INK: Abstraction (38 page)

“Good morning,
Jeff,” I return his greeting while putting my keys and
briefcase on the conveyor belt. I walk through the metal detector and
assume the position. I’ve done this a hundred times, I know the
drill.

“You’re
set, have a great day,” he says.

“Thanks, you too.
Have a good one.”

Walking up the atrium
stairs, I see Shay running across the upper mezzanine. I pick up my
pace because all I want to do is hold her, touch her and shower her
with my love and affection. At the top of the steps I’m frozen
in disbelief. There she is, completely wrapped around Aiden in a
passionate kiss. What the fuck.

A myriad of emotions
flash through my being all at once, but the only one I can hold on to
right now is anger. I should have known the only way we could ever be
together is if that motherfucker was dead. There’s not one part
of me that’s glad he’s alive. I wish that fucker was
still dead.

I step down one stair
before turning around and bolting for the door. I’m sure I’m
going to get the same bullshit, “I’m so sorry Eli.”
I’m not sticking around to watch the crash and burn.

No, I really
am
sorry this time. Fuck this. I swing the door open so hard I’m
surprised it doesn’t shatter when it hits the outside of the
building. I get in my car and stew for a solid ten minutes. With my
hands on the steering wheel with no place in particular to go, I
replay that kiss in my head over and over on a loop.

I need to stop
torturing myself like this. The darker recesses of my mind know what
I should do. I listen to the voice in the back of my mind. I start
the car and pull out of the parking spot. I hear a banging on the
back of the car. In the rearview mirror I see Aiden with both hands
on my trunk.

“Get the fuck out
of the way or I’ll run you down,” I yell out the sunroof.

“Come on man,
just hold on,” he says coolly. “Talk to me, it wasn’t
what you think.”

I’ve heard those
words from him more times than I care to remember. I’m
compelled out of the car and go straight to him, pushing him in the
chest, away from the back of my car. “Fuck you, Aiden. Get out
of the way, I’m leaving.”

“No, I’m
not letting you leave until you’ve heard me out.” He
puffs out his fucking chest like King Kong.

“Aiden, get the
fuck out of the way.” I push him again.

He puts his hands up in
surrender. “Listen, if you don’t want to hear from me, at
least come in and talk to Shay. This wasn’t her fault.”

“I’m done
with her, you can have the little whore.” The words hurt me
when I say them. I know I don’t mean it, but I’ll say
anything at this point to get out of here and get a drink. It hurts
even more when I look past Aiden to see her standing there with a
wounded look on her face and her arms dangling by her sides
listlessly.

Aiden turns and sees
her; he’s immediately incensed and closes the distance between
us. “Listen dude, you’re going to apologize and then
you’re going to listen to one of us. It isn’t what you
think.”

“It doesn’t
matter, you’re back and I’m on the bench.” I use
his words against him and it makes me feel even more irate.

“You know I’ll
take credit for every other time she chose me. But this time it’s
going to be all on you.” He looks at me with a smug smile and
leans in close. “Stop letting your issues fuck up a good thing.
Get your head out of your ass.
I
kissed
her
.”

Everything goes red,
and then black, then a flash of anger spurs me into action. I land a
right hook straight on Aiden’s jaw. He’s so shocked he
stumbles backward before falling down. Shay screams my name and runs
for me; I close the car door and lock it before she reaches me. As
fast as I can I put the car in reverse and get out of there, leaving
them both in the dust.

“It’s just
you and me, Elijah, now let’s get that drink.” The voice
comes from within me and forces a smile on my face. I grip the
steering wheel and feel myself fading away. “That’s right
Elijah, let go. Let go to me and all will be better.”

The car pulls into the
Cold Keg as though it knew the way. I get out of the car absently and
walk through the door like a zombie and sit at the table next to the
tree. I hate that fucking tree. If I had an axe I would cut that
fucker down right now.

In a voice that sounds
like me but isn’t, I order myself a triple shot of Johnny
Walker. Hell yes. The waitress brings it out to me and I slam it
hard. The burn as it goes down is satisfying and I don’t fight
it one bit. “That’s right, have another and another.”
My inner voice goads me on.

“Keep ‘em
coming, honey. And bring me a tall glass of water,” I order the
waitress.

I pull my tie off and
throw it on the floor. When she comes back with my drinks I take my
phone from my pocket and drop it into the glass of water. “Sorry,
Eli Walker cannot be reached at this time.”

The last thought that
is my own is if I’ll ever find my way back, but more to the
point, will I ever care to?

Carl

Standing
in a storage unit at the port in Tampa, this is where all of the
clues have led me. Bailey’s either really here or it’s a
trap. I’m prepared for either. There’s a makeshift desk
in the corner. I turn on the light to reveal a series of drawings and
four or five notebooks similar to the ones that Trish gave me.

What is in those
notebooks is disturbing to say the least, and I’ve seen a lot
of fucked up shit in my time. I thumb through the top notebook; it
contains various crime scenes, and all of them have happened, all of
them have been blamed on Shay.

The second notebook
depicts Shay in various states of undress with the final page being
an image of her dead body. Each line is carefully drawn and
illustrates, with precision, a series of cuts all over her body like
when she was tortured. After reading his grand plan to get Glass
framed for the kidnapping to eliminate him as a threat, I knew what
had to be done. I know it now with even greater resolve after reading
the caption on this page. “I’ll have her as my bride
forever, unchanging, un-aging. I’ll preserve her skin and her
youth, and then I will consume her heart, body and soul.”

To see what else is in
the unit I angle the desk lamp upward to reveal a series of
fluid-filled jars containing various organs. They are all labeled.
“Lobster, Squid, Kevin, Cecil,” the list goes on.

I turn my attention
back to the desk and pick up the pen that matches the rest of Shay’s
pens. I shake my head at the horror of it all.

“Carl?” His
voice sounds small coming from the front of the unit.

I turn around to see
him pulling the door down behind them. “Bailey, you weren’t
nearly as easy to find as I thought you’d be.”

“Well you’ve
found me.” He walks past me to his desk, unaffected by my being
here. There’s a resolution in his voice.

“Bailey, you have
to stop this,” I warn. “We can get you help, we can help
you stop this.”

“I knew you’d
say that, but I have to tell you that I can’t. I’ve been
deep in darkness for so long I don’t know that my soul could
ever adjust to the light.” He sits in the chair and stares at
his trophies on the shelf. “I don't want to get better, I
don't want to give up this power.”

“I’m afraid
I can’t let you keep hurting her.” I take two steps
toward him, but he’s not moving nor intimidated, which is a
little unnerving.

“I love her,
Carl; I love her as much as you do.” He tries to appeal to me.

“I love her like
a daughter, very different from your obsession,” I point out
and take two more steps.

“Have you even
tasted her blood? Her flesh is delicious.” His eyes spark with
anger. “You know nothing of our love.”

“I do, Bailey, I
know why it exists. I know why you have this fascination and I know
why it makes you dangerous.” I hold my position. I know this
kid isn’t going to give me a choice.

He hangs his head, but
not in shame; it’s almost as though he’s tired. “I
was created to love her. I won't stop.”

“I know, Bailey,
but I can help you. I can help you stop all of this.” My voice
is metered and soothing. I’m trying to break into his mind.

“Can you make the
pain go away of not having her as part of me? That’s not
something you can make up, not something you can ignore.” He
pleads with me.

“Yes, Bailey.”
I break through his mental wall and see a series of horrific images
of all the things he has planned for Shay. Her body in states of
dismemberment, him performing sick sex acts with her postmortem.

He stands and takes a
step toward me, then stops. “Can you make the pain stop?”

“I can, and I
will.” In that moment I search his eyes one last time for any
indication that he can be salvaged. That he will stop the killing,
but I know he won't. I know that no jail will hold him, no distance
can stop him. We’re close enough that I rest my hand on his
shoulder. He looks up at me with a childlike expectation. I know what
I must do, and I do not want to do it. The weight of the lifelong
regret that I will live with is already heavy in my belly.

“I love her; I
want her to be happy. Can you help me make her happy?”His eyes
convey a message of darkness that will never subside in him. I know
this, I feel it.

“Yes, Bailey.”
I pause for a moment and ask him, “Have you read
Of Mice and
Men
?”

He looks at me,
confused. “Yes?”

“Good, then
you’ll understand.” I slide the scalpel out of my pocket
and jab it into his leg, severing his femoral artery; he won’t
feel any real pain. “This will help.”

The look of shock, in
his eyes will haunt me until I die. His gaze then conveys a sense of
knowing before he stumbles backward in the chair as the life drains
out of the hole I just put in his leg. He puts his hand over the
wound but knows he doesn’t have long. The color drains from his
face as he holds onto his last breath. In the last seconds of his
life it’s as though he’s realized that this is what had
to happen, that this was the culmination of his actions.

He opens his mouth to
speak but is unable to make a sound. He mouths the words “Thank
you.” And for the last split second of his life the humanity
has returned to his eyes. Then he is gone.

I take two steps back
and look down at the mess of blood on my hands. I wipe them on a rag
and take my phone from my pocket.

I dial McNab. “You’ve
got McNab—”

I cut him off. “It’s
done.”

“What’s
done? Carl? I need you here.” The pain and haunting of what
I’ve done begins to seep from my pores.

“It is just
done,” I say in monotone.

“Carl?”

To
be continued…

INK: Sketches (Book 0 - Part 2)
Coming June 2014

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