Chapter 3: Okayyy Daddy! (Kane) - Once I Find You

It takes a few hours, but once I identify the problem and fix it for him, I finally get my ass up from the hard cement floor of the shop and wipe my greasy hands with an old rag. The dealership was definitely trying to scam the old guy, but I guess he’s one of their main targets.

When I call him up, he lets me know he’ll be picking it up soon, so now I’m stuck waiting around with the shop open a bit later than I’d like.

Bacon has already wound down for the night, napping on his dog bed that’s kept in the shop. I’m surprised he hasn’t realized it’s about to pass his dinner time.

I take a few minutes to clean up, move his car out front, and lock the garage as I move to sit on the uncomfortable wooden stool behind the counter of the shop lobby. I sigh and take out my phone when I hear that familiar ding, and I see a text from my buddy Mason. We met in the army, and he’s probably the only person in my life besides my family.

Great. Now what?

I click the link, and I’m met with a photo.

A fucking photo of me.

Granted, it’s grainy, clearly from someone’s shitty home security footage, so you can’t make out much. Luckily, I never miss a beat, so I keep my balaclava, gloves, and long sleeve on at all times. But with this, the police might be able to profile me. My approximate height and weight will be fucking released to the public.

God, I dropped the fucking ball. I should have surveyed the area better before I chose to go around the side of that house. This is going to get out fucking everywhere.

Fucker. I could sit here and remind him that this “old man” ran fucking laps around him and was in charge of his ass for years in the army, but I’m too annoyed to even get into it with him.

Goddamnit, I almost forgot about that. I’ll have to set up my guest room this week. I’ll also have to move my next victim up so I can spend time with Mason while he’s in town.

I sigh as I open the article again, scrolling down through the stupid press release they wrote along with my photo. I get to the bottom of the page to read the community comments.

Daddy? What the fuck?

What the fuck is wrong with women these days? Have they gone mad?

Before I can even process the rest of these deranged comments, the little bell chimes and I look up as I see the old man, Frank, and who I can assume is his wife. I greet them and set my phone down as they walk over to the counter.

“Thank you again, this is half what they quoted me at the dealer to replace it,” Frank says with a relieved sigh as he hands over a few hundred-dollar bills.

“No problem, she should be running just fine now. You can come back whenever she acts up again.”

“This one too?” he jokes lovingly as he gently pats his wife’s arm. She clicks her tongue with a smile as she playfully swats him. She takes the keys and goes to wait in the car while we finish up here.

I can’t help the small smile that forms on my face. It must be nice…having someone like that for so long. “Your wife is beautiful.”

“Yeah…you should’ve seen her forty years ago! Don’t know how she picked me.”

We finish up, and he takes my business card with him so he can recommend me to some of his friends. Well, easy enough money and he was nice. Plus, all the better if he supports both of my businesses.

* * *

The rain hammers against the shutters of my apartment and the metal roof of the garage. I guess it’s peaceful. I chose to move all the way here because I didn’t mind the idea of rainy weather most of the year. It drowns out all the other noise of life. I need the noise or else I’ll sit and think too much. I have a habit of getting stuck in my own head.

I guess I have no hobbies, except for working on cars, killing, and working out. I don’t enjoy watching movies, I don’t enjoy strolls on the beach, and I certainly don’t enjoy meeting new people and going out to socialize.

It’s just me and…

“No Bacon, you ate already,” I say sternly as he whines by his food bowl, as if I starve him. He just stares at me with his sad, desperate eyes until I finally sigh and get up. “Fine, one more goddamn treat. But that’s it, you beggar.” His tail wags while I open the plastic treat jar and I toss him his favorite bacon-flavored treats.

As much as I didn’t want a pet at all…I guess it’s nice to have something to take care of. If he wasn’t here, I’d just be talking to myself; stuck in a never-ending routine, alone in my head.

Bacon kind of fell into my lap. This homeless man was sitting on the median with a puppy, and a sign offering him for ten bucks. It pissed me off, and I passed him, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what kind of terrible fucking person could buy a vulnerable puppy for so cheap, and what could happen.

So, I turned the fuck around. I was on the road, and I had nothing to take care of a dog. I stopped at a diner and brought him a side of bacon after I ate, and he barked at the smell of it.

Hence the name. He’s a bit of a mutt, but he’s loyal, like me.

“Okay? I gotta get some shit done now,” I say as I pet his head and make myself go get the guest room cleaned out a bit for Mason.

As I move shit around, I can’t help but be reminded that I have to move that box. The one I’ve been avoiding since I moved in here and put it out of sight in the guest room. My eyes keep finding it, and I can’t stop myself from walking over and opening the lid.

I sigh and pick up the broken picture frame that lays atop everything else and wipe the light layer of dust off the glass. The feeling I get when I see them is just… too hard to bear.

I knew I couldn’t stay in the army any longer after I lost them. I wasn’t myself anymore. It was something I should’ve done long before, so I could’ve been there for them. If I had been there like she asked me to be, they’d still be alive.

“Sorry,” I mutter, my hand touching the glass. I’ve said it a million times, but it never makes anything better. It can’t bring them back.

When I was pulled aside as I led recruits in training, I already knew something was wrong. It didn’t matter who was around; I dropped to my knees, and for the first and only time in my life, I sobbed.

Losing them turned my entire fucking world upside down. I’ve had four years now to cope, but it’ll never get easier. All I can do now is make a difference for them. Be a better man. Be there for people who need me. I’ll never make that selfish mistake again.

If I have to kill every person who made the same mistake as the one who killed them, I’ll do it. I’ll eliminate every fucking predator that exists, to make a world where no one has to feel the way I’ve been made to feel; this overwhelming emptiness and sorrow that haunts me and follows me relentlessly.

I set the frame down gently back into the box and put the lid back on. I bring it to the front room, setting it in the small utility closet by the front door and closing the door. Maybe one day I’ll be able to hang up the photo. I just don’t know how to face them yet.