As we bypass Clyde's mom's house completely and get back to where I parked the car, we see that Rocky has driven off somewhere. I let Clyde take the wheel, and with the windows rolled down we cruise calmly back to the motel.
Even with the wind whipping through the car, the air still feels frozen and time is crawling at a snail's pace. The entire car ride is spent in silence, and I feel my anxiety ramping up as he begins to pull into the parking lot.
"Looks like we've got two choices," I explain, "we can go to our room and sleep this whole thing off, or we knock on Leewan's door and go from there."
Clyde really looks like he's beginning to think about it, but he exits the car with such a methodical process that I already know what he's chosen to do. I get out and follow him, and to my right, I notice a familiar-looking red pickup truck.
We get to the stairs, but Rocky's body blocks us from going up.
It's an intense staredown and he and Clyde seem to communicate using their eyes only. Rocky leans casually against the railing with his arms crossed. Clyde stands up with a straight back and an unflinching expression of determination.
After a few moments, Rocky sighs deeply and shakes his head. "He's here, huh?"
Clyde scratches his chin. "Eeeyup."
Rocky unexpectedly cracks a smirk. "'Remember when our dads took us fishing a little ways up north? I caught that big sucker of a trout in that shallow river."
"I do remember. I was pretty jealous."
"You were so jealous that you used your allowance to buy a fish at the market and try to upstage me in front of Claire."
Clyde begins to smile now. "Yeah. She didn't buy it and I begged my dad to go and validate for me. He made me apologize for lying."
Rocky's smirk becomes a warm smile. "Your dad always had his morals in check. God bless his soul."
Clyde doesn't say anything, he just stares beyond Rocky at the doors on the second floor.
"Well," Rocky says while moving away, "I should get back home. I'm real tired after today."
Clyde grabs Rocky's bicep and holds him in place. "Hey, this is it. I'm never coming back here again."
Rocky's lips seem to droop as his tail lowers. "It was good seeing you, bud."
"You too, ya rowdy mutt."
I almost coax for a hug, but I keep silent as Clyde lets him go and drives off into the night never to be seen again. We head for a door that only Clyde knows about. Room number 23, the room right next to ours is the one he stops in front of.
He leans a shoulder against the door and rests a hand on the knob. He just stands there looking ahead into nothing, and then he looks at me. He doesn't seem scared or unsure. He kind of looks like when you see the finish line after a long and tiresome race.
"I'm right behind you, babe," I say while getting ready for action.
"I know, thank you."
Clyde throws his weight into the cheap door, busting the lock without effort and strolling into the room with total control. A skinny man is reading a book in a chair with only a lamp for lighting. He doesn't flinch or get up, he stays calm but still addresses us with his gaze. His left ear is missing a chunk of flesh.
"My my," he begins with a silky, deep voice, "that's quite rude of you. This is a motel room, there's nothing for you to steal here."
Clyde stands in front of him with a towering stature. "Yes... there is."
I peek around Clyde and dangle the rope I've secured from the trunk of the car so that Mr. Orville can see what we plan to do. His puckering lips tell me that he no longer feels safe. "Maybe you were safer in prison."
He leans back in his chair. "I'll scream!"
I give Clyde the rope. "Good point." I see the single duffle bag he brought with him and let Clyde start the restraining as I fish out a pair of socks to stuff in his mouth. Clyde ties the ankles together while making them cross, and the arms behind the back bound at the forearms.
"Wow, he's not getting out of that."
"Mmhmm!" Leewan whimpers as he squirms on the floor.
Clyde lifts him onto his shoulder and carries him out with one hand. "Good thinking with the socks."
"I think they were used."
Not a single person in sight walks the parking lot this late. I don't have a watch, but I imagine it to be somewhere around 02:00 hours. Clyde puts him in the trunk as I start the car from the passenger seat. I hear the slam and then see Clyde swing to the driver's side and get in.
"I almost caught his tail," he comments.
"So what's the plan?"
Clyde backs up and begins driving at a fast pace. "Poetic justice. I'm taking him where he took my father. The swamps on the outskirts of town."
"This is starting to feel like a paperback thriller."
Again we glide down these dirt roads as the only car out. I'm not sure how much law is around these small towns, but at this point, they won't catch anything until we're long gone. It takes nearly an hour before Clyde begins to slow down.
The car rolls to a stop, and all around us seem to be nothing but mud, water, and probable alligators on either side of the road.
"Hard to believe places still look like this during these modern days."
"There's more out there than just big cities, Troy."
I rub my hands on my thighs and tap my fingers quickly. "So, this is it, huh? The spot where it started and where it ends?"
Clyde stares into the darkness of the swamps and we listen to the various noises it makes. "That about sums it up. It almost feels too easy, or that I'm missing a part of the story."
"I can tell you from an outside perspective that none of this has been easy for you. In fact, you're at the hardest part, Clyde. Are you absolutely sure that this is what you want?"
Clyde shuts off all the lights and turns the engine off while popping the trunk. I hesitate to open my door, but I follow him as he retrieves Mr. Orville from the trunk and digs out the gags he had lodged in his teeth.
"Pfft! Why are you doing this!?" he cries. Clyde drags him away from the road and closer to the swamp. He hovers him over the muddy surface. "No no, not the mud. I hate the mud!"
Clyde drops Leewan into the thick mud and lets him squirm around in his bindings trying to get it out of his mouth. "Stay down," he tells him as he begins to cut the ropes off and set him free.
Once Leewan is unrestrained, he stays down as he's told but turns to face both of us. "I get it, you know me somehow and want something. I have to tell you that I no longer have money or services to offer. I apologize."
"It's been years, Leewan, I understand if you don't recognize this place."
Leewan takes quick glances at his surroundings. "I recognize that there might be tons of gators around here. If you want something from me, either get me out of here or talk fast."
Clyde begins to ball his fists. "I'll give you a hint: Local mechanic found dead on the outskirts of Drywell. Possible motive is gang violence."
"Look, I haven't been involved in something like that in years. I never pulled the trigger on anybody."
"No, but you had lackeys to do it for you."
Clyde unholsters his dad's revolver and aims it at Leewan's chest. He doesn't even flinch, only shouts back at Clyde, "You're gonna gun a man down for something he doesn't even know what for!?"
Clyde grinds his teeth and breathes heavily between words. "You and your thugs gunned down Eli Barker. You did it right here! Right where you're laying! No courtesy was given to him either!"
Suddenly Leewan's pleading and small status turn into something different. His eyes narrow and his shoulders broaden, even his breathing returns to normal. "Oh. Oh, you knew Eli Barker? Did you know that he used my money to buy that big house of his for his wife and whelp?"
Clyde doesn't respond, but he doesn't calm down either.
"Yeah, I was going to go after the family too, but one look at that frigid girl and that small whelp told me they weren't going to make it after the big man takes a dirt nap. He wasn't planning on paying us back, but everybody pays us back eventually."
Clyde's hand begins to tremble, jiggling the gun around like an amateur at the shooting range.
Leewan continues without a break. "Don't tell me, but you're the whelp, aren't you? You look different, got kinda big. Now that I look at you, you look like your father. I knew I should've killed you back then."
Clyde pulls the hammer back of the gun and lets the small click fill our ears as everyone goes silent. Leewan sinks further into the mud as he lets his muscles relax. I find myself backing away towards the car because I feel in my gut that this is about to end with no winners.
"You don't deserve to walk free. You don't deserve a dignified death. You'll die here in the mud."
I see Leewan beginning to shiver, maybe even cower. In the smallest movement, he shakes his head and crawls away. "You really gonna kill me over something I already got punished for?"
"And your carcass will be gator food."
Surprisingly, Leewan gets on his knees and raises his arms in front of him. "Not in the mud! I hate the mud! I wanna be buried when it's my time! I don't want my body ripped to shreds by modern dinosaurs!"
I start coming back to the scene and think about what I'm going to say to spare this man's life. "C'mon, Clyde, I think he's had enough."
"Enough?" he asks without looking at me.
Leewan puts his hands together in prayer. "Yeah! I've had enough! I'm forever sorry for everything that I've done and for everyone that I've hurt! I'm a changed man, I wanna do good for this world! Please, Mr, don't let me die in the swamps."
Clyde stands frozen, even his facial expression remains of high concentration. Suddenly, he screams and growls a painful and angry noise, then the flash of the long barrel lights up the trees around us and the bang sends my ears ringing.
Leewan clutches at his chest and stares at Clyde with his mouth hanging open. Five more flashes and bangs come after, but in my mind, it might as well have been twenty. Mr. Orville's body convulses with each shot until the last one finds its way into his forehead, then he doesn't move at all.
He falls back into the mud and sinks a little further. I hadn't noticed that I instinctively back peddled to the car again. The ringing goes away and the only noise I hear is Clyde's heavy breathing and potential sobbing. I'm too scared to check on him; too scared to get into the car and startle him with a door slam.
I wait in the pitch-black darkness just listening to his breathing slowly becoming stable. Eventually, he slumps over to me and stands with his eyes on my feet. His entire body seems limp, it's as if his soul has left him.
I hesitate to say the first words. "Are you going to be all right?"
"No," he whispers back. Only the silence of the swamps would allow me to hear it at such a low volume.
"I see. We should get going before we end up on the dessert menu for the gators."
I watch as he lifelessly circles around the car and pops open his door before I get in myself. The car roars to life as the headlights shine on the roads to reveal the alligators moving over to where Leewan is laying.
"I don't think the law is going to find much of him left; if they ever find him that is."
Clyde doesn't say anything. He drives down the road away from Drywell speeding towards Connecticut. I don't even sweat the few clothes and scent products I left at the motel, I'm just glad to be getting out of this town.
"Troy," he says, his voice calm and low, "I'm sorry."
"I know."
"Does this change anything between us?"
I look out the window into the blackest night and get enveloped by the darkness. It makes me think of a blank canvas, untainted by harsh wounds and terrible choices. A clean slate for us that need it.
"Yeah."