Dastardly Bastard(37)

Yes… yes… yes! Give him what he deserves.

“I hope you, your wife, and your unborn bastard rot in hell!”

That’s it!

Flashing light, a pain behind his eyes.

Jaleel watched from the edge of the tree line as Clyde’s Jeep Cherokee pulled up to the trailhead. Clyde was on time, as usual. Jaleel looked down at his wristwatch—eight thirty.

Only an hour and a half before the first tour group of the day gets here.

Shut up, Jaleel told himself.

Did you just tell yourself to be quiet?

Yes. Now clam up.

It’s not like he can hear us, Jaleel.

No. But I can hear you just fine, and you’re gonna screw this up.

Freud would say you’re having id issues. I suggest a rather rigorous therapy session after this.

“Would you please shut up?” Jaleel growled.

Now that he might have heard.

“Somebody there?” Clyde called as he peered into the woods.

See? Told you so.

“It’s just me.” Jaleel waved as he stepped out to greet the man.

“What are you doing here?” Clyde suddenly looked very afraid.

Jaleel smiled. “Just wanted to swing by and say hello.”

“Why are you in your uniform? You don’t work here anymore, man.”

“Oh, this? Just thought I’d take care of a final bit of business.”

Clyde jerked his chin at Jaleel as he took a step back. “Yeah? And what’s that?”

“You.” Jaleel pulled the gun from the back of his belt.

Yes. Now you’re getting somewhere.

Brilliant pinks and blues as the world spun.

Jaleel was back at the trailhead with the mannequin remains of his tour group. Their eyes had shifted. They glared at him accusingly. Each one smiled, a startling contradiction to the anger in their frozen eyes.

“No. I didn’t,” Jaleel cried.

Yes, you did.

“You did this!” Jaleel said as Id formed between him and the group.

“But I am you. So, in turn, you did this. I only offered, let’s say… encouragement.”

“I didn’t want this.”

“Sure you did.” Id floated nearer and pointed to the gun in Jaleel’s hand. “You wouldn’t have brought that, if you hadn’t.”

Jaleel dropped the gun, startled.

Id laughed. “Now, all these people suffer because of you.”

“I trusted you. I did what you told me to. What more do you want from me?”

“You came up with the plan, Jaleel. Why is this so hard to understand? Everything I say, I think, I do is all you.” Id beamed.

“No.” Jaleel shook his head, wiping snot from his nose. “I am not… this. I am not this man. I didn’t kill Clyde, and I didn’t lead these people to their deaths!”

“Every one of them has you to blame. Clyde’s death? You. The boy and his mother? You. The couple? You. The fat man—”

“Wait.” Jaleel glared at Id. Something was coming to mind, a revelation. It was as if he were wiping steam from a mirror, unveiling the image just on the other side.

“What now?” Id grumbled, sounding impatient.

“Mark.” Jaleel fought to remember. He broke eye contact with Id, and memories—deep ones hidden in the bottom of his mind—rocketed to the surface. “I didn’t see him die.”

“What does that have to do with—”

“You told me he fell. You told me he fell saving the boy. But… but I didn’t see it. I was… fuck, where’d it go? I was… out. I was unconscious!”

“I still fail to see what—”

“If you’re really me, and I’m you, and we’re all one inside the same mind and body, then how the fuck did you know what happened to the camera man?”

Jaleel looked back at Id and saw it beginning to change. Id’s wispy, pink and blue ethereal visage deepened like fallen night. It collapsed in on itself, forming a black hole.

“See?” Id’s voice changed, its soft tones becoming grave. “Even I can screw up from time to time.”

Everything around Jaleel—trees, bushes, the plastic tour group—disappeared into the all-encompassing blackness at Id’s core. He felt himself being sucked into the void.

Jaleel twisted in the darkness, screaming, “Whatever you are, show yourself!”

“I am the liar. Cold and fire. I am the end to which you bend. Omega. The void. All light destroyed. I am darkness. The fallen blessed.”

Everything ceased to spin. Jaleel hovered, surrounded by mist and fog, suspended by an invisible will. From the gloom, the shadow stepped forth. Jaleel looked upon his enemy in awe.

“I am everything. And now… you are nothing.”

Sharp fingers found Jaleel’s eyes. He screamed in agony as they were popped from his head.

“Windows to the soul, they say,” the shadow cooed. “So delicious.”





29


JUSTINE MCCARTHY WAS STARING THROUGH glass. The candy bars in front of her numbered in the hundreds. Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, and Reese’s all looked back, making her stomach growl. She didn’t know the last time she’d eaten. An empty feeling consumed her. The hollowness in the pit of her belly felt like more than just hunger. She’d lost something, but couldn’t remember what.