“What the hell are you looking at?” he says. He turns and sees what I see.
Chris Baxter’s picture is on the screen. “A fifth suspect has been identified,” says the lady in the red pantsuit. “He is considered armed and dangerous.”
“Well, what do you know?” Richie says.
I remember what Baxter said. That Richie was trying to take my place. “It was you. You turned us all in. But why?”
“What are talking about? I’m no traitor!”
“No, you’re not,” Jeeters says. “You don’t have enough vision. I do.” He points my gun at Richie’s head and pulls the trigger.
Richie falls back and crashes into the TV. It topples on top of him. Shards fly everywhere.
The woman in the kitchen is screaming. Her son is crying. The man is holding them close with his head down.
“Jeeters!” I yell. “What the hell?”
He’s stretching his arms over his head. “That felt good. I never liked him.” He’s got my gun pointing at me now.
“What is this?” I ask.
Jeeters sits back in the love seat. “You never respected me, Rob. None of you did. I was tossing homes and killing cops long before you shit in your first diaper.” He looks into the kitchen. “That’s why I made an anonymous call to the 5-0. Time to try something new.”
He smiles at me and shouts to O’Brien in the kitchen. “Bring me the boy!”
I lunge for Jeeters. I have no idea what his sick mind has planned and I don’t intend to find out.
I hear a bang and fall over in pain. There’s a hole in my arm. Blood is pouring from it.
“Stay down,” Jeeters says. “I have other plans for you.”
I’m holding my arm. It hurts like hell. I notice for the first time Jeeters is wearing gloves. He shot Richie with my gun.
Shit.
I’m the patsy.
“O’Brien,”Jeeters repeats, “bring me the boy.”
O’Brien has his hands up. “I have one job. And that’s to watch over this family.” He’s standing over them. “You’ll have to get through me to get them.”
Jeeters sighs and stands back up. “Have it your way.” He marches toward O’Brien and puts three bullets in his chest. “Retard.”
“Hey, mom!” Jeeters shouts. “You’re a cute little thing. Bet you’re great in the sack.”
She whimpers. Her husband’s face is stone. He’s holding her tight. I admire him. He won’t leave his family’s side, even though it may cost his life.
“Bring me the boy, or I’m going to kill your husband. Now, Bitch!”
It’s now I realize my life means nothing. I’ve thrown it away. I’ll never get to see my family again. But I can keep this family alive.
I jump off the floor and run towards Jeeters. I can knock the old goat down. He should break a hip if nothing else. I stretch my arms out for him and lunge.
Jeeters turns and smirks at me. My gun is staring at me again. There’s a familiar bang and I’m flat on my back.
I don’t know where I’ve been shot, but I can’t move. Jeeters is standing over me.
“Damn it, Rob,” he says. “You were always too impatient.” The gun is pointing straight down at my face. “This wasn’t part of my plan, but oh well. I’m still gonna have a good time with that boy.”
Out of the corner of my eye I see the boy. He’s gotten up from the floor. He looks like an angel from here. His parents are reaching for him but he’s ignoring them. He’s standing behind Jeeters.
“Goodbye, Rob,” Jeeters says. “It’s been a real hoo-hah.”
“Goodbye,” I say.
O’Brien’s gun is pointing at Jeeters’ back. I see the O’B shining in gold. I remember O’Brien had stuffed it in his pants. The boy remembered, too. I can’t help but laugh. I knew he’d kill us if he could.
The boy has four fingers on the trigger. He’s about to pull it.
I hope Bobby turns out to be just like him.
Don’t Let Her Die
IT WASN’T supposed to be like this. She wasn’t supposed to get hurt. Not my beautiful five-year-old angel.
“I’m tired, Daddy.”
“Don’t close your eyes. Stay with me, Hun.”
Ten minutes ago her face was beaming as we spun around in the teacups. Now her skin was pale. Her lips were shaking.
I snatched the brown paper bag out of her hand and threw it on the car seat behind me. I could hear the pills burst out of it and onto the floor.
“How many did you eat, Crystal?”
She held up two fingers.
“Damn it.” I don’t know what the speed limit was. I don’t know how fast I was going. But I sure as hell knew how to follow the blue signs with the letter H.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“What?”
Tears rolled down her face. “You said I could have some candy when the ride was over.” Now her voice was breaking up. “Please…don’t…be…mad…”
My heart sank. “I’m not mad, Hun.” I was supposed to be her protector. It’s my fault she ate whatever was in that bag. I thought it was full of candy when I took it from the fat lady, but I remembered what the cop had said to his squad after the woman was rushed to the hospital:
“Make sure you find that bag. I don’t know if it had salt tablets, heart medication or rat poison in it and frankly, I don’t care. We have an amusement park full of kids and the last thing I need today is for some kid to find those pills and end up hurt, or worse.”
I barreled into the Emergency Room driveway and slammed my brakes. I reached behind me to the backseat floorboard and snatched one of the pills, then jumped out of the car.
I ran to Crystal’s door and almost ripped it off. I scooped her out the seat and held her up in my arms.
She wasn’t moving.
“That’ll be 5 dollars,” someone said behind me.
“What?”
“It’s five dollars to park your car.”
I raced to the ER automatic doors. Crystal needed help. I turned my head and shouted, “Keep the damn car!”
I was out of breath when the doors opened. I stared at a line of sick, dying people a mile long. The waiting area on my left had over 50 filled seats. What the hell?
“Somebody help me! My daughter is dying!” Crystal’s lifeless body was draped over my arms.
The lady checking people’s blood pressure by the front desk stood up and looked at me. “Nurse!”
A 300 pound nurse in scrubs waddled over with a wheelchair. “What happened?”
I helped her seat Crystal in the chair. I handed the nurse the pill I had grabbed from the car. “She swallowed two of these.”
The nurse took the pill and studied it. “How long ago did this happen?” She swiveled the wheelchair and rushed to the back.
“15, maybe 20 minutes. Is she going to be okay?”
The nurse stopped. “You stay here.” She redirected her attention to the woman behind the desk. “Laurie, get his information then send him back.”
“I’m not going anywhere without my daughter.”
“Sir,” the nurse said, “the best thing you can do for your daughter right now is make sure we have all the information we need to treat her.” She wheeled Crystal away. “We’re going to be in this room here.” She pointed to a room two doors down on the right. “She’s in good hands.”
The nurse disappeared with my daughter.
I felt hopeless. This was all my fault.
The desk lady asked me for my insurance card. I handed it over and answered a million questions about Crystal. This was taking forever!
“Triage!”
Two paramedics raced into the ER with a body on a stroller. One medic stopped at the desk by me. The other met a doctor and nurse in the hallway, and continued rolling the man on the stroller.
I could see Triage Man was Spanish or Puerto Rican. One side of his face was smashed in.
“I’m gonna kill Mr. Marcus!” the man shouted.
“What happened?” the desk lady asked the paramedic by me.
The paramedic shook his head. “Someone decided to rearrange the guy’s face with a baseball bat.” He handed the lady a clipboard with paperwork. “Probably messed with the wrong man’s wife.” He nodded at me and headed down the hall.
“You can see your daughter now,” Desk Lady said. She handed back my insurance card and shouted, “Next!”
I ran to the room Crystal was in. I didn’t know if I’d find her dead or alive. I swallowed hard, pushed the door open, and stepped in.
Crystal was lying face up on the bed. Her eyes were still closed. Her chest was moving up and down.
“She’ll be okay,” the nurse standing next to the bed said. She placed a wet cloth on Crystal’s head. “She’s suffering from heat exhaustion. We’re going to give her an IV of saline solution to make sure she’s hydrated.”
She would be okay. Thank God. Maybe I wasn’t the worst father in the world. “What about the pills?”
“The doctor will talk to you about that.” She attached the IV to Crystal’s arm. “We’ll need to observe her vitals for an hour or so.” She headed for the door. “The doctor will be with you soon.”
I walked to Crystal’s side and stroked her long blond hair. She was my life. How could I ever have put her in this much danger? My ex-wife could never find out about this. I would lose Crystal forever.
“Hi, Daddy.” Crystal opened her eyes and stared at the IV in her arm. “What’s this?”
I smiled at her and kissed her forehead. “It’s medicine. You were sick and this is making you better.”
“Where are we?”
“This is a hospital. It’s where big people go when they get sick.”
“I’m a big girl.” She made a muscle with her left arm.
“Yes you are.”
“I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you too, Hun.”
Crystal sat up in the bed. She motioned for me to come closer. “I wanna go home, Daddy.”
“They’re gonna run a few more tests. I’ll get you to your mom’s.”
“No. I wanna go home with you.”
“I know, Hun. It’s just for a while. We’ll be together again next weekend.”
She put her mouth up to my ear and whispered, “Mommy doesn’t love me.”
Someone knocked twice on the door. An older man in a lab coat walked in. I knew he was the doctor.
“How are we doing, young lady?” he said, walking to the other side of the bed.
Crystal stared at me and whispered, “He’s got a big nose, Daddy.”
The doctor chuckled. “That’s so I can smell all the sick people and make them better.” He took a pen light and looked into Crystal’s eyes. “Good. Do you feel like you can stand up?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good.” He looked at the machine attached to her arm. “You look a lot better than you did when you came in. Everything’s going to be fine.”
The doctor looked at me for the first time. “Those pills were for blood pressure. They didn’t have anything to do with this.” He rubbed his chin. “Was she in the sun for a prolonged period today?”
“We were at the amusement park. The line for the Teacups took forever.”
“Say no more. The nurse will be back to release your daughter. Keep her rested and hydrated.” He turned to Crystal and smiled. “The Teacups are the best ride.”
“I like him,” Crystal said when the doctor walked out.
30 MINUTES later we were back on the road. I apologized to the man who parked our car and gave him $20. He was more than happy to accept the apology. I thought he was going to hug me.
Kerry’s house was only five minutes away. I had no idea how I would tell her about what happened to Crystal. I had fought too long and too hard for the limited rights I had. I couldn’t lose them. I couldn’t lose my daughter.
“Don’t worry, Daddy.”
I shook my head out of what felt like a trance. I had phased out with this overwhelming fear. Kerry was cruel enough to use today against me and take Crystal away forever.
“I’m sorry, Hun?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell Mommy about the candy.”
I squeezed her leg and winked at her. She was much wiser than I would ever be.
“Why did it hurt me, Daddy?”
I tried to think. The candy…err medicine...had nothing to do with this. I’d be thrown in prison if Kerry could prove I had given Crystal prescription medicine. I was already on probation for a former drug habit—the same habit that had cost me my daughter in the first place.
“It was bad candy meant to hurt bad people.”
I pulled into Kerry’s driveway. I felt nauseated, the same way I did on the Teacups. I never liked dropping my daughter off. Not here.
I reached into the back and grabbed her bag of clothes. “Are you ready?”
She crossed her arms and shook her head.
Kerry stepped outside from her screen porch. She was barefoot. She was larger than I remembered. A pan full of brownies was cradled by her side. She pulled the brownies out one at a time and shoved them into her mouth.
I took a deep breath, smiled at Crystal, and stepped out of the car. I didn’t want her to see me depressed. She had to believe I was happy.
“You’re an hour late!” Kerry yelled.
Crystal stayed in the car and locked her door.
I held my hands out to Kerry. She needed to shut up. I turned and mouthed to Crystal, “I’ll be right back.”
I left the car on and closed my door. I prepared to engage in battle and headed toward Kerry.
Kerry shoved another brownie into her mouth. It looked like dog shit as it swirled around the gaping hole in her head. “You broke the rules. This is gonna cost you.”
“Kerry, listen...”
“No! You listen, crack head. You screwed up. You’re gonna pay the price.”
“Kerry! The lines were long. She had a great time. Don’t do this.”
She twisted her lips and waved her head the way she did whenever she thought she had me cornered. “I need more money for her clothes.”
My head was about to explode. “I bought her clothes last week.”
“She needs more money for food. She’s a little pig.” Kerry shoved another brownie into her mouth.
“You’re not getting another dime. I pay for everything. You need to get off your fat ass and get a job.”
“My man has a job.”
I shook my head. “Your man drives a truck two days a week.”
“Whatever. Your daughter needs more money.”
I stepped up to her and shoved the brownie pan out of her hands. The pan was nearly empty. “Now you listen to me. Crystal is not your meal ticket. She’s your daughter and you need to act like a mother.”
She pushed me back. “So now you want to be a man? You think you’re better than me? All those years of smoking crack and shooting up. You’re worthless.”
“I’ve made my mistakes. I’m not proud of them. But I’ve been clean for four months now.” I turned and looked at the car. “For Crystal.”
Kerry laughed. “Good for you. What do you want? A brownie?” She stomped on the brownies left in the pan. “Feel free to lick one off my foot.”
I couldn’t keep going. Not like this. “Maybe Crystal should stay with me tonight. She’s had a long day."
"Maybe I should call your probation officer."
I heard one of my car doors open and close. I could hear Crystal’s feet skirting through the leaves.
“She’s your daughter,” I whispered to Kerry. “Please just love her.”
Crystal brushed against my leg. “Hi, Mommy. We had fun.”
I pleaded to Kerry with my eyes to be the mom Crystal needed.
“Get inside, you little shit,” Kerry said. “Go give your new daddy a big hug.”
“Okay. Hey, Mommy,” she said, holding out an open palm with something cupped in it, “want s
ome candy?”
THE END
WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. Hold on just a minute. My name's Bessie Mae Peterson, and I'm not finished yet. My mama and papa thought they could finish me off just because I love another woman. They'll never make that mistake again. They tried to slice me up with that stupid Nakiri knife and I almost died.
Missy came and saved me. Now I’m back and getting stronger every day.
I can’t wait to go back to my mama and papa. They were always so close to God. That's a good thing — they're gonna need God.
I love them to death but they’re gonna burn in hell!
OTHER BOOKS BY
TIMOTHY D. MCLENDON
TWISTED ENDINGS is a mind-blowing collection of mystery and suspense stories with unexpected endings. One man’s patience will be tested at an amusement park. One man will be the judge of life and death. One group will determine the best way to fight crime. One boy will decide how to beat the school bullies. One woman will find a way to deal with the desecration of her body.
Your use of the story telling device and the way it becomes resolved at the end is a tour-de-force. - David B
This is the first story I have read that I literally could not stop reading. - Trevor W
Your story hooked me quickly and kept me guessing. - Igal L
...an excellent pace which does not let up. - Julio P
My jaw dropped to the floor. Holy Sh*t! - Leroy
TWISTED ENDINGS 2 is a collection of five mystery and suspense stories with unexpected endings. This collection revolves around a workaholic who believes his wife is cheating on him with the pretty boy next door. A lesbian teenager who tries to convince her parents there is nothing wrong with her lifestyle. Two veterans who stand up for what they believe is right, no matter the cost. A soap opera star searching for her birth mother. An insomniac who will do anything to sleep.
This is beautiful and dark and creepy - just how I like them. - Debra G.
Wow! Did not see that coming...you covered religion a bit, sexuality, and violent crime. I think it's great. - Douglas S.
Twisted Endings 3: Children of Blood Page 5