by Zach Lamb
She is the one who took Emily away. She is the reason you are out here trying to forget everything, but you will never forget Emily. She saw you the other night covered in blood. How long do you think she will keep that secret? She will call the police and tell them about you next. You have to do something, Bobby. You can’t wait for her to make the next move.
Bobby pulled the vehicle to the shoulder and slammed on the brakes. He punched the steering wheel, and when it didn’t hit back, he punched it again and again, until the skin on his knuckles, now ragged, split and blood ran down his hand.
You’re hitting the wrong thing, Bobby. You should be—Bobby turned the radio off and put his head on the steering wheel. He tried to calm himself and go to sleep on the side of the road, but he was wide awake. The adrenaline pumping through his system would not let him relax. He pulled the car back onto the road, wanting to drive around until he was calm again. It worked before the radio started talking to him, it should work again now that the radio was off.
It didn’t take him too long to find his quiet place again. He drove on autopilot, but when he parked, he was not in his driveway. He was in the extra parking space at the Valley Summit apartment complex. Her car sat in its spot, and the lights were on in her living room window. Bobby stared at the building, not sure of what he was going to do or say to Danielle, but he knew that he needed to find out the truth. Otherwise, he would drive himself crazy.
The radio on his dashboard lit up.
Hey, there metal heads. It’s Monica Mayhem, and right now I have a new band for you. Like some of your thoughts, they call themselves Fathoms Deep, and here is their song titled ‘The Snitch Must Die.’
The song started with a single bass line, followed by a blast beat from the drums and chugging guitars. A low growl came from the speakers. It wound itself up until it was at such a high pitch that Bobby covered his ears. When the singer reached the top of his register, he screamed, “The snitch must die.”
Bobby didn’t want to hear any more of the song. He pushed the knob in to turn the radio off, but it didn’t work. He continued to push the button, to no avail. The song continued. The lead singer was winding his growl up again to assault Bobby’s ears. Bobby grabbed the gun he started carrying with him from the passenger’s seat. The gun was brand new and had never been fired. It was only in case things got bad, and that was his only option. He didn’t want to take anymore chances after the last girl almost took his head off with her shotgun. He hit the radio with the butt of the gun, but it played on.
Bobby continuously pistol-whipped the radio. The lights went out, but the blows continued. The radio face fell to the floor. He reached for the exposed wires but stopped when he had radio silence. Everything in his head weighted on him. Manning up and confronting her was the only way he’d get any answers. Exiting the vehicle, he reached back in for his gun as an afterthought. Bobby trudged up the stairs, stomping for each foot on every step for effect. No wayward neighbors were scaring him to the bushes tonight.
The door slowly swung open. Danielle was still in her pajamas, and she hadn’t put on makeup or fixed her hair. Bobby had never seen her like that before. She looked tired, like she hadn’t slept in days. She probably hadn’t slept since she saw Bobby standing at her neighbor’s door covered in blood like some B-horror movie.
“Are you going just to stand there looking at me, or can I come in?” Bobby asked.
Danielle didn’t respond. Her eyes grew wide, and she backed away from the door. Charlie sniffed Bobby and growled.
“Hey, Charlie. What’s your problem?”
Bobby walked toward the dog. Charlie started barking and ran into the back room. Bobby shrugged and sat down at the bar.
“That’s weird. He hasn’t ever acted like that toward me before.”
“He’s not the only one not acting how they used to,” Danielle said, and walked behind the counter.
“Yeah. You’re right. I’ve noticed you’ve been a little crazy too. Everything okay at work?”
“I wasn’t talking about me, Bobby. I was talking about you. You’re the one who has been acting weird. Ever since you found that girl in the woods, you haven’t been the same. I thought with her gone you would go back to being the same Bobby I used to know.”
Bobby looked down at the counter.
“So, you are the one who called the police and told them about Emily?”
“No, Bobby. I’ve tried to tell you over and over it wasn’t me. I have no idea who it was.”
Bobby jumped up from the bar, knocking over the stool he was sitting on. Danielle jumped and backed against the counter. There was nowhere for her to go. Tears rolled down her weary face.
“Please don’t hurt me.”
Bobby walked around the counter and Danielle slid further down the cabinets. She stopped suddenly when the handle from one of the drawers jabbed into her side.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Bobby said, cupping her face in his dirty hand.
“Please go. Just go, and we’ll talk later.”
“I just want to ask one question,” he said. “If you didn’t call, then who was it?”
He coaxed her face forward with his hand and kissed her lips. Danielle put both of her hands against his chest and pushed him away.
“I already told you. It wasn’t me, and I have no idea who it was. But I’m glad they did. I should have done it the first night I saw her, but I didn’t. If I had then none of this would have ever happened and we would be like we used to be.”
Bobby pushed her hard. She put both hands behind her, bracing herself from the impact of the counter, but it did little to lessen the impact.
“It’s your fault she’s gone.”
“No, it’s my fault that you’re like this. I should have told the police sooner, but I didn’t, and now you need help. Bobby, I loved you. That’s why I did what you asked when I knew I shouldn’t listen to you.”
Bobby’s face dropped, and his anger wavered.
“You loved me?”
The question came out as a meek whisper.
“I love who you were before her. I don’t love who you have become.”
“Don’t blame her. It’s not her fault. She didn’t do anything to you.”
“It’s not what she did to me. It’s what she did to you. Bobby, you’re sick and need help that I can’t give you. Don’t you realize we’re arguing over a girl you never met because she is dead?”
Danielle stepped toward Bobby, driving him back.
“Don’t blame her,” Bobby said, and jumped at her.
He grabbed her shoulder and pulled the gun from his waistband. Danielle screamed, and Bobby moved his hand from her shoulder to cover her mouth. With her arm free, she reached behind her and knocked dirty dishes to the floor. She was searching. Grasping for whatever she could find to stop him. Bobby didn’t want to scare her like this, but it had to be this way now.
He pressed his hand firmly against her face, pushing her back onto the counter and put the gun barrel in sight. She screamed louder against his hand and tried to push him off, but his weight was too much for her. Her frantic hand landed on the blade of a knife and sliced her finger.
She lunged again and knocked the knife out of reach. Finally, she stopped fighting him, but she started leaning back toward the knife. This change in momentum threw Bobby’s balance off, and Danielle grabbed the knife. She pushed Bobby to get a little separation to move and swung the knife at Bobby.
Bobby stumbled, and the blade plunged into his left shoulder. He screamed and pulled away from Danielle with the knife still firmly buried in his shoulder. He doubled over in pain and yelled to the floor.
Danielle carefully approached Bobby and put her hand on his back.
“Bobby. I’m so sorry. I was scared you were going to hurt me. I—”
Bobby pulled the knife from his shoulder and stood up, driving the knife deep into Danielle’s abdomen. His sudden movement cut off her strangled gasp as he knocked al
l the air out of her. Her eyes were bright with surprise. She stumbled backward, pulling the handle from his hand as she fell to the floor. Blood poured from the wound, bathing her in dark red.
“No. Don’t die. I wasn’t going to shoot you. I only wanted to scare you.” Bobby held his hands on the wound, trying to apply pressure.
A red trail ran from her mouth. Danielle lifted her hand toward his face, but it fell short and landed on his shoulder. Bobby watched the life drain from her eyes. He stayed with his hands on her stomach for a while. She tried to speak between weak coughs, but he shushed her like a child who wouldn’t go to sleep. Tears rolled down his face and landed on hers, mixing with the blood. Bobby had seen people die. He’d been the cause of their deaths, but none of them died this slowly. Even his Grandmother’s death rattle wasn’t so agonizing. As Danielle finally took her last breath, Bobby felt the heavy weight of death drape across his shoulders and settle as a burning fire in his chest. He hadn’t experienced the unexpected finality of death since he lost his grandfather. Bobby loved Danielle.
“I believe you. Just come back to me. Please.”
Bobby pulled her to him with his good arm and hugged her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. You caught me off guard when you attacked me, and I reacted without thinking about it. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He sat rocking next to her body, begging for her to come back to him. A growl that sounded like the beginning of the song he heard before coming to talk to Danielle interrupted his pleas. The growl did not begin to rise. Instead, it stayed at the same hateful pitch. Bobby pulled his face from Danielle’s hair to see Charlie staring at him. He barked, and Bobby swung the gun, but missed him.
This time Charlie did not run away whimpering. He closed in on his target. Bobby backed away from Danielle, swinging at the encroaching dog. When he got to the door, he turned and ran. He jumped into his Bronco and didn’t look back. He threw it into gear and stomped the gas, missing the car behind him by inches.
He didn’t want to leave Danielle, but he didn’t need to be there if the cops showed up. Somebody had to have heard all the noise they were making. He jerked the wheel before he sideswiped a car and over-corrected, almost sending him straight into another car.
Bobby sped down Red Rock Road. He screamed and punched the seat, the steering wheel and then the dash. The radio light flickered. Why did she attack him? She said she loved him and then stabbed him with a knife. He didn’t want to hurt her. He only wanted to scare her with the gun so she would tell him the truth. It was her fault she was dead. If she hadn’t attacked him, he never would have stabbed her.
Bobby had trouble keeping the vehicle on the winding road. He punched the dash again, and the radio lit up.
This in Monica Mayhem and I’m out of here for tonight. Don’t touch that dial. The Executioner is up next with today’s hits from the darker side.
Bobby punched the radio, and the volume went up. The knobs were missing from his assault in the apartment complex, and he could not turn it down. The volume was so loud he couldn’t tell if it was music or if the Executioner was on. He punched it two more times, but nothing happened.
He pointed the gun at the radio and pulled the trigger twice. Plastic pieces flew through the air and the radio smoked silently. The recoil from the gun made Bobby swerve off the road. The SUV fishtailed in the loose gravel and he came close to losing control. He turned into the first parking lot he came to and put his head on the wheel and sobbed.
“Are you okay?”
The voice startled Bobby, and he looked up. The man was short, with curly black hair and glasses. He wore a white button-up shirt and khaki pants and possessed an ethereal white glow. Bobby didn’t answer the man, only looked at him through wet, squinting eyes. The man moved toward the vehicle and Bobby realized the man was not glowing; he was standing in front of a ten-foot cross, bright enough for heaven to see. He must have pulled into a church parking lot after he shot the radio. How the hell had he missed seeing the cross when he pulled in? Bobby got out of the vehicle.
“Oh wow, that’s a lot of blood. Are you hurt?”
Bobby carried his left shoulder lower than the right and shuffled toward the man. His head was foggy about where he had been and what he was doing. He couldn’t think straight. Everything flashed in front of him, but it was all a blur. The man wrapped Bobby’s unharmed arm around his neck and tried to pull him to his car. Bobby leaned against the car while the man opened the passenger side door.
“Okay, I’m going to ease you into the seat. I’ll take you to the hospital. While they’re checking you out, I’ll call the police.”
“No,” Bobby whispered.
“We have to call the police. It looks like you’ve been stabbed, and you’re covered in blood.”
“No,” Bobby yelled this time and pushed the man away from him. The man stumbled back and came after Bobby. Flashbacks of Danielle coming at him with the knife and trying to kill him flooded his mind.
“I didn’t mean to kill her.”
The man stopped where he was.
“You killed somebody?”
The man backed away from Bobby. He was going to call the police. Bobby lunged at the man, landing on his back and knocking him to the ground. Bobby rolled the man over and punched him.
“No, you can’t tell anybody. I didn’t mean to kill her. I didn’t mean to kill her.”
The man tried to roll away, but Bobby straddled him and repeatedly punched him in the face. Blood splashed on Bobby’s clothes and face, mixing with his and Danielle’s, making a coppery cocktail. Bobby pinned the man’s hands down at his side so he couldn’t defend himself. He could only move his head from side to side, trying to dodge Bobby’s pounding fists.
Rage boiled inside Bobby. He couldn’t stop himself. The man stopped moving, and Bobby continued to beat his face. Bones in the man’s face splintered beneath his hand. The only thing left of his face was an unrecognizable pulp that looked like a freshly squeezed grapefruit. When Bobby thought the man had had enough and he no longer felt angry with Danielle or himself, he rolled off of him and headed home. He had to work in the morning.
Chapter Eighteen
Emily and Mike met in high school. She was shy and didn’t have many friends, but Mike was drawn to her the first time he saw her. When he heard her sweet voice, he knew he was in love and wanted to be with her. It surprised him when she agreed to go out with him. After that first date, they were inseparable. Nothing in the world seemed to matter. Then they graduated. Mike never had a stable home life and found himself looking for a place to live before he had a chance to remove his cap and gown. Emily started at the local State University. She had dreams of being a veterinarian since she was a child. Her plan was to get her core classes at home and transfer to a larger school for the vet program.
After her freshman year, Mike asked her to move in with him. He told her that he was struggling to get by and needed her help. From the first time they met, Emily did everything Mike told her to do. She told him she would get a part-time job to help with bills, but she was going to stay in school. That plan lasted through the first semester of her sophomore year. Mike had always been controlling, but he got worse the more she was away from him. He started fights with her every night when she got home from school. The worst fight happened the final week of classes.
She came home smelling like her favorite perfume. He asked her why she was wearing it but didn’t give her time to answer. It didn’t matter why she said she was wearing it. To him, the only reason to start wearing perfume to school would be because she met somebody, or worse, she was trying to seduce a professor.
After the fight, he thought everything would blow over like it usually did. The night she came home from her last final, she was in a great mood. She was bubbly and happy, like he hadn’t seen in a while. She told him she thought she aced her last test and wanted to celebrate. She went to change clothes, and Mike lost his temper. He didn’t plan on g
oing out, so she obviously had plans to meet somebody else. He walked into their room and threw her favorite vase against the wall and told her there would be no more school. He needed more help with the bills and she was going to start looking for a full-time job the next day.
She didn’t say anything. She crumbled to the floor and cleaned up the pieces of her vase. That was the first time he realized how afraid of him she was. Quitting school didn’t go over well with her family. There were countless fights about her ruining her life. They blamed everything on Mike. He quickly grew tired of all the drama and cut her off from her family. He didn’t allow her to call them, and she rarely visited them. Emily found a job working in a doctor’s office.
The only males working in the office were the two doctors who owned the practice. They were both pushing sixty, so he didn’t worry about them even though she told him she avoided speaking to them as much as possible. There was nothing to worry about and the men coming in were all sick, but he still threw all of her perfume away and told her never to wear it again. She would wake up, go to work, come home and cook for him and any of his friends who happened to be at the house that night. He didn’t believe she was completely miserable. To prove it to himself as much as her, he would still take her out. Most of the time they would go to her favorite place.
She liked to go where she ended up killing herself. They would sneak into the park after the sun went down and the park was closed. It was her favorite time because she could see the moon shining down and reflecting across the water’s surface. He never cared for it, but it would satisfy her for a little while longer.
He told his friends he would do small things for her so he could keep her around. She was the best maid he’d ever had. Then they’d laugh about it. But he knew she would never leave because she had nowhere to go. Mike loved her, but everything changed the day he met Danielle.
Mike’s company was doing the landscaping for a project that Arkwright Construction was working on. When their eyes met, he knew she was different. She was completely professional and ignored his playfully flirting. It took five trips to her office for made up reasons before she finally agreed to go out with him. She was the most interesting person he had ever met. Every time she walked into a room, everybody felt her presence. Whenever she was around, her vitality intoxicated him. She made him feel unlike he had ever felt before. The only problem was Emily still lived with him. She’d been with him for so long he couldn’t just drop her. And there wasn’t anything he could do to drive her away.