Sweet Revenge

The purple stained water stood out in stark contrast against the white glistening tub she leaned over. Her eyes were shut tight, blocking the sight to avoid getting the water in her eyes. She held her breath to avoid accidently inhaling the water as it ran down her face in torrents. Her aching back was crying for relief against the current hunched position it was forced to take. After five minutes of this Sarah decided it was enough time for the dye to have rinsed out of her hair completely. With a groan she stood up, her back clicking with a sharp sound that surprised her. At twenty eight she would have thought she was too young to have clicking bones, but obviously not. With her right hand she wiped her eyes while her left hand reached out to grab a towel to dry her hair with. She made quick work of getting rid of the excess water with rough hands squeezing and pulling at her now black hair. It was a dramatic difference from her natural mousy brown hair, but having inherited her father’s dark eyebrows it looked more natural than her previous colour. She stood in front of the mirror over the sink, green eyes searching the reflection that stared back at her.

Eight years ago she had been happy with the girl that would look back at her. She had the same insecurities all girls that age had, but in spite of that she had the one thing that was lost to her now. The girl back then had hope. Now, the girl that stared back at her was a frightened woman that was fighting for her freedom, and her life. She lived each day in fear, looking over her shoulder with every step she took. She had no happiness, no peace. He had taken that away from her years ago, leaving her with a scarred body and a fractured soul that would never heal from the emotional scars he brutally inflicted on her. She almost wished she could turn back time so that he had never entered her life. Her daughter was the only reason she could never regret it. The emotional abuse, the beatings, rapes and attempted murder were all erased the moment she looked into her daughter’s eyes. He had been locked away for his crimes, never to see the light of day again. Now, he had escaped and she had no doubt he was out to get revenge. Her eyes were lifeless and filled with tears as she thought about the daughter she had sent away to Spain with her parents. It broke her heart to be apart from her but it was for Charlotte’s own protection. Neither of them would be safe. Not until he was gone.

Michael Way had to die, and she was the one who would pull the trigger.

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‘Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict?’

The Judge’s voice was calm and clear as he presided over the case. The gory details hadn’t affected him like it had affected the twelve men and women who had spent the last couple of weeks looking over the bloodied images that were the last physical evidence of the crimes that had been committed.

‘We have your honour.’ The man stood tall and confident, ignoring the people who were watching him closely with rapt attention.

‘On the count of First degree murder of Donna Way, how do you find the defendant?’

‘Guilty.’

‘On the count of first degree murder of Donald Way, how do you find the defendant?’

‘Guilty.’

‘On the count of first degree attempted murder of Sarah Logan, how do you find the defendant?’

‘Guilty.’

Sarah stopped listening after that. It was over. In her mind it was finally over. She sat in the court room with her parents and felt nothing but relief wash over her. It was mingling with the instinctive fear that gripped her at the sight of her husband. His back was turned to her, his mousy brown hair slightly longer than the last time she had seen him. During the two week trial he never once looked at her, except for the day she sat in the witness box. That day he had looked her in the eyes, his eyes vacant of emotion. He showed no guilt or remorse as she told the crowd about the years of domestic abuse she had suffered. She had told them in detail about the day he had raped and stabbed her when she finally found the courage to leave him.
The missing pieces of his mysterious past were put together for her during those weeks. He had murdered his own parents in a fit of rage, fleeing the state of New Jersey before he could be arrested. His older brother had found the bodies two days later when he became concerned. That was how he had ended up in North Carolina, working in some café. He had changed his surname in that time to Lee, a name Sarah had been proud to take when they married. She had fallen in love from the moment he had given her his shy smile but, now when she looked at him she felt nothing but hate. Her contempt was evident on her face for all to see. She wished for nothing more than to see him suffer, like she had at his hands. She only wished she could be the one to do it.

That was why she found herself outside a small but well kept apartment complex in Trenton, New Jersey. She shuddered from the cold and her nerves as she stood outside the main door. She was about to press the buzzer marked ‘G. Way’ when a couple came out, opening the door. Her trembling hand grabbed the handle and kept it open with ease. She briskly walked to the elevator, stabbing every button she had to press with a vengeance. When she finally made it outside his door, she hesitated. She wondered whether she could really trust him. He may be a cop, but Mikey was still his brother. Something told her that he wasn’t like Mikey, that she could place her faith in him. The hatred in his eyes on the day of Mikey’s sentencing couldn’t be faked. There was no love left for his little brother. Mikey had taken the lives of his parents and had irrevocably changed his life. If anybody could understand how she felt, it was he. Feeling more determined in what she was about to do, she politely knocked on his door, her knuckles stinging slightly from the impact on the hard, blue door. She waited for a long drawn out minute, hearing a barking dog answer her knocking. The barking was met with a rough male voice, his words snapped in agitation and unclear to Sarah’s ears through the thick door between them. The fear and trepidation rose with every passing second. She was realising all too late that what she was about to do was ludicrous. Not only was it stupid, but also illegal. She took a step back, ready to run away and forget her crazy idea when the door was suddenly pulled opened, revealing the man she had come to see.

He had aged slightly in the five years since the one and only time she had seen him. His hazel eyes were similar to the man she hated with every fibre of her being, but their similarities ended there. He was smaller than his brother by two inches, and his black hair was in stark contrast to his pale complexion. His nose was small with a slight upturn at the end, nothing like Mikey’s straight, slightly larger nose. His frame was broader and lean. The confused expression on his face assured her that the hair change, combined with the contacts that changed her green eyes to a blue colour, had been successful in disguising her true identity.

‘Can I help you?’

She bit her lip, words struggling to leave her lips now she was face to face with the man who was pivotal to her plan.

‘My name is Sarah Logan. I don’t know if you-‘

‘I know who you are.’

His face hardened; his lips pursed and tense as the confusion left his eyes to be replaced with a cold, unfriendly stare. His body went rigid the moment her name was spoken, and the tone he used was short and hard. It was blatantly clear that he was not happy to see her. She knew she shouldn’t be surprised by his reaction. If he had greeted her with any sort of pleasantry she would have been astounded. She was a reminder of the person who had single-handedly destroyed his family and his reaction was understandable.

‘Can I come in?’ she asked, nervously checking over her shoulder. The sense of being watched was forever haunting her, leaving her in a permanent state of paranoia.

‘Look, I know why you’re here, but I can’t help you. If you need anything I suggest you get in contact with the guys in charge of the case.’

‘They’re dead, Gerard.’

‘That’s not my problem.’

He made to close the door but Sarah was quicker. She jammed her foot in the doorjamb, desperation pouring out of pore.

‘Please, you’re the only person who can help me. He’s going to come after me and this time I won’t make it out alive. Not unless you help me. Just hear me out, please! I know I don’t matter to you but your niece should. Once he’s done with me he’ll go after her.’

His reaction was instantaneous. His calculating gaze was focused on her face, taking her in. His expression was still hard, but his tensed muscles visibly softened under his light blue top. Her eyes pleaded with him to let her in, and with a defeated sigh he relented and opened the door wide.

‘You’ve got five minutes.’

He walked away from the door, storming down the hall without waiting for her to follow him in. She stepped inside and closed the door the second he moved from the door, her paranoia forcing her inside. She knew it was irrational, but just being in Gerard’s apartment made her feel safer than she felt in the last week. She walked down the small hallway, reaching the sitting room in a few strides. The room was large and screamed ‘bachelor pad’, with a fifty inch widescreen TV, three DVD cabinets, DVD and Blue Ray player and a surround sound system with three speakers strategically placed around the room. The couch was leather and comfortable looking, matching the two single seats that faced the TV. There, beside the couch sitting anxiously with ill concealed excitement, was a German shepherd. A whine of impatience came from the canine, who wanted nothing more than to be given free rein to jump on his new acquaintance.

‘Why are you here?’ Gerard bit out, extending no politeness to his former sister in law. In his mind he owed her nothing. He played no role in her past with Mikey, he was only unfortunate enough to read the file in the aftermath and hear the gruesome details during his trial. Seeing her was a source of internal distress for him. She reminded him of the monster that was his only living relative. He refused to acknowledge Mikey’s existence. The little boy who would borrow his comics and steal his tapes was dead and buried. Somewhere down the line Mikey had changed. Gerard didn’t notice that Mikey had gone down a dark path, and in his failure he had condemned his parents to their death. Mikey had escaped from justice for three years, and in that time he had done irrevocable damage to the young woman in front of him. Her hair was darker and her eyes lighter, but once that was stripped away he could see it was her. Her hunched stature and frightened eyes hadn’t changed in the years since Mikey’s imprisonment. She had suffered because of his failure as a brother. Her false confidence couldn’t hide the damage Mikey had done to her.

‘You heard that Mikey escaped from prison last week’ she stated, steady eyes boring into his.

‘Yes.’

‘My daughter and I went into the witness protection programme when Mikey was jailed. The media frenzy was intense, my picture was plastered all over the newspapers so the cops felt it was best for our protection to get new identities. For years I was told I was safe. I never heard anything from Mikey but I knew it wasn’t over. Mikey promised me he wouldn’t stop until I was dead, and Mikey kept his promises. Then last week I got a phone call saying he escaped, but that we shouldn’t worry. They said there was no way he could find us, that we would be given extra protection. Two days after Mikey’s escape the cops in charge of our case were murdered. The next morning there was a picture put through my letter box of our so called ‘safe house’. You know what the picture was? It was of Charlotte and me going grocery shopping a week before he got out. It was his way of showing me that the cop’s can’t protect me. He’s got somebody helping him Gerard, someone from inside the force.’

‘ I’m sorry Sarah but I don’t see what I can do to help you.’

‘The cops can’t protect me anymore. I need to learn to protect myself, and I need you to do it.’

His eyebrows creased a bemused expression on his face.

‘How am I supposed to do that?’

‘Mikey’s scared of you Gerard. All those year after he killed your parents he never went after you. I’m not going to ask what happened between you two, to be honest I don’t give a shit, but something tells me that you’re the closest thing to a safe house I have right now. You’re a detective, you’ve learned how to shoot and protect yourself. I need you to teach me for when he comes for me. I know it’s a big ask but right now you’re the only person I can trust.’

He scoffed, running a hand through his hair in disbelief.

‘What makes you think you can trust me? He’s my brother, why would I help you?’

‘Because you hate him just as much as I do.’

His eyes narrowe, anger lighting up behind his eyes.

‘He’s my brother.’

‘He killed your parents in cold blood. You became a cop because of what he did. I saw the way you looked at him at his trial. You hate him as much as I do.’

‘Even if you were right, what makes you think I would want to get involved in this? Mikey’s life is nothing to do with me. He’s nothing to do with me.’

Sarah reached into her back pocket, pulling out a crumpled photo. She handed the picture to Gerard, who took it with a steady hand. An indescribable expression appeared on his face as he finally looked at the niece he had never met. The girl in the picture was the image of Mikey, but with emerald green eyes instead of his hazel orbs.

‘She’s his daughter, but she’s your niece. She’s your family Gerard; she’s your flesh and blood. He tried to kill me when he found out I was pregnant. What do you think he’s going to do to her after he gets me? She’s innocent in all this Gerard. She deserves to live a life without fear.’

‘Where is she now?’

‘She’s with my parents in a safe place. But he found us once, what’s to stop him finding her again? She’s not safe until he’s gone. We both know that.’

Silence descended in the apartment. There was a tense silent battle of wills in their stare down. Sarah couldn’t afford to lose though. She wasn’t fighting for herself, and that gave her something to fight for. Her daughter’s freedom meant everything to her, and deep down inside she knew it meant something to Gerard too. They had never had a conversation before today, but he knew what she went through during the years she spent with Mikey. He knew the gruesome details. He had failed Mikey, a guilt that had stayed with him all these years. He couldn’t bear to carry any more weight on his shoulders. He wanted to send Sarah on her way and forget about this meeting, but he couldn’t. This was his chance to make up for the past.

‘Fine, I’ll help. I’ll keep you safe until he’s caught. ‘

Sarah let out a shaky breathe she never knew she was holding in.

‘Thank you’ she choked out, relief breaking through her emotional barrier.

‘On one condition; you listen to everything I tell you. What you’re asking is a big task. Mikey’s deranged, and just because you think he’s afraid of me doesn’t mean that he is. I’m putting my life on the line if I do this. I’ll teach you basic self defence in case something goes wrong. I know a safe place we can go until the cops catch up on him. There’s only so long he can stay hidden before he slips up.’

‘Anything you say.’ Sarah agreed breathlessly.

His gaze was intimidating, and eerily similar to the look Mikey used when he was about to vent his anger on her. She began to shake as long buried memories fought to rise to the surface. She had to look away, she needed to stay strong. She would have to adjust to Gerard and his similarities to Mikey. She had a plan she needed to execute, and Gerard was an important part of that plan.

Notes

Hey Guys,

This is my new story! I hope you enjoyed your first helping. Please comment and let me know your thoughts. Comments are super helpful in giving me inspiration to write so please just take a couple of seconds to let me know if I should continue.

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Lyra