Spring

 

I love spring, but I also hate it. Everything is new and pretty, but, it’s not winter anymore, which means that killing season is at its end. Murder is much easier to get away with in the winter, despite the cops ability to track me through the snow. I have an excuse in winter to wear gloves, hats, scarves and oversized clothes. In spring and summer, I don’t. It is much harder to not get any notice during the warmer half of the year.

Also, with spring come thoughts of college. I’d already applied to the local community colleges and universities, and was pretty sure I’d go to the same school my brother had. The air had a sort of floral fragrance hanging in it for weeks, and then the rain began. With the rain came the chance to improve something; to kill again.

He walked in with his daughter one night just before closing, and told her she could have whatever she wanted. The look on her bruised face was heartbreaking. Ice cream wasn’t enough, and he knew it. She couldn’t have been older than five, and her blonde hair didn’t do a good enough job of hiding the trails her tears had forged down her cheeks and chin. I’d seen her before, always upset, but not this heartbreakingly torn. I filled her order and waited until the father excused himself to the bathroom briefly. Thank God. I thought, walking towards her booth.

“Hi, sweetheart, do you like your ice cream?”

She nodded feebly.

“What happened to your eye?” I asked, pointing to my own.

She shook her head. “I can’t tell. It’s a secret.”

I nodded. “Well, what if you don’t say it? If I guess, will you tell me if I’m right?”

“Yeah.”

“Did somebody hurt you?”

Her eyes filled with tears as she nodded.

“Was it someone you love?”

She nodded again.

“Was it your daddy?”

She bravely held back a sob and her eyes swallowed the tears back up. She nodded again.

I gave her a quick hug. “You should tell somebody, sweetheart. That’s not right. If you tell someone, they can help. They’ll make him stop.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I noticed her father emerging from the bathroom. “Smile for me?”

She smiled bravely, happy at the new thought that things would be better.

I smiled back, and held my finger to my lips, letting her know that what we’d just said was a secret.

She nodded.

I rose from my knees and headed towards the sinks so that I could finish my dishes. Jalapeno looked at me. “What was that all about?”

“I was trying to cheer her up. The ice cream wasn’t enough.” I shrugged and dipped my arms into the scalding sudsy water. “Thanks for running water. God, I want to get out of here!”

“Yeah, me too. Want a ride home?”

“Sure. Thanks.” I smiled.

Jalepeno had moved here looking for a job and stumbled across this store years earlier. With his help, it evolved into a real shop from the shack it had been. He held another job, which accounted for most of his income, but this was something he enjoyed doing.

I’d come to this place for years, because it was close to home. When he’d offered me an interview with the owner, I couldn’t say no. The only problems with my job were that it was messy, and that a few problematic customers came in. Other than that, I liked the place; its rhythm, setup and even the tacky décor.

About two weeks after that incident, I saw the tear-streaked girl again. Her bruised legs and arms cried out at me when she took off her yellow rain coat. Her father did not leave her side the entire evening, and acted generally angry. I guessed that she hadn’t told him that I was the one who knew, but since her body was worse off, I could tell she’d told him something. It was all I could take to keep myself from launching over the counter and into his eye sockets with the ends of my ice cream scoops.

She stared forlornly at me and placed an order for cotton candy ice cream with sprinkles. I gave her an extra scoop free.

Reviews

[Brie]

How sweet! Ah! I almost had tears there! I'm having a feeling she's going to do something to him..... well, lets see!
-Brie