fiX - A ParaBnormal Fairy Tale Read online

  “Like numbers make a difference... No, I mean... Why are you doing this? Why so easy?”

  “Because, like I said, I might need you later when the case goes to court. I want those fuckin’ pricks you used to work for. Bad.” Franklin looked into the rearview again. “You know you guys can always save up, right? Move farther away when it suits you. Or you can run with the cash. Split the middle and part ways. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about little old me knowing where you are, though I might miss you in court. Believe me, if you get far enough away, Paulie and Ricky? Those two aren’t going to scour the earth looking for your dumb asses. They’ll find another low life to move their product. And that slice in the back? She ain’t the only cute little thing in the world who’ll give it up for some horse.”

  Juno’s eyes turned to slits as she looked out the window at the scenery. Grinding her teeth. Trying not to listen. Trying not to hear.

  “Bottom line: You’ll be okay,” Franklin said. “I fuckin’ promise.”

  They rolled into town shortly thereafter, and pulled up to a relatively decent looking single storey home at the end of a block on the outskirts. There was a similar house across the main street to the side and corn fields that reached the horizon in front. The lights were off but, in the dark, the house looked like it looked pretty decent in the daylight. Not a mansion, not a shack.

  “So this is where I wait to die?” Juno asked. “Nice.”

  “Ricky was right. You are one mouthy little fuckin’ cunt.” Franklin looked back at her and then over at David. “How did you put up with it for so long, Davey? She must suck one hell of a dick. Please tell me you’re not sticking anything but your fingers between her legs. I might need you in court. And when you show, it would be extra specially nice if you weren’t teetering on the brink of death. That AIDS shit’ll kill you.”

  “You’re a jerk.” Juno brooded, crossing her arms and looking like the waterworks were about to turn on.

  “Then again, maybe it’s all daisies and rainbows down there.” Franklin made sure his gun was secure and they exited the car. He popped the trunk and David pulled out their suitcase. Franklin reached in, pulled back the trunk lining and yanked out a heavy briefcase. “This is your living money, Davey. Put it somewhere no one will find it. It’s all you get. Once it’s gone, you either find a job or you go back to the grift. Or pushing dope if you can find a place to grow it in the fields. And she goes back to trawling for cock.”

  Juno looked away, pursing her lips.

  Franklin rolled his eyes. “Although neither of those occupations are going to go unnoticed here. This is a nice town, believe it or not. Decent people. They take care of their own. My advice.” Franklin looked at them both as he closed the trunk. “Come up with a decent back story for yourselves. Do it tonight, before you go to bed.”

  “Like what?” Juno asked, still looking miffed.

  “Be creative... And don’t forget your keys.” Franklin threw a keyring over his shoulder and it landed on the doorstep with a clunk. “There’s a car in the garage out back. It’s a piece of shit, but it runs. Consider it a bonus. Enjoy your new lives. I give you two idiots a day. Six, seven, tops, before you drive each other crazy and do something stupid anyway. There’s another great reason to not worry about whether I’ve got any ulterior motives.”

  “Hopefully we won’t be seeing you.” David moved toward the door.

  “Yeah, right.” Franklin touched his holstered pistol. “I’ll be talking to you again, Davey. For sure. This ain’t over until Ricky and Paulie are in the slam. I’m trusting you not to run with the money.”

  David waved. “Thanks for everything. Appreciate the ride and the helpful tips.”

  “Yeah, you two take care. Enjoy the neighbourhood. I’m sure the townsfolk will eat the two of you up. Especially the little woman. She’s a tasty looking piece of pork.”

  Franklin waved goodbye and got into his car, pulling out onto the main road. Chuckling to himself as he noticed Juno giving him the finger one last time while she continued to fuss with her skimpy dress.

  David and Juno quietly entered their new home, acting like they were still in the city. Like they were still worried about getting jumped or getting busted or whatever they’d gotten used to having hanging over their heads twenty-six hours of every day.

  David turned on the front entranceway light and shut the door.

  Juno let out a gasp as she took in the layout. She spread out her arms and twirled around, smiling as her hands didn’t bash into anything. “Oh my God. There’s so much space.” She really was happy. No more feeling like the walls were going to crush her. No more coming home and feeling like a rat in a cage. “This place is beautiful.”

  “Yeah, it’s nice,” David said, taking in the front living room, which connected to a spacious kitchen and dining room on the left. There was a small bedroom on the right, located next to a laundry room. A small bathroom farther down to the left and a master bedroom in back. All the shades and blinds were drawn tight, and it was hard to make out the exact colour of the carpeting, but the place looked spotless, and it came with all the amenities: Kitchen phone. Dual kitchen sinks. Oven. Dishwasher. Refrigerator. Freezer. Washer. Dryer. A small table with bench chairs in the living room. Everything neither of them thought they’d see in a place they’d call home. In truth, it was an average household, probably lower working class. Not much, but more than they’d ever hoped for. Someone else’s disappointment. Their dream.

  Juno wandered off into the back to the master bedroom, toting the heavy briefcase, and called David back to meet her. He came walking in, suitcase in hand, and looked around. There was a beautiful bed, big enough for three people. A bathroom with shower connected and ample closet space. Chests of drawers along the wall beside the door and a television set on top of them. “It’s like a gigantic hotel room.”

  “I love it,” she said, smiling. Still minding the volume of her voice. Realising, where they were now, it was probably more of an issue than it had ever been in the city, at least at three in the morning. She put the vinyl suitcase in the closet and then took out the bottom drawer of the middle dresser in front of the bed, sliding the heavy briefcase onto the floor and replacing the drawer above it. Then, after turning on the night light on the far side of the bed, she jumped backward onto the bedsheets and bounced up and down. On her back. Not even trying. Just letting gravity and the springs in the mattress do all the work.

  He watched her as she lay on the bed and looked at the off-white ceiling. Smiling as he watched her beam and allow a look of wonder to come over her teary eyes. Looking like she couldn’t believe any of it was real, but slowly knowing it was. “The only question I have is, where are we going to put all our stuff?”

  She looked back at him and laughed. The contents of their suitcase would fill three dresser drawers. Half of a closet if they put everything on hangers. Cleaning up would be a breeze, since they didn’t have anything with which to make a mess.

  Juno patted the bed and motioned for him to come over, turning her hips toward him. “How are we fixed for food?” David shrugged. “I’m fuckin’ starving. We need to go shopping tomorrow.”

  “Well, now that the cop’s gone...” David spoke the words seductively as he pulled her legs up and she let her thighs separate, keeping her knees bent. Showing him what Franklin had been missing. She didn’t have a clean pair of panties to bring with her and she’d opted to ride to their new home without any on. “...Maybe you could help me break this place in. The endorphins might help curb those hunger pangs.”

  “You’re sweet, Davey.” She purred, scratching at the sheets. “But I’m okay to make it until tomorrow.” She looked around the room. “This place is so beautiful. So nice.” She patted the space beside her and he rested his body next to hers, tracing his fingers up her thighs as she slowly pressed them back together again. “I shouldn’t.”

  “According to who? I’m pretty sure the neighbours won’t mind. There’s
no one on the other side of any of these walls. Not that that ever stopped you before.” He grinned as he teased her dress up slightly.

  “We’ll just sleep together, okay?” She rolled off her side of the bed and pulled back the seven layers of thin sheets. Then she blushed and giggled. “I mean, we’ll sleep in the same bed. Next to each other.” She paused. “What we did at the apartment. Before. That was just a thing. You know that, right?”

  David grudgingly stripped down and got into bed as Juno slid out of her dress to reveal, much to his delight and consequent chagrin, she hadn’t worn any undergarments at all for their trip out of town. The one day she’d dressed for casual sex anywhere, she wasn’t feeling the desire.

  “Good night, Junie,” David said. “Whatever happens, I—”

  “Night,” she replied, pecking him on the forehead. She reached over to turn off the night light, not waiting for a response and turned her back to him as she closed her eyes, hogged the sheets and fell fast asleep.

  “...This is not a fairy tale... And you could have gotten on that bus.”

  It’s rolling back and forth now, underneath twenty-six layers of thin sheets, linens and coverlets, on the bed in the big room of the disgusting monkey’s wooden box. Sweating like all the apes do, and muttering something other than Its usual primate reaction to my taunting. It’s not just whispering a request for me to shut up over and over again.

  Tonight It’s feeling the presence of my favourite monkey. And It’s smelling his smell. It will be used to it by morning, which is unfortunate. But it’s a good thing It’s drinking in his stench while Its monkey form sleeps. Its monkey form’s subconscious mind will cement that smell and feeling of presence way down deep in Its monkey brain. And It won’t be able to fight me quite so vigorously anymore. Not once It’s woken up and gotten through convincing Itself what It experienced had only been a dream.

  Tonight It’s talking to the darkness. Loudly enough to wake the disgusting monkey It’s attached Itself to for the last seven years, but I’ve made It silent to everyone but me.

  It’s begging my favourite monkey to leave. It’s fighting with every simple phrase Its frightened monkey form can fashion to convince my favourite monkey It isn’t worth the trouble. And It’s damning my favourite monkey as It jerks in Its bed, pushes the sheets to the side and rubs Itself frantically. Two fingers of Its right hand make their way slightly inside, and up, the damp ovular sluice between Its legs as It rubs around the engorged bulb above the opening, even more feverishly, with Its thumb. Its eyeballs roll back beneath their lids and It clutches at the mattress with Its left hand. Cursing my favourite monkey more and more viciously as Its hips push up and freeze.

  And then It relaxes for a moment. A look of peace on Its monkey face as It finds Its centre, feels calm pour over It in waves and speaks to the darkness: “You can take me anywhere.”

  And It asks the darkness as It continues to lightly massage Itself: “Please, will you not allow me an option? Please, will you tell me I must leave with you now?”

  And then a deep sadness overcomes It, followed by the most brilliant of smiles. And Its hips involuntarily jerk upward again as It pleads with the darkness: “I love you. You can’t make me hurt you any more. I won’t.”

  Then Its monkey face paints Itself with shame. It props Itself up on Its left elbow and looks pensively at the door to Its room. Listening for the disgusting monkey in the room across the hall. Hearing nothing and slowly laying Itself back down. Bringing Its right hand out from between Its legs and smelling the drying, almost odourless, thin coat of liquid covering Its fingers. Its eyes fixed on the ceiling. Trying to drown out the smell of my favourite monkey as It collects Itself and pulls the sheets back over Its monkey form. Telling Itself, over and over, as It drifts back to sleep: “It was only a dream.”

  “...This is not a fairy tale... And it’s time to wake up.”

  When Franklin got back into town, the sun was beginning to rise and his eyelids were feeling droopy. He pulled his personal vehicle into the police station’s back lot and put it in park. Resting his head on the steering wheel, hoping to squeeze in a nap. Thinking about David and Juno. Hoping to never see them again. Those two junkie rats, though they’d helped him get something solid on the drug trade in their little borough, disgusted him.

  David drove him nuts because he was a loud-mouthed, double-dealing little shit who’d screw anyone over to get what he wanted. And that hit a little too close to home. Reminding Franklin of what he really was inside.

  And Juno. The prostitute. She drove him nuts because he’d wanted to fuck her since the first time he’d busted her. But, by the time he’d dropped the act and decided there was no shame in paying to make his dreams come true, she wasn’t working anymore. And when she’d relapsed and started grinding again to keep herself sick on dope, her state of decay had turned his lusting fascination into disgusted disinterest. And now, though she was looking good again—off the junk and off the streets—and he was pretty sure she wouldn’t hesitate to use her primary skill set to get herself out of a jam, she was too good for the likes of him. But he still fantasised about getting her into a spot. A mess so bad the only way to ensure a life out from behind bars would be to service the officer in charge. Regularly. For free. Forever. To be at his beck and call. And to be somewhere—anywhere—else when he wasn’t feeling frisky.

  But those two were, essentially, gone now and, sooner than later, he’d forget all about both of them. David wasn’t the worst he’d ever seen and Juno wasn’t the best.

  As he began to drift off, he heard knocking on the windows, passenger side and back. Looking up, he pressed the button on the door handle to let his visitors in.

  Paul took his time getting in the back seat. Richard was in front and buckled up immediately.

  “How’s it going, Franky?” Richard asked. Franklin looked in the rearview mirror and, though he prayed he’d see a pair of soft, shapely female thighs clamped together like a vacuum seal, he only saw Paul’s ugly Italian face. Paul wasn’t talking. He just looked over at Richard, then back into Franklin’s eyes, and nodded.

  “You know,” Franklin said. “Another day, another dumb-fuck shakedown. Something I can do for you fellows?”

  “Get us out of here,” Richard said. “We need to talk.”

  “Better idea. Why don’t you do what you’ve got to do right now. See if you can get out from under that.”

  Richard looked back at Paul. “We can go away, Franky. But that will only make things worse later. You know that.”

  “So...?”

  “Drive.” Richard pointed forward. “I don’t care where. As long as it isn’t here.” Franklin fumbled with his keys and looked back in the rearview as Richard gave his right knee a good slap. “Do you want to know the answer to ‘or what’?”

  Franklin shook his head and pulled his car out of the lot. He drove down side streets into the part of the city where Paul and Richard did their business. Where he knew they’d feel comfortable. He pulled into a wide alley and over to the side, looking back at Paul and over at Richard as he put the car in park and cut the ignition.

  “Something you two assholes want?” he asked.

  He felt a gloved fist make contact with the side of his head and everything went black.

  When he came back around, they were still parked in the same place. Paul was in the back seat drinking coffee out of a Styrofoam cup and Richard was making a mess on the passenger side, stuffing a breakfast taco into his face.

  Franklin rubbed at his jaw and felt along the top of his head where there was what felt like a good-sized bruise. “Was that a yes? Or are you miserable pricks trying to make sure you stay inside when I fuck you in court for real this time?”

  Richard made a fist, but Paul shook his head when he looked back for approval. Franklin smiled, watching Richard’s face contort as he didn’t get his way. Like a big baby. A really big baby who could throw a really brutal tantrum. “All right, Franky.”
Richard patted Franklin on the chest. “One more place to check you for bugs.”

  “No bugs here,” Franklin said. “Your mother’s very hygienic.”

  Richard pulled a Latex glove from his pocket and snapped it over his gloved fist. “You can’t be too careful.” He unbuttoned Franklin’s trousers and jammed his hand down deep, making sure to give the family jewels a good squeeze.

  Franklin moved for his gun as Richard continued to give him the equivalent of a good long kick in the nuts, when he felt the tap of cold steel on the back of his head. Paul was holding a pistol. Franklin damn sure knew he’d pull the trigger if he had to. “He’s clean.” Richard pulled off the Latex glove, rolling down the window and dumping it on the street.

  “Good,” Paul said. “Now we can talk.”

  “We got nothing to talk about, Paulie,” Franklin said. “Not until we get to court. You know how this works.” He looked into the rearview, trying to get some sense of his place in the power dynamic. Feeling right at the bottom. “What we got this time. You’re not going to walk away from. You know that, right?”

  “What do you have, Franky?” Richard asked. “The wire was shit. Some sort of malfunction.” Richard and Paul both chuckled. “You should really put in for quality equipment. How many times do you have to have the same tech blow up in your face before the department parts with a buck?”

  “The technology’s not the problem. We all know that. But I’ve got tape, Ricky.” Franklin grinned. “I’ve got a real cassette. I’ve got you on hard copy. Every word you said. Every threat you made.” He looked into the rearview. “You too, Paulie. Everything that came out that stupid wop mouth of yours. Every syllable. You can march your high priced attorneys in three by three. Bring a fuckin’ army. They won’t be able to get past that. Not your voices. Not your blatant confessions. Even if I don’t make it, you’re still going out. That tape’s got seven minutes and twenty-four seconds of solid evidence that’s going to take you down. All the way. That’s right, I counted the seconds. I can’t wait to see your fuckin’ faces when you hear the good stuff all in a row.”