Aurora

Do you love the dark? I do, it’s my world. There is power within stygian shadows, an ever-loving silence that envelopes those who welcome her embrace. I do my best work in the dark, ask any of my ex-wives. The blackness has always been my domain, until now. Suddenly, I am uncomfortable, anxiously waiting.

A knock…a scratch… a pause… repeat. I know that sound. So distant yet so close. Just beyond my reach on the other side of the door.

Opening my eyes all I see is darkness. An anvil pounds in my head, the continuous echo slamming against my skull over and over. My limbs feel paralyzed, constrained. My mouth like cotton. A voice screams in my head crying loudly, yet I know it is no more than a muffled plea no-one hears.

A knock, a scratch, a pause…repeat.

The knock is prominent, yet muted, the scratch no more than rain rolling off a roof, the pause is torturous antici…pation.

How did I get here? Then it comes back to me. The girl, I am here because of her.

Aurora, was a cute thirteen-year-old, turning beautiful, inside, and out. Her laughter, smile and heart were pure. She was the essence of innocence, even though her parents and everyone around her were not. I arrived in her life when she was a child of five, hired to protect and keep her safe.

Aurora treated me kindly. To her I was never just hired help. For eight years I drove her, every day we would talk. I loved when she referred to me as 'Uncle Franky'. Her folks didn't care for that and frequently reminded me, I was an employee and not a member of the family.

We never took the same route twice in a row, always mixing it up. Drop her off at the private school at eight-twenty-five in the morning, pick her up at three-thirty-five in the afternoon. The drive took between twenty-seven and forty-one minutes depending on the route. The day it happened was supposed to be twenty-nine minutes there and thirty-eight on the way home. We never made it there, and she never came home.

Laying here in the dark, visions of the event return to me.

Her parents realized the kidnapping was professional, probably organized by a rival 'Family'. The question is which Family? No one came forth with demands or took credit. Especially, not after her tiny body was found discarded in the woods. In fact, every Family denied any participation in this horrific act.

This was not her first abduction attempt. However, it is the only one I failed to prevent and once is enough. My employers gave me an option. Find the murderers and I would be given an honorable way out. In truth I was lucky, failure is never rewarded with mercy in my line of work.

In this blackness my brain feels heavy trying to remember a detail, something just beyond my reach, gnawing away at my soul.

Memories flood my mind remembering all the practices, all the recitals I took her too. It was me that listened to her hopes and fears. I was the one who heard her cry when she was sad. It was me who took her for ice cream when she succeeded. Her parents never attend any of her events. They would smile at the ribbons or trophies when she won and tell her to work harder when she failed. It was my shoulder she cried on, it was me she smiled and laughed with.

Aurora became my light in the dark, and I became a better man because of her.

They took that from me.

While my physical wounds healed, I planned every detail of revenge. The kidnappers made a mistake. I transformed back to a tenebrific shade with a burning desire for vengeance.

Knock…scratch… pause.

Closing my eyes I visualize the two-hour drive, the only sounds were the hypnotizing squeak of the windshield wipers, moving in time to my thoughts. Following an unlit gravel road leading to an isolated cabin, parking a half mile away and hiking through the woods. Waiting in the rain, watching until the time was right. If they were expecting me they were not prepared. I was through the bathroom window, creeping down the dimly lit hall, following the glow of the television.

It was over in under one minute.

I was finishing zap tying Donny to the chair when his eyes pop open. Instantly fear fills his face along with understanding. His only word. “Vince?”

I nod to my left where another person is already duct taped firmly to another chair. Vince’s scalp still dripping red from the crowbar blow to his head.

“Your brothers alive, But he is gong to have a hell of a headache when he wakes.” I reply.

I begin screwing the silencer onto my Fnx-45 Tactical, while sitting upon the couch opposite of my two prisoners.

“Why?” I ask.

“Frank, I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way I swear.”

“Why.” I repeat.

“I don’t know, it all went to shit.”

I point the gun at Donny’s right knee and pull the trigger. Bone and blood splatter over the rug and wall. His screams reverberate throughout the tiny room, waking his brother. It takes only moments for Vince to realize what is happening. Acceptance, fear, loathing.

He stares at his brother writhing in pain. “What the hell Frank, why’d ya shoot Donny?”

Swiveling the pistol towards him. “Why did you do it Vince?”

He pauses for only a moment, gauging whether to lie or tell the truth. “You really asking that question?”

“Why did you take her?” I ask.

Vince laughs.

I know from years of experience who will talk and who won’t. Also, and this is the important part, how to make them talk. Donny is not a talker. He’ll take secrets to the grave. Vince however loves to think he is smarter than everyone else. The only thing he loves more is his brother. I point the pistol and shoot. Donny screams again as toes on his left foot disintegrate.

Vince struggles trying to free himself, watching his brother cry in pain. “Frank…we’re sorry. It was an opportunity. We had to take it.”

“Why did you risk everything?”

“Jesus, it was just a job.”

“A job?” I scream.

“Yes.”

“Your job was not to kill her.” I shout.

“That was an accident.” He yells back.

“How was it an accident?” My body begins shaking.

“You gave us no choice.”

“How is this my fault?” Spit flies from my mouth. I point the gun at his brothers head.

“Frank, that was the third kidnapping attempt. You had to figure it out.”

"Figure what out Vince?”

“Eventually it would have come to this.”

Jumping up, I back hand Donny with the barrel of my gun so hard, teeth fly out. “Why would you….?" I am out of words.

”Money.” He mumbles. “Please Frank, stop hitting Donny.”

It always comes down to money. Lowering my gun I say. “I paid you well. All you had to do was pretend. Make a show, then take off. Just like the last times.”

Rolling his eyes skyward. “We take the risks, and you reap the rewards. You become indispensable to the family, living in a mansion while we live in this fucking shack. This time we wanted more, we deserve more.”

“I would have given you more money or gotten you a job.” I reply.

I may have hit him too hard with the crowbar, His eyes are wandering while he says. “No one was supposed to be hurt.”

“Donny shot me. That hurt.” I cried.

“We had to make it look real. He could have killed you, but he didn’t.”

We both knew that was a lie, a chest shot is an aim to kill. They couldn't have any witnesses.

“I’ll thank him later.” Is all I say.

“She was going to be returned unharmed once we got the money. Everyone would have been alive.”

Except me. Either way I was a dead man. Staring at him I say. “You’re so stupid. They would have hunted and found you both and you would have told them everything.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. I’m here.”

Vince babbles. "She wasn't..."

Cutting him off I yell. "You keep saying she...her name is Aurora."

Donny is mumbling something, but I don’t care.

“Frank, if they knew it was us, we'd be dead already. We left no trace. Let us go, we’ll head to South America.”

“You’re going to run to the places where the Families have families?"

“Ok, Canada. I swear we won’t tell a soul.”

“Fuck you. No one wants to move to Canada.” I snap.

“You owe us.” He screams.

My strength drains from me, the tremble in my hand is the truth flooding my veins with guilt. I suspected the family was going to take me away from guarding Aurora, assigning me somewhere else. I had to show my worth in protecting her. It worked before.

Exhausted I ask. “Why did you kill her?”

Vince shakes his head. “It was an accident. We rolled her in a tarp and threw her in the trunk….she suffocated Frank….I tried to revive her”

I remain silent, Donny is silent, and for once Vince is silent.

“Frank, we‘re family.“ Vince pleads.

”Yes we are.” I nod.

I fire my gun two more times and then burn the cabin down.

Knock, scratch, pause….

This time the sound is distant, hollow. In the dark I finally know where I am. Oh God…That isn’t knocking on my door.

It is the sound of dirt being tossed into my grave…Knock.

Bits of soil rolling off my coffin lid, slowly filling the hole….Scratch.

The agonizing silence, waiting for the next shovel-full to bury me…Pause.

I’m dead ----I’m not dead----am I dead? Help, get me out. It’s dark, so dark. I try to fill my lungs with air, there is none. I try to feel my heart, it is still.

I remember. An honorable way out.

I didn’t do it for the family, or honor. I did it for her. A child who was born into a life not of her choice. Despite the wealth and privilege, Aurora was goodness. I loved her as if she were my own child.

A bright light envelopes me, I am floating. Through a mist I see her smile reaching out to me . ‘Uncle Franky, I’ve been waiting.’

‘I don’t belong here.’ I whisper and drift away. Find your peace little girl, you deserve so much better.

I’m going home to the dark.

Thank you,

Jason