Fiends

    ‘Be my guest.’

    She sat up and asked, ‘What’s that for?’

    ‘Hanging you.’ He dropped the noose over her head. Reaching behind her, he lifted her hair from under the rope. His hand paused, caressing her neck. Marty felt goosebumps rise under his touch. She heard herself make a tiny, whimpering sound.

    ‘Scared?’

    She tried to talk, but couldn’t.

    Willy laughed. He slid the knot against the front of her throat, then backed away from her and tugged the line. Her head jerked.

    ‘Ow!’ she gasped.

    ‘Up.’

    Marty slowly got to her feet.

    Stall! Do something! Oh, God!

    She straightened her blouse and skirt. She scratched her left shoulder as if she had an itch there. Willy watched.

    ‘Another minute,’ he said, ‘it won’t be itchy anymore.’

    She shoved her fingers inside the noose and pulled it open.

    Willy was too quick.

    He tugged his end of the rope and the noose whipped shut, jerking at the back of Marty’s neck and flinging her headlong into his arms. He hugged her tightly against his body, gave her rump a painful squeeze with one hand, and said, ‘Nice ass.’

    ‘Fuck you.’

    ‘Let’s go over to the stairs,’ he said. Releasing the grip on her buttock, he stepped backward, paying out rope. Then, using the rope like a dog leash, he led her toward the stairway.

    ‘You won’t hang me,’ Marty said.

    ‘Don’t think so? Maybe you’d better hope I do, honey. Cause you know what? I’ve always known I’d come back and pay you a visit. I’ve had a lot of years to daydream about it and think about all the things I’ll do to you. It’s how I used to fall asleep at night in my cell. You were always the last thing on my mind at night. Every night. And I always fell asleep with a boner.’

    At the foot of the stairs, he told Marty to stand still. Then he climbed up the stairway backward, paying out rope and keeping the line taut.

    ‘Willy, don’t,’ she said. ‘They’ll send you back to prison. You’ll spend the rest of your life there. Do you want that? The entire rest of your life?’

    ‘That’s if they catch me. But they won’t.’

    ‘Yes they will. If you… everyone will know you did it. They’ll catch you, all right.’

    He reached the top of the stairs.

    ‘Willy? Don’t do this.’ She tried to sound brave, but it didn’t work well.

    ‘What’ll you give me?’ he asked.

    A few strides along the upstairs hallway, and he would be standing directly above Marty.

    ‘Anything,’ she said. ‘Just don’t… don’t hang me. Please. Don’t kill me. I’ll do anything. Please.’

    And then she started to cry.

15

    ‘I want out,’ Tina muttered, pressing herself against the passenger door. ‘Stop and let me out.’

    ‘As soon as we get to Mawkeetaw,’ Homer said. He patted her knee. She pulled it away. ‘Scare you? All that talk about fiends?’ He forced himself to laugh. His face felt very hot. ‘I reckon I oughta apologize, but I won’t. Know why? ’Cause I want you scared. Yes, I -do. You're a sweet child, and I want you scared. Graveyards, they’re full of fearless, sweet young girls.’

    ‘Oh, Christ.’

    ‘Watch your tongue, girl. Take not the name of the Lord thy God in vain.’

    Her lower lip started shaking. Then she began to sob.

    ‘Aw, now, don’t cry. Nothing to cry about. I’ll take good care of you. I sure will. Nothing to fret over, long as you’re with Homer.’

    He shook his head, upset that he’d let his name slip out.

    ‘Let me go,' Tina said. ‘Please?’

    ‘Can’t do that. If I let you go, sweetheart, why, a fiend might come by and snatch you up. You don’t want that to happen.’ He reached a hand toward her. She slapped it away.

    ‘Don’t touch me!’ she blurted.

    ‘Didn’t mean nothing by it.’ He frowned at her. Tears streaked her face. She sucked in a deep breath and held it, biting her bottom lip. Her arms were crossed in front of her body, hiding her breasts. She was tilted awkwardly to keep her legs out of easy reach. ‘Say, you don’t think I’m a fiend, do you? I’m not a fiend. Heck no.’

    ‘Then let me go.’

    ‘Can’t. Wouldn’t be safe. Do you know what they do to pretty girls like you? The fiends?’

    So confusing. That awful tightness, his heart thumping, his breath coming so loudly. ‘They start with your clothes. Rip them right off you.’

    She jerked at the door handle.

    Homer jammed his foot down on the brake pedal. The tires screamed as the door flew open and Tina dropped backward through it.

    In the rearview mirror, Homer saw her tumbling along the pavement. By the time he had stopped the car to watch, she was no longer rolling. She lay motionless in the grass alongside the road. Her dress of many colors was twisted high. Leaf shadows, stirred by the evening breeze, trembled on the white skin of her buttocks.

    Homer pulled her door shut. He pushed the gear shift into reverse.

    His hands clenched the steering wheel and he pressed his forehead against it, shaking.

    All so confusing.

    Never should’ve stopped.

    Never should’ve picked her up.

    Never!

    He looked at the rearview mirror.

    The girl was on her hands and knees, slowly crawling toward the edge of the forest.

    ‘I’m not a fiend!’ he cried out. ‘I’m not!'

    He shoved the shift forward, jammed the gas pedal to the floor, and sped away.

16

    ‘Anything?’ Willy asked from the top of the stairs.

    ‘Anything!’ Marty cried. ‘Anything! Just please don’t do it! God! Don’t! Whatever you want! Anything! Just please, please God, don’t hang me!’

    ‘Okay. Here’s what. Phone that prick boyfriend of yours and tell him to haul ass over here.’

    ‘What?’ She sniffed and wiped her runny nose. ‘What do you want with him?’

    ‘A little payback.’

    ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll call’ - she dropped backward - ‘him.’ Dropped backward grabbing the rope with both her hands.

    Willy let go of his end to keep from being tugged off the top of the stairs, and Marty sat down hard. An