December 14, 2020
His eyes slowly opened.
"Wha... What?" Edward muttered. He looked in front of him, seeing the hood of his car decimated and smoke rising from the engine. A faint smell of gasoline filled his nostrils but was hardly noticeable compared to the fresh smell of blood.
He unbuckled himself from the seatbelt and lifted up his shirt, seeing nothing but a small little bruise. He looked at him self in the rear view mirror and looked perfectly fine. In fact, aside from his lip, there wasn't a drop of blood anywhere on him.
Edward turned around to see the culprit. Aaron laid on the backseat, blood dripping from his mouth onto the ground. He was dead.
Despite a dead man laying on his back seat, Edward didn't feel much sorrow. Sure, the man had a son and now his son would grow up without a father but, despite this, Aaron was a piece of shit. He was Gabriel's friend and went along with destroying Edward's marriage with his wife. Everything was looking up and, still, his marriage was destroyed. But who deserved more of the blame? The man who helped sabotage Edward's marriage? Or the woman who had cheated on him twice and had a child one of the times?
It didn't matter. Edward would go through with the divorce this time. Whatever love he felt for Sarah, whatever love he was gaining back for Sarah, was gone. She could take Lillian and leave. Edward had had enough of her and God would not grant her a third chance. Sarah was dead to him, assuming that the Faceless hadn't already killed her.
That wasn't his problem at the moment. His problem was figuring out what to do with the corpse of his wife's lover. The day was ending quickly and it would only be a matter of time before it was dark. Even if he had a plan for what to do with Aaron, he would need some form of transportation. And, even if he did have some transportation, he would need to avoid the Faceless. Even now, they were probably watching from the trees, laughing behind their sealed lips.
Edward attempted to open the door but found it unsuccessful. He kicked and pushed but still found no success. He pushed back the center console and leaned back, raising his foot to the glass. He pulled his leg back and then kicked at the glass. He did this several times, watching the glass shatter into the snow.
He pulled off his coat, hung it over the shattered glass and squeezed his body through. Edward tumbled out of the car, feeling his shoulder pop when he hit the ground.
"Fuck," He muttered to himself.
There wasn't a car in sight. If one didn't show up soon, Edward wasn't sure he'd survive. Even if the Faceless didn't kill him, the cold certainly would. It was only two degrees and it was expected to drop to almost negative twenty, the worst temperature the state would have in nearly thirty years.
Edward pulled his coat off the glass and brushed it off, slicing his left middle finger. He couldn't feel the pain but he could feel the cold seep in. Perhaps he should have just left Sarah and Aaron alone and not give Gabriel the satisfaction of caring. Yet, here he was, trapped on the highway in the freezing cold with a dead body in his backseat. His car was totaled and could be ignited with a tiny little spark, which he would be more than happy for at the moment. Gabriel was likely at the manor now, laughing as he planned his next move on Edward. Maybe he knew this would happen to Edward. Maybe he was sending another one of his minions to torture Edward. Perhaps it was even Gabriel himself, with a gun in hand, ready to kill Edward.
All because he loved Ethan.
The faint sound of a truck echoed from the distance. He was saved.
At least, that's what he thought.
As the truck sped down the highway, Edward could see that it was a familiar truck. It was the truck of his asshole coworker. It was Robert's truck.
The loud diesel engine revved louder as Robert got more and more near. What was Edward to do but beg for Robert's help. He loathed the man but he was the only person to drive down the highway in the last half an hour. And with night being so close, it would probably be another half an hour to hour before another vehicle might pass by. It was rare for vehicles to be on the highway in the day, nevertheless the night.
Edward stuck out his hand and waved it up and down. After what felt like an eternity of him waving at Robert, the truck began slowing down and pulled up to the shoulder of the road, the engine blaring at Edward.
It felt like even longer that Robert decided to finally exit the vehicle.
"Eddy, boy! It's so nice to see you outside of work!" Robert exclaimed.
"Hello, Robert," Was all that Edward could say.
"Oh come on now, Eddy. That's not how you greet friends."
Robert pulled Edward towards him and tightly wrapped his arms around Edward's back. Edward returned a slight pat to his back before pulling away from the hug.
"Now, what seems to be the problem, Edward?" Robert looked over his shoulder at the wrecked vehicle and then back to Edward. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You've been drinking tonight, Eddy? You could have got someone seriously hurt now, Eddy."
Edward looked at his yellow and brown teeth and withheld the urge to wanna punch him in the face. It was such a nice punch-able face that Edward might capitalize on if he didn't need a way home. He thought back to Aaron and thought that maybe a graveyard needed to come first.
"No. I haven't had anything to drink in months."
Robert chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "Sure, bud. Whatever, you say. I promise I won't tell your wife, your secret is safe with me."
Don't punch him, don't punch him.
"Listen, Robert, I have a problem."
"Well shit, Eddy. Even my wife, with a blindfold on and under the bed sheets, could see that there's a problem here," Robert chuckled.
"No, Robert. Like a real problem. Like I have a person in the back kind of my car that isn't going to wake up kind of problem," Edward said.
Robert peered over Edward's shoulder to the car once more. "You got a dead hooker in there?"
Edward rubbed his temple. He hated this idiot. "It's not a hooker..."
Although he wished it was.
I'm a loyal man. I'm a married man. At least... until the divorce.
"It's a guy. It's..." Edward sighed. "It's my wife's lover."
Robert took several steps back. "Holy shit, Eddy. You fucking killed him?"
"No. Damnit, I didn't kill him." He looked up to see the sun disappearing behind the clouds. "Listen I can't explain right now but we need to get him out of the car and we need to get the fuck out of here before they return."
"Before they return?"
Shit
He had said too much.
"Yes they. I can't explain right now. Please, we need to go now."
Robert looked to his truck and gave Edward a sinister smile. "Ahh. Eddy, Eddy, Eddy. Why would I want to leave now? We're here, alone. We can finally bond with each other."
Edward rolled his eyes and walked back to his car, hearing Robert right behind him. He pulled as hard as he could on the back door until the metal squealed and let loose, nearly sending Edward to his ass. Robert stood above him, smiling.
"Can you at least help me?" Edward asked.
Robert didn't reply, only continued smiling at him.
"Fuck it," Edward muttered. He reached in to the back seat to pull out Aaron but found that he was gone. The pool of blood that was on the ground was also gone.
"What the fuck?" Edward said, pulling out of the seat.
He turned around to look at Robert who was still only smiling at him. "What happened to your body?"
Edward observed all the trees around them. "I... I don't know."
"It seems to me, you've been drinking a bit too much, Eddy."
It was impossible. Edward carried Aaron out of his house and threw him into the car. He could remember the screaming of Aaron as the Faceless swarmed Edward's car. It was so vivid, it had to be real. Yet, he was gone. There wasn't a remnant left of him. How could he be gone when it was so real? Edward rubbed his forehead. This wasn't a dream.
Was it?
"No, I promise he was here. He was bleeding all over the floor. I wouldn't lie about this, Robert."
Robert placed his hand on Edward's shoulder. "I know buddy, I know. Times must be hard at home, hmm?"
Edward brushed Robert's hand off of him and took several steps back. "What are you talking about? And why are you smiling like a fucking pedophile?"
Robert didn't laugh, only continued to smile. "I just... I just can't help but smile Edward. I have you at my mercy and would could be grander than that?"
"At your mercy?" Edward looked to the car once more. Still nothing. "What is this to you, some kind of game? You still pissed that I knocked your buddy out? Because believe me, I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, even if it means I have to walk my ass home."
In reality, Edward knew he wouldn't survive the night. He needed Robert's help, even if he despised the oaf.
"No, no, of course not Eddy. Pierce got what was coming to him, no doubt about it," Robert said. "It's just that, I don't much like you. Sure, I was a bit harsh when you first started working with us but what made you so special? Why did big boss man take such a liking to little baby Eddy? He promoted you, let you live with him, and gave you all this nice special treatment. What does Robert, and everyone else whose worked their ass off for the last several years, get? Nothing."
"You're jealous? Shit, Robert, if you want to go kiss Gabriel's ass, he's all yours. The bastard never cared about me. He only cared to fuck with me and my family. He..." Edward paused, uncertain if he wanted to tell Robert anymore. "He fell in love with the man my wife had a child with. I don't know what happened to Gabriel's crush but he blames me for it and has been stalking and manipulating me for several years now."
Robert's smiled dimmed before bursting into laughter. "You'd have me believe that big boss man is some kind of fucking homosexual? As far as excuses go, that one was pretty entertaining, but highly unrealistic."
Thinking about it, Edward realized how absurd the whole situation actually was. Gabriel dedicated the last several years of his life, as well as a good sum of his wealth, to fucking with Edward? From getting him the house at Waterworth and the job at Hallington, to drugging his son, forcing their moving from Waterworth, making his family think they're going insane, and manipulating his wife into another affair, it didn't make sense. He put so much effort in to these schemes that it would have almost seemed more rational just to have them all killed. The man was obviously delusional. Edward had only wondered how far he would have gone if he had not caught him. Would he have hurt them?
"Robert, I'm telling the truth," Edward said. He knew that the man wouldn't listen to him. He already had a hard enough connecting two brain cells together.
Robert cracked his knuckled and took a step forward to Edward. "You know, I'm really going to enjoy this."
The winds howled and a rustling of branches reverberated through the trees. The temperature took a sudden dip and Edward knew. They were back. All around Edward and Robert, dozens of Faceless appeared out of the trees. The clouds covered what sun was left and snow began shooting down like bullets.
"Robert, we have to go." He looked around as they all slowly moved toward them. "We have to go now!"
Robert seemingly didn't even notice what was happening around them, his eyes only fixed on Edward. The man was a bully, no doubt about it but Edward couldn't help but think that he wasn't entirely in his own mind. Robert licked his lips and his head twitched.
Edward tried running past Robert, only to be caught by his long reaching arm. Immediately, Robert delivered a swift right hook to Edward jawline, knocking him to the ground. Robert stretched his leg back and thrusted it forward into Edward's chest.
Even if Edward had wanted to fight back, there was no point. Pierce was only a bully's sidekick, whereas Robert may as well have been the final boss in a video game. The need for violence was all that fueled Robert and any attempt to fight back would result in Robert's adrenaline surging. But, Edward couldn't idle by and get his ass kicked. He had to get the keys and get away. As it so happened, the truck was still on.
"Come on, Eddy. Show me some of that anger you showed Pierce. Hit me, Eddy."
Edward tried to rise before receiving another kick - this time to his stomach. He struggled to breathe as Robert stood above him, laughing.
"Ahh, this is a pitiful sight. I've got to send a picture to the boys. They're gonna love this," Robert said.
He reached for his phone and pointed it toward Edward, giving him the chance to escape. He tackled Robert's leg's, throwing the large man to the ground and throwing the phone into the snow.
Before Robert could he react, Edward punched him in the nose and quickly threw himself off Robert to run for the truck. Before he could fully get away, Robert caught his leg, tripping Edward.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Quickly glancing up, he could see the Faceless closing in fast. He had to fight with every inch of his body if he was going to escape.
Edward pulled his leg forward and then back into Robert's ear, making the man howl in pain. Edward knew what he had done though. He could hear Robert yell in anger. He was pissed off now and there was nothing he could do to fight back.
Having one last chance to rise to his feet, Edward dashed to the driver side of the truck, flung open the door, and took one step in before being tugged back. Robert headbutted Edward, punched him several times, and then spit a wad of saliva onto the ground.
"You ain't going nowhere, Eddy." He smiled maliciously, showing a smudge of blood covering his teeth. Robert pulled out a small switch blade and held it up to Edward's cheek. "I think I'm going to take a little trophy home with me."
Robert laughed and then blood gushed out of his mouth onto Edward's shirt. He looked at Edward, his smile fading into a look of terror. A small little blade pulled back from Robert's neck and Edward saw a Faceless man standing right behind.
Edward saw the life drain from Robert's eyes and quickly threw him back into the faceless man. He hopped into the truck and slammed the door, not hesitating to throw the truck into reverse and stomp on the accelerator. Dozens of Faceless flooded around Robert's corpse and tilted their heads to watch Edward as he left.
He had to go back to the manor. He had to at least get his kids and brother to safety.
As he flipped the truck around and shifted it into drive, he looked in his rear view mirror to seem them still watching. Darkness was sweeping across the highway and Edward felt the anxiety hit him in the gut. They were coming. The Faceless were coming.
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