Mischiefmakers: Dark Macabre Read online

  “Then came the knock at the door. There she was. This twentyfive-year-old heifer standing there with this little boy of at least three, and my, but wasn’t he the absolute spitting image of my goddamn man! She went on to tell me about their plans to get married and settle down together. She’d come because she thought that she should confront me; she was tired of him procrastinating. See, she knew all about me. Every little thing. Every second I looked at her, I wanted to rip her throat open, tear her eyeballs out, but I realized when I looked at that little boy of hers that it wasn’t her fault. Shit, she wasn’t the one supposedly in love with me

  -Malcolm was! After she left, I felt my heart had been wrenched out of my chest and stomped on. I went to the bedroom and piled up all of his little electronic gadgets that he loved so much. He loved all that shit, girl! I didn’t forget the big ones either, like his three-thousand-dollar computer set up, or his thousand-dollar camcorder, the two laptops, and all his nice doctor suits, half of which I bought. I put it all on top of and around his precious big screen TV, the one he sat in front of and worshipped every damn night, then I poured two full gallons of bleach all over everything, making sure each of my man’s gadgets got a good dose. I took a hammer to whatever I thought needed it. After that, I ate a steak dinner, and sat and waited for my man.

  “I knew his little girlfriend hadn’t told Malcolm that she had come to see me. Because at six o’clock right on the dot, he walked up the stairs, opened the door, and doused his cigarette as if he had no worries. Not a single damn care in the world! I hid in the closet, and he walked right past me. I guess he was going to figure out where the strong smell of bleach was coming from. I waited until that asshole was right in front of me, and then I jumped out at him with all my strength. I had to have stabbed him ten times too, before I choked on the blood that splattered in my mouth. That shit tasted good! I dropped the ice-pick, grabbed my purse, and got the hell out of there.”

  Sarah lights up a fresh cigarette and takes a deep drag. She stares off into space, until Melissa begins to get uncomfortable with her friend’s silence.

  “Were the police looking for you?”

  “I guess so, for a while at least. It’s not like the bastard died, so I wasn’t America’s Most Wanted or anything.”

  “What did you do after you left the house?”

  “You’re lookin’ at what I did. I withdrew all the money I could off my credit cards and ATM, and got on a bus straight to anywhere.”

  “What about your family or friends?”

  “I didn’t have much family at all. My mother and I didn’t get along from birth. I had no daddy. And as far as friends go, none of them were worth shit. That’s why it was so easy to spend all my time with the asshole. I didn’t have anyone else. After my money ran out and I couldn’t find a job because I was too scared to really try, I just started living anywhere I could.”

  “How you know he didn’t die?”

  “I would call the hospital pretending to be his sister, and at least one of the nurses would update me on his condition.” With a wicked smile creeping across her face, she adds, “I often wonder if he’s sitting scared to death, thinking I’m coming back to finish the job. I hope so, it would give me such gratification to know he is constantly looking over his shoulder, running scared for the rest of his life.” With a slight pause, she begins again, “What’s your story, Missy, why did you really leave?”

  “What about your mom? Do you miss her?”

  “Yeah, I do, but it’s too late now...she died a few years back from breast cancer. She didn’t care for me much, anyway. She probably didn’t even miss me one day after I left.” With a few sniffles and a small steady stream of tears, Sarah quickly switches the spotlight back to Melissa. “Again, I repeat, what is your whole story, Missy?”

  “I told you everything there is to know about me. My father was this big reverend in Erie, and he had some strange ideas on how to raise his children. He preached constantly. Preached day and night. I got so tired of hearing that Old Testament shit coming out of his mouth that I couldn’t think straight. So I just started hangin’ out with all the outcasts of the neighborhood, every hoodlum, stray kid, and school slut, and I just did whatever they did. I would steal, break into homes, rob old ladies’ purses, I didn’t care. Nothing was too low for me. I’d steal so I could sell things to the local pawn shop and buy dope. I even robbed the offering a few times so I could get some weed after church.” Pausing for a minute, she arranges her thoughts.”Now that I think back, there may have been a reason for him to kick me out of the house.” She takes a deep breath. “Reverend Hobbs from the Christian Church on Tipper Street!” Melissa lowers her voice to slightly above a whisper, and continues. “The nicest man you ever want to meet in the entire town of Erie, that is, until you tell him you’re pregnant by him. Yeah, that’s right, it’s true, we’d do it right there in the pulpit. Right there in the front of The Blessed Mary Mother of Jesus. I’d have one leg on the organ and the other on the podium. I don’t think his wife and six kids would have appreciated me giving them another sister or brother. So, of course, the good Reverend Hobbs paid for the abortion. Plunked the cash for it right in my hands. When the doctor asked me about the father, I said I didn’t know.” Speaking sarcastically, she grins. “Mysteriously, my father throws me out two days later when I get home from a party.” She peers up at the ceiling. “All I miss are my sisters and my mom, to tell you the truth. To hell with old Rev.”

  Melissa’s voice lowers to a loud whisper as she begins to drowse and fall asleep.

  “You ever going back?” Sarah asks.

  “I don’t know...maybe,” Melissa replies. She yawns. Then quietly, they both snuggle into their seats and fall fast asleep.

  credit to: www.tomituri.hu

  SIX BEASTS

  O

  ne day, the sun is gleaming bright through the kitchen windows of the girls’ new apartment. “Do you realize we haven’t done anything in a month but lie around, eat, and sleep?” Sarah asks, walking past Melissa, who is wearing a long T-shirt and carrying a plate of hot sausages and eggs.

  “Yeah, and it feels damn good,” Melissa responds with a laugh as she relaxes on the fluffy loveseat.

  “Hell yeah!” Sarah says, while putting up her hand for a joyous high five. She plops into a seat next to Melissa, carrying a plate heaped with hot breakfast. “You know what we should do? We should have a party for some of the people at the shelter.”

  “Sounds a like good idea, but I don’t want too many of them in here tearing up Mr. Nicholas’ stuff. I mean, he’s probably going to stop by soon.”

  “That’s true, but I still gotta get outta here. I ain’t seen the news in weeks. You know I gotta keep myself up on current events, keep myself educated,” Sarah says with a wink and a smile, as she gobbles down some eggs.

  A few minutes later, they both roll out of their comfortable positions and proceed to get dressed. They have spent the past three and a half weeks trying to forget their street lives. Trying to put their sad pasts, and that chapter in their lives, behind them. Never leaving the apartment, they’ve tried to savor each and every day as if it is their last. After all, they never know when the old man is going to come back and kick them out. Shove them both right back out into the street. They cook, clean, and have conversations that last for hours about the shiny futures that lie ahead. Their lives suddenly look bright and brand new. The tranquility of the apartment is a dream come true.

  In the bedroom closet, they find some old jeans, sweaters, and T-shirts that look as if they were left by the previous occupants. Melissa and Sarah kindly help themselves to whatever they can fit in.

  This morning, Melissa, while slipping on her pants, is suddenly frightened.

  “What the...!” she blurts out as she stumbles backwards. “Look at that thing, it’s huge!”

  “What is it?!” Sarah moves closer to the window.

  Perched on the rust-infested fire escape is a huge blac
k raven. This angel of darkness measures twice that of any city pigeon. The gleaming sunlight accents its deep, black, immaculate color. Stepping back and forth and shifting its head, it looks through the window, probing the room with its dark burgundy eyes. It arrogantly expresses its wing span, which measures several feet, while releasing a voracious shrill loud enough to terrify an entire neighborhood. Its razor-sharp talons gallantly grip the steel with every step to ensure the safety of their master. With one last look at the two women, it launches itself into the heavens with the grace of a ballerina and the strength of a mountain lion, causing a gust of debris to slam into the glass. As it vanishes into the bright sunlight, it again releases a domineering shrill that conquers the morning sky.

  “Wow, what was that all about?” Sarah asks.

  “Damn, that thing was big.” Visibly shaken, they both hurry their efforts in getting dressed. “What kind of bird was that anyway? It looked like a crow or somethin’,” Melissa states as she quickly slips on her pants.

  “I don’t know what kind it was, but it definitely scared the shit out of me. I mean...did you hear the way it screamed?” utters Sarah, frightened. “It almost seemed like it was screaming at us.”

  “Yeah, it’s definitely time to get some fresh air,” Melissa responds.

  2

  “ W hat’s up, y’all!” Sarah makes her presence known outside St. Mary’s Mission while walking through a crowd of men rolling dice. The scene is thick with cigarette smoke. Men

  hover over the pair of dice, wishing for miracles. With the expression on their faces, it’s obvious the money lost here will add to their destitution. Wrinkled bills fill their sweaty palms, their eyes fixed on the shabby brick wall upon which their dice will strike.

  “Hey, get the hell away from the dice, I’m on a roll,” roars Silas, one of the oldest members of the shelter. He’s a dark-skinned man with a dark salt-and-pepper beard and mustache. He has an easy-going smile, but is not at all trustworthy. In his tattered T-shirt and fresh stolen jeans, he squats down, praying, and spits on his dice before he releases them against the wall.

  “Hey, some of the church people been asking about you and your girl, Missy. Where you been?” asks Marty, the local busy- body and leader of the rumor mill. Most people refrain from even speaking to him, but sometimes he just can’t be avoided. It is said he uses his thin body to separate people from their property while they’re still sleep in their homes. With his thief ’s instinct, he tries to probe for information. “I heard you and her got some loot and ate at Bess a while back. How’d you two get money to eat good?”

  “Why you ask so many damn questions and how you know we ate at Bess?”

  “You can’t just go and cuss people out and don’t expect them to tell people. Besides, Donna sometimes gives me some food out the back door. She told me how Missy cursed her out, then threw up all over the walls and floor in the bathroom. She was pissed ’cause she had to clean that shit.”

  “Now, see, you don’t even know what the hell you’re talkin’ about. She wasn’t sick!”

  “Look, that’s what I heard,” he says laughingly. “That’s not important. What is important though is where you two got all that loot she said y’all had. What’s up, y’all rob somebody?”

  “We ain’t have nothin’ but a little bit of money, so get the hell out of my face, boy!” Sarah screams, aggravated by Marty’s questioning.

  “Chill-out, sister! I ain’t goin’ to sweat you no more, just chill and relax. You know, you black people got a problem with high blood pressure.” He puts his hands up as if to say, I give up. He digs his way back through the crowd.

  “What’s Marty talking about?” Melissa asks, coming up behind Sarah.

  “Nothin’, he just talkin’ shit like usual.”

  “Have you thought about who you want to invite over?”

  “No, not yet,” says Sarah.

  “Shit, we thought somebody killed you two. Where you been?” Jackie asks in a loud, proud voice and with a wide smile, coming from across the street with her hands on her wide hips. “Look at you two with yo’ clean clothes tryin’ to look all pretty.” She walks forward to give each of them a hug. “I miss you two. Where you been? Damn, and y’all smell all clean too, hair done. What the fuck? You two done went and found jobs?!”

  “Naw, me and Missy got a crib for a while. Tell her, Missy.”

  “Yeah it’s true. This lady and man got us a place to stay, so me and Sarah have just been hanging out there.”

  Jackie says with a wide grin, “Shit, you need to introduce them to me, ’cause God knows I need a place to crash.”

  “Me and Sarah was thinkin’ about inviting some people over to hang out for a little while. You can invite the other girls. We’ll have food, but you gotta bring your own drinks.”

  “Bring our own drinks? You know that ain’t goin’ to be a prob- lem,” Jackie says cheerfully. “When you havin’ this?”

  “Friday?” Melissa asks, while looking at Sarah for approval.

  “Friday sounds fine,” says Sarah.

  “Where you crashin’ at?” Jackie asks.

  “Down in the Ironbound section at L Avenue in the old brick building on the corner, apartment 3B,” replies Melissa.

  With a puzzled expression, Jackie wrinkles her eyebrows and twists her lips. “There ain’t no buildings on L Ave. Not any you could live in.”

  “Well, that’s where we stay,” says Melissa.

  “Naw, I was just livin’ on L about a few months back, around the old factories, and the only buildin’ was this little brick one on the corner. And that was burnt up. It had no floors, no walls... nothin’. I should know. I slept in the old metal factory next door.”

  “You’ve got to be confused, you comin’?” asks Sarah.

  “Don’t worry about that, me and the girls will be there.”

  “We gonna head on out to grab somethin’ to eat. We’ll see ya Friday,” says Sarah.

  “All right, see you there.”

  Unnoticed by any of the women, Marty stands close by and hears the entire conversation.

  “I knew them bitches got money, I knew it! And they probably got more. I think me and Silas gotta check this place out. See what we can get,” he quietly says to himself as he rolls off the wall, heading back to the dice game.

  3

  Later on that evening, the full moon hangs high in the twilight sky as a group of three men approaches the small brick building. All wearing tattered jeans and T-shirts, they

  raise no suspicion in the abandoned neighborhood.

  “This place looks awful nice to be abandoned,” Marty states. “W-w-what are y-y-you t-t-t-talkin about?” Donald questions. “Shh! You dumb mutha-fuckas, somebody might hear us, and

  you, you stuttering son of a bitch, you only here to help carry shit, so I don’t even want to hear your mouth,” Silas states with authority.

  Unknown to the three men, Sarah and Melissa are not home and don’t intend to return this evening. They are elsewhere, hanging at some of their old hangouts, drinking. Furthermore, and more importantly, the three men do not notice the watchful eyes that gaze at them from above. Watching their every move, the eyes pan left to right, ensuring they don’t lose sight of the men.

  “Ch-ch-check th-th-the d-d-door.”

  “I told you, I don’t what to hear your talk, now shut up. I know what to do!” Silas says while the other two follow him into the narrow hallway. “Damn, they left the door open,” Silas quietly whispers as he gently pushes his way in. “What apartment, Marty?”

  “3B,” Marty replies.

  The quiet watchful eyes drift, accompanying the men who stumble in the dimly lit corridor, searching for apartment 3B. Abnormally large water bugs scurry along the dark burgundy carpet. The trespassers feel uneasy.

  “Man, I hate bugs. Hey, here’s the door.” Marty squashes one of the bugs with his shoe. As he drags his foot to scrape off the remains, he tries the door quietly, then flicks open
his rusty blade. At first, the door doesn’t open, but as he turns to tell the others, it creeps open with an eerie squeak that sends chills. The door opens wide and the well-groomed room is revealed. “They live in this fancy place?” Marty wonders. Silas steps toward the opening, stretching his neck for a better view.

  “I knew it, I could tell by the door downstairs and the fancy halls this place was nothin’ but money,” Silas assures himself of a big score.

  “L-L-Let’s g-g-get th-th-the stuff a-and g-g-go...th-th-this place g-g-gimme the cr-r-reeps.” As Donald trips over his speech and drools, the other men just laugh at him while they creep into the bedroom, reassuring themselves the place is empty.

  “Man, relax, chill out a bit. We’ll leave soon,” says Marty. He sticks his knife directly into the seat cushion of the love seat while he chomps on an apple he discovered in the refrigerator. They begin looking through the closets and drawers, piling up what they plan to take and breaking whatever they don’t like. They show no mercy for the delicate antiques. Silas is the worst of the three as he urinates and defecates on the beds and clothing while humming his favorite tune. Marty finds it amusing to stick his knife into whatever he doesn’t like and rip it apart. He walks around, stuffing little trinkets into his pockets while at the same time carving his name into the mosaic furniture. Donald sits back nervously, sensing something is wrong. As if hearing a voice, his eyes widen and his face fills with fear.