Peanut Man

Melancholy tale of Garden

**notes for this chapter:

Mon Cheri (MAHN-CHERRI)- French for "Honey". Endearing term

Lybov Moya (LU-BOV-MOY-AH)- Russian for "My Love". Another Endearing term

Amica (AMY-KA)- Italian for female version of "friend".

After disposing of the last body in the lake, she wiped the sweat off her forehead and limped back into her red pickup. Looking up at the dull, clouded sky, she pondered her mistakes in her life that led her to end the lives of her loved ones. Preparing for the 34 hour drive home, she climbed inter her truck, and left, turning her head back once more to see her most trusted friends for the last time.

It was that damned smug peanut man, the one with the monocle on all the cans, his smug smile as he sold the corpses of his fellow man, that's where it began. He lured her in, with his suave charm and dastardly good looks. If only she had stopped herself from giving in to temptation, then maybe, things wouldn't have turned out the way they did. She bit her lower lip and continued to relive her past regrets.

Garden Lander was only a young woman, early twenties when she first talked to the peanut man. He was dashing, charming and devastatingly handsome. She was walking down the street, back to her little old apartment building. She was alone and it was getting dark. She looked to her right to see this peanut man. They made eye contact but she didn't build the courage to go talk to him. He glanced over, smirking condescendingly as he made his way through the dimly lit avenue and lit up a cigar. The smoke against the night sky made him look like a predator, ready to strike. But his voice was like silk against skin, shaking Garden to her core.

"I see you often around here." He adjusted his monocle, taking in every inch of her body, sending chills down her spine. "I do believe we live in the same building," he said, gesturing to Garden's apartment building only half a block away. He grabbed her hand and started walking to the building. Garden didn't know what was about to happen, she didn't know if she was walking into a death trap or if this peanut man liked her. She didn't stop to think about the possibilities of what could happen but at that moment she didn't care. She could feel her heart start to pound through her chest. The hot air clung to the two of them, and the streetlight illuminated the peanut man's hat and monocle. The exhilaration and adrenaline coursed through her body, every inch of her hyper aware of how good the electric sensation of his hand in hers felt.

Garden took a drag of her freshly lit cigarette. She doesn't know when she picked up her smoking habit, other than it was one of the many choices she made that ruined her life. Those first moments with him may have been the most exciting, beautiful moments of their relationship, but as she continued to reminisce about the past, it dawned on her that these moments were the gateway to a life Garden would forever regret.

They continued down the street, hand in hand, until the peanut man had reached his destination, Costco Wholesale, of course he'd lead her there, for it was the place where they had first met. Garden sighs as she fondly remembers the time that she first laid her emerald like eyes on the man. The man who would soon be the one to ruin her, and everything she had built in her twenty years of what one would hesitate to call a "life". He knew the exact right words to make Garden's skin feel like it was on fire.

"Would you like to try a slice of cheese? Bruschetta, you can find it right behind me for only $5.99 a pound." Damn him and his words. She took a slice of cheese and seductively put it in her mouth, slowly eating it, to try and make the peanut man feel some sort of way. She went behind him and grabbed one pound of cheese.

Picking up the sliced cheese, she looked at the Peanut Man. "Thanks for the sample peen."

Oh my God. She thought to herself in a shame induced panic. I can't believe I just did that. She was ripped from her period of self-hatred by a soft hand gripping her forearm. He looked at her and smiled, not a seductive smile, but a kind and gentle one. She let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding in.