“Stop, Roger. Just stop,” GJ said. His voice sounded like the hissing of a tire going flat. His throat was so dry, it hurt to breathe.
“See what I mean?”
GJ tried to wriggle his other hand free of the knot, but it didn’t want to budge. It felt as if the knot had grown tighter since he’d freed his other hand. His right eye was swollen shut, but he could see clearly through his left. He watched Roger pacing in front of him. He wanted to scream and lash out. He was thirsty and he was starving.
“I just haven’t figured out how to do it. I could hang you with that rope. Or I could beat you with a rock. I don’t have time to find a knife or a gun. What do you think, vegan boy? Any ideas?”
GJ had ideas. Terrible ones, and they didn’t involve being killed, but killing. He wanted more than anything to kill Roger, the boy who had taken his smile.
*****
Louis ran with every ounce of energy he had, and made it back to camp in less than fifteen minutes. He was trying to scream when he reached the center of the crowd, but the words came out in a wheeze. “Help! I know where he is! Help!”
One of the deputies approached him, Gavin and Mrs. Davis at his heels. “What? Where is he? What did you see?” she said.
“Roger. I followed him into the woods. He’s at some kind of building over that way.” He pointed to the east. The deputy looked at Gavin.
“Building?”
“There’s some old deer stands and a hunting shack or two on that side. But Roger said they were racing back from the old dock.”
“Would this Roger have any reason to hurt GJ?” the deputy said.
“They weren’t getting along at first, but then they were hanging out like best friends. I can’t imagine…” Gavin paused and crossed his arms. “I mean they’re just kids.”
The deputy called over his partner and asked Gavin to show them the way. He gripped Louis firmly on the shoulder. “You stay here with Mrs. Davis and Laura. We’ll go check it out.”
Louis nodded.
“Was he alive?” Mrs. Davis said.
“I dunno,” Louis replied. “I think so.”
Mrs. Davis smiled and hugged the little boy. The three men headed into the woods with flashlights bouncing over the trees and ground.
*****
GJ listened to Roger blather on. He knew the boy was trying to build up his courage. Mean as he was, GJ didn’t think he’d ever come close to committing murder, but was sure he himself could if that bastard got close enough. In his mind, he saw visions of animals eating other animals, shark attacks, snakes striking and spiders sucking the liquefied remains of silk-wrapped bugs through their mouth parts. He could think of nothing but destruction. Then Roger stepped in close. He wanted to gloat.
“You hear me, faggot? I’m gonna choke you with this rope. It’ll look like a suicide. Just like the pussy you are. That’s what it’ll…”
His sentence was cut short by GJ’s free hand on his neck. He wrapped it around Roger’s neck and wrapped his legs around Roger’s waist and bit down on his cheek. Roger’s knees bent and the weight of both boys was enough to pull GJ’s hand free from the other knot. Roger screamed and flailed his fists.
They landed on Roger’s back with a pounding thud, but GJ didn’t notice. He straddled Roger as they fell, landing on top of him. Quickly, as if on instinct, he grabbed Roger’s head, picked it up off the floor and then smashed it down with a wet thud. Roger stopped fighting back. GJ licked the blood from his lips and looked down at the wound in Roger’s cheek. The blood tasted bad, but it was wet and lubricating and he felt the uncontrollable urge for more.
GJ ate the meat. He was starving and couldn’t help himself. He was thirsty and couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and bit back down on Roger’s cheek, then tore the flap of skin away and spat it out. He licked at the wound for a minute, lapping up the fluid and swallowing it, relieving his scratchy throat.
“Ahhh,” GJ said.
He felt a cramp in his stomach and for the first time in almost two years, he wanted meat. More than breathing, more than safety, more than comfort, he wanted meat. Roger stirred, starting to wake, and GJ again, gripped his head and smashed it down on the concrete floor. Then he tore away the sleeve of Roger’s t-shirt and he sunk his teeth into the flesh of his bicep and pulled it loose from the arm. When the deputies and Gavin arrived, he was sitting on his haunches and he was eating Roger.
“I was so hungry,” he said. And his smile was back.
*****
The trial was ugly. GJ was taken into custody, but instead of jail he was doomed to serve his remaining juvenile years in a mental health facility until he turns eighteen. Then he will be reevaluated. The cannibalism never let him go and he maintained the need to bite and the need for flesh of any kind. He ate only meat from then on and he liked it rare if not raw.
The only visitor he ever had was Louis. Mrs. Davis cursed Louis for finding him and blamed the dead Roger for what her boy became. “I wish you’d let him die rather than become that monster,” she had said.
Although her psychiatrist told her she needed to visit her son—that it was crucial to his therapy—she never went. She worked and she prayed, but she never visited GJ.
Gavin and Laura and Mike all stopped working with children.
That left Roger. He and Kota are no longer friends. Kota went on to high school and behaves himself. Roger lives in a juvenile detention center—different from the state hospital where GJ is. He was convicted of kidnapping, attempted murder and other various charges. His right arm is of no use to him and he has a nasty scar from the graft on his cheek. He reads the bible most days and gets letters from his family. He recently received another letter. It was from George Jackson Davis that read simply:
Thank you for giving me my smile back. It was delicious.
CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO...
“Highly recommended, buddy,” Ron said.
Leo looked at the email on the screen.
CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS
888-CLEAN ME
“You hired a house cleaner?” Leo asked.
“Got the number from a guy at the office,” Ron said.
Leo tapped his fingers on the desk, then asked again. “Nobody I know?”
“Nah. But listen, my place is spic-n-span for the first time in...well since I moved in and, get this,” he said and paused as if checking to see if the coast was clear.
“Yeah?” Leo asked, to hurry things along.
“ For fifty bucks, she’ll service you too.”
“Service me?”
“Yeah, ya know. You get this house cleaning service for your wife, and you get a little present as well. I’m set up again for next Thursday and I’ve got a couple crisp fifty dollar bills ready to go.”
“A couple?”
“Yeah, I thought I’d hit her up right when she got there. Then after the house is sparkly, I’d hit it again.”
“Classy,” Leo said.
Ron chuckled like a gangster from a black and white film. Nyah ha ha.
“I’m seriously just looking to get the house clean,” Leo interrupted. “Tina worries so much about it, we can’t relax. I can’t do anything spontaneous without hearing the whining. And by the time she stops, she’s exhausted from cleaning,” Leo said.
Ron snorted into the phone. “That’s just weird. My ol’ lady never cleaned shit. Might be why we’re divorced.”
“Somehow I doubt that was it.”
“Funny guy,” Ron said. “Hey, remember—just give her the fifty when she’s done. That way you can get done.”
He nyah-ha’d once more and hung the phone up. Leo shook his head as he put his cell on his desk and looked again at the email.
“Godliness and prostitution. Why not?”
He shrugged and dialed the number. It rang four or five times when the line went silent. Then a meek voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi. My name is Leo. I’m looking for a house
cleaning. Needs to be very thorough. Are you available sometime next week?”
“Thursday afternoon. One o’clock,” the woman said, still very meek.
“That will be fine.”
They discussed price before ending the call and he marked it on his calendar. Then he called his wife but got her voice-mail. A real estate agent, Tina was always on the go and Leo figured she was showing a house. He left a message.
“Hey, get your bags packed. Your birthday weekend is going to be spent sipping cold drinks on the sand. We’ll leave Thursday evening, right after work. Love you.”
He had a grin on his face the whole drive home. It sounded silly, but the thought of a weekend with no worries would be good for them. If she knew she had a clean house to come home to, they could both relax.
The fairy tale didn’t last long. She started her routine of worry within seconds of walking in the door that night.
“I’m excited, but there’s so much to do around here before we go. I hate to come back to a filthy house,” she said.
“Tina, stop worrying. I’m going to take care of everything. Everything! I promise, you just go sell some houses this week so we can afford to pay for the trip,” he said.
Tina smiled, but he could see the unease leaking through.
“I’ll try my best,” she said.
Tuesday and Wednesday were a blur, leaving no time for anything to get done at home. He worked extra hours to make up for the time he was going to miss, and Tina had several late afternoon and evening showings. Neither was getting to bed before midnight and back up by six to start the next day. Thursday morning his desk phone rang as soon as he sat down.
“This is Leo,” he said.
“Good morning, sir. My name is Xander and I represent the Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness cleaning service. I was just calling to confirm your appointment for today?”
“Oh yeah, hi. I’d forgotten, thanks for reminding me. Yes, I’m going to leave work early today to meet your folks. One o’clock, right?”
“Not folks, just Angel. She’ll be there precisely at one o'clock to take care of all your needs.”
“Angel?”
“Yes. The business is named for her. Angel, Godliness...clever, don't you think?”
“Sure,” Leo said.
“She is an Angel,” Xander said. “Sweetest thing you'll ever meet.”
His words were as sincere as if he'd been talking to a dear friend about a granddaughter.
And you get a little present as well, Leo thought, hearing Ron’s perverted tone in his head along with the stupid laugh. He had no intentions of using the fifty-dollar suggestion.
“Sounds great. Hey, I forgot to ask, do you take debit cards?” Leo said.
“Cash only, sir. We’re a small business, just getting started. As a matter of fact, can you tell me how you heard of us?”
“My friend, Ron. He sent me an email, recommended your business quite highly.”
“Yes, Ron. I do remember Ron,” Xander said.
"So I guess I'll see you this afternoon, then."
“Angel. She'll be there at one. And thank you for your business, sir. Please keep us in mind for future work. Remember, cleanliness is next to Godliness,” Xander said.
“Yeah. Hey, thanks again for the reminder. I've got a big weekend planned.”
“I'm sure you have,” Xander said before the phone call disconnected.
Leo spent the rest of the morning tying up loose ends from the week. He checked his briefcase for the diamond earrings he’d bought Tina. It was the only safe hiding place from her prying eyes. At quarter to twelve, he shut down his computer and said goodbye to some jealous co-workers.
“Off to the beach for three days!” he announced.
Leo stopped on the thirty minute drive home to take some cash out of the bank and got home with time to spare. He wasn’t sure what to do so he called Tina to pass some time. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Working. Looking forward to the trip.”
“Me too. It will be so nice to bake in the sun with a rum buzz. You might even get some sex,” she said.
“Hey, it’s not my birthday,” he said.
“Well, then you can fuck me,” she whispered. “Hey, I’ve got a lot of paperwork to finish, so let me get to it so I can be home by five. We can get on the road after that.”
“I’ll have everything ready to go,” he said.
He saw a silver minivan pull into his driveway. There was a magnet on each of the side sliding doors, black with white lettering of the cleaning business’s name. Angel wings stuck out from the sides and there was a halo above the word “Godliness.” He told Tina he loved her and hung up.
The woman who stepped out of the car was tall and thin, with darker skin and long black hair. She approached the house with a bucket full of various sprays and such, then rang his doorbell. Leo’s excitement grew as his plan fell into place. “Hi,” he said, after he opened the door. “Are you Angel?”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
Her voice was soft, harmless. It was the same woman he’d spoken to on the phone. “Come on in.”
She nodded and stepped inside. Leo waited as she looked around, scanning the house. He followed her as she walked through the kitchen into the living room and then back to each of the two bedrooms. The home was small, but high quality.
“You have a lovely home, sir,” she said. Her words were almost inaudible.
“Thank you, that's nice of you to say.”
She smiled at his polite response, green eyes gleaming. It was impossible to place her nationality or her slight accent, and there was something else about her that Leo found unexpected. She was beautiful like he had never experienced and she smelled like a freshly opened rosebud. Not rose scented, but just like an actual rose.
“I can have this done in three hours, sir, if that will satisfy,” she said.
“That would be perfect, Angel. Please, call me Leo. Really, it’s fine.”
“Sir is fine. I prefer it,” she said.
Leo was almost embarrassed by her formal way of address. If that will satisfy. He felt like royalty talking to a servant and she hadn’t even started. Great customer service.
“I have some items I will need from my vehicle in order to get started,” she said, still with the soft voice.
“Do you need some help? I can give you a hand carrying…”
“No sir,” she interrupted and smiled proudly. “This is my job.”
He watched her as she walked out to the van and retrieved a vacuum and a few other various items. Her clothes were quite conservative, but made his imagination wander. He caught himself looking and shook his head. It was a lustful attraction he hadn’t felt in ages. Not since he’d been a teen. He loved Tina, and even though
Angel began her ritual, attacking from the ceiling and working her way down. Leo caught himself peeking at her, and each time they happened to pass one another, his nostrils filled with the scent of roses. The entire house had begun to smell of them.
****
After two hours, Leo ventured back to his master suite where she was working on the bathroom. His intention was to offer her some cold water or maybe iced tea. He caught a glimpse of her in the mirror, where she had stopped for just a moment, and was drinking from a water bottle of her own. Sweat beaded on her forehead and chest and she had removed her t-shirt. The tank top she’d worn underneath was damp, and it was obvious she wore no bra. She wiped glistening beads of water from her chest and went back to cleaning. Her movements were graceful and catlike. Lovely.
Leo couldn’t stop watching her. He felt himself stiffen and grow warm. His face flushed. He couldn’t imagine a being more attractive, and for that moment, he wouldn’t have been able to pick Tina out of a lineup. In the next moment, he saw Angel looking back at him. She was smiling. It wasn’t sultry, but he got the feeling she enjoyed being watched.
“Is there something I can do for you, sir???
? she asked and continued to smile.
“Uh, no. I was just going to offer you something cold to drink.”
“I have water, thank you. Is that all you wanted, sir?”
She moved past him, brushing against him ever so lightly. He gasped. Angel grabbed a bottle of spray cleaner and a rag. Leo was speechless. His mind was numb and his desire had begun to show. Angel glanced at his zipper, then back at his eyes.
“You’re doing a wonderful job,” he said, trying to change the subject.
She laughed in her shy, quiet way, then brushed past him again. Her scent and the warmth of her skin overwhelmed him. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her against his body, facing away from him. She squeaked, struggling momentarily, then turning her head to see him.
“Is this what you really want?”
No, he thought, but said, “What?”
“I can feel you. You’re desire for me. Is that why you called upon us?”
“No,” he said. “I called to get the house clean. I’ve just never seen anyone like you. I can't help myself. I'm so sorry.”
He was red-faced. Angel started to pull away, but he grabbed her and held her. “I’m sorry,” Leo said. “I just can’t...”
She smiled again, reaching behind him to pull him closer. “There is no need to apologize if this what you really desire, sir,” she said.
She turned around pressing herself against him, grinding her body on his. The smell of roses overwhelmed him and the room went hazy for a moment, then cleared. Leo grabbed at her breasts unable to help himself. He felt her belly, the small of her back, and finally he groped her buttocks as he licked her neck. She tasted as sweet as she smelled and like no other woman he’d ever encountered. She pulled away when he tried to kiss her lips.
“You are paying me, sir. Please allow me to pleasure you.”
Angel unbuckled his belt and dropped his pants to the floor, then eased him out of the shirt he was wearing. She pulled his boxers off and pushed him against the double sink rubbing her soft hands between his thighs. He moaned with pleasure. She placed one hand on his chest, letting him know he needed to stay still. Then she undressed slowly. It wasn’t a dance, but her moves were fluid and hypnotizing.
He got lost in her flawless skin, her lovely face, the way her hair laid perfectly. He closed his eyes as she began to kiss his chest and massage his shoulders. She worked her way down slowly and delicately, touching every tingling inch of him. He shuddered, wanting nothing more than release, all the while seeing roses in his mind. Smelling roses. Tasting sweetness.