Chapter 25 - Some Place Special

"Ya know I thought you were smarter than that."

Lewis drives the SUV into the night. After leaving the hardware store, Lewis became extremely chatty. He repeatedly glances into the rear view mirror to peek at Liv, who's slouched over in the back seat. There's a crack in the back window that breathes air into her lifeless form. Lewis finds Liv's company exciting. He gets to boast and he gets to self indulge like a true narcissist. She's his audience. But is Liv really listening? In her world, his words go in one ear and out the other. Olivia Benson isn't his audience. Olivia Benson isn't even in that SUV with him. Where was she?

The Summer Of 1982

"Livvie? I promise my nails are totally dry this time. Come on, I won't drop the ball again.. Please? .. Throw the ball. Here pass it, quick quick."

"How about you play the cheerleader this time Harp," fourteen year old Olivia Benson yells out as she dribbles a basketball down a school court. Almost at the free throw line, Liv feels someone smash into her, knocking the ball out of her hands.

The school gym had that old summer school scent a lot of students dread. School doors should never be open in the summertime. To be fair, the building was close to empty. With the exception of the student loving janitor, there were also four wide eyed high school freshman's in the building. Olivia Benson, the tough yet beautiful tom boy. Harper Richmond, Liv's best friend for two years. The exact opposite. Harper was a boy-crazy, make-up wearing, perky-cheering, spoil and rich daddy's girl. She often insulted Liv's boyish ways and Liv often insulted Harper's vanity. They were like night and day but that's what made them such great friends. Then there was the other two freshman's. The guys. Jasper Bush and Rhys Stoma. Jasper was Rhys's shadow, his Shepard. Rhys was a new student and Liv took him under her wing. They had so much in common and became fast friends. The two of them were glued to one another the entire school year.

Liv tries to get up after Jasper tackled her to the floor. She looks up to find Rhys holding out his helping hands. "Thanks," Liv replies with a smile before being lift to her feet. "Looks like you beat us again Benson,"'Rhys replies. His chestnut colored eyes were beautiful. Liv loved his eyes the most. Before meeting the guys to the gym, Liv admitted something to Harper. She wanted Rhys to be her first kiss. He was so sweet. His olive skin was perfectly clear, unlike Jasper. "Hey! You need to focus on the game instead of focusing on Rhys." Jasper always teased Liv.

Liv knew Jasper had a crush on her but he was Harper's boyfriend.

The foursome decided to end their daily 'boys against girls' basketball game after Liv's foul. The score was forty-two to thirty-one and the girls were slaying the boys. Harper never made any points, unless shooting the ball in the wrong goal counts. Liv always scored the most points. She could beat all three of them with her eyes close.

"Hey guys we're still going to Coney Island tonight," Liv asks.

Lewis calmly drives on a deserted road. "I really thought that you were smarter than that. Letting your guard down like that. Who knew how easy it would be to just take you." Lewis chuckles. "You're a cop. You hear something amiss in your place and you don't draw your gun? Pathetic.. Bet you didn't even know I would be there." He smirks. "That's what you get for thinking I'm some fucking idiot.. No baby I'm no idiot. I'm Harry fucking Houdini."

He sneezes. "Excuse me. My daddy always told me that sneezing after saying something means that, that something you said was the truth.. My daddy was the best man I knew. Died when I was 21. What a shame.. The old man had too many women in his life.. Fucking cunts. All you do is destroy.. And you don't give a shit in the process. Ya know if we didn't need to fuck you you bitches would be useless... I'm the hitler of the female race." Liv grunts and Lewis turns his head to look at her for a minute.

"What you got something to say?" He turns his head back to the road. "Yeah well, that's why your mouth is taped shut.. You whores talk way too much. Sorry. Ya know I gotta stop calling women these awful names. My mama raised me better than that. She told me I oughta treat a woman like I want someone to treat her." He chuckles. "If only she knew how I wanted her to be treated... My mother was a lying-cheating-good for nothing who slept with anyone she could to get a hit.. I used to fantasize about killing her.. I thought I would rape her first. See how it felt. See how all those men felt. Man. I was only seven with those kind of fantasies." He sighs, he has to make a turn.

"I had the chance one night. She was coming home late as always and she was high as a fucking kite. I followed her into the bathroom and she was naked.. I asked her to touch her pussy and she beat the fuck out of me.. Yea.. Told my daddy bout it and he killed that bitch the next night.. I saw the entire thing." He comes across traffic and hits the stirring wheel. "Damn it. I hate traffic. Back in the south? We didn't have any traffic at this time of night. I don't miss that. I say the more people the better.. Looks like we're driving into the city.. I better back out. Won't find any abandon places there." He makes a u-turn.

"Ya know why I chose you baby? Because you had it in for me since day one. Trying to turn Vanessa against me. Warning her like that? Getting in my fucking face like you're so superior.. Just like that fucking old bitch.. No one gets to treat me like that. NO ONE!" He tries to calm down. "One time? I was staying with my uncle in Carolina. I was probably fifteen or sixteen. I don't remember... There was this old lady who lived in my uncle's apartment building. She didn't like me. Treated me like you and Alice Parker did. Like I was some criminal. She lived there with her daughter and granddaughter right. Well so.. One night when my uncle was out of town, I took his gun and I brought it over to that old woman's apartment.. They were all asleep. They always left the door unlock. Stupid thing to do right. So I get inside and I head straight to the little girls room. She saw the gun and instead of screaming she asked me, she said, 'is it morning is it time to go to school already'? Man." Lewis shakes his head, remembering.

"I ripped that little girls night gown up and popped her open.. She was sweet. I don't know how old she was. Couldn't be older than five. After I fucked her, she passed out. I told her I was the boogie man, the monster.. Till this day? I've never seen that kind of terror in anyone's eyes.. I went to that old ladies room next. I hated that bitch. I pistol whip her so bad I couldn't even recognize her face. So I turned her on her back and did her in her ass... I still can hear her squealing.. The daughter walked in on me. I was cumming at that exact time and I wasn't stopping for anything... Anyway the daughter takes my gun because I'm in a weak position. My load was all over my hands and that old bitch's ass. So she takes my gun, right, and threatens to shoot me. I play along right. Doing everything she says. She let her guard down when she got that phone in her other hand to call the cops.. I try to get the gun, but she fires it.. And this is the best part. The gun goes off right. But it backfires on her.. Brain matter all over the walls." He makes a disgusted face.

"Ya know they ruled it a suicide. That old bitch, I hit her so hard with that gun. She ended up in a coma.. Died two days later. The kid was the only living witness but man I thought about finishing her off. I intended on doing her cold but people hear gunshots and people run towards it. I had to bounce... Case is still cold to this day. The kid went mute after all of that so she was never able to give me away. Ya know I think she's still a mute..." Lewis pauses. He glances at Liv in the rest view mirror. "Are you ignoring me baby? Huh?" He stops the car in the middle of a lonely road. Liv awareness returns. "You ignoring me?" He yells, angry. Liv nods her head, no, assuring him that she's all ears. He continues to talk.

She isn't ignoring him. She's unintentionally blocking him out of her mind. Something happens to a person when they've suffered too much trauma. They go to other places. Happier places. Where was her happy place?

The Summer Of 1982.

The air was enticing. The wind tickled her soft olive skin. Her eyes sparkled as it beamed at all the flashing lights on Coney Island. Fifteen feet into the air and Liv had found an unfamiliar kind of bliss. A type of bliss that she had been unaware of for fourteen years. She had never been so high up. She had never been on a Ferris wheel. She wouldn't have gotten in line to ride the the thing if Rhys hadn't asked.

She was afraid of heights but Rhys promised to be right there with here, in the sky. His smell always lingered, even when they were apart. Fresh flowers and fabric softeners. He was sitting so close to Liv. The closest they've ever been. She was too nervous too look his way. He was too determined not to look at anything else other than Liv. She wondered if he could feel the butterflies in her stomach. She wondered if he could feel the nervousness all over her body.

She looked down at the neighboring boot and saw Jasper and Harper locked in a kiss. She turned to Rhys, thinking that he was looking at their friends as well but to no avail. Rhys was staring at her, smiling. She nervously turned her head away. Rhys's smile turned. He had to try something. He really liked Olivia. He fell in love with her the first day he met her at school. She was more different than any other girl he knew. Her beauty amazed Rhys. Everything about Livvie amazed Rhys. What he liked most was her heart. She had an untamed heart of gold. She was his girl, and he had to make it official.

Without warning, Rhys gently grabs Liv's hand. Her entire body shook with butterflies. She turned to him and smiled. He smiled back.

Lewis continues to share his horrible stories. "I never think about what would happen if I got caught right. I never think about that. You only live once right? Yolo right? Hey? That old lady? Vanessa's mom? Man. That lady was tight. Thought she would break my dick... Couldn't get in there so easy." Lewis lets out an evil laugh. "Not like her daughter.. No walls. You could fit your entire head in there."

Over the next two hours, Lewis drives through quiet neighborhoods, restricted areas, and abandoned beach homes in Long Island. At times, he would even get out the car when he saw no cars around. When he saw cars or any signs of human life form, Lewis kept moving along. Every place they found, however, he had an old story to tell.

To Be Continued...