TEARS OF RAGE

Chapter 24

Living the life of a manual laborer was a burden most people accepted without complaint.

Fifty-eight-year-old Ananda Mitchell spent twelve hours a day cooking, cleaning, and washing laundry at the Grover Ridge Nursing Home.

By the time she made it home, she was exhausted.

Her feet hurt. Her back was aching. All she wanted was a hot bath, to soothe the ache in her body.

But it was hard to relax with her grandsons out on a night like Halloween.

"You may as well relax, woman... You already know that Lemario has taken Dorian with him... It's his birthday."

Ananda Mitchell gave a nod of agreement.

She always worried about her grandsons being out past curfew. It was something that would always disrupt her peace, or allow her to sleep.

Their neighborhood was not the safest place in the city, and she dreaded the thought of something happening to her grandsons. They were the only family she had left.

It was just like Lemario to influence Dorian to break curfew, and not even let her know that they were safe, she brooded in silence. But, punishing them had to be postponed until she heard from them...

That was where Mr. Mack had always come in at.

He was her voice of reason and the virtue of her patience.

Thomas Macklin had been her closest neighbor for over forty years. He had been babysitting for her kids and grandkids since the early seventies.

A military veteran that walked with the limp of a shrapnel-torn left leg, Mr.Mack was like Big Nannah's surrogate husband. He kept her company when she needed someone to hear her vent about the trials of her life.

When a sharp knock at the door resonated through the apartment, it caught both of their attention.

They exchanged a look that spoke volumes.

Who the hell would be beating on a person's door like they were deranged, and charged up off of candy...

Only the hellions that lived in their apartment complex.

"Trick or Treat," came a muffled voice on the other side of the door.

Mr. Mack waved Big Nannah back to her seat on the sofa. He was the closest one to the door and wanted to spare her the trouble of getting up.

When he opened the door and saw the man standing before him, his brow crinkled in confusion.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Reaper." The man stated and began trying to push his way through the threshold of the apartment.

A tussle ensued within the doorway.

Mr.Mack stood his ground and used his foot to brace himself against Kenny's attempt to muscle his way into Big Nannah's home.

"Ananda, run!" he cried out, certain that the man before him had come to send someone to the cemetery.

At that moment Kenny's original plan to kidnap Swaylo's grandmother, and force him to submit to an ambush, went out of the window...

He had to implement his second option.

The bark of gunfire thundered through the darkness of the apartment building and drew the attention of every night stalker on the block.

Slugs doubled Mr. Mack over like a lawn chair and ended his struggle to keep Kenny from entering the apartment.