Slash (Novella I) (13 page)

“
I’m not getting kicked out, I’m leaving.”

She laughed. “I don’t believe it.”

He started removing his sneakers from beneath his bed. “You’ll believe me when I’m gone.”

Sidnee’s poor grades didn’t matter when her mother was busy yelling at Evan for using her credit card. Sidnee dropping out of the church choir wasn’t a concern when her father was upset at her brother for spending his Sunday mornings sleeping in. Her brother’s drama always overshadowed hers and she didn’t mind one bit. Sidnee turned away from his packing and made her way down the hall to her father’s office.

She knocked against the opened office door. “Dad, Evan is leaving.”

Her father sat with his back to her, writing his next sermon. “The lord will watch over him.”

“
You’re just going to let him leave; he can end up on the streets.”

“
If you care so much, you can join him.”

Sidnee wasn’t having her sweet-sixteen on a street corner. “I was just letting you know, sir.”

The wide man grunted. “I’m working Sidnee.”

“
Sorry, dad,”

Sidnee headed to her parents’ bedroom. Her mother was laying out this Sunday’s church outfit across the bed.

Olivia turned to her daughter. “Sidnee come here.”

Sidnee stepped further into the bedroom. “Evan is leaving. I think it’s for real.”

“
The lord will watch over him,” Olivia grabbed some earrings from her jewelry box. “Sidnee, do you like these?”

Sidnee stared at the pink pearl earrings. “They look like old lady earrings.”

“
Fine, I’ll give them to somebody at the church. Has Evan left yet?”

“
He’s close to doing so.”

Olivia dismissively fanned her hand. “Make sure you lock the door after him.”

Sidnee groaned as she started back to Evan’s room, meeting him at his door. “Still leaving, huh?”

He strained as he did his best to hold onto his duffle bags. “Are you deaf or just stupid? I’m gone and I’m so damn happy. I will never have to listen to dad preach again or eat mom’s shit dinners. As for you, I’ll never have to watch you prance around like you’re an angel from above. I hope tonight some slasher breaks into the house, rape you and mom, burn dad’s bible and stab you all to death. Goodbye, you’re all dead to me.”

Sidnee had spent hours after that encounter crying. Sidnee would always remember that conversation they had in the hallway. As the years passed, her brother would visit on the holidays as if he never wished death upon the family. Now that she was older, she did her best to distance herself away from her brother. It was a difficult task at the moment as she stared back at him on the doorstep of her haunted house.

Chapter 16 - Suspect

Ford had gotten a text from Lu about an emergency slasher meeting being hosted. After drafting a grocery list for Harriet, he arrived at the meeting. The room was crowded with faces of slashers, some regulars and others who had not attended in months. The slasher community was in peril. In a corner he spotted Lu.

Lu noticed him as he approached. “You came.”

“
Yeah, what’s going on?”

“
First of all,” She raised her hand to his face, “Jace proposed to me!”

He smirked as he imagined Lu in a wedding dress armed with a knife. “Awesome, how did he do it?”

“
Jace passed me the ring box this morning at a drive-thru.”

“
Well that’s different.”

“
I said ‘yes’ because he promised to pay for my double-cheeseburger and because its love, Ford.”

They both started laughing, but quieted down the moment too much attention was drawn.

Ford looked over his shoulder. “Where’s Jace?”

“
He went to the bathroom.”

“
Who called this meeting?”

“
I did. I have a wedding to plan now. This serial-slasher is a distraction that needs to be eliminated quickly.”

Ford never took the moment to sit down and ponder on whom could be the serial-slasher.

Jace returned, standing beside Lu. “Baby, have you shown him the ring?”

“
I saw it,” Ford wasn’t a jewelry fan so he settled with a standard compliment. “It’s nice.”

Jace patted his jeans pocket. “Nice and expensive, but that’s love for yah.”

“
Lu is amazing,” Ford said. “Its money well spent.”

“
It better be,” Jace joked. He noticed the crowd growing restless. “I think you should start Lu.”

“
You’re right. “ Lu kissed him. “I’m getting stage fright.”

Jace led her to the center of the room. “Just pretend only I’m here.”

Ford raised his hand, following them.

“
And Ford,” Jace added with a smirk.

Lu stood in the center in the room. “Alright everybody, gather around.”

She clapped her hands together. The slashers ended their conversations and gathered around her. Lu glanced over at Jace, who stood beside Ford. Jace nodded at her and winked.

“
My name is Lu. We’re all in this room because we have something in common, we’re slashers and we’re scared. The death toll of current and former members of this group is rising. The main suspect could be in this room at this very moment. If so, the only thing I can ask is why? You’ve been slashing your own kind.”

“
You’re better off talking to a mirror,” A grouchy male voice stated.

Ford noticed as Jace’s face tense up.

Lu searched the crowd. “Who said that?”

A short man, wearing a dingy baseball cap, stepped forward. “Me, I‘m Hank.”

Lu faced Hank. “I’m better off talking to a mirror, huh?”

“
That’s right, because you’re the main suspect.”

Lu let out a baffled laugh. “I’m the one who called this meeting. I-”

“
-You’re just trying to throw us all off,” Hank shouted.

Jace crossed his arms and a vein appeared in his neck as he focused on Hank.

“
You have no proof,” Lu argued. “Maybe you’re the guilty one.”

Hank laughed, scratching at his pointy chin. “I want you to promise me something little lady.”

“
What?”

“
The truth.”

“
I’m offering the truth. You’re-”

Hank raised his hand, cutting her short once more. “Have you ever been to Miriam’s trailer?”

Lu stalled to answer.

He clapped his hands before Lu’s face. “Are you trying to come up with a lie?”

“
No,” She snapped.

“
Then answer the question.”

“
Yeah, I’ve been to her trailer.”

Hank let out a chuckle as he nodded at the crowd, a few of them encouraging him to continue. “I believe you, because I saw you. I had left the meeting early after Miriam no showed that night and I was out taking a smoke on my porch. I saw you leaving from Miriam’s trailer. I actually saw two of you.” Hank pointed at Ford. “He was there. I saw the both of you leave that night after sticking a knife in her sweet heart.”

All eyes were on Ford and he could not come up with an explanation. “No, we weren’t.”

“
I know what I saw,” Hank shouted. “You’re both busted.”

“
We were there,” Lu confirmed. “But not because we slashed her.”

“
That’s what I meant with my response,” Ford stated. “We weren’t there to slash her.”

A set of wrinkles formed on Hank’s forehead. “If you didn’t slash her, why keep quiet?”

Lu looked back at Ford. “Because…”

“
The same reason you did about us being there,” Ford finished. “The fear of becoming the next victim.”

Hank aggressively shook his head. “That still doesn’t clear your names.”

“
I‘ve done nothing,” Lu said. “And Ford hasn’t either.”

“
You’re a lying bitch,” Hank shouted before shoving her backward.

Jace charged forward and punched Hank to the floor. He mounted the man and rained down a series of punches to his face. Lu watched with her hands over her mouth. Ford had never seen a pair of fists move so quick. Jace’s attack had become bloody, his knuckles stained red. From the crowd two men rushed and pulled Jace from a moaning Hank. Jace delivered back elbows, taking his restrainers down.

Lu ran up to Jace and grabbed at him. “Please stop!”

“
Move,” Jace shouted in her face and stormed from the room, pushing those in his way aside.

Lu cried after him, leaving those in the room to tend to a bloodied Hank. Ford noticed a few eyes glance at him and whispers of his name meet his ear. He made an exit before more questions could be directed towards him. Ford left a suspect in the eyes of many.

Ford got his grocery shopping done and put his groceries in the backseat of his car and started the vehicle. The car stalled, the engine emitting a rough rumbling sound, and immediately powered off. Ford tried a few more times to start the car, only to experience the same result.

“
Great, all the slashers hate me and so does my car.” He opened his car door. “Fine, I’ll walk.”

Harriet’s house not far from the area, Ford decided to walk. A scraping sound caught his ear as he made his way down a poorly lit street. Ford glanced over his shoulder to discover a shadowy figure following him, dragging a knife against the brick walls of the downtown shops they passed.

Ford’s pace quickened and so did the sound of the scraping trailing him. The slasher dropped his bag of groceries and ran. He took a quick left down an alley and climbed over a fence at the end. The shadowy figure continued to stalk him and ascended the same chain-linked fence.

Ford ran into a nearby wooded area, leaping over discarded shopping carts that were tangled with vines and a ditch. He spotted an abandoned warehouse and headed inside through a smashed window. The warehouse was stocked with water-damaged crates that were draped with clear plastic. He made his way to the second floor of the building, up the creaking metal stairs and hid behind a machine that was attached to a conveyer-belt.

He removed a metal handle from the machine and searched the dark building for the serial-slasher. Ford made his way downstairs and stood in the center of the warehouse. He needed to lure the serial-slasher out of the shadows and meet the stranger face-to-face.

“
I’m right here, come out and face me.”

“
You liar,” A deep voice spoke. “You’re all liars.”

“
I’m not in a mood for a lecture.”

“
My plan is not complete.”

Ford laughed. “I don’t give a shit about your vendetta.”

“
I won’t stop until my plan is successful.”

Ford paced in a circle, smacking the handle against his cast. “You’re using a bloodstained blueprint.”

A cynical laugh came from the darkness. “Exactly.”

A steel chain dropped from the ceiling and landed near Ford’s feet. More chains rained down and Ford used his arms to cover his head. He glanced up to notice the chains that remained in place were being used to support the glass ceiling of the abandoned warehouse. Ford noticed a shadowy figure on an upper railing area of the warehouse.

Ford pointed up at the slasher. “Enjoy it will you can, because your slashing spree will come to end.”

The raspy voice shouted. “And so will your life.”

Ford dashed from the warehouse, back through the woods and back to the empty streets of downtown. Ford rested his hand against an inoperative streetlamp. He thought his ears were playing a sick game as he overheard a familiar scraping sound. Ford spun round to learn he ears had not lie, the serial-slasher still stalked him. He gathered the little strength he had and took off running. A block ahead, he noticed Jace’s delivery van at a red light.

He ran up to her driver’s window of the van and frantically banged against it. “Bravo let me in!”

Bravo let out a scream and placed his hand against her chest. “Ford…”

“
Yeah, it’s me. Please, I need a ride.”

Bravo lowered his window. “You scared the shit out of me.”

“
Somebody’s trying to kill me so open the damn door!”

Bravo nodded toward his passenger’s seat. “Shit, get in.”

Ford ran around to the other side of the van and climbed in. The cannibal sped away.

Chapter 17 - Vanity

Ford spent the night at Bravo’s apartment. After a quick breakfast, he headed back to his car and called a repair man. It didn’t take long for the repair man to discover the problem; a couple of wires under Ford’s car hood were cut. The repair took nearly the entire day and Ford didn’t get his car back on the road and back home until late. Ford headed home to grab some fresh clothes. He noticed the door of his apartment was opened.