[ Highest Rank #101 in Mystery/Thriller ]
Time has passed. Things have changed. Isabeth, Benny, and Faith aren't quite the same. They have blood on their hands, a code they honor, and secrets they keep locked away. The Psychopath Maker knows this an...
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"What the hell is wrong with you?" Malachi slammed the door. He tossed his keys on the hall table. He closed his eyes, breathing heavily but no amount of oxygen could reduce the anger that flooded his body.
Alex didn't want to live at The Johnson's house after graduating. So, he purchased a small abode in Evening to crash when he stole time away from Harvard. The place had four bedrooms and Alex seemed to be the perfect roommate.
"Crucify me because I want to tell the truth for once!" Alex clicked on the TV brooding as he sat on the tan leather couch. He's been lying all his life. He's been lying about everything up until yesterday. His head was about to explode like a can of Pillsbury biscuits thrown against the wall from all the lies he kept stocked up.
"Are you trying to go back to Everclear?" Malachi kicked the side of the couch. Alex jumped. "Squander all the hard work you did."
"No!" Alex tossed the remote control on the coffee table. "I was trying to be a productive citizen of society. That's why I was telling the truth."
"Not to an FBI agent." Malachi clasped his hands placing them over his mouth. "Alex, he thinks you're crazy."
"He doesn't know me." Alex's shoulders slumped as he looked down. "Damn! I changed my name so I wouldn't be Psycho Benny."
Alex picked that house because of the floors. The light wood grain reminded them of the house he and Malachi spent two precious weeks during the summer bonding. It was the only time he and Malachi could be brothers in their father's presence, hidden away from the world.
"I will always be that guy. Every time someone dies." Alex's chest rose as he inhaled deeply, then exhaling slowly. "I will never have a normal life." He took another breath picking at the smooth skin between his fingers. "I can have the most money. Date the perfect girl, spend all night stocking books at Dog Ear's but I will always be a psychopath in their eyes. Psycho Benny, that's me! I'm branded for the rest of my life." He wiped away the tear that hung in his eye before he raised his head up.
Malachi marinated on Alex's words as he made his way around the couch. "Are you dating Isabeth for your reputation?" He frowned clenching his sides.
Alex stood up, taken aback, for a second in that light Malachi looked like their father; pensive and disapproving. "Are you seriously asking me that?"
"I've known her all my life," Malachi confessed. "I've known her longer than I've known you. She's like my sister. She loves you. Her heart beats for you. I see it when she talks about you, the way she glows; like a diamond on steroids."
"I too!" Alex pounded his chest. "My heart beats for Isa. I breathe for her. Yearn for her. I will do anything for her."
"Anything? Anything!" Malachi's round eyes narrowed. "You can't give someone that much power over you."
"I'm wrong if I'm with Isa for my reputation. I'm wrong if I love her too much." Alex flung his arms up surrendering. "What do you want from me?"
Malachi tugged his earlobe, "I want you to love her and love yourself."
"I'm with her because I love me. I see the man she sees when she looks at me. The Alex she thinks I can be and that's worth more than the opinions of a million people. That's the only reason I can exist in this world—loving her."
The TV sings a ditty beckoning their undivided attention.
A beautiful woman standing outside Concord Memorial Hospital held a microphone to her glossy lips. "Yes, Ted. The autopsy results for Fiona Hamilton have been concluded and I have them right here." She shook straight the white paper in front of her. "This is a travesty all around threatening to shake our little town."
"Mennie, what is it?" Ted urged beginning to wipe off his lacquered-on powder.
Mennie Lewis stared firmly into the camera, "The coroner has declared Fiona Hamilton's death a homicide."
The picture slipped off the slip-screen zeroing in on Ted. "You heard it here folks on the only news station that keeps Evening informed. One of the youngest members of one of this town's oldest families was murdered." Ted began to tear up.
"It's happening all over again." Malachi crossed over Alex's legs desperately in need of a drink. "I've got to go unpack." He looked back at Alex with watering eyes. "Try to stay out of trouble."
Alex turned down the TV, "Always."
Is Alex right, will he always be Psycho Benny?
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