The Misunderstanding

“I’ve gotta get out of here.”

Matt’s carry-on bag was packed. He quickly peeked through the shutters of his window. No one was outside yet. He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ran to the kitchen. His right hand shook as he opened the knife drawer and pulled out an ice pick, shoving it in his pocket. Matt went to the door again, looking through the peephole.

No one was there yet.

This is my chance.

He threw the door open, bursting out onto the lawn. A large hand suddenly shot out from next to the door and grabbed him by the neck. He panicked as he was lifted off the ground. The face of his attacker came into view.

“Shit,” he croaked.

“Nice to see you too,” the grappler replied, showing off his pearly whites. “Did you think that you could skip town without paying me my money!”

His attacker, Benny (as Matt had been told to call him on a previous meeting), carried Matt back into the house, pulling the door shut. He then proceeded to slam Matt into the back of the door. His head bounced back easily. Matt’s vision became blurred. He could only see the vague shape of his couch as he was hurled towards it. He missed and hit the wall above it. There was an audible crack as he collided with drywall and fell onto his couch, the final bounce knocking him to the floor.

Please let that have been the wall…

He tried to pull himself to his knees. A red fluid dripped onto the floor. His ear was bleeding. Placing a shaky hand on the back of his head, he could feel a sticky substance in his hair as well.

Footsteps lumbered behind him. A large hand grabbed his hair and pulled him upright. He couldn’t bring himself to scream.

“Well fucker? Where’s my money!”

“I-I don’t have money…I told you—“

“Bullshit!”

Matt was brutally turned around to face Benny, who promptly punched him in the stomach. He doubled over, making Benny lose his grip on his hair. “I...” he wheezed, crawling backwards. “I told you…that you’ve got the wrong guy. I don’t gamble.”

“Then why the fuck would someone at my casino use your ID?”

“My wallet was stolen two months ago!”

Benny looked to his left at a small table with a lamp. He picked it up, wrenching it from the wall. “Where’d you get the money for this, huh!”

He proceeded to throw the lamp at Matt’s head. Matt ducked as well as he could in his position. The lamp exploded on the ground behind him.

I’ve gotta fight back!

He quickly stood up, ignoring the nausea from the head trauma. Benny was upon him in an instant, raising his foot to kick him in the side.

Now!

He prepared his arms, catching Benny’s leg and twisted, sending Benny flying into another wall. He connected and fell down with a thud. He didn’t get up right away, but Matt could tell he was still alive. The move had probably caught him unprepared. Matt turned and staggered towards the door.

Whack.

He was knocked flat again by Benny’s foot on his back. The attack knocked both wind and blood out of Matt as he fell into the door. His right hand fumbled for his pocket. Benny grabbed his left hand and spun him around just as he brought out the ice pick. He stabbed.

Benny screamed in pain as the ice pick speared his chest, then slumped on top of Matt, knocking them both back into the door. The weight was too much; Matt slid down until Benny was now close enough to the ground to roll off. Matt was silent for a moment as he watched the life drain out of Benny like the blood from his wound. There was a complete silence in the house.

“Oh my…oh, my God!”

He felt nauseous. He had killed a human being. It was so different from the movies.

But he stilled his vomit and slowly made his way to a cordless phone on the wall. He dialled three digits and listened to the ringing.

“Oh God, please pick up!

”911 Emergency, how may I help you?

The relief was too much. Matt burst into tears. He could get help. The operator called out to him over the wire to calm down and explain what was going on. After a moment, he had calmed down enough to speak between sobs.

“I need an ambulance. I just killed an intruder.”