Twisted Soul – Installment 6

Twisted Soul

By

D.M. KURTZ

Installment 6:

To Toil in Vain

December 25th, 2015

Laughter: a strange sound to Jess’s ears after so many months of seclusion on the road. He hadn’t realized just much he’d missed it until that moment, when he caught a glimpse of Sasha’s beaming face from where she stood carving the turkey. Ashton ran up to her and threw his little arms around his mommy while he giggled and grinned…

But of course that was just a fantasy. His nephew was gone, and that absence had destroyed the joy that had once reigned freely in the family. Laughter had been replaced by a new sound: silence, and it echoed louder than any trill or giggle ever had. Try as he might, Jess could not bring back his sister’s happiness, and that realization was like waking up to find that he was trapped in deep waters that slowly pulled him into a cold embrace. Not even the delicious smells of turkey, ham and other fine foods that he’d purchased could lighten the somber mood of the disparaged family.

Jess took his seat at the table next to Sasha and winced when he glanced at the empty chair across from him. He looked to his sister and tried to force a smile, but found that to be too heavy a task. She deserved more than some feigned attempt at happiness, after all that she’d been through. When she finally smiled again, he wanted it to be genuine. He longed to tell her, to grant her some semblance of comfort by bringing her into the fold but, he knew that such notions were foolishness. As heavy as her heart might be, she could never bear the weight of knowing what her big brother was planning. That truth would only serve to crush her even more.

“Well? Gonna dig in, or what, mr fancy suit?”

Danny… The gruff tone of Jess’s brother-in-law brought a cringe to his handsome face. The jaded man didn’t even try to hide his distaste anymore. He’d even stopped putting in the effort to drum up a decent insult.

Sasha sighed. “Not now, Danny. Please?”

Her husband cursed.

“Dunno why he’s even still here, anyway…” the man grumbled.

Dishes clattered when Sasha smacked the table.

“God, Danny, why do you have to be such dick?!” She yelled harshly.

Danny was quick, but Jess’s sharp senses saw the strike coming long before it connected. He made a swift move to deflect the outstretched, open palm of his brother-in-law. Sasha ducked instinctively, but the move was unnecessary.

“Piece of…” Danny cursed and lunged suddenly across the table with one arm outstretched. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, and when he drew closer Jess could smell the clear odor of alcohol beneath his raspy breath.

He sidestepped and grappled the drunken man with ease. Danny raved and screamed while Jess held him securely in a triangle choke.

“Be still, Danny,” he whispered. Some might want to hurt Danny for attacking in such a manner and, truth be told, had the initial blow against Sasha landed, this encounter would have gone a different way.

Broken jaw, for sure. 

But Jess knew on some level, at least, the pain of his brother-in-law. Agony was the source of the violence, and the broken man didn’t deserve punishment for reacting to his suffering, at least not yet.

“Be still,” Jess whispered again, and gradually Danny began to relax. Whether it was out of defeat or because Jess was carefully cutting off the blood flow to the brain…

Probably both. Jess smirked and relaxed his grip when Danny began to calm.

“Get out… of my house,” Danny declared as he stumbled away and turned to force a hazy stare into Jess’s piercing gaze.

“That’s not going to happen, Danny,” Jess calmly but firmly replied. The man cursed again and put a trembling hand to his forehead as he muttered a third foul remark.

“Why you even here, huh?” Danny’s speech was steadily becoming more slurred as the effects of the alcohol he’d consumed began to take their toll.

“You run off! You… you ran, off…” The broken speech was admittedly difficult to follow, but Jess understood the gist of the message, and it cut deeply.

“Sasha she… We needed you, man, but you ran off.” Danny sloppily waved an arm as he turned away.

“Just, go, man,” he added as he half stumbled, half shuffled away from the table until he disappeared around a corner to his left.

Jess stood in silent contemplation for a few moments while Danny’s angry words washed over him. He knew that he hadn’t been wrong in leaving, but he wondered if perhaps he’d been in error by choosing to go so soon after the verdict had been issued. He never thought that his family would fall so far in his absence… Knowing this, could he really justify leaving them alone again in such a broken state?

“I’m sorry,” Sasha muttered as she rose from her seat and moved to wrap her slender arms around Jess’s muscular torso. The tall man sighed and leaned into the embrace. He’d been home for several months, now, and he’d tried to bring love and order back into the life of his sister, but he wondered if it had all been in vain. She was still hurting, as was her husband, and the disconnect between the pair had only grown since Jess had returned.

Perhaps it was time to leave them behind again for a while. This journey had served to solidify one truth in his mind: the death of Randy Jameson was the only thing that would ever bring his family back from the brink.

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Copyright © 2018 D.M. Kurtz

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