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“You fly above vulnerable and weak people, those easily manipulated, but your favorite prey ain’t half dead or weak at all…

It’s the crème de la crème. You prefer to feast on those with somethin’ special that you wish you personally possessed.

Since they’re from your bloodline, it makes accessibility easy and manipulation grand.

You back them into a corner, and then you gobble them up, Cyrus.

In some strange way, you believe if they’re under your control, you’ll be able to take on those special gifts and talents. Consuming that which you desire…”

Grandpa cocked his head ever so slightly to the left and looked deeply into Kage’s eyes. He knew that look. It was the look of agreement, but also a piping hot hatred—a ‘ How did Kage know?’ sort of look.

“You first woo them—meaning me and my cousins first. The love bombin’ stage, as my fiancée calls it. Then, you break them! You break ’em so bad that they’re at the point they can barely lift their head due to embarrassment, pain, and shame.”

“You’re talkin’ crazy.” Grandpa chuckled. He said the words in a convincing way, but Kage knew better. “Eatin’ and breakin’ folks.” He tsked. “If I survive this insane time with you, your ass is goin’ straight to the funny farm, for life! How ridiculous!”

“Everything you lacked, Cyrus Wilde, you tried to form in your children. But they’re people.

Human. Not Voodoo dolls. You were at times disappointed, never blamin’ yourself, though.

Instead, you blamed them for not livin’ up to your expectations.

When you didn’t get everything you wanted, you focused on the grandchildren—us boys in particular, believing that we were your second chance at bat.

You can deny it all you want, but you see us as mere extensions of YOU.

We were never our own people in your eyes!

“You made a promise to God, an oath, you say? But you did it without our consent. You tried to take away our free will. Naw, Grandaddy, I don’t want to play with my food, motherfucker.

This ain’t play time, and I ain’t here to play no games.

Ain’t nothin’ about me that says I’m a motherfuckin’ Nintendo, or some got dang toy.

I’m a hunter, sir. A fine one, at that. I study.

I select. I stalk. I snare. Then, I slaughter! ”

He punched the old man in the face, then shoved his head deep below the current as Skip James’ sang ‘Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues.’ When he plucked him from the water, a trickle of blood ran from Grandpa’s nose. The two men looked at each other for a long while, neither saying anything.

“Do you know what they did to me in that fuckin’ hospital?

! They’d deprive me of sleep for days on end.

Kept me up in a bright lit room with strange noises goin’ all hours of the night.

They hooked me up to bizarre apparatuses, and hurt me.

They’d strap me to my chair, let me sit in a soiled diaper like I was some vegetable.

They’d ask me a bunch of crazy questions, and if I didn’t answer the way they thought I should, they’d put me in a dark closet for hours, days, one time for over a week.

Sometimes I wouldn’t get any water for a day or two.

Sometimes I’d only get a tiny bit of food…

punishment for tellin’ them how wrong they treated some of the patients that couldn’t fight back.

“They’d secure me to a bed and pump me full of drugs.

Sometimes it would make me sleep for so long, I’d wake up and days would be gone off the calendar, even though it felt like I’d only been out for five minutes.

They’d make tiny cuts all over my body. That’s why I started gettin’ tattoos in the first place!

To cover all the scars! I use art to erase them from my body, and create my own story!

They lied to Mama. Would tell her I had a contagious illness so she couldn’t visit, or drug me up real good before she came so I looked and sounded as crazy as you made me out to be!

Like I was out my fuckin’ mind. They were on your payroll, so they did whatever you said!

I wasn’t crazy when I went in there, BUT WHEN I CAME OUT, I WAS OUT OF MY GOTDAMN MIND!

You put me in that hospital because I saw the REAL YOU! ”

He dunked Grandpa’s head back into the water, slamming it hard against a rock.

He yanked him back up, and glared at the old man.

His face was now covered in weeping cuts and scratches.

Looks familiar… only he gets no artwork to cover it up…

Water driveled down Grandpa’s face, looking like braids made of clear liquid.

“You can lie to yourself, and to as many folks as you’d like, but you know the truth. I tried to kill you as a boy, and you damn well know why. I heard you on the phone…”

Grandpa blinked several times, as if coming to, his complexion blue and pale. His hair stuck to his face in dark gray and light silver ropes. Water wedged between his long lashes, and his beard shimmered with beads of water.

“Kage, you imagine things! You’d lost your mind!

None of what you’re sayin’ is true—it’s all delusion.

Now you’re tryna drown me! You were fuckin’ crazy then, and you’re crazy now!

Wait till they figure out I’m missin’ and that you kidnapped me.

They’re comin’ for you, boy, and they’ll shoot you dead! ”

“Ain’t nobody comin’ for me, sir, and if anyone was, so fuckin’ what?

” He shrugged. “I will kill any motherfucker that you send here, you son of a bitch. You can send ’em by air, and they’ll be flyin’ fast in an urn.

You can send them by car, then you can drive them away in their casket.

You can send ’em by horse, but they’ll trot off in a hearse.

Or I might just do what I do best: I’ll hide the body so good, not even that lady from Grandma’s favorite show, that Jessica Fletcher character from ‘Murder She Wrote’, could pin it on me, or find the damn corpse.

Makin’ my own graveyard don’t spook me out none.

I’ve spent most of my fucking life around the dead.

I’m comfortable with them. My daddy is dead—he was my first loss.

It’s the living folks that I worry about, Grandpa. ”

“Why do you hate me so much, Kage? All I did was try to make you a better man.”

He looked into Grandpa’s eyes, and could almost see the wheels spinning in that bastard’s head.

“Ghosts don’t make phone calls, but you did, and it sealed your fate.”

“What in the fuck is that supposed to mean? Your mama should have killed you soon as you came out of ’er.”

“And your mama should have driven a stake through your heart once she saw what a horrible piece of shit you were. Once she seen that you were turnin’ out just like your spiteful and violent papa.

Is that where I got it from, Grandpa?” He smirked.

“My need to kill? Only, my thing is this: I destroy all the bad shit in the world. Not innocent children like my great-grandfather…”

“GO TO HELL, KAGE!” Grandpa roared. Renewed passion and hatred clearly brewed within him. “You’re a monster, just like I’ve said for years! An abomination!”

“I ain’t never fucked with nobody that didn’t fuck with me first. I’ll tell you the truth today.

I’ll finally admit it.” Kage leaned in close to him, so close their noses touched.

“I like to see wicked men suffer…” Kage’s lips curled, and a sense of happiness overcame him.

“Guess what? I’ve got a torture chamber set up all nice ’nd pretty in my house.

I was going to take you to it today, but figured this here river would be better.

The water is always better when it comes to men like you, because demons hate to be baptized. ”

He forced the old man’s head back into the water, and delighted with how he kicked and flailed. He yanked him back up. Grandpa was even more peaked than before. The dunking and loss of air was taking its toll on him.

“Old man, I heard you talkin’ on the phone about my daddy that week I aimed to kill you…

” Grandpa’s eyes widened. “I was in your house, rushin’ ’round to find you to show you the drawing I had done.

You had always encouraged me with that, and I had just finished drawin’ a portrait of you.

I wanted to share it with you! I had you sittin’ atop a big black horse, ’cause you were my hero.

I searched everywhere for you in that big ol’ house of yours.

In the courtyard. In the kitchen. In your office.

Then heard you laughin’ in your bedroom.

“I got ready to knock, but I stopped ’cause you mentioned my daddy’s name…

I heard you say, ‘Kane.’ See, it all came together right at that moment.

My mama was planning to throw a memorial party in honor of my daddy on his birthday that year.

She always found ways to honor him. I heard you mention that party she was puttin’ together, and you said, ‘It would be funny if you went!’ But you were sayin’ it to whoever you were talking to on the phone. ”

“You must’ve misunderstood.”