The Broken & The Punisher

Chapter 5. "Who are you?"

Theo's POV:-

I waited until all the lights were out for half an hour before moving from my post across the street.

The adrenaline-fueled blood rushed in my ears, but my strides were slow and steady. There was no reason to cause suspicion. Even my dark clothes blended well with the neighborhood. Black slacks, a black Polo sweater, and a cap that covered my blond hair and shadowed my facial features.

Gravel crunched beneath my feet a few more steps before I made it into the overgrown yard of my target. I was close. Soo close. Soon I would be able to smell her, feel her, hear her. I would get answers to all the questions that had been burning a hole in my mind. What she would be like?

Would she cry? or Beg?

Maybe Yell and curse?

A metallic scent filled my senses, quickening my pulse. Blood?. It wasn’t really there, only in my head. From a memory. By the end of the night, I would have one more thing to add to the collection.

I snuck around the side of the house and pushed away the fantasies to focus on reality which was securing the target. Getting sloppy would get me caught, and an attempted burglary charge would ruin everything.

Pins and needles stung my fingertips as I reached the back door and dug the lock pick and leather gloves from my pocket. The house was fairly large and screamed money, but security was lax. Rose had kept the doors locked, but that was the extent of it. It wasn’t much of a barrier for anyone even mildly experienced in crime. "What the hell is wrong with people these days?!"

Even with my nerves wired and pulsating, my hands remained steady as I pulled on the gloves and picked the lock in under thirty seconds. The charm of years of experience. I had done it so many times, I would’ve managed to do it in the same time even if I was blindfolded. One side of my lips quirked as the knob clicked and I inched it open.

Lights shone above the windows in the kitchen, and my brow creased as I spotted them. I should’ve noticed them being on when I was outside. My eyes squinted as I stepped up to a window and tried to peer through. All it did was reflect my image back at me. “What the fu*k?”

‘She really couldn’t see me watching.’ The realization bothered me. And the fact that it was bothering me bothered me even more. It was a vicious cycle. There was a small part of me that considered her nighttime routine to be my own private show. That, maybe she was an exhibitionist that liked me to watch, wanted me to watch. It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did.

My lips drew in a tight line and I snatched a rag sitting on the countertop.

I listened closely for any signs that Rose might’ve still been up. When I heard nothing, I crept into the living room. The house was rather unusual for a twenty-six-year-old woman. No pictures hung on the walls or sat on end tables. No knick-knacks were in sight either. It was too elegant, too ornate for Rose. Or was it?

I eased up the stairs, one step at a time, and paused each time a board creaked. If Rose had a phone beside her and heard me, she might’ve already called the police. It was always a risk and the reason I never carried a gun. That would make it an armed robbery and my years in prison would multiply. What would’ve made things simpler for me is if people didn’t insist on having their phones next to them every fu*king waking minute of the day. Hell, they even had smartwatches now that could—

Light filtered into the hallway and I pressed my back against the wall, digging the chloroform bottle from my pocket and unscrewing the lid.

‘Fu*k.’

I tipped the bottle and soaked the rag, more than what was necessary for a woman her size. It would’ve been more fitting for a man like myself, but she had startled me by being awake.

She didn’t know I was there, though. If she had, she would’ve called out like one of those ditzes in the movies. ‘Hello? Is anyone there? Ridiculous.’ The sad part was people actually did that.

Even so, It would be best to get this done. Human beings have the ability to sense when danger was near. Hairs would raise, and internal alarms would blare. Most blew it off, but not all.

I inched closer to the light source that was coming from Rose’s bedroom. The door was wide open, and when no one appeared, I crept closer. It was the adjoining bathroom light that had flicked on, and the faucet was running. ‘Now? Why?!’

I splayed the rag over my palm and inhaled a deep breath before spinning around the doorframe and edging closer to the bathroom. I was conscious of each step, but certain that Rose couldn’t hear me over the running water.

My smile pulled again, and this time I embraced it. I ached to strike, and every part of me hummed with excitement. I was glad she had been awake. The shriek she would make when she saw me would replay in my mind for days, and I was only disappointed I would need to silence it. Goddamn neighbors.

I pushed the bathroom door the rest of the way open, my muscles coiling as I was about to lunge, but my hand froze in mid-air. She wasn’t there.

‘What the?’

“Gahh,” a feral cry sounded behind me, and as I started to turn, a sharp pain exploded in my shoulder.

My knees buckled and I fell to the tiled floor, the rag slipping from my grasp. Before I could even process the pain, I glimpsed her—Rose—coming for me.

I rolled out of the way just in time. The tip of the wooden bat smashed the tile, just inches from my head.

Our eyes locked. “Woah, wait!” I put my hands up to shield my face as she raised the bat above her head.

“Who are you?” She said.

I peered past my splayed fingers at the woman and realized how ludicrous it was. She was half my size. I lowered my hands and prepared to pounce, but she lifted the bat higher like she was about to swing. I flinched like a p***y and cringed as my shoulder strained.

“Who are you?” she asked once more, the warning clear in her tone.

‘Fu*k. Who was I?’

“Nobody,” I answered in a pained voice. My shoulder hurt like hell, and there was no way I would be swinging my left arm, so I needed to play it safe. At least until I could pacify her. Strangely enough, she didn’t seem all that concerned with what appeared to be a burglar in her home. She was… curious.

Her eyes roamed over me, lingering on my lips. I should’ve jumped her then, but the fact that she was checking me out stunned me, robbing me of the opportunity.

“You need money.” It was more of an observation than a question, but I nodded anyway.

“I’ll go,” I said, lying through my teeth. The chloroform-soaked rag had landed half-hidden underneath the bathroom counter, and I counted my lucky stars that she hadn’t noticed it. As I slowly climbed to my feet, another pang spread throughout my shoulder and I winced. “You can put the bat down.” I kept my hand out in front of me as if that would stop her if she chose to swing it one more time or a few more times. I’m not sure I would have been surprised if she had.

“What’s your name?” she asked, still holding the bat over her shoulder.

“What?”

“Your name,” she repeated. “You do have one, don’t you?”

I chanced a step toward Rose, and she backed away a few paces. She didn’t appear threatened by my advance, but she was sharp. There was this disturbed look in her eyes. Like she wouldn’t hesitate to bash my skull in if I played this wrong.

“Maybe you should call the police.” I bent and picked up the rag. Her gaze followed my movement, and her head tilted as she spotted the cloth.

I hoped she would go for the phone. It would mean she hadn’t already done so, and one second with her back turned, that was all I needed.

She didn’t turn, though, and she didn’t show any fear for why a burglar would be carrying a soaked rag. She attacked. In one swift movement, she leaped toward me and swung, aiming for my head. I ducked at the last second and gripped the bat before she could recover from swinging through empty space.

An animalistic growl, out of place for such a petite woman, erupted from her throat, and she tried to yank the bat back to no avail. I jerked her toward me and shrieked as I used my left hand to press the rag over her mouth while I held her thrashing body with my right. My shoulder felt as if it was ripping as she struggled against my hold, but after a few seconds, the chloroform took over and she began to relax. I held the rag over her mouth a little longer before releasing her and allowing her body to fold to the floor.

“Shit.” I dropped the bat and cupped my shoulder. How was I going to get her out of there like that? I darted my gaze around the room as if the answer was somewhere in sight. As if there would be a fu*king gurney or cart or something waiting for an occasion like this. Nope. I was going to have to brace through the pain.

I dropped to my knees and managed to haul the woman’s dead weight over my uninjured shoulder. Luckily, she didn’t weigh much, and a part of me was impressed at the strength that could come from such a tiny woman. The bat helped, of course. Did she keep that beside her bed?

I grunted as I lifted to my feet. Rose’s arms and legs dangled when I carried her through the house, trying to hurry but suspecting I didn’t need to. There hadn’t been a phone on the nightstand, and somehow, calling the police didn’t seem to fit a woman like Rose. She was more the ‘lure the intruder into the bathroom and beat him with a baseball bat’ type. And then she'd asked for my name. What the fu*k was that? For a minute there, I thought she was about to chain me up in some hidden vault.

‘That would have been ironic.’

I didn’t bother locking the back door, and just barely pulled it shut behind us. Pain shot up my arm from having to extend my left hand. I would need to go to a doctor, and already I was searching for an excuse as to what had happened.

‘Maybe get the target to the car first, Theo.’

This night had been wrong. I was careful. I always came prepared. I took every precaution when I made my move, and this was the first time something like this had happened. Then again, I stayed away from taking my subjects from their homes if I could. Instead, I would map out their routines and get them in an isolated parking lot, or on occasion, I would be lucky and I didn’t catch them taking a back road. I kept tire spikes in my car for such an occasion.

“But no, little miss Freak never left home.”

I carried Rose the two hundred or so yards through the back of her property to my car which was parked behind some trees. My breaths were labored by the time I made it. I popped the trunk open and eased her off my shoulder so that she flopped into the empty space, a thud sounding from the impact. I quickly wound tape around her wrists and ankles and placed a piece over her mouth, although I was almost certain it was overkill. I had used enough chloroform that it would be hours until she woke up. Worry rushed through me that I might’ve killed her, but I realized how absurd that was. I had an entire scrapbook of potential subjects at home. But still, a sigh blew over my lips as I felt her pulse and noted the steady rhythm of her heart beating.

I breathed heavily as I stepped back and gazed up at the night sky for a moment while I regained my composure. This had been less than pleasant, but it would all be worth it. I placed my hand on the trunk lid and peered down at the unconscious woman.

“See you soon, Rose,” I whispered, before clicking the trunk lid shut.

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