Page 86 of Bad Seed
“Goon?” What the hell does that mean? “I didn’t hire anyone.”
“I didn’t do anything. You know I didn’t do anything. You’re a rotten liar.”
“Derek…” The box weighs down my arms. I should drop it and run, but he’s got me pinned.
Leaping in my face, Derek shouts, “He fucking failed, you slimy cunt. My neighbor found me, cut me down. You’re going to pay for what you did.”
Knife.
The word squats on my brain dampening my flight or fight until all I can do is stare. Sunlight glints on a blade as long as his forearm. “Hel…” I wheeze, but all the sound dies as he lifts the sharp edge toward my face.
“You won’t get away with this—”
“Help!” I scream.
The blade flies.
I cling tighter to the box as if it can save me.
The door opens.
I fall.
Two wires shoot from the darkness around me. As they impale into Derek’s chest, he looks down a second, then starts to dance. A demented giggle rises in my throat at him choosing now of all times to cut loose.
Then Olivia steps out. She gives another jolt of her taser, sending Derek shaking so hard the knife falls from his hand. Wetness blooms over his pants and starts to trickle down his leg.
The electricity ends. Derek stares at the prongs still inside of his chest. Then he lunges for her.
Olivia swings her other arm around. A toxic cloud bursts from her hand, blasting into Derek’s eyes. I gasp from the smell but he’s full on vomiting when not screaming.
“That’s bear mace, you fucking loser,” Olivia taunts.
Shrieking and gouging at his eyes, Derek falls off the stairs. Once he hits the gravel patch, he rolls, scrambles back to his feet, and takes off running. Olivia spits in his direction and calls him a fucking loser once more.
“Hmm.” She spots Derek’s gigantic knife and picks it up. “Bowie. Nice.” Stuffing it in the back of her waistband, she looks to me. “You okay?”
My heart’s pounding a mile a minute. What the hell was Derek doing here? How did he find me? What did he mean about a goon and getting cut down?
“Yeah.” I nod, needing for all of this to have not happened.
“Should we call the cops?” Olivia asks.
I stare at the trail of urine that followed Derek as he fled. He always got off on torturing those who couldn’t fight back. But the second someone challenged him he turned into a sniveling coward. I don’t know what this goon did to him or why, but he deserved worse.
“No.” I shake my head, having been through the song and dance of a restraining order against him. Even with all the hospital visits, no one considered “knowingly feeding me eggplant” to be abuse. They thought he was just a forgetful boyfriend.
“Thank you.” I stutter, at last turning to my roommate. She gives a sneer-smile and a tip of her head before jerking to the box. “Get anything good?”
“I don’t know. Maybe…” I place it on the stairs and try to pry off the tape.
The knife stabs clean down, then cuts through the cardboard like it’s butter. I try to not think that that could have been my flesh. Olivia nods and swings the knife back as I pull open the flap.
“Peppers?” she groans.
It’s an entire box of green bell peppers.
“I was hoping it was wine again.” With that, she walks back to the kitchen to do whatever she does in there.
