This was really a bitter sweet moment for me right now. The end was here, the goal was accomplished and that's that. I left the room slowly with a blank look on my face, what was my purpose now? What was my motivation now? I was sweating profusely so my main goal right now was to get to the showers.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my hands, not thinking about the blood that was replacing it. My entire body was covered in blood; I was merely moving the blood around my face and arms.
On my way to the bedroom to shower I enter the main area and I had quite the audience. John, Holly and Mills were standing there after watching me perform on the surveillance camera. I will tell you that their faces looked like they had just seen a monster, but I wasn't the monster, Susan was.
I smiled slyly, "John! I would love to hug you right now but I'm all sweaty from my morning workout."
John replied, "If that's how you guys workout down here every morning then we've got some minor issues we need to tackle. How are you Gregg?"
I stood there shaking my head, "I'm ok John. I'm a lot better now. Let me go get cleaned up, I'm sure Holly and Mills will be more than happy to entertain you until I return."
"Sure thing Gregg, get cleaned up and then I'll tell you my surprise." John always came with positive stuff, even his surprises.
I walked by the group, my chest out, my head high as if I had just accomplished an impossible quest that no one could ever even fathom in their wildest dreams. I entered my bedroom and the feeling of success turned into a feeling of transformation, transformation into a darker version of me. Maybe all the demons that have been chasing me all my life had finally caught up to me.
When I stripped down and stood in front of the mirror I noticed, my body was clean and fit and my legs were as clean as they were this morning. My face, neck and arms, however, were covered in blood and guts from an old woman I had just tortured the fuck out of.
As I eased into the water I could feel the heat radiate, too hot for my taste. I turned my body to the side and strategically inched closer to the nozzle, in doing so, the blood from my arms was splashing all over the shower enclosure. I am washing off the final reminder of my tormentor, Susan Wilhelm.
I lathered myself up, making sure to get my face and arms very good. The soap burned as it entered every sensitive spot on my tattered and torn body. I scrubbed harder and harder as my progress of getting clean was improving, the burning increased as well, but I didn't mind it. The burning is just pain and as they always say, "Pain is weakness leaving the body."
When the water stopped flowing I stepped out and wiped the mirror free of the condensation that had accumulated. I stared at myself, looking deep into my eyes. They seemed darker to me, they seemed as if they represented something darker inside me. I like that, I enjoyed the fact that some of my inner demon was coming out.
I dressed in my favorite boxer briefs, extra tight, and my best suit, grey with black pin stripes. Giving myself a once over in the full length mirror in Holly's corner, I was relieved I still looked like a regular human, that I still felt like a regular human. The level of enjoyment I felt while I tortured that old woman was somewhat scary to me, like something I may want to do more often. Maybe I need to talk to someone about this.
John was sitting in my office with Holly and Mills by his side. It appeared the surprise was going to be some sort of proposition. I entered the room very casually; they all turned to face me and appeared to be stunned.
I put my arms up, "What? I clean up well huh?"
John leaned back, "Hell yeah you do Gregg. You good?"
I smiled, "Yes sir. What are we going to discuss today?"
"Well, a couple interesting things have happened since you and I worked together. I have something I want to do for you, Holly and Mills are on board but it is your decision and yours alone." I was sitting in my chair getting anxious and wondering what it was he wanted to do.
I leaned forward onto my desk, "Fill in the gap Boss."
John began, "Gregg, when you left, when you were forced out, I went to bat for you. I fought hard, me verses the division. They ended up sending me on a call by myself and some shit went wrong. The department had set up this call and I was supposed to be killed during that call. I proved it to the newspapers and to the government. They gave me the option to retire with a ridiculous or take office in the government."
Before he could finish, "Let me guess, you got out Sarge and took the payday."
Sarge smiled, "Of course. Now I want to do something for all of us, everyone in the room. I want to go and get us a nice large house in the middle of no-where, build a secure facility underneath it and continue operations as they come in. I will speak to the President, with your help of course, and he will approve. We will operate in a saner environment and live our lives and work like normal people. I will take the "Boss" position and line up the hits with the government and we will all track the money together. What do you say?"
I genuinely thought for a good while, "We have to make some changes John. Some of this shit has to change or it's going to continue to be anarchy. We killed a farmer the other day because he stumbled across the barn and I killed a cop because he was searching for the farmer. I don't want to live like that anymore."
"I fully understand Gregg. Let me lead you again and all will be right with the world. We'll get rich, we'll get organized and we can live happier lives." He stood and put his hand out.
I rose to my feet and shook John's hand, "Let's do it John. Let's get out of this dungeon. Let's live a normal life."
Holly and Mills were both very emotional, they had lived this life for so long and the fact that we get to lead normal lives for once was very jarring for them. They stood and joined the hug too.
I put my hand in my right front pocket, grabbed my medallion and gently ran my thumb across the engraved rose on it. My mother is always on my mind and always in my heart and I feel she lead John here, in some way, and caused this hell to end. My new life begins soon. When does yours?