The sky-colored sedan rolled to a stop outside his house. The engine shut off, and a man in a dark brown jacket and faded blue jeans stepped out. He looked to be about forty, his beard beginning to gray. He had long, thin, brown hair he kept tied in a pony-tail. His eyes darting behind his sunglasses, nervously trying to keep his head down.297Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUnMl7dIcb
He fingered his ring of keys as he made his way to the trunk. “That’s him.” Marvin whispered to himself. He brought the can of warm cola to his lips, upended it and swallowed the last of it. Parked across the street away from his own house, he wrote down his license plate number on a page of his morning paper.
Out from the trunk, he took two six-packs of beer, brown bottles in cherry-red cartons. He slammed the trunk with his elbow and made his way to the front door of the house. He could see he was smiling.
“Sick fuck...” mumbled Marvin through gritted teeth. He seethed silently. Anger, or rather the quickness to it, was a common affliction that often drove those close to him away. At the front door, the man in the jacket put down the cartons to look under the potted plant next to the door. He found a copy of the house key. As instructed, he let himself in and made himself at home. He would now wait a short while in the living room for Natalie.
Marvin’s sister would pick her up and drop her off, after school. Dad would be work until 5 pm, giving her and her special friend, she met online, a few hours of “secret play time” along with a grown-up treat. Nat wasn’t coming home tonight, though. Her friend from school, Rachel, had invited her over and would stay the night. It would be good for her to have some fun. Since her mother left in May, she wasn’t in the mood to enjoy her Summer break. Marvin didn’t have a sister either, at least not one that lived long enough to learn how to drive.
As soon as he saw the front door close, he made his move. Getting out of his truck, an old, spruce-green beast, flecked with small holes in the paint that wept rust. Marvin walked towards his house. The hiss of a beer bottle opening greeted him as he opened the door quickly and strode in. Nat’s secret friend’s eyes widened when he saw him. He stood up fast and dribbled beer from both his lips and the open bottle onto the carpet, unable to decide between swallowing or spitting out his drink.
“Shit...” He muttered. He wiped his lips with the back of his wrist. The stranger spoke up. “I...I think I got the wrong house.” Was the best excuse he could muster up. Marvin plucked a piece of folded paper from his shirt pocket and unfolded it. “No, you got the right house Mister...uh...” He squinted at the writing on the paper. ”...MisterZebra56.” The man started to breathe heavily. “H-hey, look man, I wasn’t going to do anything, man.” He defended.
Marvin glared at him as he took a seat on his old, faded recliner. He sighed and relaxed his face a little. He looked at the cartons placed on the glass coffee table. Many nights he had, where he sat and fallen asleep in this same chair, surrounded by brown and green bottles of beer. For a moment, all was quiet, but when Zebra was about to speak, Marvin spoke.
“So, why are you here then?” he asked, calmly.
“Look, sir, I wasn’t going to do anything, alright? I was just going to check on her. She said she was home alone.” Zebra responded, nervously.
“Come in and check on her, huh? Yeah OK, and then what?”
“Nothing! Just, you know, like, babysit.” He defended, weakly. Nothing but obvious lies.
Marvin had been chatting with MisterZebra56 for the past three days. He came home after work and needed to check his email on the computer, and he noticed that his daughter had forgotten to close the chat window. “You’re my secret friend.” Read one message. “Don’t tell your parents about me, or I won’t give you my treats! :)” Read another. There were more of the like, even some requests and inquiries. That night he had scolded Nat so severely, it brought her to tears. He had warned her not to talk to people she didn’t know online, or else he would not let her use the computer, except for school work.
He wanted to be a good father, but without a mother around to soften his sternness, he always felt like he was too tough on her. He hoped the harshness out of his parenting would be mitigated by letting her stay at Rachel’s for the night. In their most recent chat, It was this day that Marvin, as Nat, and Zebra agreed to finally meet. Zebra lived a couple of miles from Ralston. Having called in sick for work, he sat in his truck and waited. Now, they were here, face to face.
“So, this is what you do?” Marvin pressed, “Talk with little girls in an online to help them when they are home alone?” Marvin nodded at the beer, “And get wasted, it looks like.” The stranger attempted to smile, saw Marvin’s glare had returned, then shot his eyes to his feet.
“It’s all for me, only me, I wouldn’t give-” Marvin interrupted him.
“Drink.” He said curtly. Zebra swallowed his spit. Marvin quickly got impatient.
“If it’s only for you, then drink.” Zebra ran one of his hands from his temple to the back of his neck and exhaled a shaky breath.
Having no other choice, he picked up the beer he had opened when he was alone. He drank a few sips at a time. Marvin’s impatience was beginning to change into anger. “Come on, man, don’t sip. You came here for a good time didn’t you? Have some fun.” Zebra, drank a little faster at the encouragement. Thin, yellow streams ran from the corners of his trembling lips.
When Zebra’s bottle was empty, Marvin slipped another one out of a carton, and opened it with a bottle opener he found on the floor in front of his recliner. He banged the open bottle on the coffee table, and slid it closer to Zebra. “What? You done already? You ain’t done. You got a couple more left.” Zebra had no more excuses to make. Even if he had any, he was too frightened to talk. As he finished that one, Marvin popped open another.
Zebra looked sick and began to sob. He vomited all over the table, but Marvin was uncaring. He slammed another bottle, making the vomit splash a little, but Zebra refused to finish it.
“Just fuckin’ let me go, man! I’m sorry!” He cried.
Marvin flew at him, knocking over the bottle to spill over the table. He wrapped his big fingers around his neck. He brought his face up to his, red with rage.
“You come into my fucking house, trying to get my daughter to feel like how you feel now? She’s only eight!” He bellowed.
Zebra’s red eyes welled up.
“PLEASE!” he croaked.
He brought his hands up to try to tear Marvin’s hand off his throat, but it was no use. Marvin was much bigger than him, and stronger.
“Yeah, drunk, small, and helpless, that’s how you like them, huh? How’s it fucking feel?” Marvin struck his face with his other hand. Blood ran down his nose and mouth as he pummeled his face with his fist. Zebra slipped his hand into his pocket. The steel would have dug into his kidney, had Marvin not seen it in time. Before he knew it, Zebra stopped struggling as the blade’s handle stuck out between his ribs.
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