Chapter 55
She opened her eyes. The sharp pain was back. This time it hurt to blink. She knew she was tied back up again. This time, Molly wasn’t going anywhere. He tied her naked body to the bed with barbwire. She could feel it piercing into her flesh.
She knew she passed out in the frozen river. It wasn’t fair. Molly hadn’t wanted to die before but when she thought death had arrived to relieve her of her suffering, she welcomed it.
He walked into the bedroom where she was tied up.
“Molly Goldfish. I had every intention of waiting until tomorrow night to finish you off. You know why it was tomorrow night right? Because it’s the anniversary of the night you stole my brother’s heart.”
He walked over to the bed and placed his hand on her chest. He took a knife and slit her breast open, letting her bleed. It was only a small flesh wound. She had been through this before.
“Unfortunately the time table has changed. Mother has been killed. By none other than your worthless little daughter by the way. Oh well. I gave the wench a chance. George begged me to spare her life, to ship her to my brother Daryl to take care of her. I wanted to sell her to the sex traffickers. It would have been a clean cut victory. You dead. Him dead. Her, out of the way.
Then mother and I would be free to finish out my days. She was doing a fine job helping me select my victims. Oh well. No use crying now. She’s dead. Soon you will be too.
Oh, Daryl is bringing the little bitch up this way to earn her trust. She will find your dead body and he will take her back home to finish the job. No. I won’t kill her. I need her alive. I need someone to take mother’s place. I’ll need someone to kill for me once they arrive. It’s the only way to save my brother from being found out.”
Drake wrapped her body up in saran wrap. Then he grabbed his hunting rifle and fishing pole. I’ll take care of you when I get back. Right now I need to go clear my head.
A gentle breeze touched the back of his neck. A squirrel sat in a tree eating a nut. There was a young bird singing lullabies to her mate. The sounds of nature filled his ears as the cool winter air touched his lungs. Off in the distance the sun was slowly setting behind a mountain.
Time was on vacation now and summer was playing a game of “hide and seek”. As he stood there surrounded by nature a single thought crept into his mind, she was gone and there was no turning back.
Drake sat there thinking back on the events the brought him here. He thought about Ashley, Jennifer and even the waitress. He sat there thinking back on how complicated it had all gotten. Now that his mother was dead, he knew he had to move quickly to save his brother Daryl.
Except he had one thought nagging him in the back of his mind, did he remember to feed Goldie, his pet goldfish? Drake kept a pet goldfish as a reminder of the woman, Molly Goldfish he kept locked in his spare bedroom. He had every intention of waiting until tomorrow to kill her but he knew the sheriff was on his way with all the evidence they needed to lock him up.
As he sat on a fallen tree observing the tranquility of the nature that kept him company he began to ponder. There had been a time when he lived in a crowded city, among other members of his species. He would awaken daily and the drudgery of his monotonous routine would continue to drag him down. He had the normal life. He did what you were supposed to do; he went to school, met a girl and found a fulfilling career. And yet here in the emptiness of nature in the cool mountain air he discovered he felt no remorse.
He lived alone and yet he was not lonely. It was beginning to get late and he was starting to consider going in but he was not ready just yet. He had some thinking to do up here on the mountain this late winter day.
He sat there on a tree stump overlooking the wildlife that was coming out of hibernation despite the spring weather refusing to come on schedule. He looked down the hillside at his trusty dog who was fishing at the river. He sat there and he looked back at his life and he wondered why couldn’t it have always been this simple? Why does life have to start out so damn complicated? Looking back he realized that there was nothing he could have done differently to avoid his destiny.
Life chose the path he was to walk even before he was conceived. He missed nothing of his old life, his parents, his friends, family, colleagues none of them meant anything to him now. This was his life, here in the mountains in his cabin cut off from the rest of the world. He look down at his pocket watch and noted that he had stayed out longer than usual.
“I bet Goldie is getting worried right about now, pacing his bowl back and forth wondering where the food is” he said to no one in particular. Standing up he stretched his tired old legs, blew a whistle in the direction of his dog Sandy, and gathered up his days game and heading up the hill towards the cabin he now called home.
He made his slow walk up the snow covered hill back towards his cabin. He hadn’t caught much; it was just a pair of baby rabbits that would soon be the main ingredient of his stew he would cook up for supper. The thoughts of his previous life were beginning to fade away as he blew one more whistle in the direction towards his companion, his trusty Border collie, Sandy. “Come on Sandy girl; get over here right now daddy’s got some rabbit for supper.”
He entered the cabin as usual and went straight to the fridge and grabbed an ice cold beer. Normally he would sit down, talk to his goldfish and tell him about his day and then feed the fish and prepare his supper. Today was different; he just wasn’t in much of a mood for anything other than drifting back down memory lane.
He sat there about half an hour just sipping his cold beer, looking at the dirty dishes waiting for him in the sink, contemplating the meaning of it all. Twenty-six years he worked at his job doing the good work. Now here he was alone with his thoughts, and it was not something he dared to face sober.
This night was different than any other night, because tonight was the anniversary of the night his life went straight to hell. It’s kind of a hard thing to live with and that is why the fridge is filled with nothing but ice cold beer, locally brewed in the small sleepy mountain town up the road from his fortress of solitude. In fact if you were to open that fridge you would find oh about sixteen or so beer bottles waiting to be consumed, a tub of the fattiest cholesterol spread, and whatever slop he had left over from last night’s dinner and that would be about it.
It was finally time. Drake walked into the bedroom here Molly Goldfish was tied up. He grabbed a butcher knife, a hand saw and another beer. It was time to cut this bitch into pieces.
Stephanie Bri 