Hero Part II

Business was great. During the course of the year J&L Vitamins had record earnings. Boston Red turned out to be a gold mine. Boston Red had a unique distribution system and they managed to beat out their competition. The other suppliers seemed to just fade away.

Carol couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt something was irregular with Boston Red and decided to review their records. She mentioned it to Liza and Melanie and was surprised at their reaction. There was no reaction. They just looked at her strangely and told her to do what she had to do.

Even though she became more involved with the business, Carol still had too much time to think sad thoughts. Her loneliness was creeping up on her. Life without Jack was like a vacuum and she was floating through a roller coaster-like depression. Every time she thought she was climbing out of it, she would think of Jack and what she lost, and she would go plummeting down.

Maybe this Saturday, she would try to get out. She did have invitations from friends but no desire to accept them. Carol was startled by the doorbell and to make matters worse, it stuck and would not stop ringing. Another thing she missed about Jack. He would have fixed it.

As Carol peered through her window she saw a package delivery man, and she remembered the UPS advertisement, “what can brown do for you”. From behind, he was tall, muscular, with salt and pepper hair. He turned quickly as she answered the door. He had a strange look on his face, almost as if he was nervous.

“I hope someone is sending me something good”, Carol laughed.

He peered at her with cold green eyes, looking deadly serious, he walked towards her.
“Oh my God”, Carol exclaimed, “you’re Kevin Downs from Morgan Street. Remember me, Carol Dombroski”?

His face softened and his eyes twinkled, “Carol, I can’t believe it’s you. The last time I saw you, we were sixteen years old”. He walked over to Carol without taking his eyes off her face and hugged her. As Carol went to hug him back he pulled away seeming to remember something.

Carol didn’t notice the change in his demeanor. She just remembered the powerful feelings she had for him at Jefferson High. Kevin was one of the bad boys. Everyone was afraid of him and his gang, the Green Street Warriors. She always saw him as a hero. He was always very kind to her and when one of the school bullies tried to hurt her, Kevin came out of nowhere to protect her. The bully was just about to burn her with a cigarette when Kevin came on the scene.

“So you like to burn little girls do you”, Kevin said quietly, “let’s see how you like it”. Carol could still hear the bully screaming as Kevin pressed the hot cigarette onto his arm.

She had a huge crush on Kevin but never got to tell him. One day, he just wasn’t in school anymore. His mother wouldn’t tell anyone where Kevin was but later on there was a rumor that he was in jail for robbery.
*********************************************

Kevin didn’t have the picture perfect childhood. His dad was an alcoholic who beat him and his brothers when he was drunk. His mother sat on the front stoop drinking beer with her friends while they were having their smokes. She would scream into the street, “get over here you little bastards, I wish you were never born.”

Kevin and his siblings were often dirty and hungry before they got old enough to take care of themselves. The story was that Kevin’s dad came from a respectable family and knocked up the neighborhood slut, Kevin’s mother. As the times would dictate, he had to marry her. For a few weeks of illicit sex, he had to live with this loud, dirty woman for the rest of his life. He also had to give up a girl he really loved.

Shortly after Kevin’s oldest brother was born, his dad started drinking heavily. With the drinking came the beatings, an everyday occurrence for Kevin and his brothers.

By the time Kevin and his brother Harry were arrested for robbing a gas station, Kevin was a volcano waiting to erupt. Kevin shot the attendant during the robbery and was tried as an adult. For the next ten years he suffered the abuse of the older prisoners until he let his heart die and he became the abuser. No one bothered him again.

As Kevin remembered Carol and high school, he felt the ice melting from his heart. He had loved her but never told because he didn’t want to ruin her life. When she looked at him, he became the hero he saw in her eyes. But business was business and he had to close his heart again.
****************************************

Carol was so glad to see Kevin. For the first time in a year, she felt alive. She told Kevin about Jack’s untimely death and went to her bedroom to get the newspaper article to show Kevin. He looked so serious when she read article, “three witnesses, grandmother, Norma Smitty, teenager, Tommy Reyes, and a package delivery man, unnamed”.

She left the room to get Kevin a drink and the doorbell rang. She heard Kevin let someone in and then she heard Liza’s voice, “Where is the body”?

“She’s in the bedroom”, Kevin whispered. At that moment Carol could feel chills down her spine and the hairs on her neck rise. She remembered the strange look on Kevin’s face when she read the article, “package delivery man unnamed”.

“Oh my God”, her mind raced, “did he kill Jack? Why would Liza want Jack dead”?

Carol tried not to panic. Her heart pounded and her knees trembled as she quietly climbed out of the open window. Carol got to her car in the driveway and as she opened the door she could feel something hard and cold pressed to her temple. It was Melanie pointing a gun at her head.

“Well if it isn’t Miss Goody Two Shoes”, Melanie giggled with that wild stare she had around the office. “Get in the house before I kill you right here”.

Carol’s legs turned to jelly. She was paralyzed with fear and couldn’t run. As they entered the room, Liza was scowling, and Kevin looked like stone, no expression, a statue. He had a knife in his hand.

“You just couldn’t keep your nose out of the Boston Red affair, could you?” Liza screamed, “you and Jack just couldn’t leave it alone. He paid by getting run over by a train, right Kevin? Of course, Kevin gave him a little help”.

Kevin just stared at Carol with his lifeless green eyes. She didn’t recognize him now. “Yeah, I told him who I was before I pushed”, Kevin laughed, He knew he was going”. Kevin smirked as he waved the knife at Carol.

Carol felt a sick feeling at the pit of her stomach. She knew what was coming next for her. She still didn’t understand what the Boston Red affair was really about.

“Two stupid people”, Melanie chuckled, “you didn’t even know that Boston Red is one of the biggest front groups for heroin in this country. I can give a customer testimonial for the product. I’m the company’s poster girl for Galaxy our little super heroin energizer.”

So this is what Jack wanted to tell her when he called right before being pushed in front of the train. He was going to turn them in.

“Kill her now Kevin”, shrieked Liza and Melanie in unison. Liza grabbed Carol from behind as Kevin walked towards her with the knife.

“I’ll be with you soon Jack”, Carol thought. She couldn’t bear any more and was tired of fighting. There was no hope left.

As Kevin approached, Carol closed her eyes. He lunged forward with the knife and blood spattered everywhere. As Kevin pulled back, Liza was stunned to see blood gushing from her chest. As Melanie turned to shoot, Kevin’s plunged his knife into her heart, but not before she got off a shot. Instinctively, Kevin put himself between Melanie and Carol.

Kevin fell to the ground as if in slow motion and as he was going down his eyes caught Carol’s and he whispered, “I’m sorry”.

Carol looked down at Kevin and saw the face of her sixteen year old hero again. She then passed out.