Chapter 15
He stared back at me with a mixture of hatred,
and absolute, crushing exhaustion,
his thin shoulders trembling violently in the wind,
despite the small fire burning weakly beside him.
You think you control everything,
he muttered bitterly,
kicking at a piece of frozen trash with his boot,
you just erased me from her life completely,
and built your perfect little fake world,
without giving a damn about what happened to me.
You erased yourself, Aaron,
I shot back immediately,
my patience wearing incredibly thin in the cold,
you stole our money,
you pawned her grandmother's precious jewelry,
and you brought violent drug dealers to our door.
I didn't erase you,
I simply closed the door to keep the monsters out,
and you were the biggest monster of them all.
He flinched visibly at my harsh,
and completely truthful words,
wrapping his dirty arms tightly around his torso,
and looking down at his broken,
and heavily scuffed boots.
I'm clean now,
he whispered softly,
his voice barely audible over the howling wind,
I have been totally clean for almost six months,
and I just came back to the city to try and start over.
I laughed a cold,
and entirely humorless laugh,
shaking my head at his pathetic,
and easily predictable lies.
I have heard that exact same story a hundred times,
I said dismissively,
and every single time it ends with missing cash,
and a broken heart for your poor mother.
I don't care if you are clean or not,
I continued firmly,
the rule remains exactly the same as it was five years ago,
you do not contact her,
you do not come near our house,
and you do not show your face at that shelter again.
He looked up at me then,
a dark,
and desperate gleam returning to his hollow eyes,
the look of a cornered animal calculating its next move,
and trying to find any possible advantage.
And what if I do,
he challenged softly,
what if I walk right up to her front door tomorrow,
and tell her the wonderful truth about her loving husband,
who left her only son to freeze to death in a rail yard.
My blood ran instantly cold in my veins,
and a surge of absolute,
and terrifying panic gripped my chest tightly.
You wouldn't dare,
I hissed dangerously,
taking another threatening step toward him,
my hands curling tightly into fists inside my pockets.
Try me, David,
he spat back defiantly,
standing his ground despite his obvious weakness,
I have absolutely nothing left to lose in this world,
but you have a whole hell of a lot to lose,
don't you?
We stood there in the freezing,
and completely isolated rail yard,
locked in a tense,
and incredibly dangerous standoff,
two men fighting a silent war over one woman's heart.
The silence between us stretched out endlessly,
broken only by the crackling of the small fire,
and the distant,
and mournful wail of a passing freight train.
I realized with a sinking,
and deeply terrifying feeling in my gut,
that he was absolutely right about our situation.
He had nothing but the dirty clothes on his back,
and I had a beautiful home,
a successful career,
and a marriage built on a massive,
and incredibly fragile foundation of lies.
He held the single match that could burn it all down,
and he knew exactly how much power he possessed,
standing there in the freezing slush.
What do you want,
I finally asked,
the words tasting like bitter ash in my mouth,
as I surrendered to his obvious,
and cruel extortion.
He smiled a crooked,
and terribly ugly smile,
revealing several missing,
and badly decayed teeth.
I need money to get out of this freezing city,
he said quickly,
his eyes lighting up with greedy anticipation,
I need enough cash to buy a bus ticket south,
and rent a cheap room for a month or two.
How much,
I demanded flatly,
wanting to get this terrible negotiation over with,
and get as far away from him as possible.
Five thousand dollars,
he stated boldly,
crossing his thin arms over his chest,
and staring at me with complete,
and unwavering confidence.
Five thousand,
I repeated in absolute shock,
that is an insane amount of cash to demand,
I can't just pull that much money out of the bank,
without Diane noticing the massive withdrawal immediately.
That sounds like a you problem, David,
he sneered coldly,
kicking some loose snow into the dying fire,
you figure it out by tomorrow afternoon,
or I am going to pay my dear mother a surprise visit.
I felt a blinding flash of pure,
and completely unadulterated rage,
wanting nothing more than to grab him by his throat,
and squeeze until the awful threat was silenced forever.
But I took a deep breath of the freezing air,
forcing my violent emotions down into the dark,
and locking them tightly away.
Fine,
I spat through gritted teeth,
I will get you the money by tomorrow at noon,
but you meet me exactly here,
and then you get on a bus,
and you never come back to this state again.
He nodded in immediate agreement,
a look of profound,
and greedy satisfaction washing over his dirty face.
Tomorrow at noon,
he repeated softly,
don't be late, stepdad,
or I might just get incredibly lonely,
and decide to call home.
I turned my back on him without another word,
and walked quickly away through the rusting train cars,
my mind already racing frantically,
May you like
trying to figure out how to steal five thousand dollars,
from my own carefully monitored bank accounts.
