by Teri Campbell
I never considered people being born good or evil. I guess that lack of decisiveness landed me in the predicament that I am in. I have always believed that people have the capability to change, to turn their life around, and with that I have always trusted the people around me. I see now that having trust is something that can only lead to devastation and destruction. Trust is a luxury that I cannot afford any longer. Reflecting back on my life I can now see that some people are born evil, evil from the day they took their first breath of fresh air. Some people born so evil, that the devil himself cast them out of the sweltering depths of hell.
I stood as still as stone waiting for my next set of instructions, I knew that moving would only cause more harm than necessary, so it is best to remain still. My blood chilling at the thought of the next gruesome act that I would be forced to commit. I looked down at my blood stained gown, it was previously supposed to be the gown that I was going to marry the man I thought I loved in, but now it is nothing more than a blood stained canvas. The ball gown skirt looked like someone had shredded bits and pieces and splattered crimson and maroon paint across it. The bodice looked like someone had taken scissors to it. I haven’t a clue how much of the blood actually belongs to me and how much belongs to my poor innocent victims. I should have seen this coming, no man can be as perfect as he led on.
I waited for the cue. As the music touched my ears my heart began to race. I walked slowly through the chapel doors. The melodic music carried me slowly down the aisle, my heart pounding as I searched the altar for him. There he stood, looking at me like he had a thousand times before, a loving protecting gaze that melted my heart. As I neared the altar anxiety ran through my body, fear that coursed through my soul; I pushed it aside, nothing can ruin this day. I stood there waiting for my mother to give me away, taking in his handsome face, dark with a straight nose, high cheek bones, baby blue eyes that sparkled in the light, plump lips that made him look like he was pouting, and the stubble that indicated that he forgot to shave this morning. The air seemed colder next to him, like ice running along the bare spaces on my skin. I heard the scream, I looked up to find him holding a gun to my mothers head, fear and shock ran through me.
“Kill me.” He whispered only to me.
“No, I cannot.” I said as tears threatened to spill over my eyes.
“If you cannot kill me then you will surely kill everyone here.” He yelled as the doors on the chapel closed tightly, his wicked laugh filling the tight space. I looked toward him as my mother gave me a silent cry, begging me to save her. He jerked her hard and ran towards the stain glass window, jumping through causing glass to fly and cover myself and the others. I ran towards the window to follow them, only to have my path blocked from the outside as I got to it by a large transfer truck.
Tears poured down my face as I looked at the panicking crowd, I walked slowly over to the podium that stood only a few feet away from me, on top was a knife with an earpiece and note attached to it, the noe read:
Suit yourself, but remember I have your mother, and you will never see her again unless you do as I ask.
yours truly,
Your love.
Fear ran through me as I slowly picked up the knife, inching my way slowly towards the front row. Readying myself for what I was about to do, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, walking to the nearest guest, I steadied my galloping heart, raised my shaking arm and struck.
“Now precious, the bodies are stacking up and you still have yet to fill my request, which is a shame because I know how desperately you want your mother to live. If you fail this time I will not take pity on her and you know that, so I suggest that you do what I asked doll.” The malicious voice rang loud through my ear.
“Screw you.” I said through gritted teeth.
I forced my legs to move, to run as fast as they could towards my target. I knew who he wanted dead but I could not bring myself to do it, each time I failed to see if he would let my mother go and take me instead. My heart pounded as my legs carried me swiftly through the growing crowd. My feet pounding and the gravel crunching as I made my way towards my mark.
“This is your last shot.” He said in a voice so cold, cruel, and wicked that would force the devil into hiding. I ran through the crowd knocking into people rushing to get to the large platform in front. The faster I ran the slower time seemed. The more my legs pushed me the farther back I felt. Tears flooded my vision as I came to the middle of the crowd, my lungs bursting and my legs screaming at me to stop, but I could not. The pain only pushed me harder towards my goal.
“Tick Tock love, times almost up.” A harsh laugh crackled through my ear, motivating me to go faster.
As I arrived at the front of the platform time stood still, I crouched down trying to find the best approach to go about this. My breathing labored and my heart heavy with dread, I stood slowly and took aim, lifting my shaking hand that held the cold silver knife. I brought my arm back as far as it would go, closed my eyes shut and flung the knife as hard as I could. Silence remained and I feared that I had missed my mark. I heard the blood curdling scream and my eyes flew open. With my muscles tensing and chills running down my body I looked up to see my mother standing on the platform with my knife stuck deep within her belly. The blood staining her pastel pink shirt. Tears flooded me as I heard the harsh laugh ring throughout the crowd, sending chills down my spine, crushing all of the hope and love that I had left, filling the voids with a deep dark hatred and the need to kill. He had tricked me, brought my mother here for me to execute her in a cold vicious way, when it was supposed to be him to die, he was the one who had begged to die, not my innocent mother who had done nothing wrong. Anger rushed through my body as I bent down to pick up one of the large stones from the cold hard ground, my intent on killing him grew larger as I rolled the stone around in my hand, feeling every bump and crevice on the rough rock, I took aim and readied myself, as I did so I felt the hard blunt end of an object crush my skull, the world blurring and spinning. I looked up to see him glaring down at me with a hatred so hot that it would melt the polar ice caps. His cold vicious laugh pierced my ears.
“You thought you could actually kill me? That is quite comical dear, you know I truly did love you, but you see you have something that I wanted. You had a family, I never had a family, it was coldly ripped away from me by my own hand, against my will of course, so love you can see why I must make you feel the same. But I can see now that that is not enough for me, so in light of this all you will be with your mother in a few moments.” He talked and I listened, I closed my eyes and took in everything he revealed to me. I laid silently as I heard the loud pop of the gun. Pressure swelled through my heart and lungs and breathing became nearly impossible, I smiled as death welcomed me warmly.
My mother stood at the entrance of a long white tunnel, waiting for me with a warm smile and hug. I joined her gladly as the world behind us faded into distant memories.