Tommy #2
I swear, Bax is the least scary masked man in existence.
“Get your hands off me, you devilish boy!” she snaps, yanking the cross from Bax’s grasp as he tries to grab it. She spits at him, and he cowers back. “Curse you, boy.”
Bax looks at me, tense. “Fuck, man, I don’t wanna be cursed. She’s cursing me, man.”
“She’s not cursing you,” I snap. “She’s full of shit; she’s just some washed-up fanatic. Now tie her up. We need to get this over with.”
Sweat beads on my forehead. I don’t want to be in this house longer than I have to be. It’s terrible in here, much worse than I remember, and it smells like death and decay.
Didi’s mama may be holier than thou, but this place has a presence. I sense it all around me.
Bax binds her hands, and there is nothing she can do to stop it. She keeps her head down, refusing to look at us, barely audible whispers escaping her lips, like she’s swirling her tongue.
Now that she’s contained, I kick around old newspapers, rifling through what little possessions she has.
I grab a candle and walk into the kitchen, the small counter full of garbage, and a plastic bag from FreshMart is on the dirty floor. I grab the bag and stuff it in my pocket.
It’s dark, too dark to find a key, with just the light of the candles causing shadows to dance on the walls.
I can hear her talking to Bax, threatening him with curses, calling him the devil.
She’s lucky Bax is handling her, not me. He doesn’t realize the abuse she’s inflicted on her daughter. I’m not sure I could restrain myself if I were dealing with her on my own.
I push open the door and pause, looking at the tidy room. Didi’s clothes are piled neatly in the corner, a small mirror leaning up against the wall, and a terrible-looking mattress sits on the floor. Hidden behind the scent of decay is her—the only sweet scent in the house.
“Oh, hell,” I mutter, staring at a dark stain on the ground a few feet from her bed.
Mr. Sheffield slaughtered his family in this house. Killed his daughter in this very room.
I can’t look at where she sleeps. It breaks my heart, especially since my family home has eight bedrooms and she has a coiled mattress on the floor, with no sheets.
“Hurry, man,” Bax calls from the living room.
“One second,” I call back to him without disrupting the room in the slightest, shutting the door. I step across the hall and open the second door, a waft of stale liquor hitting my nose.
Didi’s mama has a similar bed, but it rests on a tiny metal frame, with clothes and other random shit piled up everywhere.
This is pointless. It’s too dark, and I’ll never find it this way.
I take my candle and walk to where Didi’s mama is still sitting on the floor and step in front of her.
She gazes up at me. “What do you want?” She stares right through my mask and for one second, it’s as if she can see me. “I said, what do you want from me, demon?”
I grab her mouth, squeezing her lips. “I want you to shut up and stay on your knees while I think.”
Her lips pucker into a disgusting smile as I let go of her. “You’re that boy who’s after my Diana, aren’t you?” she asks me carefully.
My nostrils flare. “Shut up.”
She blinks a couple of times. “I heard about you from Mrs. Holly.”
“Shut up.”
A vile smirk hits her lips. “Tommy, isn’t it?”
A swell of anger pushes through my stomach, and I grab the plastic bag and place it over her head before she can stop me.
She panics, twists and turns and claws at me, but I hold it tight, pulling it around her neck and mouth. Muffled moans escape her, but every time she sucks in a breath, she sucks in the bag with it.
I lean down and whisper in her ear, “Are you going to shut up now?”
Her body goes limp, and I release the bag so I don’t kill her. That is not the goal tonight, even though it’s becoming increasingly appealing.
She slumps to the ground, silenced into submission, and her head hangs forward.
Finally, she takes me seriously—and no one ever takes me seriously. Warmth spreads through my chest. Is this the high Remy and Talia are chasing? The power, the control? I can kill and get away with it. Is that why Talia did it?
“Dude,” Bax whispers from the corner, but I ignore him. “That was heavy, man.”
I grab Didi’s mama’s chin. “Where is the key?” I ask through gritted teeth, my heart racing but not in a bad way.
That shouldn’t have felt so right. The idea of killing Didi’s mama… Watching her struggle with that plastic bag struck something deep within me. No amount of running, kissing, or sex has ever made my body electrify like that.
Her lips quiver, and I move the candle close to her face. “Answer my question or I’ll burn your damn face off.” I have to give it to this broad, she’s tough as nails. She closes her eyes, and as the candle burns her skin, she begins to whisper.
Enough. I’ve had enough. She doesn’t get to pray anymore. Not when she’s filled Diana’s head with bullshit about going to hell for kissing.
I wipe her eyebrow with my thumb, the tear dropping over the burn mark I just left her.
“I can show you mercy,” I say softly, “just like your God would. But only if you tell me where the key is.”
She swallows hard. “It’s in the Bible in my bedroom.”
I curl my lip and stare down at her.
Of course it is.
“Where? Where in your bedroom?”
“Under my bed.”
I jerk my head at Bax. “Go, check.”
“Dude…”
“Go…please. Then we can get the hell out of here.”
Bax shuffles to the bedroom as I keep my eyes on Didi’s mama.
Seconds later, he returns, handing me the book.
I place the candle down and flip through the pages, and a tiny key, barely bigger than my pinky, falls out.
I carefully pick it up, turning it over in my fingers before staring at the Bible from which it came.
“Didi thinks she’s going to hell,” I say to her, and fear radiates from her eyes. “When I leave, you’re going to pack up all your shit, and leave town, and you are going to leave Diana behind and never speak to her again. Do you understand me?”
I wait for her to answer, but her body goes limp and her eyes roll to the back of her head.
Mumbled words escape her lips, “God of truth, lay bare his soul. Strip the masks from his face. Let him see the shadows he walks in.” She pauses, takes a deep breath, and her eyes right themselves from whatever trance she was in.
“Did you get what you came for, demon? Show your face or hide in the grass like the snake you are.”
I squat down so I’m eye level with her and grin beneath the mask. “I’m not a snake; I am the reaper, lady. I was sent here from hell to torment you, and that’s all you need to know about me.”
I pull my knife out, and her eyes flash as she flinches back. My stomach twists into itself, and a rush of adrenaline hits me, making me feel more alive than I have in weeks. Bax is standing back, taking this all in, though his mask makes him seem evil.
“I got what I needed. Let’s go,” I say to him.
Bax starts toward the door, but I just stay where I am, watching Didi’s mama gasp for breath. Bax turns back to me as I’m locked in a staring contest with her.
“Hey, man…you coming?” he asks.
She stares at me, daring me in the flickering candlelight. “I’ll be right there. Wait outside.”
Bax shakes his head and leaves, and I wait until he’s out of sight before I dangle the knife in my hand and peer down at her, smiling behind my darkness.