by Kol Anderson
I got a glimpse of my father before I left the hallway and I knew that he would make it. This time. But I also knew something else.
There was a countdown on my father’s life, and it had started about a week ago and if I didn’t act now his grandkids would be incredibly sad for a very long time.
I don’t know how but I had to stop it.
I had to direct to future, make it my bitch. But sometimes, to fix the future you must visit the past.
And sometimes, you must face your demons.
And my biggest demon was Ryan Thomas, six feet under and still ruining my life. Maybe because he wasn’t truly dead. He would be alive if Trey was alive and that did not serve me well.
I had to fix it.
I had to fix Trey.
TREY
ONE WEEK AGO
Standing outside the Chinese Hut brought back a lot of memories. Some good some that should have been bad but weren’t because Aubrey was too stubborn to let stuff like cancer dictate her attitude. The whiff of her perfume hit me and brought back even more memories and this time I didn’t know how to react. "I was wondering when you'd come by," she said. I uselessly tried to hide the tears from her. "I forgot you knew."
"Of course, I knew, " she said. "We were best friends at one time. I know your likes and dislikes more than I know my own family's."
Crippling silence followed that I tried to end. "She's gone, Jackie.”
She said nothing just listened. "I'm sorry, Trey."
"I was with her. It happened and I thought after all I've seen her go through I'd be less sad but I feel devastated."
"It's never easy to let go of the people we love."
"The last time we ever got out was when I brought her here," I said, "and the only reason we could get away in the first place was because it was close to the hospital and the only distance they'd allow."
“Dad’s in the hospital,” Jackie told me. “I keep trying to wrap my head around it.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“Is hope so.”
Another silence and this time Jackie launched into a new line of questioning. “Trey, what happened between you and Trey? You used to be friends.”
The words were telling a truth but the reality had happened so far back into the past my brain was having a hard time remembering. Or maybe those were things that I’d tried so damn hard to conceal that they were locked up in some faraway cave. “That was a lifetime ago, Jackie.”
“Trey…was it because of me?”
That was the truth but I couldn’t bear to have her feel the brunt of it. “It was a little more complicated than that.”
“Yes, but it did contribute?”
I didn’t know why she was looking for answers now or if she wanted the truth or just to be told it wasn’t her fault. Knowing Jackie, it was probably the latter. The Huntington family wasn’t known for their fondness for truths and Weldon wasn’t the only one living a lie. But I didn’t have the heart to break it to her. “It’s Weldon we’re talking about. The shoes he was wearing that day probably contributed.”
Jackie laughed like a person who wanted to believe a falsehood. “He does have a knack for blaming everyone but himself.”
I didn’t want to discuss this anymore. I might have ended up saying things I didn’t want to reveal to her. I might have let on how I truly felt about her brother.
“How’s Jake doing?” the question came out of nowhere, baffling me.
“You know about Jake?”
“Weldon brought him to the hospital this one time,” she said and I couldn’t believe my ears. Was that why the reason Jake seemed to trust Weldon for a while? Because Weldon had supposedly shown him a human side of him? I had to know more but I couldn’t risk alerting Jackie to my motives.
“Weldon loves him, Trey.”
I came so close to laughing. “I don’t think Weldon loves anyone but Weldon.”
Jackie was suddenly looking at him in the strangest way. “You…like Jake?”
I couldn’t have felt more like a deer caught in the headlights than I did just then. “Jackie…”
“Don’t Jackie me! You really have a thing for him! Is that why you two are fighting?”
“I wouldn’t call it a fight.”
“What would you call it then?”
I don’t know… the strong urge to slice Weldon’s throat? What would you call something like that? Murderous intent? Being human? The way this was going, it couldn’t have gone better. And I had to keep this up until my real intentions found a way to become reality. “Jackie, do you want to hang out with me at my place?” Despite the tightness in my chest I said this as casually as possible. “I just can’t stand being alone right now.”
The one thing that I knew would get Jackie to my place better than an offer of sex, was dropping the hint that I was lonely and suffering. Just as I thought, she agreed without a fuss.
It was time to put my plan into motion. “There’s just one stop I need to make first,” I said as we got into my car. “We need to go to Randy’s. It won’t take long.”
“That’s fine,” Jackie said. “There’s some stuff I have to buy for dad anyway.”
Jackie Huntington.
I’ve never used you or your family for my own personal gain but today my personal gain is someone’s life. And Jake doesn’t know but I can do anything for him, kill, maim, murder, destroy… if he’s safe nothing else matters.
He’s my salvation.
I might have lost the battle with Aubrey but I will not lose this time.
There’s nothing Weldon can do to stop me.
I will stop at nothing.
Watching Jackie’s trusting face smile at me while her hands got busy pulling the seatbelt, I felt genuine remorse. This was not me. I’d done a lot of shady shit in my life, I couldn’t deny but nothing of this nature, nothing this purely malevolent and I stifled the urge to tell her all and warn her against my own selfish needs. The darkness that had taken over wasn’t the kind that could be snuffed without bloodshed.
I’m sorry, Jackie. This isn’t your fault. But it’s the only way I know that will put a stop to your brother’s evil.
WELDON
PRESENT DAY
The short walk through the hallways toward the lab gave me enough time to calm myself down and be ready for what I was about to do. It had been a while since I had confronted my demons and my past and I knew it was time to address both. Everything was related to Trey, everything had always been related to him, Jackie made sure of it by having her futile crushes which could have wrecked our family. I knew Trey was only using her to get to me, but Jackie never understood the real reason she got ditched at prom—because I intervened and put a stop to her so-called boyfriend’s plans to use my sister as a sort of display item so no one would know the truth about his sexual preferences. Even if he was bi, as Trey claimed, it was still dishonest to hide that from my her. I mean who could actually believe that a guy like him could be interested in someone like Jackie?
Jackie wasn’t some hot bimbo Trey could ruin, she was my sister. Her happiness was meant something to me. And if a few people got hurt in my attempts to save her a ton of heartache in the long run, then I could live with that. Living with secrets was all I ever did, ever since I found out I was into men. Keeping a few more secrets didn’t seem like that much of an issue. If it wasn’t for Trey, those secrets would have been safe. I opened the massive door to the lab and stepped inside. The smell wafted from one corner—a pungent, chemical stink that could mean only one thing.
“Working on something new, Trey?” I said, entering the tiny room inside the lab where the fumes were still existing despite the exhaust system working full force.
Trey looked up, a little startled. He wasn’t expecting me. Just as well. Catching people off-guard was always a good start. He lifted the safety goggles and set them next to a flask of blue crystals on the counter. His gloved hands were stained purple. “You could say that,” he re
plied, setting the empty beaker aside as I walked up to him.
“I see you met my sister,” I said, trying to stay casual. Trey’s eyes searched for the meaning of my words but I wasn’t going to give him anything.
“We ran into each other.”
“You just happened to run into each other?”
“Is this an interrogation? Should I have my lawyer present?” Trey meant that as a joke but it was still smug of that bastard and it hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Aubrey?” My question definitely rattled him. The perturbance was obvious on his face. He wanted to be free of this line of questioning but I was just getting started.
“I’ve barely come to terms with it myself.”
“You told Jackie,” I said. “Did you think it would help her bond with you again?”
Trey looked disturbed. “I don’t need my sister’s death to bond with Jackie,” he said. “And you know that, Weldon.”
Now, he was just rubbing it in my face. The nerve of that guy! When I finally set him straight, he wouldn’t know what hit him. “What do you want, Trey?”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on, Trey. Your sister dies and suddenly you have the balls to go visit Jackie, something you haven’t done ever since I explicitly told you not to! That too when she’s in a vulnerable state because of my father’s health. You’re seriously going to tell me you didn’t have some diabolical plan in play?”
It was hard to say what he was thinking but Trey went up to the glass rack to one side and picked up a tiny box and rummaged through the contents that weren’t visible to me from where I stood. “What’s the matter, Weldon?” he said. “Afraid you don’t have anything to hold over me now that Aubrey’s no more?” If he had stopped there, I would have been pissed but not as much as I was when he added the next sentence. “Did you think I would do what you did to Ryan? How you let him die after poisoning his sugar, and how he never got any medical attention until they pronounced him dead, so your secrets would be safe?”
I picked up a scalpel placed on one of the carts and examined it to make my point. “Ryan got what was coming to him,” I said. “And if you don’t change your tune, you might meet the same fate.”
“I’m not that dumb,” Trey said and turned to face me.
“Good to know,” I said.
He had a smug look on his face. “No, I meant that Ryan made a blunder,” he said. “He didn’t have any diabolical plans.”
“Well, diabolical plans are sort of my forte.”
Trey grinned. “That may be true,” he said. “But this is one of those times when the underdog wins and the audience is left fulfilled with a heavy dose of adrenaline in the process.”
I scoffed. “And I suppose you are the underdog in this story?”
“I guess I could easily be the villain,” his words carried a silent threat. “I suppose it depends on what role you assume, Mr. Huntington.”
No one in this world called me by that name and Trey knew it. I knew he was doing this on purpose, trying to remind me of the fact that he knew things that he wouldn’t be afraid to tell the whole world, secrets that I fought tooth and nail to keep, I was aware he was ready to spill them all.
“I don’t like threats, Trey.”
“That’s funny because threatening people is your whole deal,” he said and something fell from his hand, there was the obvious sound of glass shattering and I looked down just in time to see the purple fumes emanating from the floor and before I could make sense of it, I felt my knees going weak and I stumbled to the ground next to the fumes.
I was still trying to figure out what Trey wanted when there was a sickening feeling in my gut that made me want to throw up. I looked up and saw Trey, but it wasn’t his usual face, he was wearing something… a mask… I realized that was the reason the fumes weren’t affecting him.
“You killed Ryan,” I heard Trey’s voice. “You killed the man you claimed to love!”
Before I could think about a way out, there was a thud and everything went dark.
TREY
ONE WEEK AGO
I pushed the door open.
It was submerged in darkness. I couldn’t see a thing. But I could hear the soft sobbing that emanated from one corner of the room. I fumbled for the light switch in the dark, and flipped it on. The room was suddenly drowning in the dim orange glow of the overhead bulb and it illuminated a figure sitting on the plain floor that smelled oddly of antiseptic.
He instinctively reached his hand up, shading his eyes from the hurtful glare. His lashes blinked off the drowsiness of the variety of drugs he was on and he stared at me.
He was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. His body looked weak, weaker than ever before, so I knew he hadn’t been eating again. I went right up to him and took out a piece of chocolate from my pocket and I offered it to him.
After a bit of hesitation, he accepted my offer. There were tracks made by tears still on his face and I used my hand to try to wipe them off. Then, I sat across from him on the spotless, clean floor and waited.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” his big brown eyes threatened to shed tears again. “If he finds out…”
“I have a proposition for you,” I cut him off.
He looked terrified. “Whatever you want from me, Trey, I can’t give it to you, so don’t bother wasting your breath.”
“Please just listen to what I have to say…”
He started to get agitated and kept glancing at the door. “No…” he said, first just the one time and then he started saying it over and over like a chant. When his anxiety started to get worse I had to physically subdue him. “Hey!” I said, holding him and trying to get him to calm down. He started to breathe heavily but I continued to hold him. “Ryan, hey.” I ran a hand over his head. His soft dark hair was a little sweaty. I looked in his eyes. “He can’t hurt you,” I said. “You have my word.”
He pushed me away. “Yeah?” he scoffed. “Isn’t that what you said the last time we tried to take him down?” He was screaming at me. “That’s how I ended up in this prison!”
“You’re alive, aren’t you?” I screamed back. I know, not my finest moment.
“Alive!” he said. “Everyone thinks I’m dead!”
I knew I had to calm down if I wanted to get my point across. “Look, I know how terrible it’s been for you, but it was the only way!”
After a long pause, he looked away. “You didn’t come once,” he was shaking. “You didn’t…”
“Ryan… I couldn’t risk him catching me…”
“You’re risking it now, aren’t you? When you want something from me!”
I realized I’d hurt him. “I’m sorry for what you had to go through,” I said. “But right now there are lives at stake. Others who’ve been going through the same that he put you through and they don’t have a way out if we don’t help them. Ryan, everything that man did to you, now is the time to give it back.”
“If you’re done giving your spiel I’d like for you to leave.”
There was a stiffness in him that chilled me to my bones. I realized I didn’t know him anymore. That he had become a different person. Not just because he was refusing to help me, but it was in the way he spoke and carried himself. He was a total stranger to me and maybe it was my fault. I started to leave. “Ryan, I’m sorry for what happened to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t around. I know I should have been there, you were my friend! I can’t change the past. I can’t pretend to know your suffering. All I can do is apologize,” I continued, “and one way or another, I’m going to get to Weldon and I’m going to bring him down. And when I do, I promise I will come for you. I just… need you to be patient.”
I waited for him to speak but then opened the door. “Goodbye, Ryan.”
“Wait!” he called out.
“Yeah?”
“Weldon isn’t evil,” he said. “He’s the Devil. He can’t be brought down.”
“We’ll
see about tha—“
“No,” Ryan shook his head. “No, you don’t understand,” he stared at me. “He is the Devil. You don’t bring down The Devil. You rise up to him.”
PRESENT DAY
TREY
“Fuck you,” Weldon’s insult didn’t exactly come as a total surprise. But it did remind me of the phrase Ryan had used to describe him.
You don’t bring down The Devil. You rise up to him.
“Are you sure that’s how you want to play this?” I wanted to give him one last chance. But Jake didn’t look patient at all. “Tell me where you’re hiding Colton!”
I had to silently rebuke him. I turned to Weldon. “The poison is spreading in your father’s body,” I said. “Every second you delay getting him the antidote, is a second that will take him away from his grandchildren.”
Weldon raised his head and scoffed. “You didn’t think I was that dumb, did you?” he said. “The minute I noticed his symptoms, I sent the sugar packets in his room for testing. My people must be done preparing the antidote by now. My father’s going to be fine!”
The look of dejection on my face must have been obvious because Weldon seemed to revel in it. “That’s right Trey,” he said. “I used those sugar packets to kill Ryan. I knew you’d want some kind of poetic justice!!!! Oh, the fun I’m going to have ripping your head slowly out of that body… it’s going to be worth all of this bullshit!”
This time I gave Weldon my full attention. “Here’s the thing, Weldon. You see the look on my face? It’s sadness. It’s… it’s dejection, it’s not what you think.”
“I don’t understand…”
You don’t bring down The Devil. You rise up to him.
I swallowed. “Weldon, the poison wasn’t in any of the stuff Jackie bought.”