The Damned Summer (The Ruin Trilogy)

by Weaver, Scott

  He took a step back. “Uh, sure, whatever needs to be done.”

  She stabbed at him with her finger. “You piece of shit! You’re just going to disappear, aren’t you?

  “Sarah?” A voice said from the darkness.

  She spun around as the image of her father walked out from the shadows of the parking lot.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, walking forward. Her mother was right behind him. “Who the hell is this?”

  Sarah’s father made a beeline for Jake. They were roughly the same size and Jake was never one to back down from anyone, but this was definitely a new situation for him. Luckily Sarah stepped in-between them.

  “Everything is fine, daddy. We were just talking.”

  “You weren’t talking, you were yelling,” he replied to his daughter. “What the hell did you do?’ He asked Jake.

  “Talk to me, not him!” Sarah demanded.

  Jake stepped forward with an outstretched hand, not knowing what else to do. “Mr. Hendrix, it’s me, Jake Simmons from down the street. I’m sorry if I angered you. Me and Sarah were just talking.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake,” Sarah said as she covered her face. “Just get out of here.”

  Jake stood there for a minute, not sure what to do. “Okay,” he replied. “I’ll call you later.”

  “Why would you do that?” Sarah’s father asked Jake as he walked off, knowing full well what kind of guy Jake was. “Why would he do that?” he asked Sarah. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” Sarah lied, grabbing her father’s hand, which always melted his heart. “Let’s go get some cotton candy.”

  Chapter 16 Downward Spiral

  Johnny led Kara away from all of the lights and people.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, nearly falling over her own feet in the darkness.

  “We’re about to go on the best ride there is,” he replied, pulling her forward.

  “There’s no rides out here,” she slurred. “I need to sit down.”

  Johnny looked back to where they had come from. “I guess this is far enough out.”

  “Uh-huh,” Kara replied as she sat down on the ground. “Where are we?”

  “No man’s land, baby.”

  “Okay,” she said as her head swam in the night. Her mind swayed in and out of awareness. She was almost asleep when she noticed something tugging on her shorts. She reached down. “Stop,” she mumbled.

  “Shh,” someone replied as she lost grip and felt the cold ground on her legs. “Johnny?” she asked.

  “That’s right, baby,” he replied, pulling her panties off.

  “No,” she whispered. “Stop it.”

  “You know you want it,” he was on top of her now, forcing her legs apart. She tried to stop him but she was so wasted, she just didn’t seem to have any strength. It seemed like forever before it was over. When he was done he climbed off her and just walked off. Leaving her on the ground like a corpse.

  She curled up into a fetal position and wondered how things went so terribly wrong. She should have listened to Jenny after all.

  Johnny buttoned up his jeans and lit a smoke as he walked back towards the park. He looked back briefly at where he left the bitch but couldn’t see any movement. He knew it would take a couple of minutes for her to clean up, if she hadn’t passed out.

  “I’ll give her five minutes,” he said, taking another drag on his cigarette.

  Movement caught his eye and he turned to his left as someone moved towards him.

  “Who the fuck?” he said loudly into the darkness.

  “Take it easy,” said a figure that slowly moved towards him. “Saw your flame, and thought I could get a light. A man with a ball cap came out of the darkness, an unlit cigarette hung from his lips.

  “Sure,” Johnny said as he held up his lighter and lit the stranger’s cancer stick.

  “So,” the guy wearing the ball cap asked. “What you up to out here?”

  “Just finished gettin’ lucky.”

  “Congratulations. Is she conscious?”

  “Hell if I know.”

  They shared a chuckle.

  “You like knives?” the stranger asked, taking a long drag on his smoke.

  “Sure,” Johnny replied, as his mind wandered to the stash of weed in his front pocket. He felt like firing up the good stuff, but he didn’t want to share it with this fucking weirdo.

  The weirdo pulled a small glass bottle out of his back pocket and took a drink from it, immediately getting Johnny’s attention.

  “You like tequila?” he asked, holding up the bottle.

  “Sure.”

  He handed the bottle over to Johnny. “I got a switchblade for sale, if you’re interested.”

  Johnny took a big swig of the hard liquor. “How much?”

  “Twenty,” the stranger answered as he took his bottle back, taking another drink.

  “Let’s see.”

  The man pulled the knife out of his other back pocket and handed it to Johnny.

  Johnny looked it over and then pushed the button. The blade shot out from the side. “Is this thing from the 50’s?”

  “It’s a classic.”

  “Too dark to tell if there’s any rust.”

  The stranger suddenly had a small flashlight. Johnny held the blade close to his face. “A little banged up, but not too bad. Definitely dated though, I’ll give you five bucks.”

  “C’mon!” replied the stranger. “Check out how sharp the blade is. When you pushed the button it popped right out. They don’t make springs like that anymore. It’s worth at least fifteen.”

  “Seven, final offer.”

  “Twelve.”

  Johnny closed the knife and handed it back. “See ya.”

  He let out a heavy sigh instead of taking the blade back. “Fine, seven bucks.”

  Johnny stuck the switchblade in his back pocket and reached for his cash. He pulled out a single bill. “Shit,” he said as he opened it up. “All I’ve got is a five.”

  “Mother-fucker,” the stranger said as he grabbed the money out of Johnny’s hand, turned and walked off.

  “You shouldn’t talk to an armed man like that,” Johnny said to the man’s back with a smile.

  “Eat shit,” the stranger replied, disappearing into the night.

  Johnny chuckled as he took another drag from his cigarette, thinking about the twelve dollars in his other pocket. “What a sucker,” he whispered into the darkness.

  He threw down his spent smoke and pulled out his weed, loading his pipe. He looked back to where Kara was. “You about ready to head back?”

  No answer. Smoking the weed out of his pipe, he took a couple of steps towards her, trying to peer into the darkness. “C’mon Kara,” he called. “The carnival’s gonna be closing in less than two hours. We’re runnin’ out of time.”

  He might have heard a soft whimper but wasn’t sure. He pulled out the flask of whiskey and took a deep drink. “Fuck this,” he said, turning around and heading back towards the lights of the carnival. In the near future he would be questioned about Kara’s whereabouts, but he would never know her true fate.

  Frank and Lloyd slowly made their way through the carnival. Frank tried to reach out with some sixth sense, trying to pinpoint the evil. It didn’t work that way and he knew it, he just didn’t know what else to do. “I’ve got to take a break, boy,” he told Lloyd as he made his way to a bench. A teenage boy sat at one end of it, smoking a cigarette. He looked familiar but Frank couldn’t quite remember who he was. Frank sat on the opposite side, trying to keep Lloyd as far from the foul smelling smoke as possible.

  “Evening,” Frank said with a smile as the young man glanced at him.

  “Hey,” he replied with the nod of his head.

  They sat in silence for a moment as Frank let his knee rest.

  Frank turned to the teenager. “I can’t quite recall your name, but I’d swear we’ve met.”

  “It’s been quite some time s
ince we’ve crossed paths,” the teenager replied with a smile. “I look pretty different now.” He reached over and held out his hand. “Jake Simmons.”

  “Jake?” Frank replied in amazement as he grabbed the young man’s hand. “I haven’t seen you since you were around ten. Looks like those cigarettes haven’t stunted your growth.”

  “Guess not,” Jake said with a chuckle.

  “So, how have you been?”

  The question brought reality crashing back onto Jake’s shoulders. “I’ve seen better days.”

  “Your mom?”

  Jake looked down to the ground and nodded his head. “She just keeps on truckin’.”

  “She’s a strong lady.”

  “You have no idea,” Jake replied as he put out his cigarette.

  “Oh yes I do,” Frank said with a smile. “I grew up with your mother. We’ve known each other since the old days.”

  “Really?” Jake looked at the old man with surprise. “She never mentioned that.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me.”

  “Why’s that? You got some old stories I might find interesting?”

  “No, nothing like that,” Frank lied.

  The two fell into silence as memories flooded their minds.

  Secrets are a dangerous thing. For whatever reason one has of keeping them, it is always possible they will get loose and cause that person grief and sorrow. It is out of fear that people don’t share such things. A problem arises from this in that sometimes the information that is hidden could help the people that are not privy to it. It can help them to make the right decision or prevent them from making the wrong one. It is for these reasons that secrets are the tools of evil. Always have been, always will be.

  If Frank had shared his past with Jake, perhaps Jake would have told him of his mother’s commands of meeting Sarah in the field, and what had become of it. Frank would then have then known the young man in front of him was a pawn in the war of good and evil, but instead he knew nothing more than before he had sat down.

  “Jake!” a voice called out from the crowd.

  Johnny made his way towards Jake. “Let’s get the fuck outta here, man. It looks like a bitch of a storm is coming.”

  Jake noticed the distant storm for the first time. The wind was already starting to pick up. “All right,” Jake said as he stood up. “Take it easy, Frank.”

  “Be careful, boys,” Frank replied, watching the two young men walk off.

  “If something is going to happen tonight,” the old man said to Lloyd, looking at the sky. “It better happen soon.”

  Lloyd watched the people walk past them silently.

  “My gut tells me Jake is involved in whatever is going to happen.”

  Lloyd looked at his old friend for a moment and then turned to the direction where the two teenagers had gone.

  “I suppose I could just be grasping at straws, since we’re running out of time.”

  Lloyd got up and started forward, pulling on his leash.

  “All right, all right,” Frank said as he got up and they started after the two young men.

  Johnny looked up at the dark clouds. “This fucking sucks! God damn storm is going to ruin the rest of the night.”

  “We can just sit in the car and party,” Jake replied. “God knows I need to get drunk.”

  “Yeah, and every time we have to take a piss, we’re gonna get drenched.”

  “I suppose we could just go home.” The idea sounded better than what Jake had expected. Besides, maybe his mom could give him some further insight on his new situation; that was basically all her damn fault.

  “Oh, real funny, mother-fucker,” Johnny replied. “It could be the end of the fucking world and I still wouldn’t go home early on a Friday night.”

  Jake nodded his head, unsurprised by his friend’s reply. It didn’t matter what time he got home anyway, his mother would still be up regardless. “Hey, where’s Kara?”

  “Hell if I know. After I got done shagin’ the bitch, she just disappeared. I was probably too much for her and she had to go pass out somewhere.”

  “I imagine it was more the weed and booze than your studliness. Hopefully she caught up with Drew and Jenny.”

  “Fuck her man, she was a dead lay.”

  “What the hell’s your problem?” Jake asked. “You got lucky, why do you have to bad mouth her ten minutes later?”

  Johnny turned back. “What? You jealous or something?”

  “Forget it, man.” Jake said with a sigh. “Let’s just find Drew and get out of here.”

  Up ahead of them were four boys from a nearby rival town. Jake was about to tell Johnny to be cool, but Johnny had already opened his mouth.

  “You pussies better get home before it starts raining,” he said loudly as they came up on the group. “If you get wet you’ll start crying for your mommies.”

  “Fuck you, asshole,” the biggest one replied.

  Johnny pointed at him as he started walking faster towards the group. “What you just say?”

  “You heard me, prick,” he started making his way towards Johnny, his buddies right behind him.

  “Yeah, well, do you hear this?” he held his hand up and the switchblade clicked open.

  The group of boys stopped moving forward.

  “C’mon now,” Johnny waved them forward with his knife. “Show me what you bitches are made of.”

  “You’re fucking nuts, man,” one of them replied as they moved to the side and then walked on.

  “That’s what I thought,” Johnny said with a smile as he put his knife away.

  “What the hell was that, man?” Jake asked.

  “Just havin’ a little fun, that’s all.”

  “I’m not going to jail just cause you feel like being a dumbass.”

  “Will you relax?” Johnny said as he lit up a smoke. “We’re gettin’ outta here anyway.”

  “We’ve got to find Drew, first.”

  “Ah, forget fat boy. He can get a ride from the bitches.”

  Normally Jake wouldn’t have considered leaving Drew behind, but the knife show had changed things. They had to get out of the carnival as quickly as possible. Their pace increased as they made their way towards the parking lot. The thunder in the distance seemed to increase with each step the bad boys took, and the wind seemed to press into their faces like an angered bully.

  Steve went up to the concession stand to pay for the cotton candy as Linda looked into her daughter’s eyes.

  “What?” Sarah asked.

  “Spill it,” Linda commanded.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “It would be easier now than when your father gets back.”

  Sarah sighed. “It's just high school stuff, mom. No big deal.”

  Linda didn’t buy it for a moment, but she suffered the same malady that many parents of good kids suffered. She trusted her teenage daughter’s judgment. The situation couldn’t be as bad as Linda’s instincts screamed they were; her daughter was smarter than that. Her daughter was better than that.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing honey,” she said, squeezing her daughter’s hand.

  “I do, mom,” Sarah replied, but she didn’t squeeze back, which worried the hell out of Linda.

  Steve came back with the blue cotton candy. “Here ya go, honey,” he said, holding it out to his daughter.

  “Thanks, daddy,” she said with a smile that always lit up his soul, and at the same time raised his defenses.

  “Welcome,” was all he could choke out.

  “Well, I better catch up with the girls,” she said as she moved off. “I’ll see you guy’s back home.”

  “Storm’s rollin’ in,” Linda replied. “You guys better head out soon or you’ll get wet.”

  Sarah looked to the sky. “Yeah, it’s really moving in.” She pulled out her cell phone. “I’m going to have them meet me at the car.”

  “Good idea,” Steve replied. He wanted to tell her to just c
ome with them, but he knew better. “We’re going to head out to the truck, we’ll see you at home.”

  “Okay,” Sarah said with a smile as they went their separate ways. Nothing would ever be the same as they parted.

  Frank watched the potential showdown with the teenage boys from the shadows. He let out a sigh of relief as the other group of kids split when Johnny pulled the knife.

  “What now?” he asked the sky.

  The sky answered him with a dark twister that came down on the carnival like the angry hand of God.

  The tornado picked up the nearby Ferris wheel and twisted it like a used beer can. Metal shrieked with a noise that rivaled the death scream of a rabbit amplified one hundred times. The twister picked up the metallic heap and threw it towards the parking lot like it was nothing more than a balled up piece of paper.

  Frank grabbed Lloyd as he fell to the ground, the metal heap flew over their heads as rain pelted them.

  “I didn’t see this coming,” Frank yelled as the wind howled.

  Lloyd replied with a sharp bark in agreement.

  Steve and Linda saw the twisted Ferris wheel flying through the air towards them, but they had little time to do anything about it.

  Steve dropped to the ground as it came crashing down behind him, rolling on like a wagon wheel.

  He pulled his head from the cold mud, looking behind his back to where Linda had been a moment before. His wife was gone, but he could see the wheel moving on, like a rolling stone.

  Drew and Jenny held each other’s hands as they ran towards the parking lot. The wind had really picked up and they were giggling at the prospect of getting rained on in the summer night. Their outlook changed quite quickly as they saw the metal death ball rolling towards them.

  For a moment they looked at one another as the steel rolled over them, cutting Jenny in half and slicing Drew’s head off. Summer romance rarely ended this abruptly. Their fledging relationship would never know its potential.

  Sarah watched the Ferris wheel as it flew over her head and into the parking lot.

  “NO!” she screamed as she chased after it.