Chapter II - "Broken Beginnings

A modern day horror short story with a twist.

 

         Broken Beginnings

 

The first time Cathy saw him she was drawn to his sparkling

green eyes. So much so she didn't hear him speaking to her as

much as she saw his full lips moving. She couldn't take her gaze

away from those eyes. Only when the lady behind her rudely

bumped her bottom with a full grocery cart did Cathy realize

she was staring at the new cashier at her local Waymark store.

 

His name tag said " Jason" and Cathy thought she had never seen

such a beautiful man in her whole twenty seven years of living.

Looking into his face Cathy knew she had finally found the man

of her dreams " Ma'am are you OK? " the handsome boy was saying.

Shaken from her delightful fog, Cathy blinked several times and

almost came back to her senses. " Uh, oh, I, well yes , I'm fine "

Cathy stammered to the guy named Jason. " I was thinking of something

else I'm so sorry"

 

When Jason smiled and flashed the most perfect set of white teeth

Cathy had ever seen she almost lost it again, but forcefully made

her slightly shaking hands start unloading her groceries onto the

now moving checkout counter. When she had put all her "food for one"

on the counter, she smiled as she watched Jason scanning each item .

 

He carefully lifted the six cans of single serve soup turning

each in his hand to find the bar code and swiping them one by one. He

didn't catch her looking at him intently again until he picked up her bag

of four cucumbers still damp from the produce section. He raised one

perfect eye brow and grinned at her in what Cathy thought was a most

intimate way. She blushed red all over and didn't exactly know why, but

she knew it felt good , yes , very, very, very good.

 

When he had finished scanning her items, he bagged them perfectly.

Cans on bottom, eggs and bread on top. Cathy had the cash in her hand

to pay and suddenly decided to write a check instead. Looking at him

she thought she couldn't be much older than him, so why not give him a

check and maybe he would notice her phone number on it and maybe

just maybe.... he would call.

 

" Thank you for shopping at Waymark." Jason was saying " And

please come again." " Yes, I will thanks." Cathy said, still half way in

a fog of feeling she hadn't had since Ryan had left her four

months ago. Walking swiftly to her little yellow car, Cathy berated

herself.

" Damn it I looked so stupid in there. " she said aloud to no one. Fawning

at a guy in the grocery store! I must be mad. " Starting up her car Cathy drove

the long way around to leave the parking lot. Taking her right in front of

the stores big glass windows. As she passed the store front she glanced

toward the check out line where Jason had been working. He was gone.

Cathy sighed and turned her car toward her apartment complex seven

blocks away...

It was almost dusk when Cathy unlocked the door to her small apt.

Her gray cat Tinges meowed her hello and jumped on the counter as

she unloaded her bags. " Hi sweetie." Cathy murmured to her cat

as she patted his head," Here's your dinner." She opened a can

of tuna for Tinges and a can of clam chowder for herself and checked

her answering machine. Still no messages.

 

She had moved into the small cramped place nine months ago when

things got really bad between her and Ryan. And after her last trip to

the hospital for another so called fall down the basement steps she had

had enough and decided she wasn't taking one more beating from

her husband. So she had left the next day while Ryan was at work.

She had sixteen hundred dollars and her cat and two suit cases when

she moved into the apt. Plenty of money to rent some pieces of furniture

and pay the bills for a month. She found a job that first week working

in a nursing home and so her new life without Ryan had begun.

 

At first she was certain Ryan would find her and cause her problems

but after the second month had passed , she wasn't so afraid anymore

and settled into a kind of groove of working and watching TV. She did a

lot of reading in her spare time. When she heard from her sister that

Ryan had moved she was relieved and decided he was gone for good.

Cathy wasn't scared any more. With Ryan far away and her mother

now dead, she finally felt really safe.

 

She knew it wouldn't be long before Ryan filed for divorce because

Ryan was never without a woman for long. So in Cathy's mind she

was already free of all the old pain and bad memories. Still when she

would see no messages, she felt a twang of regret. She wondered how

Ryan could go from the wonderful man she thought she married to the

raving wife beater he had become in such a short time. If he had honestly

loved her why hadn't he changed or at least tried to find her? Shaking

off the lonely feeling Cathy went to the bathroom took off her uniform

and turned on the water for her shower.

The hot water felt good after her shift at the nursing home and Cathy

stood under the flow as long as she dared. It didn't take much to run

her water heater out of hot water. About ten minutes was as long shower

for her now. When she had washed her long blonde hair and rinsed off,

the water was just starting to get cold. She dried off with her favorite red

beach towel and wrapped her hair in a smaller white one and put on her robe.

 

She walked barefoot to the kitchen , set the microwave to heat her soup,

washed out the now empty kitty dish and grabbed a diet soda. The soup

smelled good and she was suddenly very hungry. She ate her soup, washed

her bowl and took her soda into the living room. As usual she flipped on the

TV and scanned every channel. Nothing suited her tonight and she had it on

mostly for company. Living alone had its advantages and its draw backs she

thought as she snuggled into her favorite position on the cheap sofa. Tinges

jumped on her lap and purred as she rubbed his soft fur. In less than twenty

minutes she was nodding off to sleep with the TV still blinking in the dim room.

The next few days for Cathy passed like the last few months. Work, sleep,

read , watch TV. She hadn't made many friends in this new place she had

moved to. She knew a few of the people at work but they were all either

married or dating and she had turned down all offers to go to movies or

shopping with them. At first she didn't want to be seen out at night for fear

of Ryan and now that she had gotten to a place where she wasn't scared of him

anymore, the girls at work had already stopped asking her to go with them.

 

So Cathy was feeling more alone that ever. Her only joy of the days were

stopping by Waymark and buying something just so she could go through

Jason's lane again. She had even started going home to shower and change

before making her grocery runs which lately consisted of items she knew

she would never have bought before. Kiwi and pomegranate juice, candy

and peanut butter. The simple fact was Cathy forgot everything when she

entered the big automatic doors of the Waymark and spotted Jason.

 

For reasons she couldn't understand Cathy had become fascinated with Jason.

Just seeing his lean body, jet black hair with one curl slightly drooping over

his left eyebrow made Cathy feel like a school girl. And his uncanny likeness

to Ryan was remarkable. They could have been brothers or at least cousins.

She always hoped he would say something to her besides come again and have

a nice day but he never did. So she would smile at him say thank you and take

her groceries home stuffing them in the cabinets and refrigerator until after

three weeks of this both were over flowing. A few nights she tried to have

dinner using some of the items but nothing seemed to be a real meal.

Just any old thing she could grab off the shelves is what she bought. She only

went every day to look at Jason anyway.

She spent her nights with her cat and the TV, and her days at work.

At home her mind always drifted to Jason and she wondered what he

was doing at the same time. Probably with his girlfriend or his wife she

thought. No guy that good looking could ever be alone. She knew that for

a fact. All the good looking guys were mostly taken. But in her mind she

saw Jason asking her on a date and taking her to a nice place to eat. Maybe

a movie. She dreamed of him being romantic and playful. Just the perfect

kind of guy for her. She lately fell asleep holding one sofa cushion and

imagining Jason's green eyes closing slightly, right before he kissed her for

the first time. Then one day as Cathy planned her visit through Jason's

lane at the Waymark the unexpected happened.

It was a day like all the others. Same old routine and Cathy was extra

tired from working a double shift. Sixteen hours in the nursing home

felt like forty eight to Cathy and she was just too tired to go home and

change before going to catch a glimpse of Jason. She hadn't felt really well

in a few days and working over time hadn't helped. She felt weak and

disheveled, but figured since Jason hadn't taken the slightest bit of interest

in her when she took the extra time to clean up after work she really didn't

expect to do any more than grab something fast go through his line catch

a look at his dreamy greens and go home. She actually didn't know what

she expected. She just couldn't shake the compulsion to see him at least

once a day. Over and over in her mind she wrote all the right things she

would say and all the perfect things she would do if he would only do or

say anything at all to let her know he was noticing her even half as much

as she noticed him.

When Cathy got to the Waymark it had started to mist rain and she

couldn't see clearly into the big windows. Her vision was blurred from

the rain. She hurried into the automatic doors and was slightly blinded by

the bright lights after being out in the gloomy morning. It took her only a

few seconds to scan the registers and notice Jason was no where to be seen.

He was always here every morning, same time. Cathy started to panic.

She was standing still, breathing hard and wildly looking around the front

of the store for any sign of Jason. Rain dripped off her now frizzy hair and in

her somewhat spotty stained uniform. Her eyes took on a far away look and

people began to take notice of her. It wasn't until she started to scream

that they came to her side asking if she was OK and when she fell to the

floor in a fetal position someone used a cell phone to call 911.

When Cathy woke up she was astounded to be on her back strapped

down in a drafty ambulance. The two young paramedics were saying

something to her. Her hand was stinging and she knew they had started

an IV. Blinking, she tried to shake her head side to side to get her

damp hair out of her eyes. " She's waking up" the blonde E.M.T. was saying.
" Miss, Miss, are you OK can you hear me?" He was so close to Cathy's

face, she could smell his minty fresh breath and see he had no spaces

between his perfect white teeth.

Still baffled and confused at first Cathy couldn't speak. Then the horror

of her breakdown hit her full force and she began to cry. " It's going to

be fine ma'am I promise " the minty fresh breath man was saying , but

Cathy couldn't stop crying and with each sob she became more and more

distressed. "Where are you taking me?" Cathy slobbered between gasps

for breath. " We are in route to the hospital ma'am just calm down and it

really is going to be OK." Cathy only heard the word hospital above the

ambulance's siren and the honking of its loud horn and she fell into a

complete panic.

 

She hated hospitals. She had spent eight years locked up in a hospital

and she had no intention of letting that happen again. Not now that she

was grown and had some say so about herself. Struggling against the

restraints and trying to jerk the IV tube from her arm, Cathy let out a

loud ear piercing scream. "NOOOOO!! LET ME GO . LET ME GO

RIGHT THIS MINUTE I DONT WANT TO GO TO A HOSPITIAL.

YOU DONT UNDERSTAND ! OH GOD LET ME GO!" Cathy's last

wide eyed memory was the minty fresh breath man pushing a needle

into her left arm. Then her lights went totally dark.

For Cathy, the absolute terror of hospitals come at an early age.

She was too young to remember the first dozen or so times her

mother took her into the hospital but that was a good thing. It was

bad enough that she remembered the hundred or so admissions that

came after she was six. Her mother always told her she had been a

sick baby right from the start. At first accepting the word of her mother

seemed to help Cathy as she grew older.

 

But that soon faded. She felt doomed to a life of painful tests, after

effects of medicines and probing from doctors. No one could put their

finger on exactly what was wrong with Cathy so she was subject to

many diagnoses through the years. She would sometimes get better

while in the hospital only to have horrible set backs and nasty infections

on going home. Her mother became her soul caretaker and saving grace.

 

Or so it seemed to outsiders. Cathy began to realize about age 10 that

her mother might not be doing all she could to make Cathy better. In fact

Cathy knew her mom was trying to make her worse. Every time Cathy

tried to tell someone about the strange things her mom was doing to her

no one listened. Oh, they saw the results alright. A thin frail girl child

puking green bile after her mom decided the tiny green pills that went

into the gold fish bowl to clean it might just clean out Cathy's insides.

 

Or the decision of her mom to rub feces into already festering wounds

on her small body causing it to erupt into almost gangrene like abscesses.

But no one believed Cathy. Sometimes her mom would make her promise

not to tell the nurses and doctors about what was happening and sometimes

Cathy wouldn't. At that young age she only wanted to please her mom. As

strange as it seemed. Cathy's mom seemed happiest when Cathy was the

sickest or when she was laboring through the most painful of tests.

 

So for a long while, Cathy endured. She endured until she was almost

thirteen and then she rebelled. Crawling out of her sick bed one afternoon

while her mom was gone getting more bad or strange tasting medicine,

Cathy knew she would force her to take, Cathy went to the phone and

called 911. Fearful her mom would come home and discover her out of

bed, which was sorely forbidden, she ran to a neighbors apartment and

hid in the breezeway. She made herself as small as she could, shivering

and praying the police would come and save her before her mom started

looking for her.

 

The police did come, and finding Cathy crouched in the corner behind

a large plastic palm tree, they took her still shaking and crying into a

patrol car and carried her directly to a hospital. All the while listening

and believing her mothers lies that Cathy was a troubled preteen who

had tried to swallow bleach to get back at her for not letting her date.

Protests from Cathy were squashed when her mother somehow presented

a diary written in a childish scrawl admitting to the bleach revenge

and many more horrible things. Cathy had never seen that diary before

and she tried to tell anyone who would listen. No one did.

 

That night Cathy was admitted to the mental hospital. She remained a

patient for the next eight years. The years at the hospital were even more

terrible than living with her mom. She suffered horribly from the drugs

she was once again forced to take and was at the mercy of overworked

nurses and sometimes perverted orderlies. With no escape Cathy reverted

into herself and became one of the silent suffering, locked inside her own

mind thus able to detach herself from the abuse her body suffered daily.

 

Then one day she was free. She had turned twenty one. She signed herself

out of the big house of broken dreams. Cathy left the childhood horrors

behind her , as well as her memories of mother and soon after getting a

place at the local shelter and a clerking job she met and married Ryan.

When that ended so badly she ran as fast as she could away from him and

ended up on her own again. She vowed to start over soon and found a

better job in a place of caring.

 

The nursing home job would have seemed somehow perverse to someone

who knew of the things she had suffered in hospital settings as a child, but

to Cathy it was a setting she had also come to find comforting. Not all of

her doctors and nurses over the years had been bad. So to her the environment

was somehow comforting. She was not the patient now. She could come

and go as she wished and that added to her sense of freedom. Her apartment

came next and she settled into a form of normalcy and autonomy in a new city.

That is until her world rocked off kilter when she first laid eyes on the

Waymark checker guy Jason.

The hospital staff accessed Cathy and ran her through the usual set of

tests and within a few days determined she was not a danger to herself

or others. Cathy smiled and gave all the right answers to all the questions

she was asked. After all she learned long ago that in order to get out of a

hospital she had to show everyone what they wanted to see. The doctors

final report stated that Cathy had simply fainted in the Waymark,

from lack of sleep and over work. He suggested she take a few days off

from her job as a caregiver to the elderly and just rest and eat healthy.

Then he promised her a clean bill of health. With in a week she was

released from the hospital and in a cab on her way home.

When she entered her apartment Cathy was pleased. Through her haze

of the first couple of days she thankfully had the sensibility to tell a

nurse to call her neighbor and make arrangements for her Tinges.

From the looks of her clean kitchen her neighbor had done more than

just feed the kitty. She saw the counters gleaming and the refrigerator

even had a new supply of juice and yogurt, bread and deli ham.

 

Cathy made her way to the sofa and sat sinking deep into the fluffy

cushions. Tinges jumped into her lap and purred loudly. " Oh, missed

me didn't you my sweet kitty? Well I missed you too my little honey"

Rubbing her cats head as she spoke. " I have decided something Miss Kitty "

Cathy spoke softly in the cats ear. " I have to go away for a little while and

I want you to be good and not worry OK, my sugar pot?

 

You will be just fine and when I come back we can pick up right

where we left off. I know you like Miss Lucy and her doggy Simon.

I bet she will be glad to let you stay with her a few days ." With that

she let the cat jump down and watched as it headed to the kitchen for

another bite to eat. Cathy picked up the telephone, which thankfully

still had a dial tone, dialed the nursing home and quit her job.

 

Next she called Miss Lucy up stairs and arranged for her to board

Tinges a few days telling her the Dr. wanted her to rest and get some

much needed sleep. Hanging up the phone Cathy smiled. She was

going to fix everything. Yes, her life had taken a wrong turn and it

was all Jason's fault. Him and his striking good looks and perfect skin.

Him with his undressing her eyes. Him with his teasing words and

back stabbing ways.

 

How dare he lead her on like he did. How dare him make her think

he was in love and would never leave only to do exactly that!

Leave her alone and at the mercy of the hospital devils! "Well I can

fix his little red wagon Oh, yes I can " Cathy said aloud. She was

now clutching her fists so tight that a tiny trickle of blood seeped

through her fingers from the small cuts her nails were opening in

her pale white palms. Shaking her head side to side furiously her

hair spraying in all directions Cathy began to beat her fists against

her temples, eyes tightly squeezed shut and her mouth opened wide

in a silent scream..

Before Cathy could do too much damage to her self the phone rang.

It was Miss Lucy again and they confirmed a time for her to come

and retrieve Tinges from the apartment. Cathy told her she would

just leave the key under the welcome mat as she must make a run

to the grocery store to pick up a few cans of soup and didn't want

to inconvenience her by having her make another trip. Miss Lucy

agreed and so Cathy was pleased. She grabbed her purse, car keys

and a hidden stash of emergency money she kept in the bread box.

 

She put a half loaf of thick bread and a new jar of peanut butter in

a Waymark plastic bag and left the apartment. Stopping by the

hardware store on the corner she ran in to pick up a few items she needed.

It was nearing dark when she finished shopping and drove slowly to the

Waymark, circled the parking lot until she could see directly into

the big glass front, she parked and turned off her headlights. As the

evening sun stooped to hide behind the giant Waymark sign, Cathy

watched and waited. The last few shoppers pushed their wobbly

carts to their cars and loaded their purchases into them. Leaving

the carts in the dim parking lot like so many scattered cattle

waiting for the roundup.

Promptly at nine P.M., Cathy saw the inside lights go out one by one ,

followed closely by the big Waymark sign. All but half of the sign's

big letters went dark except for a few big letters which blinked off

and on sporadically. The sign now read " W ARK” which made

Cathy giggle.

One by one the Waymark employees left the darkened building and made

their way to their respective autos and drove away. First was the big

blonde with the even bigger beehive hair. Wobbling on swollen feet

stuck in too tight red sneakers. Cathy remembered her well. Gladys

always popped her pink chewing gum and smiled a too big smile

showing her oversized tobacco stained teeth whenever she saw Cathy

in the store. Giving her a big "How ya doing honey" that made Cathy

shiver every time. Three teenagers, a boy and two girls, followed behind

Gladys waving goodbye to her as she struggled to squeeze into her small

Toyota. The kids jumped into a yellow Chevy Nova, jerking off their Wally

paper hats and aprons and laughed hysterically as the driver revved the

engine several times to the delight of the two squealing girls before

speeding out into the night.

The store manager, Mr. Freeze with his too black slicked back hair soon

limped out into the night. Wiping his hands on the front of his blue apron

with the even darker blue pen stains on the front and climbed into his old

Volvo. He too, was soon pulling away from the parking lot. A trail of

blueish smoke inching out the car's tailpipe.

Three middle aged women Cathy did not recognize passed close by her

car and their chattering sounded to Cathy like three blue black crows

fussing over a shiny piece of tin foil. For several minutes no one else

came out the big automatic doors. Cathy watched the dark doors and

started to sweat. Her palms were stinging from the cuts her nails made

earlier and her now tight grip on the steering wheel. The stench of panic

filled the small car and the windshield was fogging up. Suppressing a

low growl and clenching her teeth, Cathy swiped at the window fog with

her hand. "Where is he? Where is he ? Where is that no good snake in

the grass? " she wailed to no one. She was taking too deep breaths and

her whole body began to shake. She bit her lower lip so hard droplets of

blood seeped from between her teeth and slowly carved a red pink trail

toward her chin. Squeezing her eyes shut Cathy began to chant."Let him

be here, let him be here, let him be here..."

Someone's laugh cut through the empty parking lot and Cathy jerked her

eyes open. It was a red haired girl in too tight jeans and she was walking

close beside Jason. Her arm loosely linked in his as they walked under the

street lamp one row over from her. It was all Cathy could do not to run

out of the car and confront them both right there. The stupid giggling red

head was still laughing as they reached the side of an older model Ford and

Jason opened the drivers door and helped her in. She watched as he shut the

door and leaned one hand on the cars roof, bending at his waist to be at eye

level to the girl. Cathy heard him laugh a deep laugh and saw his perfect head

nod a few times at the girl and saw too when he playfully tapped the roof of the

Ford with one fist and waved still smiling as the redhead drove out into

the night, an idiotic smile plastered on her nasty w***e face.

Cathy was almost beyond rage. She had seen it with her own eyes and

heard it with her own ears. He was not only cheating on her he was

making fun of her too. Tears ran out of Cathy's dark circled eyes and a

big glob of snoot escaped from her nose falling with a plop on the plastic

car seat . . " Why me? Why ?Why? Why? Why always me? Why does

everyone who say they love me and promise to take care of me always

end up lying and hurting me? Why?"The words groaned out of her like

she was giving birth. A real physical pain made her clutch her stomach

and she threw up in her own lap.

Wiping her eyes, Cathy looked out into the night and the ghostly deserted

parking lot. The Waymark sign now mocked her as she franticly looked

for any sign of Jason. She caught sight of his taillights just as he was

leaving the lot. Cathy quickly started her engine and pulled out into the

sparse night traffic behind him. She had to pull across the street

and wait when he stopped at a gas station for gas. She trailed one car length

behind him through the next three traffic lights and held back as he turned

into the mini mall and stopped in front of a pizza store.

 

While she watched him run into the place, she wondered why he had not

noticed her following him. "Probably has his mind on that redheaded s**t!"

Cathy seethed through her clenched jaw. She waited for him to come out,

wallowing in her pain of betrayal. Within minutes Jason returned to his truck

caring a large steaming pizza box and pulled back out into the highway.

She kept a close watch on his tailgate as he maneuvered the truck onto the

exit ramp and headed out of the city. A few miles later she saw his brake

lights flash and saw his blinker signaling his turn into a long dark drive

way surrounded by trees.

 

Cathy slowed her car to a stop in front of a mail box that read: J. Morgan.

She turned off her engine and headlights. With her window rolled part way

down, she had no trouble hearing a dog bark hello and Jason's truck door slam

shut. She waited under the bright orange moon for just the right time to follow

him. She also wanted to have time to clear her head and decide just what she

would say to cheating Jason. Black hearted cheater Jason. Jason who said he

loved her and would always take good care of her. Jason who had stabbed

her in the heart with a laughing redhead.

At twenty four years old Jason Morgan hadn't done too bad for himself.

He had gotten his first job at Waymark right after high school and hadn't

missed but a few days working since he was hired. He was always on

time and never failed to accept any overtime he was offered. He was

well liked and a hard worker. In less than a year after graduation, he

was able to move out of his mothers cramped apartment with his sister

Beth and into a small rented frame house on the out skirts of town.

 

Beth was his younger sister by exactly nine months and it had been up

to Jason all his life to make sure Beth was taken care of. His mother was

a drunk and flitted from one bad relationship to another and that made

things hard on her two kids. Jason and Beth spent most of their childhood

living with their mothers parents on a farm. When their mother finally

settled again they were around sixteen and seventeen respectively. Jason

regretted their decision to give mom one more try and move back in with her.

Things once again didn't stay OK for very long with mom. Jason made his

plans. He wasn't much of a party animal and saved his money well. One

day he was going back to their hometown and with his savings, help his

grandpa fix up the old barn and get the ranch back in working condition.

In the mean time his job as stocker / checker at the big Wally was just fine.

Even Beth liked her job at Waymark.

Tonight he had worked a double shift and was tired. Beth had informed

him as they left work, she had a date and probably wouldn't be home

until morning. Sweet Beth, she deserved a good guy thought Jason. He

wanted to see her happy and her new boyfriend seemed to do just that.

When Jason had chided her for staying over night with Jeff , Beth had

only laughed that angelic laugh of hers and reminded him he was not

her father , only her older and not too much wiser brother. She promised

to be home in time to pack for their visit to their hometown to check on

grandpa that weekend and with a giggle and a flash of her auburn hair he

watched her happily pull away from the Waymark parking lot.

Arriving home Jason got out of his pickup carefully holding his pizza in

one hand and giving Sam their Rotty a hello pat on the head with the other,

he whistled as he unlocked his front door. Snapping on the lamp, he set

his pizza box on the coffee table and flopped on the tattered secondhand

sofa. He watched T.V. flipping through the stations while he ate, hungrily

licking the warm sauce and chewy cheese from his fingers and drank from

a warm bottle of ginger ale. He dozed off with the TV blaring. Sometime

after one A.M., he woke up and groggy with sleep, made his way to his

bedroom and fell across the bed. He was snoring as only a young man

can do almost before his head hit the lumpy pillow..........

Sitting in her darkened car searching for just the right words to

confront the love of her life who had done her so very very wrong,

Cathy tried hard to get control of her shattered emotions. How could

this be happening again? First her mother, then Ryan, now the only man

she ever truly loved, black hearted Jason. What was so wrong with her

that everyone wanted to hurt her over and over again? Wasn't she a

nice person? Didn't she always, no matter what, try her hardest to be

a good girl? She couldn't understand why she was the one to always end

up getting crushed. Crying softly she angrily wiped the tears from her face

and blew her nose on the tail of her damp shirt. " Well I am not going to

be a victim any longer , I am taking my life back and some day Jason and

everyone else will be sorry they didn't appreciate me more".

 

Reaching into the crumpled hardware bag she looked at her

purchases by the glow of the moon. Turning each item over in her hands,

deciding which ones felt right. When she knew, she slipped each one

into a pocket of her jeans. The last thing she slipped behind her back

and lodged it into a belt loop. That done, she opened the plastic Waymark

bag and using one of the long flat screw drivers still laying on the seat,

she made herself a thick extra crunchy peanut butter sandwich.

 

Licking the metal tool clean she stuffed it into her back pocket. One bite

was all her stomach could hold and even that bite made her gag. " Damn it

Jason see what you have done now. I can't eat because you have hurt me so."

The last time she couldn't eat she had to have a feeding tube shoved in

her nose and down her throat. It had hurt like hell as it went down her

raw throat, burned and blistered from the drain cleaner her mother had

forced her to drink that day when she was a frail seven year old.

A captive. A helpless victim to her mothers whims and horrors, all

in the name of motherly love.

New sobs burst from her as she relived the anguish of knowing the

truth about her mother and having to lie all those years to everyone

who had asked what and why. Absentmindedly she stuck the sandwich

in her jacket pocket and buttoned it to her neck. In what seemed like

only a few minutes but had actually been hours, she heard the rumble

of Jason's truck engine starting. She quickly started her own car and

edged it down the road a few hundred feet , veered it off the pavement

and into some tall trees.

Jason had woke early. It was still dark out and he could tell his wayward

little sister wasn't home. If she had been he would have heard her stereo

playing one of the fifty or so country cds she had collected. Still dressed

from last night, Jason went into the kitchen and flipped on the coffee pot.

He knew they needed to get an early start for their trip back home and he

really did not want to have to stop and find someplace to eat on the road.

Opening the fridge he saw there was nothing to fix for breakfast. Knowing

Beth wouldn't think to stop on her way home he grabbed his cell phone

and keys and jumped into his pickup for a fast run to the store for eggs

and bacon and maybe even a half gallon of milk.

He would fix breakfast and by the time Beth was packed they could hit

the road. His truck would easily make the trip. The Chevy was a young

mans dream ride. It had all the bells and whistles. fully loaded and it

even had a custom killer alpine CD player with giant speakers. He

and Beth had a lot in common for siblings but their taste in music

wasn't one of them. Adjusting the volume to an ear splitting level

only allowed in the country backwoods or a sound proof room, he

backed up a few feet and turned around in the yard. Pulling out of

the driveway Jason did not see the small yellow car hidden in the

stand of pines right past his mailbox.

As soon as Cathy saw Jason leave, she got out of her car and ran toward

her house cutting through the trees by the side yard. A deep growl met

her as she entered the yard. In front of her, blocking her path was Sam

the huge Rottwieller. Ears back, large slick glistening body quivering,

constantly aware shiny black eyes fixed on the strange human headed

toward the front porch. Cathy didn't slow down at all. Reaching into

her jacket she grabbed the sandwich with one pale hand. " Here choke

on this dummy!" Cathy said calmly and tossed it toward the big dog.
With a questioning twist of his big head Sam saw the good smelling

thing hit the ground. He instantly wagged his tail and accepted the

thick sticky nugget of joy and happily trotted back to his usual spot

under the dogwood tree to eat.

The front door was open and Cathy could see right into her house

through the screen door. Jason never did remember to lock things up

Cathy thought to her self. The smell of coffee greeted her and she

hungrily picked up a thin dirty cup from the sink and poured

herself some of the golden liquid. Dropping it carelessly on the floor

when she had finished.

Beth angled her big Ford into the drive way and parked in front of the

house she shared with her brother Jason. She hadn't slept much all night

but relished with joy every minute she got to spend with her new

boyfriend Jeff. Jason's pickup was gone and Beth figured he had

thought of some last minute detail he had to complete before they left

for grandpa's. Sam was busy chewing something and didn't give her but

a slight glance as she went into the house. The screen door slammed

behind her and she tossed her purse and blue Waymark apron on the

chair by the couch.

 

Kicking off her shoes Beth saw a still steaming cup of coffee Jason had left

on the kitchen counter. Knocking the empty pizza box off the coffee

table as she passed by, Beth grimaced and said quite loudly to no one,

"Slob!" It was her pet name for Jim. He was always leaving messes

for her to pick up. Well she didn't have time to play the maid this morning.

She needed a shower in the worst way. She grabbed her favorite Willie Nelson

CD and shoved it into the stereo. Willie's pure country voice filed the

small house and Beth sang along with him.

Undressing as she sang she headed to the small bathroom to wash away

her lovely memories of Jeff and last night. When fully naked, she sat

on the toilet and peed as she reached behind the flowered shower curtain

to turn on the hot water. The shock of five thousand volts hit her in the

arm and she fell with a thud to the cold bathroom floor.

 

Cathy stepped from the tub and gave the husband stealing w***e another

couple of jolts for good measure. Then she wound the fingers of her left

hand into the stupid b*****s red hair and forcefully shoved a long silver ice

pick into Beth's eye. After a few quick cuts with the box cutter and

a yank or two she claimed her prize letting the now lifeless body

slam back into the cold white blood splattered tub.

Jason saw the Ford as soon as he drove up to the house. Good, he

thought to himself, Beth's home now we can get this show on

the road. He heard Willie Nelson singing as soon as he got out of

his truck. He grinned at the thought of her always singing off key

with Willie Nelson, as he opened the screen and went inside. He

caught sight of a flash of Beth's red hair in the kitchen . Her back

was to him and she was drinking his forgotten cup of Java.

 

"Just like you to be too lazy to wash your own cup sissy ' he teased

her loudly over the twang of country music. He walked into the

kitchen still talking and placed the food he'd bought on the kitchen

table. "Your even to lazy to brush your hair after a long night of

loving ain't ya? She must not be able to hear him he thought,

because she didn't move, so he playfully reached out to give her

long hair a tug. He knew that annoyed the heck out of his little sister.

The thick mane of long tangled red hair came off in his hand as easily

as butter melting on a slice of hot toast. The woman who turned to look

at him , slammed the cup of warm coffee to the floor and it shattered

at his feet. Unable to hold back his shock and revulsion he gagged.

Jason wide eyed, starred at the crazy damp sticky thing stuck to his

hand and then into the eyes of a monster. Pieces of what looked like

flesh hung in long strands and mingled into the red hair he held in his hand.

 

Shaking with terror he franticly threw it toward the woman with

the blazing eyes and blotchy face who was now screaming at him.

"How dare you Jason!" he heard the crazy woman screech. "and in our

own house too!. After all these years of me standing by you and loving

you . You had to go and hurt me didn't you? Me ! Your wife! The one

you promised to love and never leave. You just had to go find yourself

a redheaded s**t didn't you, you sorry b*****d! Well you love red hair

so much now you have it don't you mister man? You vile hurtful piece

of s**t! Yea, you got it now big boy!

 

Jeff gagged and tried to back away from this living nightmare, but

Cathy rushed toward him like a line backer knocking him off his feet

and causing him to lose his breath. He gasped and tried to kick her

off and at the same time tried not to choke on his own bile. The

stench of her was worse than he could handle and he vomited

last nights pizza supreme all over the floor. On his knees now

and desperately trying to escape, Jason slipped on the steaming mess

and his nose slammed into table causing a new gush of hot liquid

to erupt and race down his face. He screamed when he saw the

point of a long screwdriver heading toward his chest.

Sam, the big Rotty, then burst through the front screen door with a

vengeance and leaped on the woman that was attacking his master.

Growling with rage Sam tried his best to grab her neck and rip out

her throat. Cathy fought like a tiger wanting desperately to get past

this beast and to her real target, Jason. Blood from the bites Sam was

making on her body gushed hotly and when her flesh ripped with

each new bite, it made her scream. She became locked in a life or

death battle with the big black and tan dog.

Jason managed to slip, crawl and roll toward the sofa and grab his

shotgun from underneath. His hands slick with gore, betrayed him

and it took several tries to pull back the pump and drop a shell into

the barrel. Aiming at the woman that was fighting with Sam he

hesitated. He didn't want to shoot old Sam but he also didn't want

to be killed by some maniac either.

Still grabbling on the floor with the furious snapping Rotty, Cathy

began trying to stab the dog with the big screwdriver. Raising her

hand over the dogs head she gouged at it as hard as she could. On one

upward reach a loud blast rang in her ears and sheered her hand off

at the wrist. Her small pale hand still gripping the bloody screwdriver

flew across the room and landed with a loud plop, in the kitchen sink.

Sam, startled by the noise ran to his masters side. The woman writhed

in pain on the floor calling "Jason, Jason ,why Jason? Why did you have to

hurt me Jason? Why? Jason stumbled out the front door and locked himself

and a panting, slobbering, blood covered, Sam in the pickup. Grabbing

his cell phone off the seat he dialed 911.

Cathy opened her eyes and was almost blinded by the familiar round

chrome ceiling lights. Cinched firmly in the straight jacket and strapped

tightly to the hospital bed her stump ached something terrible. But pain

was nothing new to little Cathy. It was just another part of her sorry life.

She raised her head as best she could and looked around the room. She

was alone except for a tall well built man in coveralls.

 

The man had a slight limp and was slowly mopping the green tile floor.

He heard her move and turned to look in her direction. His dark brown

salt and pepper hair hung short and flat on his head, highlighting a solid

intelligent face with a strong square jaw. Cathy locked eyes with the man.

 

He reminded her of a famous author of several horror novels she had read,

but she couldn't quite think of his name. Cathy looked into his sparkling

blue eyes framed with sensible glasses and caught a breath. He was beautiful.

The man tilted his head slightly to the right and smiled compassionately

at the poor girl laying on the bed and Cathy instantly saw that the tiny gap

between his two front teeth and his sweet little overbite only made him that

much more desirable to her.

 

She had never seen such a beautiful man in her whole twenty seven years

of living. " Looking into his face Cathy knew she had finally found the

man of her dreams. The mopping man raised one perfect eye brow and

winked at her in what Cathy thought was a most intimate way. She

blushed red all over and she didn't exactly know why. But she knew it

felt good , yes, very, very, very, good.