In The Silence, I Hear

Episode 3, Take your Medicine Bitch

** Warning this fictional story contains a scene of gun violence, murder, and talk of child trafficking. **

Fredrick Appleton woke with a start, sitting up, still a little groggy. His room was still dark. The clock told him, “You are going to be tired today.” It was 3:00 AM, and he had to be at work by six. The dream was going to keep him up for sure, as he wasn’t sure who he was hearing.

“You disappoint me; I agreed to bring you to a diner for dinner, you promised you would behave, and now you are demanding to go home. Now, take your medicine,” It was a man.

Usually, when Fredrick dreamt, He heard the voices of people he directly interacted with that day or the day before. Normally the conversation is so precise that the who is never an issue. Normally the conversation he hears in the blackness of his dreams tells him why death is a good choice for the antagonist of his hellscape. Not this time. He got up and took a shower. The water was hot, and he let it soak him while he pondered the question of who? He was cleaning his ears when it came to him.

At the Triple B n Q House, “a wonderful place now that Mr. Daniel Bruce, the nasty racist murderer, was dead,” he said to the figure in the mirror.

The man was having dinner across the restaurant with a young girl. He set pills on the table in front of her.

“So that is what you said, you bastard,” Fredrick said out loud to himself again. At the time, he could not make out what the man said. But now he knew.

“Take your medicine.”

The girl shook her head no; the man said, “now,” and balled up his fist.

“What am I supposed to do with that information?” Fredrick said aloud to himself. It was 4:30 AM, so Fredrick sat on the couch and closed his eyes.

“Yes, I have her. You ordered a young blond. Make sure you have the full amount. We will meet at the gas station, then I will give you her location,” The man said.

“Good, I’m dreaming again,” Fredrick said to the darkness of his dream world.

Fredrick heard the squeak of the voice coming through the phone but could not make out the words being said.

“She is drugged; she will still be asleep when you arrive to pick her up. Do you have the money?”

The voice on the other end of the line squeaked again.

“Good, I will meet you at the gas station on Main Street across from the 24-hour Barbeque place in 15.”

The phone hung up, and then a door shut. After that, all was silent but for the faint breathing of the sleeping girl.

“This is odd,” Fredrick said to himself in his dream.

The girl mumbled, then said, “Room 34, Shelby Motel. Daddy help me, please,” she mumbled again, then snored.

Fredrick woke. He smiled and looked at his watch, 5:00 AM.

“Shit, I’m going to be late for work again,” he said to the empty room.

He walked to his office, the spare bedroom, took the gun and silencer from the safe, retrieved the vile of Rattlesnake Venom from the drawer, his keys, and said, “don’t do the crime if you can’t pay the fine.”

He drove to the Shelby Motel, parked in front of Room 34, got out, and checked the door. It was unlocked. He went inside. The young girl was asleep, so he turned off all the lights, pulled a chair to the corner of the room, and waited. It was 6:00 AM when the door opened. The figure shut the door and flipped on the light switch.

“Mmm, Mmm, aren’t you a precious little thing?” the man said, looking at the girl across the room. Then he reached down and unzipped his pants. He noticed Fredrick in the corner about the time he had fully exposed himself.

“Who the Fu…,” he started to say when Fredrick shot him between the eyes.

Fredrick stood, took off the man’s left shoe, went to the phone, and dialed 911. Then he left the room, got in his car, and drove toward the Triple B n Q House. At the B n Q House, Fredrick parked and went inside. The dog that traffics little girls sat at a table eating; his gleeful face sported a smear of barbeque sauce. Fredrick looked at the man as he passed him, making his way to an empty table, “Bitch.” The man looked at him, shock on his face. Fredrick sat. Gail, the waitress, came over.

“Hey Fred, first time I’ve seen you here this early.”

“I had a craving,” He said and ordered a sandwich to go. Then, explaining he was on his way to work.

The man had turned to watch the conversation, his face distorted, looking the way folks who have never heard a deaf person speak before look. Finally, after a while, the man finished eating and got up from his table. He went to the restroom carrying a gym bag with him. Fredrick waited a few moments, then followed. When he got to the bathroom, the man was washing his hands. The gym bag lay on the floor next to his feet.

“Dirty bitch,” Fredrick said, looking at him.

The stranger looked a little angry, staring at Fredrick in the mirror. “You must be stupid and deaf. Say that to me again, I dare you,” He said.

Fredrick pulled the gun from the shoulder holster under his jacket and jammed the barrel into the back of the man’s head. “Stinky little bitch.” He pulled the vile of Venom from his pocket and set it on the sink.

“Oh god, wait, I have money; it’s in the gym bag,” The man said.

“Take your medicine, bitch boy, or choose the bullet, your call. Maybe you’ll get to the hospital in time to get the Anti Venom. The bullet, however, will leave a mess and close the joint down for a couple of days.” Fredrick said.

The man looked puzzled, the way folks look the first time they hear a deaf person speak an entire sentence, “wait, why, who are you?”

“One, choose, Bitch, two,”

The child abductor and human trafficker took the vile and drank.

Fredrick stepped to the side, freeing the door, and jammed the barrel into the man’s skull again, “all of it bitch.”

The stranger emptied the deadly does of Venom from the vile into his mouth. Panic flared in his eyes. The sensations in his throat and stomach told him he was in trouble.

“Run, little bitch man, don’t stop, or you won’t make the hospital in time. Leave the gym bag. Now run!” Fredrick said, pushing the barrel into the man’s skull harder.

The man turned and ran.

Fredrick put the pistol away under his jacket, picked up the gym bag, and followed the man out.

“Hey, wait. You didn’t pay.” Gail said as the man ran out the door to his car. “Shit,” she said and wrote the license plate down as he pulled out of the parking lot. Fredrick smiled and waved at the man.

Gail went to the office to call the police.

At work, there was talk of a man found in the hospital parking lot dead in a pool of his own vomit. The news that evening told a story of a kidnapped girl who was reunited with her parents. The police found her abductor dead in the motel room with her.

Fredrick hung a hook on the wall next to the shelf of souvenirs. The money, $25,000.00, went into his safe. He put the shoe in the gym bag and hung the gym bag on the hook.

Find Episode 4, A day in the park, here.

In The Silence, I Hear

Episode 4, A Day in the Park

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Begin the journey here with Episode 1, Death of a dastardly Dad

In the Silence, I Hear

Inspired by the writing prompt by Emily Stroia in her article,

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I am T.Mark Mangum. From an early age, I was hooked, addicted to the imagined, unfathomable worlds of Star Wars, Star Trek, Conan, the Lord of the Rings, and many others. I love writing fiction tales. I love writing in multiple genres. However, my favorites are Sci-fi and Fantasy fiction. I am a father of six; we have two cats and two dogs. Tabletop gaming is a passion.

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