My Captivating Romance (with a serial killer)

t w o

September 24th, 10:18 am

The room was stuck in 1978. Rusty orange carpeting with olive green drapes that covered the dirty windows. I was amazed this place hadn't been shut down, as it was a battery of health code violations. For fucks sakes, I was seated mere inches from a blood stain on the bedspread. Gerard was walking around, touching various surfaces through the small motel room, the silver of his gun poking out from the front of his black jeans. I had been with him for nearly three hours. I wondered if people noticed I was gone in class. Would they connect the dots and realize I was a mass murderers hostage?

"You probably think I'm crazy, huh Joliet?" Gerard asked.

I didn't reply.

"Jo?" He asked again. I internally screamed.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think I'm crazy?"

"I-I don't know. I mean... you kill people. Why would a sane person do that?"

"I'm not crazy, Jo. Just not exactly sane, I suppose." He smiled. "I'm a bit fucked up, but definitely not crazy. I consider myself a hero of sorts. A vigilante hero, cleaning the earth of shitty people."

He continued.

"You see, I had a fucked up life. I was raised by a working-class single mother in Belleville. We lived in this little shitty two bedroom apartment. Mom worked three jobs to keep us afloat. Being at work constantly and not making enough to send us to daycare, she let the older gentleman across the hall watch my brother and me."

"Up until then, our grandma Elena would watch us all day. But she was killed in a car accident while coming to pick us up from school one day."

I was enthralled in Gerard's story, though I pretended not to be. I did genuinely want to know what drove a person to murder though. I listened closely as he spoke but tried not to look too interested.

"But back on track, the man across the hall. His name was Richard. He was middle-aged with greying hair and an unsettling smile. He'd never been married, no kids, no nothing. He damn near jumped at the opportunity to watch us."

"It started when I was nine and continued until I was twelve." He didn't have to tell me what it was, I just knew. "He told me that if I didn't comply, he'd do it to Mikey, my little brother. I couldn't let that happen so I did as I was told. He assured me that if I ever told anyone, he would make sure my mom lost her jobs. Then we'd really be fucked."

"Around the time I was almost thirteen, I had convinced my mom that I was old enough to watch Mikey by myself. So she let me. We bid farewell to that piece of shit and I managed to repress the memory almost entirely until I was 21. I was out at a bar and grill with some friends one night for a birthday."

Gerard slowed his pacing and stared at himself in the mirror, taking a quick drag of his cigarette.

"He smiled at me from across the restaurant. Walked up and said hello, remarked on what a....handsome young man I'd become." He said through clenched teeth. "I froze, I couldn't say anything, then I noticed the two kids standing beside him. Little girl, maybe five or so....and a little boy, he couldn't have been older than eight. I knew, I just knew he was still pulling this shit, and I knew I had to stop him."

"We hadn't lived in the apartment complex for like 7 years but I still knew exactly where he was. He opened the door and invited me right in. Even popped open a bottle of wine for us. He had his back turned, pouring me a glass when I shoved the bottle opener into his jugular."

"Blood just sprayed over me, God I was fucking drenched in it. I went home, I took a shower, then I decided, that this was my new career path. I just wanted to explain my motivation to you. So you don't just think I'm some madman."