The veins in Suave’s neck stood up as he held on to the rope, tightening it as he bit his lips. Face-to-face, he looked into the bulging eyes of the man who had been molesting him. Pastor Ralph’s eyes were filled with fear, while Suave’s were filled with hatred.
In a flash, Suave kicked at Pastor Ralph’s legs, and the man landed on his back on the bed like a bag of yellow yams. Froth bubbled up at Pastor Ralph’s mouth, his eyes rolling in his head.
Suave raced to wrap the rope around the metal headboard, around and around, he knotted it. In a flash, he reached down for the butcher knife under the bed and stood over the man lying on it. “Hello, Pastor Ralph,” Suave mocked as he looked down on him, the rays of the light dancing off the deadly looking knife in his hand. “Ready or not, here I come.”
Pastor Ralph kicked his feet like a jackass in a wire trap, his arms weakly flying around, but this only tightened the rope more around his neck. He tried to speak, but gibberish came out. His windpipe was being crushed.
“If you wonder where help has gone...” It was that annoying song again. One of Pastor Ralph’s favorites. If only the Mighty Clouds of Joy could just shut up.
“Oh, I know where help has gone!” Suave yelled and punched Pastor Ralph in the mouth. “Away from here! That’s where.” He punched Pastor Ralph in the stomach. “Where was help when I begged God to save me? Huh? Where was help when this pig was molesting me?”
Suave jumped on the bed and straddled Pastor Ralph, the knife firmly gripped in his hand.
“Ple... please,” Pastor Ralph tried to beg but was unable to get the words out. He was now slipping in and out of consciousness, slowly choking to death.
“Maybe your God will come off His throne and help you.” Suave had a nasty grin on his face. “After all, He didn’t help me.” Without another word, Suave plunged the knife into Pastor Ralph’s throat. Blood spurted out like a water sprinkler all over Suave’s face and upper body, soaking into the bed.
With the strength of a bull powered by his hatred and anger, Suave sliced the knife across Pastor’s Ralph’s throat like he saw the guy do earlier that day with the pig—from one ear to the other.
Finished, Suave bolted off the bed, covered in blood, and looked down at Pastor Ralph as he twitched in the throes of death. “What’s the matter, Pastor Ralph?” Suave asked, his head leaned to the side as he peered at the dying man. “You’re dying. Take it like a man.”
Soon, the twitching stopped, and Pastor Ralph’s body stilled for the last time. Death had won. Pastor Ralph stared up at Suave with his long tongue hanging out of his mouth, his lifeless eyes wide open. He did turn the boy into a man, but not the way he envisioned it. It was his slaughtering at Suave’s hands that did the trick.
Suave untied the rope from Pastor Ralph’s neck. Reaching under the bed again, he took out a garbage bag and put the rope and bloodied knife in it.
Next, he stripped out of his bloodstained clothes and dumped his shorts into the garbage bag as well. Barefoot, Suave tiptoed backward toward the door. He made his way down the hallway and into the bathroom, bending down along the way to smear his bloodied footprints with his T-shirt.
After placing the shirt in the bag, he left it by the bathtub and stepped under the shower. As the cool water ran over Suave’s body, with Pastor Ralph’s blood trickling down the drain, Suave smiled. Pastor Ralph was dead. Holy cow, he had pulled it off. Suave had cut the head off the snake!
Chapter Eighteen
Suave looked up and down the dark streets, cautiously glancing around him before he knelt and stuffed the garbage bag with the bloodied rope, knife, and clothes into one of the deep drains along the street. No one would think to look there. And after a hard rain, the bag would wash away unnoticed into the sewage with the other trash.
Now wearing a clean pair of jeans and a black T-shirt, Suave walked down the street, his head held low until he reached Cobra’s house. Cobra lived with his mother. Just as Suave thought, Cobra, Daddy Lizard, and two other boys were sitting on stools around a small wooden table in the yard, playing cards.
“Man, where were you?” Cobra asked Suave when he opened the gate and entered the yard.
“I had to go back down to Three Mile to take care of something,” Suave lied. “The man wasn’t home earlier today.”
Cobra nodded. He and Daddy Lizard also worked for Mason. “Well, come and join the game. I’m beating these fools like they done stole my money.”
Suave laughed along with the others. He joined the game, and the boys played cards into the wee hours of the morning. It was a Friday night, so there was no school the next day. However, they still had runs to make for Mason.
“That’s it for me.” Daddy Lizard yawned and stood up.
“Me too,” said the other boys, and they too rose to their feet.
Suave reluctantly stood up. He now had to go back home to the corpse he left, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. But he had no choice.
“Suave, you look like you can’t take another step,” Cobra joked. “You can crash on the couch in the living room if you want.”
Suave was so relieved he could have hugged Cobra but restrained himself. “I think I’ll do that.” He followed Cobra inside the house as the other boys went home.
* * *
“Suave! Wake up!” Cobra shook Suave’s shoulder
