Gary Cunningham
Advanced Literature p2
10/21/09
Unexpected! “Revised”
It was a calm and cold night and my family and I had gone out to a restaurant for my sons 13th birthday. He was so happy and seeing him happy made me happy, I watched him carefully run around the restaurants, it was one of those kids of places that have arcade games and prizes for if you win enough tickets. It started to get late and I told my son “just 10 more minutes Eric”, he smiled and nodded and went back to his playing. My wife and I sat back at the table; we hadn’t talked much anymore not since our big fight for her cheating on me. We found it was in best interest to stay together for our son’s sake, he walks over to us smiling and holding a rather large box, I looked at it and saw it was one of those giant water guns. I told him “Congratulations” and let him keep it.
We headed into the parking lot of the restaurant and it was very foggy, then the feeling struck my spine, we were being watched. I rushed my family into the car without alerting them, I calmly started the engine and we were off. We had driven for a good 30 minutes so I felt as though we were safe, we come closer to our neighborhood but we had to pass through this more rural intersection to get there. We reach the stop sign and I looked both ways as a good driver was supposed too, so then we pass through the intersection and I think cautiously. My wife screamed “LOOOK OUT!!!” then out of the opposite lane came a black sedan it t-boned our car sending us spinning; four guys came out all loaded with weapons. They opened fire; bullets flew everywhere piecing the cars metal. The noise scraped my ear drums as if thousands of people were all at once screaming in my ear at the same time. Even worse were the sounds of my family, I tried to free myself but my seatbelt wouldn’t unlatch almost as if someone tampered with it, the bullets ceased. The men had said nothing but only got back into there car and drove off, I looked back trying not to think of the terror I might see. They were both shot and dead, I screamed in agony “NO!!!” I thought to myself “my whole family is dead, why?” My family’s blood all over me and the car was almost destroyed; I finally got out of the seatbelt and escaped from the car. I didn’t have my cell phone I had left it on the kitchen counter back at home, didn’t think I would need it.
A car eventually came; I was stuck in shock in my car. They saw the destroyed car and came to help. I told him “call the hospital”, he pulled out his phone and called 911.As the emergency assistance approaches I thought of the situation at hand, I wasn’t injured and my family is dead. The ambulance finally arrived and me lying on the cold ground watching the lights flicker from above; they picked me up and put me on a stretcher. I saw them take out my son and wife and watched them place the black bag over there heads signifying that they were both dead. As they transported me to the hospital I thought to myself, how could this happen? I was so deep in thought I couldn’t even pay attention to what the ambulance attendants were telling me. We arrived at the hospital and they wheel me in and my injuries aren’t that serious, I mainly wanted to see my son. So after they cleaned me up I went out to the lobby and the nurse behind the desk told me that my car was towed here so I could get anything I needed out of it. I went out and found my car laying a parking space; it had looked like Swiss cheese from all the bullet holes. I look in the cars glove box to get some registration forms and just then I noticed a small piece of paper fall out, it was all crinkled so I unraveled it and I looked at its message.
The bill of a hit I had put on my wife over a year ago, just shocked in the moment I thought why I had gotten the hit. I was angry but I wouldn’t mind as much if they did it when she wasn’t with us, many questions brewed in my head “why now and not a week after I had made the deal? Why when I was with her and not when she was alone?” “WHY? WHY? WHY?” Then my screaming was interrupted by a small beeping noise, I looked under the car to see what it was. I pulled a little black box form under the car and was awestruck by what I’m holding. “They were tracking me” I said, that explains how they found me and my family, “but why?” I asked. I walked back into the hospital and waited, the nurse called me back “they’re ready for you” she told me, I walked back into the area where they keep the dead and I see my son. He was just lying there; I looked at him and thought “I will kill them for this”. Right after I leave the area the police arrive and take me I to there station, they put in this cold metal chair. A shiver runs up my spine with the thought of them finding out about the hit I had made. They ask me blunt questions “do you know anyone who would want to hurt your family”, I lied and said “no”. They question me for over 3 hours asking more questions which I would lie to each of them, they finally finish the questions but tell that I am a suspect. They allowed me to leave the station but not go anywhere far just back home; I take a cab back to my house and on the way back. I reach in my back pocket to grab the money to pay the cab driver and find the crumpled piece of paper, I open it up and straighten it out and find the most upsetting message.
On the back of the bill of my wife’s hit, it read on the back “Don’t make a mess”. I couldn’t take it they had to pay for this but how would I find them? I reach my house and pay the cab driver; I walk up to my front door with the paper clenched in my fist. I pulled out my keys to unlock the door but I find it is already unlocked; I slowly opened the door thinking there might be another hit man in the house to finish the job. I find my house torn up and destroyed on the inside; I walk around what’s left of the inside of my house. Everything is broken or on the floor, they wanted to know something and whatever it was they didn’t find it. I looked at the crumpled bill and see a very faded address and think “really?” they had actually put the address of where the bill was printed, idiots. I leave my torn house and on my way out I find the picture of me and my son fishing when he was 5 years old, “I will get them for what they did” I said to myself. Since I’m in a suburban area there aren’t any taxis so I walk toward town, walking much faster, walking with determination in my eyes. I am stopped by a police car, two officers come out and handcuff me and say “you’re under arrest for the murder of your wife”. We reach the police office where I had just come from and the once again integrate me but with very different questions more like accusations though. The detective tells me “we received information pointing toward you being the cause of your wife’s death”, “it wasn’t me” I lied. “Either way we will hold you here in the station until the mystery is solved” the detective said, “NO! I have to find my sons killer” I stated. When the detective came to put me in my cell I reached down and grabbed his gun from his holster, pointed it toward his head and told him to do what I say.
We walked out of the little room; I was wearing a large straight jacket the officer had given me with the officer’s gun pointed back at him. He walked behind me casually as I had instructed, he had calmly looked at all his fellow officers as if nothing were wrong. He took me to his car in the parking garage, I got in while he stood there with his hands up, and I sped off through the garage knowing full well that officer would call for help. I read the faded address and drove there fast as I could, it was dark around 6 pm but it was winter so it gets darker earlier in the day. I found myself at the docks and saw a lot of really worn and old buildings; I looked for the right one with the address on the paper. And I found it; I slowly walked up to it and opened the very large door. It creaked louder than anything around, it was also very dark and a lot of rats and bats all around. I stumbled through the warehouse until I came across a lit up room, I moved with caution and pulled out the gun ready to fire. I stand at the edge of the door with my back against the wall and my gun pointed toward the ceiling. I leapt in the doorway only to find, three dead men all shot in the head. All of them just lying there as did my son, these were the very same men but one was missing.
Just then I heard a large BANG down the hallway of the room then the rustling of the bats and rats, I sprinted toward the sound in hopes I would find my sons killer but no it was a stray police officer searching for me. I found a window on the first floor that was slightly broken so I climbed out, I cut my side on a shard of glass and couldn’t help but yell in pain. The cop of course noticed and ran toward the scene thankfully I had gotten out and started running on the docks, I see in the distance a silhouetted man running. He isn’t a cop though “this has to be him” I said. I began to chase the strange man growing closer and closer, the amount of fog around the docks made the chase feel like an eternity. I finally reach a distance close enough to fire upon the man; I pull out my gun and aim for his leg. BANG! I shot once and hit him right behind his knee, he fell to the ground and I walked up to see the face of the man who had shot my son. The man lay face down in the wood of the docks, I grab his shoulder to see his identity but only find more pain.
“No” I whispered, “you? You did this? You’re behind this? WHY!” the man snickered in happiness almost an evil laughter. “My own brother, why?” all he did was laugh, slowly it grew louder and louder until even the small animals around us were in terror. I punched him right in the face again demanding an explanation, he only spoke once and said “the fault lies with you”. I unclenched his shirt from my fists and let him go, he got up and limped away I just sat their on my knees thinking about what he had told me. “He’s right” I said, “DAMMIT!! He’s right” I sobbed. A line of police came and took me away I screamed as they did “NO!!!” I felt the fear in them around me; it took over five men to pull me back. I was trying to run but I didn’t even know where just run and run until my heart stop aching. I knew it was my fault but I didn’t want to accept it, the police put me in the car and I stayed silent the whole ride to the prison. The police had told me they found out about the hit on my wife and that I would be going away for a long time for it.
I arrived at the prison with gloom feelings, I knew that it was my fault but I still couldn’t accept it. The guards took me the warden; I knew it was him because they’re always the same looking guy. Fat slightly bald and talks in that somber tone that makes it seem like you did nothing wrong. He told me my trial would be in two days, although I really didn’t listen much I was to distracted with my own personal thoughts. When the guards took me to my cell I had noticed I was alone in it, I found that to be better than being with some overreacting loudmouth who wouldn’t shut up. My days in prison weren’t as hard as people describe mainly because I never left my cell, and I didn’t eat.
The day came for my trial, I saw the guard come to bring me to the police car. He unlocked the cell and grabbed my arm; it was harder to walk because I had chains wrapped around my ankles. It was raining when he brought me outside, I sat in the car and remained silent in both speech and thought throughout the car ride. We arrive and I walk inside and sit in my seat. My lawyer next me, he’s one of the ambulance chasers that take any case they can. I didn’t have much confidence in my case I didn’t care either way though, I just wanted to die from the terrible thing I had done. The trial commenced and it was unbearable. It went on and on about how it was my fault, I chose not to listen so I just nodded when necessary. I couldn’t stand the fact that my sons death was my fault. “I find the defendant guilty” the judge had said, they pulled me out of my chair and took me back to the car. The rain showered down on my face hiding the tears I had shed from the feeling of regret, and just then I saw him standing there on the sidewalk my brother. He just stood there and when the cops brought me to the car he walked up to me and said “Revenge is a taste that is bitter-sweet, but karma is mouth-full that cannot be chewed or swallowed” and he walked away in the rain the police officer put me in the car and drove me off to prison. I realized why then, why it had happened. My sheer ignorance led me to put a death sentence not on just my wife but my son as well. So I watched out the car window as my freedom was taken away by the one and only person who has that kind of power. Myself.
