Dream Daddy: Awakening
Robert's Epilogue
The rotating beam of a distant lighthouse cut through the still darkness that had settled over Maple Bay. Ships docked safely in harbor glinted as the light passed over two men by the side of the water. The man in the leather jacket approached the other with shoulders arched wide and feet spread apart, like a cat facing down some predator five times its size.
"So you came," Robert spoke to the man who combed his fingers casually through a neatly groomed tuft of yellow hair as the light moved away from the spot where they stood.
"Dearest, lost little Robert. So stoic. So resolute… look at you!" Joseph gestured with a flourish of his hand, "Why of course I've come, you silly boy. This is my domain. But of course, I'd come for you every time, don't you recall?" Joseph crooned, and twisted the last word into a laugh.
Robert glared at him, unblinking, disgust welling up inside him. And to think this cruel silhouette before him was a man Robert once thought he loved.
"Have you finally tired of your pitiful attempts to flee from damnation? Have your narcotics failed to lull you into another stupor? Has your whiskey soured? And, forgive me for plucking the low hanging fruit, but I can't fail to mention…" Joseph smirked, "You've realized that the sex can't measure up to what we had, haven't you?" He regarded Robert with a hungry self-satisfaction. "So you've come back to me. But, dear Robert, what's the matter? You look so tense. There is no cause to fear me—I offer you my forgiveness. Submit to me again, and find … bliss."
Robert felt a shot of chill run up from the soles of his feet as Joseph spoke that last word. He pushed back images of their bygone passions, feelings that Joseph could evoke with just the right inflection on a single syllable.
"Well you're right about one thing," Robert barked, "I won't be running away anymore. From my problems, or from you. I realize I can't change what we've done—what I've done. I can't undo the damage to the people we've hurt, and I can't ever make up for it. You can keep my sodding past, but what matters is that from now on, I'm taking charge of my present and future. Because now…" Robert's dark eyes blaze as he pulls out his whittling knife, "I'm gonna put you in the ground where you belong."
Joseph raised an eyebrow, smirk still painted on his pale face. "We both know you're not a killer, Small. But it should be amusing to watch you wrestle with your tedious conscience," he spread his arms wide, "No matter what I said, how I touched you, how you purred for me and called me Master, I could never convince you to take a life. Not outright, anyway. Inconvenient, but endearing, really. So, take your best shot. If you get all that aggression out without ruining my clothes, I could be persuaded to enact a more pleasant punishment."
Robert knew that if he hesitated any longer, he risked losing his nerve. He hadn't been drinking since his daughter's visit, and being sober made this feel even harder. He lunged forward, slashing his blade down at Joseph's neck. Joseph stepped back gracefully just in time, but Robert was ready. His arm and body moved forward together in a lunge. The tip of the knife grazed against the skin of Joseph's chin.
Joseph continued to dodge, putting a finger to the cut where it began to draw blood. His cool facade was slipping away. He had trouble keeping up with Robert's attacks and masking the icy anger from his expression. The tone of his voice wavered too.
"I gave you every chance to see reason. I've been generous to you, even kind, but you leave me no choice. Still, you will be a lovely thrall."
Robert's blade punctured Joseph's hand. Joseph held his wound over the water's edge, letting his blood trickle into the ocean.
The boardwalk began to sway. The lamp in the lighthouse flickered out.
Dark limbs emerged from the bay, squeezing up between slats of the boardwalk and snapping them in half, stretching toward them from every side of the harbor. Joseph took advantage of the distraction and wrested Robert's knife from his hand. Robert fumbled with the rim of his boot for a hidden blade, but Joseph was too quick. He kicked Robert down, and the slimy, shimmering black appendages surrounded them, pinning Robert's arms and legs to the ground. Joseph raised Robert's whittling knife above his head, pushing his knee into Robert's chest.
"Such potential, wasted. You could have been a part of something so pure. So much greater than yourself. But you refused me. And now you die alone. Goodbye, darling Robert." Joseph brought the blade down, and a loud "BANG!" cracked through the end of Joseph's words.
"I'm… not alone anymore." Robert Gritted his teeth.
"BANG, BANG!"
"Honey, one shot to the head is fine. He's an evil priest, not a zombie. Three is just overkill."
"You alright, dad?"
"Yeah, Val. C'mere!"
Robert shoved Joseph's body aside and hugged his daughter for a long time.
"Dad, this is my girlfriend, Liz."
"She looks just like the pictures," Robert pushed himself up to see a short woman with thick dark hair pointing a camera at the receding limbs that seemed to be drawing themselves back into the ocean.
Liz nods in their general direction, "I'd say it's nice meeting you if not for all of this Lovecraftian shit."
Val reloads her pistol, "This isn't really how I pictured introducing you to the family. But now that the weird shit is over, how about we go somewhere quiet and do this properly?"
"Aah! It's moving!" Liz shrieks, dropping the camera to reflexively point at Joseph's body.
Val fires two more shots into Joseph's back as his corpse begins to melt away and trickle out towards the bay.
"Damn, damn, DAMN! The camera won't turn on!"
"Ok." Val helps her father, "That is it. We are leaving now!"
The three of them manage to pile onto Val's motorcycle and speed away from Maple Bay without looking back.