Gary begins acting crazed, putting adrenaline induced strength into his struggles and screaming unrecognizable words.
Suddenly, there’s a loud screech as the table in front of me is pushed away. In the next second, Emo is scaling the table. I reach out to stop him, but he’s so fast my hands barely graze the back of his jeans. Judge steps in his path, but Emo darts to the right, then quickly changes direction, effectively bypassing him.
“Motherfucker.” I rumble under my breath and rush over to Emo at the same time as Judge. He’s already made it to Gary and JW. With JW fighting to control Gary, he never sees him coming and is caught by surprise when Emo knocks him away. He flips Gary around, and grabs him by the throat.
“Emo!” I bellow, skidding on my feet beside him, but not fast enough to stop the punch he lands on Gary’s jaw. Emo’s face is twisted into a mask of violent rage as an animalistic growl leaves his lips.
When he brings his hand back to punch Gary again, I catch it and step in front of him to block his view of the bastard.
“Move,” he snarls with a curled lip.
“No.”
“Fuckin’ hell, Trouble! Get outta my goddamn way! He’s been sentenced to death, there’s no sense in waiting. I’ll take care of it right now.”
“You know we do things a certain way here,” Judge inserts. “Now go cool off.”
Emo gnashes his teeth, and his body tenses, like he’s preparing to go after Gary again. Judge steadily holds his stare, not backing down. We all want Gary destroyed, but we aren’t savage monsters who just go around killing people who we deem not worthy of living. We’re civilized, and to keep order in the town, there are rules we follow.
Emo closes his eyes and pulls in several deep breaths, his nostrils flaring wide. When some of the stiffness leaves his body, I release his arm. There’re streaks of blood run
ning down his forearm from his fisted hand, which is now dripping to the floor.
“Take him,” Judge tells JW, who’s back to holding onto Gary.
With a nod, he escorts Gary out of the room, where he’ll sit in a cell until Monday. Emo stalks off the stage and down the center aisle that separates the rows of chairs. The town has seen enough of Emo’s temper to know to stay away from him when he’s in this type of mood. He’d never hurt an innocent person, but he’s still a frightening son-of-a-bitch when his eyes turn black as night and the creepily blank expression mars his face. The blood coating his arm sure doesn’t help.
Emo is not only a brother, but as a coroner, he’s also very valuable to the town. He helps aid our ability to hide how we govern Malus. We all play important roles in ensuring the town is how we want it to be.
Everyone knows what my brothers and I went through as kids here. Some of them are just like us and were unwilling participants of Hell Night. The ones who weren’t, have been in similar situations. Emo had it worse than all of us. While we had regular breaks of the heinous abuse, Emo endured it on a daily basis.
My eyes follow him as he slams out of the door before moving them back to Judge. His frown is deep as he watches the empty doorway. We all worry about Emo, knowing he’s a loose cannon.
“That’s it for the evening, folks. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you all of the rules, but absolutely no one is permitted at The Finishing.” He casts a stern look over the room to emphasize his point. “Everyone enjoy the rest of your evening.”
Judge and I step down from the stage and over to Mae, where we walk her along the side wall until we reach the door, doing our best to avoid conversation with people. With the tension so high, we’d prefer to make sure she makes it out of the room and to her house safely.
“I’m worried about Emo,” Mae comments, concern lacing her voice. Reaching down, I grab her hand in comfort.
“He’ll be fine, Mae. Just give him time. He’s had a rough week.”
“He’s getting worse. I’m afraid he’s going to do something he’ll regret.”
“Like what?” Judge inquires.
We slow down when we come to a particularly deep curb, and both of us grabs one of her elbows to help her down.
“I don’t know. I just have a feeling he’s teetering on a precipice. If he falls off a certain side, he’ll never be the same and it’ll eventually destroy him.” She turns to face us once we’re in front of her house, her eyes glistening. “It’s up to you two and JW to save him. Don’t let my boy fall the wrong way.”
It breaks my fucking heart to see the worry in Mae’s eyes. Her and Dale couldn’t have children, so my brothers and I are the closest they’ve ever got. In every way that counts, they’re our parents just as much as we’re their kids.
“We’ll keep an eye on him. Don’t worry. You know we won’t let him do anything stupid.”
She pulls me down by the front of my shirt—she’s damn strong for an old lady—until she can reach her frail arms around my neck. I hug her to me, smelling her familiar scent that always reminds me of safety, compassion, and home.
“I love you boys, and I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to any of you.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you’ll never have to find out,” Judge remarks bending low to get his own hug.