Something_Violent Page 12

  “What happened to Seth’s parents? And his sister?” I quickly held up my hand. “I shouldn’t ask. Seth’ll tell me when he’s ready.”

  “He’ll never be ready. He hasn’t spoken about what happened since recounting it for the police when he was eight.”

  “The police? My God…”

  “His parents were a lot like what I imagine the two of you are…or will be before long. Both unrestrained on their own, but brought together, an uncontainable force of the most vehement kind. Yet, at their core, truly lovesome souls. Devoted. A deep passion for family that can’t be shaken.”

  Pappy paused to light another cigarette. He took two long drags before he started talking again.

  “Dawn was born three years before Seth. She was eleven when it happened.”

  “I don’t know if I want to know about this.”

  “You probably should know. It might help you understand Seth better.”

  “I understand him fine.”

  “Do you really?” Pappy stared at me like a teacher daring a student to prove him wrong. “Are you really sure about that?”

  I gave it some thought.

  Sure, I got him for the most part, and we’d already begun finishing each other’s sentences. But what drove Seth from the inside was a mystery to me, one that I wanted to know more about. It was a mystery that intrigued me, but seemed almost too terrifying to delve into.

  “Okay,” I said. “Keep going.”

  “Seth’s parents met in a way similar to how the two of you met. And just like the two of you, fell madly in love. I knew what my daughter, Seth’s mother, was doing.”

  “And you were okay with it?”

  “What do you think?”

  That was a stupid question, I told myself. Of course he wasn’t okay with it. But he loved his daughter.

  “I thought when Dawn was born, they’d stop. They didn’t. Few years later, Seth came along. And finally, my prayers were answered.”

  “They stopped?”

  “Completely.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Family of Abby—my daughter—and Jeff’s victims hired a pair of malicious bounty hunters. From what I’ve been able to piece together, they’d been conducting their own investigation into the murder. I’m not sure which victim or victims’ family hired them, but it must’ve taken them a long time to track down Abby and Jeff.”

  “They killed them?”

  Pappy nodded. “Raided the house. Forced the family to watch as they took turns raping Abby.”

  “God.” My throat felt thick, my stomach seemed to shrink.

  “They were about to do it to Dawn, but Jeff was able to get loose from the chair he’d been tied to. He attacked one of them, put up a pretty good fight too. Managed to gouge out one of the guys’ eyes. But they double-teamed him, slit his throat. By then, Dawn had already untied Seth from his chair and was leading him out of the room, like her daddy had told her to. She got him as far as the back door before they gunned her down with a shotgun.”

  Pappy paused, took a deep breath. His eyes were glossy and pink. When he blinked, a single tear trickled down his face.

  “Seth ran into the field beside the house. One of the hunters stayed behind to finish off Abby. Then he torched the house while the other went after Seth. The boy was a great climber, so he found a tree and shot high up into it. He could climb trees better than most squirrels, and the man never found him. Seth stayed up there all night, smelling the smoke from the flames consuming his home and family. He didn’t come down until the fire department had extinguished the blaze.”

  Pappy lit his fourth cigarette. Taking a drag, he leaned back in the chair, and stared at the ceiling. He blew out a column of smoke, then looked at me. “Then he came to live with us.”

  Pappy’s story had left me drained. I felt tight and sick inside. The sweet tea, which had tasted cold and good before, was bitter as I drank it. “Did the police put together that his parents were…?”

  “No.”

  “And the bastards that killed them, were they caught?”

  “No.”

  “They should die for what they did.”

  Pappy let out a long breath, puffing his cheeks. “All my life, I’d been led to believe two wrongs don’t make a right. But in this case, I might have to disagree. People like that make me question why this world even exists.”

  “Some might say the same thing about Seth and me.”

  Nodding, Pappy said, “They just might.”

  The back door banged, making us both jump. Seth entered the kitchen, shirtless, and slick with sweat. His hair was flat and wet on his head, shining under the kitchen light. He held his shirt in one hand like a sling, his empty tea glass in the other. “Finished,” he said. Without looking at us, he headed to the counter, dumping potatoes from his shirt. Then he went to the fridge. Opening the door, he pulled out the pitcher of tea and poured another glass. He raised it to his mouth and chugged.

  Pappy cleared his throat, backhanded his eyes. “Since you’re standing there, why don’t you and your lovely bride-to-be here start working on the salad? I’ll head down to the basement and dig the steaks out of the freezer.”

  “You got it,” said Seth in a breathy voice between gulps.

  Pappy put his finger to his mouth, tapping his lips. I understood it was his way of telling me to keep what we talked about to ourselves.

  And I did.

  For a while.

  14

  Jody

  While Pappy grilled the steaks, he entertained us with stories about Seth as a boy. It painted a pretty normal picture—a child being raised by two people who loved him very much. The stories were mostly sweet and cute. A few of them involved Seth getting hurt because he did something he wasn’t supposed to.

  Normal little boy stuff.

  But I knew that boy who’d experienced a childhood I was envious of was actually a bomb that had been built over the years. His plagued memories were a fuse that had run its course, igniting an explosion deep in his conscience. From the ashes, another Seth emerged. A Seth that went against everything Pappy and Peggy had raised him to be. I wondered if Pappy had any idea the kind of person Seth would become.

  Probably so.

  And he probably prayed every night it wouldn’t happen. But like his daughter, it was something that couldn’t be changed. It’s an urge that lives in the flesh. It pumps within our blood, a tainted chemical that spreads to our heart.

  We stayed at Pappy’s for a few days. On our last night there, he performed the ceremony inside the barn. It was nice, but very short. There was no flower girl, no ushers. There wasn’t even any kind of audience. Pappy read straight from the Bible for a few minutes, then said the usual verses I’ve heard at every wedding.

  “You may kiss the bride,” Pappy said.

  Seth did. He didn’t stop for many hours.

  Before Seth finally conked out, he told me he wanted to leave in the morning. I knew it was inevitable that we’d have to go back to our lives, but I wasn’t ready to do it just yet. I liked it at Pappy’s and was in no hurry to leave.

  I lay beside Seth, naked, with a single sheet over us. Since there was no air-conditioning in Pappy’s house, we left the window open. But all that seemed to float in were moths and humidity.

  I couldn’t sleep and got tired of trying. Sneaking out of bed, I threw on Seth’s T-shirt, slipped into my shoes, and left the room.

  It was dark in the house, which meant Pappy was probably asleep too. I was fine with that. I wanted to be alone. Plus, Seth’s T-shirt was white, and my dark skin made it nearly transparent. Didn’t want him to see me in it. Talk about awkward…

  In the kitchen, I fixed me a glass of tea. It tasted even better this time as it quenched my thirst.

  Entering the living room, I found Pappy asleep in his recliner. Or so I thought until I noticed the empty whiskey bottle on the coffee table. An opened photo album was in his lap.

  I crept up beh
ind him and looked over the back of his chair at the photo he’d passed out to. A family shot of a much younger Pappy standing beside a pretty redhead. Peggy, I figured. The other pretty redhead had to be Abby. The guy she was with looked just like Seth, but with a more prominent jawline. A little girl stood in front of them, holding an infant Seth in her arms.

  If Pappy were awake, I’d have asked him why he wanted to torture himself.

  Feeling depressed, I slowly walked to the front door, and slipped outside.

  The moon was large and bright in the sky, throwing a silvery glow on the field beside the house. I walked with no forethought to where I was going to go.

  But I knew where I would end up.

  Weeds tickled my legs, the dew leaving wet lines on my skin. I stumbled over holes a couple times, nearly falling more than once.

  I took a skinny trail into the woods, following to the end. In the pale moonlight, I saw the dark shapes of headstones behind a knee-high fence.

  The family plot.

  Why I’d come out here, I had no idea, but now that I was here, something told me I needed to stay. I walked to the fence. It formed a square around the headstones. Peggy’s was the largest. A vacant spot separated hers from Abby’s. Jeff’s was next, then Dawn’s, then another vacant spot.

  For Pappy and Seth, I assumed.

  I don’t know how long I stood there before I said, “Hello.”

  The combined chirrups of crickets and bullfrogs filled the night. An owl hooted far in the distance. Tugging at Seth’s shirt, I nudged the ground with the toe of my shoe. “I wanted to introduce myself,” I said, feeling a little silly for talking to headstones. I hoped Seth didn’t come out here and catch me. Not only would it be embarrassing, he’d know Pappy told me about his family.

  “My name’s Jody.” I cleared my throat. “I’m your daughter-in-law, I guess. Well, not I guess. I am. I married Seth tonight.”

  I stared at each headstone, feeling silly. Awkward. To be honest, I was also a little creeped out. After all, I was standing in a graveyard in the middle of the night. But I reminded myself these graves belonged to Seth’s family. That meant they were also my family. There was no need to feel scared or uncomfortable. I should be at peace.

  That helped me to relax, but only slightly. Images of skeletal hands clawing through the ground kept trying to pop in my head. I pushed them back, feeling guilty for thinking such nonsense about my new family.

  “I really don’t know why I came out here. Hopefully I’m not disturbing you. I guess I just wanted you to meet me, and to tell you that I love Seth. A lot. He saved me from a life of…I don’t know what, but it had all the chances of siphoning my soul from my ass. I’m going to take care of him. You’re gone, Pappy won’t be around forever, but Seth is going to be just fine with me by his side. I’ll protect him, like he’s protected me. You can trust me. Seth trusts me, or at least I think he does. Pappy does, and he says Seth trusts me, although he won’t openly talk about all of you. That means what happened to you still haunts him. I’d be haunted too…”

  My throat suddenly felt thick. “I promise I will always love Seth.” I drew an X on Seth’s T-shirt over my heart. “Cross my heart.”

  I took a deep breath, then said, “And hope to die.”

  15

  Ron

  “You never told me about that,” said Seth. Leaning forward in his chair, his elbows were braced on his knees while he fidgeted with his fingers.

  Jody, teary-eyed, shrugged. “I told Pappy I wouldn’t admit he told me about your family.”

  “But you did tell me.”

  “Well, I felt like I had to.”

  “I know.” Seth closed his eyes, sighed. “I’m not trying to argue about that. I’m just saying that you didn’t tell me about the other part.”

  “Thought you might get mad, I guess.”

  Seth said nothing to that. He stared at his hands, his thumb flicking the fingernail of his index finger. Jody sat stiff-backed, her hands flat on her knees. A strap of her dress had slipped down her shoulder, but she made no attempt to pull it up.

  Ron looked down at his notepad. He’d had a hard time keeping the pad between his sweaty fingers. The edges of the pages were damp and a little crinkly from his moist grip. At least, he’d written a bit more notes this time. Nothing significant, just quick jottings as he’d listened so he’d remember particular points of the story.

  Incredible stories. I wish I could record this. That way I could have their voices for later.

  Why would he want them later? If he ever got out of here, shouldn’t he never want to hear their voices again?

  Ron thought so, but something inside had been piqued. He wanted to hear more, to learn more. His creative drive was hammering inside. Last time he got like this was before writing his first book.

  A book!

  No. Don’t even consider it. Besides, from all he’d heard so far, he had no solutions. Only questions, endless questions. Couldn’t fill a book with questions.

  Ron looked at the Covingtons. Neither seemed ready to move forward. The mood had soured to the point of spoiling, and if he asked anything they considered out of line, he’d set them off again. “Now would be a good time for a break,” he said.

  “Thank God,” said Seth.

  Jody said nothing.

  Ron said, “If we were in my office, I’d offer snacks and something cold to drink.”

  “A snack sounds good,” said Seth, standing. “Besides, feels like I’m getting cabin fever.”

  You’re not tied to a chair, pal.

  Standing, Seth bent his arms behind his head and stretched. His face turned red as he moaned. Then he let his arms drop. They slapped his thighs.

  “Ronnie’s probably thirsty,” said Jody. “Grab him some water.”

  Ron was very thirsty. His mouth was dry and his lips made crackly sounds whenever he talked. But he didn’t tell them that. He only nodded.

  “Fine,” said Seth. “Should I take him upstairs with me?”

  “You can leave him,” said Jody. “Go get some snacks, if you want them. Just bring us back something to drink.” She leaned over, picked up her empty bottle, and shook it. “I’m out.”

  “Sure thing,” said Seth.

  He headed for the stairs. Ron listened to his feet pound the steps on his way up. The door opened with a squeak, then banged shut. Muffled taps of Seth’s footfalls bumped through the ceiling. Dust sprinkled down into Ron’s hair. Shaking his head, he felt some trickle into his shirt. It felt itchy, like he’d just gotten a haircut and had slivers of hair clinging inside his shirt. He was about to ask Jody if she’d dust him off, but when he looked at her, he lost his voice.

  Jody leaned forward, the dress sagging in the front, giving him a clear shot of the smooth mounds of her breasts. Though he was mesmerized by their beauty, it was the scars that had robbed him of his words.

  He counted three of the pink little worms on the side of her left breast. Above them were a couple pale, blotchy dots that looked like old wax. It saddened him to see such perfect skin tarnished by something that must’ve caused her serious pain.

  “Looking at my scars?” she asked.

  Her voice made him jump. “I—uh…um…” Ron’s face felt feverish.

  “It’s all right,” she said. “They’re hard to miss.” Jody sat back, reached up to her dress, and pulled it down to expose the breast. “See?”

  Ron’s breath snagged in his throat. He saw the scars. He saw the smooth slants. He saw the turgid nipple pointing stiffly at him. He saw the small coin of skin around it. Then it was gone, recovered by the dress.

  The breast out of sight, Ron felt his mind settling again.

  “Did Seth do that to you?” Ron asked in a hoarse voice.

  “Hell no,” she said. “I told you, Seth’s not like that.”

  “You didn’t do that to yourself.”

  “Of course not.”

  Ron nodded. “Right. Wait for Seth to get back, then
we’ll continue.”

  “What’s the point, really?”

  “I thought the point was to help the two of you.”

  “I guess it was at first. This seems like it’s just dredging up things from the past that makes us both sad.”

  “Is it really making you sad?”

  “It wasn’t at first.”

  “And now it is.”

  Jody stuck her fingers in her thick raven-black hair and scratched. Her hair bounced around her shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe I just feel like we’re not getting anywhere by talking about the good stuff. How’s that going to help?”

  “It reminds us there were good times. And, with a little hope, helps us see the bad times in a different light. Maybe it can help us not to be affected as we once had been. It really does work.”

  “Sure it does.” Standing up, Jody tugged at her dress to adjust it. Then she walked over to the workbench against the wall. Ron watched her dig through her purse. She pulled out a pack of gum. From where Ron sat, he could read the label: Nic-Assist.

  “You quit smoking?”

  Jody smiled without merit, then pushed out a square tab. She plopped it in her mouth. “Didn’t much want to smoke anymore, though the cravings are a bitch.”

  “Really? After what you told me about your conversation with Pappy, I sort of took you for a chain-smoker, like my grandmother. She’d light a fresh one off the burning end of the one she was about to put out.”

  Jody’s eyes were grim. “You just lose the desire to smoke after you’ve had cigarettes stubbed out on your tits. You know?”

  Ron felt himself shrink inside. Picturing those scars caused a tingling gush of heat to squiggle through his stomach.

  Jody stared at Ron, chewing. Her eyebrows lifted. “Surprised?” she asked, her tongue pressed against the gum. It made her sound as if she’d suddenly acquired a lisp.