Immolation Ex: The Knower (COMPLETED)

Chapter XXV

Danny landed in his garage, a converted old barn, right next to his rebuilt 1969 Camaro kept safely under a car cover. He lifted a couple of boxes from its hood and trunk and then yanked the gray plastic material from the vehicle's surface, ejecting a cloud of dust into the air. He smiled at the candy apple red, metal-flake paint job, running his hand over its smooth surface. "Look at you, pretty girl. You know, I should have driven you more. Speakin' of pretty girls, no offense my four-wheeled baby, but I wonder what my most important two honey's are up to?" Danny said under his breath.

The large man peered from the barn, thankful it was dark outside. He could hear the frogs and the insects chirping. A whippoorwill echoed from the dark, its voice carried on the warm, southern nighttime air. Danny inhaled sharply, the sadness overtaking him. He took a moment to regain his composure and teleported across the yard. As he appeared next to his home, the former truck driver pressed his back against the hardy plank siding he installed after Katrina yanked off most of the old, wooden planks from the early 20th century home. 

Danny paused and closed his eyes as he sniffed. He could smell his wife's wonderful cooking drifting out through an open window and he sidled over toward it to peer inside.

"I want some more potatoes, mom," Danny heard his daughter, Jill, say. He shuddered as a wave of sadness washed over him and the tears began to flow. The large man had been thinking he would never hear the sweet sound ever again.

"Jim, you want some, too?" Danny's wife, Laurie said.

"Jim?" Danny's eyebrows came together like curtains. "Whut the hell is that son of a bitch Jim Madison doin' over at my house!?!!" he thought, wondering why his wife's old boyfriend was sitting at his dinner table with his daughter.

"Yeah, thanks baby!"

"Baby?" Danny said under his breath. Then he heard a smack like a hand on jeans.

"Ow, that hurt! Keep your hands to yourself, naughty boy!"

Danny's rage began to surface once again. "I ain't even been in the ground two months and she's moved on that quick, like I never existed?"

"Mom! Stop! What would daddy say?"

"You're sorry ass father isn't here anymore, Jill!" Jim said. "Stop bringing him up!"

"Speakin' of Dan, I really need to sell that damn car out there. I had a guy offer me a lot of money for it."

"Well," Jim laughed. "The bastard's been a real windfall for both of us, huh, babe? Between the insurance company money, Jill's college fund, and now, that car..." Jim clicked his tongue against his teeth. "You and me, we ain't gotta work for some time."

"My daddy is not a bastard!" Jill shouted.

"Shut the hell up you little shit! I'm gonna bust you..."

The last word had barely passed Jim's lips before Danny flashed into the kitchen. "You ain't touching my daughter! But, I am gonna touch the livin' shit out of you, weinersampler!"

"Who the hell are you, chinaman?" Jim asked. "How did you just appear like that?"

"Because I'm the dead spirit of Danny, the bastard," the trucker said, stepping menacingly toward the man who had threatened his daughter. He then glanced over at Laurie. "And when I am done with this toolsocket, you and I are gonna have a long serious talk about priorities, you evil witch!"

"Daddy!?!!" Jill asked. "Is that you?"

Danny froze and then slowly turned to discover Jill standing next to him, looking up with her hand tugging at the hem of  his flannel shirt.