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The madness began a lot slower for Pierre than for
everyone else involved. He had always been a fan of John Woo movies. It
wasn’t that those movies were plot driven or vastly important in the
eternal scheme of things; they were fun. The best aspect of those fun movies
was the slow motion scene. The main character, or the hero, would emerge
from a hallway, room or spacious outdoor area with marvelous amounts of
weather all around, in super slow motion. His long jacket would flap in the
breeze, and his hair would blow from an unseen gust. While the speed of the
scene moved at super slow motion, it was easy for the audience to see every
detail of the events. That was exactly what Pedro’s movements seem to look
like to Pierre.
He saw the scene in such careful detail, that when
the events actually transpired, it was like déjà vu’. He saw Pedro reach
back into his waistband and pull the gun. He did it with a quick and smooth
motion of a practiced gun handler. He held it out for a moment, and then
pointed it at Tommy’s head. It was like the world stopped, and everything
was allowed a moment to ponder. As the gun hung in the air, the twins made
identical expressions of shock, having finally grasped the seriousness of
the situation. Sonny made the motions to put his arms up over his face, in
case his forearms would block the bullet from less than three feet. Tommy
stood still, the gun being pointed into his forehead probably scaring him to
death, but determined to not show if it did. The gun in his hand, Pedro
smiled, then pulled the trigger. It was more of a loud pop, than an
explosion. A splash of flame shot out of the tip of the gun, and the back of
Tommy’s head spouted blood in a fine red mist that colored the wall behind
him. The expression on his face didn’t have time to change to show the
surprise. Ironically, the blood dripping down past Tommy’s nose bone and
onto the tip of his upper lip was what caused his facial expression to
register the shock of having been shot in the head. The worst part of the
whole scene was that by the time Tommy fully understood that he had been
shot in the head, he was dead.
Pierre snapped back into reality and saw Pedro’s
hand reaching into his waistband. This time, however, when the hand emerged
with the gun, Pierre moved as quickly as a blink, seizing the gun and taking
it out of his hand before his palm could settle its grip onto the handle.
The movement was so fluid; it seemed that the smile that was blossoming on
Pedro’s face never came, instead turning into a look of complete
bewilderment. As his empty hand hung in the air for only a moment, Pierre
seized the hand and twisted it, breaking Pedro’s fingers with loud and
sickening pops and snaps.
Pierre pointed the gun in the direction of the
twins and said, “Everybody sit down and relax. This will be over in just a
minute.”
Pedro, still shocked by the whole scene took his
right hand in his left and held it gingerly, staring at his crooked and
newly deformed hand. He spoke in syllables of pain and agony, like a man
with no tongue.
“Muh, ahh, urgh, wha…”
Pierre reached into the right front pocket of
Pedro’s pants and removed a wad of cash. He thumbed through it quickly
with only his left hand. He fanned it open, revealing a thousand dollars,
the thousand dollars that supposedly wasn’t there, and threw it on the
floor.
Pierre pushed him to the ground and turned to look
at Tommy as the loud thump of Pedro’s body hitting the floor reverberated.
Pedro landed next to the money, scattering it about the area around the
floor. Pierre looked at Tommy and could see that he was in a state of
disbelief at seeing how quickly Pierre had reacted and possibly (definitely)
saved his life. He had a far away look, like a trance, where his eyes were
open, and he looked like he was seeing things, but he was nowhere inside his
own head at that moment. It took a pinch on the cheek from Pierre, hard
enough to bruise, to bring him back to the present.
When Tommy gained some coherency, he immediately
looked all around the room at the results of Pierre and his quick movements.
The twins were sitting on the couch, as meek and peaceful as lambs, while
Sonny was still cowering on the floor, arms thrown up over his face in a
baby like plea for mercy. Pedro was lying on the ground, courage gone and
fingers horribly broken. Then Tommy looked at Pierre. Pierre looked
completely at ease during the tense situation. He was calm and
collected…not a sign of nervousness or apprehension. His eyes shone red,
but it was probably just from the light. He casually leaned in towards Tommy
and whispered in his ear.
“Go outside and start the car. I’ll handle
these guys. I’ll teach them to never fuck with you again!”
Tommy stepped back and took a curious glance at
Pierre, a friend he thought he knew. Something was different about Pierre.
At first, he thought it was just the way he looked when he woke him earlier
this evening, but now, after taking a longer and more thorough look, he saw
that it was much more than just one change. Pierre looked taller. Tommy had
read somewhere that men sometimes grow until they were twenty-five years
old. Never more than an inch or so, but they could grow a little taller. But
Pierre looked significantly taller. He was probably closer to six foot six,
instead of six foot three. Tommy shot a look down to Pierre’s feet, sure
he would find thick boots with three inch soles, but instead, he found dress
shoes, with a low heel that gave no extra inches. But, even if he had seen
the thick heel, it wouldn’t have eased his mind any. It wasn’t just his
height, but his size that alarmed Tommy. Pierre looked…bigger. It seemed
as if Pierre was wider than before, and something about him was larger. It
was if he was larger in every way possible than other people. His face
appeared larger, especially around the jaw line where the top of his neck
seemed thicker. As Tommy looked at Pierre, he noticed that Pierre’s chest
was thicker, too. There were so many things about Pierre’s appearance that
looked bigger than before, but Tommy had to go outside. Normally Tommy
wasn’t the type of man to do what someone else wished, unless he wanted to
anyway, but this was different. He wasn’t shy to admit to himself that
Pierre scared him. It was something that he had seen in his eyes a moment
ago. The way his retinas looked like they were flooded with blood.
“Do you understand me?” Pierre said to Tommy.
Tommy gave a distant nod of his head and walked to
the door. Pierre stared at him and tried to steal his thoughts. Pierre was
beginning to really appreciate being a thought thief. The benefits were
astounding. The thoughts came softly, obviously because Tommy was scared of
the situation. What happened to you?
You’ve changed.
Pierre stole the thoughts out of the air, and
nodded to Tommy. You can go outside. I
will handle these (humans) men. Pierre tried to direct these to Tommy,
but if he heard them, he didn’t show. Pierre was forced to use his voice,
which he no longer felt was pleasurable, but was instead, a burden.
“Go ahead. I’ll take care of this.”
Tommy stood at the door for a moment longer and
looked at Sonny. He looked so scared. His eyes were teary and childlike. He
was shaking like a coward, but Tommy was certain that if he knew that he was
about to be left in the room alone with Pierre, he would be shaking, too. A
small damp spot had emerged on the front of Sonny’s pants, and Tommy knew
it was urine. He wasn’t that surprised. Nothing about tonight could
surprise him. The whole evening had been a surreal experience that he hoped
he would wake up from, only to discover that it was a fading nightmare. But
deep down, he knew it was real. The only good thing, he thought to himself
as he opened the door and took one last look at Pierre standing in the
middle of the room, holding the gun, was that the night was over for him. He
looked at the men on the couch, Pedro on the floor and Sonny, who was
sitting so far against the wall it seemed he hoped it would absorb him and
he would fall into the next room. They all appeared to be pleading with
Tommy, pleading with their eyes, that he might stay in the house. That he
might save them from his friend, the monster. It was then that Tommy
understood that what he had sensed about Pierre, was the same for everyone
in the room. Pierre was drastically different, but that difference had saved
his life tonight, the life that these men tried to take. When that thought
entered his head, it was easy to close the door on the men, and close his
mind to their pleas. He walked to the car, opened the door quickly and
started the ignition, hoping the radio would be loud enough to muffle the
screams.
©2003 StoriesByEmail.com
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