Black Horse (Breaking Black) (15 page)

***

Do you ever watch the news, and hear of a horrible murder and think, what on earth was that person thinking? The truth is, they’re not. Their mind has gone black, their heart has gone hollow and their spirit has fled from their body. Without soul. Without heart. Without humanity. They are a monster stripped of compassion, bereft of forgiveness and a barren wasteland of violence, hatred and self righteousness. Some liken it to being possessed by the devil. But they are wrong. I am the devil. Might as well be, anyway. I’m dragging them all to hell.

That is where I am. Hell. A living hell.

Black Horse. Like one of the four horsemen of hell, I’ve been scorned and I will not leave until my debt is repaid.

***

A stone hit glass of Averi’s bedroom window. Lightly, nothing more than a kiss of the hard rock against the fragile surface of the glass window. Then another, this time harder. This was no coincidence. Averi woke at the sound, kicking the sheets off of her legs. The clock read 2:16 A.M. No more than a second later, a banshee scream erupted from Nathan and Corinne’s bedroom.

Averi rushed down the hall, her nightgown swaying at her feet. Her little heart hammering in her chest, she couldn’t comprehend the sound she was hearing. She stood in the doorway of her parents’ room as her eyes adjusted to the lurid scene before her.

Nathan lay unmoving with blood gushing from his neck and belly. Corinne screamed as a man stood over her with a butcher knife, before Averi could blink the man had vicious stabbed her, plunging his weapon deep into her chest where her kind heart resided. Averi’s blood turned to ice. She recognized the man’s face.

Black Horse.

Averi tried to scream but before the sound could escape her mouth, she felt Seth pick her up and cover her mouth. Fear was visible in his eyes, but his hand was steady and he knew he had to hide Averi. Tears streamed down Averi’s face as the sight of blood spilling out of her mother’s chest scarred her for life. Averi’s arms and legs shook; she was in a state of shock. Moving quickly, Seth ducked into the hall closet and quietly closed the door behind them. They stayed there for several moments before they heard a noise. A single noise that induced the hair on Seth’s arm to stand on edge. Black Horse’s boot fell heavily on the hardwood floor. The air was stifling in the closet, hot and unmoving, like death. Averi didn’t dare breathe, she didn’t move, she didn’t even blink. Black Horse’s
boot falls were getting closer… louder. Averi stifled her tears somehow, but just as Black Horse was about to turn away, Averi’s throat caught. A sharp intake of breath followed by more tears caught Black Horse’s attention. The footsteps intensified. Black Horse was beating a path to the closet door. Seth, holding Averi firmly, swung his sister around so that she would face the inside of the closet. He hoped to protect her from Black Horse’s fury. She tried to focus on something other than the murderer that stood less than a foot away. She looked at the fading floral shelf lining, she touched the soft cotton of the towels, and the heavy sound of her brother’s breathing. A loud clicking sound made it impossible to think of anything else, though. The sound of a shot gun barrel banging to place. He didn’t even bother opening the door.

Bang! Bang! Then silence.

Out of instinct, Averi jumped into the shelf that stood before her and cowered behind the extra blankets that her mother kept neatly stored on the shelf. She was stunned that she was still alive, until reality set in. Seth had slumped down against the door of the closet, unrecognizable and motionless. The shotgun blast had obliterated his once handsome face.

***

Black Horse moved from the closet door which now had a massive hole in the surface and quickly glanced behind him. Someone was standing there. His only clue was the creaking floorboard under their feet. Before Black Horse had the chance to act, Colton had drawn blood. With a poker from the fireplace, Colton tried to do as much damage as he could. He whipped the poker from side to side erratically, untrained, but effective all the same. His father had a gaping wound across his face, neck and arm.

“You little bastard!”

Colton couldn’t speak. His face scrunched up into pure hatred of the man in front of him. He hit him again and again, and although Black Horse couldn’t feel the damage that his young son was inflicting upon him, he knew he was bleeding and badly. Black Horse reached for the poker, but Colton jumped back, out of his reach. Not taking anymore shit, Black Horse backed him into a corner and as his father threw him over his shoulder, Colton screamed with all his might, “AVERI!!!!!!”

***

“Son of a bitch! Get in the there
... Get in there and shut the fuck up!” Black Horse yelled at his son, but there was no end to Colton’s fight. He was like a wild stallion that you simply could not break. Black Horse threw his son into the cab of his stolen pick up truck and slammed the door shut. Colton, slamming his hands against the passenger side window, screamed, “Let me out!”

But rather than relenting, Black Horse did something unexpected. He fed a thick link chain through the handles of the front and back doors of the truck and secured it with a padlock. Colton was trapped. As Black Horse skulked away in the night, Colton laid on the horn hoping to get someone’s attention, but when no sound came out, Colton truly began to panic.

Black Horse had planned the whole ordeal.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Aftermath

The car door of squad car A7 slammed shut, scaring off a flock of wrens from the oak tree in the Ford’s front yard. As Detective Shawn Hall stepped out of his squad car he peered up at the house with a precarious look in his eye. He waited as long as he could, but he couldn’t keep away any longer. He had been the first officer on the scene and he had to walk away. His mind unraveled seeing his baby sister in a pool of her own blood.  His sister Corinne, and her husband and eldest child were dead. He hadn’t needed to ask about the other children. It was all over the news.

Reporters swarmed him as he beat a path to the front door of his sister’s home. His face was stony and solemn, he waved off the reporters without a word and he slammed the door of the house shut.

“What are you doing here, Dennison?! Get him out of here!” the Captain yelled.

Shawn ignored the Captain and instead focused his eyes on the children that were wrapped in blue blankets on the couch. Alive but shell shocked.

“I’m here for my niece.”

“I’m not done questioning her yet.”

Shawn gave the officer a lethal glare.

“I said you are. They are traumatized and need to be taken to the hospital.”

“What?” asked the officer.

“Look at their eyes! Has she said anything?! She is catatonic!”

“The boy has plenty to say.”

“Move!” Shawn yelled, as he grabbed his niece off the couch.

Averi was unmoving, her face was white with shock, her eyes, her poor poor eyes...

What had she saw over her brother’s shoulder in the dark of the closet? What had she witnessed in the black of night? Was she still lost his her dying brother’s gaze, unable to escape from the unending tunnel, the ebony abyss from which Seth had fallen. She laid her head on her uncle’s shoulder as a single tear escaped from her haunted eyes.

“You all better find this bastard before I do, because I will kill him,” Shawn said through gritted teeth, as he grabbed Colton’s hand and led both children out the door and into his squad car.

***

“Where is she?!” yelled Rose as she pushed her way through the emergency room waiting area. She had a panicked look on her face.

“She is in with the doctor now. They are evaluating her,” Shawn said to his mother somberly. He was exhausted. He forbid his mind to think of his sister. He couldn’t allow his mind to accept Corinne’s bloody fate.

Rose’s hands shook as she sat down next to her son. Soon her whole body shook as she tried to maintain her composure. She brought her hands up to her beautiful but wrinkled face. Closing her eyes, she covered her mouth. She released a deep breath. She was trying so hard to keep her calm. As the matriarch of the family, she felt it her duty. Without looking at her, Shawn put his hand on his mother’s knee and without a sound, let her know it was okay. Not a second later, Rose had broke into hysterics. Clutching her chest as her son rocked her. Rose was calm in comparison to her husband Hank who had just walked through the double doors of the waiting room. His eyes were rimmed red, his breathing was stifled and he couldn’t speak a word for fear that a howl would escape his mouth.

Shawn looked at his father.

“Where are the boys?”

Hank motioned behind him. Tim and Randy were standing behind him in tears. Randy’s eyes moved wildly around the room while Tim wiped his wet face in vain. In that moment, Shawn’s heart was forever ripped out.

“Come on, boys… let’s go get settled in at the ranch,” Shawn said as he grabbed their hands and led them out of the hospital. Glancing back, he watched as his parents held each other as they wept in sorrow over the loss of their beloved daughter, her husband that they deeply respected and their sweet grandson who sacrificed his life for his sister.

***

A social worker arrived at the hospital shortly after noon and spoke with the doctors and Colton for a while. It was decided that he would need to be placed in a group home since no relatives had come forth to claim him. Rose and Hank desperately wanted to take him in, but they couldn’t afford to. Their budget was already strapped taking in their grandchildren and paying for the funeral arrangements for three lost loved ones.

***

“Averi, love…” Hank said looking her in the eyes trying to gain her attention. “Darlin’, its Pappaw. Look at me.” Try as he might, though, she simply stared forward unable to see the light out of the tunnel. She stayed this way for nearly a week after the murders. The doctors said she was shell shocked and showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. She screamed at night time when her dreams were interrupted by the evil grin of Black Horse, himself.

Randy and Tim were distraught, but Averi was traumatized. She was deeply scarred by the events that had occurred. Rose and Hank nurtured her back to health, but she would never forget that night. Or the man that had ripped her sense of safety to shreds.

***

Colton settled into the group home where four other boys lived. They were mean children, and Colton tried to ignore them. He knew that he wouldn’t have to be there long. The social worker said so, herself. She was right. Two weeks later, a woman by the name of Francesca Ravenna met with Colton and his social worker. She was a stout woman with a firm manner and a voice of velvet. She knew about his background and she was not afraid to take on an at-risk child. Francesca was an Italian chef. She was unmarried, never had a desire to have a child of her own, but something that day told her, she was supposed to open her heart to Colton. By doing so, she saved him from going down the dark path that the other boy’s in the foster home were traveling down. Francesca lived in a sprawling rancher on the other side of Main Street. She had provided him with his own room, kept him in the same school as his friends and cherished him as her own son. The only thing she asked in return was for him to be respectful and follow her rules. He never stepped a toe out of line.

He had lost three maternal figures in his life, he knew that the opportunity he was getting was one that was not afforded most children.

As he got settled in that first night, in the home, he hugged Francesca and refused to let go.

“You hold on and don’t let go, child… I’m not afraid of the big black horse.”

With a serious look on her face, Francesca squeezed the child tightly, vowing to protect this child from the demons of his past… and she did.

“Can I call Averi?” he asked as he released her from his grip.

“Of course, the phone is in the dining room.”

Colton ran to the phone and dialed the number to Averi’s grandparent’s ranch.

“Avie…”

“Colton…” she said sounding out of breath.

“Are you okay?”

“I am now.”