked to see something resembling a dungeon in his basement with a man tied to a chair.
“What in the hell is going on here? Wait…Mr. Parker, is that you?” She stared at Dennis tied to a chair. She had met Dennis when he made an appointment with her to try to set up a business for Razon, in an effort to keep him from going into law enforcement.
In shock, she stared at Rajahn, horrified at the scene before her. It became apparent to Rajahn that she would not accept this part of his life.
“Oh Theresa,” shaking his head as he looked at her, Rajahn slid on his leather gloves. “I really wish you hadn’t seen this and just waited for me like a good girl. I was really starting to like you.” Rajahn peered up at her with wicked eyes. She had seen enough scary movies to know that she needed to get out of there as fast as she could. Hence, she raced back up the stairs, but it was no use, Rajahn was rapidly on her heels.
“NO!” Dennis screamed out as tears quickly fell down his face. He knew exactly the type of monster Rajahn was and there was no hope for that girl. All he could do was listen to the screams and bumping around upstairs. He could only imagine what was going on, but it was indisputable that it was not good. That young girl was going to die and there was nothing he could do to help. Furthermore, he knew it was all his fault.
Even though she ran up the stairs as fast as she could, it was not fast enough because Rajahn was able to grab her by the waist and pull her down to the floor. He quickly jumped on top of her as she struggled and fought, trying to get away from him. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to break the grip he had on her. All she needed to do was get to her stun gun which was in her bag on the floor by the couch, then she could escape and get help for Dennis.
“Stop…stop….!” Rajahn yelled at her. When she didn’t comply, he held her arms behind her back in a painful position. She had no other choice but to stop struggling, but she refused to look him in his face. “I told you I don’t want to hurt you…so don’t make me,” he pleaded. He really wanted her to be the one, the one that he could get to know. Then maybe he’d have the opportunity to be normal, if she’d just give him a chance and forget that she saw Dennis in the basement.
“Please don’t hurt me; I promise I won’t tell anyone!” Theresa pleaded with him. Sadly, he had other things in mind. He was aware that as soon as he released her, she would run to the first police officer she could find. Picking her up, he carried her to his room and laid her carefully on the bed. Next, Rajahn grabbed a survival knife that looked similar to the one Rambo had and held it close to her face.
“Do what I tell you to do when I tell you to do it and I won’t hurt you.” He gazed deep into her eyes, seeing the fear within them. “Do you understand me?” Rajahn asked. Theresa quickly nodded her head, while she tried to calm down. She convinced herself that if she was smart about this and did everything he asked, she would make it out alive.
“Good,” he smiled. “Take off your towel and lay on the bed.” Rajahn tried to get Sheila Thompson to obey him. Instead, she wanted to be difficult, so he had to teach her a lesson. He really didn’t want to hurt Theresa; she reminded him so much of Kim, the love he lost. He loosened his grip on Theresa to see how she would react and if she would obey him.
“You told me you were not a rapist or serial killer.” Theresa said through tears. “What’s going on here? Why is Dennis Parker here?”
“I said I wasn’t a punk ass rapist, but I am a serial killer; I told you that. You came with me because you know I’m an assassin and you were ok with that.” Theresa detected the change of tone in his voice was a little more aggressive than when they were at the diner. “I don’t want to hurt you; I just want to spend some time with you like we said. I didn’t lie to you, I never lied to you, so don’t you lie to me. I never take anything, but you will give me what I want on your own free will.”
Slowly, Theresa unwrapped the towel and lay her thin body, naked on his bed as she wondered how she could be so stupid to think he was being sarcastic about killing people. After all she’d seen, the last thing she wanted was for Rajahn to touch her, but at this point, she had no choice. She watched him sit on the edge of the bed next to her, taking his shirt off and exposing his muscular body. He didn’t want much from her; he just wanted to feel normal with a woman, just like Razon did with Lisa. He slid his basketball shorts off, leaving his boxers on and laid on the bed, wrapping his strong arms around Theresa. He sensed she was trying to be as calm as possible, but her body was shaking uncontrollably, which meant fear had taken over. He wanted her to love him, to laugh and joke with him, to keep her, and to be comfortable with him like she was at the diner. Regrettably, after she saw Dennis Parker in the basement, he knew things between them would never be the same.
Theresa watched the way the knife moved, paying it more attention than she did him. He had to change her motivation, yet still keep her under his control. “I want you to take a deep breath and relax. I don’t have any plans to use this unless you make me, so calm down and kiss me.” He smiled as he watched the reaction on her face–sheer panic. Gently, he slid his finger down her smooth face in an effort to calm her. Pulling her closer, he put his lips on hers. Sadly, it wasn’t the kiss he wanted; she was shaking and frightened.
“Please, please” she cried, pulling away from his kiss. “Don’t hurt me. Just let me go home; I promise I won’t say anything. I won’t say a word, I promise.” The more she begged for her life, the more she began to annoy him. Rajahn wanted her to be as strong as Lisa and as loving as Kim, but she was neither. If she couldn’t stimulate him the way he needed to be, she was useless. So his mind was made up, she would have to be disposed of.
Dennis remained in the basement, drifting in and out of consciousness, hanging onto the chair as much as possible before the urge to pass out overtook him. Perspiration trickled down his face as he continued to struggle with the ropes that were binding him to the chair, as well cutting through his skin whenever he moved. The noise and bumping he previously heard upstairs had stopped; he was worried about what Rajahn had done. He tried to wiggle out of the ropes as much as he could, but nothing seemed to work. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rajahn standing in the corner watching him. Even though he was trying to put on a strong face and not be afraid of Rajahn, the fear of what he was capable of took over his body. Rajahn slowly walked around to a spot where Dennis could see him clearly. He didn’t hide the fact that his partially naked body was covered in blood that wasn’t his own.
“What have you done!? Where is she!? The young girl that ran down here, Theresa Bradley, where is she!?” Dennis asked frantically with labored breath.
“That’s none of your concern old man.” Rajahn made an effort to maintain his composure; he didn’t have time to answer any of his questions.
“But…there’s blood…everywhere…all over you! Please tell me she’s ok!” Dennis urged, but he could tell Rajahn wasn’t listening.
“Look old man, if anything happened to her, it’s because of you!” Rajahn yelled, jumping in his face. “The main thing you need to worry about is what’s gonna happen to your ass! Fuck that bitch!” Rajahn wielded the blood-stained knife in his face.
“You killed her!? Please don’t tell me you killed her!?” Knowing he had murdered her, Dennis began to cry because it was only a matter of time before he killed him as well. The only thing he hoped was he would be able to see Razon before he drew his last breath. Rajahn quickly backhanded him across the side of his face; he was hysterical and needed to calm down before he was forced to do something he would regret. Rajahn needed to keep Den
nis alive long enough for him to come face-to-face with Razon as well as keep Razon in place. If he killed him, he would have nothing to use against Razon. Then again, Razon did have other people in his life that he cared for. Maybe he could use him and get rid of the old man. The idea of killing Dennis slowly made him smile, even though it wasn’t part of the plan; it was growing more difficult by the day. In order to make Razon suffer, he realized he had to stick to the plan that was in place. Stick to the plan, were the only words he heard echoing in his head.
“Rajahn, please…” Dennis started to say as Rajahn began to go back upstairs. “Tell me she’s alright!”
Before he walked upstairs, Rajahn turned, stared Dennis in the eyes, and with a cold voice told him, “Don’t beg for her life, she didn’t beg for yours.” Then he left Dennis to his own thoughts as he went back upstairs to plan the next part of Razon’s destruction. Picking up his cell phone, he dialed a number then waited for a response. Once he heard the voice on the other end of the phone, the only thing he needed to say was, “Come see me, we have work to do.” Rajahn closed the phone then went into the still steaming hot bathroom to take a shower and think of the next phase of his plan for Razon. He decided he would hit him where it hurt the most–the one person that would make the biggest impact on his life.
Chapter 18
Rajahn paced the floor around his living room, wondering what he was going to do next. Now that Theresa was dead, the voices he heard in his head were satisfied, so they weren’t telling him what he needed to do next. He looked down at his hands and could see the blood and scratches from her fighting against him and his blade. Even though there was no way she would escape what was going to happen to her, it didn’t stop her from trying. He had to admit, she was one of the few people he’d killed that he respected. Mostly, due to the fight in her. But that was all over now.
Images of Jorge Ortiz and Theresa Bradley played over and over in his head. It wasn’t what he wanted, but it needed to be done. All Rajahn wanted was to get answers from Dennis and to make Razon suffer for the life he never had. Rajahn walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. The one thing he feared most was the bathroom mirror. It was the one thing he couldn’t run from–the mirror showed him the person he really was. Staring in the mirror, he could see blood splattered across his face, neck, and chest. The thing that scared him was gazing into his own eyes via the mirror’s reflection. His deep, bronze skin was covered in scars, cuts, bruises, and cigarette burns. No matter how hard he tried, they would never go away. He hated the way his face looked because it reminded him of Razon and everything he didn’t have. His hair was growing out quickly and getting nappy, as if it hadn’t been combed in months. The beard stubble on his face that he tried to shave was now growing back. The only thing that remained the same was the long scar on the side of his face, stretching from his temple to his cheek. He always wondered where it came from but was void of answers to any part of his past.
Turning on the water as hot as he could stand it, Rajahn rubbed his face, attempting to wash the blood off. He didn’t like the way it felt after it got cold and began to dry, so he washed his hands and let the warm water run across his face. He needed to get his mind back on the plan, so he could come up with something that would have a major impact in Razon’s life. After he was satisfied that the blood from his face and hands was gone, he quickly grabbed the mint green towel that was hanging on the metal towel rack next to the sink and dried the water from his face. Before he could put the towel back on the rack, he noticed something that distracted him. Glancing in the mirror, he saw Razon looking back at him.
“You can’t be here; you don’t know me!” Rajahn looked at Razon’s face smirking at him in the mirror. Quickly, he turned around and saw that no one was in the bathroom. Yet, Razon’s face remained in the mirror laughing at him. This was not real, there was no way it could be possible; he was sure his mind was playing tricks on him.
“I know you,” the reflection in the mirror said. “You’re the fuck up that my father cut out of our family. There’s no way I would have a brother as defective as you. You’re nothing.”
Rajahn felt the anger rising up in his chest as he began to breathe heavily, glaring at Razon’s reflection with hatred.
“Nobody wants you. No one will ever love you; you’re nothing.”
“Shut up…shut up!!!” Rajahn took his hands and covered both ears, shaking his head in an attempt to get Razon’s voice out of his head. “You’re not real!”
“I’m as real as you are. The only difference between me and you is you’re a piece of shit and everyone loves me. No one cares whether you live or die. So why don’t you just do us all a favor and put yourself out of misery.” The reflection continued to taunt him as it pointed to the knife that was on the sink basin, still dripping with blood. “Why don’t you take it, put it to your throat, and slide it across it.”
Rajahn looked down at the knife then picked it up from the white sink. The dripping knife seemed to form a puddle of blood, soaking his feet under the sink. “Fuck you!” Rajahn screamed back at the mirror. He threw the knife across the room then looked back at the reflection in the mirror, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.
“Oooo temper, temper.” He heard the voice say. It started to sound familiar like he had heard it before. This time, it wasn’t Razon’s voice. It was the voice he’d been hearing all his life, the only real friend he had. The voice told him to do things that would keep him safe. Something had to be wrong. The voice would never tell him to take his own life, it always said to kill other people, which he was fine with, but not to kill himself.
“This is a trick!” Rajahn yelled out frantically. “This has got to be some kind of trick! I gave you blood already, I don’t need to give you mine!” From an early age, Rajahn realized he wasn’t like other boys. He understood that he had to give up something to survive. If taking a life was all he had to do, then he was fine with that, but not his own. He continued to look at the face of Razon in the reflection of the mirror. “Leave me alone!” Rajahn yelled as he glared at the laughing reflection. Finally, the face in the mirror disappeared just as quickly as it appeared and Rajahn was left to look at his own face. He was determined something was wrong; he wasn’t doing something right and he had to fix it immediately. Walking into the hallway, he had a clear view of the bloody body on his bed. He didn’t know what to do. Normally, he left the bodies where they fell but this one was in his bed. He went into the bedroom and looked at the slender, naked woman lying in his bed with over thirty stab wounds covering her body. He was mentally and emotionally exhausted. All he wanted to do was sleep, so he laid in the blood-soaked bed next to Theresa Bradley’s corpse and thought of how he would carry out the next part of his plan.
Chapter 19
Anytime Lance came by, Destiny would stop everything she was doing just to see him. Although they had only had sex that one time, Destiny would do anything to relive the high from his intoxicating love making that she’d experienced the last time. Every time he came in the door, he would kiss her passionately, which pulled her further under his spell. Destiny tried to maintain her composure for as long as she could, but it was only so long that she could resist his thick, juicy lips. The more they kissed, the more control he knew he had over her.
“I gotta get ready to go,” Lance said, pulling his dreadlocks into a ponytail. “I got some things I gotta get done.” Lance watched Destiny’s face transform drastically from happy to her lip poked out because she didn’t want him to leave. “I’ll be back to see you.” He quickly kissed her on the lips then headed for the window, which was the only way he came to see her. “Remember, don’t betray me.” Quickly, Destiny balled her face up and looked at him like he was crazy. There was no way she would do anything to betray him, he was the man she’d been looking for all her life. Since Smoove wanted to play like she wasn’t alive and didn’t really care about her, she looked for the next best thing, which happened to be
Lance. Now that Lance had been in her life, she didn’t know why she hadn’t recognized him before.
Before she had the opportunity to look again, he was gone. Although whenever they were around each other it seemed like the connection they shared was extremely powerful, yet she felt cold and alone when he left. She wished she had time to hold him a little longer, kiss him more, or just play in his hair, but she knew Dink wouldn’t approve if he saw him there. For a little brother, he was completely overprotective. On the other hand, he made sure she didn’t want for anything, so she put up with his outrageous actions. For now, she knew she would have to keep her relationship with Lance a secret, at least until they figured out what they would do next.
Destiny sat in her room; she could hear all the commotion at the front door. The only person that made that much noise was Dink, especially when he was completely high. She hated when he smoked weed. In her opinion, he turned into a complete asshole when he did, and she didn’t have time to play games with him. Even under normal circumstances, he blew the smallest situations out of proportion, but when he was high, he was worst. Rolling her eyes, she shook her head; she couldn’t believe he was still getting so high.
Instantly, she jumped out of bed and stormed out of the room to confront her little brother. When she walked into the hallway, she saw him sitting on the floor, giggling with the keys still in the deadbolt lock.
“See, this is the shit I be talkin’ ‘bout!” Destiny yelled when she saw the condition Dink was in. She stepped over him, took the keys out of the door then closed and locked it, leaving Dink on the floor still laughing. “Oh my gawd!” Destiny exclaimed, completely irritated. “The more you hang out with them niggas from da Mob, the more fucked up you get!” Once Destiny stepped back over Dink, she could smell alcohol all over him. “And I know you haven’t been fuckin’ drinkin’. Dink, what da fuck is wrong with you? You just turned sixteen! I’m tired of them Mob niggas, you getting too deep in dis shit!” Destiny finished yelling at Dink, who wasn’t paying her any attention; he was still laughing. She left him sitting right in the middle of the doorway; she had no intention of pulling him to his room. He would have to learn this lesson on his own.