“I am not a bad man

Even though I do bad things

Very bad things

Such horrible things

But it's not quite what it seems

(Not quite what he seems)

Not quite what I seem”

-Creature Feature

-

    “I’ve been doing this… for… a while now,” he said with great effort.

He lugged the blood-ridden body to the back of his car. It was Subaru Forester L.L. Bean edition. The Subaru was not the best for hiding bodies in-transit due to the large rear window that connected to the trunk, but it was all he had for now. Tommy sniffed the air. The garage had a different smell from the rest of the house even before the corpse had been placed in there. It was a better smell in Tommy’s opinion. Musty, unlike the rest of the house filled with scented candles.

    “I can’t bury you because I’ll lose time,” he whispered softly.

He shed a tear that scurried across his face then dropped onto her red hair. Tommy had loved that red hair, especially how it contrasted with her pale skin.

    Tommy made sure not to touch any blood while he stroked her face. “What have I become?”

…

    Michael stepped into his trailer and was greeted by a waft of pot smoke. He proceeded to open a window. Michael didn’t particularly like the smell of pot and was irritated that he had forgotten to open the window beforehand. Michael tore the wrapping on the tuna fish sandwich he had just bought.

    “Yum yum yum in my tum”

Michael opened the drawer where the silverware would be if he could afford such a thing. Inside was a single nug.

    “Well, what do we have here,” he said with a grin.

He reached for the nug but stopped short. He tucked his hand into his pocket and procured his wallet. Inside there was his license, various business cards, and a library card he hadn’t used since high school. No money was to be found.

    “Fuck,” he moaned to the ceiling.

Michael looked at the side of his wallet. It was a replica of the “Bad Mother Fucker” wallet from Pulp Fiction. He enjoyed that movie since childhood and had bought the replica wallet at around 16 years old. Annoyed that he couldn’t afford to smoke the nug he put the wallet back.

    He looked at the marijuana “Sorry babe, but I’m gonna have to sell you if I’m gonna eat tomorrow”.

Michael put the bag of cannabis into his right coat pocket, a pistol in his left, and exited the trailer. He passed the other trailers in the Sea Breeze RV park. Most of them were owned by white trash. He was, as some asshole put it, “afro junk”. Michael didn’t experience too much explicit racism in Port Townsend. It was a small town full of liberal, white people. Growing up here he felt safe but alone; he was one out of four black people in Port Townsend High School. His family moved here from Louisiana when he was six, so it was definitely a change of racial scenery. He headed towards the downtown area passing the Safeway and Kah Tai Lagoon. To his left he could see one of the many pot shops in Port Townsend.

    “Screw you,” he whispered to the shop.

As a drug dealer the legal cannabis shops were hurting his income. He was restricted to selling to the high-schoolers who couldn’t get the legal stuff. The rich white kids of this town wouldn’t know a shit deal if a monkey had flung it in their face. He would always rip them off. Usually he would sell in the bus station between Kah Tai Lagoon and the Safeway parking lot, but the people there looked more sketchy than usual. Probably mentally ill. He decided downtown might meet his needs. By the time he was halfway there the sun was setting. A beautiful orange light struck the water near the ferry dock.

    “Hey kid, if you wanna get high, I’m your man,” Michael whispered almost desperately to the young boy.

    The boy looked at him. “um no… I’m good dude.”

    “Your loss”

After the boy left Michael looked at the sky. The stars were out and the moon was almost full, but kept getting covered by clouds. He sat down in the alley, anger and frustration rising in him.

    “Couldn’t even sell one nug” he whined

A man walked passed the entrance of the alley he was in and glanced at him before stepping out of sight. Walking backwards the man came into view again proceeding towards Michael.

    “Hey, you hungry?” said the man, “I’m Tommy, I got a pizza in my car if –“

    “I don’t want no pizza,” Michael interrupted, reaching for his gun.

    “Ok, sorry to bother you”

    Michael pointed the gun at Tommy, “I do want your wallet though”

Michael had the gun fully loaded. He had never mugged a person before, but at this point he was desperate. He couldn’t miss another payment or else he would be out on the streets. The Tommy guy was obviously shaken by a pistol being pointed at him.

    “Just hand it to me” Michael whispered.

    “ok, ok, just don’t shoot me”

The stranger stepped closer to hand his wallet to Michael. He reached out. The stranger balled his wallet hand into a fist and struck Michael’s gun arm. This sent the gun out of Michael’s hand, hitting the brick building, then finally resting on the sidewalk.

   “Shit!” Michael yelled like a man with Tourette’s.

Michael’s eyes swept the scene frantically, his gaze landing on the gun. Tommy looked over his shoulder. The gun was sitting at most a foot from the building behind him. He pushed the mugger away and made a sprint for the pistol. The mugger pulled on his shirt but Tommy tugged himself free and picked up the gun.

    “Get the fuck away from me!” Tommy yelled pointing the pistol at the mugger.

    The mugger froze. “P-please, don’t shoo—“

    “I said,” Tommy snapped “Get outta here!”

With no hesitation the mugger ran out of the alleyway, without looking crossed the street, finally disappearing as he cut a corner. Tommy stared at the gun. The adrenaline rush had not subsided yet, his heart beating fast. He turned his gaze to the alleyway and then back to the gun. At this point he sat down and began to giggle, which turned into a full on hysterical laugh. Tommy had no intention of shooting, in fact, he had never held a gun in his life.

…

    When Tommy returned home Lisa was still awake. He gazed over to the digital clock that also served as a microwave. Lisa turned from the computer and stared quizzically at Tommy.

    “What kept ya babe?”

    Tommy imitated her look, “Why are you up at one o’clock?”

    “Netflix, you?”

    Tommy sat in the armchair and allowed himself to relax, “You’ll never guess.”

    “I dunno, some cool jellyfish that only comes out at 1 AM?” Lisa shrugged as she shifted her body to give full attention to Tommy.

    “First off, seajelly. They aren’t fish. Also, I got mugged today. “

    “What!” Lisa shrieked while standing up.

    “Don’t worry babe, I actually took the gun from him and scared him off,” Tommy reassured with both hands in the air.

Lisa stood motionless. Her eyes wide and mouth pursed into neither a frown or a smile. The mechanisms in her brain were visibly trying to crank out a thought.

    After a moment of silence, she calmly said, “Did you call the police?”

    “You know I don’t like getting them involved”

    “I know, I know, I just thought this might be different.”

Tommy went over to Lisa who was still visibly alarmed, and sat on the couch with her. He ran his fingers through her red hair. This seemed to calm her, which was what he was aiming for. She took his hand and squeezed it once.

    “Promise me you will be more careful,” she whispered.

    “I promise.”

Lisa got up from the couch and rubbed her eyes. She turned off the television and shut the computer that was connected to it.

    “Good,” she said half yawning. “I have a surprise for you in the morning.”

She walked into the bedroom with Tommy following her. The lights were then turned off.