Revenge

LAWNDALE
Jane Lane sat at her easel painting as she waited. She knew the call was coming, somehow she always knew. The landscape in front of her was grim and littered with wreckage as a lighting storm played over head a single figure that knelt in despair as a beast struggled to free it’s self from within.

She answered the cell phone on the first ring and spoke quickly.
“Hi.” Jane said.
“Hi, it’s me.” Came the tired and flat voice from the other end.
“I won’t ask how you have been, I read the papers.” Jane said quietly.
“Busy, How is she?” The female voice asked.
“Getting better but she could really use her sister to help out.” Jane prodded.
“I am helping out, the only way I can.” The voice responded.
“No your running out on your sister and dumping it on me so you can go play judge and jury.” Jane said letting the tension creep in her voice.
“And executioner, don’t forget that part.” The voice deadpanned.
“Is she sleeping yet?” The voice continued.
“The nightmares are getting better.” Jane said and swore she would never admit why, with each paper that detailed a death one more demon was missing from the nightly torments.
“Is she letting you take care of her?” The voice asked.
“She wants you to stop and come home.” Jane said desperately.
“I can’t, I have to fix what I did.” The voice answered strongly.
“You didn’t do anything ….” Jane started only to be interrupted.
“I talked her into coming back for winter break, she would have still been in school but no I had to make a big deal of both of us coming back to see the parents now that we’re both away at school.” The voice said, anger now offsetting the deadness in the tone.
“You didn’t know what was going to happen.” Jane tried.
“I sent her out for that damn pizza.” The voice said and the guilt was thick within it.
“Look 7 drunk frat boys from Lawndale college raped her not you.” Jane said knowing it was the wrong thing to say.
“And the cops let them off. They beat and raped my sister and left her lying on the ground torn and bleeding in the cold naked and the cops didn’t do a damn thing, even with all the evidence lined up for them.” The voice returned.
“Nobody got let off, the police are still investigating it.” Jane returned knowing it was the same argument and she couldn’t win.
“Well 6 down and one to go and then they can close the file.” The voice said coldly.
“I told you, I read the papers.” Jane said thinking on the deaths that had occurred just weeks or days apart. The hard part was reading what was being done to each of the men.
“Are the police still looking at anyone there?” The voice asked.
“No, after your dad had another heart attack it pretty much convinced them it wasn’t anyone here and since everyone knows you two weren’t close their all buying the studying abroad excuse you set up.
“It’s going to be tonight and then it’s over.” The voice said carefully.
“Come home, Come back and let’s talk and then we can take care of her.” Jane pleaded.
“I will. After.” The voice said.
“Your being careful right.” Jane asked.
“The only way I’m going to get caught is if you turn me in. I understand if that’s what you need to do but let me see her first before you call them.” The voice said tenderly.
“I could never do that to you or her, I promised you I would take care of her and a Lane keeps their promises.” Jane said.
“As long as their awake enough to remember them, right.” The voice said and Jane heard a tiny smile.
“Well there is that, Trent said to tell you something and I promised I would before I knew what it was. He said to tell you he would do the same thing if it was me.” Jane sighed.
“It’s almost over.” The voice said and Jane could feel the promise in the words.
“It’s been three months, I just wish it wasn't happening like this.” Jane said as the tears flowed down her cheek.
“Is she ok?” The voice asked again.
“She can’t go in her old room, she has to have someone with her to go to sleep and she won’t leave the house. But she talks a little now mostly to me, asking about you.” Jane said frowning.
“She sleeps in your old room and I moved into the guest room and your parents are staying out of the way and with your mom taking care of your dad, it makes things easier.” Jane continued.
“I have to go, I have a date with Mark.” The voice said calmly and it sent chills down Jane’s spine.
“You can still stop and just come home.” Jane said knowing she wouldn’t.
“I should be able to be home in a few days if everything goes according to plan and then we both can start healing.” The voice said.
“Be careful.” Jane said right before the line went dead. She dropped the phone on the bed and walked out of the bedroom door and over to the room her charge slept. After confirming she had remained sleeping throughout the call she returned to her room and closed the door. The tears started at once and tremors erupted throughout her body as she fell to the floor. :It’s almost over.: Was the only thought that crossed through her mind.

ELSEWHERE
She left the bathroom and met her date in the lobby of the hotel.
“Can we take my car, you can still drive.” She said trying not to choke on the pleasant air she was putting out.
“For you anything.” Mark said and opened the door for her and the head toward the parking garage.
“I was surprised to see you here, I didn’t recognize you at first, you’ve changed so much.” Mark said laying on the charm.
“Thank you, you haven’t changed at all, just like I remembered.” She said with a smile.
“So where is this great Italian place you want to go to.” Mark said as the climbed into the new sports car.
“Just outside of town, in the country.” She answered and handed him the directions.
“Looks like about 45 minutes to get there.” Mark said as he started the car and pulled out of the garage.
“More time for us to get to talk about old times.” She grinned.

They had been driving for 30 minutes when the car started sputtering and the engine died. Mark tried to get the engine started and fail, he didn’t start cursing till his cell phone showed no bars as well.
“I don’t know what’s happening but maybe we could start walking.” Mark said as he slumped into the driver’s seat.
“I think it’s cute that you made us run out of gas but if you wanted to skip dinner you could have just asked.” She said as she leaned across the seat and started kissing his neck as one hand moved between his legs and started undoing his pants.
He couldn’t believe his luck as her mouth worked against his neck and her hand had him free of his clothing and responding in seconds. The hard click of metal releasing distracted him for a moment but only until the pain started. He started to scream as she moved back toward the passenger seat after dropping something into a plastic bag she pulled from under the driver’s seat, he didn’t want to admit what he knew it was. He held his hands in his lap trying to stop the blood that was pouring out of the gaping wound.

He stared at her in shock as she opened the glove compartment and pulled out a small pistol.
“I’ll give you the same choice as the others, live like that or I can put you down quick.” She said frowning but it was her eyes that were dancing with joy.
“Why?” He asked as he continued to try to hold the blood in as it kept pouring out of the hole she had made that no doctor would ever be able to fix enough to make him a man again.
“You raped and tried to kill my sister with your drunk friends.” She said firmly.
“That bitch in Lawndale, she wanted it, she always wanted it, so we give it to her.” He said saying the same line that ran through his head the night three months ago.
“Wrong answer.” She said and pulled the trigger twice and watched as his head disappeared taking the window with it.

She got out of the car and opened the trunk pulling out the bleach and brush that she used to clean the road before spreading dirt around the area. It wouldn’t fool a CSI team but they would have to know where to look to find anything. She pushed the body into the passenger seat and reached over and turned the gas switch back to the main tank, instead of the two gallon one she had jury rigged in the trunk. She wouldn’t be going back to the hotel since it was paid in full for the night and all her belongs were in the trunk ready to be moved to her car which she arrived at almost an hour later, taking the back roads until she pulled up to the abandoned farm house she had found when scouting the area to set tonight up. It was a graceful bit of luck that she found a dead cell zone in the perfect location but simple things made all the difference between a lethal injection and getting away with murder. She moved the body and her belongings into the driveway and quickly got back in the car and drove toward the nearby lake, minutes later she watched as the car disappeared in to the water, that was in fact a flooded quarry almost two hundred feet deep.

:By the time they find the car any evidence I might have missed will be long gone.: She thought after cleaning off with engine degreaser that smelled like citrus but seemed to clean anything, even blood off. She made the walk back to the house and quickly packed everything into her rental car and doused the body with gasoline and lit it ablaze. She was twenty miles away before the police scanner told her someone had spotted the fire. She was on a plane to France under a false name before it was released that it was a body that was discovered. By the time the police had linked the body to the previous six, she was dropping out of her classes and booking a flight to Middleton. She took a taxi from Middleton to Lawndale and tipped well as she climbed out with the two bags she had brought with her, choosing to ship everything else. Jane was waiting for her on the steps looking like she hadn’t slept herself in days, maybe it was the aversion Lane’s had to being up at 6 am.
“Is it over?” Jane asked already knowing the answer.
“Yes, I just hope that she can forgive me, that you can forgive me.” She answered.
“She’s really missed you. The nightmares are gone now, the monsters are all dead.” Jane said sadly.
“Thank you.” She said and watched as Jane stood and opened the door.
“I’ve doubled my price for babysitting just so you know.” Jane said the relief showing on her face.
Quinn Morgendorffer smiled and answered. “I’m just a poor ex-college student, I don’t know if I can afford a pizza a day for TEN years.”
“Well there is a strip club down town hiring.” Jane said as she grabbed the bags from her best friend’s sister.
“I think I can come up with something better than stripping to make money.” Quinn smiled as she felt her own demons drift away from her as she came home and it was as herself for the first time since Daria was attacked that she entered her home.
“Quinn, you didn’t keep them did you?” Jane asked looking nervous.
“No, I got rid of them.” Quinn smiled.
“Let’s go see if Daria’s awake yet.” Jane said and they headed upstairs.

Five miles out of town Samuel Todds stared at his farm hand looking concerned.
“I swear boss it’s like them hogs have gotten a taste for flesh, they bite anyone that gets in there.”