by Carver Pike
Where’s Ivory? Where’s my brother? Where’s…
Mrs. Rebecca. I swear I saw her. She walked into the living room with a warm glow around her. She waved at me and smiled. I sat there and watched her. But then she was gone and Ivory was in her place. Flashlight beams were in my eyes and my brother was shouting in my face. I thought about Jane, who I supposed was my new girlfriend. I imagined her smile and thought of the way she held me and the way her naked body felt against mine. Her smile was the last thing I saw.
Chapter 23 – Simple Simon
Another Midnight Man had arrived. He was there for James or Kevin or maybe even Nikki. That was the key to it all. He needed to grab them like mine had grabbed me. He needed to yell at them like mine had yelled at me. Then he would sick the demons on them and then Hag could possess Nikki and Rotten could possess James and Putrid could possess Kevin. It would be perfect. We would truly be a family then. Four shattered minds desperately needing one another.
It dawned on me that my three guests could try to run for the back door. I needed to make them stay until all three of their Midnight Men arrived. With all the strength I had left, I made my way into the living room and threw myself at the first of them I saw. It was Kevin. I crashed into him and tried to fight him. He was so fucking strong. He always had been.
I stabbed him in the shoulder and fought to hold onto him.
Then the yelling from the front door. I backed away from Kevin just as the gunshots rang out.
Two shots. Both in Kevin’s chest.
I fell back onto the ground and watched as he hit the wall and fell onto his ass on the floor.
A big, angry bull of a police officer rushed in and pointed his gun and flashlight at me.
“You okay?” he asked.
“He’s the killer!” James yelled. “Not my fucking brother!”
James rushed to Kevin’s side and buried his head in his chest. It was touching, really. I wondered if I’d gotten shot, if either of them would have had the same reaction. Would they have cared if I’d gotten killed? Would they have cared if the Midnight Man had slaughtered me in the kitchen earlier?
Over my shoulder, the demons taunted me.
“You have to finish this so I can fuck you,” Hag said.
“I want my body,” Rotten said.
“You really fucked up this time,” Putrid added. “And you must be punished.”
“But I didn’t fuck up,” I told them. “I did what I had to do. Why did he attack me? Why did the Midnight Man come after me instead of them?”
His words echoed through my mind.
Your curse is yours. Your curse is yours. Your curse is yours.
“Mac,” one of the cops said. “Get a load of this?”
The other cop was holding my black mask up in the air, along with one of the ingredients I’d had in my pocket earlier. It was a small baggy filled with nutmeg.
“It’s his!” James said, pointing a finger at me. “He’s Simple Simon. My brother’s innocent.”
Was innocent. Cause he’s fucking dead now. Good riddance.
This cop named Mac got a phone call. It seemed my good friend Logan Reid had gotten a hold of him and things changed drastically after that. I wasn’t beaten, surprisingly, but my head did hit the house door frame and the car door frame. I was rather roughly thrown into the police car.
Then I was taunted and harassed all the way to jail and all the way through the trial. The demons didn’t help me in court, and demonic possession, or in my case more like demonic pestering, doesn’t hold up in court. I wasn’t found to be insane, because I knew what I was doing.
Now, here I sit in a cell, writing my story down for you to read. At the very least you should find it amusing. Mine has been an interesting life. It’s been a sad, harsh, difficult life. It seems it will continue on that way until the day I die. I sometimes wish California still had the death penalty. At least then I could get a last meal and go out with a bang.
My last meal. What would that be? As much as I hate the stuff, I suppose pumpkin pie would be a fun way to go out. Simple Simon who met a pie man ordered pumpkin pie as his final meal. The press would get a kick out of that.
I don’t imagine I’ll be getting out of prison anytime soon. It gives me plenty of time to plan my next move. If I ever get out of here, I’ll do whatever it takes to get these demons off my back.
“Jack off tonight and let me watch you,” Hag whispers into my ear. “Or pretend you’re fucking me. I’d like that.”
She loves to watch me masturbate. Sometimes I close my eyes and let her sweet talk me. Her old, wretched voice is better than none at all. Her dirty talk is the stuff of legend.
“Slay the guard and give his body to me,” Rotten says.
Fuck off, Rotten.
Putrid’s chomping has become almost unbearable. He likes to toy with me, especially late at night when I’m asleep. He used to chomp his jagged teeth in my ear when I was masturbating, but Hag got him to stop. That’s her time.
One day I will give each of them a new home. Rotten will get James and Hag will get Nikki. I swear it.
Samuel loves to remind me of Nikki and all the things he would have done to her if given the chance. I wish he’d shut the fuck up since he can’t do any of that. He’s a child for fuck’s sake. And he’s bolted to a cross.
Fuck off, Samuel!
Speaking of Nikki, I wonder if she’s put on her shoe. A smile creeps across my lips as I imagine her going into her closet and slipping that high heel I came in after watching her fuck James that day. I can practically see her toes sliding in and finding my gift. It would be hard and dry by now, but it doesn’t matter. A part of me will always be with her, and as her foot sweats after a long day of walking through the city, my cum will moisten, and she’ll find a sweet, sticky gob of goodness to remember me by.
Until I get to be with her again and truly be inside her.
“Go the fuck to sleep!” a guard yells as he hits my cell bars with his baton.
He’s right. It’s late. I should rest. Maybe tomorrow I will give him to Rotten. I can toss him over the balcony during our next count. After all, we all fall down.
Chapter 24 – Kevin
Things have never been so perfect. Business is going good and I own a house in the suburbs. Today’s the day I can finally sit and soak in a warm bath. It’s the first day my scars have healed enough to handle it.
Knife wounds are horrible but bullet holes truly suck.
At least I get some kickass scars out of this.
Meatloaf is cooling in the kitchen and Jane has taken the kids to her ex-husband’s house for the weekend. Tonight is our night. It’s date night. We can’t go out and do too much. It’ll probably be a movie and chill kind of night. Jane has gotten so big she can’t really enjoy herself like she used to. The baby’s kicking like crazy. He’s gonna be a badass like his uncle.
Too bad Nikki can’t get pregnant so my little Anthony would have a cousin to play with. I used to tease Ivory often that he must be shooting blanks, but then I found out about Nikki’s problem. It’s sad. Maybe they’ll adopt. If anyone knows the importance of giving a child a home, it’s my brother, and I’m sure he and Nikki would provide a great new life for someone. They’d be amazing parents.
I don’t want to talk about the sad stuff anymore. You want to hear something funny? You know the cop that shot me? Mac? He felt like shit afterwards. He’s shown up at the house a couple of times to check on me. I’ve invited him and Reid and Ava over for a barbecue this Sunday. It’s strange how things happen.
I wonder how Neal’s doing. As messed up as that guy is, I can’t help feeling like I’m partially responsible for how he turned out. Three times I’ve started writing him a letter but I always throw them away. Nothing I can say to him is going to change anything. He has a fractured mind. And I’m trying to put the pieces to mine back together as it is.
Finally, my life is on track and I don’t want anything to fuck it up.
As I lean my head back and start to whistle, I realize my tune is one I’ve whistled all my life. It’s one Mrs. Rebecca taught me and Neal soiled.
Ring around the rosy. Pocket full of…
No. I need to wipe that one from my mind and focus on a new song. I won’t fall down anymore. We don’t all fall down. We don’t have to anyway. I’m on my way up. I need a new happy song.
Jane surprises me when she comes into the bathroom. I hadn’t realized she’d returned home already.
“Look at that smile,” she says. “You seem really happy today.”
“I am. You…you…know wha…what would m…make me happier?”
“What?” she asks.
“If you c…c…climb on in here wa…with me,” I reply.
With no further prompting, Jane pulls off her clothes and joins me in the bathtub. I love the way her body feels pressed against mine. She leans back against me and I wrap my arms around her to stroke her belly.
“I’ve b…b…been thinking,” I say.
“About what?” she asks.
“I n…n…need a new s…song to wha…whistle.”
“Hmm,” she says as she thinks about it. “How about…”
She starts whistling row row row your boat.
“Na…no,” I say.
She thinks on it a little longer and starts to laugh.
“I’ve got the perfect one,” she says. “I haven’t sung this one for a long time but the kids got a kick out of it. I used to sing it to them softly at bedtime.”
“Wha…what?” I ask.
She sings for me.
“Down by the bay. Where the watermelons grow. Back to my home. I dare not go. For if I do. My mother will say. Have you ever seen a duck? Driving a truck? Down by the bay?”
I laugh. It’s perfect.
“Have you ever heard it?” she asks.
“Y…yes,” I tell her. “It’s p…p…perfect.”
So I whistle it.
“Down by the bay. Where the watermelons grow. Back to my home. I dare not go. For if I do. My mother will say. Have you ever seen a duck? Driving a truck? Down by the bay?”
She sings along with me and I realize I’m right smack dab in the middle of the greatest moment of my life. It’s only me, my wife, and my baby.
And I have a new song. A song given to me by a woman I don’t have to hide my love for. A song from a woman who loves me back. It’s a song that reminds me of happiness. Jane has given me a song to move forward with.
Yes, life is perfect.
THE END OF THE COLLECTIVE SEASON ONE.