I'd like to first thank you all for coming to read the next installment of Revenge, Inc. as I'm doing my best to bring to you this series just as soon as it unfolds. Please feel free to comment here as am interested in hearing what you think of it so far. Thank you in advance for accompanying me through this. I appreciate it.

-ODP

If you have not yet read the previous chapters in the Revenge, Inc. series, please click on the corresponding link to do so:

Revenge, Inc.: A Short Story

Revenge, Inc. Part 2: A Short Story

“Oh my God! Stop hitting my husband!” The middle-aged woman who was accompanying the guy was screaming.

I was at Valhalla Cemetery in my Sunday Best having freshly shaved, to the delight of Peter no doubt, when I catch this jackass walking over Haley about forty-yards away. Well, I just dropped Haley’s bouquet of roses and closed in on him like a heat-seeking missile and belted him one, I think, in mid-flight. When he fell, I followed through with more right-hooks while muttering I don’t know what.

“Stop! Please stop!” After I did so for a full three seconds, I belted him another one for good measure, so his front tooth that was already loose was now completely out.

“Fucking asshole!” I said to his face. “Don’t EVER WALK on Haley AGAIN!” I looked down at my hands and only shook my head in disgust. I had to drag my knuckles on the grass of some, “Harold J. Lauder: Proud Father and Husband” next door to get the blood off. While doing so, I watched as the woman helped her husband up (whose blood-drooling got all over the front of his shirt) and left. I looked down to find that my own shirt had blood freckles all over it. “Look what you did to my shirt, you fucking jerk!” I yelled out. The couple swung their heads around to look at me and then began moving double-time. Where the hell do these people come from?

I retraced my steps and found Haley’s bouquet and then sat down beside her. The sun was out and it was warm for autumn. I had to loosen up my tie to get comfortable. And as soon as I placed her flowers next to her, she started to come back to me.

“Hi, sweetie. I got you your favorite. You see? I told you that I’d never forget…I kept my promise.” I forced myself to smile, to put on my best face. I wasn't very good at this.

Now, I don’t know if it was the weather with its wind or the recent turn of events with that asshole stepping on Haley or what, but the pain I felt that day when I learned the news of Haley leaving this world returned; it felt like a six-foot sword plunging deep through my fucking heart. Four years later and it still feels the same as it ever did. My dad is full of shit. It doesn’t get better. The pain only gets more refined and more difficult to control. It all became real to me again. Haley came flooding back to me:

“What the fuck do you mean you can’t find her?” I said to Chief Felix Jeffries over his desk. I was livid and the cops had nothing except for Haley’s sneaker. “I vote, pay my taxes, am a good citizen, and when my little girl goes missing the Chief of Police brings me a fucking Reebok for my trouble.”

“Look, Cody. The boys are doing all they can, you know that.”

“Well, it’s three fucking days now Felix! I haven’t slept yet…I’m all fucked up right now.”

“Maybe you should do that or at least try to. You don’t look so good and if I’d pulled you over tonight, you get a free pass to de-tox. Take it easy on the sauce, huh? I’ll have Jimbo here drive you home. There’s no point staying here…Jimbo? You mind giving Cody a ride?”

“No, I wanna walk.” I said to him before Jimmy could answer.

“I’d rather Jimmy give you a lift if it’s all the same to you...I’m not asking you either, Cody.”

That was when Jeff placed a bear-paw sized hand on my shoulder and gave me a hard squeeze while staring at me like he was trying to psyche me into agreeing with him. By then, I was just too damn tired to argue and so took his offer to ride with Jimmy riding shotgun. I remember that entire ride from start to finish, combing the sidewalks for Haley, half expecting her to hobbling along while walking with one sneaker. What the hell was I thinking?

I didn’t live that far away from the station but even so, Jimmy felt the need to talk to me, whether it was out of pity or just to break the silence while driving me home that night:

“I still remember that play Cody, against Southern Catholic. You hit their quarterback so hard his helmet flew clear right off! What a play!” After I didn’t say anything he turned and looked at me. “Hey, we’re gonna find her, bro. We’ll find Haley, all right?” And he was right, because he never said whether or not she’d be alive when they did. I didn’t say anything the entire ride. I was just too spent. I didn’t even say ‘Thank you’ when I got out of the cruiser when we arrived at my house. “Take care of yourself, all right Cody?” I barely heard him.

Just as soon as I get inside, I hear the annoying beeping of the answering machine in the kitchen. For a moment my hearts racing because I think it’s Felix with some news of Haley, but then that thought is squashed, because he would’ve radioed Jimbo if that were the case. It’s not like he didn’t know where I was after all. I made myself as available as possible those last few days. Although worried sick, I had some hope that Haley would be found and that life would just return to normal for the love of Christ, like I was living a nightmare that would soon blow over like a passing storm. I went over to the machine anyway and pressed the PLAY MESSAGE button. It was Peter:

“Cody? Cody, I just heard what happened. I just got back today and so heard what happened...I’m sorry Cody. I don’t even know what to say right now. Please call me as soon as you get in all right?”

I hit the DELETE button and went to flipping open my kitchen cabinet doors for more liquor but found that I had none left. I then thought about getting to the liquor store before they closed but realized that my car was still back in the station, but not before checking my garage first to find a fucking a grease spot where my Mustang should’ve been and so for a split second I thought someone stole my car and was nice enough to closed my garage door out of spite. I was too tired to be pissed about my own stupidity. I went over to my couch to rest my eyes if even a little bit and placed the cordless atop my chest just in case Felix called. I passed out just as soon as I closed my eyes. I might've had five or six dreams that night and in every single one of them there was Haley looking so beautiful and peaceful, smiling and waving to me from a place I couldn’t reach, no matter how hard I tried. I apologized to her and begged for her to come back to me instead but she didn't seem to hear me. I screamed out to her over and over again but it was useless. That’s probably why my throat was hoarse the following morning.

I woke to the sound of the cordless ringing from everywhere. It was real early and the sun was not out yet. I jumped from the couch so suddenly that the cordless I had sitting on my chest dove off me and so spent the next dozen seconds or so cursing out loud while trying to track down exactly where the ringing was coming from and turned my living room upside down in the process.

“Hello?” I said out of breath and into the phone just as soon as I found it.

“It’s Felix. You’ll have to come down. I’ll send a cruiser to come pick you up.” And before I could say anything else, he hung up the phone and left me without words.

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