Murdered by the Iceman

Short story for a class project

The street lights flickered on above me as I jogged, signaling that it was going to be dark soon. Music blasted through my ears from my Mp3 player as I made one more round through the Crosby park trail. Strands of my sweaty tousled hair stuck to the side of my face; and a cool breeze made me shiver every now and then. The sun began to set behind the trees; I slowed down to a stop to admire the beauty of it. It was the last thing I saw before everything went dark.It seemed forever until I regained consciousness. The first thing I felt was the alertness going through my body but I forced myself to keep still because I felt myself moving; it took me a minute to realize what was going on, I was being dragged. My eyes opened to slits, all I could make out was a bare cemented hallway, it looked to be under construction. I felt strong hands gripping my ankles which were bound tightly with duct tape as well as my hands. It was completely quiet besides the sound of heavy footsteps that dragged me along. I tried to raise my head to see who had taken me and regretted it as soon as I did, my head throbbed violently and my vision began to blur. I let my head fall back and tried to focus on where I was. We passed several rooms, besides the dust and dirt they were empty, it looked to be untouched for quite awhile. We entered a small room similar to the others that we had passed, in the corner lay a stack of boards and there was a big hole in the wall. He let go of my feet carelessly, dropping them to the floor making me wince in pain. “Good, you’re awake,” the mans voice was gravelly. I took a good look at my abductor, he looked to be in his forties, already losing hair. He was 5 times my size and I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance if I tried to put up a fight. He wore ordinary clothes, jeans and a black long sleeved shirt, nothing telling me if he were in some kind of gang, though he looked oddly familiar. He leaned over and grabbed my shoulders, pulling me up into a sitting position. I wanted to shove him off but I was once again greeted by nausea. He propped me up against the wall and took a step back and examined me.Once the nausea subsided I peered up at him. “What do you want,” my voice was dry and I licked my cracked lips.“Jim Corey, you remember Roy Demeo don’t you?” My blood went cold at the sound of Roy’s name. Now I know what this was about, I cheated him, used him for information about the Gambino Crime Family and gave it to the police; he must have found out. He sent one of his hitmen to come and kill me. I forced myself to be calm, I didn’t want my fear to give him satisfaction. “He told me you were a threat,” he went on, “and ordered me to kill you,” it wasn’t the words that terrified me, but the emptiness in them; and in that moment I knew he would kill me without a second thought. Realization struck me, I should’ve recognized him from his voice, this wasn’t just one of Roy’s hitmen, this was the famous Richard Kuklinski, they call him the Iceman because he would freeze his victims to mask the time that they died. Was I going to be another frozen victim? But why here? Whatever here was. He pulled out a knife and looked at it as if it meant something special to him and that made my stomach churn, then looked at me. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck, my heart hammering against my chest so hard I thought it would burst. Before I could make a move or speak, Richard, the Iceman, walked over in two strides, shoving the knife deep in my stomach. A strange gurgling sound came from my lips, the taste of iron and salt filling my mouth and the warmth of my blood begun to ooze from the wound. I felt the knife being wrenched out of my stomach as quickly as it had came, making the blood spurt from my mouth. He looked me over again before continuing.; multiple sharp pains burned through my body, my piercing screams ringing through the empty rooms. Richard stood up and wiped the blood, my blood, off of his face carelessly with a rag, then wiped the knife. He admired his work then turned and left, just like that. I listened to his footsteps fade into silence. I didn’t know what else to do, but I had to get out, but where would I go? I had already lost so much blood, but I had to try. I slumped over and groaned from the pain. Stretching my arms out in front of me I used my forearms to pull myself forward, even the slightest move I made, my body screamed for me to stop, but I forced myself through the pain..I didn’t want to die, I had the rest of my life to live with Liv. She would be worried sick by now, probably calling the police. That is if I’ve been missing for over 24 hours, has it been that long? For all I knew it was dark outside, I could see the moon peeking in through the window. I heard the sound of rustling in the corner where the boards lay, I stopped crawling and strained my eyes to scan the area but I couldn’t see much of anything in the dark. ‘It must’ve been a mouse’, I thought to myself. I continued to crawl towards the door, my body getting more heavy and my breath came more rapidly; I’ve lost so much blood, how am I still alive?The rustling came again but carried by a few squeaks this time, I whipped my head around just before several mice, no, rats made their way in my direction. Their small figures seemed to get larger as they got closer. Something seemed off with these rats, they were coming directly at me. I turned my head back in front of me and kept crawling, I could hardly keep my head up. I screamed as I felt teeth begin to gnaw at my open wounds. I wriggled around trying to kick them off but my legs would hardly move. I pulled myself a few forward and was out of breath, I couldn’t do it, especially when rats were eating at my legs up to my back. This was it, this was how I was going to die, stabbed and eaten alive. I would’ve never expected my life to end this way. How long will it take for them to discover my body? I couldn’t feel the pain anymore, when I turned my head at least a few more rats had joined the feast. I gagged at the sight of my body, they were almost to the bone. I turned my head towards the window with all the strength I had left, I didn’t have much time left, I could feel my heart slowing down, my breath growing faint. On the bright side I couldn’t feel the pain anymore, just numbness. I closed my eyes and pictured Liv, her long brown locks fell around her face and her blue eyes that shined when she smiled. My heart broke for her, I hoped she’d find peace and move on with her life. I could feel tears in my eyes. I focused on her for the last few minutes of my life. The way she fit perfectly in my arms as we slept, I focused on the memory of earlier today, she had fallen asleep in my arms during a movie and I had held her, listened to her snore. I felt my body relax at the memory then let the last breath flow out of my lips and my life go with it.