Most crime statistics go unnoticed by the public. Murders, rapes, armed robbery and such are commonplace in almost any sizeable city. The only ones who care anything about the statistics are the victims themselves--the ones who have to live with the pain. If the victim is lucky, the physical pain will subside and their flesh will heal. But most victims harbor deep emotional scars, reliving the horrible events at night. Some people can get over the emotional hurt with the passage of time. Some can’t. In Benny’s case, it wasn’t just this one night of beating--it was twelve years of mental anguish that culminated in a beating. Twelve years of being humiliated in front of his friends by bullies who punched him in the school hallways just because their paths crossed. Twelve years of those same bullies strong-arming him for his money on the school bus. And twelve years of threats, as Frank warned, “If I ever see you alone, you’re a dead man, Christ killer.” And dozens of other miseries Benny lived with throughout his school days--regretting that he never had the courage to fight back.
Sure, Benny’s body healed and his teeth were fixed. His parents could well afford the best. And yes, Benny entered college that fall and fit in just as he planned. But the real story doesn’t begin until almost twenty years later. Like the seventeen year locusts emerging from the ground for a brief appearance to wreak havoc on the crops, only this was nineteen years later. It took this long for the seeds of that beating to take hold, festering into mania. Those seeds were watered by the scars on Benny’s body, a constant reminder of that horrific night. Those four thugs were not to be forgotten. Not even for a moment. When Benny jogged, went to sleep, or made love to his wife, the night of the beating was with him. He fantasized about taking revenge for almost twenty years. And during these years he led an exemplary life; a chiropractor with a thriving practice located in a modern, two-thousand-foot stand-alone building on Hohman Avenue in Hammond, Indiana, just 13 miles from the incident. He married his college sweetheart, Marsha Horwitz, also from Gary, and together they had two children, Joshua and Rachel. They were the typical Jewish family. But with the dormant creature inside, awakened from its tortured soul, it was time to take that walk out of the lagoon.