The Beach House (13 page)

Damon took the knife that had pierced his shoulder and
held it high above his former girlfriend. With his blood dripping off of the edge of the blade, he drove it deep into Kristi’s back. She writhed around in pain unable to move from her position on the floor. Megan screamed, it was all she could do. She took a step back and bolted through the door from the house. She had never run so fast in her life. She contemplated going to the Jeep, but the rain was coming down so hard and she wasn’t sure where she would go to find help. There was still a part of her that thought she could save Kristi.

Megan stood on the beach, lightning continuing to flash across the sky. She screamed with all of the energy that remained within her. “Help! Somebody, please! Help me!” Her cries for help were somewhat stifled by her sobs. She had never experienced such fear and panic in her life. This was like something from a movie. Not something that happened to people in real life. The rain drowned out much of her pleas for help. She wasn’t even sure that it would be possible for anyone to hear her.

Damon could faintly hear Megan’s cries for help coming from outside. She had become too involved now. Now her death was imminent. He jerked the knife out of Kristi’s back and brought it down again. This time with greater force. He continued to pull the knife out and stab her in the back, shoulder, arm, leg; it didn’t matter. The violent stabs ripped apart her flesh, and her blood began to form a dark red puddle around her motionless body.

Kristi knew that she didn’t have much longer left. She no longer called out for help or moved her body. Instead, she accepted her fate. She lied still on the floor while the blade of the knife continued to enter and leave her body.

Blood was splattered all over Damon. His face was completely covered in her blood. Kristi, herself, looked like she had been through a meat grinder. Her flesh was torn and blood poured from all parts of her body.

Damon knew that she was dead. She had long stopped moving. The desire to punish her had not yet stopped. He rolled her over so that he could look at her face one last time. She was a beautiful girl. Her beauty was even apparent after the slaughtering she had just undergone. She didn’t have to die. She chose this fate.

He picked up the oar and brought it down hard upon her neck. The edge of the oar made a tear into her skin. He lifted the oar once again and brought it down harder upon her neck. Satisfied that her neck was broken, he continued to bring the oar down in the same spot. Each time, it cut deeper and deeper into her flesh. More blood poured from her body. Had someone entered the beach house, they would have thought that twenty people had been slain and massacred in that room rather than only one.

The next blow from the oar completely severed her head from her body. She was dead. It was over. As he looked around the room and took in the devastation of his act, he heard Megan continue to scream outside.

With the knife in his hand, Damon left the beach house.

As Megan gave a final call for help, she could see someone approaching her from behind the beach house. The man called out to her. “Megan, it’s Detective Sullivan. What’s going on?”

With tears running down her face, she ran to him. “I’m so glad to see you. It’s Damon. He’s killed them. They’re dead.”

Sullivan realized that he had been too late. Two people had already died, and he felt largely responsible for their deaths. He wished that he had followed his gut more closely and had not left these people alone with Damon. The only thing that kept him focused in on the case was that Megan would be saved. At least he had not taken her life.

Sullivan looked at Megan in the moonlight. The rain had completely drenched her. Her hair was soaked and her clothes clung to her tightly. Her hands and clothes were blood stained. She had been through a nightmare. And yet, she still looked beautiful to him. He felt the urgent need to protect her.

Megan finally felt a sense of safety. Maybe she would make it out of this situation. Maybe Kristi was still alive. She could only hope at this point.

Just as she was able to take a breath, Megan caught a glimpse of Damon coming out of the beach house. She feared that he had finished off Kristi and was moving onto her.

Detective Sullivan watched Damon begin to approach them from the beach house. He withdrew his gun and aimed it at Damon’s chest. Damon continued to move towards them. Sullivan had never shot at someone with a gun. He knew that in this situation, there was no alternative. He fired the gun. The loud bang penetrated through the sounds of rain striking the water and thunder rumbling in the distance. The bullet hit Damon in the chest and he instantly dropped to the ground.

Megan felt a great sense of relief. Damon was dead. It was over. She instantly thought of her friend. “Kristi! I have to see if she’s alive!”

Sullivan watched Megan begin to run to the beach house. “Megan, wait! It may not be safe to go in there.”

The detective ran after Megan. They ran around Damon’s body which was completely still in the sand. When Megan reached the doorway, she found herself too much in shock to utter a sound. It was worse than the most gruesome scene from a horror movie. Her friend’s head lay about half a foot from her body. There was blood everywhere. The floor appeared to be a shade of dark red. Not only was Kristi dead, but she had been tortured.

Sullivan had never seen anything like this. He had no idea how a human being could commit such a violent act against another person. He entered the house and peered throughout the living room and into the kitchen. He caught the sight of Mark who looked to have suffered just as terrible a fate. He felt a sense of guilt that was unbeknownst to him until that point. The detective only wished that he had stopped Damon from committing this killing spree. His only comforts were that the murderer was dead and that he had saved at least one life. He knew he had to take Megan away from this gruesome scene.

Sullivan put his arm around Megan. “Let me take you out to my car. I need to radio for backup and then we can get out of here.”

Sullivan led Megan around to his car and unlocked the door. She reluctantly got inside, shaken too badly to truly process what was happening at the moment. She could barely make out the words that Sullivan uttered as he radioed for back up. She was lost in a fog.

The detective gently touched Megan on the shoulder. “I need to wait for back up to arrive. Won’t take long. You wait in here. There’s no one to hurt you now. I’ll lock the door and be back in about ten minutes.”

Megan nodded that she understood his directions. Sullivan locked the door as promised and began to head back towards the beach. The rain had let up some, but was still enough of a nuisance to make the walk take longer than necessary.

As Sullivan headed down to the beach area in front of the house, he couldn’t believe what he saw. There was an indentation in the sand where Damon’s body had been located only ten minutes ago. The body, however, was gone.

Sullivan attempted to look for traces of blood, but the nighttime sky made it too difficult to discern any trail of blood. He considered it almost impossible for Damon to have survived and have the strength to get away so quickly. He wondered if perhaps the odd neighbor had heard the shot and seen the body.

Sullivan began to walk towards Horace’s house. It was getting later into the night now. Soon dusk would be upon them, and all of the blood shed would be visible to the world. He reached Horace’s home to find the door wide open.

The detective entered the house. It was completely dark inside and all he could hear were the patters of raindrops against the house. He wasn’t sure that the house was in condition to withstand and make it through the storm. He called out, “Horace? Are you home? It’s the detective, again.”

He withdrew his gun as he entered the living room. He stumbled over something in the middle of the room. He reached out his hand and eventually found a lamp. The light illuminated the entire room. He looked down to see that he had tripped over a dog. He wondered why the dog had not woken up and reached down to touch it. He quickly realized that the dog was no longer alive. “Jesus, what in the world is wrong with these people?”

Megan sat still in the car. There were so many thoughts running through her head. How could this have happened? How could she
have left Kristi alone with him? She had no idea how much time had passed since the detective had left her alone in the car. It could have been two minutes or two hours. It was as if time was standing still. All she knew for sure was that she was heading home alone. She would be without Mark and Kristi. That part of her life was over. She would get to continue on every day, but they would not. Their lives ended at the beach house. How could she continue on knowing what had happened here?

She closed her eyes. The tapping of the raindrops began to relax her. She just wanted to sleep and wake up safe and sound. If only it had all been a dream. Just as her body and mind began to settle down, she heard a loud thump at the back of the car. She jumped up with a start, and turned around to look at the back window. She didn’t see anything. She supposed that she would be jumpy for a while now.

Her eyes closed again. This time the loud thump came from the front of the car. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Damon standing there directly in front of the vehicle. She thought that she must be hallucinating, Damon was dead. She closed her eyes and opened them again. He was still standing there.

Megan didn’t understand how this was possible. Damon was holding some sort of a stick in his hand. He smashed it against the windshield. He continued to bring the stick crashing down across the windshield. As it cracked and pieces of glass splintered, Megan thought about her options. Chances were that she wouldn’t survive regardless of her decision.

As Damon lifted the stick another time, Megan unlocked the passenger door and bolted from the car. She ran around the side of the house to the front of the beach house. Damon had dropped the stick, and she could hear his footsteps following closely behind her own. She continued to run down towards the water.

The rain continued to come down. She looked out into the water. The water appeared to be very agitated as the waves rose higher and higher and came crashing down upon the shore. She turned around to see Damon behind her. Without giving it much thought, she propelled herself into the ocean and began to swim.

***

Sullivan had looked throughout the house. It was completely empty aside from the dead dog. He had no idea where Horace had gone. For that matter, he had no idea where Damon’s body had ended up. He did know that he needed to get back to Megan to make sure that she was okay. He had really screwed this up; two people had been murdered and the killer’s body was missing.

He left the house with his gun securely gripped in his hand. He began to run back to the beach house where the awful crimes had been committed. As he made his way across the sand, he made out a figure in the ocean. He wondered if Horace had decided to take a late night swim in the storm. After seeing the dead dog in the living room, nothing would have surprised him.

The detective ran along the shore and called out to the figure in the water. “Horace? Is that you? I need to talk to you.”

As he got closer, he could see that it was Damon. What troubled him more, was that he could see
another figure just slightly ahead of him. He assumed that it was Megan. Without considering the consequences, he dropped the gun and ran into the water.

The water was still warm. The waves seemed to overwhelm the ocean. Sullivan looked up as a wave came crashing down over his head. Momentarily under water, he kicked as hard as could in the hopes of catching up to Megan and Damon. His visibility, however, was greatly compromised. The waves and heavy rainfall made it almost impossible to keep Damon in his line of sight. He decided to just swim as hard as he could until he caught up with him. He wouldn’t allow Megan to die. He had already made enough mistakes.

Damon wasn’t about to let Megan out of his sight. He was surprised what a skilled swimmer she appeared to be despite the storm and waves. The gun shot had stunned him, but fortunately, had not pierced any organs. He knew that he would survive the gunshot. He was not about to let Megan get away.

This night brought back memories of Jonathan’s death. He could see his brother struggling out in the midst of the ocean, waving his hands, begging to be saved. There was not a single day that he regretted the death of his brother and today was no exception. Jonathan had deserved to die just as Mark and Kristie had deserved to die. Megan had decided to become involved in something that was none of her business. Now she would have to die too.

He could see that Megan had turned around and was beginning to swim back towards the shore. She was about six feet to the right of him. He could tell that she was fatigued and would not be able to make it much longer. Turning around, Damon began to make a straight line towards Megan.

As Damon closed in on her, he felt something tugging on his leg. Turning around to see what was behind him, he saw the detective. Sullivan had grabbed onto his left leg and was pulling him towards him. Damon struggled to free himself, but he could not break away from his grasp. Seeing her opportunity,
Megan began to swim with all of the energy that remained. She aimed for the shore. Her desire to live gave her the burst of energy that she needed.

As Megan got nearer to the sand, a large wave mounted behind her. She heard the wave smacking against the ocean and felt the crashing down of the water over her head. It took her thirty seconds to surface again. She turned around to look for the detective. She could not see either of them in the water. The waves must have pulled them under temporarily.

Finally reaching the shore, Megan crawled onto the beach and looked out over the ocean. The waves continued to be unforgiving and rose to incredible heights. From her view, she was still unable to see Sullivan or Damon.

***

Damon used his free leg to kick at the detective.
Despite his best efforts to free himself, Sullivan was not about to let him go. He looked up to see another strong wave forming. This one rose about six feet into the air. As it came crashing down, Sullivan lost his hold on Damon and found himself under the water. When he surfaced, he didn’t see Damon. It was possible that Damon had been dragged under and lacked the strength to come back up. After his earlier mistake, he didn’t want to take any chances.

Sullivan spun around and looked in all directions for Damon. When he didn’t see him, he began to start heading for shore. He didn’t want to leave Megan alone up there. He shouldn’t have left her alone in the car. If nothing else, he needed to get her to safety.

He turned around to head towards Megan. As soon as he did, he was face to face with Damon. He felt a strong elbow to his nose which immediately began to bleed. The next blow to his head caused him to feel a bit woozy. When the next wave came crashing down, Damon put both hands on Sullivan’s head and pushed him underneath of the water. Initially, he could feel Sullivan kicking hard beneath the water’s surface. Gradually, the kicking slowed and then stopped.

He released his grasp and decided to swim back. He expected Megan to be sitting there waiting for the hero to return. Unfortunately, for her, this was not a movie and in real life, people were not always saved from their impending fate.

Damon finally made his way back to the shore. He could hear sirens from police cars in the distance. Obviously, Sullivan had requested back up and they had arrived. Too bad for them that they were too late. Damon looked up and down the shore for Megan, but he could not spot her. He realized that she must have run to a hiding place. He doubted that she had gone back to the beach house where her friends had been massacred. The next closest place would have been Horace’s house.

Damon took off in that direction, hoping to find her before the police officers found him. He ran with everything that he had left, completely running on adrenaline at this point. When he reached Horace’s house, the lights were off and the door was wide open. It made sense to him that Megan had made her way inside to get help. He stepped inside and called out to her as he attempted to catch his breath. “Give up, Megan. It’s over. You’re dead. Just like Mark, and Kristi, and the cop.”

Dusk was beginning to settle in outside, which meant that some light was creeping in through Horace’s front door. Damon could make out Max lying in the middle of the floor. Just as he glanced up, he saw a shadow coming towards him from the kitchen. It was Horace.

Before Damon had time to react, Horace raced towards him and tackled him to the ground. He drove a knife that he was holding through the other side of his chest. This time, Damon felt an intense amount of pain. He knew that this time he may not survive the stab wound. He lifted his head to see blood oozing from the open wound in his chest. This is not how he thought things would end, but he accepted that some things were out of his control. When he planned the trip to the beach house, he knew that he was not able to predict the ending.

Horace dragged Damon by his legs into the kitchen. Damon did not attempt to kick at the old, grungy man. Instead, he allowed him to drag him across the cluttered floor.

In somewhat of a daze, Damon looked up to see a rope hanging from the rafter in the ceiling. Horace lowered the noose and wrapped it around Damon’s neck. Damon could feel the coarse rope against his skin, and supposed that Max’s death was about to be avenged.

Megan stepped into the kitchen and stood behind Horace. “You deserve to die, you monster. You’re going to go to hell for what you’ve done.”

Damon smiled. “You’re going to be living in hell from now on.”

Although this was not the ending he wanted, Damon still felt as if he had accomplished his objective. He had rid the world of an egomaniac and a cheater. He had
also made a lasting impression on Megan and the want-a-be detective. They would never forget him or the horror that he caused.

Megan and Horace used all of their strength and energy to pull the rope from the other end. Damon was pulled off of his feet and was suspended in the air. Horace tied the rope off and stood back to watch Damon meet his fate.

Damon knew that death was imminent and saw no reason to struggle against it. He allowed it to overtake him. He hoped that death would finally bring him a sense of peace. He would no longer be haunted by the memories of his younger brother. Now, he could let it all go. He hung like that for a matter of a couple of minutes, and then all want black.