Mercy

Part 11: Home

To my surprise Roger seemed happy to get my call. For the last couple of years I had been avoiding him, the idea of family had become less interesting as I figured out how to live my own life. He picked me up in a black car and took me out for a coffee. We were at dinner for more than an hour which feels a little excessive but when you ask for a favour you can't ask too many questions or have too many requests. He told me that he had been to an event this evening and that there were multiple people who saw me there after I left the pub. He was giving me an alibi. I hope that I never had to use it but at least I had one.

On the drive home he told me that he wanted me back in the family, it felt like a mob movie and I agreed. I hadn't been involved with the family as a whole for years, only seeing Roger every now and again to talk about his different businesses. He had needed me to be on the board for a sum of them to make sure that he looked like a partner and a fair leader while knowing damn well that he had enough people in his pocket to vote and make decisions however he pleased. I dreaded seeing Reece and Autumn. I know that my departure had caused some abandonment issues to surface and I understood that they were hurt when they tried to have a relationship with me. I had been distant and I took weeks to answer messages, after a year or so they both gave up. We had been like siblings but that was over.

Roger dropped me off at home and as I entered my house, a little worried about what I would find I was shocked. There was nothing. I mean nothing. All the furniture was gone from bothe my bedroom and living room. The floors were sanded and waxed, the walls were painted and The windows the cleanest they had ever been. Roger really did know a guy for everything. I wondered how they got all the stuff out without drawing any attention, but I didn't doubt that they had managed. My belongings, the ones untouched by the blood were boxed up or in trash bags. The people who did this were professionals, that was obvious and it must have cost Roger an arm and a leg. Hah, that is a funny expression seeing how I did try to dismember Charlotte. Technically I did, I just didn't manage to do it enough to actually dissolve her body parts.

My first event back was a family dinner and let you say that this is not the most excited I had ever been. Roger really liked family dinners, he thought of himself as a great father and to him that meant getting your family together at least once a week to tell them about the great things you have been doing and press the others to do the same. I arrived late, it wasn't common. I didn't like being late. It was a reflection of your character but it seemed that my absolute disdain for the function manifested as avoidance.

I have started to come to terms with my sexuality and I think it all made sense that I preferred fucking women. I wondered if I would have figured this out if I didn't meet Charlotte of course I thought I would but in all honesty I never really bothered to consider it. Sexuality was not really interesting. Sex however had now become more interesting than there had been before. That night in my living room with Charlotte awakened something in me, something I still can't understand. Maybe it was all the blood, maybe it was her willingness, maybe it was just her. I did miss her. I really did, or I did to the extent I could. In comparison to people around me I seemed to not really miss people. If I wanted to be around someone I simply would, easy as that, but with dead people it was harder and I missed her.

As I got out of my car I could see the shape of a woman smoking by the side door, I didn't recognize her but then again I hadn't been around the mansion for years now and I didn't know the staff. I entered and walked straight in, this had been my home for many years and I wouldn't knock, that would be weird. In the hallway I saw her again, turning a corner just as I started to walk towards her. I entered the same room as the mysterious woman, the dining area. It was huge and most often used for guessing but this was a homecoming of sorts and Roger wanted to celebrate.

The woman is standing with her back to me, talking to Reece. She is wearing high waisted trousers, obviously tailored to her and what looked like a loose silk blouse tucked into it. She looked like someone who grew up with money. In the candlelight it was hard to make out if she was a dark blond or a light brunette. One thing I knew for sure, her body was something worth looking at. Long legs and an hourglass figure. I wondered for a second if I would have made these observations if I had not been with Charlotte...

"The prodigal son returns" Roger says, walking to greet me with arms wide open. It was for show and I knew that he was not a hugger but he liked acting. Even in front of his own family he liked to put on a show.

"Roger" I let him put his arms around me. In my peripheral vision I can still see the woman. She must be his new girlfriend because the staff does not dress like that. He guides me to the table and Reece takes a seat across from me. The chair next to me moves and I get ready for the introductions, I don't care if she is Roger's latest squeeze, I wanted to know her.

"Come here often?" I say as I turn to her. I freeze as soon as she faces me. There are three things I realize at this very moment. She is beautiful, she is not Roger's girlfriend, it is Autumn.

"Fuck off, Mia" She turns away from me again and I am stunned. Apparently a couple of years could change someone a lot and I couldn't shake it. I can see how Reece is looking at me. Then he laughs, he laughs loudly. God, he sounds just like his father.

"You didn't recognize her, did you?" He stares at me. "You didn't recognize your own sister" It grossed me out that he called her that after the way I just looked at her. I am into a lot of sick shit but that bothered me. She is not my sister, she never was.

"She is not my sister" Reece continues to laugh and I start to really wonder if it might have been easier to just dispose of Charlotte's body by myself after all. Of course it was a ridiculous thought.

"Guess that is what happens when you leave and never look back" Autumn says calmly, still not looking at me. She is hurt, I can tell that she is but what can I do? At this moment what could I do to make this better or at least a little less awkward for myself? There is nothing. There is nothing that I can say that will make this easy, that will make this go away. I made my choices and I stand by them. Autumn would probably understand if I explained myself. If I used the right words she would believe me because she wanted to. I know that no matter what she cared. She was hurt and that means that she cared. She acted distant and cold, she still cared. She is about to say something else but is interrupted.

Roger clinks his glass and it acts as a starting gun for the longest night of my life. That is saying something seeing how just a couple of nights ago I killed a woman.