William Bernhardt - Cruel Justice

75

BUT WHERE THE HELL is the boy? Mitch thought as he entered the bedroom. That was the problem with little boys. They were always trying to get away, trying to escape their punishment. But that wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair.

“Where is he?” Mitch snarled.

That bitch, that whore—Christina, was it?—ran to the opposite side of the bed, her long red hair trailing behind.

Mitch’s mother had had red hair. At least he thought she did. Everything was black in the closet.

Please help me, Mommy. Please!

“I said, where is he?” Mitch leaped onto the bed. “Under here?” Mitch jumped up and down like a madman on a trampoline. If Abie had been under the bed, he’d have been crushed.

“What did you do with my boy?” Mitch bellowed.

“He isn’t here,” Christina said breathlessly. “He’s gone.”

Mitch slowly walked across the bed. “You’re lying again. I saw him. Where could he have gone?”

“Out the window. He climbed down. Just like a little monkey. He’s probably a mile away now.”

Mitch jumped off the bed and ran to the window. Christina quickly scurried to the opposite corner.

He surveyed the distance to the ground. “Not possible. You’re lying.”

“No I’m not. He’s gone.”

“The fall would’ve killed him.”

“He didn’t jump. He … climbed.”

“On what?”

“I … lowered him out the window. With a bedsheet.”

Mitch paused a moment. “Where’s the sheet?”

“He took it with him. He—”

“Shut up, you liar.” Mitch brandished the knife again. “I hate liars. Lying is a sin. Liars have to be punished.”

“But why—”

“It’s not nice to tell lies. It’s not nice to tell secrets. You have to keep the family’s secrets. Otherwise, you have to be punished.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Look, you’re probably not an evil person. You need help. Just put that knife away, and I promise you I’ll—”

“There’s nothing wrong with me!” Mitch screamed. “ You have to be punished! ”

He dove across the bed toward her, knife extended.

Christina jumped to the side, avoiding him by inches. She raced for the door, but he scrambled across the bed and beat her there. He grabbed her arm while running and swung her against the opposite wall.

She hit the wall face-first. Her eyelids fluttered, then she fell to the floor in a heap.

She didn’t get up. She didn’t move.

Mitch kicked her in the side. She appeared to be unconscious. At least.

She would have to die, but first things first. Where the hell was the boy?

Mitch scanned the room. The window was an impossibility. But if not there …?

He noticed the closet door was open.

The boy was in the closet.

How appropriate.

Mitch ran into the closet and pushed away the hanging clothes. “Got you!”

There was no one there. But how was that possible? Where could Abie be? And what about that baby?

He saw the books in a mess on the floor. That was odd. The rest of the apartment seemed very tidy, as if it had recently been cleaned. What could that mean?

And then he heard it. Crying. A baby’s cry. And it was coming from above him. On the roof.

Mitch smiled. He stepped onto the lower shelf and knocked the roof panel out of place. “Olly olly oxen free!”

76

ABIE SCREAMED.

“Peek-a-boo!” Mitch thrust his head through the passage. “I see you.”

Clutching Joey in his arms, Abie scrambled to the far side of the eave. Unfortunately, it was less than six feet wide; there was almost nowhere to go.

“You’ve been a bad boy, Abie.”

“I have not!” Tears streamed down Abie’s face. “You’re bad. You told me … bad things.”

“That’s not true, Abie. I loved you.”

“You did not.”

“All I ever wanted was what’s best for you. For us.”

“Then get away from me!”

“Abie … is that any way to talk? Remember what fun we had at Celebration Station? We could’ve had fun like that again. But no, you had to be a bad little boy. A weak, nasty bad little boy.” His teeth locked together. “I bet you wet your bed, too.”

“I do not!”

“And I bet you like to watch your mother when she parades around in her underwear. When she’s … nice to you. I bet you like to touch yourself when no one else is around.”

“Liar!”

“You don’t have to be dirty forever, Abie. It’s not too late. I can … cleanse you.”

“Get away from me!” Abie kicked at Mitch’s hands gripping the opening. “I don’t want anything to do with you. You—you’re sick! That’s what my daddy says. You’re a pervert.”

Mitch’s eyes narrowed to two black slits. “Fine. Then we’ll just proceed to your punishment. Do you want to give me the baby, or do you want it to die in your arms?”

Abie pressed Joey close to him. “Stay away from us! Help! Help! ”

“Too late,” Mitch murmured. “Here I come.”

Mitch pulled his other arm through the opening, pushed himself up—

Then cried out in pain.

“ Aaaaah !”

Christina rammed the book into Mitch’s crotch again. Not subtle, but it was all she could come up with on the spur of the moment. The discolored lump on her forehead throbbed. She had been groggy, nearly unconscious, but hearing Abie scream brought her back around. She was functioning, though mostly on impulse power, and she doubted her newfound strength would endure.

Mitch peered down into the closet. “What in the—”

She hit him again. He cried out.

“You goddamn fucking little bitch !”

All at once Mitch came tumbling down the closet. He fell on top of Christina, pinning her. His knife spun across the floor.

Christina tried to crawl away. He grabbed her hair and jerked her back.

“I don’t need that to punish you,” he growled.

Christina kicked him in the shin, then reached out with her fingers toward his eyeballs. Mitch jerked his head back, but her nails scratched his cheek. Enraged, he swung his hand around at her head but missed.

“ Help! ” Christina shouted. “ Someone help —”

Mitch clapped his hand over her mouth. Christina bit him. Mitch howled; she sank her teeth in all the deeper. He wrapped his free hand around her throat. Together, they collided into the wall.

Mitch jerked his hand free. Pinpricks of blood showed where Christina’s teeth had been. Mitch looked at the wound and his face turned ashen. Reaching out with the speed of a cobra, he grabbed Christina by the back of the neck and slammed her head against the wall.

Christina’s resistance faded with the impact. Her legs wobbled. Mitch twisted her hair around his hand to hold her up and slapped her face, hard. She tried to twist away, but he was still clenching her hair.

“Please—” she gasped.

“Shut up.” He brought the flat of his hand back and hit her again. “You should’ve stayed out of my way, you redheaded whore.”

“I couldn’t let you hurt my babies,” Christina whispered, slurring her words. She was barely conscious.

“You’re all alike,” Mitch spat back. “You pretend you care, but you don’t. You let the daddies do whatever they want. You pretend you don’t hear when the baby is screaming. You let him be punished. Well, now it’s time for you to be punished.”

He reared back his hand, this time balled up in a fist. It hit Christina’s face with a sickening impact. She fell to the floor with a thud.

“Dirty cunt,” Mitch murmured. He- saw his knife lying where it had fallen on the floor and picked it up. “Now you’re going to wish you hadn’t been bad. You’re going to wish you hadn’t been born.” He straddled her body, clutched her neck with his free hand, and raised his knife into the air.