Page 60 of Last Breath

Rattling his cuffs, he turns over on his side, coming face-to-face with the naked flesh of Joy’s hip. Salem raises his head and smiles, licking his lips and delving back within her folds.

“Holy fuck! Let me go!” Thrashing around on the floor, trying to ease away from the scene, his motions don’t affect Joy or Sal. Me? The feeling is gone. Grasping my jeans and slipping them back on, I wrestle with the idea of knocking the policeman out again as he protests further.

Right where the officer lies, the floor has a slight pooling around Joy. Still flowing out of Salem’s arm, it coagulates against his skin.

With the blood soaking the floor where he lies, the cop yells, “What the hell are you doing?”

He seems disgusted by them. I can’t blame him, but it’s a part of who we are. We’re off. We’re not normal.

“It’s one thing to harm a cop, but to kidnap and subject me to torture? Really? You’ll make me watch you having sex—”

That’s it. I stuff a discarded bloodied sock into his mouth. “You’re a loud one, aren’t ya?”

Even with his squealing noises of protest, I ignore him. Walking across his body, I’m totally frustrated now, annoyed that we’ve had to resort to such nonsense, and I’m parched.

Reaching for a bottle of cool water, I pop the cap at his head, and pushing a foot into the policeman’s chest, guzzling back over half the cool liquid. With the cop wriggling and mumbling harshly, the object halting his words, the cop gazes up at me. Feeling devious, I pour water onto the stuffed sock in his mouth and listen as he gargles on the water and blood mixture. Smiling at the impromptu waterboarding, I pour more onto the cloth. My devilish side doesn’t want to let up.

I don’t let loose often. For the past few months, the linchpin in my fun has been keeping Salem and Joy in line. I’ve been the watchful adult in the group.

Mulling it over, warring with the choices, I’m torn. Ican’tgive in to my baser needs.

I can’t.

Unless...hmm.

Spilling more water and listening to the cop gargle, I let it fall, dribble by simple dribble.

His rancid cries are fantastic.

I wasn’t always this way.

Weweren’t always this way.

As a kid, my house backed onto farmer’s fields and a stream. Fishing and swimming there on hot summer days was something I loved. On one of the hottest days, hanging at the stream with my friend Kiren, that was when I met Salem. Floating around, cooling down, his ratty clothes were left sitting on the bank. Even though he seemed about our age, I’d never seen him before. Being a small town, with only one public school and one high school in the area, everyone knew everyone.

Surprising him, he scrambled out. That’s when we’d seen his scars. There were fresh long cuts running from his neck to belly button. I’d never seen anything like it. I had a family that loved me and cared for my safety. I could never imagine a family that could harm their kids.

Being a nosy nine-year-old, I asked. He was nervous, unsure of what to say, and afraid of what we’d do knowing the truth of it. Running to his clothes and trying to leave before we could really get to know him, Kiren and I told him to come back anytime.

For over a week, I popped out to the stream, hoping he’d come by. Finally, one day Salem showed up. It took time to gain his trust, and for the next few years, Salem and I met up where he felt safe. Whether at the stream, playing in the farmer’s field, or sitting around and talking for hours, it was always him meeting me.

I’d thought he was embarrassed about where he lived, but eventually, he trusted me enough to tell me about Tress.

As a small child, no one has hatred in their heart. IhatedTress.

Over the next few years, I’d wince anytime he had new scars. I hoped he’d tell an adult about it and try to get help, but he said they didn’t care. Trusting me was hard enough, trusting adults even harder. It took me a while before he’d come to my house and trust that my parents wouldn’t harm him.

When Salem and I ran, it was three days before my thirteenth birthday. I was excited. No, I was elated. I’d only asked for one thing and I knew that my parents had done it. They’d bought me a complete set of Pokemon cards. I’d left clues everywhere, I never shut up about it, and finally I’d found the box sitting in the linen closet. I was chomping at the bit to unseal the box and thumb through the sweet-smelling card stock.

I’d asked them if I could have my friend stay overnight. Worried and concerned, my parents knew of Tress and Salem’s situation. They knew the person he was, the stories that were totally true, and they were fearful of inviting that into their world. Assuming that Salem was the same as his father, they wouldn’t let me. But I wanted him so I didn’t relent. Eventually, they allowed it. I was so excited to tell him. Given permission to invite Salem, I’d rode my bike out to see him. He’d told me where his house was and which window was his.

Showing up uninvited, I had high hopes he could stay over. The home was no more than a wooden shack and backed away from view of the major roadway. The dense bush surrounding it gave me a great place to hide my bike. Stuffing it in the brush and approaching the house, I was afraid to go toward the door. Salem had mentioned that his father was not a very inviting person. Instead, looking through the windows one by one, I searched until I could see him. What I saw, though, had changed me for life. A father should never be that man, should never harm their son as he was, and I knew I couldn’t let it happen again.

Waiting under the window, hearing Salem’s cries and his request for it to stop, my resolve was set. I knew he had to leave and never return.

Instead of staying and waiting to ask him to sleep over, I left quietly. Running back to my bike, my house and my room, I packaged up what I thought we’d need. I knew staying with my family wouldn’t fix it, and that no one but me could help him. So after dark, after I’d said goodnight to my family before bed, I gave them the last hugs I knew I ever would. It was punishing, it was cruel, but it had to happen.

Sneaking back to his place in the waning light, I snuck under his window once more. Hearing Tress yelling and cursing, I knew this was it, he had to leave. Grabbing up his courage, jumping through the window and following me into the dark, the two of us ran. It brought us to here.

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