Page 85 of Below The Surface
Kendra unbuckles from the passenger seat and kneels in front of Casey and me on the couch. She takes his hands.
Casey trembles in my arms.
“I don’t feel sorry for you. I’m sad for you. Forus. We never should have been put through all that we have. I wish I could turn back time and we could have helped Dorian. I wish we didn’t have to do the things we’ve done.”
“I do enjoy torturing bad guys, though.” He bats his lashes at me. “And killing them in the end. For the most part.”
Kendra snorts, then leans in and kisses his head. “I will always make sure you have someone to torture.”
Hayden coughs. “About that. Dallas spilled that you’re Nightmare.”
“Yep.”
“How did that get started?” Hayden asks.
“You’re not freaking out?” I ask.
Hayden shakes his head. “IloveNightmare. He’s my hero. And I just found out IknowNightmare. I’m not a snitch.”
Casey sighs and nods. “Someone tried to rape Kendra in the homeless camp that we called home for a bit after David. That was the second man I killed.”
Neither of them deserved that type of life. I can’t stop the tears. No child should have to go through such horrible things.
“That’s when Darla found us,” Kendra says.
“I’m not following,” Hayden says. “Let me say what I understand, starting with the first cult.”
Casey hangs his head. “I don’t tell stories in order. I get things all mixed up. This is probably all confusing.”
“Just a little bit, but I don’t mind.” I kiss the side of his head and he nuzzles my chin.
He’s been slowly opening up to me on our little dates. Casey never hides himself, at least not for long, but I think he’s finally allowing himself to be comfortable. To relax for the first time in his life.
“Okay, so this Charles guy made you take care of another kid. The other kid, Dorian, was, well… you know. Casey witnessed and got the three of you out of the cult. Dorian couldn’t cope with what had been done to him. The two of you lived with this guy named David. Casey was used. You were both stillchildren.”
Casey nods. “You’re right so far.”
“So Darla,” Hayden says.
Kendra takes a deep breath. “She saved us from homelessness. Gave us a place to grow up. All she asked was discipline and obedience, but different from the cult. She taught us self-defense, how to fight. How to kill. How to hack systems. How to steal identities. How to sell our skills. We have a clean-up crew we trust and a middleman that gets us gigs when we’re bored or need an infusion of cash.”
I blow out a breath. “You’re a well-oiled machine.”
“Sometimes,” Kendra says. “It takes a lot to run the Nightmare shows, so that’s what we focus on. Sometimes thevictims are one of our paid marks so we get a lot of satisfaction out of that.”
Casey nods and traces his finger along my arm. “I like to watch these fuckers suffer by my hand. There’s a sick feeling of happiness knowing I’m making them suffer. Hearing their screams. Pleading for their lives. Then I fucking take it. The audience loves it. I think some of them think it’s fake.”
“I did.” I say. “Until I started looking into the stories. And you’re not a bad storyteller as Nightmare.” I kiss the side of his head.
“I make sure I know every detail forward and back before the cameras roll.”
“Ireallyenjoy the stories,” Hayden says. “But now that I know who Nightmare is, I kind of wish you didn’t have the voice modulator. I get it, though.” There’s a bit of a laugh in Hayden’s voice. “The modulator gives you another layer of security.”
“Yeah, anyway.” Casey scratches the back of his neck and looks at the ceiling. “I need a nap now or a run. I’m rung out. No more words. I need silence.” His breathing picks up, and he shakes his head.
“Casey,” Kendra says his name, and he looks to her.
He rocks on his feet and hugs himself.
