It’s Just a Nightmare

This is a work of fiction. No real people, places or events were used. Copyright ã 2011 Plot Roach.

It’s Just a Nightmare

By Plot Roach

“Mommy! Mommy! The bad men are after me.” the boy said, running from his bedroom into the living room where his mother was waiting for him.

“Shhh, now. It’s just a nightmare.” she said, holding him to her and running a hand through his hair. She dried his tears and lifted him off of the ground. Holding him close, she began to sing as she rocked back and forth. Soon his breath became even and she knew he was asleep.

From the fire escape another stood watching them. It was almost like a dance, her rocking and singing. And he smiled at the thought that she loved her boy so much. The smile was short lived as he reminded himself of what he came to do. He reached for the gun, making sure it was loaded and that the silencer was on, though he doubted that he would use it on her. It was for if things got out of hand. He had a different end planned for her tonight. And if all went well, it would feed his own addiction for blood as well as fulfilling the contract.
He waited in the shadows and watched her put the lad back to bed. She kissed him on the forehead and tucked the sheets in around him, as if to protect him for what was to come. He would not hurt the boy. I have standards, he told himself. Just the mother, that was all. Tonight she had to die, and it could not be avoided, no matter if she were a mother or a monster. A contract was signed, money changed hands, and he had his orders.

She sensed him, he knew not how. But she might have been expecting him, or someone like him, for some time now. She turned, eyes shrink wrapped in tears, but she did not yell. She did not reach for a weapon. She merely nodded and walked to the fire escape where he waited.

He stiffened when she reached for her purse. “I just want my ID” she said. “I have the feeling that you won’t be leaving much for the police to identify me with.” He nodded, not trusting her until her hand left her purse with her wallet. She slipped the plastic card out of its holder and let the wallet fall to the floor. “I don’t want to do it here.” she said. “I don’t want my boy to see me this way. I don’t want him to remember me as… it will scar him for life.”

Even in the end, she was still thinking about her child. If only this could be different, he thought. He followed her down the fire escape and into the alley behind their apartment complex. He had a couple of hours to work on her, before the garbage men where scheduled to travel down this alleyway to find what was left of her body. He moved quickly and made sure that she felt little pain, not that he had been paid for that service. But he had had a mother of his own once. He only wished that she had been something like her.