FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #7

"She's a local."

 Billy didn't like the way the man said that about his favorite waitress. So he added-

 

“Not that it's any business of yours. Everyone here in town knows everyone else, and we don't like when strangers like you start hinting otherwise.”

 

The man gulped down his coffee and lit another smoke. These small towns were all alike. Everyone always claims they all know each other, and they get all huffy when you ask a simple question- and they claim I have an attitude!

 

“I wasn't hinting anything. I was just surprised by how much she looks like someone else I read about in the paper...”

 

“Well I don't know who you think she is, but I've known her since she was in diapers. My kid brother took her to the prom some years back. Then this strange guy came around and sweet-talked her into leaving and never calling any of her family. Then he shows up on the 6 o'clock news, getting arrested for killin' a bunch of women- turns out he sweet-talked them just like he did Nelly, then tortured 'em all, did terrible things, made 'em all suffer before he slaughtered 'em. Hell, that Sunday the whole town filled the church, prayin' that she wasn't one of 'em. Then some fancy-pants feds came in and tested her ma and pa to see if they matched any of the bodies, but they didn't find nothin'- or so they told us-”

 

“Wait- the feds didn't match any of the bodies to her, can't find her, nothing?”

 

“Naw. No body, none of her stuff-”

 

“And then she just shows back up years later and nobody asks any questions?”

 

“Why would we ask questions? We was just glad she was okay. Hell, we'd held a funeral for her-”

 

The man raised his hand, partly for more coffee and partly so his brain could catch up with everything he'd just heard. These people really are as slow as they look... federal forensics teams that don't make a DNA match, a missing woman who mysteriously shows up after running off with a convicted serial killer... and they don't ask questions, little wonder the trail leads here.

 

“Do you have any pictures of her from right before she left?”

 

“Yeah! Everyone at the funeral had one.”

 

Billy pulled out his wallet and handed the man his picture of her.

 

“Why're you so interested in this anyway?”

 

The man slurped down some more coffee before he answered.

 

“My little sister was killed some years back. They never solved her murder. Seemed like the only thing I could do to deal with it.”

 

“Aw, hell, sorry 'bout that. ”

 

A shrug.

 

And with that, the man finished his coffee and called for his check.

 

Billy watched the man leave and walk across the street to get into his car- and saw Nelly walk in. Damn, she sure was pretty. Definitely looked a few years older than she was, but hell, he didn't know what she'd been through. He even remembered the day she came back. He was the first person she came to see, and even after 8 years he still recognized her right away.

 

“Hi, Billy.”

 

Billy blushed and tried to answer, but-

 

“It's alright, cowboy.”

 

Billy turned even redder.

 

“Dinner?”

 

“S-s-sure.”

 

“Your usual?”

 

A nod.

 

“Ok then. More coffee or something stronger?”

 

“Aw, Nelly, you know I can't bring myself to drink on a Sunday.”

 

“Okay. Be right back.”

 

Billy wondered if he should tell her about him. He'd do it later, while she took her break.

 

 Finally, he could get pictures of her. He wondered if anyone noticed that his car was still there. Oh, well, these people don't question anything. They probably wouldn't remember that he drank so much coffee that he'd be awake all night...

 

“Hey, Nelly?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I don't mean to trouble you, but is there someone who might be looking for you? Someone from when you left?”

 

Nelly's eyes grew as big as saucers while her fingers started twitching- and not from the coffee she was drinking.

 

“Nelly, it's okay, if someone's after you, just let us know and they won't get out of town 'cept in a pine box.”

 

Nelly pondered for a moment, then turned to Billy and whispered-

 

“Well, you know that guy the feds caught? The one who killed all those girls?”

 

Billy's eyes grew as big as saucers while his fingers started twitching- and not from the coffee he was drinking.

 

“I'd help the feds take care of that guy- with my Smith & Wesson.”

 

Nelly's eyes grew even bigger and her fingers twitched faster. She took a breath and said-

 

“Well, I lived with him awhile. He said he was going to help me become a star, but after awhile I didn't even get any auditions. Instead he made me his prisoner. When I finally got out, he kept calling me and saying he was going to hurt me and that I'd never see my family ever again.”

 

Billy's eyes grew even bigger and his fingers twitched faster.

 

Nelly polished off the last of her coffee.

 

“Why?”

 

Billy finally blurted out-

 

“There's some strange guy, came in earlier looking for you and asking all sorts of questions.”

 

Nelly's heart skipped a beat.

 

“Wh-what did he look like?”

 

Billy told her.

 

Nelly's hand grabbed his and squeezed so hard that he skipped a beat.

 

“Nell, if he comes back I can have the sheriff here in 5 minutes. He won't get out of here, and he sure as hell won't get near you. Hell, I can teach you to shoot one of these days, maybe get you your own gun.”

 

Nelly let out an audible sigh of relief.

 

“Thanks, Billy. Maybe I should have my own- might even come in handy during deer season. I guess I'd best get back to work now.”

 

Slowly but surely, folks began to file out of the diner until it was just Nelly, Billy, and Ed the old cook. In short order, they got the kitchen closed up and the floor mopped.

 

“It's 10 o'clock. Want me to walk you home? If he's out there I don't want you to have to be alone against him.”

 

“Sure.”

 

The lights went off, Ed locked the door and Billy and Nelly walked arm-in-arm down the main street, with Billy looking around constantly to make sure no one was watching.

 

Off in the dark, down behind the town mechanic's garage, a low chuckle accompanied the dull sound of moving tires following well behind the pair walking down the starless tree-lined street.

 

The two approached Nelly's house after about fifteen minutes of trying to find their way unobstructed down the pitch-black dirt road. Nelly dug through her purse for her keys and spoke first.

 

“Thanks for walking me home. I dunno if I'd wanna be out here by myself if there's someone after me. What'd you say this nosy stranger looked like?”

 

“I'll tell you tomorrow. You just go on and get to bed now.”

 

Billy waited until he heard Nelly lock the door behind her before he walked away. He walked down the packed-dirt path and as he rounded the corner to head home, he saw car taillights fading off into the distance.

 

Nelly dragged herself up the stairs to her bedroom as slowly and quietly as possible, afraid of what- or who- she might find waiting for her and not wanting to break the dead silence.

 

Billy had come within a block of the diner (his house was on the other side of town) and was approaching the car shop when he noticed a fresh puddle of- something, maybe radiator fluid- along the side of the garage. He wanted to check it out, but hell, he didn't know what was back there and he sure as hell wasn't going to go back there blind and without his gun. He kept walking, towards the sheriff's house, hoping that he might be able to wake him up and get some folks together to check this out.

 

Nelly decided she'd better not go any further upstairs without something to protect herself. There's a crowbar in the shed, she thought to herself, so you just have to get halfway down the stairs and out the back. It was still so dark that she couldn't see where she was going, and she was afraid to get a flashlight because if there was someone up there she sure as hell didn't want them to figure out she was back. So she'd go out there and hope for the best.

 

Billy was almost at a dead sprint now, making his way to the sheriff's home as fast as he could. He knew the missus wasn't going to be happy, but he'd make that up to her somehow. Maybe he could fix up the storm cellar, or carve her something nice, but he'd figure that out later. Right now he had to protect Nelly from whoever was after her. But who-

 

The driver killed the headlights now. He was close enough, he figured, to get to her. To get back at her for what she did to him. To make her pay for the indignity. To take back what was his...

 

Nelly inched along the ground on her belly, trying to make sure she stayed as low and quiet as possible. It was slower, and if someone was there, he would've heard the door lock and might be waiting for her to drop her guard. I made that mistake once, she recalled bitterly. Never again. She kept wiggling along, hoping that she was going in the right direction.

 

Billy, panting and sweating bullets, knocked on the door as loudly as he could. There was no time for this, he figured, but he respected the sheriff. I dunno if it's breaking and entering if the door's unlocked, but I ain't gonna find out. Finally, a light came on and the door opened.

 

“Son, you realize it's 10:40 at night, don't you?”

 

“Sheriff, I'm sorry to wake you up, but Nelly- there was this strange man, real nosy fellow, asking about her- I don't know, but I think-”

 

“Hold on, lemme go get my gun. Here's the keys, go start the truck.”

 

Billy took the keys and hurried out to the truck. The sheriff jumped in 20 seconds later and they burned rubber down the main street. The sheriff asked-

 

“So why was this guy asking about Nell?”

 

“I dunno, sir, but sure 'nough it scared her when I mentioned it.”

 

“Reminds her of the time she was away?”

 

“Yeah, s'pose so.”

 

They got to the dirt road and rounded the corner in record time, hoping it wasn't too late for Nelly.

 

Nelly's hand finally touched something other than grass, and her fingertips told her it was a wooden board. She finally made it to the shed, she realized, and hurried inside to grab her crowbar. It wouldn't do much against a gun, she knew, but if she could just surprise him...

 

The driver got out and crept along the edge of the trees, waiting for her to show herself. I know you're here somewhere, you little-

 

Billy and the sheriff turned their headlights on as bright as they would go, hoping that they'd be able to see someone. Or to scare someone off, maybe, but that was about as likely as getting blood from a turnip. Maybe at least Nell would figure out that someone was here to help her.

 

“Nelly! Nelly! It's Billy and I brought the sheriff! Come on out, we got guns and we can get this guy!”

 

The grass rustled as the two men waited for her to come out.

 

Nelly heard them shouting for her, so she started running toward the front of the house, toward the lights. As she passed the side of the house, alongside the kitchen window, she felt a brush across her shoulder. Suddenly she stopped, frozen with fear, and then she saw the eyes-

 

Billy heard the footsteps stop, then pick up again. Maybe she saw something and she was trapped. He motioned to the sheriff silently that they needed to go back there, behind the house.

 

The eyes said all she needed to know.

 

She knew it. She knew it would come to this. All these years, she knew it.

 

The two men with their rifles started back into the darkness alongside the house where they'd heard the footsteps.

 

She knew it. She knew it would come to this. All these years she knew it.

 

Billy and the sheriff raised their rifles, ready to fire, when the ends of the barrels bumped into something soft. Not being able to see, they both fired, nearly simultaneously.

 

She felt something poke her back right below her shoulder blade when-

Gasp-

 

Billy and the sheriff heard a body drop and were about to call out to her to come out when they saw the eyes.

 

The eyes saw his fellow coffee drinker and another man standing there, paralyzed in horror from shooting the woman they were trying to save, and took aim.

back to Contest #7