Murder Magnet

Prologue

Prologue

The snow fell in fast flurries, melting on the heated surface of his bruised face. The hard asphalt of the road felt cool below his blazing body. It helped numb the pain of his gunshot wounds. He could only feel a subtle throbbing now. He looked up towards the cloudy, grey sky and lost himself in thought. She's waiting for me...he thought, losing track of time. She filled his every thought. The wrinkles that surrounded her mouth and eyes when she smiled, her smell of chicken and grease from the diner, her warm calloused hands that were more beautiful than smooth, gleaming pearls, the shining silver streaks in her hair, he could remember them all. He remembered how she would hold him as a child and how she would fend off the monsters from under the bed. For as long as he could remember, It was us against the world...us. His thoughts gradually returned to a distant time.

He hated how hard she worked for him, late hours with small paychecks. It made his heart hurt. When he was scouted by Foster's gang, the kings, with promises of money, all he could think about was her and the whiskey, hidden in the storage closet behind old boxes. This is for her. I can protect her...he thought at the time.

His mind drifted to the moment when she found the cocaine under the mattress in their one room apartment. The look in her eyes showing both fear and disappointment. "What are you doing with this? Why do you have this!?" the ferocity evident in her shrill voice. She was met with silence. Her eyes watered. "All this time..." she swallowed, "I thought I raised you better." She drops the bag onto the chipped table. "You put this back where it came from. I don't want you mixed up with those people. I don't want you mixed up with those people!" she shrieked, hands shaking.

Whatever's left of his mind returned to the present. I never should have joined them...I never should have left. But he did. For her, he joined them. For her he left. And yet, he knew too much. The Kings would never let him live. A King never goes back to being a pauper. I never should have joined them...I never should have left.... I never should have joined them...I never should have left..... he repeated the mantra.

His mind constantly flitted back and forth from present to past, moving from consciousness to unconsciousness. I can't leave her alone, he thought. He struggled to shout for help, but his breathing had become too shallow. This is how i'm going to die.... This is how she's going to find me... frozen in the snow.

He pulled all his energy together to say his one last prayer, "I don't know if... you....exist," he gasped for air "but if...if...you're out there....look after her for me..... the most...... precious.... woman of... my life... don't let her... grieve... too... much" he wheezed. This is it he thought. I can feel it. Refusing to close his eyes, he glared at the sky until death. His last breath could be seen leaving in a puff of vapor into the cool air. Leaving from the stilled body covered in red and white snow.