User blog:Joeaikman/Wiki Chapter 7

Hoagy stood there, besides the hole in the ground that would soon be home to his best friend, feeling as alone as he had ever felt. He was surrounded by people who were close to him. He had Carson to his left, he had Dan, Task’s brother, on his right. Professors Lee and Raatz had come as representatives from the school. They were stood opposite them, dressed in suits. Task’s mother and father were next to the reverend, who was droning on about the blurred line of life and death.

Whatever he said- Whatever he said about death and how it wasn’t evil was a lie. Task would never have wanted to die like this. He had been so happy. He had been so full of love and joy before that night with Drakan. He had loved Task as a brother. Something had happened to drive him to this. It was more than Drakan, he knew it.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Let us commend Task to the ground, so that the lord can look upon him and free him of the shackles of a mortal life. One day we will join Task in that better place in the sky.”

Was this old man having a laugh? There is no better place. This is all we get, and this world is not worth living in. It is dark, and cold, and full of loneliness and shadows. Task died. Task died. He hadn’t deserved that death. Someone had caused it. He knew that. Was it someone here? Had it been Carson? Dan? The reverend?

He looked to where the headstone stood. It was made of polished pink marble, with grey lines running through the stone. It was newer than all the rest of the graves here. It stood out. It had his name plastered on the front of it. It was his grave. Of course it had to have his name. Had he been hoping that it would suddenly be someone else’s?

“Hoagy…”

He looked to his left. It was Carson whispering his name. He wasn’t sure why he was disturbing the ceremony. Then he looked down. Dan and Carson had thrown the earth that they had to on the coffin down below. He was still clutching his. It was almost compacted by how hard he was squeezing it. A tear dropped from one of his eyes. It hit the dirt, and then he threw it. Threw it onto the box that was holding Task’s cold body. He buried his best friend.

He felt Carson grab ahold of his hand and squeeze it. He knew it was a difficult time for him, too. He knew it was hard for all of them. Carson had been as close to Task as he had. Dan had been his brother. They had all lost family in the last week. They were all more alone than they had been when Task was alive.

Then the reverend’s voice was interrupted by a siren. It was a police siren. Everybody turned towards the road. They turned to see what the police were doing here. Hoagy knew that Dan had invited the two officers that were working on the case, but he assumed that they weren’t coming, as they hadn’t been here at the start of the service.

It was Officers Jamahl and Timothy that strode over to the graveside. Jamahl was saying something into his radio, but he had finished by the time that he had reached the congregation that had gathered for Task. The congregation that the two of them had been noticeably absent from.

“We are sorry for disturbing your ceremony, Mr and Mrs Master. We just know the person that supplied the drugs that Task used on the night of his death.”

Mrs Master just sobbed, whilst Mr Master just gave a curt nod. Hoagy hadn’t seen him cry once since he had arrived back in town. It was almost like the loss of his youngest son hadn’t affected him.

The two police officers turned their attention to the two professors. Hoagy saw a look of shock register on the face of Professor Lee.

“Doctor Edward Lee, you are under arrest for providing narcotics to children. Whatever you say now can and will be used-”

Hoagy stopped hearing anything after that. He was in shock.

-

“You want me to kill a boy?”

Billy was stood in Frank’s office. His boss was seated at his desk, a cigar in his mouth. The two of them were dressed in their suits. They had just got back from watching the funeral of the Task boy from a distance. Billy hadn’t wanted to go, but Frank had insisted. It had been one of his minions that had given the boy the drugs that he overdosed on, after all.

They had driven straight back at the end of the service. Eyes had been with them too, but none of them had spoken at all. They were all digesting that a young boy had lost his life due to one of Frank’s clever schemes. It had been Frank’s idea to find a teacher at the local high school who would be willing to deal, and now it had killed a young boy.

“I want you to rid me of a problem. That is your job, is it not? I employ you to deal with people that put my business at risk? Do I pay for your thoughts, or for you to answer back when I give you a job?”

“Frank. I will do what you tell me to provided that it isn’t this. That boy has been through enough. I will not kill him for you.”

Frank slammed his fist down on the desk.

“Goddamnit, Billy. I didn’t get where I am through being sentimental. That Duke boy is the last person that can tie Brendan to the drugs. He has to die if my plan will work.”

“Your plan to frame an innocent man so that you can carry on your little project?”

Frank stubbed the cigar off against the wood of his desk.

“I have a use for Brendan. I have no use for Teddy Lee, or for Duke Ong. Brendan lives and the others go away for it. If Brendan were to get taken by the cops then he could reveal my involvement. You know Max has been waiting to pin me for something.”

“Then I will kill Brendan for you. I will not kill the boy.”

Frank rose from his desk.

“You will kill whoever I say, Billy. This is not your decision to make.”

“I do not kill children, Frank.”

Frank snorted.

“You forget, Billy. I knew you when Gliscor was in charge of this operation. You don’t think I know the names of the people that you killed for him. You killed the disabled. You killed the elderly. You killed children.”

“Gliscor was a monster, and he made me a monster too. I will not have you make me into a monster like he did, Frank.”

“Goddamnit, Billy. You don’t have a choice. I am telling you to kill the boy. That is your only choice. That, or I will be forced to get rid of you, too.”

Billy turned around in exasperation. He knew how Frank operated, though. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t expected him to threaten him. He just hadn’t expected it to happen this soon in their conversation. He was hoping that Frank would see sense.

“You can try, Frank. I know the MO of all the other assassins that you have under your employ. You think I can’t avoid them and protect the boy at the same time?”

“I don’t see why you would want to when one shot could end all of this and we can go back to being friends-”

“This isn’t a fucking game of chess, Frank. This is a boy’s life. This is a mother’s son, a grandmother’s grandson. This is a young life that you are asking me to snuff out. I have seen more than enough mourning parents this week, Frank.”

“Then go. Go and hide. Try and protect the boy, but you should know better than anybody that I always get what I want, Billy. I will get him.”

Billy walked to the door then, tired of this argument. He turned back to say one last thing before he left.

“You were right when you said that Gliscor made me do horrible things, Frank. He died, and nobody was sad. He made a monster of himself and everybody who knew him. Don’t do that to yourself, or you will find yourself up above watching someone like Eyes run your business.”

And with that he left. He left for good.

-

“I didn’t do anything.”

Teddy Lee was sat at the police interrogation table for a second time. Opposite him was Jamahl and, where Banfa had been the first time, was Timothy. Teddy’s hands were in handcuffs, and he was tied down to the table, so that he couldn’t move his hands more than a couple of inches away from the surface.

“That statement isn’t supported by the facts. A student has outright come out and said that you provided him with the drugs that Task Master then consumed. Do you continue to deny this?”

Teddy sighed.

“Of course I do. I am an innocent man.”

Jamahl jotted something down on his paper, and then showed it to Timothy, who smirked.

“Wait. Tell me who the student is? Is it Duke Ong? I hated Duke. I tried to get him expelled twice. Why would I do that if I was using him as my drug mule?”

That caused a crack to appear in Jamahl’s facade. He was, for the first time during that interview, unsure that he had got the right man. He knew that he shouldn’t have made the arrest in such a public place.

“I can tell you the teachers that liked Duke. I can tell you the names of those that helped to keep him in school.”

“And you think one of them is the person who dealt the drugs that killed Task Master?”

“I don’t know, but I sure as hell know that it wasn’t me.”

-

“I can’t believe what they did to him.”

Alexa was seated in the darkness of the woods, her face illuminated by the campfire. Around her were gathered the four girls from before. The eldest of them, the one with the bob, had her arm around her, comforting her. The others were huddled together, their faces pale and cold, despite the heat from the fire.

“We saw what they did.”

“We saw through your eyes.”

“We saw as it happened.”

“We watched the men do it.”

Alexa turned to her, and looked at the eldest of them with some surprise.

“Who did it?”

“Bad men.”

“Very bad men.”

“But not the baddest men in town. Not even close.”

Alexa frowned. How could they have seen any of this? What did they mean? Why wouldn’t they tell her who had killed Banfa?

“We do not know. You must find them. You must find them before they kill again.”

-

“Hey, Billy.”

Billy looked up from the mug of coffee that he was holding in his two hands. He was freezing. He was still in his suit, and was now sat in the pew of the local church. This had been where the service had been held that morning. The picture of the boy that had died was looking down at him. He was smiling. He looked happy. That made Billy sad.

It was Jorn that was walking down the aisle towards him. He was dressed in a suit, too. Billy hadn’t seen him at the service. Why had he been there? Had he known the boy?

“I was a friend of his brother. I know what you are thinking. I saw you, Frank, and Eyes at the service. Did he have something to do with Task dying?”

Billy couldn’t bring himself to say yes, so instead he just nodded. There was sadness in Jorn’s eyes, and he was limp as he sat down next to Billy and looked up at the picture.

“I was there when that was taken.”

He said it as if it was an interesting fact, but it was just depressing.

“The Masters were going out for a picnic. Dan invited me and another boy from school. Task had his friends too. Hoagy and Carson. They were almost always with him. Truth be told, we never really gave much thought to them back then. They were just kids. Man, I know Dan wishes that he had spent more time with him now.”

Billy knew how Jorn’s friend felt. He remembered all the people that he had known in passing, but had died. Most of them were Frank’s men. If he had got to know them more then maybe he would have liked them. He liked Jorn now that he had got to know him, too. They were all dead now, though. He had killed some of them.

“Eyes told me what happened between you and Frank this morning. Is it true that you are leaving? What did he ask you to do that was so bad?”

Billy closed his eyes. He couldn’t bring himself to look at the picture of the dead boy anymore. Could he have saved him? Could he have stopped Frank from using schoolchildren to suit his own ends?

“Never mind. I knew the teacher that they have taken in for the drugs, you know? My first year at the High School was his first, too. He used to say hello to me when I walked past him in the corridors. He tutored Dan personally. It is hard to believe he was capable of this.”

He wasn’t. That was all that Billy could think of saying to Jorn, but if he said that, then he might choose to leave too, and then he would be at risk of Frank’s men. He might be able to look after himself and Duke, but he wouldn’t be able to protect Jorn too.

“I’ll leave you alone if that is what you want, Billy. See you around.”

Jorn left him alone then. He looked back up at the picture of the young boy and, for the first time in a very long time, he felt tears coming from his eyes.

-

“Of course he said that it wasn’t him! Why would he just admit it? He was the man who gave me the drugs! I am telling you! Why would I lie like this? You already have me nailed for giving the drugs to Task. I have no reason to lie!”

Duke was sat where Teddy had been a few hours before. Jamahl and Timothy were sat opposite him, as they had been before. There was sweat on Duke’s brow, and his voice broke several times as he made his case. He was a boy.

“I can give you a reason, boy. Somebody has you scared. Somebody has told you to throw Professor Lee under the bus. We did a search of his home and found no drugs. Who are you protecting, and why? We can protect you from them.”

Duke looked down at the floor and whimpered. They had told him that he would be killed if he ratted Brendan out. They had shown him the knife that they would use to kill him with. He couldn’t let that happen to himself. Why should he die so that Professor Lee could be protected? He had never liked him anyway.

“Professor Lee-”

“Boy, you are only digging yourself into trouble. We have three people we think supplied you with the drugs. If you give us one of their names then we can make an arrest and put you in some form of protection.”

“Fine. I want protection from the men that would come for me. I want police guarding me at all times and I want the man I name to be arrested before I leave the station. Deal?”

Jamahl smiled and nodded.

“Deal.”

-

Brendan Raatz stood by the side of the road. He had been told to come here by his employer. They had wanted to meet him face to face for the first time in two years. Not since Jorn had left school had they actively contacted him, but now, with everything that was going down, they had got worried. Duke had played his part and attached the blame to Teddy. He felt sorry for the man, but he would rather that he go down.

Just then a stretch limo came cruising down the road. This must be the man that he was waiting for. He knew that Frank Claas liked to travel in style. He put up his hand and waited for the vehicle to pull up. When it did, he walked over to the back door. He noticed that nobody got out to open the door for him. This wasn’t like it always was in the films.

He tried to open the door. It wouldn’t budge. It was locked. He knocked on it twice, before realising that he probably shouldn’t be so demanding with a man as dangerous as Frank. He was not to be trifled with.

Just then the window began to roll down. It was dark inside, but Brendan could tell that somebody was watching him. He could see their eyes. One of them was green, the other grey. They were wide eyes, eyes used to darkness now taking in the light. They were hypnotic eyes. He could get lost in th-

BANG.

-

Hoagy was sat on a bench outside of the cheap doughnuts store that Wiki had in it’s town centre. It wasn’t as nice as the franchises that other towns had, but no franchise chains ever made it to Wiki. It was too out of the way. It was too secluded.

He was on his fifth doughnut of the afternoon. He always ate when he was sad and Task wasn’t there to stop him. He was waiting for Carson, but he was late. He was meant to be here half an hour ago. That wasn’t anything unusual, though. Carson was late to almost everything. Hoagy had never realised how late he usually was. Maybe he was just always early.

He was losing himself in the frosting of the doughnut and the chocolate sprinkles that he had asked for. This reminded him of Task. Everything reminded him of Task. Then he heard Task’s voice and looked around, as if he was going mad. Then he saw who the voice belonged to.

Dan Master, Task’s elder brother, was in the doughnut shop. He was talking loudly on the phone, his voice raised to an angry point that Hoagy had never heard it reach before. It sounded like Task had used to sound when he got mad about Duke bullying him or a girl he liked ignoring him.

“- where he is. It’s not my job to keep track of him. Find him. If he tells anybody about that night.”

Dan looked up then and turned towards where Hoagy was sat. He didn’t spot him and he went back to his phone.

“Are you having me watched, Jorn? Tell Timothy to meet me at the old place. You know? The Fugi place. I have news for him. Big news.”

-

It is night. A hooded figure walks along a gravel path in front of the shadow of a church. The hoot of owls can be heard in the background. The figure stops and kneels. They place a bunch of white flowers on the disturbed soil of a grave. As they stand up the name of the mourned is revealed.

TASK MASTER

Darkness.