The Eyes of a Murderer (Watty Awards 2013)

Chapter 12: All God Things

 "I'm Egyptian." She stated. I wasn't expecting that, it thrilled me.

 "You're kidding. Have you been there?" I asked interested. She smiled and shook her head.  

 The day passed by and peacefully we walked around the woods and bathed in the river. I spent the day only 2 feet away from her. We watched the sunset that had become tradition in the course of three days and conjured up a new tradition the moment it fell beneath the mountains and night welcomed us.

We got up and walked back to the cottage and once again I slept in her room. The approach was more subtle this time. "Kiss me." She had ordered. I willingly did as she asked and her own hands moved mine where she wanted them. 

I could tell she wanted me closer when my clothes began to fly off of me, she soon got tired of the kisses I was placing all over her body and almost screamed in sweet torture. Five days later I knew all Mystics likes and dislikes and wants and turn ons. I knew what sent her off the edge and what controlled her. My moans could drive her crazy, one minute she was perfectly in control and the next it shattered and sent all the power flying into my hands.

 I experienced the most fun I have had with a girl, in a very long time. The intimacy and her body craving my affection only made things more unforgettable. 

 "How bad do you want it?" I smirked down at her underneath me.

 "So bad. Please." She stated desperately. It was amusing. 

"Be patient." I insisted. 

"Stop teasing!"

 All good things must come to an end though. About two weeks had gone by when one night I was sitting on the bed, taking off my shoes and preparing to go to sleep. Mystic was in the living room, letting the rag move down her body as the water dripped back in to the bucket.

 I got a call from Kelse's phone.

 I picked up on the second ring eager to hear her voice. I needed to keep up the excuse of being at my Dad’s but I desperately wanted to know how she was. It has been so long since she called. Why would she wait that long? 

 "Hey, how are you?" I said truly concerned.  

A raspy male voice answered back.

 "David. It's good to hear your voice. See, I thought we was homies. I had your back, you know? But now I have your girlfriend." Vulture laughed like the devil himself and his words were hard to decode through the sound of my own heart beating violently against my chest. "You don't mess with me, white boy. You should have minded your business, but you didn't. Not good." Vulture breathed into the phone angry.

My fists trembled as I struggled for words to say. They had Kelse. How did they find her? How was this even possible? 

"Is-is Kelse ok? Don't touch her." I said as firmly as I could, but my voice broke out of fear. Vulture did a slight laugh. I could imagine his dark skin separating from his white teeth into the smirk he was probably proudly wearing. 

"Well...I don't know. Hear for yourself." He answered.

I heard a rattling and then Kelse's broken sobs. "David, do something please. Help me. They're going to kill me." She pleaded. I heard a smack and she wailed. Her terrifying scream ripping away a piece of me. Adrenaline jolted through my body.

 "Get your fucking hands off her!" I yelled into the phone. "She hasn't done anything!"

 "Now, now. You don't want to disrespect me. I can't harm you at the moment, but there is someone I can harm, isn't there David?" My fists are clenched and my breathing comes fast. I feel like I just ran a Marathon. "What do you want?" I mutter through clenched teeth.

"I think you know what I want. But I will humor you. Bring me the girl Friday night or else I'm coming to look for you both. You won't like the second option. People will die if my comfort is disrupted."  Vulture answered. "Now I know you two aren't anywhere near here. Either that, or you are really good at hide and seek. I am not very lenient with my own time and you can imagine my patience. Can't you David?"

  I stayed silent, my thinking too disrupted to mutter words. I don't notice Mystic standing motionlessly at the door until my eyes dash around the room, checking to see if he knows where we are.

 "She has killed half my men. I spent months tracking her down and here you are, cuddled up with my most prized possession. My most loved prostitute. She is gone in the head now, if you haven't noticed. But she can still be of use. As usual anyone who gets in my way of reaching her will be killed and hidden. You have three days from this second. Do not come earlier. You can come later but I am not too sure your little friend will still be alive. I don't care if you are out of the state, or out of the country. You have three days."

A layer of cold sweat breaks through my skin and my mind strives for a plan. "What if I don't have her?" I say in as calm a tone as I can manage. 

I hear the click of the hammer of a gun. "Excuse me?"

 "David! No!" Kelse screams. "Don't lie to him." She begs before her words are drowned out and muffled. 

 "Don't play games with me, white boy. I'm not stupid."

Mystic quickly walks to me and stretches out her hand. "Give me the phone." 

 I can’t let go. My joints are frozen in shock. "David you have 10 seconds to give me the phone." I listen carefully to the sounds in the background. Her muffled crying. This is all my fault. It's my fault she could possibly die. My fault that Mystic and I would die, everyone will be dead at the end of it. 

"Oh." He continued. "Tell your girl friend to stop spitting blood on my carpet." 

 Mystic grabs the phone from my hands and hangs it up, before my ten seconds are over. I look at her speechless, my shaking hands still placed at my ear. I run my fingers through my hair, pulling out more than two strands. 

"It takes a minute and thirty seconds to trace a call from where he is, to where we are. Five more seconds and we would have been dead." 

 I stare past her, realization setting in. Questions run through my head. Unable to focus on one at a time, I feel myself slipping in to insanity. How long have they had her? This entire time, I have been with Mystic, she has been with Vulture. Being tortured and beaten. 

"David, I know you're scared right now and I am so sorry I put you through this." I tear my eyes away from space and look at her hardened face. I do not know the girl I was in love with, only minutes ago. "I'll fix it. Give me some time to think out a plan." 

 "I'll fix it, David."

Without noticing, I was on my side laying down in the bed, too distressed to focus on Mystic who was now in the living room, running her fingers through her hair. Before long I fell asleep, but the night was restless. Things had made a turn for the absolute worse and there was nothing I could do about it. 

We were all going to die.