The Night Before The Holiday

“ Can you pass the salt Geneva?” Luke asked, pointing his hand to the shaker on the table.

Geneva picked it up slowly and raised it in the air.

“ You mean, may you” she insisted.

Luke’s mother, Nicole turned to Geneva. Her long weave swung as she did so.

“ Geneva, give the boy the damn salt”

A look of annoyance covered her caramel covered face. 

Geneva did not protest as she handed Luke the salt shaker.

Luke grabbed it, pouring it heavily on the potatoes that Geneva had prepared.

“Good lookin” he mumbled. 

“ Is that what you say when somebody hands you something?” Nicole asked.

“Thank you Geneva” he forced.

“ Geneva straightened herself in her seat.

“ You’re welco-“

“ And don’t say Geneva , say Miss Geneva. The woman is your stepmother”

“Not exactly “ said Leo.

Nicole glared at her oldest son.

“ Leo, please not today.”

“She doesn’t need to be my stepmom dork “Luke snapped at his older brother.

“ Dork? They teach you that at prep school” Leo mocked.

“ Leo!” Nicole shouted

“ No I learned it from your girlfriend “ Luke replied.

Nicole rolled her eyes.

“ Ok boys now that’s enough. This is a special day and nobody needs you two arguing at the table” 

“ Yeah, you guys are brothers” added Leo Senior. 

“ Dad, he’s not even your-“ 

“ I said that’s enough Leo” Nicole snapped.

“ Fine whatever”

Geneva cleared her throat. 

“ So um, Nicole, I absolutely love what you’ve done with the place.”

“ It looks the same since last time” said Leo Senior.

“ You should probably look into getting some glasses LT. I hear men your age often have sight problems”

“ and women your age need hair dye”

Carol, Leo’s sister, shook her head. 

“ you two are acting like the kids now”

“ oh relax Leo knows how we joke around “

“ so Um who made the corn?” Geneva interrupted again.

“You know, I used to think the two of you were made for each other”

“Ahem” Geneva coughed. 

“ Back when we’d have play dates for the kids”

“ I remember we’d stay up all night and play video games” said Louie, Nicole’s third born son.

“ And Lawrence used to wear those stupid cloud underwear ” Luke said, jokingly.

Hadeon laughed.

“ No, they were Superhero, dude. “

“ Jesus Hadeon , no one wants to hear your corny jokes” said his sister , Hailey.

She rolled her eyes.

Their mother Carol, raised her fork to them.

“ Children, behave. It was very nice of Nicole to invite us here for the holidays. With everything that’s going on.”

“Nonsense” said Nicole. “ You’re family”

“ Well I know that. We know that, it’s just that the holidays can be intimate. “

“ Carol, you’re my sister. “ Leo Senior added.

“ I know , but still, thank you all for allowing us to join”

“ It really isn’t a problem .”said Liam. 

“ See that’s what I mean when I say family is everything.

The lights flickered and then went off completely. 

“ Hadeon, can you help me in the basement?” Nicole asked, as she got up from her seat.

Liam, her estranged husband, cleared his throat.

“ I can help you Nicole”

“ Im fine, Liam. Hadeon’s the electrician. He can help. Can’t you?”

“ Hadeon help your aunt in the kitchen.” Said carol.

“ Uh, sure , yeah”

Hadeon finished his mashed potatoes quickly and rose from his seat.

Nicole walked out of dining room, Hadeon , right behind, 

“ You know where the fuse box is down here?” He asked.

“ Of course, I do, Hadeon. I live here “

“ Oh, yeah right. How long has it been now?”

“ 7 years”

“ Those clothes must be doing real good”

“ oh yeah, the windy times wants to an interview with me”

“ That newspaper, that’s super dope “

“ yeah I know right. It’s just the publicity we need”

“ I wish you were my mom”

“ Hadeon-“

“ Carol’s not bad really. She just doesn’t always do the right thing.”

“ No parent does. We’re just people just like you kids. Everything we do is for our kids”

“ Every moms not like you Aunt Nicole”

“ I know “

“ Where’s the fuse box”

“ Right over there”

“ Here”

“ Oh this is a simple one. You really didn’t need my help with th-“

He couldn’t finish his sentence. The pain removed the words from his mouth. 

It felt more like stinging to him. A unbearable stinging. The back of his head felt warm as the blood dripped. He could hear ringing in his ears. The room began to spin.

Hadeon held his head as he groaned in pain. He wasn’t loud at all, The cry was weak and quiet. His own blood began to cover his hands. 

Nicole stuck him again , using all her might to bash the hammer in the back of his head. He fell this time.

He panted softly as he curled up into a ball.

Nicole stood over him, holding the hammer.

He could barely see her. The room was spinning. 

He thought to himself how funny it was, all the things they say happens before you die. The light was real at least. He could see it shining in the distance. He could feel himself fading. 

“ How did you know what color underwear he wore. He wore one piece sleepers” Nicole yelled.

He wanted to tell her so many things.

But sorry , a groaned and barely audible sorry was all that he could muster up. And it was the last thing he said before the hammer hit him the last time. 

Nicole dropped the the hammer when his eyes closed. She put her hands on her face and sobbed. She had never done anything like this before. She had never murdered anyone. But no one is immune to rage.

“ Mom” A voice called to her.

Nicole turned to face her son. They were all grown up now. But she could only see them as they were years ago, childlike and cherubic. They stared at her. As well as she knew them, she couldn’t decipher the look in their eyes. Perhaps it was the adrenaline or the shock from murdering a man. Those things could numb your senses, your intuition.

Leo, the oldest , a 25 year old man now, was the first to speak.

“ Mom, what did you do?!”

“ It’s not what it looks like , LJ , you have to understand-“

“ You killed our cousin, mom!”

“Shut the hell up Lee” Lonnie said.

He was the second born, light skinned with brown curly hair. He was the tallest and largest of all the brothers. But he did not usually snap at his older brother. He was not the type to “ throw his height around”. Not until now at least.

“ Don’t tell me to shut up? Do you see this-?”

“Shut up before somebody upstairs hears you”

Leo lowered his voice, but the irritation remained.

“ You’re worried about someone hearing us when there’s a dead body on the floor.”

“ How do you know if he’s dead” Luke asked. 

He was the youngest at 16.

“ I don’t know, maybe the blood leaking from his goddamn head”

“ Listen Leo, mama needs you to calm down so she can think”

“Tough ass can’t handle seeing a dead guy, imagine that” Luke snickered. 

“ Oh shut up, you fuckin mutt” Leo snapped. 

“You watch your damn mouth”

“ Mom , you always take their side.”

“ listen to me, there is a dead man on our floor. So all this sibling rivalry bullshit that fuels your every step, ends now. You need to grow up your ass up now”

Leo froze as he listened to his mothers words. 

“ Do you understand “ she repeated.

He nodded.

“ Louie, stop” Lawrence, the third born called.

He ran over, trying to grab Louie from the back.

But Louie was older and more muscular.

“ Let me go” he said forcefully. 

He pushed against Lawrence.

Lawrence fell to the ground. 

Louie gave the body a hard kick in the stomach. And another. And another. He kicked the body a total of four times before Nicole and Lonnie and Luke was able to restrain him.

The brothers stepped back.

“ I know, baby. I know. Mama’s right here. “

He covered his face as he cried quietly.

“It’s all my fault mom. I’m sorry. It’s all my fault “

“ No it isn’t. It’s mine.”

Lonnie kneeled down and examined Hadeon. He was lying in a pool of blood. His face was battered from the kicking. 

“ We should cut his body into pieces” Lonnie said quietly.

Leo covered his mouth to stop himself from gagging.

“ Oh my god, I think I’m going to be sick”

“ What would we use?” Nicole asked her son.

“Mom you aren’t seriously thinking about this, are you? No, we need to call the police” Leo Jr replied.

“ No one is calling the police” Nicole said.

“ Then we need to do something quick mom” Lonnie insisted.

“ I know “ 

“ We gotta get him out of here”

“ And we need something to tell them”

“ don’t worry about them” 

“ there’s a saw down here somewhere, it’s my dads “ Luke added. 

“ I know where the saw is” said Lawrence.

“ And we’ll need gloves” Lonnie replied.

He looked up at his mother.

“ There’s some in the back “

“ So what do we do first”

“ Leo, where’s your suitcase ?”

“ Um , i don’t know, it’s upstairs”

“ Can you get it down here without anyone seeing you?

“ I don’t know, maybe.” 

The door creaked open.

“ Who’s that”

They could hear footsteps now. 

“ I don’t know “

“ You didn’t close the door”

“ neither did you” 

Liam , Luke’s father stopped in his track when he saw the body. He looked confused, but not afraid. 

“ Well now” he said, after the moment of silence.

“ This is interesting “

The door creaked open again. But no footsteps this time. 

“ Leo wanted to know if you wanted to smoke a cigar with us. Is the party down there now” Jupiter called down to them.

“ Nope. We’re just finishing up Everything’s fine”

The lights flickered one last time as they looked down at Hadeon’s bloody corpse.