She had worked at the library for over eight agonizing months playing the dull librarian whilst the ugly b.a.s.t.a.r.d plucked up enough courage to even talk to her. Some days she felt like she was going insane stamping books for old f.u.c.ks; who the h.e.l.l even used libraries anymore anyway? Oh but she knew all about Randall Chase and that rich b.i.t.c.h who held the purse strings. Their house was a b.l.o.o.d.y great mansion and old man Chase had been a rich b.a.s.t.a.r.d before he"d died, leaving an exceptionally wealthy widow and a waste of a s.p.a.ce son.
The plan had been to simply sweet talk the fat p.r.i.c.k and then proceed to milk him for all he was worth. But she had soon learned two things: one, the man was practically mentally r.e.t.a.r.ded, and two, the old b.i.t.c.h had all the money. Randall was a 54 year old man-child who was given pocket money.
The old bat had been crafty; she had to give her that. She had gone for tea at the house and been lulled into a false sense of security by the woman"s frail appearance. Everything about the old b.i.t.c.h was skin and bone and harmless to look at; everything except her eyes. The old woman had the craziest steel grey eyes that seemed to bore straight through anyone unfortunate enough to get caught under that gaze. It was creepy enough to make Jennifer want to get the h.e.l.l out of there. It was a stupid notion, but she couldn"t help but feel like the old woman could tell everything that she was thinking with a look. She hadn"t been able to ingratiate herself as she"d first expected. The mother wasn"t going to be the pushover that she"d hoped for.
She had been forced to rea.s.sess her plans and start thinking about the long term option. She could play the timid librarian for a while longer yet, long enough to get a ring on her finger and position herself in that mansion. Once they were married the old b.i.t.c.h was frail and it was a big house with a lot of stairs, and accidents could happen. Once mommy dearest was gone it wouldn"t be a complete shock to everyone if her darling Randall was so overcome with grief that he just couldn"t go on anymore. Her mouth salivated at the thought of having the entire Chase fortune to herself.
But for now she wanted a long scalding shower in order to sc.r.a.pe that fat pig"s touch from her skin. She shuddered at the thought of his clumsy fingers jabbing into her. Fortunately he had been too overcome to notice her stifled laughter at his short comings and undersized performance time. She thought that maybe once they were married she would be having an awful lot of bedtime headaches.
Randall pulled into the driveway of what would always be Mother"s house and finished his journey with a stout and steady heart. His future lay beyond these prison walls and beyond Mother"s poisonous reach.
He parked the car on the driveway, which was frowned upon but his newly found rebellious streak was up and running now. He had a light at the end of a 54 year old dark tunnel and right now he felt like he could do anything and he had Jennifer to thank.
He trotted up to the front door with a spring in his step. The door was unlocked and he frowned in surprise. Mother was fanatical about security and it had been drilled into him - sometimes very painfully - about locking the door on the rare occasions that he left.
"Mother?" He called into the empty hallway. "MOTHER?" He shouted in panic as he thought about the murders and rapists that were constantly on the prowl for elderly and defenseless women that Mother had so often warned him about.
He took the stairs two at a time and ran to her room. The door was ajar and he peered around the corner with his heart pounding painfully at his chest. For a moment he thought that he was seeing things, seeing the worst of his nightmares until he realised that he wasn"t dreaming. Mother was lying on the floor with her lace nightdress torn and raised up on her bony thighs. Her cane was lying uselessly beside her glinting under the soft light.
"Oh dear G.o.d," he exclaimed and felt a wave of fainting attempt to overcome his senses when he needed them the most.
He rushed to her side and took her leathery hand in his. He couldn"t believe how thoughtless and selfish he had been. Mother was so old and frail and he was all she had in the world. It was his job to keep her safe and be by her side, and when she had needed him the most he had failed her in the worst possible way. He knew that G.o.d would surely strike him down if it wasn"t for the fact that Mother needed him now more than ever.
He lifted her thin body off of the floor and placed her back on the bed. Her eyelids fluttered briefly open and he started to weep at her fighting spirit.
"Mother I"m here, I"m here now."
"Where were you?" Her voice croaked and his heart broke.
"What happened?" He asked fearing the answer.
"They broke in when you were away just like I always warned you that they would; two men with hate and l.u.s.t in their eyes looking for an old defenseless woman, alone and helpless."
"Oh G.o.d Mother I"m so sorry," he wept.
"I told them that my son would be here any minute, but you never came," she choked. "Where were you when I was being brutally a.s.saulted?"
"I"ll call the police, I"ll get an ambulance," Randall said reaching for the phone.
"No," she said firmly. "I won"t have strangers in my house poking and prodding at me and making me relive the nightmare. You"ll take care of me won"t you?" She asked in a soft and frail voice.
"Yes Mother," Randall replied resolutely. "I won"t ever leave your side again."
"That"s my good boy," she said as she stroked his hand. "That"s mommy"s little soldier."
Two days later Jennifer slammed her phone down hard onto the cradle. She had been trying to call Randall for the last two days to no avail. She was a woman used to getting what she wanted and it was p.i.s.sing her off something fierce.
Randall wasn"t returning her calls and she had started to wonder if that afternoon in the library office was all he"d been after all along. Now that he had tasted a little honey she had expected him to come crawling back for the rest of the jar, but now he was absent and that just wasn"t acceptable.
She caught the bus to out near Randall"s place. She was barely keeping a roof over her head and there was no room for extravagancies like cars. She knew that she was born for better than this and Randall was going to foot the bill for her new life.
She hiked the last couple of miles over to his mansion, trying to swallow her bitterness as she walked towards the affluent house. This was a home owned by people living the life that she so richly deserved.
The Chase house was set back from the road with a long winding drive and imposing gates. There had once been a small guard hut that had housed a security guard blocking access from the road. But Randall had told her that his mother had grown increasingly distant and distrustful of the staff. Now there was only Randall and his crazy b.i.t.c.h of a mother.
She circled the high fence around the property looking for an access point. She could peer through the unkempt trees towards the main house and see that someone was moving around. Knowing that it was only the two of them in there and that dear old mother wouldn"t be dragging her bony carca.s.s around the grounds she took a chance.
"Randall?" She called softly. "Randall, is that you?" She heard his low gasp in reply.
"Jennifer? What are you doing here?" He called back nervously.
"Apparently talking to you through a b.l.o.o.d.y fence," she said bitterly before she could stop the tone from creeping into her voice. "I miss you my love, I haven"t seen you since that afternoon, and I wanted to know how you could be so cruel to me."
She watched as he rushed over through the thick undergrowth to the fence. His face was flushed with a mixture of joy and fear at her presence. She pushed her fingers through the bars of the fencing and he took them.
"I"m so sorry," he said sadly. "But I can"t see you anymore. Mother needs me too much and I have already failed her once, I can"t fail her again."
"And what about me? How can you fail me after I gave myself to you?" She wept softly. "How could you just use me and throw me away like garbage, I thought that you loved me. I would never have done the things that we did if I didn"t think that it was love talking." She watched in hope as his face crumpled in misery.
"I do love you," he insisted. "I do, I just..., I just can"t," he shrugged helplessly. "Mother," he offered weakly.
"And what about you Randall? What about what you want, what you need? What about our life together, our plans, our future?"
"But she needs me."
"I need you Randall," she said squeezing his fingers through the bars. "Let me be with you, let me help you, together we can do anything. Two heads are better than one," she smiled as sweetly as she could muster.
"Help me how?" He asked unsurely.
"With your mother, let me help. I want you Randall, I want to be with you and if we get married, she"ll be my mother too won"t she?" She watched as Randall"s face processed the offer. She figured that she could take a little of the b.i.t.c.h if it got her a lot of the money.
"There"s a gate round the back," he said finally.
She walked parallel to him around the property until she found the gate. He unlocked it and she walked through and into his arms. She felt his hot breath on her neck as he nuzzled in close and then his hands were roaming all over her. She fought her revulsion as he jammed his mouth on hers and then his thick tongue invaded her clumsily. She concentrated on not gagging on his foul breath and on making the right sort of enthusiastic noises. Eventually he released her and she almost sagged with relief.
She followed him to the back door of the house and then inside. The kitchen was large but poorly kept. The first thing that she was going to get organised was rehiring some help around here.
"We"re going to get married?" Randall asked open-eyed with wonder.
She almost laughed at his childlike expression. "Yes," she said concentrating hard on her poker face "And then you can live here, with us. You can help me take care of Mother and none of us will ever be lonely again."
"That"s right Randall, we"re going to be one big happy family," she smiled.
"We have to tell Mother," he said happily as he grabbed her hand and began pulling her hard towards the stairs.
She followed him up and stared in disgust at the peeling wallpaper and faded carpeting. There were going to have to be some major changes around here that was for d.a.m.n sure, she thought as they climbed.
"Mother, Mother," he called as they reached her bedroom. "It"s wonderful news Mother, wonderful news."
"What are you shouting about now?" Mother"s irritated voice drifted out of the darkness.
Jennifer could see that the bedroom as shrouded in dusky dim light. It also appeared to be the only room in the house that had been carefully maintained. Apparently Mother wasn"t going to suffer the indignities of discomfort.
"Jennifer and I are going to get married and then she will be here to help me take care of you. We"re going to be a family again Mother, a family."
"What nonsense are you spouting now you silly boy?" Mother snapped.
"h.e.l.lo Mrs. Chase," Jennifer offered shyly. "It"s nice to see you again."
"What is she doing here?" Mother demanded shrilly. "What is that tramp doing in my house?"
Jennifer watched as the old bat swung her skinny legs out of bed nimbly. It would appear that Mother wasn"t quite as infirm as she liked to make out. She normally limped around leaning on her cane, but now she was out of bed in a flash.
"Mother calm yourself," Randall said still smiling happily, but now his grin was a little unsure. "It"s not good for you to get excited. Quickly take your cane," he said looking at her strangely as she stood, apparently not requiring her walking aid.
The slap was loud and sharp within the confines of the bedroom. Randall"s cheek was suddenly burning red with Mother"s precision handprint. Jennifer could immediately tell that it was a common occurrence due to Randall"s immediate silence.
"I"ve had enough of this foolishness child," Mother said with authority.
"But I was just..." Randall started quietly.
"ENOUGH!" Mother yelled and slapped his face again.
"Hey now why don"t we all just calm down a little," Jennifer said trying to play peacemaker. The last thing that she wanted was for all of this to get out of control. Her careful plans had already been thrown to the wind and she hated winging it.
"You shut your filthy mouth you little wh.o.r.e," Mother said rounding on her. "And get out of here."
"Perhaps I"ll wait downstairs for you Randall," she said backing out of the room slowly.
"You just get out of here harlot," Mother said following her out into the hallway.
Jennifer kept backing away as Mother followed her. The crazy b.i.t.c.h was only wearing a thin lace nightdress and Jennifer could see far more than she wanted to through it.
"You come sniffing around my boy with your wet panties looking to lead him astray," Mother barked. "Don"t think that I don"t know what you are," she said jabbing a bony at Jennifer"s chest. "Wh.o.r.e, jezebel, tramp."
Jennifer tried hard to maintain her own temper. Normally she would have clawed the crazy b.i.t.c.h"s eyes out by now, but she had to stay in character. She could feel Randall"s unease at her treatment and she needed to drive that wedge in further between mother and son. "But I love your son Mrs. Chase," she pleaded.
"Liar," Mother snapped as she kept moving forward.
Jennifer found herself pressed up against the banister railings. "It"s true."
"Lying wh.o.r.e," Mother spat.
"Stop it," Randall whispered.
"Lying filthy wh.o.r.e," Mother hissed.
"Stop it" Randall said a little louder.
"You will never touch my son again, do you hear me? Never!" She screamed.
"Stop it," Randall said strongly.
"He will never leave my side and he will never see you again, never, ever EVER!"
Jennifer cringed as the crazy broad raised a skeletal hand to strike her.
"STOP IT!" Randall roared as he stepped forward, still holding Mother"s cane. The stick was suddenly raised and brought down hard on his mother"s skull with 54 years of buried hatred and swallowed bile.
Jennifer could see it happening but she was powerless to stop it. Randall lifted the cane and brought it down harder and harder again and again. Mother"s face shattered under the blows and her thin skin split. Jennifer looked on in horror as the wooden stick struck frail bone and the old woman"s skull caved in on one side. Blood ran into her steely grey eyes and she staggered backwards, striking the banister hard. The poorly maintained wooden spindles splintered and collapsed even under her meager weight. One second Mother was staring at her with her flint eyes and raw aggression, and the next she was through the railings and airborne. She plummeted about 20 feet without a sound down to the ceramic tiled floor. Jennifer heard the wet splat on the ground and the shatter of frail bones.
Randall stood with an open mouthed silent scream. His eyes were wide and full of shock. He looked down at his own hands in disbelief at the violence they had caused. "Mother? Mother?" He whispered hoa.r.s.ely.
"Oh f.u.c.k, oh f.u.c.k, oh f.u.c.k," Jennifer repeated over and over again in shock.
Randall suddenly broke and ran down the stairs.
His movement snapped Jennifer into action and she chased after him. "Don"t touch her Randall," she shouted after him. "Don"t touch the body."
He wasn"t listening and she reached him quickly. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled hard as they reached Mother. Jennifer was no doctor, but there was no way that the old bat could have still been kicking with her head twisted at such a grotesque angle.
Mother was lying face down but her head was twisted to one side. It wasn"t the first dead body that she had seen, but it was the first that she couldn"t simply run away from.
"What have I done?" Randall sobbed. "What are we going to do?" He asked as he turned to her.
Jennifer felt in that moment how Randall was transferring his need to be controlled and ordered around onto her. She felt a stab of anger towards him for being so useless. He had caused this mess and now he wanted her to clean it up for him. "Let me think, let me think for a minute," she snapped. "Does she have any friends? Any visitors?"
"No," Randall replied distantly.
"No-one at all? No relatives, no doctor, no mailmen that she speaks to on a regular basis?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Ok, ok, we might still be alright," Jennifer said trying to calm herself. "We just have to sort the body out. She can"t be found here, the police will be able to tell what happened. What you did," she said pointedly.
"Is she going to be alright?" Randall asked hopefully.
"Alright? ALRIGHT!" You f.u.c.king killed her you moron," Jennifer yelled. She regretted her tone immediately as Randall"s face crumpled into tears. What ever happened, she still needed him and needed his compliance. "I"m sorry baby," she cooed as she stroked his face.
"I"m sorry," Randall said quietly.