Chapter 1: Roots of Evil (2/3)
Joshua and Terrence decided to enter the playground's bathroom to stay out of the rain. The men's bathroom was locked, so they decided to enter the woman's bathroom. Upon entrance however, they found the place in a completely precarious state. The walls were either broken or had graffiti on it. The toilets were broken or completely filled with things. The sinks had blood marks and broken needles on them, which gives the impression that junkies go there to use drugs.
"Terry, we should just go, I don't think they're gonna show up." Joshua spoke while completely frustrated because of the horrible smell. This place smells like shit, vomit and piss.
"Nah, he's going to come." Terry replied with full crentinty.. "The motherfucker bragged about breaking my face and sent a photo of it to everyone."
The moron realizes that it would be evidence that he assaulted someone, and the "someone" in question is from a family of police officers. Joshua realized the irony of the level of stupidity. "That sounds really dumb." Joshua told him.
"He is a fucking moron, the fuck do you expect?" Terrence then opened the entrance door and stood there to signal that they were inside.
Joshua on the other hand, picked his phone from his jacket's pocket and decided to check something while he waited. On his phone's screen, he watched some of the details of the murder that he commited online. Interviews with the victims, his loved ones and friends, employers of the restaurant that he owned, plus the police commentary about everything, with Joshua taking as much information about it as possible. Got what you deserved, asswipe. Joshua thought with no remorse whatsoever. Killing the mother of your child, for what? Because she justifiably wanted full custody when you could barely pay your own fucking rent.
"That's them." Terry spoke up.
"Finally, let's get this over with." Joshua said as he placed his phone inside of his pocket. "I wanna eat pizza and watch a movie with Lydia."
"Maybe you'll even get laid." Terry commented.
"Maybe..." Joshua gave Terry a naughty smile, with Terry giving him a thumbs up in approval.
As Terry distances himself from the door. The three people they were waiting for, entered the bathroom.
The first one to enter was, who Joshua assumed to be, Jermaine. He was as unimpressive as it comes. He was short-legged and stocky, thickly built, with a plain face, dark brown hair and brown eyes. He has a high forehead, a square jaw and a nose that has been broken more than once. He was wearing baggy dark jeans, white sneakers , a blue letterman jacket and a red cap.
The second one to enter was a big fat guy. A pretty big guy with a dark brown long afro makes him look like a retard. He was wearing brown cargo pants and a black hoodie.
The third one had black dreadlocks, a long face and dark blue eyes. He was wearing a matching white sweatshirt and sweatpants.
"So... You actually came." Jermaine spoke to Terry. "And brought your emo boyfriend."
I'm not an Emo, but it's a waste of time to try to argue with this moron. Joshua thought as he doesn't like when people say that he's an emo.
"Yeah, I came motherfucker." Terrence cursed him. "Now, am I gonna beat your bitch ass first? Or your bitch ass buddies are the ones who are gonna do the fighting for you."
"Say that on my face, you lanky ass bitch." The fat guy spoke up.
Jermaine grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket and held it horizontally. Indicating that he's gonna film the fight. With Joshua rolling his eyes with how stupid that guy was, because he was basically making some evidence in case something bad happens.
"Always the bitch ass wimp." Terrence spoke as he saw that Jermaine had no intention to do any fighting despite his boasting and acting tough earlier. "J, you want the fat one or dreadlocks one?"
Joshua only took a second to decide "I got the fat one." It was going to be too easy.
"The faggot motherfucker thinks he's tough." The fat guy spoke with a chuckle.
Joshua removed his bangs from his right eye. It was a type of habit that he had, when he was about to do something bad.
Terry moved closer to the exit while Joshua moved to the opposite wall.
The fat guy and the Dreadlocks one, each went on opposite sides.
"Come on, faggot." The fat guy continued to give him homophobic remarks as he got into a fighting stance. A low guard and sloppy fighting stance with his legs way too close, clearly showcasing a lack of skill.
Joshua instead got into his Jeet Kune Do stance.
He looked to the side for a second to see Terry getting into an aggressive stance. Which was expected, since Terrence has absolutely no knowledge or training in martial arts. Everything that he knows about fighting, he learned from getting into a lot of fights.
Joshua looked back at the fat guy.
"Hold on," Jermaine spoke up as he was probably prepared to film them. "Fight!"
After Jermaine said that. The fat guy tried to throw a right haymaker punch at Joshua, who only had to duck under it due to how telegraphic the punch was. Joshua quickly delivered a right hook to his liver that he followed with a right hook to his jaw. The moment his fist connected, the fat guy fell on the floor and Joshua wasted no time in grabbing his right leg and performing a standing heel hook, putting an overwhelming amount of pressure on his foot, until it snapped.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed in agony as a result of what Joshua just did.
"Holy shit!" Jermaine yelled as he saw what just happened.
Joshua stood up from the ground and looked at Ty, holding his leg in pain.
"Damn." Terrence spoke as he cringed at the side.
The Dreadlocks one covered his mouth in horror.
Joshua just moved his head to the Dreadlocks guy and while he was distracted with the fat guy in pain, Joshua decided to just finish that stupid display of pointless violence. So he closed the distance, and before he could have any kind of reaction, Joshua grabbed him and performed a hip throw.
"AHH!" With him grunting as he collided with the hard floor. Before Joshua finished with a Downward Punch to his face, knocking him out cold.
"FUCK! YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" The Fat guy kept on screaming in agony. Not knowing that he just made things worse. "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL Y-" Before he could finish what he was going to yell, Joshua stomped on his face three times, which caused him to lose consciousness.
Joshua looks at the others, and noticed that they were staring at him. His response was just to cover his right eye with his bangs again, and put his hands on his pants pocket to wait.
They stare at him for a few more seconds. Jermaine, against any possible level of common sense, decided to throw a sucker punch at Terry's face while he was distracted, which made him stumble into the wall. But he quickly recovers from it and charges at him. Terry tackles him and pushes him into the wall and starts to deliver a barrage of very wild and aggressive punches on his face. Which eventually knocked Jermaine into the ground, but Terry kept on punching him even after he was unconscious.
Joshua had to move and grab Terrence to make him stop. "T, enough!" Joshua pulled him away.
"Fucking asshole sucker punched me!" Terry yelled in rage and his lip was bleeding from the punch.
"And you beat the shit out of him." Joshua pointed out as he looked at the unconscious guy.
"Damn right." Terry replied.
"Fuck..." Terrence complained as he touched his lip on the spot where he got sucker punched. It was bleeding a bit.
Both Joshua and Terrence left the three unconscious guys in the bathroom and made their way to Terry's home. Joshua wanted to run to catch a bus, but Terry told him that his grandfather could give him a ride home.
Terrence lives on the ninth floor of an apartment complex. I keep wondering, did this complex ever look nice? Or... was it always like this. Joshua thought as they made their ways to the stairs, since the elevator is broken. As they climbed up the stairs, they noticed several things on each floor. Things like: very creative graffiti, blood stains on the walls and floors, some guy knocking on the door angry for his girlfriend to let him in, a guy smoking something that isn't tobacco by the window and a few other things.
Until they finally arrive at the ninth floor. Terrence lives on the door number 919, which was the last door on the corridor.
Joshua and Terrence then started to walk down the corridor. Passing through each door, they hear some sounds coming from each room. Like a couple fighting, someone yelling on the Tv, a baby crying really loud. It's in times like this , that I wish I was deaf. Joshua thought, as the sounds really bothered him.
Soon enough, the two friends arrived at Terry's home. But as Terry was reaching his keys to unlock his door. "How does it look?" He asked while pointing at his lip.
"That you got sucker punched, hold on." Joshua replied as there was still a bit of blood on it. He grabbed one of the sleeves of his jacket and whipped the blood from it.
"That was super gay." Terrence commented.
"Terry, if I was gay, you would be the last guy I would ever be attracted to." Joshua replied to his comment.
"Good to know." Terrence replied sarcastically before unlocking the door of his home. "I'm home!" He announced as the two entered.
At the entrance of Terrence's home, there was a cheap looking carpet on the ground, the walls were painted in a caramel color and there were some family photos on them.
"Take your shoes off!" Terrence's grandmother yelled. Which both of them obeyed.
A few steps from the entrance, there was the living room. On it, there is a couch and a really comfy looking chair beside it. In front of it, there was a table with some cups on it. And a pretty expensive TV.
"Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Higgins." Joshua politely greeted the two.
"Oh, hello Joshua." Terry's grandmother greeted him back. She was called Zuri Higgins. She's a woman in her fifths, with gray hair and light brown eyes. She's overweight but not really obese. She was sitting on the couch watching TV.
"Hey, J." Terry's grandfather also greeted him. He was called Mark Higgins, he was a pretty tall and robust man, with a bald head and a gray beard in a goatee style. Both Terrence and Sean take after him.
"Where's uncle Sean?" Terrence asked as he walked towards the kitchen, that was right after the living room.
"On a meeting at the police station." Mr. Higgins told Terry.
The meeting is probably about me. Joshua assumed.
"He ain't coming home today?" Terry asked in curiosity as he grabbed a chocolate bar.
"Probably not," Mrs. Higgins told him.
I'm gonna listen in to this meeting, thankfully, the bug that I put on Mr. Graham's phone still works. I got to put one on Sean's new phone as soon as I can. Joshua thought as he needed to see what the police were up to.
Terry eats the chocolate bar before speaking again. "Grandpa, can you give Joshua a ride home?" He asked his grandfather.
"I told him I could have taken a bus, but he insisted." Joshua added.
"It's late and it's raining, it's better that Mark drives you home." Mrs. Higgins assured him.
"Let me just pick up a coat." Mr. Higgins told him before standing up from the couch.
Mr. Higgins agreed to give Joshua a ride home. Both entered on a green 1970 AMC Hornet. It's a really nice car, even if it was in a somewhat poor condition. That was Joshua's opinion on the car. As it could really use paint, and one of the windows had a crack on it.
The ride was pretty unremarkable, as Mr. Higgins wasn't a big talker. Joshua spent most of it, looking at the streets during the rain. I honestly don't really know why, why am I still killing people? Is it because of bloodlust? Is it because of a hero complex? Is it because of sadism? I mean, why did I start in the first place? I could have just got the people I killed arrested but I decided to kill them in extremely painful and sometimes over the top ways. But I... I sincerely don't know why I even do it. Joshua then grabbed his phone to text Lydia.
Joshua: Hey, I'm almost home.
Lydia: How was it?
Joshua: I broke a fat guy's ankle, then I threw a guy with dreadlocks on the ground with a judo throw and then T beat the shit out of Jermaine
Lydia: FUCK! I can't believe I missed it.
Joshua: Nah, the asshole filmed everything.
Lydia: AWEROME!
Lydia: Hey, Erika is still here.
Joshua: Don't even think about letting her walk home in this rain.
Lydia: Duh, of course I wouldn't fucking let her. She did try to, but I managed to make her wait until the rain calmed down a bit.
Lydia: WTF are we going to do with Erika?
Joshua: T's grandparents said that Sean is on a meeting at the police station which Erika's dad is probably going to be as well, meaning that he's probably going to stay out until tomorrow.
Lydia: Ummmm...(ーー;) and?
Joshua: (；一_一) You, me and Erika.
Lydia: (ӦｖӦ｡) Cuddle pile?
Joshua: If she wants.. :-P But don't say anything until I arrive.
Lydia: Then get here already! (TдT) I need cash for the Pizza!
Joshua: On my way.
Joshua then put his phone back in his pocket and resumed to look at the street, but he paid more attention to the rain.
Before the rain, low in the obscure east,
Weak and morose the moon hung, sickly gray;
Around its disc the storm mists, cracked and creased,
Wove an enormous web, wherein it lay
Like some white spider hungry for its prey.
Vindictive looked the scowling firmament,
In which each star, that flashed a dagger ray,
Seemed filled with malice of some dark intent.
The marsh-frog croaked; and underneath the stone
The peevish cricket raised a creaking cry.
Within the world these sounds were heard alone,
Save when the ruffian wind swept from the sky,
Making each tree like some sad spirit sigh;
Or shook the clumsy beetle from its weed,
That, in the drowsy darkness, bungling by,
Sharded the silence with its feverish speed.
Slowly the tempest gathered. Hours passed
Before was heard the thunder's sullen drum
Rumbling night's hollow; and the Earth at last,
Restless with waiting,—like a woman, dumb
With doubting of the love that should have clomb
Her casement hours ago,—avowed again,
'Mid protestations, joy that he had come.
And all night long I heard the Heavens explain.
Joshua just recited a lame poem inside his head as he watched the rain drops at the windshield. I don't even like poetry that much, but for some reason, I keep remembering the ones I read years ago. He thought.
It didn't take too long for them to arrive at Joshua's home. He thanked Mr. Higgins for the ride, before running inside.
As he entered, he quickly took off his shoes and made his way to his room, where Lydia and Erika were.
"H-hey are hu-hurt?" Erika quickly stood up from his computer chair and went to check on him.
"Not a single scratch, though Terry got sucker punched." Joshua replied.
"He got his own ass into that shit, so good riddance." Lydia spoke while she was sitting on the bed playing his Xbox. "Can we call for the pizza? I'm starving."
"You can call, I'm gonna have a bath and change my clothes." Joshua replied as he opened his closet and grabbed a white long sleeve T-shirt and black sweatpants. "Extra pepperoni." He opened one of the drawers in his desk and grabbed his headphones.
"Extra cheese too." Lydia added with a thumbs up.
He then left his room and made his way to the bathroom, it didn't take long to fill the bathtub with hot water. He took off his clothes but then, he grabbed his phone and connected the headphones on it, before entering the tub.
The reason for that is actually pretty simple, he's going to listen in on the meeting at the police station. Honestly, I wonder if I would have been able to get away with so many murders if the police weren't so overwhelmed. He thought as connected with the bug that he put on Mr. Graham's phone.
"Nothing, not a single clue." He heard Mr. Graham's voice.
"Did they identify the cause of death?" He heard Sean's voice.
"Hypothermia, the killer threw cold water on him after he removed the guy's skin." Mr. Graham explained.
Yeah, the water was pretty cold because of the rain. Maybe I should have heated a bit, it would have prolonged his suffering.
"What the hell was that about anyway?" Sean asked in clear repulsion.
"How should I know, we already established that he's a sick twisted person." Mr. Graham replied, apparently disturbed by his method of killing..
"So, is the Killer the top priority now?" Sean asked in deep confusion. "Why?"
Yeah, I agree with Sean. Why am I a top priority now? I have been killing for a considerable time now.
"Because the SHK has been getting too much notoriety." Mr. Graham spoke in concern. "There is a considerable amount of people that actually support and even admire what he does, hell they even consider him a hero."
"Can't say I blame them." Sean spoke in a somewhat sad voice.
"Sean, I know that what the SHK did to the guys that raped Molita was well deserved. Bu-" Mr. Graham tried to argue but he was interrupted.
"But what? None of the people that he killed will be missed, yeah, the way that he kills them is fucked up but so was their crimes." Sean was quick to rebuff.
"It's not in ours or in anyone's right to be judge,jury and executioner." Mr. Graham also rebuffed. "Especially when it involves torture."
"I agree with that, but that doesn't change the public opinion." Sean pointed out. "I know what our job is, but most people only see him as a guy that murders criminals."
"And that is the reason why he became the top priority." Mr. Graham replied.
"What about everything else?" Sean asked. "The Stranding Parasites and The Haven Devils are still causing trouble, not to mention that the number of missing people in the north area has reached a considerable number." Sean mentioned the other problems.
The Stranding Parasites are a street gang that pretty much controls the upper side of the south of Stranding Haven. They are a pretty violent gang and usually deal with drug distribution. They are identified by a symbol on their clothes, it resembled a very creepy voodoo doll painted in green. Though Joshua doesn't really think that this gang knows anything about voodoo and probably just thought that it looked cool or something.
The Haven Devils are another story, they are a biker gang that resides at the lower side of the south of Stranding Haven. They are more organized but they traffic illegal guns instead. They are identified by the leather jackets that have a symbol of a devil with a shotgun on the back that they wear..
Joshua though doesn't know anything about the missing people in the north area. And now he has an urge to investigate that.
"They will still be a top priority, just below the capture of the SHK." Mr. Graham answered Sean.
"And how in the actual fuck will we catch him? Two veteran detectives failed and one of them turned out to be a fucking crooked cop that the SHK got to first." Sean pointed out.
Oh, yeah. Roy James, the previous detective in charge of my case. The asshole had connections with nearly every criminal in the city. I used the rat torture to kill him, he screamed like s little girl.
"We will have to use what we managed to discover about the killer." Mr. Graham told him. "Do you remember all of them?"
Joshua heard Sean sighing. "The killer has a preference towards man when it comes to his victims, so far in between the ages of eighteen to sixty." It sounded like he was practicing. "Every single one of his victims has the exact same thing in common, they all committed a crime. The killer method of killing seems to revolve around torture, the severity is often depending on the severity of the victim's crime. The killer seems to be very educated as his methods of killing are extremely complex-"
That's enough. Joshua then took off the headphones. So I'm the police's top priority...now... People are actually agreeing with what I do? Which means that this sudden priority on me is because of the public opinion? Joshua then stood up from the tub. Whatever, they don't have any evidence on me and they probably believe that I'm some guy with several master degrees and not a thirteen year old kid that is still in Middle school. Still though, I should be a little more careful from here on out.
The Pizza arrived a few minutes after Joshua came out of the tub. Him,Lydia and Erika just eat in his room while watching one of Lydia's favorite films, Big Trouble in Little China. They devoured that pizza pretty slowly as they saw the film.
When it was over, Erika asked when Alma would arrive. Joshua and Lydia told her that she wasn't coming home today and then the invitation came.
"Sle-slee-sleep h-he-here?!" She asked nervously.
"Yeah, it's late and you're dad won't be home until tomorrow." Joshua pointed out.
"Bu-but I-i..." Erika didn't seem to know what to say, Joshua couldn't tell if she was trying to find a reason to not sleep there or trying to convince herself to do it. "I didn't bring a-any sle-sleeping clothes."
"Just grab one of Joshua's shirts and sleep on your panties like I do." Lydia was quick to tell her.
Erika opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed again and looked down embarrassed.
She's so cute.
"Well?" Lydia asked.
Sometimes I think Lydia is a bigger pervert than me.
Suddenly, she starts to take off the red turtleneck that she was wearing. On her way to the heavy side, she's plump but definitely not fat. Once she took it off revealing the white bra that she was wearing, Joshua and Lydia noticed something.
"Your boobs are getting bigger." Lydia spoke out loud.
She seemed to think that it was a bad thing and covered herself with the turtle neck.
"In a good way." Lydia added. "Mine are still small." She lifts her shirt to show her small breasts on her bra.
"Yours are fine, size isn't everything." Joshua told Lydia as he looked at her. "Though, yours look really nice. He told Erika.
Erika smiled at that comment. She folded her turtleneck and put it on top of the desk.
Joshua then stood up from the bed and went to grab a red T-shirt for Erika. "Here."
"Th-thanks." She said it with a smile before putting it on. It fitted her nicely.
He then looked at her skirt and smiled.
She looked at him embarrassed, before she started to unzip her skirt and pull it down to reveal her white panties.
"Finally, now get over here." Lydia ordered as she lifted the blanket for her to get under it.
Erika obeyed without questioning, she made her way to the bed and lay beside Lydia.
It's a good thing that my bed is big enough. Joshua thought before he went to bed as well.
With that, the three were on the bed. Lydia was close to the wall, Erika was in the middle and Joshua was on the edge. "I'm gonna turn off the lights now."
"W-wait," Erika asked him. She took off her glasses and put them in front of Joshua's lamp.
Joshua then turned off the lights and lay comfortably on his bed. He turned his gaze to the left, where he could see Lydia wrapping her arms around Erika in order to spoon with her with she gladly obliged. Then she looked at him with her gray eyes, although she couldn't see anything without her glasses. He then extended his arm in order to put below Erika and Lydia's heads. Erika responded by putting her head on his chest and wrapping her arms on him, in conjunction with her legs that she wrapped around his left leg. We should definitely do this more often. He thought.
It didn't took long for Erika and Lydia to fall asleep. But Joshua stayed awake a bit more. Tomorrow, I'm going to go have some training with Rhett, though I may look into this missing people on the north area business that Sean mentioned. Maybe. He thought about it before closing his eyes to sleep.