Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 149301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
“You can lie to yourself, and to as many folks as you’d like, but you know the truth. I tried to kill you as a boy, and you damn well know why. I heard you on the phone…”
Grandpa blinked several times, as if coming to, his complexion blue and pale. His hair stuck to his face in dark gray and light silver ropes. Water wedged between his long lashes, and his beard shimmered with beads of water.
“Kage, you imagine things! You’d lost your mind! None of what you’re sayin’ is true—it’s all delusion. Now you’re tryna drown me! You were fuckin’ crazy then, and you’re crazy now! Wait till they figure out I’m missin’ and that you kidnapped me. They’re comin’ for you, boy, and they’ll shoot you dead!”
“Ain’t nobody comin’ for me, sir, and if anyone was, so fuckin’ what?” He shrugged. “I will kill any motherfucker that you send here, you son of a bitch. You can send ’em by air, and they’ll be flyin’ fast in an urn. You can send them by car, then you can drive them away in their casket. You can send ’em by horse, but they’ll trot off in a hearse. Or I might just do what I do best: I’ll hide the body so good, not even that lady from Grandma’s favorite show, that Jessica Fletcher character from ‘Murder She Wrote’, could pin it on me, or find the damn corpse. Makin’ my own graveyard don’t spook me out none. I’ve spent most of my fucking life around the dead. I’m comfortable with them. My daddy is dead—he was my first loss. It’s the living folks that I worry about, Grandpa.”
“Why do you hate me so much, Kage? All I did was try to make you a better man.”
He looked into Grandpa’s eyes, and could almost see the wheels spinning in that bastard’s head.
“Ghosts don’t make phone calls, but you did, and it sealed your fate.”
“What in the fuck is that supposed to mean? Your mama should have killed you soon as you came out of ’er.”
“And your mama should have driven a stake through your heart once she saw what a horrible piece of shit you were. Once she seen that you were turnin’ out just like your spiteful and violent papa. Is that where I got it from, Grandpa?” He smirked. “My need to kill? Only, my thing is this: I destroy all the bad shit in the world. Not innocent children like my great-grandfather…”
“GO TO HELL, KAGE!” Grandpa roared. Renewed passion and hatred clearly brewed within him. “You’re a monster, just like I’ve said for years! An abomination!”
“I ain’t never fucked with nobody that didn’t fuck with me first. I’ll tell you the truth today. I’ll finally admit it.” Kage leaned in close to him, so close their noses touched. “I like to see wicked men suffer…” Kage’s lips curled, and a sense of happiness overcame him. “Guess what? I’ve got a torture chamber set up all nice ’nd pretty in my house. I was going to take you to it today, but figured this here river would be better. The water is always better when it comes to men like you, because demons hate to be baptized.”
He forced the old man’s head back into the water, and delighted with how he kicked and flailed. He yanked him back up. Grandpa was even more peaked than before. The dunking and loss of air was taking its toll on him.
“Old man, I heard you talkin’ on the phone about my daddy that week I aimed to kill you…” Grandpa’s eyes widened. “I was in your house, rushin’ ’round to find you to show you the drawing I had done. You had always encouraged me with that, and I had just finished drawin’ a portrait of you. I wanted to share it with you! I had you sittin’ atop a big black horse, ’cause you were my hero. I searched everywhere for you in that big ol’ house of yours. In the courtyard. In the kitchen. In your office. Then heard you laughin’ in your bedroom.
“I got ready to knock, but I stopped ’cause you mentioned my daddy’s name… I heard you say, ‘Kane.’ See, it all came together right at that moment. My mama was planning to throw a memorial party in honor of my daddy on his birthday that year. She always found ways to honor him. I heard you mention that party she was puttin’ together, and you said, ‘It would be funny if you went!’ But you were sayin’ it to whoever you were talking to on the phone.”
“You must’ve misunderstood.”
“I didn’t misunderstand shit. You two were laughing, havin’ a good ol’ time. Yuckin’ it up all at my dead father’s expense. My heart dropped to my damn feet… And then you said, ‘I wish I’d had the heart to kill Kane myself, but I couldn’t ’cause of a promise that I’d made to Sarah. I swore to ’er that I wouldn’t interfere. She knew I hated Kane with a passion. I’m raising his boy now. Lord knows he wouldn’t have taken care of Kage the proper way. Thankfully, God took care of the problem for me, through you… Now, we can become friends!’ And then you laughed again… and again… Your laughter haunted me for days on end. All that time, for years, you knew all along who killed my daddy. Naw, you ain’t tell that man to do it, whoever he was. You probably didn’t even know him all that well based on the other things I heard you say on the call, but from what I recollect overhearing, he had beef with my father and shot him dead, and you found that so amazing, so spectacular, so absolutely wonderful!”