Prologue
1963
“What are you doing here,” he whispered to his wife, through clenched teeth? “Haven’t I told you to NEVER, EVER bring that thing to my place of business?”
“But, Samuel, it won’t stop crying. I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything.”
“I don’t care what you do. Just get it out of here. That is your cross to bear, not mine. In fact, if it were up to me, I would sacrifice that evil to the heaven’s and gain favor with the Lord. Surely, we would be granted entry through the gates of heaven if we did.”
“This abomination has been visited upon us because of the evil we have committed. You must atone for your sins Marie. You must repent for luring me with your wicked and wanton ways. And then, maybe, just maybe, God will forgive you and free us from this hell. The sins of the flesh Marie, the sins of the flesh.”
Marie often wondered what the people of Lobeco would think of her and Samuel if they could see them now. All the girls back at the ....South Carolina.... church she had attended had vied for the attention of the handsome and articulate Samuel Richardson. His crisp cocoa brown complexion and granite pecks, coupled with his extensive knowledge of the bible, his quick wit and intelligence, made him quite the catch. But Marie had been the one that caught his eye. Most people would have described Marie as a Plain Jane. She wasn’t an ugly girl, but she was stick thin, without so much as a bump or a curve. Even her breasts were little more than a mole-hill, with her 32A bra size. Her wheat-colored complexion, while flawless and free of even the hint of a blemish, was sallow at best. Her clothes consisted mostly of items recovered from goodwill. She had large feet, at least by female standards, and wore a size 12 shoe, which made it close to impossible to ever find anything even bordering on attractive. Marie and her family were quite poor. She had three brothers and one sister and their single mother just barely survived; caring for them all on welfare. Their father had abandoned them long ago and her mother made it clear to her eldest daughter, Marie, that her only escape from poverty would be to marry well.
Samuel’s father, on the other hand, was Lobeco’s town pastor and everyone assumed Samuel would eventually follow in his father’s footsteps. His mother had been the child of affluent parents, at least by Lobeco standards, and when she died of cancer, she left both Samuel and his father well-fixed in the way of money.
Therefore, most of the people in Lobeco, especially the young women, were quite surprised when Samuel chose to spend most of his time with the poor, plain and painfully shy Marie.
Samuel’s father could not forgive him when he discovered that Marie had gotten pregnant. He had always had high hopes for his only son and assumed that Marie was a temporary dalliance that he would eventually tire of. The pair married quickly and left ....South Carolina...., at the Pastor’s insistence. It was his fear that their dirty little family secret would be revealed and his reputation would be ruined.
Although the couple’s plan was to eventually return to their native home, once the baby was born Samuel decided that under the circumstances there was no way they would ever be able to return.
Marie’s pregnancy was a difficult one and after giving birth they learned that their child was not exactly normal. With each passing day, Marie watched as Samuel sunk deeper and deeper into despair. By the time he resurfaced, he was a mere shell of the handsome, vibrant suitor she had once known. Not only that, where he had once been doubtful as to whether or not he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, he had know become obsessed with religion; so much so, that Marie became more than just a bit concerned. Not a word was spoken nor a deed carried out that didn’t revolve around the words of the bible. Although Marie had been raised in the church, she could clearly see the difference between a healthy reverence of God and obsession.
While she loved her baby, she was devoted to Sam. Any thoughts she had, any desires she held took a back seat to his. And, it was his desire that their child cease to exist. Therefore, when she addressed Samuel she never contradicted his wishes. Marie considered it a miracle that the child were even still alive, given Samuel’s thoughts on the matter. The one and only time she had ever shirked his authority was when their baby had been born and he demanded they leave the hospital without it. Marie had wanted a child more than anything and it didn’t matter what the child looked like. All she cared about was that it was created by her and Samuel. He, on the other hand, considered their child a spawn of the devil, an abomination (as he so often called it) and therefore just punishment, because they had ‘lain together in sin.’ After multiple consultations with the hospital, Marie finally brought the baby home, but Samuel made it quite clear that he would never acknowledge the child as his own.
“Woman, why are you standing there looking like a fool. I told you I have work to do.”
“I’m sorry Samuel,” she cried. “I just didn’t know what to do.”
“You know what you need to do. Just go home, now, and do it! And, tonight, we will pray together for redemption.”
“Yes Samuel,” she agreed.
As she left, her husband knew that she had no intention of following through with the instructions he had so often given her, to put a stop to the child’s endless wails. Therefore, he would have no other alternative but to handle it’s discipline himself.
Eighteen Years Later
Freedom had finally arrived. There would be no more weekends that stretched into endless darkness, never knowing the difference between night and day; no more dull aches of hunger, the withdrawal of food imposed at the simplest infraction. There would be no more beatings or any of the other atrocities perpetuated from the confines of that dank basement that had become a prison. Freedom had arrived in the form of education. College awaited -- college and the sweetest gift anyone could ever imagine -- freedom.
Marie sat in the living room, listening as her only child packed, knowing it would probably be the last time they ever saw one another. She only hoped that her child’s departure would be uneventful. Somehow, though, she knew it would not. Samuel would never allow it to be so.
Over the years his descent into madness had been progressive, but great. And, now he was little more than a vicious wielder of punishment; doling out his form of justice, first to their baby and eventually to Marie as well. Sex with him had become some twisted form of worship, release and punishment, that Marie was sure she would never understand. After all, how could a sane person understand the actions of the insane. While she often considered leaving, her love of Samuel, albeit illogical, had not abated. She still adored him as much as she ever did. In fact, her adoration had been replaced with a certain protectiveness; since she fully knew that he was stark raving mad, and subject to confinement at any time. That is, if anyone ever discovered what went on behind closed doors.
Samuel stood in the doorway, smiling, silently taunting the only child he had ever know -- the same child he never acknowledged as his own.
“The world knows what you are you know. You are, and will always be, an abomination and college and moving away will never change that. Even the doctor’s can’t fix what you are. I know it and soon the world will know it. You will never know peace. There is no peace for those created in the demons image.”
“You might just be right. But, you know what, if the world knows what I am, then it knows what you are as well. After all, didn’t you help to create me. And, I don’t just mean your rancid seed, I mean the hell you have subjected me to all these years. Everything that I am, I owe to you; you and my poor, disillusioned mother. You are a sick and evil man, who shrouds his evil in the name of The Lord. You can keep Your Lord. I don’t need Him or you. You have made life for me here hell on earth, so how much worse could it get for me. Yes, you can keep Your Lord – I don’t need him. And, I DON’T NEED YOU! My only regret is that my mother will die here, never having known what life could have been like if she hadn’t been married to a sick fucking bastard like you!”
Samuel’s face contorted into a shape and had taken on a hue reminiscent of complete and utter malevolence. Suddenly he realized he no longer had any power. For years he had waited for the constant reminder of his inadequacies to meet with some obvious and ill-fated destiny, yet it had never come to pass. Here it stood, taunting him, ridiculing him. Taking the name of the Lord in vain -- and, in his own home. He would not stand for it!
Upstairs in the living room, Marie sat biting at her last remaining fingernail, the others now painfully gnawed to the quick. The sudden silence was more deafening to her ears than all eighteen years of screams and wails, she had been forced to helplessly listen to. The threat of impending doom reverberated throughout her entire being. It occurred to Marie that she had never been a champion to her only child, but today, God-willing, she would be. The basement door slamming was the last sound she heard, after what seemed like endlessly agonizing moments of silence. Marie raced downstairs, taking the steps two at a time.
Throughout the years, Marie had proven to be artful at ‘turning a deaf ear’ to all she heard. But, somehow, she had always avoided seeing anything altogether. The moment she entered the basement, she was mortified. The full realization of how her child had probably been tortured by her husband time and time again, became a far too tangible reality. Memories swirled around her, dizzying her, crippling her, until she saw what he held in his hand. It was a crude object, carefully hand-crafted by an evil man with evil intentions, for the sole purpose of inflicting pain. The same object that had probably harmed her child so many years ago. Marie felt as though she had risen from some invisible tomb, stronger than she had ever been, maybe even invincible.
“You bastard,” she yelled! “There never was an accident! How could you! How could you mutilate your own child! I always knew. I always knew it was you!”
From the moment Marie rose from her bed early that morning, her actions had been set on autopilot. She went about her usual day; preparing breakfast, making the beds. Everything had been all so commonplace, that is, until she took her place in the living room, while her child prepared to leave. Marie had settled in and waited. And as she sat, she maintained a firm grasp on the Glock she had purchased from a neighborhood thug just a few days earlier.
“Marie? What are you doing? Where did you get that? Now, now calm down. I was just. . . I was just. . . Now hold on a damn minute, you mean to tell me, you’re holding a gun on me in my own home. This is me Marie. What are you doing? It’s me, me! There is no rea. . .”
While Samuel pleaded with his dutiful wife to lower the gun she was holding, Marie considered the implications and watched and listened as Samuel alternated between being apologetic, angry and confused. And, as he approached her, fully prepared to pounce, Marie cocked the gun and pulled the trigger.