John Death

by Richard Shekari

  “They look like they could eat a tiger alive!” said John referring to the guards.

  “My thought too, buddy! Oh and um…John,” said Idris, “That thing I told you about the boss’ daughter, it’s no joke, okay? Some fool got fed with lead weeks back for raising his hand on the precious gem.”

  “Is that right?” asked John.

  “Damn right, my man,” answered Idris, “And that fool was actually the supposed-to-be future son in-law!”

  “Hmm! That’s cold!” John added.

  The car pulled up front at the mansion. Idris and John got out, one of the guards made a move to frisk John.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Special guest here,” said Idris, “You do that, the boss would cut those fingers off, Tony!”

  The guard moved back staring at the men. John followed Idris into the mansion.

  “Aah! John! Finally, you are here,” said the Director as he welcomed them, “Sonia, go get Diane,” talking to one of the maids, “Diane! Martha!” he cried out loud, “John Death is here!”

  “Good morning, sir!” said John as he shook the Director’s hand.

  “Morning, John!” responded the Director, “You got here just in time. My daughter was just about going out! I hope you like your new place.”

  “Oh, it took my breath away, sir. I super love it.” said John, “Woke up feeling like a prince this morning.”

  “Oh, trust me,” said the Director, “I know that feeling.”

  “Daddy,” said a soft tender voice.

  The men turned.

  “Ah! There she is!” said the Director.

  As the young and beautiful Diane made her way gently down the stairs in her red dress, John was bedazzled by her sight.

  “Isn’t she beautiful?” said the Director as he smiled joyfully.

  “Yes,” responded John, “Yes, undeniably!” Briefly lost in a world of fantasy as Diane walked down smiling, wearing the most beautiful dress he had ever seen which had an enormous paillettes that created a mermaid impression. Diane’s smile expressed one thing only; that she need not make any apologies for her curves.

  “Honey, this is the man!” said the Director, “I want you to meet John Death!”

  “I feel alive now,” whispered John as he smiled.

  Diane tried to cover her teeth in order not to fully give in to his jokes, but anyone with a good sight could tell that he got her right where he wanted with his good sense of humour.

  “Hi, John!” she said, “Daddy told me a lot about you,” she stretched her tender hand for a shake.

  “Did he?” John gave a smug look, “Forgive me, but I always find it hard to lie, especially when swept off my feet by the mere sight of…”

  “Beauty?” interjected the Director as he place his hands on their shoulders, “Maybe you should teach her how to play golf, son!”

  “Oh, so you’re a professional just like daddy, I see!” she said.

  “Trust me, if playing golf was flying a shuttle I’m that toddler trying to get off his cradle!” John responded with a smile, still trapped in her beautiful big blue eyes as he held her hand, “I’d also like to make one confession; at the moment, I feel like a nation that has lost its defences.”

  “An honest man? Now, that’s a rare thing these days!” she replied looking into his eyes!”

  “I’ll be in the pool room if you need me, boss!” said Idris as he cleared his throat. The Director nodded in response then turned to John and Diane.

  “Young people, anytime you meet you feel like it’s love that makes the world go round!” he said as he excused the two, “John, I want to introduce you to someone. I’ll be waiting for you in here, once you’re able to escape from that Alcatraz!” laughing as he walked into another room.

  “It seems my father likes you,” she said as she retired her hand from his grip.

  “Some nobodies sometimes get lucky to be loved by some somebodies!” he said, “What made you think so?”

  “Because daddy has never made anyone cancel their plans just so they’ll get to welcome anyone!” she replied.

  “It feels good to know that one doesn’t need to look up at the skies at night to gaze the stars,” he said.

  “What do you mean, John?”

  “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on!” he said softly.

  “Wow!” she sighed, “I have a feeling you have been down the dungeon for as many years as you’ve lived in this world, John!” she smiled.

  “John!” hollered the Director, “Haven’t you subdued the guards yet?” his laughter echoed through the mansion.

  “My father needs you,” she said, “Suspend the theatrics for now. Another time, Maybe?” as she walked through the foyer.

  “Where can I find you?” he asked.

  “Haven’t you heard, John?” she said, “Daddy says everybody should stay home today in order to welcome the superman!”

  John kept staring at her curves as she cat walked towards the exit overviewing the lake. As soon as he remembered the Director was waiting for him, he quickly tiptoed to meet him.

  “Ah! He finally made it!” Joked the Director who stood in front of a giant painting, “Come,” he took a sip of water from a glass, “I want you to meet someone special!”

  John walked and stood not far from the Director, “Is this?” staring at the big beautiful painting of an older looking woman.

  “Yeah,” said the Director, “Diane’s mother!” he smiled at the painting as he picked his reading glasses from the small artefact table below the painting, wore it and looked at the painting with such deep affection, then sighed, “Martha passed away when Diane was just a little girl,” he said, “Her exit from this world totally changed me! Oh! Martha, what a woman! She had a heart that’s far much bigger than the world!”

  John smiled and tried to act sympathetic.

  “Her heart was too good and too heavy the world could not carry it,” added the Director, “The world is not a playground for good people, John! I learnt that the hard way!”

  “I’m sorry for your great loss, sir!” said John.

  “Ah! Nothing to be sorry for, son!” he said, “I used to be like you when I was young, you know; so full of energy, trying to channel it in order to make the world a better place and all. Not until the day God took her away from me! Now, Diane is all I’ve got, she’s the only good thing left in my life, son!”

  John was speechless.

  “I grew up poor,” said the Director, “My dad wasn’t really the go getter type. Just a peasant, and my mother? She died of cancer,” he pursed, “We were so wretched my father couldn’t look me in the eye after mother passed away. But you know, sometimes no matter how hard life hits you, if you stay strong and stand tall on your own two feet, life will quit the fight and give you a break, and that’s when I met Martha while working the field one sunny day. The bus she took broke down near the fields and while the driver was trying to have it fixed, she came to me asking for water to drink.” he smiled, “When I first saw her, she knew if anybody was to ask me my name I wouldn’t be able to remember it,” he wiped the tears from his eyes as he manage to suck his pride in, “She never cared about my background. Even when I proposed to her three years later, knowing full well I was still struggling, she said yes!” he smiled, “Well, she uh, jumped into the wagon and we continued the struggle and start a new life together!”

  “I really don’t know what to say at this moment, sir” said John.

  “I am a man of many adversaries, son!” he said, “And for men like me, everyday gotta be treated as the last day, you know! Men of many foes have got only two problems; the clock’s always ticking, and you can’t trust anybody!” he sighed, “You can call me a paranoid old punk but when you are in line of my type of business, you’d watch your back even against your own shadows!”

  John looked at the Director and then set his eyes on the painting again, “She’s beautiful.”

  “Come over h
ere, son,” said the Director, “Let me show you something!” he removed his reading glasses and placed it back on the small table along with the glass of water he was holding then walked towards a large glass window.

  John walked along and stopped right behind him.

  “How would you like to look after something precious for the old man?” asked the Director, referring to Diane who was playing with a puppy outside the mansion.

  “I um, you mean?”

  “Yeah, my daughter!” he responded, “I have a feeling the tectonic plates beneath my feet are going to shift a bit from the way things are going and to be sincere, son, I know this may sound rather odd but, you are the only one I can trust for now!” as he turned and looked straight into John’s eyes, “Can you do that for me?” putting his hands in his pockets.

  John sighed, looked at Diane and the puppy, “Sure, sir! Anything for you!”

  “I can see you two have already acquainted yourselves, so I don’t think she’ll be a headache to you in any way,” said the Director as he turned and faced the lake smiling, “Your work starts right now, son!”

  Miss Podrufio

  Friday, 25th July

  “You seem to be fond of red ties,” Diane said as she chewed a bubble gum, “Where did you get a name like that?”

  “It’s a long story,” John replied, as he observed some of the statues in the garden where they walked adjacent to the lake.

  “I am a girl, I love long stories!” she said as she seductively smiled and flaunt her body walking in front of him, in her peach dress, “You don’t seem to talk much, not like the first day!”

  “Well, I didn’t know I’ll be tasked to look after you!” he replied.

  “Protect me, you mean?” she said, smiling, “I think daddy’s plan is way beyond that!”

  “He cares about you?” he said.

  “Tell me about you, John!” she said.

  “Hmm! What would you like to know?” he asked.

  “I would love to know everything,” she turned and stood right in front of him, “Tell me, John! Tell me anything,” wetting her lips.

  He opened his mouth to talk but stammered as he set his eyes on her peached-moist lips, “I don’t think this is the right place for that, I mean, right time-for uh…”

  “Let’s go to your place then!” she said.

  “What?” he responded.

  “You heard me, John!” she said, “Don’t worry about nothing, the big old lion seems to like you. Baby, you don’t have any problem!” wrapping her arms around his neck, “I think you can get away with almost anything. Besides, I won’t tell on you!”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said in a weak tone.

  “My father hired you to protect me, right?” she asked.

  “That’s right!” said John.

  “If you want to keep your job and his trust then I say we do as I want, yeah?” she added, “I suggest you do whatever it takes to keep your job, John. Because the last time some clown didn’t let me have my way, daddy made sure he never lived to see the sunrise!”

  “That’s a joke I presumed,” he said, “Tell me about it!”

  “I’m an independent gal. But this sweet guy walked to me one night at the club, he told me he liked me. I kind of liked him too cause he looked a bit different compared to the other guys in my life, you know. Well, I told him if he really wants to go down he needs to understand that I’m a free gal, he said he didn’t care,” she bragged, “So, we started seeing each other and he kept sending me flowers, telling me he wanna marry me and all. Well, we dated for a couple of months and I began to fall for him, then on the day he proposed to me, we went clubbing that night and he caught me in the bathroom making out with the club owner, and he just…Lost control. I told him to calm down, but he wouldn’t listen so I slapped him like the dog that he was,” she puffed and popped the bubble gum, “He broke up with me right there in the club, could you believe that? How could he do that to me?”

  “That’s all?” John inquired.

  “No,” she replied, “I came back home that night crying, tore my dress and lied to daddy that he beat me up. So, daddy had him taken care of!”

  John gently pushed her hands off his shoulders and grabbed her by the neck looking straight into her once beautiful yet innocent blue eyes, he watched her struggle for life as her pupils dilated. Diane tried to kick him on the groins but missed, she tried hard to loosen her tender neck from his grip as the muscles around her neck began to swell up. As he squeezed her throat from her last dying breathe, he knew she had not only lost the last ounce of breath but the last ounce of purity in his eyes. John frightfully stared at the dying Diane as her neck snapped in his grasp.

  One of the maids witnessed what happened, she screamed and was so frightened she could not move, her voice drew the attention of some of the guards.

  John flung Diane’s body off, as her corpse landed on the lawn, he stood there and took a deep breath then started to walk towards the mansion. Three of the guards approached him not knowing what went down, John pulled out two pistols and fired at them without missing a shot, sending them to their knees as he walked pass the terrified maid.

  John got into the mansion killing all the guards that came up against him, including a shocking Idris who hid behind a small bar in the pool room. He walked upstairs crashing the door to the Director’s bedroom.

  “Podius Podrufio!” he shouted, “Time to go!”

  “What…what happened, son?” said the scared old man as he managed to come out of the bathroom, where he was hiding, “Where’s Diane? Is she safe? I heard gun shots, son. I heard gun shots. Is my baby okay?”

  “She’s dead, Podius,” said John, “Diane is dead, just like Martha. You may probably have to call the artist again!”

  “What?” said the Director, “I don’t understand?”

  John walked to him and seized him by the neck, and start to hit him. He pulled the Director out of the bedroom and kicked him.

  “Son, what’s this all about?” asked the scared Director, “Did anybody make you an offer to do this?”

  John shot the last guard that made it through the door as he pushed the Director down the stairs, then looked back to see the Director struggling to stand on his feet, he fired two shots at his legs and slapped the director with his pistol on reaching him, the old man went straight to the floor like a dry leaf from a dead tree. He then grabbed the Director by the collar and dragged him into the room where the big painting of Martha hung.

  John walked to the painting, stared at it for a few seconds, spat on it then pulled out a lighter from his pocket and set the painting ablaze.

  “What have you done?” cried the Director, “What are you doing? Oh, Martha!”

  “Nothing, Podius, nothing!” John replied.

  “Who are you?” the Director asked faintly, “Who do you work for?”

  “On this job?” responded John, “Let’s just say it’s a token of my favour returned, Podius!” as he walked to the Director, he pulled out a photo and flung it at the Director’s chest “Do you recognise the person in that photograph?”

  “I can’t freaking see without my glasses!” the Director cried, “Oh Diane! What have you done, son? Whatever the feud, why didn’t you just kill me at the office and settle it there?”

  “It’s gotta to be the heart, Podius” John replied, “It’s gotta be where it’ll hurt you the most, old man!”

  John looked around and saw one of the Director’s reading glasses on the artefact table below the burning painting. He walked to it, “I can’t get it, old man! I don’t like the sight of your wife!” he picked the glasses anyway then returned to the Director who was still bleeding from the wounds in his legs.

  “You son of a whore,” cried the trembling old man, “and I thought one day we would invite you over for a dinner, so you would tell us how you got that name! I guess the jokes on me now!” he coughed.

  “I actually looked forward to that di
nner too, Podius,” John said, “But your precious daughter wasted the lifelines you two had left with her mouth!”

  “What are you talking about, son?” said the Director in pain, “Hand me the freaking glasses! Oh, Diane. Baby, I’m so sorry I brought this on you!” he wept as he tried to have a good look at the photo John threw at him.

  John unknot his red tie, threw the glasses away then strangled the Director with the tie, “You won’t need it where you are going!”

  The Director struggled for his life looking at John in the eyes, he put up a fight for a while then suddenly gave a final twitch.

  Minutes later, John got out of the mansion and into the Black SUV. He adjusted the rear view mirror to have a good look at his own face. He then gently used his left hand to pull off the synthetic mask he was wearing and laid it on the passenger’s seat along with the photo he gave the old man, then used a handkerchief to wipe his face and neck.

  He pulled out his cell phone and switched it on, then Kick start the car. While the engine steamed up, messages began to storm into his phone but he ignored them as he kept staring at his face in the mirror. A call came through, John sighed, smiled and picked it.

  “Hey Angel,” he said.

  “You’re so full of crap, JD. Do you know that?” said a female voice over the phone, “Where the hell have you been?”

  “Had to go take care of some business, Jessica!” he said, “Do you miss me?”

  “No! I don’t,” she responded.

  “Come on, baby, admit it,” he teased, “Confess.”

  “Okay, I do miss you,” she said, “But gosh, do you know how many big contracts we have missed? Urgh! JD, I was saving money to get that yacht I told you about, now I called and the idiot told me he sold it. Could you believe that? It’s-all-your-fault!”

  “Don’t worry, we will get you another one!” he said, “Calm down, Jes!”