Part 1: http://ift.tt/1Ecjweq
Part 2: http://ift.tt/1MdIRNh
In that moment fury defined me. Everything had worked out according to plan so far. I bought the house without a hitch. I finally had my space. My own space. My sanctuary. But that old man. That wretched, pitiful old man. It was like he enjoyed playing games with me. It was as if each morning he woke up with the single goal of making my life a living hell, and all he had to do was zone out like a damned moron. He wants me to leave. I know that’s it. He was hoping to have the entire property to himself. Damned greedy geezer.
I still held the garden hoe in my hands, gripping it tightly. My knuckles had turned white and I could feel the sweat running down my neck. The memories were still piecing themselves together in my mind. Why didn’t he bleed out? God, I’m such an amateur. I recalled the previous day’s events.
I had just come home from grabbing a few items at the supermarket. As I’m walking up the driveway, I see him, sitting there on the porch with his eyes fixated straight ahead. Walter was wearing one of the plaid shirts that he must have had twenty of in his closet and a bright red baseball cap to shield his eyes. I waved at him. Nothing. I stopped right in front of him before going inside. Last chance. “Good afternoon, Walter.” He blinked.
I nodded to him and went inside the house to put the food away. It was damn hot out and some of it had already started to melt and thaw on the drive home. The last thing I wanted to do was go back out into the sweltering heat, but the backyard was still a mess. I pulled off my shirt and threw it on the kitchen counter before heading out back. I loved the space and privacy the house offered, but unfortunately this meant there was a lot of yard to maintain. The space around the house had started to look better, but weeds had grown up all around the shed in the back. I thought I would start there and see where it led me.
I was finishing up the weeding when I heard it; laughter. I stopped and craned my neck back toward the house. There it was again. Walter was laughing. I knew he was messing with me, waiting until I’m seemingly out of ear shot and then laughing about it. I could feel the heat rising in my face as I stood motionless in the yard. A loud chuckle came from the house again.
No more games.
Holding the hoe at my side I marched toward the house. As I walked around the side towards the front yard I could hear him, laughing still. He’s gone mad, I thought. He came into eyesight, still sitting in his camp chair on the porch and had his cell phone to his ear. I climbed the stairs to where he sat as he hung up his phone. “Good afternoon, Walter.” He nodded curtly. “Yup.”
“That’s all you can muster? Are you stupid or something? Yup?”
He didn’t blink. He didn’t say another word.
“I’m sick of your games. I know what you’re trying to do. I won’t have it. This is my house!”
I quickly looked around. The neighborhood was quiet. Not many wanted to be out in the heat. Not today.
It was no surprise that Walter still hadn’t moved or said another word. I had had enough. Without reservation I took the hoe in both hands and swung it upwards. It was then, for a split second, as the sunlight reflected off of the steel blade that he broke his gaze and looked at me. Was that fear in his eyes? Or hatred?
I brought the blade down and drove it into his skull just above his ear. With a crash he stumbled out of his chair and onto the porch. He screamed as I yanked the blade free from where it had buried itself. Blood poured out onto the wooden deck he laid on. We were too exposed out here. Somebody could drive by at any moment. Quickly, I flipped the hoe over and swung the back of it against his head. Blood continued to gush out as he crumped, unconscious. He needed to be moved and fast.
Leaving him where he lay on the porch, I ran through the house to the back door. I threw the hoe in the yard as hard as I could and dashed back inside to the back bedroom. The large area rug that covered the crawl space would be perfect. I folded it in half and dragged it back out the front door where Walter was still out cold. Grabbing him under his arm pits I was able to lift him up on the rug. He would be much easier to move now. It was easy work to drag him through the house back to the bedroom. I flung the crawl space door open. He would bleed out down there. There’s no way he would last long with a wound like that. I drug the carpet over to the stairs leading down into the darkness and lifted up the end by his feet.
I watched as the old man’s body bounced down the stairs before resting in the dirt at the bottom. I would deal with it later. I threw the door shut and laid the rug back on top to conceal the door. There was still a lot of blood on the porch that needed to be cleaned up. I found one of my moving blankets and tossed it over the bloodstains on the porch until it could dry. Nothing that a little paint can’t fix.
I stood in the yard, staring at the shed where I knew the cowardly old man was hiding. How he had survived and escaped was beyond me. He was weak and pathetic. Did he really hate me that much? That he would cling to life just to watch me suffer. I strode purposefully to the back of the yard where the shed stood. God, I really needed to cover up that nasty neon orange paint.
The door was cracked ever so slightly. A cough came from within. No more hiding.
I threw the door open to see the dying mess of an old man crouching in the corner. No words would be spoken today. He looked at me, helpless as I drove the hoe into his neck one, two, three, four times. Blood poured from the open wounds like water. He tried to breathe as he choked on his own blood. I kicked him over onto his stomach and went at it again. One, two, three, four, five times. I wasn’t taking any chances this time. One the sixth strike his head was separated from his body and rolled onto its side. I was breathing heavily now and stopped, trying to catch my breath. I looked down to see those eyes, staring straight ahead at absolutely nothing.
The shovel bit into the moist dirt in the crawl space. That should be deep enough, I thought. Walter’s body was wrapped in another one of my moving blankets. As carefully as I could, I heaved it to the edge and let it drop down into the hole. My Coleman lantern lit up almost the entirety of the crawl space. Further down a bit I could see the staircase that led into Walter’s unit. Those won’t be needed anymore.
I began to toss dirt into the hole. It wouldn’t be hard to forget about this. Memories can be buried just as easily as any body can. I stopped for a moment and looked to the far corner of the dirt floor and regarded the pile of boxes that were meticulously stacked against the wall. A few feet under them lay the former owner of the house. At least he died like he was supposed to.
With each shovel of dirt, another piece of the day’s events were tossed with it.
Scoop. Toss. Forget. Scoop. Toss. Forget. Scoop. Toss. Forget.
As the body faded from sight, I paused and laid the hoe on top of him. I wouldn’t want to stumble across that again. I had been foolish enough to leave it down here after the last time. The last thing I need is a reminder.
Scoop. Toss. Forget. Scoop. Toss. Forget.
My stomach growled. Was it dinner time already? I smoothed out the dirt and let the shovel rest against the wall.
Dashing upstairs, I opened up the refrigerator and grabbed the package of chicken that had been thawing. Now what was I doing? I looked out the window to the backyard. Wow. I did a great job cleaning the weeds up around the shed. I went to cut open the chicken and paused – it’s quiet. How very peaceful. I smiled to myself and went to open the front door. It’s a beautiful day, I may as well let some light into the house. I looked over to where Walter usually sat, but his chair was empty. It must have been too hot for him. I couldn’t blame him, the sun was scorching.
I sauntered back into the kitchen and grabbed a knife from the cutting block. Despite the heat, it truly was a beautiful day. I couldn’t explain why, but I just felt thankful. I loved having my own little space.
My sanctuary.
Submitted August 07, 2015 at 06:04AM by RevKev13 http://ift.tt/1Ecjwes nosleep
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