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The Edge |
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Display a printable version Love's Enduring Embrace With the call this morning Trent believed this would be the last suit he ever wore, which was fitting because he said, "I do," to Martha while wearing it, and his last goodbye to her as well. Maybe he would be reunited with her in it. Henry excited as ever, but still very hushed explained that the thing happened this morning Trent anticipated. The couple brought a metal case filled with eight bullets and they sparkled in the sunlight. After the couple left Henry verified that the bullets were in fact silver. Henry, a taxi cab driver with a need for the dramatic, came from New York where he tried to become an actor. Trent met him on a ride from the airport when Gerard had become ill. The two formed a bond and Trent kept finding little odd jobs for him to do. Henry surprised Trent as he always did with this certain job as well. Facts Trent would never have dreamed of spewed from his mouth. Nancy, the female, favored an automatic handgun; the man, Jack swayed more to a revolver. Nancy flinches with each shot meaning she dislikes firearms, but the man looks well trained, policeman, or military. Nancy's scared, Jack's simply angry. Keeping with Henry's need for some escapism, when he told Trent of the silver, Trent replied that Henry's job was complete and Gerard, Trent's personal assistant would settle up with what Henry was owed. Shutting off the phone with a flip Trent thought first of the suit which paved the way for him to think again of Martha. Fifteen years lost and still her presence could be felt here in Acreedor Manor. Gerard entered the main bedroom and bowed humbly at Trent. "Sir, the workers said it may be best for us to vacate while they apply their trade." Trent nodded. "Yes, Gerard we have a meeting with a most notorious character we must keep. I've never heard of anyone breaking a meet with him and I suspect there's good reason." The two walked past workers in the front lobby who were busy with saws, tape measures, and handfuls of fierce determination. Their pay depended upon their completion of the task before nightfall. Settling in the Rolls Royce Trent watched the countryside pass and the city replaced the lush green. Looking at the back of Gerard's head he finally asked, "It wasn't the money. Why did you ever rent a night at the cabin to the couple?" "Your appearance as of late had been apprehensive. I thought maybe because you were missing a certain...'meal' in your other life." "Half of my estate will be left to you, the other half to Morris Animal Foundation. The money you gave Henry today will be more than enough for him even if he never holds another job again." Gerard stopped the car outside a warehouse just outside the large city. "Sir there must be another way. With your means surely..." Trent held a hand up to Gerard who studied him in the rearview mirror. "This must be the way. I've never been a man to believe in Karma, or destiny, but this feels right. Tonight I'll breathe my last breath and leave you dear friend. My last requests have been made known to you, and I ask that no matter how hard they may be, you follow them to the letter." Neither spoke again till they were inside sitting across from Lonnie "Nails" Stark. The large man made the chair he sat in groan with each movement, and he seemed out of breath from the excursion of being. "Mr. Trent I've never had the pleasure. It appears we travel in different circles." Trent laughed. "And may we after this continue to do so. My request may sound strange, but I offer my assurance that I will offer more than is reasonable for my needs." *** Lonnie much quicker mind-wise than physically caught the bit of patronizing on Trent's part and frowned. "There's no need for belittling, Mr. Trent. First let me here this request and let us proceed with business then." "My apologizes. I need five men for tonight to guard my estate." Lonnie laughed heartily, shaking his third chin tremendously. "Such a strange request, monsieur." Trent caught the retort and suddenly really like Lonnie. "I understand you have mercs guarding certain deposits of third world pharmaceuticals," after this Trent winked, "but for this task, I need five errand boys." Lonnie's brow furrowed and he lend closer. "I'm sorry. For protection?" "Yes. They will be supplied with weapons and if they live, jolly good, but most likely they will not. Now I will not tolerate any more questions, state the fee and it will be paid." "Lambs to the slaughter, then?" Lonnie waited for a response, but Trent refused. Finally, Lonnie stated the price and hands were shook, such is the way deals like this are sealed. Evening crouched upon the horizon as Trent and Gerard made their way home. Trent's mind played upon his life and grievances. Gerard is a hushed voice, nearly a whisper said, "I'm so very sorry, Sir." "Nonsense," Trent replied. "This is not your fault anymore than what I do three days of a month is mine. This intended to happen since the beginning of it all. I've had a long life?too long. My dear Martha, God, I miss her so. What of blame anyway? What you do with the cards, Gerard, that is how you win." *** At Acreedor Gerard took his place and Trent his. Trent now donned the suit in which he kissed to Martha sealed the deal. The Egyptians built secret rooms in their pyramids to protect treasure, later castle keeps came along to protect the king, now Trent sat inside what is called a panic room. The mansion built in the 1820 held many secret alcoves and nooks. The architect, Woodrow Blank, called crazy by some, believe in useless places for hiding many objects. Some years later he died from inhaling water from a barrel he had been placed in upside down while working as a consultant at a similar mansion. He also liked many pockets in his clothes and liked them better when filled, regardless whether the objects therein were his or not. Monitors with various vantage points throughout Trent's mansion sat before him on his mahogany desk. The errand boys walked back and forth across the grounds. Trent thought of a night in this very mansion one hundred and sixty years ago. The states back then looked alive with promise. A man could become rich in a fortnight and poor just as quick. When he rolled dirt covered into the small town called Riverbend he had a nickel to his name and no pocket for it. He slept in the fields at night and tended bar at Ridgeland the local saloon. Under a full moon, far from sleep because of the light, he spied an animal running across the field. His six shooter missed far more often than it hit, but tonight, he only heard his stomach roaring louder than his doubts. Would he take that shot back if he could? If he hadn't taken the shot he never would have known Martha as a wife, or Gerard as a friend. The animal hit, but not wounded turned like a weathervane in a thunderstorm to where the gunshot originated. Trent tried to run. Four long scars remain from swipe Trent took as he retreated. The large wolf continued its run leaving Trent dying, but not dead. *** A native named, Loves the Wind, found Trent and knew instantly what took place. He helped heal Trent and told him what must be done. The same thing the couple would try tonight in vain. Of course, knowledge is power and the knowledge Trent had is they would succeed in killing him. That was Trent's leverage. He also knew that it wouldn't work the way they hoped it would. Trent later found that animal sitting in this very room in the form of a man and shot him with silver. A month later, Trent became the beast that slashed his back, that hunted for prey, and killed to eat, or just killed. Loves the Wind helped build the cabin, and fenced in an area where free animals roamed that Trent could hunt three nights of the month when the moon was full. Trent, as far as he knew, only killed one human. The one who gave him the curse. Night fell and as it did gunshots erupted. In less than a minute two errand boys fell to Jack and Nancy. Trent watched the monitors noticing, much to Henry's delight if he were there, that the man favored two shots to the chest. Trent saw Jack point at the down body of one of the guards, say something, then shake his head. Two more went down just as easy, and just outside the panic room door, the final one fell. The couple stepped inside and pointed their guns at Trent. They looked almost the same as they did that night at the cabin when Trent asked what they were doing there, and to get out. The couple never had a chance to reply as Trent changed before them. Later, Trent would discover what Gerard did and the couples names from their check. Jack stepped forward with his gun. "You, monster. You invite people to that cabin and killed them, then. Is that how it all works?" *** "Any preconceived notions of me are more than likely wrong. I'm not the monster you take me for." The door to the panic room slid shut behind them. The lock slid in place and the couple, whose attention had been thrust towards the shutting door turned back to Trent. "That was my good friend Gerard closing the door so we could have our tete-a-tete. Two things I must make clear before we go forward. I am in control. I see from your faces that you believe you are because you hold the steel as it were, but you are not. Second, killing me won't lift the curse. I, myself thought this too, but as you saw two months ago, I still become...well a wolfman." "You're lying," Jack replied pulling the hammer back. Trent nodded. "Know that if you kill me, you lose. You're playing with someone way out of your league. Just leave now and never think my name again." Jack looked as if he was mulling this over, but Nancy stepped forward. "If I kill you it will set me free." Trent turned to Nancy. "How sure are you? Believe Hollywood? I made it so if you kill me, you can't escape this room. You picked the night before the full moon because you thought I would be making plans to stay in the cabin tomorrow night. This will be where you will be tomorrow night. So be dead certain before..." The shot rang out, followed closely by another. Nancy's gun drifted smoke. Trent felt a coldness coursing through his body, certain the whole time Jack had the silver in his revolver. If Nancy was anything like Martha, once she grabbed on to an idea... This last thought drew him again to Martha, and he pictured her there, walking down the aisle as the piano played. The lazy way she smiled at him. Knowing exactly what he did now, he knew instantly he would have braved the shot across the field again without another thought.
Read the other side of this story at www.wilywriters.com Story by Jonathan McKinney, Copyright 2010 |
| Last updated on 1/6/2011 9:42:51 PM by Jennifer Brozek |
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Trent Harrison ran his hands along the silk suit, down the arms and along the chest while it lay on the bed. With his finely manicured fingernails he removed a small piece of fuzz and flicked it to the carpet. He thought of this suit first after Henry, the man he paid to follow the couple, called and told him in a hushed voice that he had followed them down a dirt road where they set up bottles and littered the ground with glass.
Jonathan McKinney lives in Winchester, Kentucky with his wife Charla, and their three children. His work has appeared in the Close Encounters of the Urban Kind anthology, and Dead Worlds Vol. 6. He writes news, and reviews for Examiner.com under the title Lexington Suspense Fiction Examiner. He believes the world around us has great potential; it's up to you to realize that.