Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

Author:Jeneva Rose [Rose, Jeneva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

TWENTY-THREE

MICHAEL

I pull the car into the parking lot of a run-down place called Motel 5. I think it’s supposed to be a joke, one step below a Motel 6. But it’s far worse than that. It’s a long one-story building offering private entrances for each room. Several windowpanes are cracked, and the siding has been graffitied. I take the lot slowly, keeping my eyes peeled. People are camped out and strung out; some lean against the building, others are bent over, barely standing. Loud music blares from a couple of idled cars. Beefy men sit in the driver’s seats, staring at the motel rooms in front of them like they’re security, but I know the only thing they’re securing is their illegal activities. I can’t believe this is where my sister has been staying. Nicole points to the far left and tells me to park. I do as she says, even though I want to drive off and tell her I’ll replace everything she’s left here.

I park in front of the last motel room but keep the engine running.

“Want me to come in?” I ask.

Nicole’s already stepping out of the car. “No, I’ll just be a minute,” she says, slamming the door behind her.

I look off to the right, making sure no one is approaching. The strung-out ones couldn’t if they tried. Their movements are slow, almost zombielike. My eyes go to the vehicle parked twenty yards away. The burly man sitting in the driver’s seat glances in my direction. He nods, but I know it’s not a friendly nod.

The motel room door Nicole’s standing at opens six inches or so, and she quickly slips inside.

I sit and wait in silence. The seconds morph into minutes and then it starts to feel like a long time has passed, but maybe it just feels that way in a place like this. I hear a noise, first a loud thud, then yelling. It’s muffled but is undeniably the sounds of anger and fear helixing around one another. Something crashes inside of the motel room. I rip the car door open and sprint toward it. I can hear the words being yelled clearly now.

“Where’s the money, you stupid bitch!”

“I don’t have any money!”

“That stupid dead mother of yours didn’t have anything valuable in her house either. So, the real question is, how are you gonna get me my fucking money!”

I drop my shoulder into the center of the door without even thinking and charge forward. The slam of the knob piercing drywall puts a punctuation on the room and for a moment, time freezes. A man stares back at me as he hovers over my sister on the bed. One hand around her shirt collar, the other raised in the air with limitless possibilities, all of them bad. Then it’s as if someone pressed Play on a remote control. The hard sound of a hand slapping across a face brings us all back into motion.

There’s no time for words. No reasoning with a man like this.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.