|
When Sonny saw that Tommy was at the door, he
immediately remembered the main reason that he had hoped that Tommy didn’t
show tonight for his pickup. He thought that Tommy was very cute and was sad
that Pedro had decided to kill him.
Sonny remembered the first time he had met Tommy.
It was the summer of 1998, and he had just moved into the house. He needed a
place to stay during the summer, because he was from Florida and couldn’t
afford the cost of going home and then coming back. Besides, all the friends
he considered to be “true friends” lived in Brockton now, and he
didn’t want to leave them for Florida. Florida was hot and sticky during
the summer, especially in Miami, and Sonny wasn’t from the best
neighborhood. But, the climate wasn’t the only factor in his decision to
stay in New England. His life was over in Miami, and he knew exactly why and
when that happened.
That Christmas break, Sonny told Pete, his best
friend of ten years, that he was gay. He figured that Pete was gay, too. He
had seen the way that Pete looked at him, and he knew how he felt about
Pete. But he had tried to hide his feelings from Sonny, the way most people
did when they were in denial about their real identities. Pete had started
to tell everyone in the neighborhood that Sonny was a “fag” and a
“pillow-biter,” and the neighborhood took to those torments with evil
regularity. Everywhere that Sonny went, he was hollered at and teased by
almost every he had ever known. It was worse at home. His father, a man that
was hardly ever around and never sober when he was, tried as best as he
could to”beat the fag out of him” with a belt. The “fag” stayed in
Sonny though, and it was deeper than the three-inch scars that Sonny had
criss-crossing his back. He moved back to school the day he was released
from the hospital and hadn’t been home since. As a matter of fact, he
hadn’t spoken to anyone from Miami since that day in early January.
In Brockton, things were better. He hadn’t been
accepted as a gay man, but that was mainly because he was too mortified to
tell anyone that he was gay. Instead, he put up a moderate macho front. Not
enough to be clearly a charade, but enough to pass. He even brought girls
around the house and had sex with them. The sex had been bad, but he found
that if he closed his eyes and thought of Brian, one of the twins he lived
with that had a body chiseled from granite, he would climax eventually. The
girls he slept with raved about his performance, which amused Sonny greatly,
because they never knew it had nothing to do with him being a sexual
“champ,” but instead it was because the girls naked bodies did nothing
for him.
Either way, the ruse worked.
In Brockton, Sonny began to finally feel accepted,
like he was as much a part of the “scene” as the straight kids that
lived in the area. Sonny had friends, and they treated him like family. He
and the twins started to sell weed out of the house, and it provided enough
money to easily cover the mortgage and any other bills, still leaving them
all ample spending money. Things were truly great. Tommy started to come
around then, and they all knew that he was a serious buyer. He bought at
least five lbs. a week, and he was a constant buyer. But, most importantly,
he was a big, sexy man that Sonny enjoyed flirting with, at least flirting
in his mind. Things were improving daily until Pedro moved in.
At first, he seemed like a decent guy. He chipped
in on the rent, and he did it on time. He helped buy the groceries and even
offered to go and shop for them. Pedro kept his room clean and always picked
up around the house. But, as time went on and he got a taste of the money
that the house received, he got greedy. In the beginning, he had ideas to
increase profit, and when they worked, he wanted a fair share. He was given
his fair share, but he always wanted more. When he started to assume
leadership within the group, he wasn’t challenged. There had never been a
leader, it was an equal partnership, but still, the group felt that Pedro
was smart and fair, both qualities lending him to be a good leader. He
wasn’t either of the two in reality.
Pedro was a cruel and senseless jerk who was so
eager to make money that he screwed people and made everybody angry with him
and the other people in the house. One by one, the house started to lose
business and respect. Finally, they were at a point where they had almost no
customers, and they had to get part-time jobs to pay rent. The only client
that was still constantly coming by the house to make a substantial purchase
was Tommy. Twice a week, Tommy came by and bought several pounds, sometimes
barely in time to help the guys pay their rent. Tommy was a true Godsend for
the renters, and then Pedro said that he had an idea.
“Next time Tommy comes here, I say we rob him.
He’s a punk and his money could pay the rent for two months. Who knows, he
might even have more on him, and we could jack him for that, too.”
Sonny and the twins disagreed. Although it was
Sonny and Sonny alone that did the talking, the basic argument was that
Tommy was their only customer that was reliable to come by. Why would they
want to jack him? Even if the money they got from him paid the rent for
three months, what about after that? It wasn’t as smart to burn that
bridge as it would be to use it to keep the bills paid. Pedro nodded his
head and said that it was just “him thinking out loud,” and left the
room. He never mentioned a word about it again.
When Sonny saw that Pedro was reaching into the
back of his pants, he knew what was about to go down, but was virtually
powerless the stop it. He imagined the gun, the confusion, and then the look
that would be in Tommy’s eyes when he realized that it was a set up. His
eyes would accuse Sonny of deceit, even if the words never came out of his
mouth. Tommy would never believe that Sonny had nothing to do with the set
up, that he was sure about it. Either way, it was an ugly event that was
about to occur.
When the gun came out, Sonny closed his eyes and
prayed that nobody got hurt, especially himself. He expected yelling,
shouting and overall loud voices, but what he heard was completely
different. It was total silence. When Sonny finally opened his eyes, and
pulled his arms down from his face where they were weakly trying to block a
bullet, he saw Pedro stand with his arm in the air while Tommy’s big
friend held the gun. What the fuck? How did he get the gun out of Pedros’ hand so quickly?
Tommy was still standing in front of Pedro, but he
didn’t look scared or nervous in the least. Instead, he looked shocked and
just as surprised to see Pierre holding the gun as Sonny and the twins and
Pedro. Somehow, when Pedro pulled the gun, Tommy’s friend took it from him
in the, the blink of an eye or faster. Now, instead of being worried about
what Pedro was going to do to Tommy and his friend, he was worried about
what Tommy and the now-armed friend, were going to do to them.
Sonny could see that Pedro’s hand was still
hanging in the air, pointed towards Tommy’s head, but the gun wasn’t
there, and the threat it posed was gone. Instead, Pedro looked foolish with
his empty hand pointed towards a much larger and soon to be angry, Tommy.
Suddenly, Tommy’s friend, reached for that hand and again in the blink of
an eye, snapped the fingers back and broke them. For a man that looked as
sick and pale as Tommy’s friend did, he broke Pedro’s fingers like they
were dry twigs under his foot. Pedro screamed and took his right hand to his
lap, where it was cradled by his left hand.
“Everybody sit down and relax. This will be over
in just a minute.”
Tommy’s friend, Pierre was the name that Sonny
thought that Tommy may have said when he introduced them, pointed the gun at
the twins and moved them to the other room. Sonny started to feel dizzy when
he realized that they were in serious trouble. The ease and thoughtlessness
of how he broke Pedro’s fingers told Sonny that Pierre was a very powerful
man that was very capable of cruelty. But what scared him the most wasn’t
the power or the cruelty, but the ease he did these things with. He seized
the gun from Pedro’s hand like a child takes candy from an adult. He broke
his fingers like he was snapping his fingers. And now, when the chaos of the
scene was heightening, and he was the pinnacle, he was clearly the calmest
head in the room.
Sonny looked at Pierre for the first time,
actually looked at him, and found that it wasn’t just the way he acted,
moved and held himself that scared him. Looking at Pierre scared Sonny. For
one thing, he was huge. When Tommy and he had first walked into the house,
he was struck by how tall they were. Tommy had always been a tall guy, much
taller than Sonny had been and certainly much taller than Pedro, but his
friend was significantly taller. When they walked through the door, Sonny
would have sworn that Pierre was almost six foot five, but now, in the heat
and excitement of the moment, and despite how crazy and absolutely absurd it
sounded, Sonny would swear that he had grown to maybe six foot seven. But
that wasn’t all. He looked bigger, too. He was larger, in size and
presence. He just looks larger cause
he has the fuckin’ gun!
The size of Pierre wasn’t the scariest thing
about him, though, not at all. The scariest part about him was his eyes.
When Pierre first arrived with Tommy, his eyes were green and sort of dead
looking. But now, while he held the gun and ordered the twins to the couch
and knocked Pedro to the floor, his eyes looked red. It wasn’t just the
actual eyeball that was still green. It was the retinas that were blood red
in color.
At that moment, Sonny wanted to scream as loud as
his lungs would allow. He wanted to scream until his lungs no longer gave
air. He wanted to scream until his voice box no longer produced sound. Then,
when he would no longer be capable of noise, he thought that he might keep
on screaming until he fell to the ground, dead. Then, and maybe only then,
he would feel the terror that Pierre instilled in him abate.
Sonny opened his eyes and looked at Pierre. Pierre
was staring at him. From behind his head, he could hear someone’s voice
talking to him in a loud whisper. Hey
there Sonny. Are you scared of me! Do you know what I am going to do to you
as soon as Tommy leaves? I’m going to eat you whole. I’m going to eat
your eyes and eat your nose. But first, I am going to eat your feet. I am
going to eat you from the feet all the way up until you die! Then, I’m
gonna eat some more!
As Sonny began to understand that it was Pierre
talking to him, talking into his mind, he started to understand a little
what he was. For a moment, he saw the Pierre under the skin. He was a
muscular demon with a long jaw, mouthful of razor sharp teeth and eyes that
teared blood. Worst of all, while Sonny stared at the real
Pierre, Pierre smiled at him! That was when Sonny got dizzy and passed out.
When Sonny woke up, he was still propped against
the wall, and Tommy was shutting the door behind him as he left the house.
Pierre was facing the door, his back towards the others. Sonny glanced to
the living room. Pedro still lay on the floor, holding his deformed hand.
The twins were sitting on the couch, quietly and calm, possibly horrified
beyond fight. Sonny let his gaze come back to Pierre. He had to force
himself to look at him, but he looked just the same.
Pierre turned and looked at the men in the house.
He stood motionless for a few moments, possibly sensing that the longer he
did nothing, the scarier he became. Sonny couldn’t remember ever being as
scared as he was right now. He thought he was going to pee his pants. Then,
he looked down, and saw that he already had!
When he looked up, Pierre was watching him and
smiling. He liked that he was scaring them to death. Pierre raised his arms
and let the gun drop to the floor. Pedro stared at the gun as it fell less
than five feet from where he lay on the hardwood floor. Pierre saw Pedro
looking at the gun and walked next to it. He tapped the gun with his boot,
looking at Pedro to taunt him.
“Do you want the gun? Of course you do. What
would you do with it? Shoot me? Do you think that would matter? Do you think
that would help you?”
Pierre questioned the men in the house vigorously.
Sometimes he spoke the questions, other times his mouth was closed but the
words still rang loudly in Sonny’s head. He was now legitimately horrified
of Pierre. There was absolutely no way that he was a normal human being.
Looking at him now, as he stood almost on top of Pedro with the gun next to
his foot and an intense look of rage on his face, he resembled a demon.
Pedro inched towards the gun. He was either really
brave or incredibly stupid. Sonny had gotten to know Pedro fairly well in
the last couple of months and hazarded an opinion on the matter. He was
incredibly stupid.
Pierre stepped back a foot from the gun and looked
at Pedro. His eyes flew wide, and it was obvious that he was going to take
the chance that Pierre was giving him. Pedro, still crouching on the ground,
dove for the gun, and got it. He fumbled with it, mostly because his good
hand was broken. He held the gun in his hand and clicked off the safety.
Sonny felt the slightest bit of hope for the briefest of moments when he saw
the gun in Pedro’s hand, but when he looked into the smiling face of
Pierre, the hope vanished. Pierre was looking at Pedro as he stood and
pointed the gun towards him. Pierre had a grin on his face, taunting Pedro
to fire a shot. Sonny stood, and waited. The twins looked up from the couch,
nervously watching Pedro’s last effort.
Pierre looked at Pedro, the smile growing larger,
and said, “Do it! Shoot me!”
Pedro’s knees were shaking as he continued to
hold the gun in his hand. There were tears in his eyes as he yelled, “I
will kill you. You son of a bitch.”
He fired two shots into Pierre’s hugs chest.
Both bullets smashed into Pierre, sending blood spurting out of his back and
onto the floor behind him. Sonny expected Pierre to be knocked onto his ass,
thrown across the room or to see his insides fall to the floor. He expected
the bullets from the gun, a Berretta-Nine Millimeter, to cause severe damage
from the close proximity they slammed into Pierre’s chest, but they
didn’t. Pierre took the first bullet in stride, never even flinching. He
started to walk towards Pedro as the second bullet slammed into his chest.
If it did any damage, he didn’t show it. He walked over to Pedro, still
smiling broadly and laughing with his mind. He knocked the gun from
Pedro’s hand and lifted him off the ground. Pedro squirmed and tried to
kick Pierre, but the kicks did nothing. Pierre held him in the air with one
arm and then he hoisted him higher. He held Pedro far above his head, at the
farthest reach of his long and powerful arm would allow and then shook Pedro
violently.
Sonny watched Pierre, or the demon that looked
like Pierre, as he shook Pedro like a doll. Pedro’s head whipped violently
back and forth, almost seeming to tear from his shoulders. As each moment
passed, Pierre looked less and less like a human, and more like a demon.
Finally, Brian, the less stoned of the twins stood and raised a shaky hand.
“Stop it. Let him down, please. You’re gonna
kill him!”
Pierre stopped shaking Pedro and continued to hold
him easily off the ground with one hand. Pierre looked at Brian and his grin
turned to a hateful frown. Pierre lowered Pedro to his eye level and then
snatched him by the hair on his head with the other hand. Pierre leaned in
to Pedro’s neck and bit.
The sound was awful. It sounded like a piece of
really fresh watermelon being sucked on by a child. The blood poured down
from the side of Pierre’s face and onto the floor. Pedro began to shake,
his body going into seizure. A single streak of blood slid down his neck,
but the rest pumped into Pierre’s throat. That was when the twins started
to scream.
At first Sonny thought they were screaming to him
to run. Then he was sure that they were screaming to the Pierre Beast to
stop and let Pedro down. But then, when Pedro’s lifeless body dropped to
the ground, Sonny heard what they were screaming for. They were screaming
just to scream. There were no words or even different sounds. Their screams
were simple and ear piercingly loud screams of absolute terror.
The twins continued to scream as Pierre leapt to
them in a single and impossible jump across the room. He landed on top of
both, knocking Brian to the ground and holding onto Bruce. He took Bruce by
the neck and bent down to take hold of Brian. He lifted them both off the
ground, crushing their windpipes and silencing their screams.
Pierre brought his face towards Bruce and then
towards Brian. He was smelling them!
“You”, he said, looking at Bruce. “You
smell,..tastier!”
Sonny stepped off the wall, trying to run, but
stopped. Where would you run? Where
could you hide that he wouldn’t smell you and come to get you? You’re
dead, accept it! The cowardly sentiments rang out inside Sonny’s head,
and he obeyed. He put his back against the wall and decided that instead of
moving he would fight the subtle urge to be brave and just shake and cry.
Brian hung in the air for a moment and started to
punch at Pierre. He was trying to hit him in the face, maybe in the eyes.
Pierre laughed, out loud this time. Very easily and casually, Pierre twisted
his hand and snapped Brian’s neck like a branch. Immediately, Brian went
limp and the punches stopped.
Bruce watched as the lifeless body of his brother
dropped to the floor. He tried to scream, but the powerful hand that was
crushing his throat silenced any noise he sought to make. Pierre lowered
Bruce and let go of his throat. Bruce’s hands immediately went to his
throat, trying to ease the damage that Pierre’s hand had done. Bruce tried
to step back, possibly the first step before an all out sprint towards the
door towards a possible salvation and safety. The moment that the thought
crossed his mind, Pierre was on him. In an instant, he could feel the demons
mouth on his neck. He could feel the warm blood mixing with the cold lips of
the demon. Soon, the edges of his vision stated to grow fuzzy and narrow and
his lower body grew colder.
Soon, Bruce’s body dropped to the ground, and
the demon looked directly at Sonny. The strength ran out of Sonny’s legs,
leaving him with just enough to stand. Pierre turned to face Sonny and then
began to walk towards him. Sonny began to shake and cry. With the prospect
of running gone, Sonny did the next bravest thing he could think of. He
closed his eyes and prayed.
The room was silent as he mouthed any and every
prayer he could remember. He felt a cold hand slowly tighten around his neck
and could feel warm breath being blown into his face. Once again, Sonny peed
on himself.
Pierre stepped back, trying not to get urine on
himself.
“You cry like a woman. Oh, is that what you are?
A woman? No, not a woman, but something else. I read your mind when I came
in and saw your thoughts. You are gay as the day is long, aren’t ya? Like
to fuck men, but never had the courage to admit it?
Sonny forced open his eyes and looked at Pierre.
Pierre’s eyes were wide and a darker shade of blood red than before. Once
again, he was grinning. To the horror of Sonny, Pierre continued to taunt
him, but his mouth remained closed in a smile.
“Pissing all over yourself! How brave you are.
You’re a coward, and cowards have the sweetest blood. I am going to enjoy
tasting your faggy blood!”
Sonny closed his eyes as the hand slipped away
from his neck and waited for the demons cold lips to bite down on his neck
and end his life. After a long moment he began to wonder what the demon was
waiting for. Is he torturing me?
Finally, after God knows how long, Sonny opened
his eyes and realized that the demon was gone. He had walked away as quiet
as a mouse. Sonny took a step away from the wall, certain that the demon
would emerge from the wall behind him. It didn’t happen. He began to walk
slowly away from the wall and into the living room, all the while waiting
for the demon to jump from the shadows of the house. Once again, the demon
stayed hidden. Why is he toying with
me?
Sonny continued to walk towards the couches,
keeping his eyes glued straight ahead into every dark corner that the old
house had to offer. For the first time since moving to this house in
Brockton, Sonny realized how many dark corners that the house contained.
He began to feel as if he may be alone in the
house. He stepped forward and felt a hand close around his ankle. He
screamed as loud as he could and nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked
down at the hand and saw that it was bloody and attached to the dead body of
Pedro.
Sonny began to cry softly to himself as he backed
slowly out of the room. He went to the door and slowly opened it. All the
while, he waited for the demon to emerge from behind him, tapping him on the
shoulder and prepared to finish the job. But the tap never came. Before
Sonny knew what had happened, he was running through the front lawn of the
house and then down the street.
He ran until he could run no further and then
collapsed on an unfamiliar yard of a distant neighbor. As he lay on the
snow-covered lawn panting, he thought that the demon would still step out of
the shadows and finish him. But, he never saw the demon again on that night.
Sonny knew, in the back of his mind and in the dreams that woke him in the
night screaming, that the demon was still out there, waiting to finish him
off. For the rest of his life, Sonny waited for the demon to step from the
shadows of the dark night.
©2003 StoriesByEmail.com
|
