The next morning I awoke suddenly in a panic. Thoughts raced through my head over what had happened the night before. I had killed someone. Someone had tried to kill me. I didn’t know what to do with this information and I didn’t know how to make things right. I quickly got out of bed, changed clothes, and rushed down the stairs to find Lilly. If anyone would know what to do it would be her. As I came down the stairs I became aware of not only one but two voices coming from the sitting room. I slowed down as I got closer. I tried to make out what was being said.
The first voice I heard was Lilly’s as she said, “It isn’t like she meant to kill him, it was self defense!”
“I’m not saying she did mean to, just that there had to surely be another way. You saw the body, she ripped his throat out!” Jasper retorted.
“We weren’t there; we have no idea what other options she had. Besides dead is dead and how he died is a mute point at this time. We just have to deal with the fallout from it. She is going to need a lot of support and reassurance that it wasn’t her fault. We should have warned her about him. I just never thought he’d try and kill someone.” Lilly responded with a serious tone in her voice.
At this time I decided to make my presence known. I backed up to the top of the stairs and coughed loudly as I made my way back down the stairs once more. I heard them both go silent and practically jump from their seats rushing towards the doorframe leading to the lobby. They both looked up the stairs at me where I stood, each with reassuring and kind expressions on their faces. I was about to say something when Jasper spoke first.
“How you feeling this morning?”
“I’m not sure. I’m ok I guess.” I answered nonchalantly.
“Well we’re glad you’re up and doing ok. You feel like eating breakfast?” He asked as he started to come up the stairs towards me.
“Not really. I’m not very hungry considering…….” I trailed off.
“Well, there is no need to force your body to eat if you aren’t hungry. We can always eat when you are ready.” Lilly said pulling Jasper back a few steps.
I didn’t want to broach the subject of what happened the night before but their quizzical and expectant glances told me I wasn’t going to have much of a choice. I made my way down the remainder of the stairs and walked past them into the sitting room and sat down on the couch as they followed close behind sitting across from me in the high backed chairs opposite me. We sat in silence for a while, no one daring to be the first to speak about the events of the night before. As we sat I became painfully aware of the ticking of the grandfather clock out in the lobby, each tick louder than the last till finally I blurted out all that had happened from the moment I left till the night before when I came bursting into the hotel. Thankfully they both listened to all I had to say, neither of them asking any questions as I spoke. They let me get it all out, with varied expressions, as I walked them through the play by play of everything that had occurred. Once I finally finished I began to cry once more, having relived the previous nights events in my story and realizing how messed up everything had been. Lilly placed a calm, steady, reassuring hand own my own shaky one and gave it a few pats. Jasper gave me a handkerchief from one of his pockets and I took it gladly. Once I had a few moments to calm back down, Lilly was the first to speak this time around.
“I am so sorry you went through all that. I feel responsible. I should have remembered to warn you that Benny was a little…..off kilter……especially at night. We just never thought you’d be able to leave the town let alone need a gas station again.”
“It isn’t your fault; you weren’t the one with the knife and homicidal tendencies.” I said half laughing as I dabbed at my eyes with the handkerchief.
We let the silence linger then in the room, the ticking of the grandfather clock not seeming so loud now, more soothing and calming, as the minutes went by. My tears subsided and my countenance returned to normal as I sat on the couch, fiddling with the loose fabric of my sleepwear. I stared down at the floor trying to separate all the thoughts that fought for dominance in my clouded mind. I suddenly looked up as a thought sprang into my head, leading me to begin to panic. Before I knew it, I began to grow more and more upset once again as the thought became larger and larger. The next thing I knew I blurted out the most obvious question.
“What are we going to do with the body and the gas station? Surely if someone came along they would see the blood and body!”
Lilly laid her reassuring hand on me once again and said, “We took care of that last night, so no need to worry.”
“What do you mean?” I asked my anxiety not lessening any.
That was when Jasper piped up. “As soon as she got you in bed last night she came to me and told me what happened and I came with her to the gas station. We saw the blood and trashed gas station and immediately began to clean up.”
“We finished only about an hour ago shortly before you woke up.” Lilly added.
“What about the body?” I asked sitting forward in my seat, half whispering as if someone would overhear us.
“We buried Benny at the edge of town, to the west. We even stamped down the earth and covered it with loose sandy dirt to make it look like nothing was there.” Jasper said standing.
I sat there a moment or two longer trying to digest all that they had just told me. I rose at the same time Lilly did. I was truly grateful to have two good friends such as them to help me out in my times of dire need. I just hoped they had gotten every spec of blood and no one would find the body of Benny. We all stood there awkwardly for a few more moments before I spoke up. If I was going to have any true peace of mind I would have to see the gas station and burial site for myself.
“Take me to the gas station. I have to see it for myself.” I asked.
As we made our way out of the hotel, I noticed my mustang was no longer parked at the pumps of the gas station. Instead it was parked directly outside. Yet another thing my friends had done to make the night before seem like nothing more than a bad dream. We made our way slowly through the town to the edge where the gas station lay. As we neared it, my heart began to pound, remembering the struggle of the night before. I never wanted to see that place again let alone go inside, but I needed to see for myself that there was no evidence left behind, then I could rest easy knowing no one would find out what happened.
We came to the door of the gas station and Jasper, being the gentleman he is, opened the door for us and we passed by him into the old building. The sun was shining directly in through the windows since it was around noon, making the room brighter than normal. Once my eyes had adjusted to the light, I took a look around, and to my surprise I saw…….well……nothing…..nothing out of the ordinary at all. It looked like the picturesque, little, old timey gas station that had always been and would always be. The place was pristine and sparkling clean, the faint smell of cleaners lingering in the air. I slowly walked in and stood in the center of the room, scanning it from top to bottom as Jasper and Lilly stood quietly behind me.
“What do you think?” Lilly asked after a few minutes.
“I think you did an amazing job. I can’t even tell anything happened here.” I responded wide eyed and amazed at all they had been able to accomplish in the few short hours.
“That was the hopeful point.” Jasper stated solemnly.
I began to trace my steps from the night before and found nothing to be amiss. Then yet another thought struck me that wouldn’t leave my head. “What about Benny’s family? Won’t they miss him?”
Jasper snorted. “I highly doubt that.”
Then Lilly was quick to explain. “There is one thing that I haven’t yet mentioned to you. I figured with all the information that has been hurled at you since you have gotten here you had plenty of time to learn about this later……but…….time doesn’t affect you here.”
I was confused by this new bit of information. “What do you mean?”
“Time stands still here. As long as you are here in the town, you don’t age. Benny has been here since the gas station opened in the 50’s. He never aged, I never aged….none of those who have been called to the town have. His family won’t be looking for him because most if not all of them are long gone. To my knowledge, he was an only child like you and his parents and aunts and uncles are all dead.”
“So…..I literally have nothing to worry about because no one will come looking for him?” I said hopefully.
“We are the only ones that knew he existed.” Jasper reassured me.
Now that my mind was at ease we left the gas station and walked all the way to the other side of town to see where Jasper and Lilly had buried Benny. As we neared the site I was shocked to see yet again, nothing. There was no sign of a grave like I thought there would be. There was no fresh mound or marker signaling the burial site; literally nothing but smooth, sandy earth, just like the rest of the open land that stretched before us. My mind was completely at ease and I could feel the anxiety leave my now weary frame. I was exhausted from all the worry and still a little sore from the fight the night before. Once I was completely satisfied, we headed back to the hotel. As we neared the door I could hear a ringing from the other side. It was the telephone. Lilly rushed past me to answer it. After saying hello into the receiver, she stood for a few moments listening to whoever was on the other end before holding it out to me.
“It’s for you.” She said.
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