It was a sticky-wet, steamy kind of
night. Storms from earlier in the evening had been replaced by a
light mist that settled on my windshield obscuring the clear view I'd
hoped for. I'd been impatiently waiting almost three hours. I had
both of my windows down, but the street stench was practically making
me gag. I was thankful I hadn't eaten.
I'd seen runaways, hookers and junkies.
I'd watched patrons getting blow jobs in the parking lot, and a
couple of guys left with dancers. But she hadn't appeared;
even though she was due off work at two. Now it was quarter til five.
Two groups of girls had come out an hour ago, but she wasn't amongst
them. It would be getting daylight soon. Where the hell was she?
I'd parked on a side street across
from the club. The rental stuck out like a sore thumb. If I'd had
more time I would've boosted a car from the discount store across
from my motel. But I was working on a time constraint.
It had to be tonight. If I missed this
opportunity I'd have to wait another month. The ritual had to be done
on the first night of the full moon. And it had to be her. Heaven
Starr.
I got out of the car and closed the
door gently. I lit a cigarette and walked around to the trunk. There
was a homeless man with a full dirty-white beard sitting on the
sidewalk and propped up against the building. He looked me up and
down. I stepped towards him and he looked away.
"Hey old man, you never saw me,
right?" I held out a twenty.
He smiled a toothless grin, nodded and
snatched the bill from my hand. He was probably seeing two of me
anyway. Nothing better than an unreliable witness. I smiled. My power
was slowly returning, and after tonight, it would be full strength.
Then nothing could stop me. No cops, no FBI... not even their god.
The right wing religious zealots that
have been all over the news this month would take the blame for my
work. The media had already given their coalition credit for two of
the six rituals I'd performed. I'd left clues to my real identity but
the cops were still too stupid to get it. I guess it didn't help that
we shared the same initials. I laughed. I loved the irony. As usual,
they were worshiping the wrong god.
They needed you to spell it out for
them, but I didn't have time to play cat and mouse games.
I had a job to do. I didn't want to be
caught. I didn't need to be caught, and I wasn't going to be. I'd
been psychoanalyzed by the best of them years ago, and they'd been
wrong. It had nothing to do with my mother. I'd been called, and I'd
answered. And soon, I would be rid of the filth that had surrounded
me since birth, and I would ascend to my true place. And they would
all worship at my alters. Sinners.
I'd already caused one of the clubs to
close. I'd gotten two girls from that one; I knew that was why. It
was always something in the numbers, but that was beyond my
comprehension. It didn't matter. You didn't have to be a genius to
perform the work of the righteous. And I had been chosen. I'd known
it all my life.
Heaven would understand.
I unlocked the trunk and retrieved my
gloves and handcuffs. I shoved them into the pockets of the army vest
I was wearing, and let the trunk lid down. As I turned around I
noticed the old man was still monitoring my activity.
"You don't worry about what I'm
doing, okay?"
He mumbled something then spoke up, "I
ain't seen nothing Mister. You don't even exist."
"That's right old man, I don't."
"That's right old man, I don't."
I flicked my cigarette into a puddle
and got back in the car. Just as I closed the door, she appeared.
There was an ethereal glow around her.
She was truly my star. I hated to sacrifice her, but it had to be
done, didn't it? I'd meditated many hours about it. And now I sat
questioning myself; could she be rehabilitated? Could she believe?
She was after all, called Heaven for a reason.
I was in awe of her. She was the most
beautiful creature I'd ever seen. I wanted her for my own.
It was in that moment that the course of my destiny realigned; I remade the decision I'd been adamant about only minutes
before. Everything changed in the flash of her smile. She could rule
by my side as my queen; heaven sent and so named. The vision evolved;
I could see it clearly now. Even the lowest among us could be
redeemed. I would save Heaven, and maybe by doing so, Heaven would
save me. The rest of them would go to hell.
©2016 Garden Summerland
Awesome!!!
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