Chapter Three: The Testimony.
Minutes after Greg took Tiffany down the basement, he came back with more blood in his hand. The gun was still strapped to his pants. He walked right back to the cushion and sat down with his head down.
“Tiffany!” Chloe sobbed. “Not today, why today? Why are you so heartless, Greg? Who are you?”
“I forgot to uh…charge the laptop.” He said as he sighed, “Battery down Twenty percent! We don’t have much time, guys. At least save the last one!” He turned and looked at Samantha where she laid.
“I have told you all that I did wrong today!” Jerome said. “What more do you want?”
Chloe continued to sob. She wrapped her hands around her head. “I didn’t!” She said.
“No, Chloe…” Jerome said, “He saw me at the store. Maybe she’s his…girlfriend, some amateur boys who think they’re men do not like seeing their precious jewels being tampered with.”
“I said I didn’t say what wrong I committed today!” She sobbed.
“What?” Jerome said.
“I um...” She remarked as she sighed. “I went to church, and well, I invited my best friend over ’cause we had a thanksgiving today and I wanted her to join us in celebrating how God saved our kids from an accident on Friday.”
“Honey, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Jerome said as he wrapped his left arm around her, “You did the right thing inviting Kim over to the church.”
“You don’t understand.” She said, “Kim and I, we um…Greg saw me when I was going to the restroom during service.”
“He followed you to the restroom?” Jerome asked.
“No, honey!” She replied as she turned to him, “I think he um….he saw when Kim followed me to the restroom.” She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip.
“What are you talking about, honey?” Jerome asked.
“Damn you!” Chloe yelled as she covered her face with her palm. “We kissed in the restroom, Kim and I. I am so sorry, Jerome. I know I’ve messed up; I promised to stop it after we got married, I am so sorry.” She sobbed, “Kim just couldn’t let go…She kept coming and asking for more, and I just…I just couldn’t resist! It’s the devil, baby. I am so sorry!”
Jerome gently withdrew his hand off of her shoulders. He gazed at Greg and heaved a heavy sigh. “It’s okay!” He said, “It is okay, honey. Let’s put the past behind us.”
“It’s not okay, okay?” She added, “We did it in the restroom. She can’t come over to the house because of the kids and I don’t want you to find out, the church was the only place we’d meet and…Kim carried some vibrators in her bag. Maybe he saw it?” She sighed heavily, “Maybe he took some shots! But so freaking what?” She lifted her head up and stared at Greg, “It’s my life! It’s our lives! You have no right!” She yelled, “You self-righteous bastard! You’ll rot in hell!”
“What are you saying, honey?” Jerome asked.
“We did it in the church restroom countless times!” She said, “All the times I’ve invited her over to the church. I am so sorry, honey. It’s not that you don’t satisfy me. It’s just that…I couldn’t resist it. I am sorry, baby!”
Jerome raised his left hand and wrapped it around Chloe once more. “It’s okay, darling!” He said, “Stop crying!”
“I promise it’ll never happen again, baby.” She said, “I am sorry!”
They held each other as she sobbed.
“Hmm!” Greg remarked, “Beautiful…Beautiful story,” he sighed, “Plus, what a coincidence; our battery here’s at fifteen percent and you’ve got only fifteen minutes left! You two wasted more than forty minutes talking trash!”
“What?” Chloe said in shock.
“What do you mean?” Jerome asked as he lowered his hand off Chloe’s shoulder.
“It means when the battery runs down, we all die!” He said, “And when your fifteen minutes elapses you’ll lose your last child.” He pulled out a bubble gum from his pocket again and threw it in his mouth without unwrapping it. “That’s if it elapses before our battery runs down, that is!” He mumbled as he crossed his legs, “Then I’ll decide what to do with the two of you!”
“You’re sick!” Jerome yelled, “I’ll kill you!”
“I’ve been waiting for you to say that, Jerome!” He said, “The difference between us is I don’t talk, I act. When the thoughts come to me I just…get up and do it. When I moved in here I noticed that your family is different, you guys are not like the rest of them out there…At least that’s what I thought! You guys actually encouraged me to want to settle down, you know; have my own family and all. And when I grew fond of your kids I showed it in giving them whatever I felt they’d appreciate. They’re wonderful kids. But I think they deserve better guardians.”
“Greg, please!” Chloe said, “She’s just a little girl! Don’t take it out on her, whatever the beef is, not our little girl! I beg of you!” She sobbed, “Jerome, do something about it!”
“We told you all we did today, man!” Jerome said, “What more do you want? What have we done to deserve this? Why do you hate us so much, Greg?”
“I don’t hate you!” He said, “I don’t hate your kids! You’re the…haters here, not me, guys! I am just a product of your words!” He paused and sighed. After a long thought he smiled, “Can I ask you a question?”
Chloe turned and looked at her husband, “Yes!” She answered reluctantly.
“I’ll need an answer from any of you,” he said. “Now, what do you think will happen if the neighbourhood wakes up tomorrow morning to discover that your house was invaded and everybody was killed?”
Jerome and Chloe looked at each other, she held his hand tight.
“I asked you a question!” He added.
“They’ll call the police?” Chloe said.
“Well,” Greg remarked, “Yes, that’s for sure but…how do you think they’ll react to the incident? Do you think they’ll rejoice and say, ‘Oh thank God, it’s not my house? It’s not my family?”
“Well uh…” Jerome said, “Unless if they despise us, I don’t think anyone in the neighbourhood would say that!”
“Alright!” Greg said as he nodded, “I have another question.” He bit his lower lip, “Okay, let’s check out this scenario; let’s say you’re some leader or president of some sort or say, just an ordinary citizen. Now, let’s imagine this; say some crazy guy or some terrorist gets their hands on a nuclear bomb and then say they’d pick a country at random and fire their new found arsenal. And let’s say they launch it at a neighbouring country, killing almost everybody in that country. More than a million plus innocent lives, and say no harm gets to you and your loved ones, and the entire people of your beloved country…would you rejoice over that?”
“No.” Chloe and Jerome said in unison.
“Oh come on, guys!” He said, “No harm gets to you and your children, your jobs, lives and property is secured. You know, family and friends? Won’t you dance to it when it appears on the news that the bomb hits the neighbouring country and not yours?”
Jerome and Chloe nodded.
“No,” she said, “We won’t.”
“But at least you’ve got to thank God, right?” Greg added, “Besides, He saved you from total annihilation! So it’ll be wise to dance and rejoice and bless His name, eh?”
“Is it a trick question?” Chloe asked as tears rolled down her cheek.
“Nope!” Greg responded, “It’s no trick question, Chloe.” He stood to his feet and walked to where Samantha was laid. He stared at Samantha for a while in her sleep then leaned and picked her up. Greg held her close to his heart. Samantha stretched, yawned and continued sleeping. The couple were frightened.
“Please, not my little girl!” Chloe said, “She’s innocent! She hasn’t done anything wrong!”
“Are you sure?” Greg said as he giggled. “Has she been baptised yet?”
“She is just a kid, God damn it!” Jerome yelled. “Are
you insane?”
“Maybe I am, Jerome!” He said, “Maybe I am.” He kissed Samantha on the forehead. “You can just stand up and blow us all to hell so I wouldn’t harm your little girl, guys. What are you waiting for, huh?”
“You bastard!” Jerome yelled, “You’ll never get away with this! You’re a coward!”
“Are you yelling now, doc?” Greg said as he walked to the cushion and sat down. “We have a rule against yelling, remember?” He picked the remote.
“Uncle Grey?” Samantha whispered in a weak tone as she woke up from sleep. “Where-is-my-gift?” She mumbled.
“It’s around your wrist,” Greg said as he smiled, “See?” He pointed it to her.
“I want it,” She mumbled, “I want my gift. Take it off.”
Greg gently managed to take it off and handed it to her. She clung to it with her left hand and laid her head back on his chest. Greg pulled out the gun from his pants with his right hand and kept it on the small glass table then picked the dagger and stood up.
“Please no. Greg, please, don’t!” Chloe said. “Please, can I hold my baby?”
“You can’t have her,” he said, “she’s not safe in your hands.”
“But we confessed our wrongs!” Chloe added. “I can’t hold this any longer!” She wept. “I can’t let you do this!” She appeared restless on the chair as though she would stand up.
“You’ve confessed the wrongs you’ve done to one another.” He said, “Nothing you both said affected me in any way! This is about something you did today that pierced my heart. This isn’t about your