We Know One Another

Charlie swore he saw the guy before. Sure, the city was a big place and he knew a lot of guys who had the same haircut, wore similar clothes and had similar faces. There was just something about this guy that stood out though. He didn’t look like the other guys in Charlie’s world. He didn’t wear a tailored suit, gel up his hair with pomade or tan by the looks of him. In fact, this guy looked like he did anything but take care of himself correctly. What the hell had he done to deserve an invite to a killer place like this?

Charlie felt a sick feeling of revulsion creep into his stomach as he glanced over at the guy from across the club. He hadn’t wanted to come that night but Larry Lombardo had insisted. According to him, “every made man goes out for a drink after his induction” and so they had. The other members of the Lombardo crew were scattered around the club, each of them having found a date to cozy up with for the night’s festivities. Charlie couldn’t understand why some of these guys had such a way with women while most women looked at him like he were some sort of bloodsucking alien. Perhaps that was why he thought outing his last girlfriend as a rat was a good idea. It had certainly gotten her off his back.

And out of his life.

Charlie lit up a cigarette and glanced over at the man again, this time getting a closer look. He was dressed in a black suit and wore a dark, dusty wide brimmed black hat. His hair was dark and hung down into his face. It was long, spilling over his shoulders and parting in the middle of his forehead, framing his angular face almost like a curtain to a stage. Across his nose was a long, jagged scar that crept into one of his eyes, making one cloudier than the other. He had a distinct goatee and his eyes were a wild amber, blazing at Charlie from across the bar. Charlie took another drag and averted his eyes. What was this guy’s problem? Why did he keep staring at him like that?

“Crazy night, eh?”

Charlie jumped, looking over to see Terry Tonano, who he thought had been dead for the past six months. He’d been there in the Pine Barrens when they’d whacked him for ratting on the operation. He watched his body disappear into the swamp! There’s no way he could be here! Charlie’s eyes went wide as he pointed to Terry, who gave him a grin, a thick cigar sticking out of his mouth like it always used to.

“Terry? I think you’re dead.” Charlie said, his voice wavering. The lighting around them changed, going from a soft, silhouetted yellow to a bright, bold red. The music began to shift, slowing slightly as Terry bobbed his head in time in between puffs of his cigar.

“Yeah, kid?” Terry said, “And who’s fault is that?”

Charlie looked at him, another sickly feeling washing over him as one of the night’s escorts came over, running her hands across Terry’s large chest.

“Oooh, come on, Daddy. Let’s dance.” She purred into his ear, moving her body in time with the music, getting into sync with Terry. The two looked at one another, embracing passionately as they began to kiss. Charlie felt tightness in his chest and looked over at where the strange guy had been standing a second ago. This time, however, as he looked over, the man had vanished from where he’d been standing. Charlie breathed a sigh of momentary relief but felt it hitch in his throat as he turned to see the man walking near him.

No… walking to him.

Nervous, Charlie turned and patted the countertop and called an order down to the bartender, “Pour me another one please, would you?”

“It’s on me.”

Time went still, the music seeming to quiet down ever so slightly, even the lights feeling as if they had gone dim at the very sound of his voice. The black suited was now right beside Charlie at the bar, his eyes not leaving him. Charlie hadn’t even heard him approach the bar let alone set up camp right next to him. Still, he wanted to avoid any confrontation, feeling uneasy enough.

“Much appreciated.” Charlie said as he tried to relax, leaning against the bar.

“It’s my pleasure. After all, it’s not every day a man gets made in this town. Isn’t that right, Charlie?” he asked, rising his eyebrows expectantly. Charlie swallowed hard, sweat breaking out across his back. Why was this guy giving him such a bad feeling? Regardless of that, he had to remain calm. Be cool. Stay collected.

“That is right.” Charlie agreed, putting on his best phony smile as he turned and looked at the man in the black suit head on. Though he wanted to stop smiling, Charlie kept the grin up despite his initial shock.

“Say… how did you know my name?” Charlie asked. The man in the black suit kept staring back at him, his eye unblinking, the one cloudy one seeming to stare directly through Charlie, right though his very soul. Or… at least it felt that way.

“We know each other. Don’t we, Charlie?” the man asked, his voice cold and direct. Charlie let out a strained breath, screwing up his face a bit.

“Do we… ?” he asked. The man’s eyes did not leave him.

“Of course we do, Charlie. We’ve met a few times, in fact. Don’t you remember? The Pine Barrens? Outside that diner in Yonkers? Junkyard in Boonton. Yes, you had to meet me many times over in order to even be considered for this esteemed honor.” He clarified. Charlie nodded, not knowing if that should make him feel better.

“Really?” Charlie said as the bartender dropped off the drink. He reached for it and took a sip. The man in the black suit’s eyebrows went up. “Don’t really… remember meeting a guy like you is all.”

The man in the black suit smiled, “I’m sure there’s a lot you don’t like to remember. People you don’t like to remember seeing. Speaking of not seeing things, aren’t you going to read the label on your drink?” he asked. Charlie looked down at the glass, seeing that it had a white sticker plastered to it, something written in black marker across it in an untidy scrawl that read “Drink Me”. Charlie frowned.

“Just says to drink it.” He said. The man in the black suit tilted his head.

“You sure you should? Could be poison.” he suggested.

Charlie looked down at the label again, this time moving his thumb slightly, revealing part of the message he hadn’t seen before. It read “DON’T Drink Me”. Charlie swallowed hard, feeling sweat break out on his brow. The man in the black suit smirked a little. Charlie felt his heart drop into his throat.

“How’d you do that?” he asked in a hoarse whisper. The man in the black suit’s grin broadened.

“Why don’t you call Mandy and ask her?” he asked. Charlie thought about it for a moment before fishing around for his phone. As he searched, a sharp ringing cut through the air as the man in the black suit reached into his coat, pulling out a small flip phone.

“Here. Use mine.” He said, thrusting the phone into Charlie’s chest, “I think it may be for you, anyway.”

Charlie looked at the phone, his world slowing down. The vocalist’s words became distorted as music slowed to an almost unbearable degree. The sounds on the other end of the phone, however, were loud and clear:

“Charlie? Charlie, baby, I didn’t know no better!” the voice on the other end said, high and full of fear. Charlie looked from the phone to the man in the black suit, who was still grinning. Terry Tonano’s date had now worked her way into his shirt and was fumbling with the zipper to his trousers, the two of them making loud, obscene sounds as they continued to kiss passionately. Charlie tried to press “END” but the voice on the other end remained on the line.

“Shit…” Charlie swore, rubbing the sweat from his brow. He gave the man in the black suit an accusatory look, “What is this, some kind of sick joke?”

“Again, why don’t you ask Mandy?” the man in the black suit repeated, gesturing to the phone, his eyes not leaving Charlie’s, “I think she has something she needs to tell you.”

Charlie felt panic began to stir in him, his breathing coming quicker and quicker as the voice on the other end of the phone rang out again, quaking with fear now.

“Charlie, baby, please! I never said nothin’, I promise! I would never hurt you, baby, please! DON’T DO THIS!”

Charlie squeezed his eyes shut and tried to slam the phone closed, but it wouldn’t budge. He glanced at the man in the black suit again, who was grinning wider than ever now, his amber eyes now sparkling with wonderment. Charlie didn’t like this sort of wonderment.

“That’s very funny. What the hell is this, huh? You tryin’ to play a joke on me?” Charlie asked, attempting to make his voice rough. The man in the black suit raised his eyebrows.

“Oh there’s no joking about it, Charlie. All three of us know how you came to be here tonight.” He said. Charlie swallowed and tugged at his collar, feeling sweat creep onto his brow yet again.

“All three of us?” Charlie asked. Now, there was a second voice, coming from the phone. This time, it wasn’t the voice Charlie had heard before. Now, it was the same icy, toneless voice used by the man in the black suit.

The man that was standing right in front of him with his smiling lips pursed.

“Yes, Charlie. All three of us.”

The man in the black suit smiled at Charlie, speaking to him one last time from the cell phone’s speaker,

“Now be a good boy and give me back the phone.”

Charlie obeyed, handing the small phone to the man in the black suit. The man took the phone and flipped it shut before depositing it into his pocket. The red light of the club was now beginning to soften, mixing with a brilliant shade of blue. The man in the black suit gave Charlie one final smile before extending his index finger towards him, signaling him out.

“We’ll see each other again, Charlie.” He said, the lights becoming brighter and brighter as the music began to get louder. As it grew louder, a high, humming sound soon joined in as the lights began to flash, sending spells of nausea cascading through Charlie as he struggled to keep eye contact with the now fading man in the black suit, who was beginning to make his exit. Charlie shook his head, trying his best to reach forward and stop him. Before he could, the words of the man in the black suit played through his head again, as musical as the night’s performance.

“We’ll see each other again really soon.”

Suddenly, just as quickly as it had gotten loud, the music and the lights got soft again as the man in the black suit turned swiftly and began to walk away. There was another ringing sound, this time coming from Charlie’s cell phone. Charlie fished it out of his pocket and answered,

“Yeah?”

“Mr. Cansano? This is Agent Hargrove, calling to ask you a few questions. First of which would be, have you seen your girlfriend, Amanda Costello in the past few days? We were trying to get in touch with her regarding some information?”

“…yeah?” Charlie repeated again, his eyes lingering on the man in the black suit as he slowly began to make his way out of the party, tipping his hat to Charlie as he went. As he turned, he began to whistle a familiar tune that Charlie was able to recognize. It was the song he’d always heard in his Uncle’s old Pinto, the one that would always play on the radio. The words played in Charlie’s head as the voice on the other end of the phone continued to ask him questions.

“All our times have come,

Here but now they’re gone…”

Charlie felt his breath shake as he held his phone, his shaking hand very close to dropping it entirely as he realized just what the song was. The lights had calmed down but were still fading, in and out, red and blue mixing together in his mind.

“Mr. Cansano? Mr. Cansano, can you hear me? Mr. Cansano!” the voice called on the other end of the phone.

Only the voice wasn’t on a phone. It was in Charlie Casano and Amanada Costello’s apartment, nearby Charlie’s lifeless body. His brains stained the walls of his modest apartment, covering the white carpet with a fine, red mist. A young woman wept nearby, recounting her story to a Agent Hargrove, all the while the radio continued to play, the words playing out into the night.

“Come on baby,

Don’t fear the Reaper

Baby take my hand,

Don’t fear the Reaper

We’ll be able to fly…”

“So, he comes home and before you can explain, he hits you, chokes you and shouts at you then forces you down to the floor?”

“…yeah, that’s what he did. Then… he said that ‘No skank ass whore is gonna tell me how to live my life’ and then he… he said he was gonna choke me until I couldn’t breathe no more. God… I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do until I remembered the gun he keeps strapped to him…”

Mandy still had blood on her from where Charlie had been shot. She didn’t fancy herself a very good shot but she supposed adrenaline had done it for her. She looked down at the sheet that covered what used to be her boyfriend and began to weep again. The lady investigator that called herself Hargrove handed her a kleenex.

“It’s all right now, Mandy.” Agent Hargrove said, “He won’t hurt you anymore. You saw to that, thankfully. You’re safe now.”

Mandy dabbed at her tears with the kleenex and blew her nose noisily. She looked from her boyfriend’s corpse to Agent Hargrove.

“What’s gonna happen to me now?” she asked. Hargrove stood, gathering their documents and materials as Mandy lit a cigarette.

“We think it best you if you come with us for the night. We’ll see if we can get in touch with some friends of yours and get you put up someplace safe until we have all the details.” Hargrove said. Mandy’s breath shook.

“I killed my boyfriend… Oh God… I’m gonna go to jail for the rest of my life.” She wept, beginning to break down again as she continued to smoke pitifully. The investigator placed a conforting hand on her shoulder.

“We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen. You just keep your head up. I’m going to go discuss with the other officers and then we’ll see about getting out of here for the night. Does sound okay?”

Mandy’s lips pouted as she wiped her cheeks with the kleenex, her mascara beginning to run into her eye. She managed a nod which was Hargrove’s cue to make good on her statement, getting up to go and discuss with the other officers, leaving Mandy to calm herself on the couch. Charlie’s body lie nearby, never able to move again as she smoked, watching out the window as the clouds of smoke began to billow out.

“I thought I knew him so well.” Mandy said quietly as she gazed out the window, “I never thought he’d hurt me.”

Mandy listened as the sounds of their radio played distantly from the bedroom, the melody of a familiar tune traveling through the dense, night air. As Mandy looked, her voice caught something or, rather, someone standing on the street below. Someone in a wide brimmed black hat and a black suit who was whistling along with the music.

Mandy looked down at the street, hearing the whilsting as the music played from the bedroom. It had begun to rain and yet the figure in black down on the street glanced up at her, his eyes sparkling as he locked eyes with her for a moment. Mandy stopped, watching the man’s next move intently. After a low rumble of thunder, the man gave her a nod, pointing to her. Mandy froze. What was he doing?

The man in the black suit grinned his toothy grin and tipped his hat to her, giving her a small salute as he pulled his hand away. He let his smile fade away as he began to whistle again, the words of the song from the bedroom playing him out as he went on his way, walking silently down the darkened city street.

“Come on baby,

Don’t fear the Reaper

Baby take my hand,

Don’t fear the Reaper

We’ll be able to fly

Don’t fear the Reaper

Baby I’m your man…”

Mandy watched him leave until he had vanished out of sight, all of the worries she’d been carrying over her boyfriend becoming a major made man leaving with him. She turned, put one foot in front of the other and stepped over Charlie’s body and into the unknown.