Every late summer, Germanian sparrows—brown and delicate species no taller than cow teat—venture southwards for the entire mating season where the skies become their harsh home until their feathers change colors with the leaves. Autumn ripens the lone mother’s resolve to return from whence she came, to fulfill her purpose of, if Mother Nature is merciful enough, continuing the next generation. On the roof of a humble home situated beside an evergreen hill near the colossal borders were fresh-born chicks with a misconception of the motherly hums from the porch beneath. Sadie cradled her child as she enjoyed the rocking of the chair and appreciated a cool morning breeze while avians big and small went along their skyborne path but each awkward flap of theirs was telling of her true demeanor. The child was fast asleep and so she carried him inside then into the wooden crib before she was outside once more to finally acknowledge the man beside them the whole time.
“Your singing’s still beautiful, Love.” He smiled as he reached for her hand. “Didn’t know sparrows lived like that-”
Sadie shook him off. “We promised, Arnold. We promised to never fight in front of our child.”
“… It’ll all be fine soon.”
“Will it?”
“I promise. We just need to wait for this stupid leg to heal.”
“And who will you be working for?”
“I spoke to a couple of guys in the municipality. They’ve seen my blueprints, obviously not all of them, just enough to make a fresh start.”
“Those people don’t look like officials to me.” Her head shifted to the tree sitting atop the hill. Two men with differing builds, one beefy and the other beefier, lingered behind the thick trunk like jaguars stalking their prey. Arnold stood up from his seat with a clenched jaw. “No. Those ones don’t have any business here.”
Words were on the verge of her tongue yet a lip bite and a head shake were all it took for her to retire without a word. Somehow, he felt her actions heavier than their quarrel earlier and he didn’t like one bit of it.
Your socks stink, you don’t take baths, you smell like ass, I can’t sleep- A mocking rendition of her during their argument as he limped his way uphill. Does she not see the fucking leg?! Moving is hell! I just asked her to help me out for a minute and this is what I get? She acts like I wasn’t the one who sustained her dreams for years. Fucking years! I fuck up a bit and all of a sudden, I’m baggage?
“I already paid you when I gave you the blueprint.” Arnold spat right away.
Beefy retorted, “It’s not selling, your clucking clock device.”
“Oh my go- It’s not selling because you’re not ‘selling’ it! You think people will buy something just because you have a sign with a price? Gather their attention first, then show them how it works by setting a time. As soon as the arms hit both numbers the alarm goes off and voila, eyes on the prize!”
The pair looked at each other whilst they picked their nose before flicking away whatever filth they dug. “Then you sell it.”
Arnold scoffed. “… So let me get this straight, I give you the sponge and you want me to wipe your ass with it too?”
“…”
“That’s not my fucking business! Leave me be before I call the guards on you!”
Again, they looked at each other then laughed hysterically. Before he could even process their reactions he was already lifted off the ground by his collar.
“WHAT THE FUCK?! LET GO-”
A crisp punch to the liver made him an infant on the ground yelling curses that were more like feeble strokes of air. It was a sigh anyone would be sorry for yet the pair were unsatisfied still. Beefier picked him up with one hand then dropped him again except this time it was not on purpose and neither was it an accident. On the ground with Arnold were both of his hands unattached from the wrist that oozed blood like a fountain. A scream of agony startled the slumbering hatchlings and made them cry. Beefier turned to the side and saw Sadie with a bloody sword and a nasty expression. He wasted no time and immediately rushed at her, a fatal mistake. The sword punctured his heart which beat a few desperate times before succumbing to Death as everyone would.
Some time later the patrol arrived led by a man named Oliver Schultz. He looked at Arnold with a matter-of-factly expression as if to say something, to which the limping man responded with the littlest of vigor, “I know what you’re gonna say.”
“I don’t know, actually. What am I gonna say?”
Arnold scratched his head. “… You advised against it.”
“Mhm.”
“Still did it.”
“Mhm.”
“… I’m a fucking idiot.’
Oliver chuckled then turned to the porch where Sadie was. “You scored big with her, man.”
Arnold smiled at her but she wouldn’t return it. “I know.”
“In case you’re still not sick of it yet, I should repeat to you. Cases of sharking’s in an all-time high here in Walt for some reason, so I-”
“-advice that I should be careful and only ask help from legitimate institutions. But I also already told you, for the hundredth fucking time this week, I burned my papers during the incident.”
“Why didn’t you ask your husband for help?”
“…”
“What? It’s good advice!”
“Husband?”
“She’s clearly the man of the house.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“Already wanked before I got to work.”
“This is why you’re single.”
“Yeah, so I don’t turn into whatever mess you look like right now.”
“God Almighty, please kill this man.”
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“Was that blasphemy I just heard? Good thing there’s no priest anywhere.”
A defeated sigh came out of him. “That offer is still on the table, right?”
“Always will be. Horrible as your attitude is—"
“HAH!”
“—that talent is way too valuable to dismiss. So go ahead and heal up, I’m itching to slave you away. And for the record, I don’t think your leg’s the only thing that needs healing. G’luck!”
And Oliver returned to his peers to collect the bodies. Arnold turned to his indifferent wife and as if the whole world was on his shoulders a sigh was not the first nor will it be the last.
“Guess I’m sleeping on the porch tonight.”
“Why don’t you just leave him?” The dark-skinned Petra said to her friend, mouth stuffed with meat and ears occupied by the cacophony of murmurs and clashing of silverware against porcelain which nearly drowned the soothing violin background to their conversation over a mantled table holding thick slices of eavesdropping steak and nodding wine. It was the sympathetic’s luxurious treat to the downtrodden but with the stack of plates the former had abreast you would think the one to comfort was her. A hearty gulp after she continued with the usual sass,
“Lazy, stupid, stinky, and to top it all off, he really raised his voice at you, the breadwinner, while he does nothing all day?! All you did was point out a grown ass man! This ain’t even the first time it happened… Girl, if I was in your shoes I’d just take it off and throw it away. You the one that told me I shouldn’t let myself be abused when I was with my ex, this is clearly abuse!”
After her words Petra was eager to get another plate when her friend downed a bottle easily mistaken for water until you notice “80-proof” written on the wrap and by the time her stubby hands reached out it was already empty. She didn’t even remember ordering the damn thing, it was just there. Hiccups accompanied Sadie’s unhidden accent as she said,
“Well… I’m gon’ be fair and say he’s injured… I’ll be even more fair’n say he’d… work if the stupid leg heals.”
“Oh! Work if he heals you say… but he won’t even put his own socks on the damn basket! You think that needs his leg?”
“… He’s nice though.”
“…”
“And he’s kind…”
“Girl.”
“-and sincere-“
“Girl!“
“He ain’t a bad man…”
Petra facepalmed. “Girl, earlier you were screaming your ass off-”
“But! But, but, but! I… hate him! I hope he pegs him… self with them darn inventions of his! I… always told him to be extra careful ‘round those things but he… never listens to me…! Ever!”
“… Then-”
“He’s cute though…” She giggled. “He’s cute so I’ll give him another chance. He best be grateful!”
Petra shook her head and gave a defeated sigh before proceeding to take a gander for distractions. A broad triangular back of a ginger-haired hunk covered in steel not far grom her induced a howl of excitement. With his every look-back she saw a glimpse of his profile where the iridescent iris was like the country-side coast captured by a sultry face that pouted perpetually and so her pupils in turn aspired the shape of a maiden’s smitten heart.
I bet he could carry me.
She looked at the drunken friend and hesitated to leave but then came the brutal story occurred this morning she narrated and so she shrugged.
“Hello handsome, I’m Petra. Mind giving me your name?”
“…”
“Not much of a talker, are we? Don’t worry, I get it. I’ve dealt with your types before.”
“…”
“Hm? You were saying?”
The man sighed. He took a sip of the cup then distanced himself a couple of seats away from her without another word.
“Umm, okay? I wasn’t interested in you anyway.”
BANG! The thick door was kicked open by a group of men who brought all facilities to a halt and every eye to their direction. Everything about them contrasted the customers from their clothing to their smiles all the way to the shivs on their waist. With each passing second came more and more of them like a never-ending onslaught of rats pouring from a hole in the wall. No words were spoken and yet everyone knew—these men were trouble.
“Why is it so quiet in here?” The leader of the group found humor in the crowd of statues. Beside with him a freakish hound he gave kisses to called Princess, who was gnawing on something before it popped out of its mouth and rolled along the floor to reveal itself an eyeball. “I’ll get straight to the point ladies and gentlemen. Let me introduce myself, I am Ivan van Der Lindt. I was told by our dear informants that a certain Sadie Gott is within the premises. May she raise her hand?”
Nobody raised their hand. A nervous Petra turned to the friend whose snoozing incited a curse under her breath before she shifted back to the leader, who was no longer pleased with silence.
“Well my friends, if the easy way is not appealing for you then I’m afraid I must use alternatives—”
Ivan grabbed the cheeks of a random lady in the crowd. Like a crazy parrot she pleaded incessantly for her life to which her built husband rebelled viciously in response though it only ended with all his limbs contorted and his jewels severed for Princess to snack on. He then showcased the woman’s face to a bald-headed Ingrid who took no time to shake his head. A disappointed sigh after, he caught vermillion into a cup then poured it on the floor where the pet happily licked it off as it was sourced from a gaping cut in the woman’s neck like the faucet of a wine keg. The crowd cried as another one was plucked and the same appalling sequence was endured 5 more times before the men gathered their forces, only for their necks to be severed without them realizing it. The yawning Ivan spoke to Ingrid.
“You know what she looks like, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You go find her. I’m tired.”
“Can I take our lil’ rookie Johnny over here? I’ll be showing him the ropes...”
“Whatever.”
A fake sense of security was instilled by the fair distance between Petra and the thugs though upon meeting eyes with Ingrid she gasped. He was not a stranger although she wished he was and the stark difference in their reactions was indicative of their ended relationship. With each step made to her Anxiety made itself known through hyperventilation and a ringing in the ears. Desperation urged the body to beg the hunk for help but it felt like speaking to a brick wall. By the time he closed distance she collapsed though unbeknownst to her, a pair of metal arms safeguarded her from a potential concussion.
“Look at this fat little slut, it hasn’t even been a month since we broke up! You his new boyfriend?”
“…”
“Aye, are you deaf? SPEAK!”
Ivan took notice. “What’s going on over there, is that Sadie on that guy?”
“No, no, she’s not but I have business with her. Me and Johnny.”
“Go do that later, we don’t have much time.”
“Petra over there is friends with Sadie.”
“… Then go ask her then!”
“I am! But this wanna-be-knight over here is trying to act tough and I don’t know if he’s mute or deaf or both. HEY! I SAID SPEAK!”
The hunk placed Petra gently on the floor then stood full mast. Immediately all eyes shifted to his burly back while the cocky smiles turned apprehensive. His top would’ve hit the ceiling had he not hunched a little and even then he bumped a hanging lantern. Ingrid took a few steps back, tripped on his own feet as cold sweat accumulated on his temples. It was not just him, every thug with them felt the exact same terror. He took a gander of the vicinity which revealed the other burned half of his face before he retrieved his helmet. Now clad fully in steel he stood gallant in front of a wheezing Petra then carved a line on the marble floor with his finger. By no means were the thugs all-talk slouches. Looks and demeanor alone foretold their experience thus when experience itself screamed with all its might, a simple mark on the ground became the pearly gates with a golem keeper.
And so when Johnny charged beyond it they could only reach out in vain. With one downward swing of the hunk’s fist brain matter splattered all over the floor and made a gut-wrenching mess reminiscent of an elephant stomping a watermelon. Princess barked furiously at the man though the distance she kept from him only affirmed what they already knew. With all this said, however, the thought of leaving never crossed their mind, not even for a second. After all, they had their own monster.
“Shit, I didn’t even notice you there! This place is too damn big.” Ivan said with a wide grin. “Were you sleeping while we did all that?”
“…”
“… You really are not much of a talker. Well, whatever. This will be fun regardless.”
