Better off Dead

"Why?" I asked.

"I just want ta look at it," he said.

"You know, I have to talk to the DA again this morning," I said. "Bud is coming by for me at 9. He wants me to show his wife my bracelet." Zeke got the message.

"How is it that you got kidnapped and came back here with all of that stuff?" he asked. I just shrugged my shoulders. "Why are you up so early?" he asked.

"I wanted to go to seven eleven to get you some beer," I said. "I noticed at the barbecue last night that you're almost out."

"Now that's the way a wife is supposed to act," he smiled.

"Can I take the truck?" I asked.

"The truck don't work," he said. "It needs a engine. That's why I was considering pawning your bracelet. That motor would cost a lot more than my disability checks and we need that truck. It's been down for a year."

"Okay, I'll walk then," I said. "Can you get Tammy to go with me so we could carry two cases back?"

"Hell yeah, I'll wake her lazy ass up," he said. I'd asked him to send Tammy just so he'd be sure I was coming back.

During the walk towards seven eleven Tammy didn't say a fucking word to me.

"So sis, why do you hate me?" I asked. "I mean, even when we were kids you always hated me."

"That's because you were always telling me what to do," spat Tammy. "And everywhere I went, people were always comparing us and I always came in second."

"Every God damned person I ran into told me how pretty you were. And you just acted like you were better than everyone else. When all the kids would go out and smoke weed, not only did you decide that you didn't want to go, you wouldn't let me go either." She just glared at me.

"When our friends went out drinking, I couldn't go. You stayed a fucking virgin until you got married so guys didn't want to try to fuck me. You were supposed to be my sister not my mother."

"Tammy, maybe I should have found another way to tell you," I said. "I did what I did because I loved you and I wanted better for you. You were my little sister. I really believed that you could do anything you put your mind to. You were so special and so much better than those dumb assed kids."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yep," I said. We walked for a little while longer and she turned and stopped me.

"Victoria, what are we going to do about Zeke?" she asked.

"Tammy, Zeke is yours, Honey. I have no interest in him," I told her.

"Victoria, I love Zeke. I have two kids with him and I'm pregnant again. But you're my sister so I have to tell you something. Zeke is going to steal your stuff and force you to have sex with him. I think he has this idea that he can have two women and..." she started crying and this time it was real.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "I'm not going back there."

"What about the beer?" she asked.

I just shook my head. "Fuck the beer, Tammy. Just stay here for a while and then go home. Tell Zeke that I got kidnapped again. Tell him it was a bunch of Canadian guys. Tell him you knew they were Canadians because they kept saying, "A," after everything. If they ask you about names tell them that one of them was named Doug McKenzie."

I hugged her and started walking down the road. When I got to the seven eleven, I looked around until I found that bastard Chester. He was the manager now.

I pulled him to the side.

"Hi Chester," I said. "I just came by to warn you before I give you up. Prison is rough on chubby boys like you."

"What are you talking about lady?" he asked.

"Chester, don't you recognize me?" I asked. He scanned my face and his jaw dropped.

"Victoria?" he asked. "Why are you talking about jail?"

"Because you were the one who set me up to be kidnapped," I said. "The FBI is looking for the men who did it. I don't know any of them, but I can give them YOU."

He panicked. He started blubbering and crying right in the store.

"Chester let's cut to the chase," I said. "If you drive me somewhere, I'll let you off. Do you have a car?"

He just nodded his head. We got into his car, a twenty five year old Buick that was held together with duct tape and spit. I had to hold the door closed as we drove down the road.

I know the general area that we lived in and the address. But I didn't know exactly how to get there, so we ended up driving around for a while. Suddenly, I saw our house. I had Chester drive right up to the gate. I got out and walked up to the gate. That was where I was when this story began. Two huge guys came out and told us to turn around immediately. I told them that I needed to talk to Adam and I wouldn't leave until I did.

The guy who'd spoken simply pulled out a cell phone and started to call the police. I had Chester drive away before he finished the call.

As we got back on the road I noticed that they were emptying the house. I watched through the rearview mirror as my bed was carried out of the house. It hurt badly.

Chester drove me downtown to the building that had housed Adam's business. The guard started to wave us away. I stuck my head out of the window and smiled at him. He remembered me from the many times that I'd been here since that first time. He raised the bar and let us in.

Chester stayed with the car. I went in the rear entrance the way I always did when I stopped by to see Adam at work. The last time I'd been here I'd convinced him to do me on that huge desk of his.

The guards barely glanced at me when I waved and went past.

I waved at some of the guys on the shop floor and stayed outside of the safety glasses zone.

I took the elevator up to the third floor. I walked nervously towards the office. Stepping into the office, I saw the back of a business suit. The woman wearing it seemed to be in a hell of a hurry.

"Is he feeling better or is he still sick?" I asked.

"Why the fuck would you care?" she asked, without stopping what she was doing.

"I made a mistake," I said. "I want to make up for it."

I was unprepared for what happened next. In a move so fast I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it, she straightened up, threw the papers down and pushed me against the wall with a hand around my throat.

"Just how are you going to do that?" she screamed. Her face had become a mask of hate. It was only inches away from my face and her hand was tightening.

"Let her go Angie," said Tela calmly from behind us. "He wouldn't have wanted it. He loved her all the way until the end."

"What do you mean the end?" I asked.

"Victoria, don't you watch the news?" she asked. "Adam is gone. You may as well have killed him yourself. I warned you about his broken heart. I told you that he wouldn't survive it twice. The day after you left, he ate his gun. Angie here would probably like to kill you. I think though that towards the end maybe you weren't acting. I think that maybe you loved him a little bit too. So it will be far more painful for you to have to live with what you did to a man who tried his hardest just to make you happy."

She walked me away from Angie and the wall. "He lived for you, Victoria," she said. "And in the end, he died for you. Go away Victoria, you're poison."

I left the building through the same door I came in. Chester was waiting for me with the engine running. "Back to the park and you're off the hook," I told him.

"You're going back there?" he asked incredulously.

"Why not?" I asked. "Where else would I go?"

I got out of the car and went into the trailer. I was just in time to hear Zeke screaming at Tammy.

"What the fuck do you mean she got kidnapped again?" he screamed.

"A bunch of Canadians took her," whimpered Tammy.

"How did you know they were Canadians?" he asked.

"Because they kept saying, "A," after everything," said Tammy. "And one of them didn't have a gun. He had a hockey stick."

"Here's the beer," I said stepping into the room.

"What happened to the Canadians?" Zeke asked staring at Tammy.

"Relax Zeke," I said. "They were just friends of mine playing a joke."

"Where's my bracelet?" he asked.

"I put it somewhere safe," I said. "It doesn't really look good on you. I think you're more of a purse guy."

"There you go with that smart assed mouth again," he warned.

"I'd really rather be a smart ass than a dumb ass," I said. He got really angry then.

"Where is the bracelet?" he asked.

"Why do you care, Zeke?" I asked. "It's not yours and you're not getting your hands on it."

"You selfish bitch," he screamed. "We were better off when we thought you were dead."

"Yeah, I think I'd be better off dead too," I said. "At least then I'd be with someone who loves me."

"I can see now that I'm going to have to teach you a lesson about a woman's place," he said.

"Go ahead Zeke," I said, slumping to the ground. "Beat the shit out of me. You can't make me feel any worse than I already do. I'm really hoping you kill me. Maybe I can look into this whole life after death thing. There's someone that I really need to make up with."

"Are you talking about another guy?" screamed Zeke. "You fucked another man while I was here lonely and waiting for you?"

"Every chance I got?" I said. "You should see me sucking his dick." I rolled my eyes back and licked my tongue across my lips.

Zeke got really pissed then. "I can't believe you put the horns on me. Zeke's wife ain't supposed to be fucking other guys."

"Uh Zeke, you were fucking my sister before I left," I pointed out.

"That's different," he said. "A man is supposed to cast his net wide. It's in the bible."

"Where?" I asked.

"It's in the chapter on casting and fishing," he mumbled. "You know the part about Jesus being a fisherman and all of that bullshit."

"You'd be an expert on bullshit," I said. He got even more pissed then and raised his hand back to hit me. I just looked up at him and waited for him to do it. The hand swung down and I flinched but it never struck. I looked up and saw Adam holding Zeke's hand only millimeters away from my face.

"I'm the Canadian, "A," said Adam.

"You're the guy she's been fucking ain't ya," screamed Zeke. "Tammy, fetch my shot gun."

"You, don't have any shells, Zeke," said Tammy.

"Just git the God damned gun," said Zeke.

"You're not dead?" I said smiling at Adam.

"Nope, " he said. "Tela was just being dramatic and trying to make you think we were all gone. You didn't report me?"

"Nope," I said. "I told you that you could trust me. I love you Adam. I just get stupid sometimes. I should have spoken to you. I thought..."

"You thought I was trying to keep you away from your family?" he asked. "I was."

"Yeah, I can see why now," I said. "Do you know that they were lying on that video? They don't care about me. No one was looking for me at all."

"I was," he said. "I've been looking for you for all of my life."

"Ooh, somebody is going to get some tonight," I said.

"Hold it right there," said Zeke. He tried to raise his shotgun and Adam snatched it out of his hands. Zeke stood there looking like a Looney Toons character, wondering how his gun had disappeared. Tammy laughed loudly at him and that was all of the humiliation Zeke could take.

He raised his fist and charged at Adam who just stepped out of the way causing Zeke to slam bodily into the trailer door that wouldn't lock. Zeke tumbled out of the trailer and landed on his back awkwardly on top of the cinder block that we used as a step.

He tried to get up and pain lanced through him. "Tammy call me an ambulance," he screamed.

"Bye Tam," I said. "I'm going home now."

"But this is your home," she said. "You and Zeke are married."

"No Tam," I said. "You have to start reading Zeke's bible. A woman's place is with her man." I took Adam's hand and kissed it. "Can we go home now?" I asked.

He smiled. "We're going to have to camp out for a while," he said. "All the furniture is still on the truck, headed for North Carolina. I'll call them back but we won't have any furniture for a couple of days."

Zeke was still screaming as we got in the car and left. "Come back here with my wife you Canadian bastard. Tammy, call me an ambulance."

"The phone don't work Zeke," she said.

"Well, run down the street and..." he began.

"Zeke, I love you," she said. "But I'm pregnant and I'm too fat to run anywhere."

They were still screaming as we drove off.

* * * * * *

Epilogue

Everyone ended up getting what they wanted. Except, of course, Zeke, who got what he deserved. I got Adam. We ended up having a baby of our own as soon as I went off my birth control pills. Adam and I lived happily ever after.

Zeke gave me a divorce but he had to, because he needed to marry Tammy. They had three kids together and getting married was the only way they'd stay together.

He really needed Tammy more than she needed him. When he hit his back on that cinder block, it damaged his spine. Zeke now has no feeling from the waist down. The good thing about it is that now Zeke really is disabled. Unfortunately, since his disability happened at home instead of one the job, the amount of his check dropped off by a third.

Tammy still loves Zeke. To try to make ends meet, she took a job at a strip club that caters to men who love fat women. The problem is that Tammy has always loved to "Do it," and since Zeke can't anymore it was only a matter of time until she started bringing home customers to, "Do it," with. Zeke hates it but there's noting he can do about it.

Tela surprisingly gave up on Adam finally and married Damon. They still work for us but not at the house.

Adam was going to have the security system taken out of the house since we didn't need it anymore. I told him to wait a while for that. I had a feeling our daughter was going to be a little wild and we might just need to kidnap her from time to time.

The end