This Is It a Novel

TTHHIISS IISS IITT A Novel BY DANIEL J. CONNELL Daniel J. Connell This Is It A Novel Prologue We begin at the end – or at least, the beginning of the end… Eastman Correctional Facility Tupello Present Day “You.” It was beginning to sink in. He shook his head. “You.” “Yes. Me.” He sat motionless, trying to absorb the words. It felt as if this had been a long time coming. He searched his mind for a starting moment, the birth of disaster. There were distant memories – teenage power struggles and blood splashed over scorched sands. He realized now the point when everything was really set in motion and it felt like a bad joke. From the start, the very beginning. There was little energy left in him to fight anymore. He sat thinking it over, helpless. The answers - solving the riddle - offered no solace. He knew how, finally, but he didn’t much care for why. It had all been in vain – everything done, everything achieved. He stared numbly through the thick Plexiglas separating them, the receiver held limply in the palm of his gaunt hand. Facing the architect of his ruin, he felt little anger. His whole body was still, frozen in this instant. He’d fought for moments like this his entire life...now one was here and it was unbearable to face. A weak smile etched across his face. This is it, he thought. As the notion passed, melodic words filtered through the receiver, drifting hypnotically into his brain. Everything was becoming much clearer. His past lay unbridled in his mind’s eye, a picture book of forgotten horror. It was enough, now. He stood up, turned and then — 2 Daniel J. Connell This Is It A Novel I. She be hauntin’ me; That girl in the light blue dress Watch me slowly drown. 3 Daniel J. Connell This Is It A Novel Chapter One Where is the real beginning – when we meet? When our eyes first lock? Or is it a series of gestures, small yet significant… Edge of Brinkmater Straights Tupello Three Years Ago She stopped, unable to run any further. Drains gushed with water, rain pelting down so hard a haze gathered above the road. The mist wisped, rising upwards, fighting against the rain. She was so drenched her palms were wrinkly. Shahina would be sick for days if she didn’t get to the hotel and get dry soon. There wasn't time to be ill – too many things left to do. Trying to remember the way, Shahina figured it would be quicker if she cut through the alleyways. It wasn’t an ideal situation but there wasn’t any other choice. She headed down the dank alley to her right. Pieces of rubbish swept against the walls; ripped election campaign posters hung in tattered clumps draped over the brickwork. VO E FOR M YOR LEE proclaimed strips of paper sagging off the wall. Around her, faded candy wrappers spiraled in small cyclones before falling limply to the ground. A putrid smell hung in the air, somewhere between sulfur and sour milk. The rain didn’t help – the odor was so pungent Shahina could almost taste it. It seemed like a cadaver, this whole place. She pressed her wrist against her mouth and nose, trying to block out the stench with her sleeve. The road beneath her feet was potholed and rutted; several fat puddles had formed since the storm began. All was covered in shadows, aside from sporadic flashes of lightning. The only manmade brightness was a neon sign thirty feet from where she stood. 4 Daniel J. Connell This Is It A Novel Shahina shivered as she neared the glowing logo, her arms pressed against her ribs. A crimson glare surrounded the sign, drowning the space around it. The neon traced the outline of a jug with beer sloshing out of it. Maybe she’d made a mistake. Shahina looked down at her drenched clothes. Her top was see-through. Perhaps she didn’t have to do this; there might be another way. Shahina shook her head. This would be quicker. She picked up her pace. As she neared the bar, men stumbled into the alleyway, a belch of smoke escaping into the air. There were half a dozen of them, faces dappled and covered in a film of tacky sweat. The sulfur-milk smell muddled with new odors – must, ashtrays, and stale alcohol. Shahina froze. One noticed her; his washed out-face shifting into a sneer. “Well now, what do we got here?” Shahina didn’t respond. He took unsteady steps towards her, still leering. The others stopped their banter and watched him. Then they followed. All six surrounded Shahina. The smallest one tilted his head down from her face to her top. “You're mighty pretty for a whore,” he snorted. The rest of them laughed as they edged forward, mouths slightly open, slightly turned up at the edges. Shahina faltered backwards into the darkness. “Please. Leave me alone.” “Ain’t from ‘round here, is you?” The one who first approached her – the apparent leader – leaned out and grabbed a handful of her dark curly hair, yanking her head towards his face. The reek of tobacco invaded her nostrils. “Don’t worry, Kurt an’ his boys know how to treat a girl right,” he jeered, unzipping his fly. 5 Daniel J. Connell This Is It A Novel Shahina knocked his arm away and turned to run, almost slipping. She pelted a few steps through the puddles when she ran into a wall. Her legs buckled, sending her backwards. But Shahina didn’t fall. She hung in the air, suspended in looming shadow. Looking up at the thin strip of sky framed by high brick walls, her eyelashes flickered in the rain. Shahina pulled her head forward to look at what she’d run into. It wasn’t a wall. “Get behind me.” She did as he said. Shahina couldn’t reach above his shoulder, so she peered from the side of his giant arm, watching the gang as their body language changed. “Look, we don’t want no trouble, y’hear? Just give her back,” said Kurt, pulling his zip back up. “Go home.” “Give us the bitch now. No-one’s in there but one little barmaid,” he gestured to the door behind him. “You’re on your own, you fuckin’ freak.” The others turned and hissed at him to be quiet, but it was too late. “You're startin’ to piss me off, so listen up. Go home. Now.” “You want that brown slut for yourself, that it? The Knight not gettin’ any?” Kurt taunted, his gang unsure whether to laugh. “I warned you.” “Look at it, the nigger an’ the sand eater. Don’t it break your fuckin’ heart?” Kurt said, baring his teeth but moving backwards. The alleyway turned pitch-black as the red glow from the sign suddenly disappeared. Shahina went to grab the Knight’s shoulder but he was gone. There were abrupt sounds – bones shattering in the gloom, impatient screams. “Getoffme, Getoffme you freak! Ohgodohgodohg--” “I Goddamn warned you, didn’t I? DIDN’T I?” 6 Daniel J. Connell This Is It A Novel The echo of knuckles smashing down on flesh boomed in the shadows. There were loud thuds as men fell, whimpers as they recoiled on the ground beneath flailing fists. In the dim light Shahina could just make out one of the gang cowering under the Knight. Gargled noises filled the air, pleading voices and yet more punches, never- ending punches. Shahina couldn’t take it anymore. “Stop! Please, I beg of you. Stop.” The Knight’s large fist hung in midair. He looked down. The man was pleading, trying to speak through broken teeth and bloody saliva. No words came out, only indecipherable noises. “You're everythin’ that’s wrong with America, Kurt.” With that his knuckles came smashing down on Kurt’s swollen temple, knocking him out cold. The only sounds left were beating rainfall and the Knight’s breathing. It was over. She sighed, feeling faint as lightning lit up the night sky. A security bulb came on above the bar door. A woman stepped into the alley, keys rattling in her hand. She was wearing a short pleated skirt almost covered by her leather jacket, and blade-like high heels that forced her calves taut. Her keys stopped jangling when she looked out onto the street. The entire gang was on the floor, writhing in the dirt. They were barely conscious, their faces bloody and their limbs limp. He stood in their midst with his fists balled hard, steam rising from his mask and shoulders. The waitress gasped. “The Knight, holy shit!” she exclaimed, looking at the men by his feet. “Whoa! Creamed ‘em real good, didn’t ya?” She moved over to one of them, giving him a short, hard kick in the crotch. He let out a raw groan. “That’s for grabbin’ my ass all night.” The waitress turned around. Shahina's hair was heavy with water and she shivered uncontrollably. “Could you take a picture of us with my cell?” she thrust her phone towards Shahina’s juddering frame. 7 Daniel J. Connell This Is It A Novel “Don’t do photo calls,” replied the Knight dryly, his voice deep and husky. “That’s a real shame, honey. You sure? How’s about an autograph?” He didn’t reply. Detaching his cape, he walked over to Shahina and draped it around her.

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