The Dead Do Not Forget

The Twisted Lusco Life

Life is taken, not given. That lesson was learned brutally as her hand slipped beneath the glossy surface of the lake. The passing of his mother into the cold clutches of Mistress Death brought a sneering smile to his face. Jer Bear watched, satisfied with the day's work. As he lay bleeding on the damp leaves surrounding the isolated body of water, the small boy took a moment to admire his handy work.

He knew in that instant, he could never tell a soul what had transpired the day he murdered the mother, a stained secret he would carry to grave.

20 Years Later.

Jeremiah Lusco carried two prize possessions in the front left pocket of his suit jacket two things, a letter from his wife telling him how much she loved him, and a picture of his mother, kneeling beside the same lake that had swallowed her up when he was still a young child. Life had been kind to Jeremiah after his fits of youth had subsided. He owned his own hardware store in the same small town that he grew up in. It had taken several years for the town's collective shock to wear off after the stunning death a member of their community, Lila Lusco, but nothing could have prevented that murderous fiend who forcibly took her life away and almost killed her son in the process.

The Fairfoe Police Department and the local death investigator, Mr. Brumble, had all come to the same puzzling conclusion, the corpse of the recently-widowed Mrs. Lusco had been pulled from the lake’s chilly waters, but her cause of death was extremity bleeding from multiple slash wounds up and down her arms and legs. These lacerations showed signs of being drawn into her skin before being dragged down a partially submerged dock. She used her last bit of energy to slow her descent into the murky water of a local fishing hole, The weathered grey dock told the story of bodily fluid spatter and subsequent wipe patterns of blood that she was consumed by a watery grave that stole her last breath. The same slash wounds were found on her son that today. The apparently terrified youngster was lucky to be left alive by the homicidal lunatic who must have committed such heinous crimes against innocent folk.

Life as hardware store owner had its perks. The community grew tighter after the Lusco family was found ripped apart and Jeremiah was found to be the sole survivor. For two decades, they had been repairing the damage done to their small town sense of humbleness and security. The process of healing had taken longer than expected, because the killer and his or her weapon had never been found. The little Lusco boy had been only five at the time and appeared to be so traumatized that for years after the murder he refused to acknowledge that the event had transpired. A neighbor had taken him in an adopted son, and noticed moaning and struggling during the slumbering hours. This post-traumatic stress manifested itself long after the Jeremiah's scars had turned into long white ribbons on his arms and legs. The quick transformation was his eyes returning to their normal blue after being burned black from witnessing the brutal murder of his only living family member.

Jeremiah had lived a peaceful life considering the happenings of his youth, with no consequences to his actions. However, there is no action in this world without an equal reaction. The next chain of events began with a ding on his cell phone. A text with the hidden number sent directly to his personal device blared an unmistakable two word message. "I Know."