Requiem of a Killer

Requiem of a Killer(Christian Francis) Requiem of a killer
By: The Mayor

I woke up in an unfamiliar place with a pounding headache. I guess I’m in a room or something judging by the carpet or rug I feel under me and the continuous ticking of a clock located somewhere in this place. The last thing I remember was being at the hospital, being at my daughter’s side while she battled cancer. It’s been hard for me to cope with not only being blind but also dealing with a sick child. I remember her doctor telling me that I should consider looking into making funeral arrangements because my daughter’s cancer was getting progressively worse. My attention quickly reverts back to my current dilemma. I all of a sudden hear a jingling of keys and the sound of what sounds like a cage door opening, a voice yells out “GET UP NOW!!!”…. I recognized that voice, it sounded like Ruby, Martin Castellano’s bodyguard, but that would be impossible because Castellano is supposed to be dead. She grabbed my arm, helped me to my feet and proceeded to guide me down some corridor. As we walked down this corridor, I asked Ruby where we are headed, she responded with “Just walk”. I refrain from asking another question and just walked quietly next to her as we headed to our next destination. We all of a sudden stop abruptly. Ruby tells me in a soft but aggressive voice “Stop….wait here”. All of a sudden I hear what sounds like a keypad being pressed. Shortly after, I hear what sounds like a rusted gate open. Ruby then whispers in my ear seductively “Follow me”.

As I walk into the area beyond the gate, I’m greeted with familiar voices. I hear the terrified voice of Ernie yelling my name, and then I hear the ever familiar voice of Castellano sarcastically greeting me like he has been anxiously anticipating my arrival. He begins to go into a rant like a villain in a James Bond flick. I cut him off while he is in the middle of his rant and ask what he wanted from me or with me. His response was a little eerie, he said “I want to end your life but without actually killing you”. With a puzzled look on my face, I respond with “I don’t understand what you mean by that…..is it supposed to be a riddle or puzzle or something?” He says “You almost claimed my life long ago….I just wanted to return the favor the best way I know how”. All of a sudden I hear some footsteps coming my way, the footstep are then followed by a loud thud, like if something heavy was dropped in front of me. I begin to feel around this item to try to at least figure out what’s in front of me. From my estimation, it seems to be a box or crate. I continue to feel around to see if I can locate a lid or an opening so I can find out what’s inside. As I continue to feel around, I stumble onto what seems to be a button. I press the button and immediately after I feel a slight rumble and I can hear the lid open up and slide to the side. I push the lid further aside and slowly stick my hand in the box to feel around for its contents. As I feel around, I come in contact with something that appears to feel like human skin and clothing. I continue to feel around and as I continue on, I come across what feels like a necklace with a pendant. I begin to run the necklace through my hands to see if I can figure out what it is. The necklace felt very familiar, it felt like a necklace I gave to my daughter long ago that I got on one of my assignments. I began to feel sick….like the feeling you get when you hear some extremely bad news. I reach into the box with both hands and grab hold of what seems to be a body and slowly pull it out the box.

As a parent, we carry a sixth sense when it comes to our kids, we know when something is not right without having to hear anything beforehand. This is one of those moments. As I continue to pull the body out of the box, I hear Ernie scream “WHAT THE…..!!!!” over and over again ,which pretty much confirmed my suspicion. The body that I pulled from the box was the lifeless body of my baby girl. For the first time in my life, I failed my little girl. As I hold her body in my hands, a tear begins to roll down my face followed by many more. I thought cancer would’ve been my only worry when it came to her, I didn’t expect her to be taken from me in this manner. This is the only time in my existence, I was happy to be blind just so I wouldn’t have to see my daughter the way she was right now.

I hear footsteps approach me followed by an ecstatic laugh. It was Castellano…fully basking in his sadistic glory as I sit here with a soul full of hurt and a heart full of rage. He places what to me appears to be a knife to my throat and orders me to stand up…. I unwillingly oblige. Castellano proceeds to whisper in my ear “You took everything that I built from me…your failed assassination attempt on my life, caused me to go into hiding and abandon my lucrative operation. I’ve patiently waited for so long to get back at you for what you had done to me. Now that I have done just that, I will proceed to rebuild my organization and continue where I left off and you get to witness every bit of the action”. He then proceeds to walk away but then abruptly stopped and walked back in my direction. He then again leans in close to me and in a sadistic voice “You know what, on second thought…. I prefer you die”. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain coming from my stomach. Castellano pulls me in closer to him while he continues to jam what I figure to be a blade deeper into my stomach. He begins to grin and tell me in a bit of a harmonized way “I got a secret to tell you". ”Oh really….what bullshit story you plan on telling me” I replied. He begins to tell his secret, “Your partner in crime, Ernie, was working for me the whole time. After my reemergence, I met with your boyfriend over there and he was eager to assist in bringing you down. At first I was hesitant but after a while, he proved he could be trusted."

As I listen to him go on with his story, I stare across at Ernie, he can’t even bear to look at me. All I can hear in the background is Ernie sobbing and continually apologize to me. Castellano finishes his story and proceeds to ask me “As cliché’ as this may sound….do you have any last words for us before you join your daughter?” “Yes I do” I replied. I begin to grin a little before I speak. He yells out “What are you grinning at?”. “A dead man” I responded while grinning like a Cheshire Cat. “What are you talking about” replied Castellano. “I knew Ernie sold me out to you. I actually kept tabs on every interaction he had with you and Ruby”. Castellano’s eyes turned blood shot red while listening to me tell him everything. “The only thing I didn’t foreshadow was the death of my daughter by your hand. For that I applaud you for your efforts but even though you may have won the battle, having me here next to you will cause you to lose the war”. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT” replied Castellano angrily, “Come a little closer and I’ll tell you”. Castellano proceeded to move closer to me and asked “Now tell me you son of a bitch….what are you talking about”. I respond to him in a serious tone “Do you remember the saying…The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist?”. “Yea I heard of it…what does that have to with this situation”. “Well for starters, the reason why I knew about everything was because I too, had a mole in your organization”. “You lie” he replied. “You wish I was but unfortunately for you… I’m not” I responded.

Castellano begins to survey his crew, to see who might be the mole. He looks around frantically at everyone and begins to yell out “Which one of you betrayed me”. At that moment 2 gunshots ring out. Castellano lets out a grunt and slowly slumps to the floor. He looks around to see who fired the shots in his direction. It was none other than his own right hand man Ruby. He stares at her with a puzzled look on his face, she then proceeds to point the gun at his head and squeeze the trigger. She stands over him with a satisfied look on her face as if she had exorcised some of her demons. She then turns her attention to the remaining guys in the room and orders them to leave the premises. The only person to remain was Ernie, who stood there sobbing uncontrollably. He began to walk towards me…I can hear him slowly shuffle his feet as he made his way. He threw himself at my feet and began to beg for mercy and forgiveness. Ruby tapped me on the shoulder and asked “Would you like me to kill this piece of shit?”. “No…no” I replied. Ernie slowly got back to his feet and proceeded to hug me. All he kept saying was, I’m sorry. I replied “You were family Ernie….if you were in trouble, you should’ve said something. Because of you, my baby girl was killed….do you honestly think I can forgive you Ernie?. Before I leave here with my little girl, I have something to share with you”. “What’s that” replied a sobbing Ernie. I hug him real tight and proceed to tell him “I was never blind”. “Wait what” responded Ernie, “That’s impossible”. “No its not” I replied. “But I saw when you were blinded… I was at the hospital when the doctors said you would never regain your vision. Like I told Castellano before, i'll repeat to you… the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist”. Right after telling Ernie my secret…I placed my hands on the sides of his head, looked him straight in the eye and told him “Tell my baby, daddy loves her”. At that moment in one swift move I break Ernie’s neck and watch his lifeless body hit the ground.

I slowly walk over to my daughter’s body, pick her up and proceed to make my way out of the warehouse I was in. I stop and turn to Ruby, she tells me “I’m sorry for your loss…but I want to thank you for my freedom”. I reply “Thank you and also thank you for helping me get rid of Castellano for good. I owe you one…one day I will repay that debt”. She responds “You already have in more ways than you would realize”.

As I walk away, the sun begins to rise. I feel this is a message from my baby girl that a new day is upon me and that the life I once lived is finally no more. I whisper to the lifeless body of my daughter as I walk “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, but thank you for protecting me… until we meet again princess… I love you”.