Period 8 - By Chris Crutcher Page 0,64

I’m gonna kill you, baby, but slow. I’m dead anyway, so I’m gonna enjoy this. Fuckin’ Period 8. I’d take out all you pussies if I had the time.” He laughs again. “I don’t have the time, but I have you.”

“You were never going to let me go,” she says.

“You think?”

Paulie hears her whimper then, “You asshole.”

If they get in the car, she’s done for.

Arney drags Hannah to the passenger side, opens the door, and pushes her into the backseat. Hannah kicks at the door. Arney’s back is to him for a split second but Paulie freezes, almost as if he’s anchored to the grass. Jesus! MOVE! Hannah kicks to get out, but falls backward onto her bound hands. Arney cracks her forehead with the butt of his pistol, slams the door, and rushes around to the driver’s side.

Paulie springs at the car, screaming as he dives headlong over the low roof and into the side of Arney’s head, spilling him onto his back. He grabs a handful of hair and slams Arney’s head into the pavement, once, again, then drags him up by the shirt, throws a shoulder into his gut, and pounds him against the car. As air whooshes out of Arney, Paulie hears a distant, “Kill him, Paulie! Kill him.”

Arney’s laughter pierces the chaos as porches light up and men in pajamas and underwear rush into the street. “Kill me, Paulie! Kill me, big boy!”

Living room lights, then porch lights continue to flick on in neighboring houses as he pummels Arney, until someone yanks him back by the shoulders. He shakes him off and dives on Arney again. Two men join forces to pull him back. Arney struggles to rise while Hannah kicks her way out of the car, yelling as she hits the pavement, “The guy on the ground has a gun!” Arney scrambles for it, but someone kicks it away. “Paulie!” Hannah yells.

Paulie slumps on the street in the grasp of the two men. “He was going to kill her,” he whispers, nodding toward Hannah.

One of the neighbors shoves a knee between Arney’s shoulder blades, forcing him hard against the pavement, and calls 911.

“Hey, Bomb,” Arney yells, spitting into the pavement. “Gotcha. Big stud! Cool jock dude! Fuckin’ teacher’s bitch! Guess who orchestrated your blissful night with the Virgin Mary. And guess who told your honey who you cheated with.” He laughs again, blood running freely from his nose and from a cut on the side of his head. “Guess who made the Virgin Mary not a virgin in the first place.” He spits blood. “Man, I had that bitch locked up. Guess who helped her figure out she was a whore.”

Paulie’s heart is in his throat. “Guess who’s going to jail,” he says weakly. “And guess who’s going to be waiting if you ever fucking get out.”

“Oh, I’ll get out,” Arney says. “And all the time I’m in there I’ll be thinking of shit to do to you when I do.”

“You are one sick fuck, Stack.”

“Don’t ever forget it.”

.19

Paulie, Justin, and Hannah sit on the dock on a warm spring day less than a week after the national media circus has left town and things have begun to calm down; pants rolled up, legs in the cold water, trying to make sense of it.

“How does this happen under our noses?” Hannah asks. “I mean, you’re right, Jus, anyone who says ‘It can’t happen here’ is a clueless douchebag, but I keep thinking all this was going on while we were living our regular lives.” She shakes her head. “Mary, Kylie. You gotta hate yourself for not getting to know them better. At least I do.”

Justin shakes his head slowly. “It’s amazing when everything you think turns out not to be the truth. Man, I’ve had a buzzer going off deep inside me about Arney long as I can remember. But I just thought it was because he was a shithead of the normal kind.”

“I know,” Paulie says. “When all this shit started coming out about him, there wasn’t any part of it that didn’t seem right.”

Justin looks at Hannah. “Lucky, lucky lady,” he says.

Hannah leans back, both hands on the dock propping her up. “You should have seen him at our house,” she says, tears rimming her eyes. “My dad jumped up when he threatened me and Arney just shot him. He didn’t hesitate. I feel so lucky it was only in the leg, but I don’t think Arney would have hesitated to kill