The Man In Forest Hills Page 4
“How could I possibly do that? It was two of them and only one of me. What was I supposed to do get myself killed?”
He pulls out the revolver. Craven looks at the revolver while it’s on his lap.
“What you doing with that?”
Kent says, “See the problem I have with this whole story is that you did absolutely nothing to help my family. You’re a coward.”
He loads the gun with bullets.
“Kent, what the fuck are you doing loading that gun?”
While he is loading the gun he continues to talk.
“Also, you stood there while they bumped bullets inside me with this same gun.”
He continues to load.
“Does this look familiar?”
Craven stares directly at the gun.
“This is the same revolver you guys used to pump bullets inside of me. I thought you would recognize it buddy?”
Craven tries to plead his case.
“Kent I promise I tried everything I could. If I could do it all again I would do it different.”
Kent stands up and grabs the revolver. He walks around Craven and stands behind him.
Craven yells “Kent don’t do it. You can’t kill a cop Kent.” While he still screams Kent places the revolver on the back of his.
“This isn’t for me. This is for my family.”
A loud gunshot goes off and Kent blows a hole in his head. Craven is now slumped on the chair. Kent looks up at the back window and sees a shadow. He quickly runs out the back door and begins to chase this unidentified person.
6 -THE HUNT
Kent pushes his way through the back door and leaps off the step into the backyard, in pursuit of the mysterious shadow. He is struggling to catch his breath as the target makes a jump over the back fence into the woods. The targets back foot gets caught on the fence giving Kent his chance to wrestle them to the ground. He places his knee in the chest of the person with pressure to keep them still.
He wipes some dirt off his face in order to make clear eye contact with the person. He’s shocked at what he sees.
“What the fuck? What the hell are you doing following me?”
He quickly realizes that his target is Mary, the woman who found him in the Forest Hills.
“You’ve been following me? Are you the one in the black sedan?” Mary looks scared for her life and hesitantly responds.
“Yeah, it was me.”
He grabs her hand and helps her up off the ground.
“You shouldn’t be following me Mary. I could have killed you.”
“Like you killed that cop?”
He checks their surroundings to make sure they are still alone and to gather himself before responding to her incriminating question.
“I didn’t mean for you to see that.”
She asks, “Why did you kill him? Is that one of the men who killed your family?”
“Yeah. We need to get out of here Mary, now.”
They start to make their way back towards the house and eventually make it back to the cars parked out front.
“Follow me,” Kent tells Mary before he gets in his car.
Mary sits in her car stuck on Kent’s words. She has a flashback of Kent holding the gun right on the temple of the cop and pulling the trigger. She is completely lost for words and is clueless as to what his next move might be, but for some reason she feels safe with him. She quickly snaps out of it, puts the key in the ignition and starts the car up. She follows Kent as he maneuvers his way through the neighborhood, and pulls into a secluded park. He hops out of his car and heads towards Mary’s car, and knocks on the window.
Mary stops and thinks before she lets him in the car.
“Unlock the door Mary.”
She hits the unlock button on the car door and he gets in.
“What took you so long to let me in?” he asks.
She doesn’t respond and still has her hands on the steering wheel. He takes his left hand and turns the ignition off.
“Why do you look so scared?”
She turns her head quickly at him.
“I just saw you torture and murder a man with my own two eyes. Then you tell me to follow you to this abandoned park.”
She takes a look at the blood on his hand and it makes her pause for a second. She regroups herself with a deep breath.
“Why wouldn’t I be scared of something like that?”
He asks, “Well, what did you see?”
“I saw everything.”
Kent realizes he wasn’t careful enough.
“I saw you in that black car at the precinct. I just never thought that would have been you.”
The car gets quiet for a couple of seconds.
“Why did you torture that man?”
“That man deserves everything he got tonight. He did nothing to stop my family from being murdered and took part in me almost dying.”
She finally understands what he was going through.
“I saw the pain in his eyes when the blade was in his leg. I didn’t think you were capable of doing something like that.”
“That same pain you saw in his eyes was the same pain I felt when I was in the hospital. I had to make him feel that pain for my family. Those tears that were coming down his face were the same hopeless tears I shed when I found out my baby boy and my wife were murdered.”
As he continues to talk, Mary can see the pain written all over his face. A tear falls down his cheek before he rubs his eyes, in an attempt to stop anymore. He turns to face Mary.
“I have a question to ask you.”
He pauses for a moment.
“That night you found me in the woods. What were you doing there alone? I mean, I have been trying to figure this out for a while. I was deep in the woods and you just happened to be walking in that area. It just doesn’t add up to me. What’s really going on Mary?”
Mary knows that she has to answer all his questions. The look on her face shows her efforts to find a way to tell her own story.
“Last year I lost my husband and my daughter in an accident. It was a regular night and we were coming from dinner. We were on our way home when out of nowhere a car swerves into our lane.”
As the story goes on he starts paying close attention to every detail of her story.
“I mean, seriously, the car comes out of nowhere and slams us from the driver side. My husband died on impact.”
He asks, “Your daughter must have been in the back seat?”
Mary follows the question with a deep breathe. She begins to respond.
“My daughter was in my stomach. I was almost eight months pregnant. When the drunk driver hit us, the airbag hit my stomach so hard. There was so much blood, I didn’t know what to do.”
As she continues with her story, Kent can see the pain on her face and hear it in her words. The tears begin to flow down her cheeks with every recollection she shares with Kent.
“When I got to the hospital, the doctor told me I had lost too much blood. They said the baby was in extreme distress, and not getting any oxygen to her lungs.”
Mary begins to quietly sob in the driver’s seat.
“My daughter couldn’t breathe. She died inside of me. It was the worst day of my life. The sad thing about it is that there was nothing I could do about it.”
Kent places his hand on top of Mary’s shoulder. He just wants to console her as best as he can.
“So what happened to the drunk driver?”
“He is in prison.”
“I hate to ask again, but what were you doing in the woods?”
“I went into a deep state of depression after I lost my husband and my child. Sometimes I thought I could get my life together and learn to live without them. But, it never worked out that way. I had wandered into the woods that night with a knife from my kitchen.”
As he listens to her talk he grasps himself for what she might say next.<
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“I got in my car, and drove until I realized that I didn’t want to live anymore. I pulled up to the woods, and got out of my car with the knife in my hand. I thought I could go into the woods and slit my wrists till I bled to death. It might seem odd, but I felt like I would be closer to my family if I was dead like them.”
He looks at her with a confused expression look.
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. I was just tired of not being with them. My heart was longing to be with them.”
Kent can’t take his eyes off of Mary as she continues to tell him about the worst time of her life.
“I sat up against a tree and to my left I noticed a man behind a bush. That man was you, of course. At first, I thought someone was watching me, but I soon realized that wasn’t the case. I walked over there and saw you laying there. There was blood everywhere. You looked awful. I couldn’t tell if you were dead or alive, but I decided that I needed to help you somehow.”
He quickly reaches out and grabs her hand. She looks up at him and can fell something she hasn’t felt in a long time. With just that one touch she can feel hope and love. They both stare at each other and share a moment.
“Mary, what you did for me was an act of God. There is no other way to explain it. You saved my life. I can only thank you till I die for what you did for me. But I also need you to know that you have a lot to live for Mary. Your family is watching over you and they want you to be happy. I like to think the same about my family too, so we need to make them all proud.”
She shakes her head as if she understands what he has said. She responds, “So what you did back there to that cop.”
She pauses for a second.
“Do you think your family would be proud of that?”
He is at a loss for words and somewhat taken aback by her bluntness.
“That had to be done. There was simply no other way around that. I regret all the bad that I have done in my life but some things just can’t be explained.”
She looks at him as if he is full of shit.
“So how many more people do you have to kill for you to feel better? That is what you’re doing right?”
“What?”
She asks, “You’re killing all of them to make yourself feel better. Right?”
He doesn’t understand why she is asking these questions.
“No, I’m not doing this to make myself feel better. I told you, this has to be done. Like I said some things just can’t be explained you know.”
She says, “I get it Kent, I really do. I knew that night that I found you in the woods something wasn’t right. After I came and saw you at the hospital I could see revenge written all over you. I guess that’s why I decided to follow you. When I lost my family, I was lost and all over the place. I thought that if I could keep an eye on you, I might be able to stop you from doing something stupid.”
She stops and takes a glance at Kent to let that last statement sink in before she continues.
“It looks like you’ve made up your mind though.”
He locks eyes with her.
“Mary you don't want to know. I know my family won’t be proud of my actions, but I just won’t be able to live with myself unless I do this. And honestly, I don’t want you around me for all of this. I don’t want you getting involved in any way.”
She adds, “I understand why you're doing this, but you don’t have to do this. Let the law take over and let them get what they deserve.”
He responds with a small chuckle.
“These motherfuckers are the law. They can’t be trusted. I’m taking over.”
He begins to raise his voice as the conversation keeps going.
“I've known these guys for many years of my life. They destroyed my life, my family and they destroyed everything that mattered to me.”
She gives him a sad look and says. “I'm at a loss for words but I don't want to stand in the way of a man and his plan to get revenge. Just know that God is watching over you and he is with you no matter what choice you make.”
“Thanks for the talk though. I have to go, you take care of yourself.”
Before he leaves the car she puts her hand on her shoulder.
“Tom, you take care of yourself. I'm praying for you.”
He leaves the car and heads to his vehicle. She watches him get into his car and drive off. She turns on her ignition, puts her lights on and before she pulls off she take a tissue and looks in the mirror and wipes the tears off her face. She then begins to drive away.
Later on in the night Kent finally gets home and pulls into his driveway. He puts the car in park and looks at his hands. He can't stop his hands from shaking. He reaches into the glove compartment and tries to grab the revolver. When he tries to grab the gun a picture falls onto the floor. He leans over to pick it up and turns it over. He pauses for a moment and looks at the baby picture of his son Ryan. Tears run down his eyes and he puts the picture to his chest. He reclines the car seat and closes his eyes.
THE ARRIVAL
Kent rushes into the hospital and runs up to the desk that reads: ‘Reception’. Breathing heavily he tries to give the receptionist a name.
“Amy... Amy.”
She looks at him confused.
“Sir, sir I can't hear you. Who is it you're looking for?”
He finally catches his breath.
“I'm looking for Amy Kent. She's my wife and I got a message saying she's in labor.”
Surprised at the name he gave her she quickly stands up and grabs a clip board.
“Yes. Amy Kent is in room 113 just over there on your left.”
“Thank you.”
He runs through the halls looking for the room. He gets to the door opens it quickly. He can see Amy taking small deep breaths and can see the nurse talking to her. The nurse turns to him and says.
“Sir, sir you can't be in here.”
Loudly Amy says, “It's okay, he's my husband.”
The nurse walks over.
“Sir, we have to give you a change of clothes if you’re gonna be in here for the birth.”
A minute later another nurse walks in with a change if clothes for him.
Kent quickly changes clothes and walks back into the room. Right behind him the doctor walks in. The doctor walks over to Kent
“Are you the husband?”
“Yes doc.”
Before he puts his gloves on the doctor shakes his hand.
“I'm Doctor Martin. Let's go have a baby.”
After several minutes of Amy breathing, pushing and yelling, the doctor finally is ready to help deliver the baby.
Amy looks at Kent and says, “Baby, baby what's wrong with you?” He is standing by Amy's side while she's pushing and breathing. His eyes start to get low and he barely can stand on his feet. The nurse looks over at him and says.
“Sir, sir is everything okay?”
Another nurse walks over to him and says. “Sir, you have to take a seat or you're going to pass out.”
He looks at her and her image begins to fade out. He can't stand up and begins rocking from side to side. He tries to talk respond to the nurse, but ends up falling to the ground.
While Amy is preparing to push the baby out she looks at Kent on the ground.
She screams, “Someone please help him up. Get him up please.”
Several minutes later he wakes up in a hospital bed. He looks up in the room and can see no one is there. He looks around for Amy but she's not there. The nurse walks into the room and he sits and before she can get a word out.
“Where is my wife? Is she okay?”
The nurse walks over towards him and checks the IV in his arm.
“Sir, your wife is okay. You have a beautiful healthy baby boy. I'm going to take you right over to the room they are resting in. Give me a couple of minutes and I will be right back with a wheelchair to take you over there.”
She turns around and walks out the door. The turns around comes right back in.
“Do you need anything for the time being?”
“Just my family,” he emotionally says.
She smiles at him and leaves the room. Minutes later two nurses come back to the room with a wheelchair.
“Mr. Kent are you ready to go meet your baby boy?”
He sits up in the chair and swings his legs around.
“Wait, wait don't forget your IV is stuck to your arm. You don't want to rip that off.”
One nurse walks over and grabs his arm and the other one grabs the IV. They both helped him onto the chair and into the hallway. Seconds later they wheel him into the room where Amy and his newborn are. As he walks in Amy is holding the baby and Kent can't help him but stare in amazement. Amy looks at him and says.
“There goes daddy. Hey baby. Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah I think it was something I ate.”
Both the nurses and Amy look at him with a smile on his face. “You had a bad case if nervousness. You were sweating like a hooker in church.”
He can only help but laugh at the ladies. Amy stops laughing and looks at him.
“You ready to hold our son?”
“Of course.”
The nurse grabs the baby and brings him over to him. He puts his arm around him and starts to shed a tear right away.
“What are we going to name him?”
“I was thinking we can name him Ryan. Like after my grandfather,” she stated.
He looks at her and shakes his head in confirmation. “I like Ryan. It actually sounds good. Ryan Michael Kent. Michael was my grandfather’s first name.”
The nurses leave the room while Kent and Amy keep talking. He holds the baby while Amy is in the bed just relaxing with a big smile on her face. He realizes he has a complete family now and can't ask for anything more.
7 - SUSPICIONS
It's ten o'clock in the morning and Kent’s cell phone rings while he's still in bed. He picks up the phone to check the caller id, which reads Harper. Kent places the phone back down on the nightstand and rolls over. A minute goes by before the phone rings again. Once again he picks up the phone and the caller id reads Harper. He finally picks up.