one wicked back nine

I awoke with a start.
blinding pain was throbbing from head. and a wave of abject fear ran through me has i stumbled from the grass and tried but at first failed to raise myself. my eyesight was desperately trying to focus on my surroundings. I was outside, it was overcast, it was cold ,
and I wasn't alone.
A park bench was just to my left and i reached out for it pulling myself up toward it and managed with great effort to get myself onto it. getting into a half sitting position i carefully reached around to the back of my head discovering a hot wet swollen spot on the back of my head. that explained the blood on my head and the throbbing pain. It was everything i could do to keep from throwing up. Close to passing out i took a deep breath and steaded myself.
"Should I just finish him off or what?" i heard a irritated voice say
I jumped a bit at that and tried my best to take in my environment with my regaining eyesight. i was on a golf course. it was a nice public style course but it still had pockets of snow banks from the changing of seasons. there was no one in site.
except for the two men staring at me both holding golf clubs. and both wearing white shirts and pants. the taller one with the slow swinging driver and the grimace on his face i was pretty sure was the one who hit me. the other a younger one stared at me as if deciding if it was right to let him hit me again or stop him.
And i was in no position to stop anything at the moment. if he was to come at me now i was a dead man.
The younger one i knew. my memory was beginning to return to me now.
His name was Jeff waite and he was an absolute psycho. i know this because is my patient
"hold on, just give me a second to recover: i said as i shook my head some and tried to stand up managing only by steading my self on the back of a nearby bench.
"where are we?" i said out loud without thinking.
"let him be: Jeff said and moved closer to me. he looked me over and touched the back of my head then looked then straightened back up
" Yea that will do for now, after all don't forget, he is my Doctor." jeff said has he studied the wet blood on his fingers.
The taller one looked more familiar now but i still couldn't quite place him. He looked away from me and throwing the club over his shoulder and took a few steps to a golf cart and pulled a can of beer out of a holder and took a swig.
Then he looked back at us and motioned to our left.
"well any way its his shot since he won the last hole" he yelled with a sense of impatience and annoyance.
Jeff looked at me then motioned to the ground.
there lying near the bench was a golf club, a nine iron to be precise.
"Mine?" I asked
"Yep" Jeff said " were on the tenth in case you don't remember and your ahead by just one shot". Jeff finished pointing toward the tee box for the tenth hole.
Still feeling nauseous i slowly bent over and picked up the iron. well if all else fails this could be a weapon i thought, then walked over to the tee box reading the sign made out of burned in letters and symbols. it read
Hole 9. "The Turtle" par 3 190 yards.
the tee box was on a steep hill easily 10 feet higher then the green just a short distance away. there were no water hazards are sand traps.
however looking closer at the green i could tell even from here that the green was a hill itself with steep drops all around kind of shaper like a upside down cereal bowl.
The Turtle, ok i get it. the pin was in a precarious position. set to the top right looking somewhat flat but just inches away from the steep drop of the edge.
The kind of hole that drives golfers mad i thought. could be a hole in one! could just as easily be a double bogey, or worse.
What the hell or we playing golf for anyway? i wondered.











"Wendy!" max yelled over the breeze that was doing a great job of chilling me to the bone.
"Yea, what, did you forget?" said jeff.
I looked over at them shrugged.
"No, Not really." and turned back to look down at my ball.
Well this was the moment of truth, could i even hit this damn ball at all i thought.
I haven't even played golf in quite a while although i am not sure these two had played at all.
Another flash hit my head and i suddenly remember Jeff and max dragging me and a woman into the pro shop,
There was a man there.
he rushed out of an inner office. shocked by the commotion in front of him and just has quickly Jeff and max fell on him knocking him too the ground and Jeff sitting across his chest and holding his neck to the floor and then Max came from behind and without hesitation gouged his eyes out with his thumbs.
It was a combination of horrific screams and loud laughter from the two maniacs.
I shook my head at the vision and concentrated on the ball.
I can do this. I know can. I must!
reminding myself that golf is ultimately not about power but natural rhythm, i took a breath and after a couple of line up swings i pulled the club back and let it swing forward into the ball connecting perfectly and watched it has it arched high up then down to hit the fairway right in front of the green and roll to almost dead center.
Even i was shocked at the shot and i could only look back at the two and shrug.
"Damn Doc!" said Jeff "what kinda zen crap are you pulling on us anyway" jeff said has he walked up and dropped his ball.




I shook my head and looked over at the two men, Max he has a hulk like appearance with a over the head straight back hair, arms almost always by his side and blue eyes that always seem out of focus. other then what Jeff has told me about him, that he is nick names Max the hatter and has snapped the necks of at least three people, other then that and the fact he actually looks terrifying in person i know nothing about him.
Then theirs Jeff, Handsome with messy keanau reeves style hair. A rapists and a strangler he lured many of his victims through on line dating sites. half of his victims were male the other female. Almost became a national story when he was captured but a mass shooting the very same day nipped that in the bud.
either one of theses monsters could kill me at the blink of an eye and i am not sure why i was still alive at all. I still need time to think. I am definitely forgetting something important.





Jeff eyes me one more time and then looks over at max who is standing on the right side of the tee box.
"okay then" and lines himself up with the ball. his shot seems more rushed then mine and he pays for it hooking into the tall grass to the right of the green.
"well the distance was right." i said
Jeff smiled with out a word and moved aside for Max.
Max grimaced at both of us.
" I don't like this!" Max said looking back and forth at us.
"We Agreed, Jeff said
" I know but why cant we play poker or something instead? said Max
"After all this looks so easy on T.V. But i suck at this! Max growled.
So Max never has played golf i thought. this is good news, so the only real competition here is Jeff and he just hooked his last shot, although it sure looked like a swing from someone who has played before.



"Tough Break" says Jeff has he throws his ball down and sets up his shot all the while Max slowly retreats from the tee box with a growl.
Jeff doesn't waste time and hits the ball with a shot that also reaches the green although actually closer then mine by a about two feet.
"Jeff does know how to play" i think to myself.
he looks over at me and gives me a wink that actually chills me.
Its like getting a wink from Charles Manson. being a par three me and Jeff walk down to the green while Max drives the cart down the side trail to the green and the next tee box.
A couple of shots later and i find myself still ahead by one shot and Max even further behind.
Turns out he is at least ten shots behind and i am not even sure why he is still even playing.
And yet he is. I look over at Max and say
"How did you get past the guards and out of the building?"
he was rummaging through the clubs dried blood still visible on his hands and without stopping he says
" I killed them, Let your guard down with me for a second and your dead"
He looked at me with his usual stern eyes and then suddenly lunged at me for a second causing me to fall backward on the ground.
He stood over me and began laughing. then started twisting his iron in his hand.
"Hey!" Jeff shouted from the 11th tee off.
Max looked down at me still smiling.
"yea i know" he said loudly so Jeff could hear.
it was then that i noticed that once his smile faded over me his gaze headed back over to Jeff and had a menacing look to it. i acted as if i didn't notice.



I know they don't expect me to win but if i did would they let me live? would they let me have Wendy free and clear and just walk away? Some killers may have a word of honor thing but i have never come across one yet.
No, more likely they will, if i won pretend for so long only to then toy with me over breaking some rule they make up are some such shit and the door will be open for them to do what they please, and it may get really ugly real fast.
And has i see Jeff swing on the par 4 15th hole what happened hits me like a flash.
Being thrown in the van and Jeff hog ties the nurse. wendy is her name mid twenties wearing orange scrubs. they hog tie her as she struggles and attempts to scream as they gag her.
at the same time Max has dragged me by the neck into the van and is about to put me in a strangle hold and i yell "Wait!"
Jeff looks at me then at Max then back to me.
"Haven't i been there for you? Doing everything i can to help you?"
"What do you mean? Jeff says
'Max flips me around. " He says
"They look at each other for a what seems ike a eternity and then max punches me in the face but doesn't tie me up but instead moves to the passenger seat of the van and they rocket out of there in to darkest dawn i have ever seen.
all the while bouncing around the against the wall and occasionally staring down at the backside of Wendy has she bounces up and down off the floor, she wrings her wrists now and then but otherwise makes no more movement.
I snap back to the present and realize that once again max is staring me.
"How did you get the van?" i ask him as if were just two guys talking on the golf course, you know chit chat. jeff pipes in.
"Well he surely couldn't go get his station wagon, its all locked up somewhere else.
i look back over to Max and pause.
"you have a station wagon?" i say honestly curious.
he stares at me as if he is searching for the right words.
"it is a 1975 gran torino wagon, it was my moms" he says slowly
"oh, ok cool i say as if thats actually true.
And we head silently now to hole 16.
a long dog legged par five next to a pond.
I am still wining but i know in truth that doesn't really matter. and so i know i need to cause some friction between these two.
Max get up to start and i call over to jeff.
"" do you really think that this is really fair to Max? i say to max for all to hear.
" jeff looks at me with a quizzical look on his face and say a simple "what?"
"I mean after all we both are experienced players and he has never really played at all before"
Max is taking short practice swings back and forth to the ball something he didn't start doing at first but is doing now. likely learned through observation. still hasn't helped him for shit. he couldn't suck any worse at this. i think to my self.
" Jeff lifts his head higher now appearing a bit annoyed at this new idea .
"and what do propose doc?" he says
"maybe a handicap?
"oh no" he says waving his hand at me while max looks up pausing at his short swings.
"handicap, whats that?" Max inquires.





Max seems to really focus on our conversation now.
"I said whats a handicap." with a bit of anger now at not getting an answer.
I shrug and say. " well to make a golf game fair a handicap is used to even out a game between novice golfers and more experienced golfers like us'.
"That wasn't the deal!" jeff bellows fidgeting now clearly annoyed at this.
Max moves closer to both of us now and stares hard at Jeff now.
"I should have a handicap then". Max says slowly with a sense of menace in his voice.
"That wasn't the deal" Jeff says staring back.
staying a close distance from them i let them stare at each other for a few moments then say.
"Oh just give him an arbitrary one. we can only guess this handicap based on one game anyway".
i pause as they both turn toward me.
"How about ten i say, that would seem fair"
Jeff again as a slightly confused look on his face . "ten?"
max looks back and forth at both of us looking for any kind of sign from either of us if thats fair or were fucking with him and i gotta say Jeff really plays it cool even though he knows that Max still cant win with that handicap but it will make him feel like he had a fighting chance.
"ok fine then". says Jeff finally.
Max looks at Jeff for a moment and then says "well what do i have to do to win then?"
I look over at jeff and shrug, the cold is beginning to get to me and a couple of times now i have had to fight off just right throwing up from the nauseous most likely caused from the wound that i think finally stopped bleeding. the cold may have been a blessing because of that. still when it came down to it i was cold tired sick feeling and scared inside beyond belief.
" well from my count i would say your up two so you just have to keep us from passing you over the last few holes.
Max nods looks down at his ball, and after a moment looks down the fairway and lines up his club practices a bit and swings.
And hits the first straight long shot he has had all day.
I look over at Jeff with a genuine look of awe on my face.
Jeff still staring down the fairway stands silent for a moment then finally says.
"Seriously?"
Max turns and grimaces at us for a moment, then says.
"ok maybe not the very first time i have played, Got a problem with that shot?"
Jeff just walks past him with a stern look on his face and tosses his ball on the tee box.
All this time i look to see just how far i can move away from them without them noticing. it turns out not too far. every time i move nonchalantly more then a few steps from Jeff he either nods at me to get closer or says "where are you going?"
besides with my head wound and our location on this massive golf course how far could i really run from theses two anyway. i am guessing just far enough to get a driver club bashed into the top of my skull.
so i keep working on plan b.
Jeff is working on his swing while max is watching and almost for the first time i have ever seen showing the slightest hint of a smile.
"you know you don't get this one on the money it could really change the outcome of this game" i say as i look over toward max ans see he nods with approval.
Jeff doesn't respond in anyway but instead goes with his final swing into the ball and we all watch has he badly hooks it for the first time.
"ha!" max cries out. and i just shrug and look away seeing real anger in the face of Jeff for the first time. maybe not my best move having them both borderline pissed off at me.
still they may be a bit peaved at me but the fact they have not said a word to each other for a while now is a good sign. so ill just play out the enemy of my enemy is my friend gambit and see where this leads us.
down near the green are two bunkers on either side and i decide to play it safe and go for a soft shot off the tee to end up a drivable distance from the center of the fairway and a few shots later we are all surrounding the green with Max who has suddenly shown a real knack for great shots is already on the dance floor while i am in a comfortable position on the fairway just a few feet from the green, meanwhile 3 shots later Jeff finds himself sitting on top of near frozen sand in the right side bunker.





Jeff being in the trees takes the first and seems to have recovered his demeanor has he does a very nice up and down right onto the green and although still the furthest away has a decent shot at the cup.
Jeff once again looks me over not noticing maybe for the first time that Max has positioned himself behind him while he is setting up his shot and by the look the face of max i have a bad feeling he is just getting tired of this whole game.
jeff takes a measured long slow swing and the ball curves at just the right angle to drop into the cup that would make most pros proud and suddenly Jeff grabs the end near the head of the club and swings it over his head just in time to stop the blow that was coming down on him from max. Its like Jeff has the hearing of a bat cause max was near silent with his attack yet Jeff was not caught off guard at all.
"Fuck you max! Jeff scream has he swings his club back at max just barley missing his face. and now its on with each taking there swings of opportunity.
in time, even though Jeff is much more limber and quicker then Max, the stamina and amazingly strong swings of max are taking there toll. and they have yet to leave the green the whole time. and i cant believe i can actually tell whats going to happen before it actually does. after a couple of dodges max takes a swing at jeff and seems to lose his grip on his club and jeff uses that moment to lunge forward.
Max however was bluffing and using his club like a pool cue smacks Jeff hard right on the nose causing his head to jerk back and jeff's knees buckle has he falls to the ground while max rushes over to him and i already know its over has max gets around the back of him and with a violent shoulder thrust he snaps jeff's neck spinning jeff's head one hundred and eighty degrees around and dropping jeff's body to the ground like a rag doll, i actually see jeff's eyes flicker one last time before they turn rightward in a permanent death stare toward the sky.
Max with his back to me takes a long hard sigh and then stands up and turns toward me. Clearly maxes hearing is not near as good as jeff's was cause he sure didn't seem to hear the sound of me picking up the sand rake out of the bunker and he looked right into my eyes just in time to have the rake plunged into the top of his skull with every ounce of muscle i could muster. burying there tines like the sharp teeth of a tiger all the way to the hilt into the top of his head his eyes shot wide open in horror as he shuttered for a moment and then went to his knees. falling forward i let go of the rake and has he falls forward the but of the rake anchored itself into the grass stopping his forward momentum and there he hung forward with his shoulders slumped and back arched at a sickly angle toward the ground.
And that was it just like that our game was over and i couldn't help but think to myself i guess i win by default.
Once again folding my arms around me against the cold i work my way across the course and up to the pro shop. walking through the front door i remember that Wendy is tied up in the back office so i look around the store desk and find that the dead man laying on the floor in the store has left his cell phone on the table next to the register. i open a few drawers and finally found i know will come in handy one way or the other.
i pick up the box cutter and open it sliding out the razor. i take both the cutter and the cell phone and find the restroom as the first door of the hall that leads to the rear office. i go in and place the cell phone on the sink to the left and the cell phone to the right.
Then i look at myself in the mirror. my hair is wild and matted in places and sticking up in others and there is a splatter of blood from my head wound here and there on my face.
i then notice that somehow i had torn part of my pastel blue shirt off. well that sucks. I don't have a spare with me, all my clothes in fact are back in my room at the mental institution. funny how Jeff had talked himself into believing i was his doctor. staring at myself in the mirror and just thinking of telling jeff over and over in the cafeteria to just "call me Doc" over and over until i realized my head fuck on him had worked and he actually was believing i was his doctor instead of just another nut in the loony bin.
I couldn't help but start to laugh at myself in the mirror, harder and harder until i fall to the ground in this restroom now just trying to catch my breath from the hilarity of it all. a few moments later i was up again in front of the sink and my mind went to Wendy.
Poor wendy i thought, she has been waiting all this time to find out her fate.
I mustn't let her wait any longer. i looked at the cell phone to the left on the sink and the box cutter to the right. i could easily use that cell phone call 911 and be the hero. that would certainly raise my status back at the institution.
Or i could just go with my instinct, my inner voice so to speak, i looked closer at the box cutter and imagined the work i could do with that.
I took a deep breath and made my decision.
I picked up the cell phone and put it in my left pocket and put the box cutter in my right.
I then opened the door and headed down the hall toward the back office.
It was time to let Wendy know her fate.