by Steven Swaks
“Why would anybody keep a woman’s sneaker in a drawer?”
“There’s only one?”
“Yes.”
“Beats me,” his friend answered with a slight rise of his shoulders.
The young man tossed the lone shoe in the trash bag and carried on cleaning.
Despite Detective Franck Delano’s efforts, the murder of Jessica Miller remained officially unsolved.
~
Decades after what was referred to as the Stone Fall’s events, seventy-eight-year-old Jeff Simons rested on a sun chair, eyes closed beneath thick sunglasses. The sky was blue, the sea a beautiful shade of turquoise, and the legs of the waitress coming and going a marvelous tan. The tropical sun was radiating on his chest.
His fingers raked the white sand. Life had been good to him, besides three marriages–mostly failed for infidelities on his part–but Jeff didn’t regret anything. His son Mathieu was a successful attorney following his daddy’s footsteps with women. So what? They were commodities. Some people liked to gamble, others liked cars or money. He liked women. Big deal. Back in the days, he had had his fair share of meat. As age crept up on him, it became harder, but there was nothing money couldn’t buy.
A drop of sweat dripped down his forehead.
“May I serve you another cocktail, Mr. Simons?” The young Polynesian woman asked. Her flowery skirt flowed down her endless legs to a small bracelet hugging her delicate ankle. A strapless swimsuit bra hid her chest, but there was no limit for Simons’ imagination.
“Yes, please. What is your name, young lady?”
“Laetitia.”
“Laetitia, what a beautiful name,” he said smiling at her without removing his sunglasses.
She smiled back, mainly to be polite. “Thank you, sir. I will come back right away with your drink.”
His greedy eyes followed her until she disappeared behind a cabana draped with white curtains. Life was marvelous. He relaxed in his long chair, the sun feeling fantastic on his weary body. Maybe it was even too warm. Perhaps he should retreat to his room and rest under the fan for a while. First, he would wait for that cute little waitress and enjoy a last cocktail.
A mild heartburn rose from the depth of his belly. He had not had one in a long time, maybe years, but there was nothing a couple of Tums could not fix.
The heartburn exploded in an eruption of acid up his chest, a sudden and sheer pain spreading through his left arm. An invisible giant sat on him, stifling his breath.
Two young women walked down the beach in their bikinis. Jeff Simons took a look, mostly by reflex. He didn’t care anymore. Girls, women, flesh, and shallow pleasures were part of a different reality.
His fingers tetanized. His heels dug in the warm sand. He gasped for air which was not there, the giant still sitting on him. Simons tried to call for help, but no sounds came out of his drooling mouth. Urine seeped out of his swim trunks. The lazy giant turned around, smiled, and dug a dagger into his damaged heart.
Jeff Simons’ eyes closed on a last look of the white sandy beach and the two bikini-clad women.
The pain receded, as if nothing had happened. That’s it? Simons thought. The warm sun was still shining on him. The afternoon heat was truly becoming hot, to the point of discomfort. The older man opened his eyes. There were no more sandy beaches nor girls walking by. Instead, a large lake of fire spread in front of him. Jagged rocks were at his sides and behind him. Screams of agony echoed throughout the cave they were in, but it was not the most frightening.
A very large beast stood upright in front of him, long horns pointing to the ceiling of the cave. Its red eyes came upon him. It spoke deformed and angry words and lifted a trident above his chest with the promise of an unbearable pain.
~
Years before Simons’ doomed fate, John walked to Jessica, hands in his pocket. “How is the water?” he asked her.
“Refreshing,” the young woman answered, bare feet gently swaying in the clear and cool stream.
John glanced around him. A gentle breeze hardly swayed the tree tops while crystalline water tinkled down a short waterfall. The sky was a bright blue with a few puffy white clouds. “This is truly a beautiful meadow,” he commented mostly to himself.
She nodded.
“You know, your sister is going to be fine.”
She smiled. Somehow, she already knew.
“We have to leave now, Jessica. We have to go to the city.”
“The city?”
“The city,” John confirmed with a blossoming eye.
She stood up, bare feet in the tall grass. She was at peace.
“I have to tell you, Jessica, I didn’t come alone.”
She frowned. “Who came with you?”
Waiting for her, a young man was standing at the edge of the forest.
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Steven Swaks is also the author of “Alaska! Up North and to the Left,” and “6545 Snow Summit Drive.” He is a licensed airline pilot and flight instructor, and currently lives in Southern California with his family and bratty canine.