The Banished One

Chapter 4: The Stranger Returns

His father turned and faced the door, as if he was questioning if he had heard correctly. All the men around the table had also pivoted to face the door. A second, louder knock echoed through the house. Anger flared in his father once more, and he crossed the room, grasping the doorknob. Flinging the door open, he growled, "What the hell do you want?"

The man standing at the door did not flinch at the harsh words. "Are you Joseph Bower?" the stranger's graveling voice asked through the cold air blowing into the house.

"Who's asking?" Joseph asked, venom in his voice.

Staring directly into his eyes, the stranger answered him. "I have news of your wife, Vanessa Bower."

Whatever Joseph had been expecting, it was not this. The shock of the man's words had caught him completely off guard and he stood dumbfounded staring at the stranger. Recovering his composure after a moment, he stammered, "What kind of news?"

"Do you mind if I come in, it may take a while to explain it all and it is rather cold out here?" the strangers croaked, though if he was cold, he did not show it with his body language.

Much to the surprise of the others in the room, Joseph stepped back and allowed the man to move into the house, closing the door behind him. The stranger peered around the room, taking in each of the men at the table, while they all did the same to him. His tattered jacket hung limp on his tall slender figure, ice was formed on his hair and beard.

Joseph was taller than the man, and much broader, his confidence returning as he noticed this. "So, go ahead, tell me what you know," he smirked at his friends at the table, though they did not share his confidence just yet.

Staring down at the boy on the floor, the stranger's eyes locked his, taking in the blood that was congealing on his face, the bruise forming on his neck. After a moment, he turned and faced Joseph. "You already know where she is, don't you?"

"What do you mean by that?" Joseph growled, getting into the stranger's face. "Why the hell would I know where she is?"

A slight smile crossed his rugged face, "She is exactly where..."

Joseph's face turned to pure rage as he slammed his fist into the stranger's stomach. He doubled over and hit the floor but was surprisingly not gasping for air. The men around the table jumped up to help Joseph, dragging a chair over and pulled him into a sitting position. Trying to stand, Joseph walked over and pushed his son back onto the floor, "Stay where you are," he hissed. Turning back to the stranger, he grasped the collar of his jacket, ripping it as water droplets fell onto his hands and wrist. "Who the fuck are you?"

The smirk had never left the stranger's scarred and lined face, his light gray eyes locked directly onto Joseph's. "Just a wanderer, that has a link to the truth," he replied gruffly.

Joseph pulled his right fist back, bringing it forward and into the man's jaw, jerking his head to the side violently. "You should have never come here!"

Sitting up straight, blood trickled from a cut in his lip, the smirk still in place. "Violence has always come easy to you, hasn't it Joseph?" He glanced over to the stairs, looking at Jaycee, his smirk faltering slightly. "Yet it is always directed toward those who are unable to stand up to you."

A second punch hit the stranger on the opposite side of his face, causing his head to whip away from being able to look at Jaycee, who had buried her face in her hands. The stranger spit a mouthful of blood onto the floor at Joseph's feet. "You sure do talk a lot," Joseph stated flatly. "Maybe we can do something to stop that."

The stranger laughed, "You wouldn't be the first to attempt that." His eyes then traveled from face to face. "This gathering has definitely made my evening a lot more lucrative. I had only expected you to be here Joseph."

"And why did you come here?" Joseph retorted. "If an ass beating is what you wanted, you came to the right place."

"No, no," the stranger replied. "I came here as the tool of something much more powerful than myself, and he has all of your misdeeds and names written upon his list." He locked his eyes on the large man that had been sitting to Joseph's right, "Lawrence Crocker." His face then turned to the man that had been sitting to the left of Joseph. He was tall and skinny, wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, "Phillip Malone." Then to the last two men that had been standing behind him, their hands on his shoulders holding him to the chair, "Barley and Carl Harris."

"How does he know our names?" Lawrences deep voice boomed.

Joseph shook his head, "He was probably sitting outside the window listening to us."

The stranger looked back to Lawrence, "I have been looking forward to meeting you. Had anymore run ins with angry fathers who claimed you were inappropriately watching their daughters lately? Put the last one in the hospital, didn't you?"

Lawrence's face went white as he clenched his large hand into a fist. He hit the stranger so hard that he was knocked off the chair and onto the floor. The Harris brothers leaped backward out of the way of the chair which had gone flying. "Seems we have some sort of snitch here," Lawrence growled. "I think the hospital would be too good for your sorry ass."

Lying on the floor, the stranger laughed and spit out two teeth. "There will be no hospital, or anyone else involved, just us." Slowly, he picked himself up and righted the chair, sitting back down. "Now, should I go over any other sins that you may have committed?" He glanced over his shoulder at the Harris brothers, "You still robbing liquor stores? Kill any more clerks lately?" Switching his focus, he looked at Phillip, "Still selling drugs to kids? You also like to pass on the names of young girls that have hard family lives to Lawrence."

Joseph got right into the stranger's face, grabbing his cheeks with one hand. "Who has been feeding you this information?" he asked. "Who has been feeding you these lies?"

"There not lies," the boy laying on the floor spit out, still holding his stomach. "He has only scratched the surface!"

Lawrence turned to walk over to the injured boy, but the stranger stood up, moving toward him with unknown agility. Surprise flashed across Lawrence's face as Joseph grabbed the stranger from behind and slung him back into the chair, where the Harris brothers proceeded to hold him once more. Breathing hard, Joseph got eye level with the stranger, his slight smirk still in place. "Who have you been talking to?" A moment passed and the stranger did not respond. "If you tell me who we need to have a word with, I will have the boys go easy on you."

"Kolanire," the stranger said confidently with a smile, his two missing teeth noticeable from the left side of his mouth.

Joseph sighed. "Who the hell is Kolanire, and where is he?"

"He is wherever he chooses to be, and he is always with me," the stranger said proudly.

"This guy is crazy," Carl stated, standing as far back as he could while holding him in place, as if he was afraid the man was contagious.