Status: completed.

The Betrayal

The Last

Mama was so perfectly pleasant, with black slacks, pumps, and a gorgeous red blouse. She even had honest-to-god pearls strung across her neck to match the ones on her ring with the huge diamond. Johnny told me his parents worked together as CEOs of this huge bank corporation; I don’t think he knew by then. His father was just as handsome in his black suit with the self-proclaimed “funky” tie, periwinkle shirt, black loafers, and smoking cigar. Every few seconds he would puff hard on it and I would be fascinating by the way he blew the smoke right out again; how could a human possibly hold so much garbage in their lungs at once? Obviously with this he had no problem, among other things. Papa was quite comfortable in every position he assumed in his life, including the one where he simply sat in his armchair whilst his wife did all the work. It was like out of some bizarre 1950s sitcom, only Mama had worked just as hard as him.

She got started on dinner right away, yet it was still well past 8 by the time it was ready, and the spare bedroom had already been offered. I called and pretended my parents didn’t know exactly where I was; my mother swallowed the lie and liked it, seeing to how everything was right on track at that point. Our conversation was orchestrated so beautifully I almost believed it myself.

Dinner was on the table, a chicken cooked so marvelously that I expected a chef to appear in the dining room any second, but no, only Mama appeared, when the doorbell rang. Instantly all three heads shot up, Johnny the first to claim he would be getting it. Papa put his hand down firmly upon Johnny’s shoulder and that was that; his mother strained to look normal but I could see the apprehension in her face as she struggled to listen to what was going on in the other room.

A pistol shot rang out; they had been answered. Mama jumped up, enraged, and made a move for the door. The cocking of my gun stopped her.

“I think you might want to sit down, Mrs. Sullivan.”

All the color drained from her face as she gripped the table with white knuckles, lowering herself into her chair. They tried to slip into her lap and my pistol, I identical to the one that had killed Papa, trained itself immediately upon her head.

“Hands where I can see them, please. Both of you.”

I watched her eyes widen until they took over her entire face, giant green orbs that frantically darted about the room, looking for something – anything – she could use to stop me. In a hoarse voice she whispered: “How did you find out?”

And then Johnny, his whisper so hurt and bewildered I almost can’t continue: “Mom? What’s going on? Marisa – what are you doing?” I want to look at him so badly but the instant I take my eyes off Mama is the instant I die. Her eyes, so wide seconds ago, narrow into slits as they focus on the person entering the room behind me.

“Butch. I should have known.”

I hear his slimy chuckle from behind me and cringe as he begins to speak. “Mama, mama, mama; you really thought you’d be on top forever. A dynamic duo, you and your husband, with this son of yours to carry on the line – surprise! I’m here to end it. One of your numbers has already been eliminated, you’ll be sad to discover.”

Vinny’s voice carries in from the other room. “Butch, what am I doing with the body?”

Carelessly, Butch calls back, “Chop it into pieces and bury it in the cornfield.” He tosses his thin, greasy hair over his shoulder and walks over to Mama, gun held loosely in his hand, an indicator that the mood of our situation was anything but loose.

“Whatever you do,” she rasps out, her voice thick with hatred, “do not lay a single hand on my son.”

“Sweetheart, what’s the need? I have this shiny piece of metal here to do the work for me.” Butch’s lips curl into a grotesque, cruel smile and Mama cannot be still any longer, lunging for his face with her sharp fingernails outstretched.

Johnny’s eyes squeeze shut as the shot sounds and his mother crumples to the floor. I drag her body into the other room to join her husband, taking care to slip her lids shut and fold her hands over her chest.

I reenter the dining area to find Butch leaning lazily on the wall with his gun locked and in his pocket as he cleaned his fingernails, under the pretense that he wasn’t watching Johnny very closely. Johnny himself was in shock; now I knew that he had no idea about his parents and wouldn’t be finding any concealed weapons in the foreseeable future.

“He doesn’t know, Butch.” The words left my weary lips heavily, coating the air. Butch looked at me disbelievingly and then barked out a laugh.

“Doesn’t – know –” as if it was the most uproarious thing he’d ever heard “about – these awful people?”

“He doesn’t know,” I repeated, quieter this time. Vinny joined us silently and stood next to me so I had either foul idiot on either side of me. “And I don’t think we should tell me.”

“GODDAMNIT!” Johnny bellowed suddenly, “TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON!” As I cowered in fear from Johnny’s rage, Butch and Vinny pulled their guns out simultaneously and cocked them, one angled for his head, the other his stomach. Johnny slowly lowered himself back into his chair, face as white as Mama’s had been.

“Let me tell you a story, Mr. Sullivan,” Vinny began. “Twenty years ago, your father and I decided to go into business. We never worked at any bank of any kind. Your father wanted to go into a darker business; we created the Devil’s Palm, and since then have assassinated over 200 people.” Johnny inhaled sharply.

“My dad? An assassin? I think you have the wrong guy.” Tears began to run down Johnny’s face as Vinny walked around the room, opening secret compartments and retrieving all sorts of hidden weaponry.

“Do you believe me now?” Rather than malicious, Vinny was indifferent. Butch continued much more darkly.

“Similarly, your mother approached me twenty years ago as well. She wanted to go into a business just as dark. With my brewing skills, we created a drug empire, making and dealing and occasionally partaking. Your parents were the dark forces that corrupted this city. Vinny and I grew tired of being second best, and with the help of your girlfriend here, we were able to overthrow them and assume the throne ourselves.”

The horrible realization crashed over me all at once. I stumbled back, sagging against the wall for support, becoming paralyzed by the truth of it all.

“Marisa was stupid enough to believe that Vinny and I have turned over a new leaf, as they say, and renounced our illegal ways. She approached us because your father executed the death of her beloved aunt a few months ago and wanted revenge, an end to the devastation once and for all. We readily agreed. She would be perfect.

“Quickly we drew up plans and began to put them in action. Simple as they were, they were successful; she grew close enough to you that you would finally invite her over and we would have our in. That was tonight. Mama and Papa are dead and now we can assume rule over this dung heap of a town.” He cackled and Vinny grinned slyly.

Silently, I lifted my gun and shot them both twice in the back; the sirens weren’t too far off.

“Goodbye, Johnny.”

I was daft to think they wouldn’t catch me.
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