Jeff looked up as the door to the bar opened and a man bigger than any other men he'd ever seen entered. He wasn't a man. He was a monster to look at. The bar was a sleazy place with not many people there, and the few people actually being there were miserable alcoholics. And Jeff. Jeff wasn't an alcoholic but he always gravitated towards sadness for some unknown reason.
"Give me a beer!" The monster had a dark, scary voice to match his appearance.
With the beer in his hand, he looked around, and his eyes landed on Jeff. He moved towards the table and Jeff pulled nervously on the purple sleeves from his long tee sticking out from underneath the short sleeves of his black tee.
"May I sit here?" The monster asked.
He actually asked. His voice didn't sound friendly though but at least he asked.
"Sure," Jeff answered.
He sat down, took a sip of his beer and looked at Jeff.
"I'm not a bad man," he said.
"I didn't say you were," Jeff said.
"My name is Braun," Braun said.
"Jeff," Jeff nodded. "So what brings you to a place like this? Like me, you don't really seem to fit in."
"My girl," Braun sighed.
Jeff nodded. Everyone had been there. A bad fight or even a bad break up.
"What happened?" He asked.
"I met her a week ago," Braun answered.
"A week?" Jeff couldn't help but chuckle.
"Don't laugh!" Braun's voice went dark and scary again.
"Sorry, share your story," Jeff said.
Braun took another sip of his beer and cleared his throat.
"Seven days ago I laid eyes on the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I knew right away we were meant to be," he nodded slowly. "She disappeared so fast and we didn't even share a word or anything. I just knew I was gonna see her again."
He took another sip of his beer.
"Six days ago I saw her again and I learned her name," he smiled at the memory. "Qiana."
"Qiana?" That was a name Jeff hadn't heard before.
"It means soft and silky and I could tell by looking at her hair that it fit her perfectly," Braun said.
"Did you get to touch it?" Jeff asked.
"No, I figured I had to talk to her first. She hadn't seemed to notice me," Braun answered.
"But you just said you learned her name," Jeff said.
"Yeah, it was right there on her mailbox," Braun said.
"You followed her home?" Jeff looked shocked.
"Of course I did. How else was I supposed to find out where she lived?" Braun said.
Jeff began to feel a bit nervous. That was a classic stalker trade. Following someone home and not even realizing it was dead wrong.
"Five days ago I sent her flowers," Braun continued as if his story was perfectly normal. "I wrote on the card that I loved her and that I couldn't wait for us to be together."
"You love her?" Jeff asked lowly.
"Of course I do. She was perfect," Braun sighed. "She didn't answer though and that made me a bit mad."
He took another sip of his beer and it was half empty.
"Four days ago I sent her a box of chocolate. I figured maybe she's not a flower girl but more a sweets girl. Once again I told her how much I love her," he said.
"Let me guess, she didn't answer that either," Jeff shook his head.
"No, it's like she wanted me to get mad," Braun let out a little growl. "So I had to step up my game."
Jeff didn't like where this was going. He had a bad feeling inside as he watched Braun take another sip of his beer.
"So three days ago I went and knocked on her door," he said.
Jeff was afraid to ask but he couldn't help it. He wanted to know the end of the story. He needed to know.
"Did she open?" He asked.
"She did. She was so beautiful in that light blue dress," Braun smiled as he remembered how she looked.
"What happened?" Jeff asked.
"I told her I wanted her to stop fooling around and tell me she loves me back. She became hysterical and started yelling about calling the police so I had to silence her," Braun answered. "I kinda knocked her out."
"Kinda?" Jeff asked.
"Okay, I knocked her out but I didn't mean to. I just wanted her to calm down. So I tied her to her bed but she started screaming like crazy when she woke up so I had to gag her over night while I told her everything she needed to know," Braun said.
Braun took another sip of his beer and Jeff reached for his glass of whiskey. He slammed down the entire content. He needed something strong to keep himself from falling apart in front of the monster while he confessed his sins.
"So you kept her awake all night?" Jeff asked softly. "What happened next day?"
"Two days ago," Braun beamed like the sun. "We made love. Sweet, sweet love."
Jeff's jaw dropped. Did Braun just confess to raping the poor woman? He had her tied to a bed and gagged and he talked about making love. That man was crazy.
"She agreed to a relationship?" He asked although he already knew the answer.
"I didn't remove the gag," Braun answered. "But I knew she felt the same way. I knew she wanted me. She even cried while I made love to her. It was so beautiful."
She cried. Jeff wanted to cry too and he hadn't even met the poor woman.
"Yesterday she seemed more calm. She was tired after all the lovemaking and so was I," Braun chuckled. "So I untied her and we took a shower together. She did everything I asked her to. She even said she loved me."
This brought hope back to Jeff. The woman had played along and fed Braun's fantasies. Braun had swallowed it all up. Qiana had played along and she was safe now. She had to be.
"But today it all changed," Braun said.
"What happened?" Jeff whispered.
"She tried to run away," Braun said. "I locked the bedroom door at night for safety reasons and she tried jumping out of the window from the first floor like an insane person."
Insane person. Braun really didn't realize he was the insane one in this story.
"So I got so mad. I just got so mad," he said. "I didn't think. I just acted."
"What did you do?" Jeff asked.
"I wanted to knock her out again but I didn't stop after one punch. I was so mad, Jeff. I just wanted to teach her a lesson," Braun looked Jeff directly in the eyes. "I killed her."
"You killed her?" Jeff couldn't believe her.
"I didn't mean to. It just happened," Braun shrugged. "But yeah, I killed her."
"Where is she now?" Jeff asked.
"Still back home on the bedroom floor," Braun answered.
He emptied his beer and put the bottle down.
"Will you help me bury her body?" He asked.
Jeff felt more shocked by that request than the entire story had left him in. This guy actually asked him, a complete stranger, to help him cover up his crime. Jeff knew what he wanted to do, what he was supposed to answer to that, but the man scared him.
"Sure," he answered. "When?"
"Now," Braun answered.
"Is it alright if I go take a piss first?" Jeff asked.
"Sure, I'll wait," Braun answered.
There wasn't much time. No way was Jeff gonna walk out of the bar with Braun. Once out in the bathroom, he pulled out his phone and dialed the police. He didn't have time to go into a deeper explanation so he just rambled off everything when the call was answered.
"My name is Jeff Hardy and I'm down at The Beer Twister. A guy named Braun just confessed to killing a woman named Qiana and he wants me to come with him right now to bury the body. I don't know any of their last names but her name is pretty fucking unique, right? Look her up. He says he's been in her house the last three days so maybe someone knows she hasn't been to work or something. Please, hurry down here or I'm scared I'm gonna join his count of dead bodies."
He must have sounded pretty convincing or someone had already reported her missing because the words the woman on the other end of the line spoke were pure heaven to hear.
"Someone's on their way, sir. Are you safe? Can you stay where you are for a few minutes?" She asked.
"Yeah," he whispered. "Thank you."
"Stay on the line with me, sir," she said. "They're two minutes away."
He stayed on the line and inside the bathroom until he heard people yelling out in the bar. He opened the bathroom door a crack and looked out. Four cops were pulling a fighting Braun out of there. As soon as they were gone, Jeff hung up and walked back to the counter. The bartender looked at him with soft eyes.
"Can I get another glass of whiskey?" Jeff asked.
The bartender quickly poured another whiskey and placed the glass in front of Jeff.
"On the house," he said.
The way he looked at Jeff, it made Jeff know that the bartender knew whatever had just happened was because of him. The glass of whiskey was a stupid way to say thank you but it was what it was. Jeff slammed down the whiskey, nodded at the bartender and left the bar.