Revenge or Revolution?

5.

Now that memory brought nothing but disgust in Steve's mind. He had become weak for a moment by seeing Sandra like that after such a long time. No, there is no time to get weak. He had a task to complete. He had to tell Sandra as earlier as possible. Time was of essence here. The mission had to be completed before the end of the week.

'So, Sandra, I am going to be honest with you. I knew that you were going to be in the town for a couple of weeks and so I thought I'd meet you personally to deliver a message.' Steve said. The air had gone cold. The wind had stopped moving. There was silence.

Sandra was scared now. She had a deep feeling in her gut that Steve was too calm. His face was usually a delight to look at but today it felt awfully silent. He did smile when they shook hands but it seemed that there was no soul behind his eyes. He seemed friendly but completely empty. It was something which gave her goosebumps. He had this superficial charm but it seemed that he had no emotions. Everyone emanates some kind of emotion or feeling. But Steve sat there as if he had no idea what emotions were. The feeling was different than what she usually felt while meeting Steve and it surely was anything but good.

'What are you talking about? She asked, 'What message?'

'I know you and Brian are living together since last 2 years. You both are here for a couple of weeks because you got a call that there is going to be our college reunion on the 14th of August,' Steve said, 'I was invited to that reunion too.'

'Stop beating around the bush and tell me what the message is.' Sandra was getting impatient now.

'In that reunion two of the people won't be present – Kyle and Sean. It is because they died due to unknown circumstances.

'What? When did Sean die? And how?' Sandra was horrified. They were just 23 yet. It was not the time to die, it was time to live. Even though, she was a little delighted to listen to that, it was terrible because Sandra knew both of them once. Steve was still sipping coffee as if he had not just bombarded her with something huge.

'Well, in the news, I saw that a rod went through his head and his dead body was found in the middle of the road with his brain splattered all over the road and blood was everywhere.' Steve paused thinking which next words will make more impact on Sandra. 'Only the rod was found which penetrated his skull and his bike was found upright on the stand. There were some bruises on his skin and the bike was broken on number of places. The police are confused how he died because as much as the circumstances suggest murder, the force with which the skull was crushed was not something a common man could do.'

'What do you think? Was it an accident or someone killed him?' Sandra was disgusted just imagining the death scene. But she knew at that instant that Sean as well as Kyle was killed and there had to be some connection between both of their deaths.

'I think that what you are thinking is true. Both the deaths are connected and they are connected with you. They both lived here in Grestown and both deeply wanted to be with you. I think they were killed by none other than Brian.'

'What are you talking about? Why would Brian kill them? And how would he kill them? You are out of your mind.' Sandra was furious. How dare he just come here one day and declare her boyfriend a murderer! This was blasphemous for her.

'I wanted to meet you because I think I am going to be his next victim. Brian works as a mechanic and his garage is next to this construction site where you can easily get a rod.'

'What you are saying is insane. Just because he could have had access to a rod doesn't meant he killed someone with it.'

Steve definitely wasn't listening to whatever Sandra was saying. He continued with what he had to say.

'You remember 4 years back when he and Kyle gave me a small dose of amphetamines for which I was admitted to the hospital because my heart went straight through the roof? That drug, if given, in excess can cause heart attack. His uncle has a pharmacy from where he took the medicine last time, didn't he? He could've done the same thing again.'

'There is no reason for him to kill them. I am already with him. Maybe you killed both of them and want to put the blame on my boyfriend so I break up with him.' Sandra spoke hastily but she knew that she had made a mistake the minute she said it. Steve was dangerous and she shouldn't have said it.

Steve grinned and stood up from the chair. He put down enough money on the table to pay the bill and to leave a heavy tip to the waiter. Sandra was just staring at him.

'Kyle was murdered a year back on 24th of March and Sean was murdered a couple months back on 23rd June. If you don't believe me, ask him what he was doing on those days. I am sure he wouldn't have a plausible explanation for it. Now, I got to go because I actually want to live the last few days I have left. Bye.'

Sandra was dumbstruck. She was smart and had an excellent memory. In her college time, people thought that she had photographic memory. As much as that was false, her memory was pretty great. She knew that Brian went out of town a couple of months ago to meet his friends. She didn't remember the exact date but she knew it was in June. She suddenly remembered there were also some red stains found on one of his shirts.