Cellar Door

“This doesn’t concern you,” the man says, as he swipes the gun from the ground. He tucks it in his waistband, then picks Keller up and tosses him against the car.

This doesn’t concern you. I steel my resolve. As I watch him punch Keller in the stomach, making sure he’s unable to run again, I lift my chin. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I can’t see his face, but I can feel his eyes latch on to me through the dark. ?

?You’ll regret this.”

In the distance, I hear the whoop of sirens. The police are looking for Myer’s killer. He’s right here—but he’s mine. The man yanks Keller from the car and hauls him into the alley between warehouses.

I’m not losing him now. My fate be damned, this moment is all that matters—tomorrow and consequences don’t exist. With a groan, I roll my achy body over so I can use the car to get to my feet. Then I hobble toward the alley, only getting a few feet before fear and adrenaline and pain put me on my knees.

I pull myself around the corner of the building and…my world tilts. I see Keller. He’s leaned up against a Dumpster, his head turned my way. And he’s looking right at me, his eyes wide. I get a clear glimpse at his deep-brown gaze as it tunnels through me with his silent plea.

No.

It has to be him. It has to be. That night I was wrong, I was in shock, distressed. Time distorts memories.

I lose all sense of awareness as my body sags against the building. Only the frightening sounds of pain and anguish shatter my vacancy, bringing me back to the moment. The beast of a man wails on Keller. Blow after blow. Blood splatter mixes with rain until I can’t tell one from the other as the dark drops descend.

He’s a monster.

But some sick part of me thrills at the sight.

And the anguish I hear cloaked in groans of exertion is his own. Not Keller’s, but the monster’s. I can feel his pain as it ripples the night air around him.

When he’s heaving with spent energy, the man backs away and admires his work. Keller is a gory, bloodstained pulp of a man discarded against the alley Dumpster.

“Finish it, Luke,” Keller says through a spray of blood. He laughs hollowly, the way a person only can when they’re delirious, or the end is inevitable. Welcomed, even.

Luke. I tuck the name away. I know why I’m here…but why is he? Who is Luke in all this heartache and madness?

The man—Luke—digs into his jean pocket and produces a coin. He holds it up before Keller’s face. “Choose,” he commands.

Keller spits a bloody stream from his mouth. “Fuck you.”

A fist smashes into Keller’s face with a sickening crunch. Keller’s nose spurts red, and he gags, coughing and choking on his own blood.

“Choose!” Luke snarls.

“Heads, you motherfucker.”

I see the glint of the coin as it flips high in the air, then Luke catches it and slaps the silver coin against the back of his hand. He removes his palm slowly, so that Keller’s swollen eyes get a clear look.

“Heads it is,” Luke says.

The way his gruff voice delivers this…in such a calm, collected manner, chills my insides. He approaches Keller with a gratified purpose and grabs him by his suit collar, forcing him to stand, and props him against the Dumpster.

For a split-second, Luke glances at me. I glimpse the outline of his features before he pulls Keller toward him and turns him around. Keller faces me—those swollen, brown eyes staring, holding me suspended in the moment. The air vacates my lungs as I witness Luke wrap his forearm around Keller’s neck and brace his hand to his face…

Snap.

Keller falls to the earth. Motionless. Rain pelts his lifeless body.

I try to absorb the action. Make it my own. But it’s unsatisfying. Over too quickly. And it doesn’t belong to me. In the end, maybe I wouldn’t have gone through with it. Maybe I’d have decided to bring him in, let the justice system punish him.

Maybe he’s not the man I’ve been searching for.

All this whirls inside my mind like a toxic tornado, and I don’t hear the slosh of his footfalls nearing me until it’s too late.