The Darkness - Jason Pinter [3]
a man named Chad Wozniak. He was a good father, an
aspiring architect who never progressed beyond the word
aspiring. He was a good man, a decent man, but not a
provider. That's what Paulina had wanted for her family,
but in the end she had to do what Chad could not.
Abigail. She was twenty years old. A junior in college.
A 3.7 average, captain of the soccer team at some allgirls' school up in Massachusetts. She and Paulina barely
spoke. Maybe once every few months, and usually only
when Abby's checking account ran low. Abby was beautiful, even if sometimes this budding young woman
seemed like a stranger to her own mother.
"You're a sick monster," Paulina said, closing the phone.
"Don't be like that. We're almost there."
The driver took the FDR to the Triboro Bridge, pulling
off once they'd arrived in Queens. He skidded around an
off-ramp, took several turns in a neighborhood Paulina
did not recognize, and slowly eased into an alleyway
bookended by two buildings that looked like they were
about to collapse. Paulina could see nobody, hear nobody.
She was all alone with this man. Through the rain and
desolation, nobody would hear her if she screamed.
The driver exited the car and walked around to the
backseat. Paulina locked the door from the inside. She
heard a click as the driver unlocked it with his remote.
Before she could lock it again, he threw open the door,
grabbed Paulina by her coat and spun her into the mud.
Wet slop splashed into her face. Paulina felt her eyes
grow warm, anger rising inside of her. She launched
herself at the man, her nails bared to rake at his face, but
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Jason Pinter
he merely grabbed her by the neck, held it for one horrible
moment as he stared into her eyes.
Then Paulina felt him press something against her
side, and suddenly she felt a scorching pain worse than
anything she'd ever experienced. Her body twitched as
she screamed. She lost control of her bladder, then
dropped facedown into the mud. Paulina looked up to see
the man holding a Taser, smiling.
"I wouldn't do that again. I can smell your piss."
Paulina could feel hot tears pouring down her face. She
was on her hands and knees, caked in grime, and her
body felt like it had just been plugged into an electrical
socket. She slowly got to her knees, managed to stand up,
her breath harsh and ragged.
"What do you want?" she cried. "Money? Sex?" She
shuddered at the last word, praying he didn't, praying
there was something else, something that wouldn't leave
a scar. Pain she could take, but that kind of pain would
never leave.
The man shook his head. Holding the Taser, he reached
inside his overcoat, rain beading down the dark fabric.
The water spilled down his forehead into his eyes, but the
man who called himself Chester hardly seemed to notice.
He removed something from his pocket and held it out
to Paulina. She focused her eyes, then gasped.
It was a picture of her daughter, Abby. She was at the
beach, wearing a cute pink bikini, standing in front of a
massive hole she must have dug in the sand. The photo
looked fairly recent, within the last year or so. Abigail's
eyes were bright and cheerful, her skin a golden brown.
Abby. She looked so joyful.
Her daughter.
"Where did you get that?" Paulina yelled.
The Darkness
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"Do you really need to ask? I had a dozen others to
choose from. You really should tell her to be careful of
what photos she posts on the Internet."
"You're a freak," she spat. "What the hell do you want?"
"I want you to listen to me very carefully," the man
said. He stepped closer, still holding out the photograph.
Water droplets landed on the photo but he didn't seem to
care. "A long time ago, I fought in a war. I fought alongside men and women who were like my own blood. Then,
one day, we found ourselves trapped. There was one man
I fought with who was like family, closer to me than
anyone. He was like a daughter. A mother. A brother."
Paulina shivered.
"That day, we found ourselves fighting