Chapter five
“Kill him? What do you mean, kill him? I have to murder someone?” Christian spat out. Christian felt totally resentful to the job, but still, he was interested in why Krobeth would want a man dead.
“Yes, you see, the penalty for murder is death! I am a retired policeman, but I still have the authority to arrest someone, or take out the full penalty to capture them, even until death.” Krobeth replied.
“Then why don’t you just kill him yourself? I mean, why hire me?” Christian question.
“They are reasons of my own,” was the angry reply.
“Wait, wait, hold on! You are a cop! You shouldn’t be running from one!”
“Kid, I was a cop ten years ago! And then they falsely accused me of murdering someone’s child, and I was sent to prison. Kid, look, you wouldn’t understand, my life has been hard enough as it is without the cops on my butt all day long!” Krobeth stammered.
They looked at each other in silence. No one spoke. Christian analyzed his job and looked through every little part of it.
“How much would you pay me?” Christian asked.
“Ha-ha! That’s the beauty of it! I would give you half of the money you would be getting me! Half a million dollars! Ha-ha!” Krobeth laughed.
Half a million? Is he crazy? I could buy a whole bunch of cars with that kind of money! Rage filled through Christian’s bones and blood when he thought about his jealousy towards John Summers. Christian had his chance, right here, to impress Christy-Ann with $500,000 dollars. Christian thought about it. Krobeth eyed him until Christian finally replied: “I’ll take the job.”
Instantly Krobeth’s eyes lit up and he smiled and showed his rotten teeth. “Ah-ha! Thank you my friend! You have made my load a lot less of a challenge!”
Christian’s heart turned cold. Evil thoughts swelled up in his head. You are evil. Look what you have become by accepting this job! You are evil and greedy. But Christian didn’t care. All he wanted is the money to impress Christy-Ann. He didn’t care what it took. He just wanted Christy-Ann to be his.
Christian didn’t go to school that day, nor the next. He pretended that he didn’t feel well, and he stayed home to think about how he would kill the man and when.
Krobeth would have to have some kind of method to kill him. I can’t just stroll right up to him and say ‘Hello, I am going to kill you,’ and kill him! Christian decided that when his parents left the house, he would run to Krobeth’s small home and ask him for the details.
The problem was, Christian’s parents never did leave. His father went to work at seven in the evening, and his mother stayed home. Christian couldn’t wait any longer. He devised a little rope out of his bed sheets so he could climb out of his window from the top floor. Christian didn’t exactly know why he didn’t just go out the front door, but he felt like his life was from now on should be kept a secret.
His life was a secret. He stopped talking to his mother and father and hid from them. He never told anymore about Krobeth and Christy-Ann to his parents. They were forbidden. Typical teenager methods.
Christian hung the makeshift rope out of his window, and slowly climbed out. He had made it very clumsily and from the second he put his foot on one of the knots tied together, it slipped and Christian and the makeshift rope tumbled to the ground.
Christian couldn’t breathe. His world seemed to close in around him. Darkness everywhere. His lungs swelled up and he felt hot water streaming down his face. Were those tears? His arm throbbed and so did his back. It seemed as if he were to die there, lying on the ground with a couple of bed sheets lying next to him. Christian knew he was a retard and he admitted it. It wasn’t until later that his world slowly came back into view. He was looking up into his living room ceiling. He tried to look around, but his brain was too tired to think.
How could of a fifteen foot drop done all of this to me? He thought miserably. He couldn’t move at all. Once again, darkness swelled around him. He fell back unconscious.
During this four-hour long sleep, he had a dream. His feet were lifting off from the ground and he started to fly. He felt so free and his hair felt loose, from it’s usual gelled up position. He loved that feeling, the feeling that nothing could stop him.
He was flying into the heart of the L. A. city and suddenly stopped at a huge house. Must be a rich man, he thought as he slowly walked up the steps. Right when he was up on the top step, the door swung open to reveal a huge room with black and white tiles. In the center of the room was an enormous staircase, splitting into two, halfway up, and they went different directions. On the right side of the room, were two doors, both shut and locked. On the left side of the room was an open door, leading into a dining area. Christian was amazed at the enormity of the grand opening of this room. As he was gazing at his surroundings, a man walked down the staircase, coming from the left side. He saw Christian and hurriedly came down the flight of stairs.
“Thank you for coming, please follow me. She is very ill and needs a doctor right away,” the man said as he lead me up the stairs and to the left, where the man had just come down from. Christian was confused. He was no doctor, and had no idea what he was just about to be led to.
The man opened the fifth door on his right and led him to a bed, where a girl lay, drenched with wet towels. Prescription bottles lay scattered around her bed and dried up towels filled her room.
“What is going on here? What is wrong with her?” Christian asked. The reply was, “I do not know! She has not been able to move for the last couple of hours, and she can’t sleep because she says that she has been feeling pins and needles in her leg. Can you examine her?”
Christian slowly, cautiously, went forward into the girl’s room. He looked at the girl’s face and gasped.
No, it can’t be, he thought. Yes, it was. Christy-Ann lay on the bed and looked terrible. “Help me… Christian, help me…” Christy-Ann said weakly. “I am dying.”
“No! No you aren’t! You can’t die! Not yet! I need you! I love you! Christy-Ann don’t go!” All the while when Christian was saying this, Christy-Ann’s face got paler and paler. Soon, she closed her eyes, and she never opened them again.
Christy-Ann was dead.
Christian bolted upright. He heard a scream and a sudden pain in his head. “Ow…” he muttered as he opened his eyes. His parents were surrounding him. As his sight came back, he saw an old man, tall and pale, full of wrinkles. The old man was covering his head and acted as if he was throbbing in pain.
“Christian are you alright?” His mother asked him, with real excitement. Christian slowly breathed and was silent for a moment.
Suddenly, all that had happened came back to him. He remembered that he had made that rope and it fell. He had plunged to the ground. And then-
“Christy-Ann! Christy-Ann! She is dead!” Christian shouted. He jumped up, and then collapsed. His legs had failed him. “Ah, get me up! I need to save Christy-Ann!”
“Christian stop it! You were only dreaming! It’s alright; this Christy-Ann girl is not real. You were just dreaming about her. It’s fine. She is not dead. She is not even real.” Christian’s mother said.
“No, no you don’t understand! Christy-Ann is real! She goes to my school! I know her! I love her!” Suddenly Christian regretted what he had said.
“No, Christian, you just had a terrible nightmare. You will be fine by morning.” Lori replied.
Christian shook his head, and lied back down. He discovered that his pillow was soaking wet from tears. Christian wiped his eyes and saw his father. His heart stopped and his pulse rushed. His father’s eyes were red hot with anger and hatred. His face was bright red and he grinded his teeth.
Christian couldn’t even ask what was wrong with his father; he was too frightened by his stare. “What were you talking about when you were sleeping?” John frightfully interrogated his son. “What does ‘Krobeth needs me’ and ‘I accepted his job’ mean? You were murmuring this while you slept. Huh? Tell me! You have not been going back to that man, have you? Christian, we told you not to! You disobeyed us!”
His son wept silently. He had not meant to reveal all of what had happened. He would for sure never be able to get that half a million dollars now, now that his parents were let on to the secret.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Christian lied, “I have not gone back to that… horrible man.” The instant Christian said this, he knew it was too cheesy to be true. He couldn’t lie. He sobbed even louder and covered his face with his hands.
Slowly and surely, he stood up and looked for the easiest way out. Christian didn’t exactly know what he was about to do, but he had a pretty good idea about it. He took one last breath and dashed out of the room with the doctor and his parents and headed for the front door. He grabbed the handle and pulled. Locked.
His parents shouted in disbelief and ran after him. Christian struggled with the doorknob. Please, he thought, open you cursed door! Finally, it opened and Christian swiftly dashed out the door, his parents a hair width away. They shouted at him, but he paid no further attention. Christian ran out of his street and into the city despite his throbbing head and back.
Christian had successfully run away.
