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“No food for me.” Ed folded his hands.
Stephen pointed to one of the enchilada dinners at the top of the menu. “I’ll have a number two.”
Ed stretched his arms out and waved his hands as the waitress departed. “We’re both going to see big changes.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll soon learn your prayers are worthless. God won’t protect you – even if you’re innocent.”
To get everyone’s attention, Ed shattered an empty water glass against the floor, rose to his feet and stumbled back, crashing into the plates on the family’s table behind him. He caught his balance and made eye-contact with a big-shot lawyer with salsa on his lap.
“Soon the world will learn about that child you hurt you hurt, pedophile priest.”
A few people in the room gasped, and the manager grabbed Ed’s arm and tried to pull him toward the door. “I’m sorry. You need to go now, sir.”
“Yes,” said Stephen. “We’re both leaving.”
Ed grabbed the flash drive from the table before the manager led him out of the building. He fled the parking lot, regretting all he just said. The high-pitched voices mocked him with taunts and threats. “You mustn’t fail us.”
Ed hated their insistence that he served them and wanted to clarify he was in charge. “I need answers from him before I rush into anything.”
He heard a loud tone and fell on the sidewalk, vomiting as the voices punished him with a severe migraine. “You worthless waste of space. Betray us, and you’ll beg us to let you die.”
“Please stop. I’ll keep my promise. Why are you torturing me?”
“Prove you’re worthy to join us.”
Ed nodded to fake agreement and decided the senator had misled him about his special role in the universe.
Chapter 16: Blunt Your Sympathies
The next morning, Ed lowered the volume of the radio and shifted his rental car into park blocks away from Stephen’s house. He waited until three joggers passed before he walked toward the wooden swing under an old oak tree on Stephen’s lawn. The wet grass crunched under his black leather combat boots as he passed the swing and moved to the side of the house.
He jumped over the fence that enclosed Stephen’s back yard then landed next to one of the shrubs in the muddy garden. After verifying the garage was empty, he picked up a loose brick from the patio and smashed a glass window pane. The window frame squeaked as he lifted it. In the kitchen, Ed faced a pile of dirty dishes that sat half submerged in the kitchen sink.
Expecting to find dirty condoms, he stepped over the scattered clothes on Stephen’s bedroom floor and slid the thumb drive under the mattress. Part of Ed still regretted framing his brother or having any association with monsters who hurt children.
“Stop being indecisive,” said the senator’s voice. “Stephen is guilty. Now, leave the house immediately.”
Ed worried the demons could read his mind, so he complied despite his doubts that his own brother was a child molester. Soon, the voices led him to a tattoo parlor several miles away and told him to “find an image to upset Stephen.” He entered, stood next to the register and studied the metal barbs protruding from both of the tattoo artist’s eyebrows. A mysterious object that reminded Ed of a wine cork ran through her bottom lip. Ed looked at the pictures of skin art that lined the wood-paneled walls of the trailer, and he took a deep breath before he pointed at a photo in the corner. “I want that twisted wooden cross, dripping with blood.”
“On your back, shoulder, where?”
“Right here.” Ed pointed to his forehead.
The large woman rolled her eyes. “No. I don’t do the face.”
“I’ll pay you double.”
A little girl started crying in a back room. The woman, who struck Ed as a lesbian, left the room and returned when the crying stopped.
Ed crossed his arms and feared she would turn him away. “I want to embarrass a religious hypocrite, a real asshole.”
“I can’t work right now. My baby’s sick.”
Ed craved more whiskey and started to raise his voice. “Name your price. I’ll pay it. How much do you want?”
“I can’t put a cross on your face. It’ll give me nightmares.”
