aterovis_bm_reapthewhirlwind.p65 (39 page)

“And now the very thing you’re most afraid of is about to happen.”

“Shut up!”

“You’re going to lose your baby because you’re an insane murderer.”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

“You’ll never see your baby again.”

“Shut up, damn you!”

The blast was deafening. My body reacted without thought. At the sound of the explosion, I launched myself at Caitlin full force, slamming into her and taking us both down in a pile just inside the doorway to the dark bedroom.

I lunged for the gun in her hand and we grappled for control of the weapon. With what seemed like almost superhuman strength she wrenched the gun from my grasp and whipped me across the face. I tasted the me-tallic bite of blood in my mouth but I was beyond pain.

I blindly threw punch after punch, some connected and some didn’t, but I kept on swinging. She struck me in the face again, this time connecting more solidly, and I reeled back from the blow.

I was blinded by the pain and blinked frantically to clear my vision. I found myself with the muzzle of the 360

REAP THE WHIRLWIND

gun only inches from my face. I scrambled backwards until I came against something solid, the dresser. I groped frantically behind me and grabbed the first thing I felt.

“Say hello to Joey for me,” she said with a frighten-ing smile.

I swung my hand forward, yanking the cord I had grabbed with it.

To this day I don’t know if the swinging lamp distracted her or if at the last moment she hesitated for one second too long, but for whatever reason, the shot went wild, shattering the mirror across the room as the heavy pottery lamp caught her full in the face.

I didn’t waste a second. While she was still stunned from the blow, I sprung on her. Grasping the lamp like a club, I brought it down over her head, once, twice—

then I felt her go limp beneath me.

I snatched up the gun and shoved away as quickly as I could. I held the gun trained on her even though I had never held a gun before in my life. She didn’t move a muscle, though. I struggled to my feet and backed into the hall, still keeping a careful eye on her.

“Aidan?” I called. There was no answer. “Aidan?”

I tore my eyes away from her inert body and looked for Aidan. His feet lay splayed out in the middle of the hallway; the rest of him lay out of sight in the kitchen.

“Aidan?” I screamed, and then I was running down the short hall. I came up short at the door.

“Oh my God,” I whimpered. He was still all in white, wearing the clothes that Adam had given us for our wedding, but now the front of his chest was soaked bright red. A slow growing pool of blood surrounded him. His eyes were closed.

361

JOSH ATEROVIS

With a wordless cry, I fell to my knees next to him and cradled his head in my lap.

His eyes fluttered open and I felt a tiny glimmer of hope stir inside me. “Oh my God, Aidan,” I cried. “It’s going to be okay, right? You’re going to be okay. We’re going to be okay.”

“I’m sorry—” he whispered as his eyes slipped shut.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s going to be fine. I know it.”

“—tried to draw it out—keep her talking—”

“Shh, Aidan. Don’t talk, honey. Just hang on, okay?

Just hang on. Don’t leave me.”

“—called the police—”

“Don’t leave me, Aidan.”

“—I love you, Will…,” he breathed, his voice so soft now I might have imagined it.

“Don’t go, Aidan,” I sobbed. “Please don’t leave me.”

“—I’ll love you forever, Will…”

“Oh God, I love you, too, Aidan. I love you.”

His eyes fluttered open again and he looked into mine, past my eyes and into my soul. And then they closed for the last time. I knew he was gone. I felt him leave. I felt a part of my soul leave with him.

“I love you. I love you. I love you,” I sobbed. I kissed his lips and rocked his body back and forth. I was still rocking and crying when the police burst in minutes later. They swarmed around me and down the hall, but they were too late. Too late for Aidan. Too late for me.

362

REAP THE WHIRLWIND

“Looking back, it’s clear. I should have seen it, should have known.”

“Known what?” Doctor Wohler asked. “That your new friend was a very sick young woman? Not physically but mentally unbalanced. That she ruthlessly killed your best friend and two others? That she would try to kill you and your lover? How could you have known any of those things, Will? It’s useless to blame yourself, although it’s a natural response. We’ve talked a lot about how we can never be responsible for someone else’s actions and it holds true here. What a person does is fully their own choice, no matter what the circumstances.”

“But—”

“But what? You should have known? How? You’re not a psychic. No one knew.”

“I should have done something, done more...”

“You did all you could. What you did saved your life.”

“But not Aidan’s, and maybe my life isn’t worth living without him.”

“You have your whole life ahead of you, Will. Your mother is still alive and I imagine she’ll need you in the 363

JOSH ATEROVIS

weeks ahead.”

“I’ve moved back in with her. I couldn’t bear to go back to the apartment.”

“That’s probably for the best. And you’ve got a promising career in the arts ahead of you.” I shook my head as he continued, “And you’ve got a baby on the way.

That agreement still stands, I suppose.”

“Yes,” I said slowly. “It’s legally binding, which is just as well now since Caitlin’s been arrested and all. I don’t know what would have happened to the baby otherwise; I don’t think her parents wanted it. She’s awaiting trial now. I don’t know what will happen to her, and to be honest, I don’t really care. They could give her the death penalty for all I care, but I get the baby. Although, she hasn’t been doing very well lately.

The doctors say it looks like it may be a difficult pregnancy, so I suppose there’s a chance the baby might not make it.”

“You’ve been surrounded by so much death in the last few months I guess it’s natural for you to expect it around every corner, but with modern medicine the way it is now, the baby has a very good chance of surviving even a difficult pregnancy.”

“I guess we’ll see,” I said disconsolately.

“Yes, we will. At least we will as long as you don’t do anything to hurt yourself.”

“I won’t,” I said firmly. “Not that I haven’t thought about it, but—I guess I feel I owe it to Aidan to not give up again. He taught me that—”

“Then his life was not lived in vain.”

“No, it wasn’t in vain,” I agreed softly. “I should go.

I’ve taken too much of your time as it is.”

364

REAP THE WHIRLWIND

“Nonsense, it’s quite all right. That’s why I’m here.”

“Still, I need to go, to get home.”

“Will you come see me again? Soon perhaps?”

“I think I will.”

“Good.”

“Thank you, Dr. Wohler,” I stood to leave but paused by the door and turned around, my hand on the knob.

“You know, Dad once told me to look up a Bible verse, right after he found out I was gay. It was Hosea 8:7. Do you know it?”

“No, I’m afraid I’m not very familiar with the Bible.

Can you quote it?”

“Oh yes. I can’t get it out of my head these days. It says, ‘For you have sown the wind, and you shall reap the whirlwind.’ I’ve thought about that a lot. Do you think that he could have been right? Maybe I’m just reaping the whirlwind.”

“No, Will, I may not be much of a Bible scholar, but I don’t think that’s how God works. I don’t think you are being punished. You’re not reaping the whirlwind. In fact, I think you’ve weathered the storm, Will, and you’re stronger because of it.”

I thought for a moment about what he had said and suddenly the painting I had done so many months ago popped into my head. It had fit my situation so perfectly then, and it still fit. I saw the tiny frog clinging doggedly to that thin blade of grass while a raging storm whipped furiously around him. He might bend but he wouldn’t break. He was a survivor. Like me.

A small smile turned the corners of my mouth up. I looked up to find Dr. Wohler smiling back at me. “Thank you,” I said again, and slipped out, closing the door 365

JOSH ATEROVIS

behind me and maybe, just maybe, closing the door on my past.

The End.

366

REAP THE WHIRLWIND

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Aterovis, a twenty-something artist-author, was born and bred on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and lives there with his husband, Jon. Aterovis is a Latin pseudonym meaning "black sheep."

Whenever anyone asked Josh what he wanted to be when he grew up, he always said an author. It got him plenty of strange looks, but he never really expected it to come true; it was just one of those things a kid says.

In 1999, Josh’s wishful dream became reality when he began to write a story and post it on the Internet. Bleeding Hearts resonated deeply with readers, who encour-367

JOSH ATEROVIS

aged him to seek publication. In 2001, the story was published by Renaissance Alliance Publishing, Inc.

Named the Best Whodunit of 2002 by the Stonewall Society, Bleeding Hearts became the first book in the Killian Kendall mystery series.

Reap the Whirlwind, his second book featuring ama-teur sleuth Killian Kendall, was published in trade pa-perback in May of 2003 and the Stonewall Society promptly awarded it the Best Whodunit of the year. Josh has completed four books in the series and is currently working on the fifth. He has won numerous awards for his writing and for his web site, which also features his well-received art gallery:

http://www.steliko.com/bleedinghearts.

Both books are also available as ebooks through Ebooksonthe.net.

368

REAP THE WHIRLWIND

AWARD WINNING WORK BY

JOSH ATEROVIS

An intriguing mystery and compelling tale of growing up gay in a small-minded town.

Killian Kendall's friend Seth is murdered and Killian is seriously injured, the police call it a random mug-ging. But Killian suspects a darker motive and sets out to uncover the truth behind the possible hate crime.

Winner of the Stonewall Society's 2002 Pride in the Arts Literary Award in the Whodunit Category!

369