Broken (15 page)

He stood on wobbly legs, looking deep into the dew covered, silvery overgrowth.

The path led through a thick stand of woods and just over the town line before emerging near the Parker barn.

For the boys, it had been a place of both bliss and loathing. Bliss because time spent there meant more time together, and loathing because it also meant time spent with Sandy. And also loathing because, sometimes, it was where her jealousy could rage out of control without fear of discovery.

He remembered one night in particular, not long after Randy had made his stand, when he’d tried to explain to Eric why they had to stop, why
he
had to stop coming to Randy’s bed, and why Randy had to stop letting him.

His eyes followed the path of the twin beams as they pointed the way through the autumnal mist that hovered between the trees. He saw himself and Randy walking that path in the dusk, when Randy had just become a teenager, and Eric had yet to enter that mysterious realm.

“
C’mon, Eric, I want to show you something.” Randy’s voice urged, startling him into a little jump and bark.

Eric knew where they were going and couldn’t help but hope that his big brother had come to his senses and started loving him again.

“
Do you love me again?” he’d asked.

“
I never stopped, little bear,” Randy assured him, but grabbed him by the wrist, almost dragging him up the hill.

Eric’s feet carried him up the rutted and overgrown path while his memory replayed that night.

There were windows in the walls of the barn and from them came a soft yellow glow. Randy could barely see into them, and Eric couldn’t have if he tried, ‘til Randy grabbed him around the waist and unsteadily lifted him up.

“
What do you see?” Randy asked.

“
Kids, well, big kids. They’re doing our, OUR special thing! They’re making love,” Eric gulped. “So we’re
not
special?” he asked, as Randy set him down and looked into the window again.

“
Yeah, we’re special alright, Eric,” Randy scoffed through clenched teeth.

He’d been too young to understand what Randy tried to tell him that night, and his hurt had been so deep with his brother’s rejection, it wasn’t until years later that the message began to sink in and a faint hope flickered back to life.

Eric snapped out of the memory and looked up at the barn, its shape black and barely discernable in the night. He could see a slit of light through one of the windows.
Someone must’ve blocked up the windows, please don’t let it be Randy, please, not my brother,
he pleaded silently.

A sense of déjàvous washed over him as he approached the rear window of the building and peeked in through that small slant.

The gap was about half an inch wide, but gave him a view of the floor and gray pants pegged up to one of the central support beams. A glimpse of red turned his mouth down, as the sight started to register and his heart fluttered. Adjusting his angle, he tried to follow the line of her body, but it was no use.

Oh shit! Oh man! Oh shit!
He bobbed around the window straining frantically to find Randy, but couldn’t.

He knew the man could be hiding anywhere.
Why would he be hiding? He doesn’t know I’m here. Go get the detectives!
A part of his mind ordered,
No! I can’t leave her here, I have to get him to let her go, get him to stop before it’s too late. I have to save him, he’ll listen to me, I hope.

A moment later, Randy stepped into view, standing in front of the beam that Sam Backer was bound to.

Eric strained to hear what his brother was saying but the distance, the wall, and the racing wind made it impossible.

He could see, however, that Randy was playing with his spring-loaded knife.
That’s the knife I gave him when he went to college. Please Ran,
he blinked back tears and tried not to choke on the hot acid in his throat.

Eric was frozen to the window. He wanted to run back, get the detectives and lead them here, but the fear that trembled his belly at the thought of what could happen if he left, what he’d be responsible for, left him in a cold sweat.
Cell phone!
His hands dove into his pockets searching, but his mind’s eye reminded him that it was on his dresser in his room, charging.
Son of a bitch!

I gotta talk some sense into him.
He tore himself from the window, sliding easily around to the side door where the wind whipped across the open field, rattling the time worn wood against its closure.
I gotta get him to come to me.
He slid the peg out of the wire and dodged around the side as the wind pulled the door open with a startlingly loud ‘whack!’

He crouched in the shadow and waited just a few seconds until Randy emerged through the doorway. Eric moved quickly, taking his chance and holding his big brother’s knife hand to the side with one hand while the other grabbed him by the shirt.

“Ran, you gotta let her go, please.” Eric shouted above the wind.

“Are you stupid! You coulda got yourself hurt!” Randy shouted, holding up the knife before countering swiftly, drawing his baby brother into the barn with him and turning until he was off balance and they stood apart, eye to eye.

“She’s a
whore,
Eric, it’s in the blood! She’s just like every single one of them; she’ll hurt him and tear him apart inside. I can’t let her do that!”

“What you’re doing, what you’ve done, it’s the same thing
she
did to us! You can’t, you
have
to be
better
than that!”

They circled each other in a crouch, “Please, Ran, you gotta stop! They KNOW it’s you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the older man shook his head, “She’s gonna hurt him, just like they all do. Who’s gonna save him if I don’t, huh? Look” he squeegee’d the sweat from his face with his hand. “I know she can’t help it, like mother like daughter, Eric. She’ll tear that poor son of a bitch apart, I have to do this.”

The gleam of the blade caught Eric’s eye, “Dude, put the knife away, it’s just me.”

Randy looked from the knife to his little brother; his eyes widened in surprise as he quickly retracted the blade and tossed it aside.

“Good,” Eric nodded, “listen, if you’re talking about the cop he can take care of himself, he’ll be okay.” he pleaded, steeling himself as Randy moved forward, attempting to subdue him.

“No, he won’t!” he shook his head as they grappled, trading and blocking blows and holds. “She’s just gonna chew him up and spit him out, it’s what they ALL DO!”

“He’s a grown man, he can take care of himself,” Eric countered.

“No, she’ll hurt him. She’s just like that slut mother of hers. It’s in the BLOOD, Eric, I can’t let her do that.”

Eric shook his head, “Ran, she’s
not
Mrs. Caffey. She’s Sam Backer, she’s DAVE’s daughter! You
KNOW
Dave, you
know
he raised her right, to be a good girl.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s in the
blood
! She fucked around on her husband, Grandma did it, Mom did it to dad and she did it to US! They ALL do it, and she’ll do it, too,” he spat, pointing at the woman bound to the far side of the beam, “She’s not gonna be able to help it. Another bastard slut causing the world one more pain, I can’t let her do it.”

“Ran, that’s fucked up,” Eric shook his head as the older man pounced again. Both of them were breathless, and Eric knew that, although he could take Randy down by strength alone, his big brother had more endurance than he did. He had to do something to get through to him, “What you’re doing is killing dad. He’s in the hospital!” he blurted.

“Bullshit,” Randy shook his head as they circled each other once more.

“It’s not, he had a heart attack tonight. He knows everything, so does Mikey. I told them everything, so now you don’t have to be scared anymore,” he pleaded.

“You WHAT!? God, Eric, what did you do?” His face twisted in agony as he charged forward, furiously driving the younger man backward through the center of the structure.

“It’s okay, look, the cops, they have search parties all over the place; they know you’re in Glen Falls,” he explained as Randy’s fist connected with his jaw. “It’s not your fault, Ran, they know that!” his head snapped back with the force of another blow.

“You can stop now,” he pleaded as the next blow landed him on the ground with his big brother straddling him, swinging hard against Eric’s blocking.

“Don’t you get it?” Randy panted just before Eric’s knees came up into his chest to throw him off.

For a long moment each man lay on the floor panting, looking at each other, staring into each others’ eyes, “You were right, Ran,” Eric shook his head and rolled until he was sitting up. Breathing hard, noting the stings and warm dripping, his tongue flicked out to his lip, tasting tangy torn flesh and blood, while his fingers closed over his nose, pinching away the stream of blood from there, “I think you broke my nose, man.”

Randy shrugged, “Sorry,” his own tongue probing at a cut in his lip while his other hand adjusted his grip on the handle of the knife he’d landed on.

Eric sighed, “Look you were right, none of it was our fault, we had nothing to be ashamed of, but this,” he waved loosely, “this has got to stop man. You can’t do this.” He rose to his feet and stood above his big brother with his hand extended, his eyes pleading.

Randy grasped the offered hand and felt mist over his eyes as Eric pulled him to his feet.

He lurched fast and hard into the younger man’s body, the ‘snick’ of the blade springing from its handle lost in the crunchy sound of steel penetrating clothing and flesh.

Randy pulled his brother tight against him, feeling him start to go limp in his arms as he carefully eased him to the floor with tears streaming down his face, his eyes filled with Eric’s look of puzzled surprise.

He shook his head and choked, “I can’t,” he cupped the younger man’s face, close to sobbing, as he pressed their mouths together then embraced him tightly, “I’m sorry little bear, I’m so sorry. I love you…” he whispered, kissing the young man’s temple as he lowered him down onto his back, “If you try to go for help you’ll probably die, be smart. Just lay here and you might survive, please.”

Eric’s hand snaked behind Randy’s head, “Love you, Ran, always have. Didn’t I stop when you asked me to? Didn’t I? I never wanted to.” He took a shaky breath, his hand stroking his big brother’s face.

Randy pressed his face into that warm gentle palm, picking up and holding Eric against him one more time.

“
Where do you think you’re going, young man?” Sandy asked, that sharpness to her voice that warned of painful punishment to come, but Randy wouldn’t back down this time.

“
Come with me, Eric. You don’t have to stay, you don’t have to do any of this,” he offered, extending his hand to the boy.

“
But,” Eric stammered, not understanding, “but we’re special, Ran, what we have, it makes US special.” he spewed the rhetoric he’d heard all his life.

Randy shook his head, “Not here, not like this.”

“
Maybe Randy’s gone selfish, maybe he doesn’t care about you anymore, maybe he doesn’t care about anyone but RANDY. Maybe he’s broken and can’t love like we can,” she tormented, trying to poison his little bear against him, “maybe he just doesn’t like you anymore.”

Tears slid into his little brother’s hair as he rocked them back and forth, his lips pressing to his temple, “Be smart, please stay alive.”

Gently, he lowered Eric back to the floor, making sure the young man’s hand was pressing firmly against the wound, hoping he wouldn’t try to move.

Wiping his face clean, he moved to the beam, grabbing Sam’s almost unconscious gaze with his jade green eyes, “This is your fault,” he motioned to Eric on the floor, almost too furious to speak. “We’re nowhere near done.”

A moment later, he was pulling the car out of the barn, pointing it toward the dirt road he’d come by, with Eric’s words ringing in his ears,
“…didn’t I stop when you asked me to? I never wanted to…”
“I never wanted to either,” he cried softly, trying to find the road without headlights, and through a waterfall of tears.

“I’m sorry, Sam,” Eric gasped when the sound of his brother’s car faded into the distance. “I shoulda just gone and got the cops.”

Sam tried to keep herself from sobbing since every breath changed the amount of tension on the wires and kept her blazing with pain. “Don’t talk, Eric, he’s right, save your strength,” she gasped, wondering how deeply imbedded the barbs were into her belly. She could barely feel her hands now, but felt that they were so slick, they were sliding out of the wire, and when that happened all her weight would collapse onto the wires around her abdomen and her ankles and she’d begin to be shredded by them.

“Dogs, they brought dogs,” Eric smiled, summoning the strength to roll up onto his side. His hand shook as he moved it away from the hole. “Holy shit, that hurts,” he gasped, peeling his shirt away from the wound, “Oh man...” he grunted, easing the thin cotton back over his belly and pressing down on the wound as he looked around.

Dangling from a peg on the back wall, he saw a pair of shears that might cut the wires binding her.

“Oh geez, Sam, what did he do to you? Gotta get you down, oh geez, oh shit,”
God, Randy, why? Why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you let me help you? It would have been okay if you’d just let me love you, then you’d be okay.
“Barbed wire, fuck!” he groaned, seeing her clearly for the first time.