Payback
by Victor Thomas
Chapter 3
At the stroke of midnight and under the cover of darkness, I carefully climbed out my window. I was dressed in a full black camo suit with a dark mask covering my face and a pair of gloves covering my hands. Like a cat, I crawled to my car which I'd left on the opposite side of the street. The neighbors who lived across the street from us were an elderly couple that didn't own a car, so they didn't care if I parked there. I jumped inside and drove toward the outskirts of town with nothing but the moon to keep me company. Soon, Steve Cooper's blood would be all over my hands.
I knew exactly what to do. I'd planned everything out beforehand. I parked my car less than a quarter of a mile away from his house and hid it off a small dusty road, behind a stand of trees. That way if anyone drove by, they wouldn't be able to spot it. Now, I grabbed my baseball bat, and instead of walking on the main road, I decided to walk through a small patch of woods that led to his backyard. It took a few minutes to get there since I was wearing a size thirteen pair of shoes. My feet are actually smaller than that, a size ten to be exact, but I needed to fool the police by throwing them off my trail if they decided to investigate Steve's disappearance. My lips formed a smirk on my face. My entire plan was perfect and fool proof, at least I hoped so.
The house was dark except for a dim light radiating from inside. Slowly and carefully, I crawled toward the house. I froze for a few seconds to see if there was any sort of movement inside. Not surprisingly, everything was dead silent. Everyone, including Steve were apparently sleeping, as I had hoped and expected.
I carefully made my way toward a window and peered inside. It was a bedroom, hopefully Steve's. A door was slightly open and a dim light radiated from the hallway. Looking around, I realized that he wasn't in bed. Slowly I crawled to the corner of the house. On the other side, I came across another window. Carefully, I looked inside and saw what appeared to be two people asleep in the bed. Steve's parents!
Suddenly, I saw headlights in the distance, heading toward the house. That must be him, most likely coming back from a late-night date with his girlfriend. I quickly ran around to the front and hid behind some bushes as the car pulled into the driveway and he got out.
I stepped out from behind the bushes and tiptoed toward him. Steadily, I walked up behind him, clenching my baseball bat tightly as I raised it over my head, ready to strike.
Then, I froze. What was I doing here? What in the world was I about to do? Was I really going to kill someone? I took a deep breath and gulped. I was so close, and yet so far. I could easily turn around, head home and bury my need for revenge once and for all. Taking a deep breath, I brought down my baseball bat. I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him.
What was I doing now? Backing down after going so far? Why should I back down and forget about everything? This asshole in front of me had made my life a living hell. He'd made fun of me and made me feel completely worthless. He'd been one of the one's responsible for Brian's death.
Slowly, I lifted the bat again. This piece of shit had called me every foul name in the dictionary. And he was standing there like nothing had happened, while Brian rotted inside his casket. That wasn't fair! This motherfucker was going to pay! I was going to do it. I was going to kill him.
All of a sudden, he stopped and listened, looking like he had heard something. I carefully snuck up on him. In a swift movement, I swung the bat around and connected with his head. He let out a moan as he collapsed onto the ground, right in front of his car. I quickly grabbed one of the plastic zip ties I had bought earlier and pulled his hands behind his back and secured him. I quickly moved to his feet and secured them as well. I then gagged him and started dragging him toward my car.
"Take a good look, Steve," I said. "Take a good look at this face because it's the last face you'll ever see in your miserable life."
I dragged him to my car, opened the trunk and tossed his body inside, along with the baseball bat. He was still conscious and looked up at me with pain in his eyes. Fuck him! This was nothing compared to what I had planned for him and his three friends.
Then, I walked around to the driver's side and climbed inside, being careful to drive slowly toward my destination. The last thing I wanted was for the cops to pull me over, as unlikely as that was. Twenty minutes later, I arrived at the old barn and dragged him inside, tossed him on the table and tied his body down with the rope I had left earlier. Now, I just had to get the other three.
Once I got home, for the first time in several months, I slept like a baby. I was one step closer to keeping my promise to Brian.
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