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He watched as she exited the bar and walked into the humid night air. The cloudless sky was set ablaze with twinkling stars. He tried to say she had changed her life around, but yet this sinner still worked in Satan’s den. Alcohol was one of Satan’s most insidious servants. Drunken heathens tarnished their souls through the sins of the flesh in Cherie’s and the other bars.
The moonlight helped illuminate his way. He took a deep breath and let the bayou air fill his lungs. A smile creased across his face, and his heart pounded.
It was time for her to be absolved of her sins. It was time she confessed her worldly sins. Oh yes, he knew she had sinned. She was ready to ask for forgiveness, to give her life for the one he loved.
***
NIGHT HAD FALLEN, AND the security lights were on in the bar’s parking lot. The darkness cloaked the bayou in varying shades of black. The noise of the bar faded, competing out here with a chorus of frogs singing and the incessant chirps of crickets. The air was fresh with the scents of the season. She breathed in the smell of the jasmine, wisteria, and honeysuckle as it mixed with the dank smell of the bayou.
Misty Olivier had worked at Cherie’s for going on two years now. If they didn’t need the extra money, then she would be at home with her family. But money was tight and every extra little bit helped. Ever since the moratorium on offshore drilling was put into effect, her husband’s pay had been cut. She kept hoping that the freeze would be lifted, but it had been a slow process. Tonight she was dead on her feet, but at least it was a short walk home.
The skin on the back of her neck prickled with fear when a noise from behind startled her. She slammed a hand to her heart as terror took over her senses. A figure appeared from the shadows, simply staring at her and saying nothing. His eyes glittered in the eerie silvery light cast from the moon. A shiver of apprehension snaked down her back. She started to second guess her decision to walk home, maybe she should have asked Jeff, her husband, to come and pick her up tonight.
She wasn’t sure what was happening. At first she didn’t notice, but as the fog lifted from her mind she realized she was restrained to a table. Her head felt heavy, her hands clumsy. Her body didn’t want to cooperate. She knew this man, grew up with him.
“So now you know,” he whispered in her ear. His voice chilled her to the core. She cringed in fear. “Today is the most important day of your life. You must pay for your sins. Are you ready for your soul to be cleansed?”
His cold eyes staring down at her could only mean her time had come. This was not how she wanted to die. She felt his eyes glaring at her breasts, as goosebumps covered her body. She couldn’t help but shiver.
The smell of incense burning filled the room and he incessantly chanted a prayer. Sheer terror curdled her blood as her throat constricted. She tried to free herself, but the restraints were too tight. Was he the man who had dumped the bodies in the bayou? Could he really be that cruel?
Although she was terrified to death, her feisty nature took over. A charge of bitter reality surged through her; unbridled rage pulsed through her body. She had always been told she was too strong willed, sometimes to a point beyond reason. The thought of him touching her made her cringe. “What’s wrong, you can’t get a woman any other way than by abducting her and tying her up? I bet you can’t even get it up.”
When she saw the rage in his eyes, she realized that maybe she had pushed him too far. She should keep her mouth shut just this once, especially if she wanted to live through this.
“I don’t want your body, I want to save your soul,” he seethed to her.
She let out a crazed laugh. “What gives you the right to judge me?”
“You are a sinner and must be cleansed.” She looked into his eyes and saw a craziness there that scared her. Maybe if she agreed with him, he would let her go.
He walked towards the table, calm and in control. She flinched at the sight of the knife. It cut through her flesh, sending white hot pain searing through her body. Why is this happening to me? The room spun as the pain assaulted her body. Terror clawed through her brain. She desperately tried to free herself. She watched in horror as her blood pooled on the floor.
She pleaded with him, “Please, please spare me. I have sinned, I beg for your forgiveness.” He smiled, glad that she had confessed to her sins.
“Please, you don’t have to hurt me anymore. I confess to Almighty God that I have sinned.” She felt her strength failing. She had no energy left to fight. The image of her captor’s face blurred. She became weak; her attempts at survival were frail and futile. Her body went limp.
“You must atone for your sins,” he informed her. “It is God’s word.”
When she regained consciousness, she felt as if she had been run over by a semi truck. Her face throbbed in pain, along with the rest of her body.
This demented man was unrelenting in his dark, deadly purpose. She was ready for death; the pain had become unbearable. His brutal strength was no match for her. Agony tore through her at the realization she would never see her husband and child again. When she looked into his eyes, she could see the true depths of his evil.
The deluge of her past sins, of those she had wronged washed over her. There were so many people, some who had loved her and she hurt them. She tried to make up for it, sought to make a better life, but it was too little, too late, and this was her punishment. Would her son remember her? Would her husband mourn her death or would he let her death turn him bitter? Would he marry again? Would her son call the new wife mommy? Would anyone know what happened to her?
***
HER DEATH DID NOT COME mercifully. Her screams became almost deafening. Pain was an integral part of redemption. It excited him immensely when he cleansed a tormented soul.
With a glow of victory in his eyes, he grinned as he looked over her lifeless body, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit I release you my child. Your soul is cleansed. Go in peace.”
Now that he had been found out it wouldn’t be as easy to dispose of the bodies by sinking them to the bottom of the bayou. They were looking for him so he must change how and where he disposed of the bodies. The closer he moved to the Gulf of Mexico the riskier it would be to get rid of her. The most effective manner for ensuring the adequate obliteration of her body was to dispose of it from the bow of the boat while underway. The body would travel under the hull of the vessel and thru the propellers.
Making sure no one was near, he tossed her overboard and prayed God forgave her sins and let her into His Kingdom.