Monster (5 page)

M
ary frowned, as if remembering her confusion at the
time. “I’d
watch the guys, and notice how
Jim
and Todd
stood o
ut.
I don't mean in a normal way. They've always been excellent athletes
. What got me was that all of a
sudden the
y
were
to
o
good
.
Todd was a linebacker, and J
im the quarterback.
Jim
would hand the ball
off
to Todd, and no one could s
top him. He wouldn't even bother dod
ging.
He simply mo
w
ed down anyone in his path. Guys
would
crum
ble as if he were made of steel.
When
Jim
wo
uld
pass, he'd throw tight, clean spirals
that
could barely
be
seen
.
When one of his passes hit a receiver, the guy wo
uld
double up as if he'd b
een shot. Those passes hurt, and I
mean
hur
t.
The coaches thought it was great, bu
t I
saw
guys
staggering off
the fi
eld shaking their heads and clutch
ing
their s
tomachs, refusing to come back.”

“
That happens all the time in football practice
,”
An
gela
said
.

Mar
y
ignor
ed the remark. “
Then there were the
girls.
Kathy was head cheerleader. I'd watch the squad prac
tice
and they'd do some kind of pyramid thing, and Ka
thy
would come from out of left field and vault on to the of the other girls. She'd leap up ten feet easy. Right off
the
gro
und.”

“That's not possible.”

Mary went on. “I
began to watch those three.
Jim
, Todd,
Kathy
.
You might think that's weird. After all,
Jim
was
my boyfriend. Of course I
didn't need to watch him
– I saw
him all the
time. But the truth was that I
wasn't going
out
with him much. He didn't
ca
ll
me as he had, and when I
was
around him he was aloof. But that wasn't all there was to
it.
He had changed in some way that
I
couldn't explain. He
would talk about the same things, but you know that fee
ling
you get when someone's talking about something that
they
don't really be
lieve in? Or that they have no interest in?”

“Yes.”

“
I felt
Jim
was just mouthing words because it was
expected of him. He would hold me,
he would kiss me
– we
continued to make love when my parents weren't aro
und.
But he wasn't with me. He wasn't th
ere.”

“So?” Angela said. “
He was losing interest in you
. I’m sorry
, Mary, but it happens all the time. It doesn't m
ean
he was a monster
.”

Mary
s
howed impatience. “I
tell you he was different
, and I
know what I'm t
alking about because I knew him. His min
d, his heart
–
when I was with him they weren't
there.”

“
Where were
they?”
Angela asked.

“Gone.”

Angela shook her head
. “I sti
ll
don't know what you're talking about.
If he acted so indifferent to you, why did you
go to
the tro
uble of watching his practices?”

“
Good question
. I think
I went because I needed proof
t
hat he had
changed.”

“Mary.”

“
Let me go on. There was a time
– I
think it was about two weeks ago
–
that I went to practice for only a few minutes. I
accidentally
left my purse and had to go back for
it
.
When I got there none of the guys was on the field, and all the cheerleaders appeared to have left also. I noticed that the weight room was s
ti
ll open and walked over to
it
. By then
I
had no hope left for
Jim
and
me.
I didn't walk into the weight room,
I peeped in, slyl
y. Yeah, I was definitely looking for something unus
ual. And I got it.”

“
What did you see?
” Angela asked.

“
Kathy and Todd and
Jim
were inside. They were alone, lifting weights. Have you eve
r seen a cheerleader lifting weight
s?
I
haven't, but
I
suppose that isn't so strange. But good old Kathy
–
she wasn't pumping a few extra pounds to
give her arms tone. I saw her lift at l
east a thousan
d pounds straight over her head.”

“T
hat's impossible,
”
Angela said.

“I
know. But
I
saw her do it.”

“
You must have misjudged the weight on the bar.
”

“
No
.
In fact, the bar she was usin
g bent after she lifted it, she
had so much weight on i
t.
What do you think it would
take
to bend one of those metal bars? A strong girl, that
Kath
y.”

“We
re
Jim
and Todd lifting as much?”

“I co
uldn't tell
. They were working the machines
. But it
seemed
as if they were pu
shing the machines to the limit,
without sweating. Here's
so
mething
else:
when Kathy
made
her
dramatic
lift, neither of
the guys seemed to notice. The
whole time I stood there watching them not a single
word
was said. The a
tmosphere was cold as a morgue.”

Angela considered. “Anything else?”

“Yes.”
Mary
leaned forward on the table.
She had
begun
her tale with no hope
of
convincing Angela, but now
she
had warmed up. Now it
was
clear she wanted Angel
a to
believe her.
“
After the incident in the weight room I
began
to spy on them. I noticed that
they hung out together a lot.
They'd go off alone
to
a
co
rn
er
of
campus and
talk. I
also noticed that none of them ever smiled unless som
eone
else was around.
I
stopped going out with
Jim
altoge
ther,
but
I
often drove over to his house at night and
sat
d
own
the street in my car
– waiting.”

“
For what?
”
Angela asked.

“
For him to come out and play with his strange
friends.”

“
Yo
u talk like they were vampires.”

Mary's eyes grew dark
. “
They were worse than
vam
pires
.
One night
I
was waiting outside
Jim
's house
– it
was after midnight
– and he went out and drove off in
his car.
I
followed him
a
nd
he picked up Todd and
Kathy. They went here, to Balton, to a bar. I assumed they'd be tossed out
because they were under-age
,
but they
stayed
inside un
til two o'clock, when the bar cl
osed. When
they came
out they had two couples with them. The o
ther
four appeared to be in their early twenties. They
were
all laughing and carrying on. It was obvious to me
the
new people were drunk.
I
was sitting across the s
treet
in an al
l
-night coffee shop.
I
couldn't hear
everything
they were saying, but I caught the words
party
and
orgy
and
warehouse
.
Jim
and Todd and Kathy were trying
to
convi
nce the two couples to go with t
hem, and they
must
have done
a
good job because the others go
t
in their
car
and followed
Jim
as he drove away.
I
had to hurry to
catch
up with them.
Jim
headed to the edge of town
.
He par
ked
in the deserted lot of a boarded-up warehouse. The ot
hers parked beside hi
m. They were still laughing and
talking out
l
o
ud as they followed
Jim
and Kathy
and Todd inside the warehouse.”

“
How did they get inside if it was boarded up?
”
Angela
asked.

“
Jim
prised the boards off the door with a crowbar.
”

“
Why didn't he pull them off with h
is
hands if he was
so strong?”

“
I
don't think he want
ed to demonstrate his strength – yet.”

“
Those two couples must have been awfully stupid to go into a warehouse that was clearly deserted. Especially if the
y
thou
ght they were going to a party.”

“
I
told y
ou how drunk they were
,” Mary said. “
And y
ou know how sweet and innocent thos
e three could look. They could pose for a picture
on American values for a Christi
an
TV station. Anyway, the po
in
t is they went inside.
I
stashed my car down the block and waited outside the warehouse behind a stack of crates for them to come out. They did, about an hour later. At least
Jim
and Todd and Kat
h
y
came out
– not the others.”

“What happened to them?”
Angela asked.

Mary leaned an inch closer.
“
They were killed. Our innocent all-Americans murdered them.
”

“You saw this?”

Mary sat back and waved her
white-bandaged hand in disgust. “
Of course
I
didn't see it directly. I told you,
I
waited outside. But when
Jim
and Todd and Kathy emerged
they
were carrying those giant green plastic bags you put garbage in. They each
had one thrown over a shoulder. The
y threw them in the trunk of
Jim
's car and drove off.
It
ma
de me wonder. I walked back to m
y car and got a flashlight.
I
returned to the warehouse and crept inside.
At
first I didn't see anything. The place was empty, with dust everywhere. I called out, but no one answered. Then
I saw
this area on the floor. Here all the dust was brushed
a
wa
y.”
Mary stopped and shut her eyes. She took a deep
breath
, then another, but seemed not to let either go
. Angela
found he
rself
leaning forward.

“
What did you see?
”
Angela asked.

Mary opened
her eyes. She shook her head. “B
l
ood.”

“Blood?”

“
Blood
.”
Mary lowered her head to sure at her
ban
daged hand, perhaps thinking of the blood that was
now
on her hands.
“Most of it had been wiped away
, off
the
concrete floor. They were careful, bu
t
not careful
enough.
Th
ere was still blood left to see.”

“
There
were no bodies?”