Wicked Thoughts

A gust of wind picks up my bag hard enough that I feel it slip slightly. I try to maintain it in my fingers, but the wind is strong, and I don’t know if I can hold on to it any longer. I watch the bag fly a couple feet, then flop abruptly onto the ground, but I don’t run to catch up to it. Work left me tired and now walking to and from the grocery store for food did not make it any better. The top of the bag dances violently, like an angry tango with the wind, but it doesn’t move any further. When I catch up to it I just lean far enough where the top can just find its way to my hand. Once I have it I look down the street, but it is dark as far I can see. The only comfort is the street lamps, and the houses next to the sidewalk. I tie the bag around my wrist so it will not fly away again, after all who wants dirty vegetables or sandy bread. Regaining my pace is easy since all I want to do is get home.

My mind begins wandering to distract me from the dark and windy night. I think back to a couple of hours ago, when Angie, my associate, dropped a cup of water on her favorite skirt. The skirt was so tight that it outlined her panties, and it looked even better wet. She noticed me staring and yelled, ‘Ahmed, you pervert, stop staring! Get me a towel.’ I began to look around the room for something she could use, but I couldn’t find anything. ‘My tie might work.’ I told her, but she answered, no, then just as I was about to leave the room I heard a loud noise, like something falling hard on the floor. She fell because of the water on the floor. When I turned all I saw was the bottom of her skirt staring me in the face, or well me staring at them. She remained still long enough for me to enjoy ‘my private show’; with those 10 seconds I was able to see her red panties with blue lace as an outline. I walked towards her with a smile on my face, and looked at her for a bit before helping her up. She began laughing and couldn’t stop, because she thought of how ridiculous she must look, but all I thought of were her panties, her red and blue panties.

The bushes next to me began rustling after being hit with another gust of wind. The noise brings me back to the present, and how I am still walking home. This short walk has suddenly turned into a pilgrimage to another town or something. I see a street intersection along with its street sign, so I quicken my pace to read the sign; it says Burlington Ave. and Edward Ave. Only five more blocks, then I am home. While I am stopped thinking I hear a noise behind me, like footsteps. I turn to see if anyone is close, about ten feet away is a tall man with a dark hoodie and jeans. He is just standing, as if he is waiting for something or someone. The way the street light shines down on him makes his the darkness of his shadow much more bold and deep. He sticks his hand inside he front pocket of his hoodie and pulls out a small object, then he looks up far enough for me to see his smile. The hoodie’s shadow is covering his eyes and nose, and his now bare smile seems crooked with a sinister feel. He moves his hand up almost like he’s about to show me the object he has in it, but I don’t even recognize anything about this man.

“Excuse me, do I know you? Or is that something I dropped?” I ask him.

“Yes and no, maybe so, But I do know, about your dark disgusting soul.” He answers with a raspy and deep voice.

Before I can speak anymore, he opens his hand and in it is a pocket knife. I walk closer to study it more, and I notice it is my grandfather’s knife, which he used once to kill a man who was endangering his life. But, I had locked it away, because of all the shame it had brought my family, yet I do not know how this man got it.

“To answer your question, I took it to teach a lesson. I took it from your safe, where you locked it away, because I thought it is the right tool to make a sinner pay.”

He springs the knife open and begins walking towards me. My first instinct is to fight this man, but as he comes closer I realize that he is much larger than me. I turn to run dropping my groceries on the ground. I don’t want to lead him into my house or anyone else’s, because I do not know how dangerous he is, so I run straight for the forest preserve which is two blocks behind it. There is a big bush behind a group of trees, which is dark enough for me to hide in until this man leaves or the police come. I find a spot which is hidden, then I fondle my pockets searching for my phone, but it’s gone. I look around where I am sitting, but I can’t find anything. A sudden panic rush hits me, and I begin looking all over the ground, nothing. Then, a loud ring tone startles me, it’s my phone. I look around for the noise, then I find my phone just a couple feet away. Without thinking too much, I dive for my phone, when out of nowhere a sharp stinging sensation pierces through my left shoulder. Just a few inches away are the man’s feet facing me. He takes me by the shirt with one hand, and pulls me up, then with the other he pulls my grandfather’s knife out of my back.

“You know what I think your grandfather would say, if he found out that you are pervert and astray, I believe he would make you pay.” He says to me.

“How do you know my grandfather? Why are you doing this to me?” I ask him.

I notice his eyes now that they are so close to me. His eyebrows are thick and bush like, and his eyes are icy blue. He has an insidious stare, simple and benign but with such evil along with them.

“You told me before, about your grandfather the killer and his wife the whore. You didn’t say it to me through word, your mind spoke and that is what I heard. You have to pay for the sin of lust, rape, and murdering. There are those who deserve to see your suffering.”

“But, I don’t understand, who are you? Who says you can do this? What do you mean ‘my mind spoke’?”

“I prefer Reverend, and I bring forth the end. I was sent by our lord up above, I am the problem and the solution thereof. I can hear what secrets your mind has inside, it tells me all of your crimes and every time you’ve lied.”

With that he pulls his hand back and strikes my chest with the knife, then he pulls it back again. He looks at me dangling from his hand, and suddenly he stabs me in the crotch. The pain is so unbearable that I feel myself slipping away, but I keep awake from the pain.

“You son of a bitch! I am trying to be a good person! I am! I don’t want to do anything wrong anymore! I think of others before me all of the time now.” I begin sobbing, and my words begin slurring. “Please, I said sorry to those girls, and did my time! I am a good man!”

“You think that just because you protect some, that all of your other sins are gone, no of course not son. We all have to pay, think of it this way, some hit themselves and others pray, but you get to see your maker today.”

He again pulls the knife back and with all of his force stabs it directly under my throat. I am gargling blood while I’m falling to the ground. Everything feels so painful, and a sudden darkness begins revolving around me. I feel tired, and as I die I watch him walk away into the darkness. Death will soon overtake me, and maybe he is right.