Jed
The party was chill as hell. Specially for Bumfuck, Nowhere. It was happening at the abandoned football field on the edge of town. Hipsters and hillbillies alike came to get drunk, talk shit, and maybe even get laid.
Last time anyone played there had to be back in the 80s, at least. The field had trees and shrubs growing from the 50-yard line all the way to both 30-yard lines. Viewed from the bleachers it would look like a nature park, if you ignored the rusty old goal posts.
When I got there I turned my phone off and took a beer from one of the coolers. I didn’t want to be bothered. That’s what August was now, a bother.
This night was meant to be a relaxing time at the drive-in. They were doing a marathon of my favorite director. I was real excited, but damn did August ruin that for me. Whenever I talked about it, she’d get a condescending tone of voice in her throat and give me a mocking smile. I wanted to slap it off her face, but I didn’t do that anymore.
I had started going to church. I didn’t necessarily believe in all the magic shit, but I liked some of the ideas behind it. Redemption, I liked that. When I told August I wanted her to come sometime, she laughed the hardest I’d ever heard. Still didn’t hit her, though.
Right as I was going to get a second beer, some asshole put Miley Cyrus on through the sound system. Everyone started yelling to change the song. That’s when I bumped into Tabitha. Crazy bitch materialized out of thin air.
“Looking for a drink, friend?” she asked. She was dressed in her typical goth shit, hadn’t changed her style in over a decade, pathetic really. In her hands were two beers, both already opened.
“Nah, I just wanted to stare at the ice chest. It’s one of my favorite hobbies.” I hoped being a dick would be enough to get her off my case.
“There’s that sarcasm August always talked about. Here, take one of mine.” She held one of the drinks up to my face.
I eyeballed the bottle. “What happened to the cap?”
“What?”
“Why did you open both of them?”
“Cuz’ I’m drinking out of both.”
“I’ll get my own. I’m not really interested in getting AIDS, or is that only a fag thing? Do dykes get it too?”
“Fuck you,” she said.
I pushed past and went towards the cooler. Then I felt liquid running down my back. She poured both drinks on me. I turned around and stared her in the face. “Thank you. Just so happens I forgot to shower today and I love the smell of Pabst.”
She guffawed then hit me across the face with one of the empty bottles. It didn’t break, but I bled. “You got a snappy come back for that, limp-dick?”
I wanted to hit her. But I had redemption on my mind. “No, I’m done for the night.” I pressed my sleeve to my head and walked back to the lonely dirt road where I parked.
My Jeep was still waiting for me beneath an old oak tree. As I stuck the key in to unlock it, a wet cloth covered my mouth. I squirmed then felt someone’s legs wrap around my stomach. The weight of someone on my back was too much and I fell to the dirt.
I struggled for a minute or two. Then it got hard to breath with the soaked rag on my face. I got sleepy and closed my eyes to the sight of a woman’s boot with three buckles across the laces.
***
Tabitha
Bitches Brew was playing on the radio. You could barely hear his screams.
I picked him up around eleven, now it was twelve. Drove around for half an hour just thinking. But I had to go through with it, I had gone too far. I gave him chloroform, don’t remember how much. I wanted to roofie him, would have been easier, but that didn’t work out.
Hard part was getting him into the trunk. Asshole was heavier than he looked. Now he was lucid, kicking away.
It wasn’t the fact that she cheated on me, it was the fact that she did it with a guy. Not even an impressive guy, just a guy. She told me she wasn’t going through a phase and I believed her.
We got together in college, having never talked in grade school. Of course the moment I asked her who the Jed she was always texting was, she dumped my ass. Fortunately I moved onto medical school not long after.
But whenever I had a break from classes or my internship I’d check up on August. Online and in real life. She never found out of course, I kept my distance. The more I watched them the angrier I got.
So I made a decision that Friday night. I was done watching from the sidelines. I’d take care of Jed and then August. The only thing left to say is what happened.
Him waking up so fast meant I didn’t have much time.
I pulled the car off the road. Got out and stood over the trunk, moonlight reflecting up at me. Everything felt surreal in a beautiful melancholy way. I opened the trunk and stared at him. He wasn’t much to look at. Brown hair, brown eyes, he seemed like every other asshole.
He tried to get out.
I slammed the trunk door on his elbows. Then again. Then for a third time just to make sure he wouldn’t be any trouble.
He cried, and he screamed, and he kept on kicking.
I pulled out my stiletto and took a deep breath.
***
August
It was three in the morning when I got Jed’s text. He had been ignoring me all night and I was worried. We were supposed to go see a marathon of David Cronenberg films at the drive-in. I didn’t care for it, but Jed had been talking about it for weeks. He told me all his favorite films in order of best to worst. He said his favorite thing about Cronenberg was his use of “body horror,” or something like that. I had no idea what he was talking about.
“Come outside. I’ve got a surprise for you,” it read. I thought that was odd, normally he used abbreviations, poor spelling, and emoticons. But I was too tired to think twice. So I got out of bed, pulled a sweater over me and put my shoes on. I hoped it wouldn’t be cold out. I was too lazy to change my pajama bottoms for jeans.
My parents were dead asleep, so I had no trouble sneaking out. But when I stepped out the front door and walked into the driveway there was no one around. The empty suburban street was colored sepia by the streetlamps. I pulled out my phone and started typing a message only to be interrupted by a new text.
“Come to the mail box.” Even when I’m sleep deprived I’m not that stupid. My heart started racing and I headed back towards my house. Something was wrong. But then I felt a sharp pain in my neck and I was pulled to the ground. The last thing I saw was Tabby’s dead eyed face.
I woke in the dark. My clothes were wet and sticky. I screamed and tried to stand up. There wasn’t enough space. I was in some sort of box.
I reached for my phone. I had it. I checked for a signal. I had it. But before I called for help I had to see where I was. I used the dim screen light and held my phone against the ground.
Sticky black liquid pooled on the floor. I wanted to look away, but instead I kept going. It was Jed. His body, if you could call it that, was strewn about the floor of what I later learned was a welded shut dumpster. Where once he had hazel brown eyes, now there were hollow sockets.
The cops got me three hours later. I stayed on the line with 911 the whole time. It took them awhile to find the right dumpster.
They never caught Tabitha, though. The hospital at where she volunteered reported several different types of anesthetics and surgical tools missing. They say she most likely fled the state and then the country.
In every shadow I see her. In every dream she finds me. She could be a world away, or even dead, and I wouldn’t know the difference. She left her mark and I doubt I’ll ever get rid of it.
It isn’t the gore of what she did that haunts me. It’s the fact that her face looked the same as it ever did. The same as when she used to kiss me.
by 
Joseph Stryker
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