~ Mason ~
(6 months later…)
I don’t have a preferred method of killing. I just go with what’s easiest. I don’t take pleasure in taking someone’s life but I do take comfort in the fact that the world is rid of one less monster.
Before I left Social Services, I made a file. Call it a retribution list. I must’ve spent almost a year getting it all together – a file of monsters.
It’s taken longer than I thought to work my way through all the hits. What was meant to take a few months has turned into years.
There were twenty three when I began. The easiest ones to take care of were the drug addicts and those who were caught up in illegal shit. It’s easy to cover my tracks then.
There are only four left. I left the worst for last. These four men aren’t alcoholics or drug addicts. They’re the kind that’s nice in front of others, but it’s a different story behind closed doors.
Mackenzie’s father is one of them. Amanda Haywood killed her own daughter before turning the gun on Grant Haywood. Then she took her own life. In the eyes of the law, Amanda was the abusive spouse and mother, all because she couldn’t face another day in hell. She was weak. To her, death was a better option than being abused by Grant Haywood.
If Amanda hadn’t confided in me, I would have judged her the same as everyone else did. But a week before she gave up, she opened up to me. It was Mackenzie’s ninth visit to the hospital that year. Amanda showed me her own bruises. She told me all the horrors Grant inflicted on both her and her daughter, and even though the proof was there, Grant was untouchable. He was a CEO of a wealthy company. He donated to many causes. In the eyes of the world he was perfect.
Now he’s bound to a wheelchair and people pity him. To them the poor man lost his wife and daughter, and the bullet that was meant to kill him paralyzed him.
Some would think that’s punishment enough but I disagree. No amount of punishment will ever be enough for hurting a child.
I made a promise to Mackenzie to take care of the monster. I’m going to keep my promise.
I’ve just spend the last two hours watching Haywood. He swims three times a week at an elite club. The easiest thing would be to drown him, but he has a physiotherapist that works with him, so that screws with my plan. I’ll have to look for another way.
I haven’t seen Olivia since the accident. It’s not like I have any time to worry about her, but since the accident, she’s constantly on my mind. A woman in her mid-forties sometimes stops by the apartment.
I walk up the stairs and when I reach my floor, I’m surprised to see Olivia’s apartment door standing open. Jane is standing in the doorway, looking in.
“So you’re back?” Jane asks. That makes me stop and look into the apartment.
Every time I laid eyes on Olivia, I used to think she was beautiful. She was healthy, vibrant – alive.
My eyes meet hers for the first time since the accident and I see none of the vibrant life that used to pulse around her.
Her blonde hair hangs lifelessly in her face. She peeks at me from between the strands, but this time, she’s not the first to break eye contact. I am. I’m not sure what made me look away, but I walk to my apartment, open the door and go inside.
I throw my keys on the old table. The only furniture in my apartment is the table, one chair and the bed in the room. I have a small bar fridge for the essentials.
I go straight for the bathroom and strip out of the clothes before I turn the water on and step into the shower.
I close my eyes and let the water run over me, and that’s when I realize why I broke eye contact with Olivia. This time, there was no fear in her eyes. There was only despair. I felt her darkness call to my own.