Dark Carpentry: Chapter 9 - You Just Do It

                       Chapter 9

                 You Just Do It

The light in the garage shone down the front of Will’s body and caused a glowing halo effect seen from behind. He was in his usual work garb, blue t-shirt, Khaki shorts with cargo pockets. He strapped on the furry, leathery, brown belt with a bit more purpose during the early morning.

His eyes weren’t focused on what he was doing, it was all muscle memory. His thick calloused hand grabbed a handful of nails and just before he placed them in his belt, he thought of an idea.

* * *

He opened the kitchen cabinet and his hands searched through canned food. He paused, for a few seconds, shaking his head in defeat. His right hand went over his brow, rubbing his eyes. He exhaled, then his eyes widened and shook his head again quickly. He opened the cabinet door next to the refrigerator.

The spice rack! He thought out loud. He spun the rack until it suddenly stopped it when the front spice bottle was garlic. He allowed himself a slight smile then his eyes shot at the door that held the bowls. He took out a bowl and shook a bit of the grainy garlic into it. He stopped sprinkling, took the black plastic cap off the garlic bottle “Ah, what the heck.” He dumped the whole bottle into the bowl. Now was not the time for a light touch.

He went back into the garage with the bowl in his hand.

He dumped two to three handfuls of nails into the bowl filled with garlic water. Will stood above the bowl and put his two right fingers to his head and both shoulders. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer. Several minutes passed He wiped his right eye then loaded a cartridge of nails into his nail gun and loaded a new compression canister. He put the rest of the nails into his front pouch and buttoned it up. Every nail counted this time. As usual, his favorite hammer, hung on the wall. On the handle the words “The Crucifier” were etched into the dark blue handle. He snatched it off the protruding prongs and whirled it around like an old gunslinger about to enter battle. Just before he dropped the hammer in the belt loop another epiphany came to him. He stood, faced forward, and looked up at the lit wooden cross on the wall. He allowed a wrathful idea to wash over him, looked down at the hammer in his hand and allowed himself to smile.

* * *

Will donned plastic goggles as he cut into a two-foot wood 2x4 block with a band saw. He had to be quick about this, no time for perfection. It had to be crude and effective.

After spending a good hour sharpening the end into a point he blew off the sawdust. He held the the wooden handle and his focused blue eyes looked down a the wooden spike-tip. No, it wasn’t perfect but it was good enough for now. He took out his metal hammer from the holster loop and the wood handle easily and smoothly fell into the loop hole. He felt a kind of holy blessing wash over him armed with new weapon and an honorable sense of purpose. Somewhere in his being he felt that he has always meant to construct this new tool. He felt like his father, grandfather and great grandfather were watching him with pride, guiding him, giving him their blessing.

Like Excalibur was to King Arthur, this new Crucifier was Will.

Next, he put on his silver cross necklace, a gift from his late father. It had passed from generation to generation. Where had it originated he wondered? He had no clue, all he knew was that it was here for him to act as a kind of shield. It also reminded him of how physically exposed his neck was, so he went to the garage closet, grabbed an old blue and red scarf and tied it around his neck. It was complete with a blood red cross sewn on it resembling an old communion cloth that went over the shoulders.

He rolled a padded car stool over in front of him, kneeled, folded with leathery hands and silently prayed once more in front of the wooden cross that hung on the back wall. Several minutes passed.

Dark Carpentry: Chapter 8 - The Visit

                     Chapter 8

                  The Visit

Later that night, the full moon lit the white panels of Will's two-story colonial home. Will donned his blue robe and pink bunny slippers that his wife loved to see him in. At first he’d despised them but as days went on, they made him feel even more comfortable though he wouldn’t admit it out loud. He sat on the living room couch and drank some hot tea from his #1 Dad coffee mug. “So, what do ya think of my crew?” Said Will while winking his left eye at Faith.

“Yeah, the whole two people! Where’s the rest of them?” Smiled Faith.

Will sat back relaxing his shoulder onto the couch. He already had a slight beard after shaving it off earlier that morning. “Pete’s still sick in the hospital. Missing Steve too, not emotionally but physically. The man’s not there, we think he went A-wall but that isn’t like’em,” he took a sip. “Juss me, Ted and the new guy Kiss…The Lord’s help is more then enough, but with that guy working for us, I’m not sure.”

“Oh, Chris. He was the cute one right?” Said Faith smiling as she opened the fridge to get a bottled water.

Will looked directly at her and took another sip. It’s own defiant silence was his answer.

Rebecca smacked Will on the arm with a newspaper, she donned a red robe as she put her long brown hair in a bun. “Come to bed William.”

“Well okay,” said Will like a little kid being forced to bed before his bedtime. He dropped the green tea on the small table, stood up and followed his wife to the bedroom.

* * *

Later that night Will and Rebecca were sound asleep. He tossed and turned. His eyes suddenly opened to a small thud on his bedroom window. He got to his feet putting his fluffy pink sandals on his feet. He went to the window. The bright moonlight beams shone into the floor of the room. He peered down and spotted Pete, looking up at him. Pete stood, looking pale under the moonlight but attentive, his trademark sunglasses were off since it was night time. He looked up and his eyes glowed a bright blue which gave off a strange otherworldly glow.

For some reason, Will’s instincts told him to keep the window shut. Apparently the hospital let him out…at three o’clock in the morning? He lazily checked his digital clock.

“What eh, they let you out of the hospital?” He asked, rubbed his right eye and peered down.

“I’ve never felt better Will! Hey, I need to talk to you, it’s about work.”

He looked down at Pete for several long seconds. He would let him in, but something seemed wrong. A deep part in his psyche screamed no! What could be wrong with this whole thing, besides it being three o’clock in the morning?

Pete’s eyes continued to glow blue under the full moon. “It can’t wait until tomorrow brotha? You didn’t even call me.”

“Sorry Will, my cellphone’s at home. Give me a break, I just got out of the hospital.”

“Yes, you did!” Will gave a slight smile. “I’ll be right down.” Said Will.

As he made it out of the hospital. He had looked so pale though and different. He still felt he was in the middle of a dream, the darkness seemed to flick on and off. The moonlight shined through the window and seemed like a spotlight someone had purposely set up for the occasion. It sparkled. The trees waved like in slow motion. It all didn’t seem real.

He made it to the door. Time seemed to slow as he approached it. He opened it.

Pete stood directly in front of Will grinning.

“So, what couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

“Can I come in?” Asked Pete.

“Will waved his hand. C’mon in, the doors open.”

Pete slowly walked into the kitchen. He stopped inside the doorway. He seemed dirty, a little taller then usual and slightly imposing then he had a right to be Will thought. “Thanks.”

Will leaned against the counter by the fridge. “Have a seat.”

Pete slowly pulled the wooden seat back and sat. Will yawned, opened the cupboard and took out a packet of tea, plopped it into his Number One Boss mug, filled it with water and put it in the microwave, heating it for 60 seconds. “You sure you still don’t need to be in the hospital?” Will turned his head to Pete with a hint of a chuckle.

Pete looked straight at him, smile on his face. Hands at his sides. “I’ve never felt better!”

“You want a coffee for your early morning?” Asked Will.

“Too early for me.” Pete replied.

Will slowly walked to the table and sat next to his co-worker. Under the table light he really noticed how white pale Pete’s face still looked.

“You uh, you look kinda pale.” You eating right? Vitamins? A, b and c? I got some Sunny-D in the fridge.”

Five to ten long seconds went by as they stared at each other. It might’ve well been five to ten hours. Both wouldn’t back down from their stares. The microwaved beeped.

Suddenly Pete roared with laughter.“J-j-just having a good time Will! Loosen up! It’s all good!”

Will’s natural reaction was to chuckle and he would if it was anybody else then Pete. The phony sense of humor was uncharacteristic of him. Something was wrong. He sipped his tea.

“Nah, I made it out of the hospital and y’know what? I fell great! Like a thousand bucks! Y’know what I did last night? I worked on the site. I mean I went right there, I felt so good, so revitalized!”

“You worked off the clock? At night?”

“I couldn’t help it. I know we’ve been behind because of me, sorry about that, by the way.”

“That’s okay brotha, you earned it…and now that I think of it, now I know why there was some more Tyvek up when I came in yesterday morning. I’ll need ya to write up your hours for that, time in and time out.” Will said the last part on automatic boss pilot.

“Eh, don’t worry, it’s free of charge.” Pete replied.

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay. I might as well stay up now.” Will quickly lifted his bulky forearm and looked at his silver cross wristwatch. “I’m gonna pour some coffee.” He stood up and turned to his counter table. He opened the cupboard to gather the rest of the coffee grinds. “Hey, you haven’t talked to Steve have ya? He’s been MIA for the last three days,” he turned around and Pete was gone.

Will stood still, a bit shocked but still composed staring at the dead center of the chair. He slowly sipped his coffee.

He found it odd that absolutely no sound was made shutting the door. Maybe there was something in the tea. He made his way upstairs. He noticed that the door on his left was open and could feel a slight draft. He figured he’d take his time to check up on his daughter, finally home from college. The door was open a crack, he slowly opened the door to quickly spy on her sound asleep.

His adorable little baby, all grown up into a college adult woman. His heart fluttered as his parental feelings took over. It also broke because, she knew that a lot of women her age would marry soon. Soon, no more sleep overs at father Will’s house. He tried not to entertain the thought of any man taking her away from him. Deep down though he knew he would have to let go. She had a lot of attention from a lot of boys. The endless conversations about them while on the phone with her friends proved that. Heck, even that Chris kid snuck a peak. He supposed she could do worse then him, then again maybe not. His mind wrestled with the idea.

The bed sheets were all tossed around and they reflected the blue light of the full moon outside of the window. She had been tossing and turning the whole night. He was just about to go back to his room when again, a deep sudden fatherly instinct shot in around his heart. He halted his next step and slowly reversed his walking, his heart skipped a beat, like when narrowly avoiding another car on the road.

Why was the window was open?

He opened the door the rest of the way stepped up to the folded sheets resembling her thin human hourglass figure. “Faith?” His hand pressed down on the bump of the folded sheet and it collapsed. His heart would thump hard once the visual message reached his brain. Time slowed again and the moonlight shone a spotlight on the bed where her body would be. He leapt over the bed and to the window.

Nothing, nothing but green grass swaying under the sinister light. His heart almost shot out of his chest as it screamed in the form of a loud beat.

Dark Carpentry: Chapter 7 - Steve's Missing

                       Chapter 7

                Steve’s Missing

“Hey, Steve’s missing,”said Will, after pounding some nails into the wooden board. He stood up and looked around at his crewman. Ted, stood up as well, raised his shoulders then returned to pounding nails into the floorboard. Will looked around and did a body count in his head.

Chris pounded some more Tyvek onto the wall. All he could think about was Lucia. How her blue eyes washed over him like the ocean, how her blond hair shone like the sun. How easily love and lust equally swished around in his head.

The love link he felt for her had been strengthened, then destroyed by his boss. He felt anger, he felt regret, he felt…stupid for not reminding himself that she was some kind of monstrous creature he had only seen in vampire movies. He was still in shock over what happened, Nobody would believe him, not even his mom or family.

Will walked around the corner of the front of the house, his dark Oakley shades covering his eyes from showing any emotion. He spotted Chris and slowly walked towards him, then looked up at the Tyvek board that he was finishing up on.

“Hey there Gunga Din, you alright?” Asked Will.

“Am I alright? I found out that we had a vampire in the friggin’ basement that posed as a girl I liked and then she tried to kill us! You ask me if I’m alright?”

“Well, you don’t have to pout about it…yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Psalm twenty three verse four,” Will held up his hammer, then his t-square.

“Look, I’m sorry if I’m a little shaken up by all of this, but it’s crazy!” Replied Chris.

“That thing looked like a pretty girl? I think you have to re-access your standard of beauty. That slobbering little stinker almost killed me!” Will pointed to his chest.

“It didn’t look like that to me. It looked like…Lucia.” Chris said with his head down. Will noticed the sad visual indicator and sympathized on a small level. Years before he met his wife, He let himself get strung up over a girl once or twice, to deal with the heartbreak he would get high and drive his old mustang real fast while his friends in the passenger seats cheered him on. He suspected Chris wasn’t that way, no siree. Chris was a few things he didn’t like but that was not one of them. He saved him by throwing him the imperfect wooden splinter stake. He thought it funny that the one thing he thought was imperfect had been the perfect weapon to kill the abomination, a perfect stake. He shook his head over that fact and was grateful.

“Will!…your wife’s here!” Yelled Ted looking down at his brother from the roof.

Will quickly waved his hand at the end of the house. “Juss’ keep doing what you’re doing, juss’ faster alright?” He quickly turned around and sped off towards the front of the house.

Rebecca and his daughter Faith were standing in front of the house. Will walked up to his wife. “Hey honey.” They hugged and quickly kissed. Quickly, he hugged Faith and kissed her on the cheek. Her eyes spotted Chris down by the side of the house hammering away. “Gonna see what your dadda does at work?” Said Will, his trademark shades now resting upon her hair.

Faith locked eyes with Chris, then she peeled them away, “Um, sure.”

* * *

In the distance and out of view. Renald peered through his dark shades and watched the family reunion, grinning.

Dark Carpentry: Chapter 6 - Haunted Heartbreak

         Chapter 6

  Haunted Heartbreak

Will approached the dark man he almost tripped over a splintered wooden piece of wood resembling a stake. He looked down and quickly picked it up, “Juss once, I wish I had the perfect piece of wood!” He immediately tossed it. The sharp splinter dropped through the bottom window portal and landed on the basement floor.

Renald wasn’t grimacing this time though. He stood, feet wide apart and hands behind his back

“No smiles this time, eh?” Said Will while picking up another piece of debri, flicking it into a corner pile where Chris would usually deposit it. “So what does he say now?”

Renald, stood grim faced. “He’s not happy. It seems, you’re behind schedule.”

“I understand that, but I’m short a crewman. My right hand man’s out with some kinda flu, got bit by some kind of vermin…” Will continued to ramble on.

* * *

It took some time but Chris was a little proud of himself. He’d finally gotten a hang of pounding the wooden X’s together and the coolness and shade meant that he was out of the sun. Finally, he didn’t have to worry about eyes being on him pointing out his mistakes. For the first time in the job he felt he knew what he was doing. For the first time in the job he felt confident. He felt this because he was competent in his new skill.

His peaceful moment didn’t last though. Time alone, meant time with his thoughts. Most of his thoughts were about Lucia. Somehow the pain would always find him, on the road during a lengthy drive or at night before sleep. Enough! He yelled in his head. Concentrate on what you’re doing, take the pain out on the job.

Suddenly a bit of a shiver ran up his back. He only noticed it because of his newly found focus. This slight distraction felt a little out of the ordinary. Why the slight breeze now?

He spun his head around, shaking the ladder. Nothing.

He went back into the zen moment of pounding nails. The repetitive motion reminded him of when he was in basic training. His drill sergeant had the platoon going from the position of attention to parade rest. Both arms were behind the bottom of his back, hands on top of each other. The drill sergeant had walked around the group of soldiers, checking their form. His steel eyes looked into Chris’s but Chris only looked over the sergeant’s shoulder and through the window, watching the TV in the cafeteria. No other thoughts but moving precisely from attention to parade rest.

During this time, Lucia was probably meeting her boyfriend. The thought seemed forced this time, like a person purposely antagonizing him to go back to the painful subject of missing her.

Ah, all while I was training. It wasn’t my fault I didn’t meet her first. She was a Senior in college while I was a sophomore! He remembered the brief moments they talked. She smiled when he told her she was PHAT (pretty hot and tempting).

Eventually, all the feel good memories would slowly turn into the bad. Her turning him down after he asked her out. It had taken him hours that day, just to work up the courage.

He lined up another two blocks and pounded his nails through.

His thoughts continued to spiral downward…her telling him that she wouldn’t meet him for dinner at the local pizza shop because her ex-boyfriend said no. He remembered when he was called into the office downstairs over wanting to draw her picture. The manager telling him what she wouldn’t.

The same painful night where he pounded the roof of his car with his fist, he roared and water shot from his eyes. That night he stopped believing in love.

That night he stopped being naive about the girls he liked and if they reciprocated that love.

He pounded yet another nail deep into the board, some small splinters shot out.

His heart cried.

It had especially cried when they said their final goodbye’s, when she left on her last day. Down the hallway, leaving him behind. He remembered her soft face touching his right cheek, him trying to smile after they hugged. His future with the opposite of sex severely uncertain.

He pounded another nail.

The Muzak on the speaker blearing out the soft melodic hits of the seventies, eighties and some of the nineties as she walked down the bright sunny tunnel. She walked into her bright heaven, leaving him behind with his newfound pain of longing. His heart was shattered and would never be the same.

Somewhere in deep his heart he would never feel that kind of love, connection and attraction for a women ever again. He couldn’t allow it. The kind of love he gave was only once in a lifetime. There would be other women he would lust for some sure enough, but none that he would love with a pure heart again.

Chris felt an unnatural sense of being watched. The feeling rode up his spinal cord and up to the back of his neck. His instincts told him not to turn around. He had to though, he needed more wood for the bridgework. He turned and Lucia stood smiling looking up at him.

* * *

Will finished pounding a few more boards into place. He made the mistake of letting the new guy do his thing unsupervised and wouldn’t make it twice. He stopped and looked down at his wristwatch. It was about time to check up on Chris’s work.

* * *

Chris was totally silent as he took in her image. His irregular heartbeat pumped three times in rapid succession not really believing what he saw. How was she here? Why was she here? All of those questions washed away as she looked directly into his eyes smiling. Her ocean blue eyes locked onto his brown orbs and all the chemicals were unleashed in him. He stepped down from his ladder putting his hammer on the step.

“I missed you. I thought about what you said and I had to see you.”

Said Lucia.

Chris walked closer to her. She stood completely still.

Lucia motioned with her hands to come closer. He didn’t even noticed her hands because her eyes said it all and he approached.

She put her arms around Chris’s neck. Chris went in for the kiss even though a tiny part in him was suspicious. It didn’t make sense that she was here, not the least bit. How did she know he even worked here? A silent voice washed over the thought as if to say, that doesn’t matter anymore, all that matters is that you’re here with me now…let’s be together now!”

She loved her head to his neck and her mouth stretched open unnaturally wide. Her pupils blazed like two red suns and her top lip rose on both sides. The top two fangs grew even larger as her mouth opened.

* * *

Will came trampled down the steps of the basement, but before he went all the way down he had a feeling to bring his nail gun to expedite the process. He grabbed the gun off the staircase railing. Besides, there might be a critter down there he thought to himself.

To his amazement there was quite a critter indeed hugging his new laborer. He could hardly believe the size of the winged vermin. It was about to sink its teeth into Chris’s neck but Will’s noise tromping down the stairs disturbed it. He quickly observed a red wound on its left wing. It’s nasty pig nosed face turned and glanced at him with red beady eyes, for a second its eyes and face resembled an ugly human snarling like a crazy person in a psychiatric ward.

“Kiss!…back away slowly.” Will said looking at both of them pointing the nail gun.

Will could hardly believe the size of this huge humanoid bat creature about to strike Chris. The brown haired beasts wings were down to its feet. It turned its snouted face at him.

Will didn’t waste too much time looking back into the disgusting face. He barely had time to notice that Chris was smiling face to face with it as if in a lover’s embrace. Will’s body moved before his mind out of pure gut instinct, much like when he pushed his brother out of the way of a fallen 3x6 several months ago.

He shot a nail from the gun. It bounced off the back of its neck. To his disappointment it didn’t work like he wanted to, but it got the creatures attention. Without hesitating he closed the distance by about four feet, he was now almost face to face with the beast. The gun shot once again and this time the nail lodged into the back of its neck. It gave a blood curdling scream.

Chris watched in horror as the nail lodged into Lucia’s neck. His eyes were wide. His boss had harmed the girl he had been in love with, the girl he was still in love with. Why?

Another screw lodged into her back but as she screamed her front teeth turned into horrifying long fangs she had quickly become a creature out of his nightmares.

“Kiss, grab that piece of wood over there! It’s not perfect but it’ll do.”

Chris broke free of her grip and jumped for the shard edged over sized splinter near the wall on his left.

The bat creature took the opportunity to seek vengeance as it leapt at Will. He was able to get off a compressed shot to the things white bubbly stomach before it put its hands around his neck. Its strength was almost immeasurable, like a five-hundred pound man weightlifter.

Chris looked around for a weapon and spotted a sharp piece of wood next to the wall behind him. He grabbed the pointed wood and quickly approached the fiends back. It shook his boss’s head left and right. Somewhere in the back of his head he couldn’t help but feel a sort of catharsis for what he was about to do.

As soon as he lifted the wood weapon above its back and into the air. Lucia’s face turned to stare a him. He dropped the stake. She was screaming and struggling against her attacker. Her blue eyes at a glace seemed to say ‘help’. Deep down, Chris knew this wasn’t the truth but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He half heartedly threw the stake towards Will’s hand.

Meanwhile, the bat creature’s long shiny fangs snapped at Will several times, like a starved wolf attacking its prey. Slobber spewing all over his neck. Sunlight was only three feet up the stairway from his head. He spotted the splintered wood piece on the ground and with some struggle, his thick calloused hand shook as it fumbled on the dirt ground fingers desperately walking themselves in circles.

The beasts grip was like iron. He said a quick prayer to God in his head and made one final burst grabbing onto the wood chunk. He quickly shoved the stake deep into its light, fleshy, brown chest. It was the heart for sure. He then lifted the shaking bat creature above him and into the stairway light. It set to fire and exploded. Chunks it’s flesh and oil-like blood dropped all over him.

Will rotated his right arm and wiped some of the skin, organs and black blood off his face while sitting on the steps. He quickly looked at Chris, then dead ahead. “Like I said Chris. You juss do it!”

“I’m, I’m sorry I couldn’t kill it. It looked like a girl I knew, I swear.” Said Chris.

“…What kind of girls you meeting brotha?” Will smiled and shook his head slowly got to his feet. He walked up the stairs and onto the deck. Ted and Steve looked at Will covered with tar-like blood all over his face and body. “Lunch break. Who’s hungry?”

“Ugh, how can you eat after this?” Chris replied.

“Where there’s a will there’s a way,” Will said smiling with his slightly crooked pearl white teeth showing through the blackness.

Chris was still in shock about everything, including Will’s casual way of dealing with the monstrous supernatural situation. Had he dealt with this sort of thing before? Was he in denial? Things kept getting stranger and stranger, it all became more like a dream at that point. The image of his boss killing Lucia, or what he thought was Lucia, flashed in his head. He had to shake it. She was a monster now. She was an it and that ‘it’ was a vampire.

Dark Carpentry: Chapter 5 - The Bridgework

                      Chapter 5

                   The Bridgework

     Steve and Ted hammered away, Will approached the stairway to the basement with some apprehension. He picked up his nail gun and ventured down into the dark dirty crypt. Chris followed close behind as they slowly descended the wooden staircase. Will turned his head left and right as the wood creaked. He held the gun near the right side of his face. As they reached the bottom step he stopped and put the gun slightly in front his mouth as if to hush Chris up. He also waved the nozzle in front of his nose to signal the stink from the shoe box.

    "You hear that?…I think I hear Satan's hooves creeping up behind us right now. Keep quiet." Will whispered.

    A scurrying noise was heard down below followed by wings flapping.

    Will's body quickly twisted and jerked as he looked for someplace to aim his gun. He lost balance and fell sideways down the stairs as he struggled to hang onto the wooden handrail.

Lucky for him the stairs only ascended five more feet. He hit the dirt on his back and the nail gun shot off into the air. Chris immediately covered is face.

       The nail shot into the ceiling and ricocheted off the wooden roofbeam. A bat fluttered near Chris. He dodged it, almost falling himself. Unhurt, Will got to his feet, gun in hand. "Well, I guess we know what bit Pete."

       "Geez, I'm usually the klutzy one." Said Chris, holding a metal shaped t-square like a sword. He didn't want to go down unarmed. He remembered the bat infestation in his roommates bedroom the year before. They had heard a couple bats fluttering around in the attic. One night, he heard his Roomie yelling. He entered the room and saw him huffing and puffing as the blanket covered the ground and a room broom in his hand. Not a bad idea to capture and kill flying vermin Chris thought. Death by blanket and broom. Unfortunately, Chris didn’t have a blanket.

     "Did you get it? Asked Chris.

     "I don't know, we'll see."

Will took out a small flashlight from his beige utility belt and switched it on. The lightbeam moved all around the basement walls, then up towards the ceiling where the wooden bridgework was. He paused there.

     "Do you see it?" Asked Chris.

     "I sure do, I see some pretty shabby bridgework down here. All over, pretty crooked stuff. You got a lot of work to do brotha." Will said.

     "Not that, I mean the bat!"

* * *

     After five minutes Will called off the search. “Well, if it’s in here, it’s not happy. Why don’t ya grab a ladder and we’ll get started on this shabby bridgework, it’s gotta be redone."

* * *

    Chris carefully brought down the long yellow ladder and opened it. “What if it comes back?” Asked Chris.

Will handed the nail gun to him. “Nail it good…but first let me show you how to do this here. Heck, a chimp can do a better job!”

Will climbed the ladder and placed a small wooden plank next to one of the parallel ceiling boards. Will handed the gun to Chris. He placed another diagonally behind it so they both crossed and formed an X. He then pounded a nail through each end. “There ya go, be like Nike and Juss do it,” He looked down at his wrist watch then waved his hammer across the two ceiling beams, “I expect these two rows done in a hour, and let me know when you’re done this time please.”

    “I will.” Chris responded.

    “And if that silly little sucker flies by, crucify it...wow, did I juss say that?” Said Will making a trigger squeezing gesture in his right hand.

     Chris swallowed his giggles as Will pronounced silly little sucker like Sylvester The Cat. He climbed the ladder, lined up the small wood plank and pounded his first nail into it.

* * *

      Will walked over to the side of the house, bent forward and laid the stack of 2x4’s on the ground. As he picked up a 3x6 beam from the ground his cellphone rang in his pocket.

     “Hi Hon,” he answered.

     “We’ll be stopping by around three, your daughter would like to visit.” Delilah said.

     “Oh, she wants to see what her daddy does at work?” He said.

     “She said, she wanted to check out your fellow crewmen.”

     “Well, I’ll have to lock em’ up in the basement then.”

     “Will!” Steve pointed past the front of the house. Renald, the man in black stood, grinning, shades on, with both hands in his pockets. Will waved his hand in the air in recognition and out of habit, he sighed and shook his head. “Here we go again,” He whispered to himself. “Hon, I’ll have to call ya back.”

     “Love you.”

     “Love you too.” He replied, the phone clapped closed and dropped into his belt holster. He walked towards Renald.

Dark Carpentry: Chapter 4 - Pete Cottington

                      CHAPTER 4

               Pete Cottington

Will drove the shiny white van down the dirty dusty road, Chris was in the passenger seat. Will had to finish up work on their last worksite and planned to instruct his new pupil in a few new tasks. He whistled “O’Come Let Us Adore Him” while twisting the steering wheel left and right as the van shook over the rocky dirt road. Chris gave this to the man, he was a great whistler.

They exited the van. Will walked next to Chris. The framed house was mostly completed from Chris’s perspective but there was was plenty of tools and debris outside and in to suggest that a few more refinements needed to be done.

“Kiss, I need you to clean up around here, after that I’ll show you a few tricks of the pros inside.”

* * *

Two hours later Chris finished sorting the debris around the home. Much to Chris’s frustration Will neglected to say what the exact tasks were after he finished. Chris picked up debris around the wooden structure. He threw unused chunks of wood, bent nails and such into piles of the four corners of the house like Will instructed. Inside, Will was talking to the owner of the current house that they drove to. Chris couldn’t help but overhear the conversation going on inside.

“Yeah, I remember my wild days brotha, for a while I was lost but now I’m found.”

“I guess we have to work it out of our systems.

“Y’know The Devil works through our addictions. I used to snort a bit of coke back then, a whole mountain of it. It felt great for a while, always chasing a high I could only get through Jesus.”

The man in the shadows seemed to respond in silence. They mumbled on and switched subjects as Chris walked around the framed house, looking for something else to do that would qualify as work. He finished the clean-up job that was assigned to him. He didn’t want to interrupt his boss’s deep conversation for all he knew he could be converting the man. Chris found himself daydreaming about Lucy, thinking of her hair, their connection, her looking over her right shoulder at him with her blue eyes, round face and lightly tan skin.

Another forty-five minutes went by and Will finally finished up talking with the client. The Client walked off the deck and drove away.

Chris walked up to Will “Um, I’m done.”

Will looked past Chris’s should then to Chris. He slowly reached towards the front of his zipper. For a brief moment he thought Will was going to put his hand down his pants. Thankfully, he reached for a nail in the front of his pouch, stepped past Chris and quickly hammered a nail into the wall behind him. He put the hammer back into its holster. He looked out of the window portal, totally silent, then the tan stocky man walked out of the front of the house. He slowly turned his head right and walked around the side of the house, hand resting over the hammer on his right hip. He shook his head as he inspected the back and rest of the house. Continuing to shake his head, his hammer dangled back and forth as he waved his arm towards the van. “Let’s go.”

Chris immediately got the vibe that his boss wasn’t happy. They both entered and sat in the white van. Will quickly glanced at Chris, took a deep breath then exhaled. He grabbed his gleaming metal thermos and took a sip and realized the coffee was cold and immediately rolled the window down spit out the cold tar.

Chris just continued to watch the clearly frustrated man, anticipating a scolding of sorts.

“Kiss, uh…what took you so long?”

“I was done a while ago, I didn’t know what else to do and your were…”

“Kiss, look…there’s five things I expect from you,” he raised his hand up and splayed out all five fingers. “One, I expect strength,” he lowered his index finger. “Two, I expect intelligence, speed which you sure didn’t show me much of today, punctuality and a willingness to get in there and juss do it,” the rest of the fingers lowered, one at a time. “Now, you say you were in the Army. It sure doesn’t look that way to me.”

“But you were talking to that guy,” Chris quickly replied in self defense but was immediately interrupted my Will’s hand.

“How long will you lie there, o sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. Proverbs six-nine to eleven.”

Will took a 3x5 flashcard off the dashboard and held it up in front of Chris, then placed it back on the clear plastic glass. With that, Will started the engine, backed up the van and they drove back to the worksite.

* * *

Pete finally walked out of the basement. He was extremely pale and sweaty. To Ted he seemed a lot thinner as well, like he had dropped twenty pounds. It was noticeable. Pete stood in place for a few moments. “You don’t look so good Petey.” Said Ted.

Pete continued with his thousand yard stare into oblivion. Will quickly glanced over at him. “Brotha, I told ya not to crush the box this time!” He said with a smile before he went back to hammering.

“…sorry…” The massive man was barely able to get the words out of his mouth before he collapsed onto the floor.

* * *

Ted, Will and Steve looked like blurry balloon figures to Pete as he awoke.

“You alright?” Will lightly slapped Pete’s. “Pete, you okay? You took a bit of a spill there.” He waved his right hand at the van. “Steve get me some water.”

“You got it Captain.” Steve shot off to get a bottled water from the white vehicle. Will quickly looked at the half filled bottle and sighed, “Why am I not surprised?” He immediately put the bottled water to Pete’s mouth.

“Sorry, it’s only fifty percent full but it’s Steve’s so what do you expect?”

Pete spit out some of the water.

Will shot Chris a stern glance. "Kiss, you're my new Gunga-Din for now on."

“No, you need that stuff.” Said Ted sternly.

“He’s dehydrated, it happened to me once in training. Let’s pull him over to some shade and loosen his clothes.”

Chris scanned Pete's face neck and chest for any cuts or wounds. He spotted some small blood droplets on his left shoulder. Streaks of blood ran down his neck running from two puncture holes. "...I think something bit him. Maybe, a rat or a bat or something. Did you call an ambulance?"

"Yeah, they should be here in about ten minutes." Said Will.

"Let's elevate his feet." Chris said to his three co-workers.

"Ted, grab a couple boards that we can put under his feet." Will said to Ted pointing towards the middle of the deck where a few boards were scattered.

"Yeah." Ted replied walked over to the corner of the deck and gave the small boards to his brother. Will put the cut boards under Pete's feet. Pete was on his back on top of Chris's t-shirt that he put underneath him.

* * *

    The ambulance doors closed as Will and the crew watched the truck drive away then looked at each other briefly. 

    Will clapped his hands,"Back to work everybody." He almost jumped as he spun around back into action. Ted, Steve and Chris slowly followed suit.