Recluse Protection

Chapter 44

On the back side of the property, through a secret entrance, nearly completely overgrown. Rests an old, decrepit shack, worn by time, by mother nature. One solid pipe has been secured through the top of the building. The cramped space is shadowed by the lack of windows. Musty air greets us, the stale smell mixed with years of death, years of pain. His last place to breathe. Cueball's arms are stretched up towards the ceiling, his toes barely touch the floor, making him hand and suffer. I need this... I need to make him pay.

I tell myself as I harden my heart, steel myself from the pain of betrayal as I stare at his hanging form. His head hangs limply, the sedative still working strong in his system. It disgusts me to stare at him at his pathetic form. I see it clearly now, the years of drug use killing his system. His constant twitching. He said it was ADHD. The gaunt nearly skeletal structure of his body never really carried weight, the ragged and greasy hair. A man I regarded highly... Killed my father... my brother... He tore my family up... By being a part of it.

What hurts the most, is as I stand here listening to his raggad wheezing breaths, I can't help it as I feel sorry for him. He killed everything I've ever loved.... For drugs. I'm disgusted as I feel pity for him, disgusted that my heart aches for him. I'm weak. A small groan slips from his lips making me stare at him stoically. Killing him will make it feel better. Once more I instill the belief, forcing myself to believe it. He's going to die. He released a confused grunt as he squinted his eyes, looking around.

Cueball lifts his head, his bruised jaw swollen with time, his eyes shift before they land on me, freezing. "Cc?" I stare at him, not moving for a few painfully quiet minutes. "Cc, please, I, you know me, I wouldn't." I finally shake my head as I reach over grabbing the lantern, pulling out a lantern, I start it. Casting a golden glow over us.

"Don't call me Cc, I'm not your friend." My voice is low, a deadly chill seeped into the already callus tone.

"Casey, you have to listen to me, I didn't want to do this- He made me-" I chuckle and shake my head.

"No, you did it yourself. He didn't make you do anything, you chose drugs over your family, you murdered them in cold blood, you killed them for your next hit." I turn to look at him stepping forward as I force my hands in my pockets.

"Casey, please, you have to understand, I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to kill them, I didn't want to hurt you. He made me do it, do all of it." I growl, my lip raising angrily as I pull my fist back, slamming into his nose and earning a satisfying crunch.

"He didn't make you do anything. Drugs made you do it! You were greedy, so greedy in your goddamn habit, you took two lives. Two important lives! Fuck you Cueball, you stood back and morned them, stood back and played the whole fucking club. You did this yourself." I turned and shook my head, staring at the old wooden work bench the shack holds, the simple wooden surface is covered with years of cuts and gouges.

"Casey, no! He made you do things, things you didn't want to do. He took things from you." I shake as I hold my knife, the red in my vision returning.

"You're comparing yourself to me? To me? Cueball, your ass went to him for drugs. There was never a goddamn day I wanted to be raped, beaten and used for some sick assholes entertainment! I never begged to get more drugs, I never begged to get beaten more. For fucks sake I never asked for him to steal my innocence, my children." I snarl grabbing a length of chain to nail him in the gut with the folded portion. Seething I hear his scream, my mind hazed, unnerved by the information I've told him, exposed to only him.

How Welder got me pregnant and beat me to a miscarry. I pull back and swing again, nailing him a crunch falls from his ribs as a girlish scream slips from his lips. I held them, my twin babies, stillborn... "Stop! Please! C-Casey, I didn't want to." My anger sprouts as I shake my head. I didn't want to hold my stillborn babies, connect with them before Welder stole them, throwing them away like trash.