The Gemini - VII - The Beginning of the End

Jeanette lay quietly in her bed, wondering what to do. Why was she still thinking about Julian? Staring up at the ceiling she thought about all that had happened in her life and what she needed to do. Within less than a year she’d almost been killed twice, yet Julian was what kept her going. She’d read the note that Julian had left for her millions of times, and still she didn’t know what to do, because, as the reality dawned on her, she believed him. She wanted him. She needed him. A knock on the door shook her from her thoughts. “Ms Cornley? You have a package” the voice said at the other end. As she opened the door, and crushing blow to her temple knocked her about before she could blink.

“It’s your time now woman… YOUR time… YOU took him from me and now you must pay” Vernon carried Jeanette’s unconscious body to his car and then drove off to his small house in the middle of nowhere. When he was done tying her up, he gazed upon her with a look of pure unadulterated hatred. His thoughts of what he was going to do to her consumed his mind completely, but he knew he had to be patient. He wanted her to see him cutting her, making her bleed and feel as much pain as he could possibly inflict on her. She was going to beg him (if he hadn’t grown tired of her pleas for pity and sliced out her tongue) to let him end her meaningless, pitiful life.

Julian was angry. No. He was pissed off. No. he wanted to kill someone. His mother was dead… murdered… mutilated… and someone had to pay. Anyone. The problem was that he knew who needed to pay – Vernon. “YOU are going to pay!” the thoughts screamed through his head, without falter, without question. He’d ripped through everything that was not moveable into shreds. “I have to see Jeanette” he knew it before he thought it, as he shut the door behind the motel he’d been in.

“What does he see in you woman?” Vernon thought as he looked over Jeanette’s unconscious body. He slid the scalpel out with the greatest of ease. “Wake up sleepy head” he chanted in her ear. As she muttered to herself in her subconscious state he smiled and waited.

Julian stood at Jeanette’s open door and only one thing came to mind… Vernon. He’d killed the cops that were on watch at her place, and had abducted her, but where would he have taken her? Time… time was definitely not in his favor. “The old house… he’s got to be there!” he thought to himself. Thirty minutes later, as he pulled up in front of his childhood home, and as he got out of the car he’d stolen, his nose was filled with sickeningly sweet smell of burning flesh coming from the back of the house.

Reynold sat quietly in the psychiatrist’s chair… answering only when needed. He had it all worked out – they all believed his story. “Like taking candy from a baby” he smirked inwardly. They made him out to be some poor victim of a madman. He had everything going his way. Soon he’d be out, doing what he loved best – killing. He’s had the urge to kill people for as long as he could remember, but now he has the perfect opportunity to do it and get off scot-free! “New beginnings…. And I am SO going to make the most of them…” he thought gleefully to himself.

The body was burnt beyond recognition when the police got there. Inspector Cameldo looked at the report the coroner had written up: “The victim, Jeanette Cornley – body confirmed by dental records – was deceased before being set alight caused by multiple vicious stab wounds as noted by the deep chips on the skeleton of her body coupled by an almost certain fracture to her cranium…”. This wasn’t his style, she thought to herself. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was the start of something more deadly and insidious – and the thought chilled her through her entire being.

Staring at his hands blankly, all Julian could see was the burning corpse of Jeanette – his sweet, beautiful Jeanette. All he could imagine was her screams of pain and suffering. As the rage built in him he struggled to find some kind of semblance of order in his mind. He needed to find Vernon and make the bastard pay… and oh he will pay very dearly. “This will be the end of him…” the more he thought about it, the more appealing it sounded.

Slinking out of his sparsely guarded room, Reynold had everything he needed to do already set in his mind: Get back to Vernon, get him to be all relaxed, and slice his throat. He needed to carry on the legacy, and Vernon was losing his touch – making mistakes. It was time for a change… a new time… it’s his time now. Delightfully dark thoughts ran through his mind as he made his way through to the place where Vernon told him they should meet if they ever went astray.

“This is going to be so much fun!” Vernon thought to himself. For all that he had done this was by far his best work ever! He knew this would drive Julian over the edge, he knew that he would come after him. Finally he would make his mark as a man! Vernon smiled to himself as he waited patiently for Reynold to pitch as their agreed meeting place. “So much to do, so little time…” he said quietly to himself. He stretched out on the floor of the abandoned factory – secure in the knowledge that finally, after all this time, he was going to get exactly what he deserved.

It was by sheer change that Julian saw the kid lost in thought while trying to keep himself towards the shadows. He knew that he needed to get to him to get to Vernon as he slowly increased the pace of his walk as he closed in on Reynold. The kid didn’t even realize until his hands were wrapped bone-crushingly tight around his tiny neck. “You have a choice you little shit: One – you tell me where that bastard is and you live, or two – you don’t tell me, and I snap your scrawny neck in half and you die…” the words uttered from Julian’s mouth were soft and uncannily cold. Reynold could barely whimper as he looked in his dark, dead eyes with a look of at first shock and then pure terror as a patch of darkness formed around his crotch and a rivulet of steaming warm liquid ran unchecked down his leg. Reynold felt the darkness close in on him as Julian’s powerful grip squeezed tighter and tighter around his neck.

EDITOR'S NOTE

All of us go through phases and changes in our lives. We start (or end) these with a sense of finality of either accomplishment or failure. These can range from moving to a new home, starting a new relationship, losing or starting a job – the list is endless. More often than not, we find ourselves looking back at these chapters of our lives with more regret than anything else. We push ourselves to work in mediocrity, when we should in fact strive to be the unique and special person that we actually are. But what are these ends? And how do we know what marks a beginning? How do we cope with them? Can we cope with them? More importantly, will they make us a better, stronger and more capable person inside, or will we choose to just ignore these changes? Blindly walking past the new doors which have opened while dwelling on the past? Too often we miss these opportunities because we wonder why something (whether good or bad) happened and at the end of it, we realize when it’s too late that the boat has up and sailed by without us even realizing it. Well you know what? There is a very interesting response to that kind of situation: “Could’ve… should’ve… didn’t…” – as harsh as that may sound, unfortunately that is the truth, plain and simple. It’s a bitter-sweet circle and lesson that we all have to face and learn – trying to find (and live with) our lives when we reach the beginning of the end.