CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

-SAILOR-

 

“With a love that winged seraphs of Heaven.”

- Edgar Allan Poe

 

Sailor lay horizontally on the backseat in Erin’s van as he drove him to the next destination. His eyes were covered and his arms and legs were bound so he wouldn’t get away. As the vehicle drove down the highway, his lips trembled due to being so frightened. All he wanted was his mommy and daddy but they never came.

Maybe they don’t love me anymore, he thought.

For some reason, in that moment, Sailor remembered the long conversations he would have with his mother in his room. When they were at home. At first he thought it was weird that his mother would talk to him about what to do if someone kidnapped him but now he realized he was wrong.

Sailor, although young, knew he had to think if he wanted to stay alive. It was time to revert to the nights Roman taught him basic survival techniques. “I have to go to the bathroom,” Sailor announced as he turned his head in the direction of the driver. Although Sailor couldn’t see Erin, he could feel his evil presence.

“You gonna have to hold it,” he said groggily. “You gonna be where you going in a minute so relax.”

“But I can’t hold it,” he whined. “Please. I got to go pee-pee. You want me to do it here?”

“If you piss in my ride, little nigga, I’ll break your fucking neck,” he growled looking at him in the rearview mirror. It was already annoying that Yoko asked him to take the kid to his cabin in a rural part of Maryland. He didn’t feel like doing that. But he’d long since learned that for Yoko there wasn’t much that he wouldn’t do, no matter how much shit he talked. At the end of the day, he cared for her, always had and always would.

“But I got to go now,” Sailor persisted. “It’s coming out.”

“Fuck,” he yelled as he hit the steering wheel. “Don’t piss in my van. I’m pulling over now.”

The last thing he wanted or needed was his van smelling like urine. So with an attitude, he steered to the gas station even though Yoko told him not to make any stops. Since he was the man and she wasn’t, he figured one pause wouldn’t stop the show.

Once parked, he crawled in the backseat and removed the boy’s ties. Before getting out, and with a long finger pointed in Sailor’s face, he said, “If you try to escape, or if you tell anybody anything, I will kill you.” He pulled Sailor’s ear. “Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” he nodded wiping the tears off of his face with the back of his hand.

“Then come on. We got to hurry up.”

Erin grabbed him by his arm and hustled him toward the bathroom at the gas station as if he were a bag of garbage. A few tenants thought he was handling the child a bit roughly but Erin’s mind was too unfocused to recognize that he was gaining unwanted attention.

When they finally made it to the men’s bathroom, Erin pushed the kid in a stall and slid inside with him. Erin dropped to his knees and unzipped the boy’s pants. From the outside, it looked bad but again Erin didn’t care.

“I can do it myself,” Sailor said, not feeling how close he was to him.

“Listen, you little fucker,” he said gripping his arm. “I’m not letting you out of my sight. So either you piss while I’m in here or you don’t go at all! What you wannna do?”

“What are you doing in there with that little boy?” A woman asked Erin from outside of the stall.

Erin’s heart pumped wildly and he looked at Sailor in a threatening manner again. “Stay quiet,” he whispered through clenched teeth. He directed his attention to the woman. “Ma’am, this is my son. I’m simply taking him to the bathroom.” He paused. “Furthermore, this is the men’s bathroom. Not sure why it’s any concern of yours.”

“I know what it is. I’m in the right place. And if you’re helping the same kid I saw you walk in with, he seems old enough to go to the bathroom himself if you ask me.”

“Well thankfully, no one’s asking you.”

Ignoring Erin, the woman said, “Son, are you okay in there? If you’re not you can tell me.”

Erin pulled his fingers into a fist and pumped it several times in Sailor’s face.

“Son, are you okay in there?” she persisted, taking one step closer to the stall.

Sailor swallowed and said, “Yes, ma’am. I’m fine.”

“Okay then. Just checking.”

“Are you satisfied?” Erin said taunting her. “If you want to see a man’s dick so bad why don’t you get one!”

“Fuck you, pervert!” she said before storming out slamming the bathroom door behind her.

When they were alone Erin continued to help Sailor with his pants. But when Erin turned his head, Sailor grabbed the small knife his mother gave him that was strapped to the inside of his pants leg, next to his sock. It had been there the entire time but when they checked his pockets for a cell phone, they didn’t bother to think that he’d have anything at the lower part of his pants leg. He almost forgot about it himself.

With the weapon in his hand, Sailor stabbed him in the neck just like Roman taught him. Firmly in the carotid artery.

Erin’s eyes widened and he held onto his neck, giving Sailor the time he needed to rush out of the stall.