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Coven at World's End
Ten
Something black and sticky clung to his face. Leo reached up and tried
to brush it aside, but felt nothing but dry skin. He then opened his eyes
and stared at his fingers.
Nothing but his imagination.
He looked up into the evening sky. He sighed deeply, utterly relaxed,
and realized with mild surprise that he had just regained consciousness.
Which was good, but why was he lying on the ground staring up at the
evening sky? Lying where?
It came back to him in a rush. He had finally screwed himself royal
sneaking the bike out of the garage. He had gone in search of Sarah
Mannhardt. There had been a car crossing the centerline near the hollow.
He bolted upright and looked around at the quiet countryside. Pain
jabbed viciously at wrenched joints and pulled muscles.
Memory of the stark reality of his plight penetrated the agony. He had fought with Sarah during lunch and had gone in search of her to
apologize for his behavior. He remembered approaching the hollow filled
with the massive oaks, the car on the wrong side of the road, and nothing
else.
Come to think of it, maybe there had been a woman leaning over him.
She had spewed something black into his face. Grimacing, Leo ran his hand
over his cheeks and forehead again and studied his fingers. The sticky
cobwebs weren't just his imagination. He could still feel it them tugging
at his skin.
He looked around for motorcycle. He saw a twisted front wheel and
bent forks lying nearby and groaned in dismay. He struggled to his
feet to search for the rest of the bike and discovered his shoes missing.
Bright pain lanced through his neck when he turned his head.
Ten miles from home, two from the highway, hurt, and no ride. Now
what? He saw the rest of the bike lying alongside the road fifty feet
away. It looked intact, aside from the front forks and wheel that had
been broken away, but when he hobbled closer, he saw that the seat had
been sheared off and the gas tank crushed. Plastic, glass and metal
debris sparkled over the highway from the point of impact to where the
bike had came to rest. He could see tire skid marks where both he and the
station wagon had briefly tried to stop.
"Holy shit."
He was lucky, he decided, to be alive.
His parents would be furious. Or did it matter anymore? He had
knocked his old man on his butt for smacking him in the eye. His
blackened eye was still the worst of his injuries.
Still, even if he didn't go home, he still had to get back to town
before dark. The empty countryside unnerved him. He wouldn't want to be
stuck out here for the entire night, and a glance at the sun on the
horizon gave him an hour at best to find himself a place of refuge.
He found his shoes with the laces still tied and put them on, one foot
missing a sock. He
started toward the state highway with a limp and a groan of misery. A car
rushed quietly by. The young woman with a child in a car seat at her side
eye him fearfully and drove on. He hardly expected her to stop for him
looking dirty and disheveled and limping along like the Hunchback of Notre
Dame.
A twenty foot shadow of trees thrown by the setting sun stretched out in front
of him by the time he reached the intersection with the state highway.
The traffic was still sparse, but within a few minutes, an old Dodge
chugged to the side of the road. Leo hobbled to the car
and climbed in breathing a sigh of relief.
"How are they hanging, dude!" The grinning driver looked to be all of
sixteen. He made a point of spinning gravel pulling back onto the road
surface. "How far you going?"
Leo gestured vaguely. "Oak Grove."
"Hey, I guess there ain't much else out this way. Just Oak Grove in
the middle of nowhere."
Leo leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
"What do you think? Four hundred odd cubic inches, blue-printed and
balanced, three-hundred and eight horsepower. Zero to sixty in six and I
can top one-fifty. Will this mother haul ass or what?"
The kid's 'mother' had a burned valve and was burning oil. It was
probably getting about four miles to the gallon and would throw a rod at
eighty miles an hour. Leo grunted acknowledgment and let it go at that.
"My uncle sold it to me. Three bills. He used to drag-race. Maybe
you heard his name. Fender. Kyle Fender."
Leo just rolled his head. He let the kid chatter in the background and
mulled over his uncertain future. Without wheels of his own, he'd hardly
be able to find a job and support himself. Without wheels and a job, he
was helpless. He wasn't sure if he had a home to go back to. If not,
what would he do about school? Drop out of his senior year?
Go talk to a counselor, Sarah had said. What would it accomplish?
They'd call in his parents. They'd lie their asses off, sit around with
plastic cups of coffee, knocking him and his generation, and then he'd get
sent home to have the shit kicked out of him again. That was assuming
he'd sit still for it a second time, and assuming the cops weren't waiting
for him when he got back, which would render the entire scenario a moot
point. That was one of the threats his father had made when he had gotten
himself knocked on his butt. He'd have him arrested. He'd kick him out
of the house. He'd shoot him with the nine millimeter handgun he kept in
his dresser for daring to lay a hand on him.
But his father didn't hold a candle to the trouble fourteen-year-old
Judy Muffet could cause, and it was just a matter of when that disaster
struck, hardly a question of if. He had thought Judy mature beyond her
years. What he had confused as maturity had been child-like
role-playing. Judy acted cool at all times. She had always fancied
herself grown and mature and able to function without her own
cold-blooded, reptilian parents. But during the past few weeks, the child
that she was had started to come apart at the seams. They had thought
their love for one another would take the place of uncaring and unfeeling
parents. In truth, they were of little use to one another and all of
their passion hardly more than a passing diversion.
Leo brushed at the cobwebs in his face. The driver wrinkled his nose
and looked concerned. "You okay, dude? Something happen to you?"
Leo glanced at the kid. "Do I have something on my face?"
"No, man. I mean you got a black eye. You get into a wreck or
something?"
"I dropped my bike," Leo said, knowing he'd get some commiseration from
someone close to his own age.
"Bummer, man."
"Yeah, tell me about it."
"You gonna catch hell?"
Leo shook his head. "Nah, I don't think so. Not this time. I've had
enough of getting yelled at for nothing." Leo then noticed that they had
entered the outskirts of town. "Let me off at the corner. Thanks for the
ride."
"Yeah, man, no problem."
Leo climbed out at the red light and watched the old Dodge Charger burn
rubber and belch blue smoke. He turned away from the business district
and started walking along quiet residential streets wishing he lived in
any of the neat little houses he passed. Anywhere but the old white house
with the peeling paint three blocks ahead.
He paused at the midway point between home and Judy's house and
reconsidered the wisdom of going home so early in the evening. Judy's
parents worked second shift at the printers and didn't get off until
midnight. Their hours had always made it convenient for getting together
with the girl.
He finally decided that things would never be the same at home. At
worse, the cops would be looking for him. So he turned away to pay Judy a
visit first. He needed time to think, and maybe now was a good time to
have a talk with the girl and discuss their failing relationship. If she
wanted to pretend to be so grown-up, now was the time to start. She had
to lighten up, or they were both in big trouble.
His mood was as dark as the twilight by the time he reached her house.
It was a bit later that he had thought. He let himself in the back way
without knocking and found her curled up on the living room couch reading
a book. She seemed surprised to see him. "What happened to you?"
He hated to say. "I dropped the bike."
She gawked at him. "You in trouble with your folks again?"
"Big time."
She stared at him with her big brown eyes. "Is it going to be okay?"
He shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Not this time."
She tossed the book aside, hopped to her feet and jumped into his
arms. She wrapped her skinny legs around his waist and kissed him
hungrily. Sensing his reservation, she pulled back. "We've got each
other, Leo. We don't need them."
"I don't have any money, Judy. I don't have a job. Nobody's going to
give me one around here if I don't finish school."
The argument had no effect on her. She didn't care. Slowly, she
dropped her feet to the floor and stepped away.
"We've got to talk."
"I don't want to talk," she said. "I want to fuck."
Leo shoved her down to the couch. "That's what we've got to talk
about."
Judy looked away. Leo sat at her side. She turned suddenly and
crawled into his arms. "What do you want to talk about."
"We have to be careful not to get caught," he said.
"I know."
"Judy, you push too hard."
She shrugged. "Okay, so we don't have to do it so much all the time."
"For real?"
"I don't like it that much anyhow, really."
"Why do you want to do it so much then?" he asked, thinking that she
was lying.
"Because I know what you boys want. Because I need you."
Which was more like the truth of the matter.
"Maybe we won't have to do it so much when we get older," she added.
"My parents don't do it at all anymore." She looked up at him and
giggled. "How about your folks?"
Leo shook his head. "I don't think my old man can get it up anymore.
At least that's what my mom keeping telling him."
Judy sighed deeply. "I want to get married, Leo."
Leo flinched. He had been afraid this would happen.
"Did you hear me?"
"Judy, you're just a kid. They're not going to let you get married."
She squirmed defiantly in his arms and turned to face him eye to eye.
"Really? Just a kid? What if I get pregnant?"
Leo went cold with anger. "Judy, don't do this to me. It's not a good
time."
Judy began to tremble. "Is that why you don't want me anymore, because
you're afraid I might get pregnant?"
Leo had never given pregnancy any thought. She had told him she was
using her mother's birth control pills. He had assumed she know about
that sort of thing and take care of it. "You won't, will you?" was all he
said.
"I might be already. I lied about the pills, you know. Ginger told me
I couldn't get pregnant if I came before you do, and I always come before
you do anyhow."
Leo dropped his head back on the couch and stared despondently at the
ceiling. He could feel his life come crashing down about his head.
"You're not, are you?"
"What if I am? What are you going to do about it? You'll have to
marry me."
"I'll go to jail, you stupid little bitch," he said in a monotone of
despair.
She froze. Slowly, she crawled out of his lap and sat glaring at him.
Leo climbed to his feet, hoping to make a graceful retreat without the
confrontation he had always feared would happen.
"Leo, don't you dare leave me."
"We can't do this any more," Leo said. "You're just a stupid, selfish
kid. You don't know what you're doing, or talking about. You don't even
care how bad you can screw me over."
Judy closed her eyes. She gave a shuddering sigh to calm herself.
"I'll tell my parents if you leave. I swear."
Voices whispered in his head. The cobwebs had spread over his
thoughts. Inside, he was sparkling with flashes of mounting anger. The
sudden urge to physically attack the girl startled him. His breath caught
in his throat and he took a step away in surprise.
Judy shot to her feet. With a pale smile, she began to shuck off her
clothes. She dropped each item as it came off to the floor and kicked it
beneath the couch.
"Judy, damn it, that's not going to work. . ."
But Judy had heard the car pull up in the driveway. He hadn't. A key
rattled in the lock of the front door.
"Mom and pop's home," she said with mock cheerfulness. "If you go
upstairs like a good boy, I'll follow. Otherwise, they're going to catch
us like this."
Panicking, Leo started toward the kitchen and the back door. Judy
stood fast. Leo knew her well enough to know she'd not back down. He
paused when he realized the terrible things they'd accuse him of if they
found Judy standing stark naked in the living room in a haze of the rank
sweat of a man.
The front door opened. With no time left to think, he fled up the
stairs toward familiar territory. Judy came up behind him giggling. She
barely made it to the top of the stairs before her parents moved into view
below.
Leo expected to hear them bickering like his own parents when they
arrived home each evening. Instead, they chattered back and forth in
amiable fashion.
"Are you upstairs, Princess?" a male voice called out.
"I'm here, Daddy dearest!" Judy called down the stairwell. She danced
laughing into her bedroom. She turned to face him in the dim light, her
eyes burning with challenge. "What would Daddy do if Daddy knew?" she hissed
at him.
She had always been demanding. She had never been so unreasonable.
She didn't know any better, and she thought she could get by with it.
The blackness was a pressure inside his head. It hurt holding back the
terrible anger. Rage was exploding inside him with nowhere to go.
She cocked her head to one side and clasped her hands behind her back.
"Doesn't he sound like a nice man?" Her smile slowly faded and went
dangerously pale. "He's not. He started it all, you know. When I was
little. Mom found out and made him stop. Now he won't even look at me
anymore. He won't smile at me. He won't touch me. Even my mother hates
me. She hates us both for what he did."
Leo felt himself turning to ice.
Her smile faded, replaced by the depth of torment it had masked. She
began to shake uncontrollably. "I let you love me, Leo. Please care
about me."
Leo understood for the first time how deeply he had dug his own grave.
Judy's hands knotted into fists. "I heard you were with another girl
yesterday, Leo. I can't let you do that, you know."
He recoiled in shock. It was almost as if the thing inside him was
contagious. It was in her too, and she was loosing control.
Her father's voice drifted up the stairs. "Princess? Is something wrong?
I hear you talking to someone."
Leo reached for her. He fought the urge to put his hands on her
mouth. Or around her throat.
"You can't talk to other girls," she hissed at him through clenched
teeth. "Not ever!"
Leo shook his head, denying vehemently that things could have gotten so
bad. It was more than he could even hope to handle.
She reached for him, blithely confident he would accept the gift she
offered in exchange for his presence. "Please," she said, her voice a
whisper. "Just be with me. Love me."
The cobwebs in his mind smothered him. He lashed out at her arms
reaching for him, panicking in a sudden bout of claustrophobia.
Her face contorted with a primal rage of her own. She rushed him with
a snarl and reached to claw at his face. Leo caught her by the arms and
threw her to the bed.
Leo edged toward the door. Maybe he could get out without being seen.
He had to try.
Judy sat up and took a deep breath. "Daddy! Leo's in my bed fucking
me!"
In one smooth motion he spun about and rushed her. He couldn't escape
her. He had to silence her.
Of their own accord, his hands clamped about her throat. She managed a
grunt of surprise before he cut off her wind entirely.
"Princess, did you say something?"
She raked his arms with her fingernails, and then his face, drawing
blood. Her own murderous rage boiled every bit as intensely as his own
for a short period of time.
And then, briefly, there was fear in her eyes. They pleaded with him
to stop.
He would have. He did not understand why he couldn't. The cobwebs in
his mind had somehow diminished him. His anger had taken on a life of its
own and had taken control of his body.
Judy convulsed beneath him. When she fell still at long last, her eyes
were like glass, and her body felt like her bones had melted away.
Leo pried his hands loose. He turned away, entranced by shock, his
body rigid and unresponsive. He went down the stairs and out the front
door, oblivious to the risk of being seen.
Something was seriously wrong. He walked toward home in a daze. He
tried to stop himself. Home was the last place he wanted to go. Sirens
were wailing in the night by the time he reached his own house.
His father sat reading a paper as he came in the front door. He looked
up casually, and even ventured an apologetic smile. His mother was
setting three places at the table, humming contentedly as she went about
her business. When she saw the blood on his face, she screamed. Dishes
crashed to the floor. She knocked over a chair in her frenzy to put as
much distance as she could between them.
He had forgotten about the wounds Judy had gouged in his body. He had
not even felt the pain.
His father dropped his paper and bolted to his feet. Leo tried to work
his lips. He needed to explain that it was his own blood and that they
had no reason to fear him. He didn't want another fight. He was sick,
and he needed help.
"My god," his father said. "What have you done?"
And here it came again, uncontrollable anger boiling up from deep
within him. His father had never given him the benefit of the doubt. He
wasn't about to start now.
His father grimaced with loathing, and Leo swung a closed fist to
destroy the expression. He connected hard with the side of his father's
head, sending the somewhat larger man catapulting over his recliner.
Events after that became disconnected in time, a montage of violent
images escalating beyond his control. His mother ran for the phone, and
Leo reached down and yanked the cord from the wall. When he turned back,
the gray metal of his father's nine millimeter handgun hung just off the
end of his nose. Certain that his father meant to kill him, he lunged,
knocking the barrel aside and trying to wrestle the gun loose and throw it
away.
The gun detonated with a deafening crack as they fought. Dust rained
from the ceiling. His father twisted it down between them where it
exploded again. This time, his father staggered back and fell to the
floor with an expression of utter surprise. Leo had no idea which of
them the blood
on his chest belonged to, which of them may have been shot.
The gun was in his hand now. His mother began screaming. Over and
over the horrific noise tore through his brain. For his entire life she
had railed in that same grating pitch of noise. Inside him, beneath the
cobwebs squeezing the sanity from his mind, rage popped in flashes of
light and sound like fourth of July fireworks. He pointed the gun in her
direction and squeezed the trigger, meaning nothing more than to silence
her and save himself. She flailed about in merciful silence and crashed
through two dining room chairs on her way to the floor.
Silence closed in hard and held him rigid in its grip. The gun burned
his hand. He dropped it and turned away rather than be given the
opportunity to realize what he had done.
The night was cool outside. The sirens had stopped at Judy's, but others were
approaching. In the past, they had always been destined elsewhere. This
night, they drew inevitably closer, and he cut around the back of the
house to avoid them.
He walked like a wooden soldier of a child's story. He meandered
through a half mile of dark yards and alleys and paused when he reached
the edge of town. Ahead lay empty fields and meadows and wooded acres of
unused farmlands.
He thought of Sarah and her blue-gray eyes and silver hair. If it
hadn't been for Sarah and her beauty and her willingness to talk to him,
he would have put the gun to his own head. None of this would ever
have happened.
It would be
close to dawn before he reached the dark hollow to World's end ten miles outside town,
but something inside of him was telling him that he needed to go to her.
It was the one and only thing left for him to do.
