Personal Hell Completed (For Mature Readers Only)

[SoulBlazerFan]

Yeah, I decided to post the first completed draft of my story, Personal Hell, in a new topic. I apologize if this breaks any rules, I should've been to sleep four hours ago, but I just had to finish the story. I fixed up a few things, but here it is;


WARNING: As I said in the other post, this is a very graphic story, both verbally and gorilly. So, as per fair warning, Read at own risk.

Personal Hell
By Robert Martin

“Welcome to Hell.” The dark voice said to me, as I felt the overwhelming heat on my body. I would probably sweat, if I still had living pores to release sweat. “Here’s your chance. See it happen all over again, see your faults, your folly’s. See the mistakes you made that led up to this point. See the reason you are here, and why.”
That about sums it up. If you morons didn’t get yet, I am, in fact, dead. And I have my own, personal Hell- just as everyone else does. But mine is extra special. I get to see the unfolding events of what led up to my eventual demise.
I seem to fall out of the darkness, and it’s light. I was back in my own bedroom once again. I got to look over myself, covered merely by a sheet and several articles of clothing underneath my head as a makeshift pillow. I always found pillows to be too soft for the back of my head, I usually placed a couple pairs of jeans underneath my head, because the rough surface of the jeans allowed me to sleep more comfortably at night. Go figure.
It’s about eight in the morning right now I suppose, and my room- wait no, I should probably refer it as my old bedroom- anyway, it’s cluttered after the fight I got into with my girlfriend last night. She’d found my stash again, and I guess I got a little upset at her…

“God damn it Joseph,” she screamed, holding the bad within her hand, dangling it in front of me. “You promised me you’d stop you stupid fuck!”
“Don’t call me that!” I had no choice but to backhand that bitch, no one ever says shit to me and gets away with it. No one.
“You stupid fuck! You could hurt the baby…”
“God damn it bitch, don’t you ever learn!” I gave her a good kick in the leg, not wanting to injure my child, even if it was with a useless lying cunt like her.
“I fucking hate you! You don’t love me, all you want is a fucking kid to beat around as well! You’re such a shit head!” She tried to push me, but I pushed back, and she went flying into a dresser, knocking over my CD collection, and I was pissed.
“You bitch! You knocked over my signed Manson CD!” I ran over and picked it up to check it had cracked- boy, if it was broken, she surely would’ve gotten it.
“I can’t believe it you shit. You love a CD more than your own ex-girlfriend.”
“What the fuck does “ex” mean?”
“You know exactly what it means, I’m leaving and not coming back. I’m getting rid of this kid, too. I’m not letting you make another person like you in this world.”
“I swear to God you bitch if you do anything to hurt my child, I will hunt you down and strangle you with my bear fucking hands!”
“Fuck off!” She stormed out of the room, and didn’t even bother to help me pick up the mess she herself made. God, what a useless bitch she was.

I guess I kind of went off track there, sorry I had to tell you that. It’s unfortunate how bitches can get- in the way, take your pay, and leave you out to dry, and always want to see you at the most inconvenient of times.
Anyway, getting back on track, it’s about eight in the morning, and the phone begins to ring. I’m about to pick it up, let’s see who it is…
“Yeah… Uh huh… wait… I thought I’d already paid- Interest? Are you fucking serious? Fuck that… oh, fuck me, huh… yeah, you’re cool, go eat shit and die.” I hung up the phone. Hm, I seem a little smug, don’t I? Ha, I love watching me bitch out some punk looking for money I owe… wait…
“Jimmy… he wants fourteen? To the hell with that,” I’m getting up and walking over to the cabinet… ah ha. I’m getting out my bag of pot. But before I could start lighting up and all that, I hear a knock at the door. I get and walk over- wait, no don’t open the door! Stop!
“Yeah what do you-” It’s too late. I just got a fist into my face, and now I’m sprawled out on my ass on the floor. Brilliant, idiot, brilliant….
“I want what you owe Mr. Salvador. He’s very unhappy that you haven’t called or even asked to arrange any payment plan.”
“But wait, he told me I had two months…”
“Yeah, you did have two months, but you and your blazed mind and let two months pass by already. So I’ve come to collect; either something of monetary value, or something of human-tary value.”
“What’s that mean, human-tary value? You sound like a moron when you say that.”
“Just for that, I should slip this knife into your heart, turn a few times, and piss on your dying corpse. But instead, I’ll make a deal. Have the money for Jimmy tonight by ten PM. That’s fourteen hours, a grand an hour.”
“How do you expect me to get fourteen thousand in half a day.”
“Figure it out, or Mr. Salvador will cut off each of your fingers for every grand you owe him.”
“I only have ten figures…”
“We expect at least four by tonight. If not, Mr. Sal expects your head is worth a good four grand. Have a nice day.” Ouch. I didn’t think it was necessary for him to kick me in the face, but you know Mafioso types. A lot of talk and a lot of fat, too. It was by this point I realized I should probably start trying to sell everything I had- no, not to pay off that shit head, but to get a plane ticket, and get the hell out of this shitberg. I wasted a good hour looking through all my old shit, before I’d come to the realization that I had nothing I owned that would be worth anything near a grand, let alone fourteen.
“Fuck!” I don’t even know why I screamed at this point, I guess it was all the repressed anger I had (The anger he hadn’t taken out on his girlfriend), but then I realized. I could always take something from the bitch and hawk it. Then I remembered that one day…

“What’s this,” I had asked her, holding up this necklace. It was laced with diamonds, which at the time I had no thought of ever stealing- at that time I had actually loved her… but now…
“My grandmother gave it to me. She told me, if you ever get in trouble, just sell it. She was always crazy anyway…”
“What do you mean,” I had to ask her.
“Don’t worry about it,” she replied, with a smile. One reason I always hated bitches like her, she always did that. God, sometimes, I wish I could just pull a nine and end it. Fuck murder one, man…

I went outside to my car, I guess it’s around nine-thirty right now. I jumped inside, but as usual, the piece of shit doesn’t want to start. Of all times not to work, this really wasn’t one of them. I considered putting it in neutral, and letting it roll down a hill, and claiming insurance, but then I realized, I’d be dead before the night, let alone have to wait three to four weeks to get the money. So I had no other choice; I had to walk to the whore’s home.
If I wasn’t aggravated enough, it’s a good three miles away, and if I was lucky I could make it there in an hour and a half walking, forty five minutes running. I wasn’t about to waste any more time, so I tried to run, and immediately gave after about two blocks. This is one of those times you feel like regretting ever picking up habits, like smokin’ and tokin’, but I’d never give up those times for anything, even for some shit like Jimmy Sal.
I finally came up to her house, well, not even her house- she lived in one of those two family houses, and she lived on the first floor, with one of those buzz buttons that merely said her name “Vanessa S” on it. The people who lived up stairs would really piss me off, though, because the people upstairs always would call the cops on us whenever we’d get into minor fights. Even that one time she accidentally cracked her head on the bathtub…

“…no, not tonight Joey… I’m not in the mood.”
“Bitch, listen. You’re my woman.” I guess I grabbed her arm a little too hard… “Now whenever I want it, you’d be better give it to me.”
“Joe, you’re still doing drugs, aren’t you?” She tried to pull away, but I gripped her arm harder. How could she have known? “Let me go!”
“Stop screaming, or the Meyers upstairs might call the fucking police.”
“I might be better off if they did, Joe. All you do is hurt me.”
“That ain’t true. You know it isn’t. Without me, you’d have nothing. You’d be nothing.”
“Are you kidding? I don’t know why I love you. I have to pay nearly all your rent. Hell, why do you think we haven’t moved in together yet? I’d hate to live with you, having to pick up after you all the fucking time. You’re a fucking slob.”
“…You’d better take that back, Vanessa. You’d better take that back before I make you take it back.”
“What you gonna do Joe, hit me again? Huh? HUH?”
“Quiet down, shit. You’re such a loud mouth bitch.”
“Go to Hell, Joe.” That line is kind of funny right now, heh heh, considering where I am…
“You cunt.” I smacked her across the face… she lied upon the ground, and got up, but I guess I didn’t see the glass ashtray she picked up, because she got me across the face with it, causing a gash across my face, from the bottom of my lip, up to about my nose, and it curled off a little to the side, before it ended. Needless to say, I was on the ground, trying to stop the blood flow from my wound. The next thing on my mind was getting her and hitting her for each drop of blood she caused to me. I got up, and rushed after her, and I knew she had hidden in the bathroom, and locked the door. Stupid move on her part, as it was once of those cheap locks that would be open with a butter knife.
I grabbed a knife from the utensil drawer, and calmly walked over to the door, putting it in the little slot, turning it slowly as she doesn’t notice… and I turn the knob, but just as the door was opening, she rushed over and put her own body up against the door, as to try and keep me out. I put my own weight against the door.
“JOE! LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!”
“Not until we have a talk, sweetheart!”
“Just leave, Joe, please. They probably called the cops upstairs, and you’re gonna get arrested again. You know what your probation officer said. If you get arrested again, you’re going away for five years, and you don’t want that, and I don’t want that.”
I suppose the bitch was right. I started to back away, just long enough so she’d let her guard down. That’s when I charged at the door full force, hit it, and sent her flying backwards. As she fell backwards, she cracked her head on the outer wall of the bathtub, and as she slid down a blood trail was left against. At that moment, my rage seemed to subside….

“What are you doing here,” she asked me, as she walked out of her apartment. And- what happened to your face?”
“Bruno.”
“Bruno… wait, Mr. Salvador’s man? You haven’t paid him back yet? You had told me the money I gave you would cover it.”
“Well, it would’ve. I bought this stash that I was gonna sell to make up the full amount I owed him.”
“You told me you owed him a grand, how much did you really owe?”
“…Ten. But now fourteen.”
“Jesus Joe, why? Why did you ask for that loan in the first place?”
“I owed the court a fine for my last arrest, you remember, when they found that small bag on me?”
“I remember, I had to bail you out that time.”
“I paid you back for that.”
“No, you gave me fifty bucks, you said you’d give me the rest later. You still owe me a lot of money.”
“Oh come on now… I promise you I’ll pay you back… eventually… once I get this new job, I promise, everything will get better.” For the longest time, I’ve been telling her the post office was interested in giving me a job, and she falls for the line every single time…
“Would you mind letting me go for a few minutes to clean up? I mean, if you’re leaving…”
“No, I wasn’t going anywhere.“ There goes my plan… “I saw you outside, and I was wondering why you were just staring out at the house… why were you?”
“I’m a little messed up right now. I got punched and kicked in a face by a guy who could rip Mike Tyson to pieces.”
She cocked her quirkly little smile at me. I don’t know why, but every time she did that, it just seemed to piss me off a little- it came off a little snide to me, that’s all. She led me inside, and into her living room, but I kept moving into her bedroom- where I know she kept the necklace. I sat down on her bed, and, as I always was, looked at the disgusting floral décor of the entire room.
“Just wait here for a little bit. I’m gonna get something to clean that up.” She left the room, and there lied my opportunity. I got up, and began to look around, and came to her little jewelry box. I rummaged through it as fast as I could; she didn’t own anything to brag about, except that beautiful- and lifesaving necklace, which wasn’t in there. As I closed it up, I heard her coming back, and I rushed back to the bed, and sat down. Boy was I ever smooth.
“Here you go,” she came up to me, holding a handful of cotton balls, and a bottle of peroxide.
“That shit ain’t gonna sting, is it?”
“Only a little…” she put it against one of my cuts, and I reeled my hand back, and looked at her. But at this moment I saw her reel back, and so I stopped, and moved back forward.
“Thank you,” I said to her, taking a deep breath and sitting back as she treated me.
“What do you plan to do…”
“To do about what?”
“The money. Are you gonna skip town for awhile?” I don’t know why, but she face seemed to light up after she said that…
“No. I’m gonna find a way to pay it off entirely.”
“By tonight? You’re never going to get that much money. You know that for a fact, you’d better just run and try and get that money while you’re gone. Take a trip to Atlantic City, try to win some money.”
“I gotta try something. I can’t run forever you know, and you know if I don’t get the money by tonight, I will never get the money. I wish there was someone I could go to…”
“Did you try your… mother?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You know how she feels about me.” Me and my mother never really were on good terms, in fact… the last time I saw her was the day she kicked me out of the house…

“Joseph Elliot, what’s this filth?”
“It’s a Playboy, mom.” Heh heh….
“I want you to throw it out right now. The Lord despises this filth.”
“I paid six bucks for that, there’s no way I’m going to throw it out. Now please, would you mind getting out my room.”
“Your room? I paid for this room, hell, I know I paid for this magazine, too, since you don’t even have a job. You’re twenty-two, son, and you live at home. Why don’t you try to get into a community college, make something out of yourself, rather than live here.”
“I’d rather mooch off you until you get rid me.”
“…We’ll Joseph, you’re not going to ‘mooch’ off of me anymore. I want you out of here, tonight. I’m not kidding this time, I want you gone. I love you with all my heart, but I can’t take care of you anymore, you have to start taking care of yourself now.”
“Well you know what, fuck you bitch. I don’t need you.” I got up and started to walk out of the room, but she jumped in my way, and stopped me.
“You take that back right now! Ask for forgiveness from the Lord almighty, stop your sinful ways.”
“Get out of my way bitch.” I pushed her aside, and I swear to you I didn’t mean to knock her down on her ass, I still think to this day she fell intentionally to try and get me to stop. But I didn’t; I left and never went back.

“It may be your only chance, Joseph. I’d give you what I got, but right now I barely have enough for rent this month for either of us…”
“So you’re not going to leave me, huh?”
“Yeah… I guess not… just please, for me, at least try to give her a call?” I might as well, what would it hurt…
“All right. I’ll go find a pay phone and give her a call. Maybe… just maybe…” I got up, and walked out of the room, and out of her apartment. Plan A failed… for now. Anyway, I had to find a payphone, and luckily enough, there was one about two blocks away at the Raceway station. It took me a good five minutes to garner up the courage to even pick up the phone, but I immediately picked up the receiver once I realized it was already 12:47, I had less than 10 hours to get that money. This is the point I realized not only had I forgotten my wallet, I had also forgotten to bring money. I didn’t even have enough money to pay for a damned phone call. I had no other choice, but to call her collect…
“What is your destination phone number?” I dialed in the phone number… “Please wait as we connect… please state your first name…”
“Joseph.” I waited… and the phone picked up.
“Son?”
“Yeah mom, it’s me…”
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine… well, no I’m not… I’m in a really tight spot right now.”
“…How much do you owe?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know the only reason you’d call me is if you need money. How much do you owe?”
“…Fourteen grand.”
“Vanessa told me it was only a grand.”
“Wait… you’ve been talking to Vanessa?”
“Yes, almost three times a week, can’t say the same for you, though, you haven’t even called me once in the last four years.” This is the reason I always hated the bitch, she always went behind my back…
“I’m sorry about that, mom… but if I don’t get that money… I’m going to die. I wish this was a joke, but this is very serious.”
“I’m sorry son, I can’t get that kind of money. Every cent of my money is tied up in investments. If I pulled that much money out, I’d be in financial trouble.”
“…Are you fucking serious?” At this point my agitation had grown to a point that I couldn’t hold it in anymore. “You’re son’s going to have his head cut off by ten-thirty tonight, and all you can think about is losing money?”
“You’ll be in my prayers.”
“Fuck you bitch!” I hung up the phone. This is the reason I always hated her; she always told me God will help things get better, but I always believed otherwise. God never helps when you need him- he allows the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. I always found the only way to help your cause is to help yourself- even if that meant stepping over a few people to get to where I am.
I wasted a good ten minutes fuming over that phone call, so it’s just after one PM right now. Then it hit me, I have a friend that owed me a few favors. Maybe he could help me, so I decided to walk to his job, he worked at one of those auto garages that would damage cars that were in accidents so that they could claim more from the insurance companies.
It took him nearly a half an hour before he arrived at the old building, which had been losing it’s white painted bricks over the years; it may have been a somewhat respectable business about twenty years ago, but this part of the town had slowly began to alter into a mild ghetto, it hadn’t had the murder-a-day status as some others had, but it was getting to that point.
Entering into the building, I glanced around to see where my friend was. I eventually did see him, he was working on a Honda Accord which I could tell had a head-on collision with something; the entire left front quarter-panel had been ripped to pieces, the head light was completely gone, all that remained was a few wires that protruded from the empty gash of the once beautiful automobile. My friend spotted me at this time, because he began to wipe his hands with a cloth to get the black oil off his hands, as he walked toward me.
“Yo Joe, how’s it hangin’?”
“Not too good today Derrick, I’m in a bad spot right now.”
“Money problems?” Why does everyone always jump to that conclusion with me? I still don’t understand…
“You could say that… I’m fourteen in the hole, and if I don’t get at least four, I’m not going to live.”
“What about the other ten?”
“Each finger.”
“Ah, Mr. Salvador, huh?”
“How did you know?”
“Well, it’s pretty well known around these parts, considering this is his part of town.”
“Wait, this is Salvador’s territory?”
“Yeah, and if he knew someone who owed him something was in his town, he’d be pretty upset if they came and didn’t have whatever they owed him.”
“Yeah well, that’s the reason I’m here.”
“Of course, you want to make a bet, right?”
“Yeah… and I was hoping you could help me.”
“…Absolutely. I got the perfect deal for you, too. I’ll spot you a grand, and there’s a horse race going on today at around five. There’s this really slow horse- Quicksilver- whose become a fifty-to-one shot. And apparently, the third race is set up, and Quicksilver is going to win, because it’s going to lose two races in a row, so that way the bet-takers will score some pretty decent cash. And besides, no one ever bets on that horse, so you’re pretty much set.”
“What’s the catch?”
“I keep a grand, so you’ll have five there. If you’re lucky, he’ll let you choose which finger you keep.”
“…And if not?”
“It’s guaranteed. And if he just happens to lose, I’ll call it even, because then you’re really fucked.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I scoffed. I shook his hand and bid farewell, and hopefully, not for the last time. At least this was something… maybe if I was lucky, this would work out.
“Wait a minute,” I said to myself, coming up with a good idea. I figured I might call Mr. Salvador a phone call, and let him know about this privileged information. No… I wasn’t about to get myself in any deeper, just in case this did happen to fall through. I always had that necklace to fall back on… heh heh…
I couldn’t wait around and do nothing for the next… shit, three hours? It’s just after two o’clock, I have about eight and a half hours until it’s my time- either to get away, or to have my head slowly sawed off by a guy named “Bruno.”
I figured I might try and get a bite to eat at the local diner, and skip out without paying, considering I don’t have a single dime on me. I probably should’ve taken some cash from the bitches purse or something, after all, she wouldn’t miss it much…
I decided to grab a hamburger and some fries while I waited. I walked into the diner, and sat down at a table, picking up the menu, and planting my face into it. I waited for a little bit, and started to get anxious. The waitress hadn’t even come to ask what I wanted to drink. Just as I was about to say something, I felt a hand upon my shoulder, which gripped it tightly.
“Good afternoon, Joseph.” The voice caused a chill to run up and down my spine. I knew it, it was Mr. Salvador’s. I was about to look back, but immediately I get smacked in the face. “Don’t look back. If I see your eyes, I’ll have to cut them out with a rusty knife.”
“How… how did you find me?”
“This is my favorite diner; and besides, I own it.” Just my fucking luck.
“Oh…”
“How’s the money hunt? I assume it’s going pretty well, considering you have enough money to buy something to eat. Got something for me to tide me over until ten-thirty?”
“Uhm… no, not right now. But at five, there’s gonna be a horse race, and I’m almost guaranteed five grand.”
“…Almost. Almost is nothing.”
“I meant I’m seriously guaranteed the cash.”
“Oh, it goes from almost to a complete guarantee. Well, you’d better have something for me, because I’ll be listening to the radio- and believe me, if this guarantee of yours makes me some money, I might think of backing off- for a few days anyway. But believe me, if I lose, ten missing fingers, and a severed head is going to be the least of your problems. Now, you can stay, if you’re going to pay for your meal. If not, just walk out right now, or I’ll have to take one of those fingers for collateral toward your meal.”
As pissed off as I was, it wasn’t Salvador’s hands on my shoulder; it was Bruno. Salvador was in his late sixties at this point, he didn’t do any of his own work anymore. He retired to becoming the head of his own mafia family years ago, and had several hired hands to do the work for him, Bruno being the newest of the group.
“Well? What will your order be?” I had no other choice, I stood up, my head lowered, and walked out of the diner. What a pussy I am, if only I could grow the balls to stand up to that geezer, boy, would he be in for it.
Three thirty… I had no clue as to what I was going to do. It was like my teacher had once told me about this law, by this guy Murphy… that goes something like anything that could go wrong will go wrong at the most inappropriate time. In her instance, she was speaking about stage acting. In my instance, I speak about everyday life.
I decided I’d find a place to grab a bite to eat, so I decided the best place to go would be a super market- over crowded, no one would have the time to watch me steal a package of Twinkies- nor would they care. I knew there were two in the immediate area- the Stop N’ Buy, which was about six blocks away in Sal-town, or the Buy-Rite, which was about sixteen blocks away. Buy-Rite was closer to Vanessa’s apartment, so I figured that’d be the best place to run to in case something did happen. And on the plus side, she’d usually went out around four o’clock to get something to eat, and was gone until at least six. I’d be at the grocery store around four ten, be out of there in five minutes, and be to Vanessa’s apartment at four twenty-five. Plenty of time to sit back, enjoy the five-fingered meal, and get to hear the sweet victory. Heck, maybe I’ll put a little more of the winnings down on the following race- nah. I’m not stupid. I won’t risk it. Even Sal said- he’d let me when he won for a little bit. The five will tide him over for at least two weeks.
I was pretty much set in my head how it was going to go by the time I arrived at the Buy-Rite. I saw a mother and her nagging kid screaming at her- I thought he was such a little shit- you should really have more respect for women… I mean, after all, I always held women in the highest of regards.
I made my way into the large building, which hadn’t been in for quite some time. The aisles had changed somewhat, and the placed seemed a little more maze like than I had remembered. I walked past the customer service desk, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught the woman standing there staring at me, before she picked up the phone, and began to dial some number. I walked a little faster and turned down into one of the aisles, which just so happened to be the destination I was looking for; the snack cake aisle. I found myself stunned for a moment, I hadn’t the money to waste on buying these for some time now, I guess it must’ve been about the same time my bitch of a mother kicked me out of the house.
I looked around, seeing the various cakes- chocolate with white crème filling, Twinkies, apple pie-ettes, and even something I had never seen before; chocolate Twinkies. So much good stuff, so little time. I decided I wanted an apple pie, so I slowly bent down to “tie my shoe,” and knocked the pie onto the floor, maneuvering so my body would be over the pie. Still pretending to tie the shoe, I finished and began to stand up, quickly slipping it into my pocket. I looked around, noticing my plan had deviously worked, I regained my composure, and slowly started to walk down the aisle, and upon coming to the end of it, I nearly bumped into some guy who worked there.
“Watch it asshole,” I said to him. He grabbed me.
“Excuse me sir, show me the contents of your pocket.” Fuck.
“Uhm, excuse me, what the hell are you doing? Get your God damned hands off me, before I break them.”
“I saw what you did, just put it back and I won’t say a word.”
“Fuck off.”
“Do you really want to go to jail over a crappily made piece of apple pie?”
“Fine…” I had no choice but to give in, the guy was going to let me go. I started to turn back toward the aisle, but said, instead, “Fuck it.” I charged at him, sending him into a merchandise display of soda, which fell on top of him, giving me a time to run. No punk working at a place called Buy-Rite was going to tell me what to do, I got the better of him, didn’t I?
As I ran off, I glanced back, he was getting and, and began to give chase. Shit. I turned to the swinging warehouse doors, and ran in, just to nearly be hit by a guy with a pallet jack.
“Watch it faggot,” I screamed at him, before remembering what was going on, so I booked away, as the angry store clerk blasted through the doors after me. I saw my opportunity, as one of the truck bays was wide open. I made a mad dash for it, and leapt out, not realizing it was some fifteen feet off the ground. When I landed, I twisted my right ankle, and went down on my left knee. Being in excruciating pain, I got up, and hobbled away as fast as I could. I glanced back, and saw the store clerk standing at the end of the dock bay, yelling something at me. I didn’t care. I had gotten away.
I had lost some serious time from that previous stop, so when I came up to her apartment is was about a quarter to five. I knew the front door was locked, so I knew she had always kept her bathroom window wide open, which allowed me to sneak in through there. Upon entering into the apartment, I explored momentarily to see if she was home. Satisfied, knowing she wasn’t anywhere to be found, I went to her small desk, which would double as her kitchen table, and pulled out the pie. I opened it up, only to find crumbs fall out of the package.
Shit. The fall must’ve crushed it. I really didn’t care, I’d been walking all day, I was tired and hurt, and pretty pissed off too, so I consumed what I could of the pie, and tossed out the rest. I went into her room, and found her small radio. I put on the little shitty alarm clock she had, and tuned it the race station. I had to sit through the butt end of the second race- Quicksilver placed in fifth of eight.
I had to sit through six commercials, ranging from where I should eat which really pissed me off ‘cause she never kept any food at the house -she knew I’d come there and eat it all- to what type of deodorant I should buy. Who needs the shit anyway?
Finally, they announced the line up…
“Now up is the third race of the day… our horses for this race are… number one… Carl… number two… Epona, number three… Quicksilver, our fifty-to-one shot… number four, Rocky, number five… Rufus, number six… Morningstar… who won the previous two races… number seven, Purgatory, and number eight, Appleseed.”
“Come on…”
“And… They’re off! Morningstar immediately takes a commanding lead, but wait… is it… Impossible! Quicksilver is coming up from the rear…! Their neck and neck… and My God! Quicksilver is starting to gain the lead as they come around the bend!”
“Come on baby come on come on!”
“Quicksilver is staying neck and neck with Morningstar… but wait… as their coming to the finish line… It’s Morningstar coming out on top for the third time in a row!”
My heart immediately sank right at that moment. Pretty much everything was riding on that moment, I really needed that cash, now, if I was to ever see Derrick again, I’d fucking kill him. But wait, I wouldn’t be able to, because, now, not only was I down, but so was Mr. Salvador… or shit… I had no other choice but to-
“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!” I really didn’t care at the moment if anyone heard me, because pretty much, that was what I was; fucked. If I was lucky, Mr. Sal would kill me quickly, and if not, he’d have Bruno torture me until I died, bring me back to life, just to kill me all over again.
I went on a rampage. I first grabbed her clock, and threw it against the wall, smashing it into pieces. I next went to her jewelry box, and threw it on the ground, ripping it apart, trying to find that necklace. I desperately needed that necklace, it was my only chance at even remotely being able to live at this point- not finding it in there, I went into her closet, and began to rip that apart as well.
“Freeze!” I heard a voice from behind say. It was Vanessa’s, and as I was about to turn around, I heard her continue. “I have a can of pepper spray, so unless you want me to burn the shit out of your eyes, then tell me what the fuck you’re doing here.”
“Vanessa, it’s me, Joe.”
“Joe?” She lowered the can just long enough… I leapt at her, grabbing it from her hand, and pushed her to the ground. “Where’s that necklace?”
“What necklace Joe… ow, you’re hurting me!”
“That necklace you’re grandmother gave you. The one that’s worth a lot of money! Where the fuck is it?”
“Joe… it’s not-”
“Shut up!” I smashed her against the face, and she began to cry. “Where the fuck is it!”
“The dresser drawer,” she sobbed. “The top, underneath my waitress outfit.”
I stood up, and walked over to the dresser, as she lay on the ground, sobbing from the pain. I pulled it opened, and ripped it apart, and, just as she said, found a cheap little box, which, when I opened it, I saw that beautiful necklace once again. “This is my chance to live, baby.”
I looked back over to the floor, and she was gone. I got up and ran out of the room, and she was going toward her door, but I grabbed her pulled away. “Where the fuck are you going?”
“I can’t be here anymore. I can’t be with you anymore. I can’t take the way you treat me. I’m pregnant with your child, and you beat me like I’m a disobedient dog or something like that. Well you know what, you fucking son of a bitch, we’re through. Right here, right now. Never again. I’m never letting you get close to my heart, ever again.”
“Bitch, shut up, you know in five minutes you’ll be sucking my dick like always.”
“No Joe, fuck you!” She kneed me in the balls, the damned bitch! Can you believe her? She dared to hit me down there, what the fuck? I only grabbed her hair tighter after that, and pulled her down to the ground, my other hand gripping my injury, trying to protect it from another attack. I sent a kick into her side, causing her to cough a little, trying to stand up. I began to walk toward her, when she grabbed a remote and threw it at me, catching me right in the nose. It had to cover my face, as she made her way toward the bathroom. I took my hand away from my face, and it was completely covered in blood. The bitch broke my nose! That was it, she was going to get it right now. I was about to take out everything that went wrong today on her. I hobbled over to the bathroom, my twisted ankle and sore knee really pissing me off. I walked to the door, which was closed. I began to bang on it, screaming.
“Let me in your fucking whore! I’m going to fucking rip your hair right out of your God-damned skull! You’re gonna die bitch!”
I slammed my shoulder into the door hard as I could. Lucky for me, the cheap lock broke on the first try, and I was in the bathroom. She was escaping out through the window, but I grabbed her legs just before she could. She was kicking at me, and once caught me right in the jaw, another right in my throat, which caused me to lose my breath. She must’ve lost her train of thought, because as I let go of her to grab my throat, I heart a scream, and watched her legs disappear from the window, before I heard the sound, which soundd similar to that of a branch being quickly being broken off from a tree.
As I lie on the ground attempting to catch my breath, I wondered what that sound was. When I finally was able to breathe once again, I stood up on the toilet seat, and stuck my head out the window. There was Vanessa, lying on the ground. When she fell, she apparently landed on her neck- it was broken, her necked was stretched, and she had become rather pale, a small trickle of blood running down her cheek.
I just stared down, unable to say anything. I had killed her- I killed my girlfriend- no… no I didn’t kill her. She killed herself. It was her fault. I had nothing to do with this. That’s exactly what I’d say to… the cops. I heard the sirens coming closer and closer, and knew in my condition they’d never believe me, I’d go to jail for at least twenty-five, if not longer. I had no other choice. I went back into her bedroom, to the cabinet, and grabbed the necklace from the case, and slipped it in my pocket. I hobbled back into the bathroom, and climbed- legs out- out of the window, and landed beside her dead corpse. I took a moment- and only a moment- to pay my last respects. I spit on her.
“Bitch.”
I ran down the long alleyway, and made it out onto the street. I just began to walk aimlessly for a little while, trying to find out the time. All I knew was it was after five- forty five, amist the fight, the cunt had broken my fucking watch. The sun had set some time ago, and all I knew was I had to find a pawn shop some where. I came up to a phone booth, and began to pen through the pages, until I came up to pawn shops… and low and behold- there was one just three blocks up the road. I smirked, ripped the page out, closed the page, and rushed to the shop.
Several people on the street stared at me, more than likely because my face was all cut up and bloody from the events of the day. Why me… why did this have to happen to me, what did I ever do to deserve this? I was a good guy, I treated my family well, my girlfriend, I loved them, so why now must all this shit happen to me? My mother would come up with some bullshit about God. God doesn’t exist, in my mind. But wait… if I’m in Hell… then… is there a… God? Fuck it, no time to theologize…
I had come up to the store, and looked inside. The lights had all been turned off, and I looked at the store hours;

OPEN FROM:
Ten AM to Eight PM

It was already after eight o’clock? What the fuck? I was pretty much screwed at this point. My one chance to get some amount of money, and now the fucking place closed? Where’s that cunt lady luck when you need her…
Suddenly from behind I felt a hand on my head, which pushed me forward, throwing me through the glass front door. I hit the ground, not having enough time block my body from further injury. I coughed up blood onto the floor, as I heard footsteps from behind, I looked up only to see Bruno hovering above me.
“Where’s Mr. Salvador’s money.”
“I don’t have it yet.”
“I came to collect.”
“It’s before ten-thirty.”
“You’re right, it is. But Mr. Salvador decided to change his mind. After that loss at the track, Mr. Salvador figures you owe him twenty eight now.”
“Twenty eight?! You gotta be fucking kidding me!”
“He figured putting down the exact amount you owed him would garner him a nice little sum or money, and he was planning to let you go if that tip came off correct. But now that’s he’s out double what you owe him, he figures it’s your fault.”
“I’ll get some money, don’t worry… I got this…”
“Enough stalling. It’s time to play.” He grabbed me by the neck, and lifted me up to my feet, sending his large Italian fist into my face, forcing me backwards. I landed on the glass counter, breaking it with the weight of my body. He began to walk toward me, pulling out a brand new 9MM hand gun. I cringed backward, but I felt something poke me in the back…
“You’re going to pay, a bullet for every grand you owe Mr. Salvador.” He began to raise the gun up to my temple. “This is going to be so much fun. Good bye, Joe, it was sure fun beating the shit out of you.”
“Fuck you, you dirty Italian.”
“Excuse m-” before he could finish his statement, I grabbed the gun and pulled it away with my one hand, and slid the knife that had poked me in the back into the flesh in his stomach. His eyes widened, as the gun came free, and fell to the ground, he rolled over onto his back, trying to hold back the blood flow. I grabbed the gun beside me, and stood up, looking down at him.
“Bruno… you shouldn’t talk so much. I think I should leave you here, to die, like you and Mr. Salvador were planning to do to me. But you know what, I won’t leave the possibility of you surviving.” The gun pointed straight between his eyes, and the only sound hear was his head smacking against the ground, as the silencer muffled the firing of the bullet that tore through his brain. I wanted to laugh, but I really couldn’t, because I knew at this moment I’d start bleeding again.
Slipping the gun into my pants, the thought never occurred to me to steal any money from the register, not that the person who owned that shop would keep it there any damned way. I finally found a place I could sit down and rest for a moment, I took the crumpled page out from my pocket, and looked at it, my eyes must’ve missed it earlier; a pawn shop, near where Derrick worked, was open until ten thirty. It was like God himself (though he doesn’t exist still in my mind) sent the message to me, I must’ve had a good hour to get there, and it wasn’t that far away. I decided to get a cab now, considering I would never make it there on time by foot.
When he pulled up, I climbed in, and pulled out the gun; only thing I could say was “Take me to Pawn Palace on East and Rosenbaum.”
He didn’t bother to try anything; he knew if he did he’d probably be shot dead right there. And I probably would’ve too; at this point, I really had nothing to live for. The whole thing seemed damned; but as long as I gave Mr. Sal some money- before he knew Bruno was dead- it would gave me the opportunity to escape town, for good.
I finally came up to the pawn shop, I got out of the cab and looked to him, putting the gun back in. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll forget all this, and drive away right now.” The driver merely nodded, and sped away.
I turned to the shop, and smiled; alas, I was saved. I slowly walked into the shop, and toward the desk, where the old man stood behind an old-style cash register.
“Jesus Christ almighty in Heaven! What happened to you?”
“…I’ve had a long day.” I pulled the necklace out of my pocket, and slammed it against the counter. “Can you tell me how much this is worth?”
He spent nearly fifteen minutes looking it over. “I’ll give you fifteen for it.”
“…Excuse me,” I had to say, looking to him. “I know for a fact that thing is worth a hell of a lot more than that.”
“Did someone tell you that?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, they did.”
“Then they must’ve been crazy, son, because this thing is costume jewelry. A fine, really photo identical one, but a costume piece of jewelry no less.”
“No, that… that’s just not…”
“Want me to prove it to you?” He put in my face. “Look at that one false diamond right there… see?”
“Made… in… Taiwan… Fun Gruop? Are you kidding me?”
“They didn’t even spell ‘group’ right. I’m sorry kid, but even fifteen is a lot of for this.” I just sat there, and began to laugh. A little, I pulled the gun from out of my pants, and pointed to him. “How much would this be worth.” I pulled the trigger not once, not twice, but three times, each bullet slamming into some part of the old man’s wrinkled body, before he dropped dead on the ground. I kept laughing, dropping the gun to the ground, as I opened the shop door, I got smashed across the face, and I fell backward. When I was finally able to see again, it was Mr. Salvador.
“You got my money?”
“…No.”
“It’s just after ten-thirty my friend, and you don’t have the money. You know what this means.”
“I… I swear, I did everything to get you that money…”
He kicked me in the balls… if I hadn’t gotten enough of that today…
“You also caused me to lose a lot of money… and you killed one my best man.”
“…What?”
“You heard me, Joe. You killed Bruno, believe me, I know. I saw from across the street… that pretty pissed me off, you know.”
“Mr. Salvador… please… I’ll do anything…” I tried to stand up, but he aimed his gun right at my right knee cap, and blew it out of the back of my leg. I dropped down, the tears welling up in my eyes, as I screamed for agony, he pistol-whipped me, knocking me back to the ground. I looked up at him, and he looked very mad.
“I swore, almost twenty years ago to this day, that I would never kill a man ever again. That’s why I hired people to do it for me. But in the last twenty years, no one has caused me as much trouble as you have… you cause me to lose twenty eight grand, you killed my best man, and you killed my grand-daughter.”
“…What?”
“Vanessa? What, she didn’t tell you she was a Salvador?”
Vanessa S…
“No, she didn’t…”
“Well, as you might imagine, I wasn’t too pleased with that. I should kill you right now, but I’m not going to give you the satisfaction. In fact, I’ll give you thirty seconds to leave out of the back of the building, before my men open fire. One, two, three…”
He started to walk away, and I tried to drag myself away from the main door to the back… I could hear the count outside…
“Fifteen, sixteen… seventeen…” I pulled myself up onto the counter, and peered over the counter to the old man, who laid down on the ground, his eyes wide open, a pool of blood built underneath him. At that moment as I turned around and heard the thirty, my mind just said to me, is that what I’m going to become, a corpse on the ground that’ll be peered down upon?
“…Thirty. Fire as you want to.”
I heard the sound of automatic fire coming from behind, followed by the shattering glass windows. The next I heard was bullet smacking into the various trinkets within the store, the first bullet to strike me slammed into my left shoulder, and passed straight through, slamming into the clock, which broke at 10:36. The second bullet to strike caught me in the lung, and yet another split my sternum, and laid it’s final place just into my heart. I could feel the searing pain as the bullet caused my heart to exploded, which caused an overflow of blood to come up into my throat. As I began to fall down to the ground, the final bullet to strike me caught me just in the upper left corner of my forehead, causing my head to snap backwards, just as my body came down to the ground.
As I lie there on the ground… there was only one final thought crossing through my head… the necklace… Then I suddenly remembered…

“My grandmother gave it to me. She told me, if you ever get in trouble, just sell it. She was always crazy anyway…”
“What do you mean,” I had to ask her.
“Don’t worry about it,” she replied, with a smile.

Fuck me shit… The bitch got the final laugh…


The End.



SBiF


EDIT: I'd just like any reader to know that this is the beginning of a mini-series of stories, imagine it like an internet novel. Only this is the first story of an on-going series, and hopefully, I can make anywhere from three to five more...