Page 25 of Jacob Michaels is Dead

“Open up, Esther Jean Wagner!” Clancy Kelly pounded on the front door of the large house. “We know you’re in there! You open up right this second!”

Clancy, Darby, and their son, Aiden, all stood on the front porch of Esther Jean Wagner’s house, red-faced and angry, ready for a fight. They had allowed things to go on for as long as possible, but their patience was running thin. Robbie was nearly sixteen-years-old. Everyone was getting anxious, fearful that the day would come that it was too late to enact the plan. Esther Jean Wagner needed to do as she said and stop pussyfootin’ around about it. The boy had to go—one way or another. The Kellys had a new plan of their own. They weren’t going to wait for Robbie to go away. They’d take care of him themselves.

All three of the Kellys jumped back as the door finally swung wide, revealing Esther Jean Wagner, still in her bib overalls, plaid farmer’s shirt, and gardening clogs, her arms crossed under her breast. The Kellys, filled with piss and vinegar only moments prior, found themselves inching backward on the porch, putting more space between the open door and themselves. Esther Jean Wagner merely glared out at the three of them and their shotguns, not looking the least bit concerned by the firepower they had brought with them.

“What are you fools doin’ on my damn property?” Esther Jean Wagner barked. “Robbie’s in bed. If you wake him up—”

“We’re here for the boy.” Clancy Kelly managed to choke out, though the crack in his voice betrayed him.

“That so?” Esther Jean’s eyebrow raised precipitously.

“Give us the boy, Mrs. Wagner.” The Kelly’s eldest commanded in a voice no more authoritative or confident than his father’s. “Give us Robbie, and we can have this all done with once and for all.”

Esther Jean chuckled.

“You think that’s gonna stop anything, ya’ damn idjit?” She asked, her eyes boring into each of the Kellys eyes in turn. “You’re just gonna do away with him, and then you ain’t gotta worry no more?”

“That’s about right.” Mr. Kelly glanced at his wife, whose eyes were fixed on the floorboards of the porch, afraid to look up. “We’re tired of this nonsense. We want to end it once and for all.”

“He’s the last.” Esther Jean’s eyes shot over to Clancy. “There ain’t no more after him. You ain’t even givin’ him no chance to have any kids his own. There might be a distant relative, I supposed, but if you kill him—”

“Then we’re rid of this curse!” The eldest son of the Kelly’s barked, a little braver than he had been.

“You are the dumbest sonsabitches I ever had the bad fortune to look at in my life. Ugliest, too. If there was an award ceremony for stupid, you’d sweep the whole damn thing.” Esther Jean leveled them with her eyes. “He’s comin’ back one way or another. Somehow or some way. If you get rid of the boy, ain’t no one savin’ your sorry asses then. We’ll all be up Shit Creek without a paddle in a glass-bottomed boat.”

“We got a chance to end this for good, Esther Jean.” Mr. Kelly pled with her, no longer angry, simply lost for other solutions. “I don’t like it none—”

“I think it’s time for you, Clancy. Darby. Y’all need to retire down to Florida.” Esther Jean stated evenly, her pupils dilating until her irises disappeared into a black hole. “Get away from things.”

All three Kellys stiffened as their eyes locked onto Esther Jean Wagner’s.

“And you should just forget this ever happened, Aiden.” She addressed their eldest son. “That’ll get us right back on track.”

All three Kellys slowly nodded.

“We can’t leave.” Mr. Kelly seemed to have a thought, his voice pouring forth from his lips robotically. “He’ll never let us leave.”

“Well,” Esther Jean fluttered a hand in the air as if this meant nothing to her, “you’re just goin’ for an extended vacation. You ain’t tryin’ to escape, is ya’? So what if it’s a really long damn vacation? You drive on out of town feeling like you plan on comin’ back sometime in the future. But…don’t.”

Again, all three of the Kellys nodded along.

“Now,” Esther Jean Wagner’s irises emerged from the black hole of their pupils, “y’all get your pug-ugly asses off my porch, ya’ hear?”

The Kellys all shook their heads as if coming out of a dream.

“I don’t want to see none of y’all on my property ever again!” Esther Jean warned them. “If I do, I’ll be the one using a shotgun, damnit. That’s a damn promise.”

The door of the big house was slammed in the three adults’ faces. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly looked at each other, confused for a moment, then turned to walk away. Aiden, their eldest, simply fell in behind them.

“All she’s done is lie to me. To us.” I muttered under my breath. “I can’t trust her. She’s not my grandmother.”

“Babe,” Lucas reached over, his hand landing on my thigh gently, his fingers giving the flesh there a squeeze, “no offense, but what other bright ideas do you have?”

“I don’t.”

“Exactly.” He nodded firmly. “Who else is going to help us now?”

“How about,” I searched my brain for the name of anyone other than the woman claiming to be my grandmother but wasn’t, “Carlita?”