Mark's Prey

The apartment was quiet except for the sound of water running into the tub. Mark sat on the edge of the tub watching steam roll off the water. The steam seemed to mix with the smoke of his cigarette. The smokey smell used to bother him, but since he had caught covid last year he hadn’t been able to smell it. He removed his boxers and threw them into the pile of dirty laundry he had needed to clean for weeks. He laid down in the tub and let the warm water engulf him. Water pooled over the side of the tub while he leaned back. He watched as it poured into the molding and floor of the bathroom. He had long since known he had lost his deposit on his apartment and didn’t care about the damage it was causing. His phone lit up. It sat precariously on the edge of the commode for easier access from his bath. He wiped his hands on the rugs his mother had bought and reached for his phone.

“Drinks tonight?”

The screen lit up his face in the dark bathroom. He looked through her profile once more. She was perfect. Her pale skin, red hair, and green eyes. She was perfect.

_____

“So, tell me about your job? Do you like it?” Asked Mark

“Well, I’m glad to be back in the classroom, getting 25 2nd graders to focus over zoom is basically impossible.” She paused and twirled her straw in her margarita nervously. “Sorry, I’m just kinda new to this whole online dating thing. I mean what if you were an ax murderer!” She laughed.

Mark leaned over the small table “Well, I can assure you I wouldn’t kill you with an Ax. I find that weapon to be quite messy” He grew very quiet and then let out a chuckle.

Her face grew pale and then she laughed and jokingly pushed his arm with her fist. “Stop it! She squealed

“I’m sorry I am a bit of a tease.” He said as he straightened his napkin on his lap.

“Oh, don’t worry. I am finding you to be charming” She took her hands down her skirt to fix any wrinkles.

He looked down at her leather gloves. "Kind of hot for gloves isn't it" he stated

"Well it is, but I just don't leave the house without them. I'm also a hand model on the side" She smiled and looked down at her hands.

"Interesting" Mark replied

__

“Mark!” Screamed his mother from the back of the tiny trailer. 7 year old Mark placed the gameboy he had stolen underneath his bed and ran to his mother.

His mother had a unlit cigarette in her fingers appling pink lip gloss in the tiny mirror.

“Honey have you seen my lighter?” She asked without looking at him. Her red hair was clipped up off her shoulders with a yellow claw clip.

“No mamma” Mark responded with his hands in his pockets

She pulled her blue eye shadow out from a baggy and shoved her finger in and starting damming her eye lids. “You little brat, I saw you took my lighter yesterday and yous’ was catching bugs fire, now run along and go find it. Momma needs a cigarette” She continued putting on makeup without taking her green eyes away from the mirror.

Mark begrudgingly walked outside and looked at the burn up moths from the night before sitting in his mothers ash tray. He grabbed her camo lighter and screen door slapped behind him as he walked back into the trailer.

He reached up and brought it to his momma. “Thanks baby” His mom responded. She lit her cigarette and looked at herself in the mirror.

She looked out the window. “Oh dang it he’s here early”

“Can I come?” Mark asked

“No” She laughed “Brats get to stay home, She knelt down in Marks face. You’re gonna be okay by yourself? She asked it as a question, but it was more of a statement.

Mark nodded.

His mother grabbed her shoulder bag and headed out the door.

____

“I’d like a bud,” Mark said to the bartender and then motioned for his date to order.

“I’d like a vodka cran,” She said as she handed her bartender her card.

Mark watched in almost disbelief. In his many first dates, he had never seen a girl offer to pay little lone just pay without saying anything. He felt a twinge of guilt. He quickly shook that away and took a breath of relief he wouldn’t need to dish out cash tonight.

“I have to say, I have never had anyone as cute as you buy me drink,” He said as he slid his wallet back into his pocket

“It was the least I could do since you met me on such short notice” She replied in a perky tone.

“I hope your not trying to get me drunk to get in my pants. I am a 3 date minimum boy.” Mark joked

They both laughed.

___

“Mark! your mom is here” He heard from the bottom of his best friends basement.

8 year old Mark felt a surge of anger rush through him and embarrassment that she had shown up to his friends door. He feared what version of his mother was upstairs. He hoped that she hadn’t begun drinking for the evening and that she had kept the chit-chat to a minimum. He quickly made his way up the stairs.

When he turned the corner and saw his mother. Her eyes were bloodshot and it looked as if she was more unhinged then this morning. He grabbed her hand and tried to pull her quickly out the door so maybe his friend’s parents wouldn’t notice. As he walked to their car he noticed that it was crammed full of their belongings.

“Come on Mark, We got kicked out again. We gotta get going.” His mother warned trying to get him to walk faster

Mark got in the front seat and moved his mom’s pillows to the floor of the car so he could sit down.

“Mr. Parker kicked us out honey, so we are gonna go stay with Momma’s friend Bobby. You remember him right? He got you that cowboy gun for Christmas?” His mom asked almost frantically

Mark nodded. He didn’t like Bobby but he didn’t want to have to sleep in the car like they had before. When they arrived Bobby was smoking a cigarette on the edge of his apartment steps like he had been waiting.

____

“What brought you to lexington? Have you always lived here in Kentucky?” Mark asked

“No, I’m actually from New York” She replied

Mark was surprised. In her photos she was riding horses, drinking bourbon and hiking at the Red River Gorge. It was the very typical Kentucky girl profile.

“You look like a local from your profile” He added

“Oh yeah, kinda a funny story. My friend took all those photos in the same day. She gave me a kentucky experience day as a joke” She laughed nervously

“So, tell me about what you really like?” Mark inquired

“Well, I grew up in an apartment in new york, I’m half jewish and half catholic…. So Holidays were always complicated. I have an identity crisis about once a year because of it. I enjoy reading books and cuddling with my cat. I became a teacher because my mom and my grandmother both are, but truth be told I kind of hate children. I would try another career but I hate most things and most people, so I have just stayed with it” She let out a sigh.

Mark felt overtaken by her words for a moment. He reailized for the first time that someone was like him. “You’re different Sarah. I think I like you” The words seemed to pour from his mouth and he couldn’t control them. This was a new feeling. He wanted her desperately to like him too. This little dance he played on dates was always a facade. It was solely to bring in his prey. It was temporary. This felt different.

___

The next few weeks living with Billy seemed to drag. There was no more yard to play in like at their old house and his mother had told him not to play outside on the street, So Mark spent the last few weeks sitting in front of the television.

“Mark Baby, don’t sit that close to the screen.” His mother scolded as she was walking out the door to go to her shift at the dinner.

Mark nodded and scooted back a few feet. He watched his Mother drive away out the window and then sat close again.

Billy walked into the tiny living room. He turned off the TV and stood in front of Mark. He looked up at the man. He suddenly felt cold and very alone.

Billy looked down at 8-year-old mark. “You’ve got pretty lips like your momma.”

Billy deeply inhaled and mark thought he sounded like one of those pigs at the fair. He took off his belt and put it on top of the sofa.

“Hey, how about me and you go on a little drive and when we get back from the drive I’ll get you a new game for your Gameboy” Billy said

Just then his mother walked back into the apartment. “I forgot my phone!” She exclaimed as she burst through the door.

She stopped and looked at Billy standing in front of Mark with just his boxers on. His hand in his pants. She grew pale. Then quickly grabbed her pink flip phone and walked out the door.

Mark watched in disbelief at the door his mother had just walked out of.

He looked back up at Billy. Billy screwed the cap off his pop and spit his chew inside the bottle.

Mark felt rage at his Mother. How could she have left him with a Monster.

------

“Do you live around here?” Asked sarah

“I live about 5 minutes down the road” Mark said

“Let’s go back to your place. This bar is…a little to crowded” She whispered in his ear.

Mark panicked for a moment. “You wait here and I’ll bring the car up front since it’s starting to rain”

“Great” She said

Mark got up from the bar and sprinted to his car. He quickly threw the garbage bags, duct tape, and gun in the trunk desperately hoping she wasn’t watching him. This girl was not he had expected. She was different.

He pulled up to the bar where she was standing. He had worried she might have found out his original plans for the evening and left, but she was waiting.

As soon as she got in his car she leaned over and kissed the side of his neck with a passion he couldn’t resist. He turned his head and she pulled away. “You get the rest at your place” She said seductively

Mark put his car in gear and sped to his house. He was worried his fast driving might scare her but she just seems more enthralled with him.

When they arrived she sat and mark ran to the other side and got the door for her..

After he unlocked his door she walked into it like she owned it.

“Where’s your bathroom? I need to freshen up a bit.” She asked

Mark pointed to the open door next to his bedroom. “Right There,” He said

She walked to the bathroom her high heels clicking as she walked. She turned around and leaned up against the doorway facing Mark. “Be ready for me when I get out” She giggled and closed the door

Then Mark remembered he had prepared his bedroom and ran in. Plastic covered his entire bed. He grabbed his knife and began cutting the ties that held it in place and threw it underneath his mattress. As the last piece of plastic had been hidden away she walked in. Mark quickly threw his knife into a closet. He turned to face of the beautiful girl from the bar, but she was different now. Her long red hair was gone and now it was a black pixie cut and as she approached her green eyes were now piercing grey. Her arms were covered in tattoos and her apparent red wig laid in the doorway behind her. She was even more beautiful, but Mark felt shock.

“Sarah?” He asked

“That’s not my name.” She said plainly.

“What is your name?” He asked.

“You won’t know my name, but you'll remember hers." She spat out as she threw a polaroid picture at him.

Mark bent down and picked it up. The girl with the black hair and another girl smiling holding drinks. The other girl’s long red hair and green eyes stood out even in the low quality of the picture. He thought hard about her name, but all he could remember was what she yelled at him before he killed her. He finally remembered. "Abigail" he asked

He looked up. The women was holding a gun with a silencer aimed at his head.

He felt his forehead sweating. "Look, if you do this this murder will be investigated. They will find you. You don't want this. If you leave now I won't tell anyone." He said as calmly as he could

She laughed like he humored her for the first time. "You see Mark, that's not going to happen for weeks. Until you rot enough for people to smell your filthy body. By then I will be back in New York at the Kappa Chi house watching the news with the rest of the sisters."

Mark swallowed and felt his heart race.

"You see Mark, I know you. I've studied you. I know you have a sick obsession with women that look like your mother. I know you target new girls in Lexington and I know you killed my little… Abigail. Do you want to know the best part Mark? I have 25 girls across the country that are gonna say I am with them right now. So if the police do come on the slightest chance I have 25 perfect alibis…. all wanting to avenge their sister Abigail. Any last words?" She asked

"Did you tell me the truth tonight? Are you half Catholic and half Jewish? The little stories about your life? Was that you being real?" He asked

"That's seriously what you want to know" she spat out.

"Yes" he almost begged.

"I mean yes, I'm a student teacher and I'm half Jewish and half Catholic… The hand model thing was crap though. I just said that so i wouldn't leave fingerprints at your house" she said

Mark took a breath of relief. "I like you. I wasn't going to kill you tonight. I'm not a monster"

"Oh how charming!" she exclaimed

"Kill me. I'm done" he said

"You don't have to tell me twice" she said and pulled the trigger