The Dark Path to Hell

The Dark Path to Hell

“Listen kid, there is no forever. Diamonds don’t last forever, alcohol doesn’t last forever, and love sure as hell doesn’t last forever. There’s only one forever that we can count on, and that’s death.”
~Oscar Phelps, Recordatio

“Don’t you think it’s a little rude? You know just coming up to some random girl and basically-somewhat subtly I will admit-but basically saying ‘hey you wanna go back to my place and fuck?’ I mean how pompous do you have to be?”
“Well Diane I don’t think it’s really that bad, I mean you should be flattered.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
Eric watched as the two women paid for their drinks and left the bar. He sighed as he took another drink. From now on he would have to be more careful whom he approached. Next time he would try a girl who was alone.
The thought had just passed through his mind when he saw someone come in out of the corner of his eye. And she was alone.
Eric looked her over as she approached the bar. She had long wavy deep auburn hair, and lightly tanned skin which looked sensual and beautiful in the cool lights of the bar. She was tall and slender and obviously knew how to handle herself.
The woman wore tight dark jeans which accented her slender legs. She had on a gray slightly transparent top that vaguely resembled a strip of silk wrapped around her middle to just barely conceal her breasts and the upper portion of her stomach.
The sight was sexy and erotic. Eric felt that if anyone was screaming for attention it was this girl. He rose from the stool at the end of the bar and sauntered over to the woman as smoothly as he could; trying to act uninterested, as if he were on his way to the bathroom.
He had timed it just right so that he met her just as she turned away from the bar. They bumped into each other slightly, and Eric felt the side of her breast press up against his arm. He turned and smiled at her, “Sorry about that…” then he stopped and looked into her eyes. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“Um, I don’t think so. Excuse me,” she said as she placed her hand on his shoulder and pushed him aside and continued down the bar.
“Ooh, burn,” he whispered to himself as he leaned forward to talk to the bartender.

Thirty minutes later Eric sauntered back to the other end of the bar to where the sexy young woman had seated herself. He walked up and placed a glass down in front of her. “Double screwdriver on the rocks. With Smirnoff vodka only. It’s nice to see all of their TV ads work on someone,” he smiled at her as he sat down and motioned to the bartender for a beer. “My name’s Eric,” he said as he extended his hand to her.
“Victoria, my friends call me Tori.” She gave a weak smile and proffered her hand, but Eric felt that she was still a little up-tight.
She just needs a few more drinks. Eric let himself a small smile at the thought.
“Tori, that’s a nice name. I personally would have picked Vicky though.”
“Vicky? That sounds like a name for a nasty old lady.”
“That’s true, you look like a Tori,” he said smoothly as he looked her up and down lingeringly as if he was just taking his first look. “But I think you have the eyes for Victoria, Tori just seems too harsh for them.” His warm smile was greeting with only a small smattering of applause from Tori’s eyes.
“That’s nice. Did you learn all of this out of a book?”
“A book? What you mean…You think…?” He gestured around with his arms, finally pointing at himself, “Oh, ha, you thought I was coming over here to pick you up? Oh wow.”
“Well, what did you come over here for? If a guy isn’t looking for sex they don’t buy random strangers drinks. And if you were just being friendly then your eyes wouldn’t have landed so blatantly on my boobs.” She rose to leave, but Eric spun around on his stool and said to her retreating back,
“If you didn’t want people staring then why did you wear that dryer sheet? Wouldn’t have been easier to just wear your bra?” She spun around a raised her hand to strike him, and then she stopped.
“You know you’re right. If you’re not here to have sex with me then I guess I can stay a little longer,” she said her voice beginning to calm. Then she returned to her seat and took another drink. “So, “Mr. doesn’t pick up girls in bars” what do you do here?”
“Get drunk. What else is a bar for?” he whispered his voice dropping off. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you.” Then he stood up and turned to walk away until he felt her hand on the cuff of his jacket. He looked back at her and saw a look of curiosity in her eyes.
“I’m sorry if I was a little harsh. Why don’t you just sit down and we can talk for a while? Okay?” She smiled at him, this time the reservations gone.
“Okay. So long as you don’t mind if I get drunk. I’m not gonna waste a trip to the bar just for you,” he said a grin spreading across his clean shaven face.
“Ha, okay just don’t throw up on the bar.” She sat back smiling. Eric watched her as she took another drink. Then she turned and looked at him placing one elbow on the bar and resting her chin on it.
Eric smiled as he surveyed her again. She was leaning just far enough forward that he could see an inch or two of exquisite cleavage. He smiled again looking up again into her eyes. “So, what do you do?” he said in a low tone.
“What do I do? You mean job-wise? I’m waitress.”
“That’s somewhat cliché don’t you think?” he asked sarcastically.
“What the single attractive girl in her mid-twenties working as a waitress?”
“Well, you think highly of yourself. And yes, it does sound cliché to find a single attractive twenty…..four? Year-old waitressing.”
“Ha, twenty six. But thank you. And for your information I happen to make quite a bit of money at that job. It’s enough to live on, and I still have time to have a life.”
“So…that’s why you’re alone in a bar wearing and piece of see-through silk, a-if I may-somewhat revealing outfit, especially with the bra that just barely covers your breasts. I cannot believe that that thing offers any support at all.” The moment the words left his mouth Eric knew that he would be hit, but to his surprise Tori smiled.
“Well, for your information, my sister is a fashion designer and she designed both items. And why do you care what I’m wearing? You said that you weren’t looking.” Eric gave a snort of amusement and took a swig from the bottle in his hand.
“Okay, I apologize; perhaps I’ve had a little too much. Maybe I should just leave you in peace. Goodnight.” Eric rose and tossed few dollars down on the bar as he put on his coat. Then he turned and walked off towards the exit.
Eric was reaching for the door handle when he heard his name from behind him. He turned around and saw Tori coming down the bar towards him. “You have had too much, and you probably shouldn’t be driving. I’ll drive you home, okay?” She smiled at him as she took his keys from his hand and pushed him out the door.

They walked out into the parking lot breathing in the fresh air, quite a contrast to the smoke filled bar. They stopped under one of the two dim street lights illuminating the small parking lot and Tori looked at him. “What?” he asked in bewilderment.
“Where’s your car? I need to know which one it is if I’m gonna drive you home,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, sorry. It’s that one over there,” Eric said pointing across the lot to a large sleek Lincoln Town car.
“A rather pretentious car, if I may say so,” she said sardonically.
“Don’t start giving me flack about being pretentious, just get in a drive.”
“Okay, sorry.” They both climbed into the car and she pulled out of the lot.

Once they were out on the main road Eric noticed that Tori remained at a constant speed about twenty miles over the posted speed limit. He decided to hold his tongue but kept an eye out for traffic cops.
With Eric’s half-slurred directions it took Tori almost forty minutes to finally find his apartment building and navigate through the adjacent parking garage.
Tori put the car in park and turned off the ignition. She sat breathing for a few seconds and then turned and looked over at Eric. He smiled at her as he took his keys from her hand. “Would you like to come up for a few minutes?” he asked innocently.
“Just so I can call a taxi to take me back to the bar for my car,” she said reaching for the door handle.
“Okay, take all the time you need.”

They rode the elevator in silence neither looking at each other, there was an obvious tension in the air.
Once they reached the seventh floor and the doors opened Eric felt the tension lessen. They walked down the hall to his door. Eric smiled at her as he slipped his key into the lock and opened the door; he stepped back and gestured into the empty foyer. “After you, madam.”
“Thank you good sir,” Tori laughed as she walked through the door.

It was a sparsely decorated apartment with a few pieces of mismatched furniture scattered around the living room. In the kitchen sat a faded yellow refrigerator and an old gas stove. There was not a table but only a counter with a few stools placed around it.
Tori immediately noticed the phone hanging on the kitchen wall right next to the entrance to the living room. She had just taken the receiver from its cradle and hit two numbers when Eric reached around her waist and pressed the center bar down. He took the receiver from Tori’s hand and placed it back in its cradle and turned Tori so that her back was against the wall.
He looked longingly into her eyes and then putting hand on the back of her head he drew her towards himself and kissed her full on the lips. He felt her start to push him away and he pulled away. “What is it?”
“I’m sorry Eric; I really don’t think that we should be going there right now. Maybe sometime in the future, but I just met you.”
“Right, yeah, I get it. Okay, go,” Eric said his tone reflecting his irritation.
“Okay good, I’m glad that you understand. Now I think I’m just going to call a cab and then I’ll leave.” She smiled and turned back to the phone.
Tori had just finished dialing the number when she saw Eric come up behind her again. This time he grabbed hold of the cord connecting the phone to the wall. He gave it a sharp jerk pulling it out of the wall. “Please,” he said with a smile, “Just stay a little while longer. I just want to be with you for a while.”
“Eric?” Tori began backing up towards the living room, her hands running along the wall as if to brace herself for an impact. “You need to calm down. You’re just a little tight. You need to sleep it off and you’ll feel better in the morning.”
“Ha, feel better. Darling, you’re the only thing that can make me feel better now. Just let me hold you for a while,” he grinned at her as he grabbed her around the waist pulling her to him. Tori wriggled out of his grasp and slapped him hard across the face.
“You’re drunk.”
“Without a doubt. But that won’t stop me.” This time Eric did not hold her carefully. He grabbed her roughly around the middle with his right arm and pulled her close to him. He kissed her hard and violently.
With a jerk Tori pulled her self away but she was not fast enough. Eric grabbed her again and threw her, hard, against the wall. She gave a cry of surprise and slumped against the wall, temporarily docile. Then Eric advanced again. Tori held up her hand to fend him off. “Stop! You’re drunk.”
“We’ve established that,” he said irritably.
He grabbed Tori around the waist with one arm and used his free hand to run up underneath her top. He placed his hand firmly over her left breast as he kissed her again. When Tori tried to struggle again he merely pressed her harder against the wall.
Then Eric took his hand from Tori’s breast turned it and with a sudden yank he ripped the strip of lace from around her chest. At that Tori let out a shout, “Drunken bastard. Get off me.” Then she struck out at his face, this time with her fist. She hit him directly in the nose, and watched as his head snapped quickly back.
When Eric finally looked back at her there was blood flowing freely from his nose. He bared his teeth at her and growled, “You bitch! You fucking slut! I’ll have you skin for that.” Then he reached for Tori’s breasts again. Knocking her hands out of the way Eric grabbed Tori’s brassiere and ripped it from off of her breasts.
Tori screamed and brought her knee up between Eric’s legs. However, despite being very drunk Eric managed to twist just enough so that Tori’s knee connected with the inside of his thigh rather than his groin.
Rage flashed in his eyes and Eric grabbed Tori by the shoulders and screamed into her face, “You BITCH!” Then with all his strength behind him Eric threw Tori across the kitchen. She fell to the floor and crashed into the cabinets underneath the sink.
Eric began to advance on her again, but she managed to crawl to her knees. That was when she saw the knife lying in the sink. Tori slowly reached down into the sink and wrapped her fingers around the stained wood handle. She jumped to her feet and slashed the knife through the air just as Eric placed a hand on her naked shoulder.
He saw the knife in her hand before she turned around so Eric had time to jump out of the way as Tori spun around. Then with the speed of a cat Eric attacked grabbing onto Tori’s wrist trying to shake the knife from her hand.

He did not know how it happened. All that Eric remembered was trying to hold Tori’s hand back when she attacked him with the knife.
Somewhere in the struggle Eric had got hold of the knife and once he felt the weapon in his hand his rage had taken over. Eric had plunged the knife into her stomach, and he had watched her sink to the floor. Then, as Tori lay bleeding on the linoleum Eric bent over her the knife tight in his grip. He had raised it above his head and brought in down again and again. Eric had stabbed her repeatedly in the stomach, chest, and throat.
Finally he had dropped the knife and fallen back onto the floor.

Almost an hour later Eric was still sitting on the kitchen floor next to the half naked mutilated body of the beautiful Tori. His hands and clothes were covered in her blood.
The pool under her body had spread and now covered several feet of the kitchen floor. Eric simply sat and looked at her; he looked at her naked, now bloodied, body. He surveyed her fine features. What had he done?
He finally rose to his feet and with a delicacy and care which greatly disturbed him Eric wrapped her body in a sheet from the hall closet. And he carefully cleaned every speck of blood from the entire room. Then once all was finished and the bloody rags and all of his clothes were wrapped up with the body Eric dragged her into the hallway. He opened the hall closet and carefully lifted her body and lowered it down onto the floor underneath the coats hanging on the rack.
Once the body was in place Eric carefully placed a quilt over the white and red lump in the corner of the closet. Then he closed the door and turned and walked into the bathroom.
Eric stood in the shower for twenty minutes just letting the water flow over him, and then when he was done Eric walked into the bedroom, naked and dripping, and collapsed onto the bed.

The knocking, why wouldn’t it stop? Why couldn’t he make it go away? Silence. There it is again, that knocking. Then more silence.
Somewhere in the distance of his mind Eric heard the knocking start again, he rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. “Someone answer the fucking door!” he shouted to the emptiness of his bedroom. “Answer the door dammit!”
Then he realized that he was the only person in the apartment. He rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom. He put on a bathrobe and walked out into the hall. As he passed the closet Eric looked down at the door handle and felt nauseous. “Fuck,” he said aloud as he reached the front door. “What do you want?” he said angrily as he wrenched the door open. “Oh, Sam, it’s you. Sorry.”
“No it’s okay,” said Sam as he stepped into the apartment. “You didn’t show up today and I thought I would come and see what was wrong.”
“Oh nothing, I just didn’t feel like going in this morning,” Eric lied as he turned away scratching his nose.
“That’s not like you Eric. Something’s wrong. What is it?” Sam said concernedly as he grabbed Eric and turned him to face him. Eric sighed and pointed down the hall then he opened his mouth and spoke,
“Open up that hall closet, and look underneath that quilt mother sent me last year.”
“Okay?” Sam gave Eric a questioning look as he walked to the closet door and opened it up. He looked inside. Then Sam bent down and lifted up the quilt. He tossed it out onto the floor then he bent down again and moved something over.
As is he had been struck by a bolt of electricity Sam jumped back with a sharp intake of breath. Then he pressed his back up against the wall. He turned to face Eric placing his hand on his forehead. “What in the name of GOD have you DONE?! YOU KILLED HER! Who the hell is she?”
Eric felt waves of dizziness and nausea wash over her. He placed a hand on the wall and began to sway back and forth. Think dammit, think. Try to talk, you can’t hide from this. Just tell the truth. What is the truth? Oh, god. “Oh god. I don’t know.” What’s her name? God dammit what is her name? Fucking hell, you’ve killed her and you don’t even know her name. “Tori,” the word was barely a whisper.
“Tori? Tori who?”
Oh god. Stop! Stop it now! I don’t know! I don’t know god dammit! Eric’s head was on fire he was screaming at himself. “I DON’T KNOW HER FUCKING NAME!” Suddenly he was screaming aloud. Then he collapsed to the floor tears streaming down his face. “I killed her, and I don’t even know her name. I tried to rape her, I tore her clothes off, I grabbed her breasts, and I called her a bitch. I fucking killed her. And I don’t even know her name.
“She was twenty-six. She was a waitress. She drank Smirnoff vodka. Her sister was a fashion designer and gave her free samples.” Eric looked at Sam his face streaming with tears. “You know, the last thing she was wearing was a strip of gray lace barely big enough to cover her breasts. And I tore it off. I killed her. I stabbed her. I watched her blood stream out onto my kitchen floor. I watched the life drain from her body. AND I MET HER LAST NIGHT. I KILLED HER GODDAMMIT!” He sat back, breathing heavily. “I’m going to jail; they’re going to send me to jail until I die. And once I’m dead I’m going to hell. I’m going to burn in hell for all eternity. And I don’t even know her fucking name. What have I done?” Eric fell back, his body convulsing with every sob. He was crying so hard he could hardly breathe.
Sam stood against the wall fighting off the nausea which was overtaking him. He stood and watched Eric lying on the floor crying, and he could not help but feel a little remorse.