Page 59 of Seth
Ghostly clumps of irritation seized Seth’s heart. The air around him compressed, and his head buzzed with increased blood circulation. He glided through the summer dust swirling in the air. He stared at Gustavo’s throat and the black tie swathed around it. In his mind’s eye, he saw himself grabbing the black silk, looping it around his fist, using it as a leash to control the distance. Seth hadn’t been trained to be a fighter, but he was taught how to fight. Right now, he wondered how good his skills were and if it was hard to kill a man with bare hands.
Gustavo swallowed. Under the white shirt, his chest rose and fell in hastened breath. He retreated a step. “No matter how much I’d love to get into an intimate brawl with you, I’m here on Justin’s behalf. You see, he became gloomy and miserable; some might say he withered before my eyes. I had no other choice as to bring him here.”
Seth halted; his heart dropped in the pit of his stomach.He is lying. It’s another trick.
“With your permission.” Gustavo plastered a smile on his lips, but it never reached his eyes. Without any fear, he went to the black Jeep parked on the driveway; tinted windows reflected his broad shoulders and rough chin. Down the road, Seth spotted two more Jeeps with the same dark windows. Gustavo opened the rear door and delicately, as if carrying a precious porcelain vase, lifted a large, white wrap. When Gustavo turned around, Seth couldn’t help staring at the contours of the body coated in a silk sheet.
A tiny muscle at the back of Seth’s knee twitched when Gustavo cut the distance between them and stretched out his arms to pass over his burden. “See, I always deliver my promises. I’m giving him back. Come on, take him.” When Seth wavered, he added, “What, you don’t want him anymore? You have a new toy and already lost your interest in him? In that case, I think I’ll keep him. I have to admit; I’ve grown attached to his silent presence.”
Like a puppet on a string, without any choice, Seth snatched the rigid form away from the filthy grip of the man.
From the mere touch of the dead flesh, blood slammed in the center of his chest; Seth’s feelings returned. He remembered every little lie Justin told him, every trick the boy pulled, but also, every smile, kiss, and whisper in the night. Seth’s throat closed up. Turning his back on Gustavo, he walked into his villa.
“Not even a thank you? You really have no manners.” The door closed behind Seth’s back, shutting off Gustavo’s voice and the too-bright sun.
Seth’s knees shook. He managed a few more steps before the energy left his body, and he sank to the floor. His fingers peeled the silk from the dead face. The air knotted in his lungs as he stared at the pallid face forever frozen in a mask of dispassion.
He sat still for what felt like hours, looking at the face he once loved. He lifted his hand to brush an eyelash from under Justin’s eye when the fabric slipped off his shoulders and revealed his bare torso.
How dare he…A sour taste filled Seth’s mouth. Having a mind of its own, his hand reached to the stump where Justin’s arm once was, glided over the edge of the cut, then jumped toward the black stitches in the middle of his chest. Wherever he looked, the body carried signs of violation, of autopsy.
“It’s okay, my love. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again. There will be no more pain,” he breathed the words out. His hand covered Justin’s as he wanted to lift it to his lips, but the dead body didn’t budge, frozen solid. Rage shot through Seth’s heart. This should have never happened. No one was supposed to touch Justin, to maim his perfect body. He rubbed the rigid fingers to seek comfort in the touch or try to comfort Justin; he wasn’t sure. “You shouldn’t worry. No matter what the dreams say, I’ll finish SkyBlade. Bear a little longer.”
The back of his fingers glided alongside the dead arm, caressed the tattoo inked on the inner side of Justin’s writs. He’d always hated this tattoo as it stated the ownership of someone else.
“It doesn’t matter now. Everything is over.” Seth lifted his unseeing eyes to the wall before him. “It’s not your fault that your heart rotted with betrayal. It’s just another genetic mutation, just like mine. That’s why we met, so I could fix it and make you whole. So I could give you a better heart, a stronger heart, so you can find happiness in your next life.”
Seth kept rubbing the dead flesh with his hand, but his vision swam, defocused. He stopped talking.
* * *
“What did he say?Volume up.”Gustavo’s palm banged against the dashboard. He looked at his throbbing fingers, remembering the light brush of Seth’s hand against his own as he accepted the body.
“It’s at maximum,” Diego turned the laptop to him to show the volume bar. On the screen, Seth knelt in the middle of the cave-like hall, clutching the dead body in his arms.
“Shit. It’s useless if I can’t hear him.” Taking the laptop away from Diego, Gustavo watched Seth caress the dead hand. His lips kept moving, but he couldn’t hear a word. “Keep watching that tunnel. One way or another, he needs to get rid of the body. If Ignaz comes again, there’s no way he can do it at home.”
* * *
Seth saton the floorlate into night, holding Justin. As dark clouds swallowed the sickle of the moon, he dressed, picked up the body and brought it to the underground garage. The feeling of loss aggravating, he put the silk wrap on the rear seat of the car and reluctantly released his grip. His fingers and his chest felt oddly stiff as if infected with Justin’s rigidity.
Justin must be mad at me...He remembered SkyBlade and the dark sand falling from the tip.I’m going to fix this, I promise. Soon, there will be no pain.
With numb fingers, he opened the driver’s door when his eye caught something white standing out against the gray concrete. He squatted to pluck a paper from under the rear tire and flipped it around. His heart stuttered. The boy in the monochrome photo looked older than his age. Intelligent and sharp, he emitted confidence and an invisible air of mockery, as if nothing in the world could hurt him, and there was nothing he couldn’t overcome. His dark, penetrative eyes stared at Seth as if they could read his every little secret, just like years ago.
Long ago, in another life, this immense confidence and vitality had attracted Seth; now, he only felt disdain. Still, for some reason, he couldn’t toss the photograph into the trash. Instead, he hopped in the car and slipped it under the sun visor.
He snuck out of his villa through the underground passage. His home furnace was small, and the mere thought of chopping Justin to pieces sickened him.
With his knuckles white around the steering wheel, Seth drove through the night to the Leising district. The cityscape blurred before his eyes, folding into a colorful kaleidoscope of lights as the wipers kept chasing the torrents of water off the windshield, distorting his view.
The weather had turned nasty, reflecting his mood. Lightning strikes pierced the sky every few seconds. The air trembled with invisible electricity, the same electricity that sparked in his veins. Behind him, lightning and streetlights dappled the pristine silk.
Thoughts swarmed in his head. He wasn’t sure of Gustavo’s agenda, but during their short but informative acquaintance, Seth had learned that the man never did anything without a reason.
Why did he give Justin back? Why now? I feel like I missed something. What? Did I make a mistake by letting him live? By finding no threat in him I carelessly ignored his stupid curiosity. Now I reap what I’ve sown.
His car skidded over the wet road as he entered the turn without dropping speed. The apartment houses gave way to industrial buildings as the highway became desolated.
