| Body |
It’s 11pm, closing time for Nick’s sports bar. The last of the drunks are leaving as I walk around cleaning off the cocktail tables. I head towards the back and set the dishes down in the dish pit. I take the time to pull down the hem of my shorts, that keep riding up my thighs. Stupid uniform.
“Hurry up, Mara. I have somewhere to be tonight”, my manager, Sean, says. “I’m almost done.”, I say, as I wipe down the counter and bar tops. After finishing up my side work, I clocked out and met Sean at the front door. “About time!”, he sneered. I rolled my eyes and started my journey home.
I don’t like walking home at night, but I don’t really have a choice. My mom and her boyfriend don’t have a vehicle, nor jobs. I tend to have to pay the bills and buy groceries with what I make at Nick’s, while also trying to attend college. I only have a year and a half left before I graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Then I can leave my loaded job and start a better one.
My walk is interrupted by two men, who are staggering down the sidewalk. “Well, hello gorgeous”, one of the men slur. “What’s a pretty little thing like you doing out here all alone at this hour?”, the other guy taunted.
They tried to circle me, so I took a few steps back, eliminating their possibility. “I’m minding my business “, I countered, getting in a defensive stance, so that I can defend myself. “Spicy isn’t she?”, one of them asked the other. “Let’s have a little fun with her. Teach her a lesson, huh?”, the other said, as he took a step toward me and reached for my arm. I took a step back and struck the man in the nose with my fist. “Ow, you crazy woman”, he snarled.
The other man lunged at me, knocking me to the ground. I felt my knee and elbow scrap against the concrete at impact. I used my elbow to jab the man on top of me, in the ribs. This made his hold on me loosen, though when I stood up, he grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled, ripping the bottom half of it off. I elbowed him in the nose, a sickening crack filled the night air, as the man fell backward.
As I turned around to run, the other man open-hand smack me across the face. A sharp burn resonated through my face, as I tasted copper in my mouth. I kicked the man in the knee-cap, breaking it outward before punching him as hard as I could in the Adam’s apple. The man fell to his knees and grasped his throat.
I took this opportunity to make a run for it. My adrenaline pumped hard in my veins, refraining me from feeling any pain, though I could feel the blood running my arm, leg and neck. The cool night air, turning my warm blood to ice as I ran.
I could see my small house come into view, so I picked up pace, pushing myself harder. I could hear the two men’s heavy footsteps following behind me as they yelled profanities into the night air.
I cleared the steps in one leap, busting straight through my front door. I quickly shut and dead bolted the door. I rested my head on the door as I panted heavily to catch my breath.
“Mara?”, my mother’s voice was shaky. I turned around to face her, but was met with a scene I was not expecting. Before me, stood 8 men, dressed in nice black suits. One with a gun pointed at my mother’s head and another with a gun pointed at her boyfriend’s head. The rest of the men had their hands on their guns as they stared at me, ready to draw their weapon and shoot on command.
My eyes roamed the faces in the room until they landed on a man, whom sat on the couch in front of my mom. He had one leg rested lazily over the other, as his piercing gray eyes pinned me in my spot. His stare was intense, making a shiver pass through my body. He was gorgeous, with a sharp jaw line, olive skin and black hair that only accented his beautiful gray eyes. I was captivated by his gaze.
His eyes slowly raked my body before darkening a shade. “Mara, what happened to you? What’s going on?”, my mother asked frantically. I broke eye contact with the man on the couch to look at my mom, Sherry and her boyfriend, Carl, then down at my torn, dirty clothes and scraped body. I looked back to my mom and frowned, “Nothing. What’s going on here?”, I asked, the anger I felt evident in my voice. Sadly, my anger was not directed at the men with the guns, like it should probably be. But, at my mother and Carl for getting in deep mess once again.
“Oh, well,”, my mother’s explanation was interrupted by loud bangs on the door. I immediately turned around to face the door and took a step back. This is not good. “You stupid woman. Open this door, we will teach you a lesson you won't forget!”, one of the men yelled, as they continued to rap on the front door.
I heard Carl’s sinister laugh, "I guess we aren’t the only ones in trouble. See I knew you weren’t an angel”, he sneered. My head snapped towards Carl. “Curse you. My trouble isn’t because I’m a idiot like you”, I hissed before facing the door once again.
I noticed one of the men stood by the door causally, watching my every move. I looked at his gun, then extended my hand out towards him. “May I?”, I asked. The man’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, as he looked behind me at the man sitting on the couch. I assume the man on the couch gave his approval, because the guard pulled his gun from his holster and handed it to me butt first.
“Thank you”, I said politely, as I dropped the clip to make sure it was loaded. I slid the clip back into place and pulled the slide back, confirming one was in the chamber. I put my hand on the deadbolt and let out an uneasy breath. The men were still pounding on the door, screaming that they were going to teach me a lesson.
I flipped the deadbolt and yanked the door open, while simultaneously drawing my weapon, aiming right at the first man’s face. “And what lesson would that be?”, I asked, a smirk etched on my lips.
In my peripheral vision, I saw another gun drawn and pointed at the men, as well. Giving me the assumption that the man on the couch ordered me some back up.
“Oh, wait. We don’t want any trouble”, one of the men said, as they both put their hands up in surrender and took a step back. “I beg to differ. You didn’t get the hint in the streets and followed me home. In my opinion, you were begging for my bullet.”, I said through gritted teeth. “And since I have the gun, only my opinion matters”, I know my smile was sadistic, however these men tried to take something of value to me, something irreplaceable.
I heard a deep alluring voice speak from behind me. “Are they the reason you look like this?”, he asked. “Yes”, I answered with out taking my eyes off the men in front of me. “Kill them”, his profound voice commanded. And without blinking or thinking, I pulled the trigger. The guard pulled his trigger at the same time as me. Both men collapsed onto the porch as blood splattered all over my face and the gun.
I released a heavy breath. My mind racing at an incomparable speed. “Clean this mess up”, the gentleman on the couch said. Four men immediately began to remove the bodies and clean the blood from the porch. I tore a piece of fabric from my already torn shirt and wiped the blood from the gun. I handed it, butt first, to the man I borrowed it from.
He cautiously took the from me, obviously shocked by my actions. I can’t blame him though, I, too, am rattled by what I had just done. I killed someone. Without thinking twice about it. It was that voice. It had a power over me, it was dangerous and alluring.
I face the man who sat on the couch, like a king. He had a beautiful grin stretched across his lips, a glint of admiration reflected in his eyes and one of his eyebrows was arched.
I reluctantly broke from his gaze to bring my attention back to my mother. “You were saying?”, I asked with contempt. My mother and Carl, both looked at me with horror written on their faces. “What have you done?”, my mother asked in trepidation. I walked over to one of the chairs in the living room and sunk into it with a hiss. “We aren’t talking about me, mother. What kind of mess did you fall into this time?”, I asked annoyed with her antics.
I looked down at my wounds that still had dirt embedded in them. My mother did not answer me, so, the man on the couch did, drawing my eyes up to his. “They owe me money”, he informed me. I shook my head disapprovingly. “That doesn’t surprise me”, I uttered, pulling out my checkbook. I knew there was at least $1,500 in my account. Hopefully it was not more than that.
“How much?”, I asked. “$500,000”, he answered. I froze as my heart plummeted to the pit of my stomach. My head snapped up towards my mother. Fury coursed through my veins giving me newfound strength to stand from the couch.
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