Evil Always Takes It Toll

Once upon a time, in a far off land, in a city called New York, lived a man who once had everything he ever wanted in life.  He had the love of both his wife and his loving daughter. He had success and riches that came from his job as chief executive of one of the world's largest firms.  He was a man that had a perfect life until...Until it was all taken away by a shimmering, exotic bracelet that inhabited his wrist.  This bracelet brought evil to the bearer of it, causing both hate and despair to encompass his life.  For him it brought him to the outer reaches of Hell.
*        *        *        *
         “What’s this, Veronica?” Larry asked his secretary over the intercom.
         “It came for you this morning.  There was no return address, so I signed for you anyway.  I hope that was all right.”
         “Don’t worry about it.  It’s probably from my wife anyway.”
He disconnected the intercom and turned the box around.  “I wonder what it could be.”
         He opened up the package and inside was a multi-colored bracelet that sparkled with brightness.  Larry looked it over and saw an engraving on the back of it that looked like two people intertwined in a sexual position. 
         After staring intently at it he still couldn’t figure out why his wife sent it to him, but to make her happy he placed it on.  A shiver instantly ran through his body, causing him to feel as if he was outside, naked in the freezing cold.
*        *        *        *
         “Mr. Coyne, there's a phone call for you on line one.  It's a Mr. Eugene Davids.  He keeps on saying that you were expecting his call.  Do you want me to tell him that you're busy?”
         “No that’s all right.  Just put him through.”
         “Yes, this is Larry Coyne.”
         “Mr. Coyne, how nice to hear your voice again.”
         “I don't mean to be rude, sir, but I do not recall who you are.”
         “Don't worry about that, you'll figure it out soon enough. As for now, I would like to know if you received the gift that I sent you this morning?”
         “What gift are you talking about, Mr. uh—uh—“
         “Why the bracelet of course.”
         Larry looked at the bracelet as he spoke.  “Yes I did receive the bracelet, but why send it to me?”
         “I seem to be infatuated with people who make it to the top and then decide to squash anyone who doesn't meet his standards.”
         Angrily Larry responded, “You listen hear, Mr. whoever-you-are, I earned this job and I don't need this kind of stuff from someone who can't even tell me who they are.”
         “Like I said, Mr. Coyne the answers will soon come to you.  I apologize for my rudeness but you are a person who don't deserve any more.  But let's return to what I called you about.  Are you wearing the bracelet now?”
         “Yes I am, but I'm taking it off right this instant.”
As he went for it he realized that its opening was sealed closed.                               
“What the hell?”
         “I guess you’ve noticed that it is easier to put on than it is to take off.  Just your luck, huh?  Well Mr. Coyne, now it's time for me to say good bye and good luck.  Whatever I can imagine your world to become in the next couple of days, is nothing in comparison to what is really going to happen.  Just remember one thing, there's no way except for one to get that bracelet off.  Even if you were to cut your hand off, it would some how stay on your remaining arm.  Now doesn't that sound bizarre?  When you remember who I am then you will realize why this is being done to you.  So I guess I'll talk to you another time, unless your six feet under.”
Larry then heard a click and soon after a dial tone.
         “What the hell?” he repeated as he continued to try to get the bracelet off.  But the more he tried, the more frustrated he got. 
         “Veronica can you come in here for a minute, please,” he said into the intercom.
After a minute and no response Larry tried calling for her again.                    
“Veronica I had asked you to step into my office for a moment.  Are you out there?”
When she still didn't answer, he jumped out of his chair and stormed out of the office to find Veronica sprawled on the floor with a broken coffee mug next to her.
         “Oh my God!” he said as he rushed over to her.
         “Veronica! Veronica are you all right?” he screamed as he tried to shake her awake. 
When he saw no movement from her, he placed his ear over her mouth and a shock went through his whole body as he felt no air coming from her.
“Holy shit!” he exclaimed as he ran over to the phone and dialed 9-1-1.
After the operator told him that the paramedics were on the way, Larry sat down at Veronica's desk and just stared at her motionless body.
He sat and wondered what had happened to her, but then his thoughts switched over to the last person he had seen dead: his father. And the feeling of how he felt looking at him in the coffin came back to him; a feeling of helplessness.                                        When the paramedics showed up fifteen minutes later, Larry was still sitting there watching Veronica.  Three rushed over to her while one went to Larry.
“Are you all right?” he asked Larry as the others worked on Veronica.
“Yeah, I’m just in shock,” Larry said.  “She’s my secretary and I just came out here and found her like this.”
As he said this, he watched as one of the paramedics working on Veronica began to shake his head no to the others.
*        *        *        *
         “I don't believe it.  I had just been talking to her a few minutes before.  I can’t believe that she could have had a heart attack being so young.”
         “Let the dead rest in peace,” Julie, his wife, said while preparing a drink.  “Its over with.  Nowadays, a person can die from a paper cut and you wouldn't even know it.”
         “But you should have seen her.  She was lying on the floor with her eyes wide open staring at me like it was my fault she died.  Every time I think about it, it’s those eyes that I see that sends shivers down my spine.”
         “Here have a drink,” she said as she handed it to him and grabbed a hold of his hand.
“What's this?” she asked, seeing the bracelet for the first time.
“With everything that's been going on I forgot all about this thing.
“Some guy sent it to me.  I think he said that his name was Eugene Something, but I have no clue who he was.  He called me right after I received it and was babbling this and that about nothing.  I tried to get it off, but when I called Veronica to help me, that's when I—that’s when I found her.”
         “How did you get it on in the first place, it looks too small to just go over your wrist?” she asked.  “Anyways why would you have put it on if you didn't know who sent it to you?”
         “I thought it was from you at first.  So I figured I would surprise you by wearing it.  When I placed it on I was able to open it enough to fit my wrist, but ever since this Eugene guy called it’s been closed with no way for me to get it off.”
         “You actually thought I would send you something like that?  I think I know you better than that.                                 
“So what exactly did he tell you?”
         Larry told her the conversation and when he was done it seemed stranger than he originally thought. 
         “What a freak,” she said.  “Have you tried cutting it off?”
         “I think I'll try that now.”
         “Okay, while you're doing that, I'll go prepare some dinner.  And Larry?”
         “Yeah, Jul?”
         “I’m really sorry about what happened to her.”
         “Like you said, it happens.  Just don't tell Ally yet, you know how she gets when someone dies that she knew.”
         “I wasn't planning on it,” Julie said.
         “Where is she anyway?”
         “She's upstairs pretending to do her homework, but I know she's probably talking to Craig and watching TV.”
         “So what else is new?  I'll be back in a little.”
*        *        *        *
         In the kitchen, Julie took a knife out of the counter draw and began slicing up carrots.  Unbeknownst to her, the doorknob to the kitchen door started slowly turning.
         As she was finishing cutting, someone grabbed her from behind causing her to drop the knife on to the counter.  Before she was able to scream, a hand, smelling of alcohol, tightly covered her mouth.
She tried struggling her way out, but her assailant was far too strong.  She then tried biting his hand, but she couldn't even open her mouth a slight bit. 
She looked down and had the knife in her sight, but it quickly disappeared, causing her fears to rise even higher.
Looking at the spot where the knife had been, she began thrashing around even harder with no avail.  Soon she felt the missing knife plunge deeply into her side.                               The pain was worse than anything she had ever felt.  She felt her blood flow profusely down her leg.
She wanted so badly to scream: scream for Larry to come and save her. 
         The knife entered her again, and thoughts of dying entered her mind.  But she didn't want to stop fighting for fear of her attacker going after her family.  However, thinking like that wasn't making her pain any less.
         A minute later, she felt herself slowly losing the fight as she became extremely light headed.  She couldn't even stand on her own any more.
She looked down on the floor and saw a pool of her blood, and her lunch came right up, but since there was no where for it to go, she had to swallow it all back. 
After, she felt the knife enter her again, which became the final stabbing to black her completely out.                                        
Her attacker dropped her to the floor with a thud, and left her.
*      *      *      *
         Clueless with what was going on in the kitchen, Ally sat in her room, listening to No Doubt and talking to her boyfriend, Craig,                                        
Like her mother, she didn’t notice the knob on the door slowly turning.  And like her mother, she was grabbed from behind dropping the phone on to the bed.
She had enough time to let out a yelp before she was brutally thrown to the floor.  As she was about to attempt a louder scream, her attacker got behind her, kicked her into the spine to the floor, and placed his knees onto her shoulders.  He then covered her mouth with his hands which were still dripping blood from her mother.
She felt him rise up off her shoulders, and she took a chance to try and bolt up, but he quickly took one of his hands off her mouth and slammed his elbow into the back of her neck, causing her forehead to smash into the floor and break open with a gush of blood.
She immediately felt as if she was going to pass out, but she fought against it, as her mom did not too long before.  She tried moving but her body didn't respond to her commands. 
Her attacker placed his hand back on her mouth and began pulling her head back towards him.  The pain she felt surpassed the one in her head as she heard the ripping of the muscles in her neck. She strained to move it forwards but her attacker didn't let it happen. 
Soon she felt the first rip of the sides of her neck and the pain from it was so unbearable that she passed out.  This didn't stop her attacker from continuing; however, as he pulled back even harder until Ally's head rested on her back.
*        *        *      *
         As his family was being massacred, Larry sawed at the bracelet expecting to have cut it open by now, but with no success.                                         
After some time, he decided to give up and follow the delicious smell of his wife's cooking.
         As he entered the house, a strange feeling came over him.  It was the same feeling he had right before he discovered that his father was dead.
But an intense amount of fear replaced that dread as he began screaming out for Julie. 
“What am I so afraid of?” he thought as he walked towards the kitchen without any response from Julie.
         As he reached the kitchen door, he hesitated for a couple of seconds before he pushed the doors open.
         After his hesitation, he pushed it open and saw Julie on the floor with a pool of blood around her.
“Please God, don't let her be dead,” he said while rushing up to her.  “Please God.”
He placed his ear near her lips and a feeling of déjà vu struck him, but this time he felt her still breathing slightly. 
         “Baby, please hold on,” he said as he took his phone from his pocket and began to dail 9-1-1.  As he pressed the nine, thoughts of Ally entered his mind and he dashed towards the stairs with the phone still in his hands.
         “Ally!” he screamed as he climbed the stairs.
         “Ally!”
Without waiting for a response, he busted into her room, and instantly dropped to his knees at the sight in front of him.
         “Nooooooooooooo!” he screamed as he stared at his daughter's lifeless body on its back with her head propping it up.
         He dialed the last two numbers and when the operator picked up he was only able to say, “Please come.”
         *        *        *        *
         “Mr. Coyne?”
         “Yes?”
         “I'm Doctor Stephens.  First of all, my deepest regards for the lost of your daughter.  I couldn't imagine what you are going through right now.”
         Before he continued talking, Larry interrupted him.
         “How's my wife doing?”
         “It's too early to tell right now,” he said sadly.  “She's in surgery right now.
“I have to hurry up and get back there.  I just wanted to give you some kind of update.”
Without saying anything, Larry turned and walked away leaving the doctor staring at him for a moment before he went into the opposite direction.
         “Mr. Coyne?” he heard behind him as he got to the end of the hall.
“Yes?” he asked as he turned around to two guys in suits.
“I’m Detective Douglas,” one of them said.  “And this is my partner Detective Hamlin.  We’re here to ask you some questions.”
         “Instead of asking me the same questions that I already answered why aren't you searching for clues so that you can find the asshole who did this?”
         “We have men working on the case right now, Mr. Coyne,” Hamlin said.  “But we still need some more information from you.  I know it’s hard for you right now, but the quicker we get this part done the sooner we can leave you.”
         “You probably can't even imagine how hard it is for me right now.  My daughter is dead after being nearly decapitated and my wife is in surgery right now, fighting for her life.  So you can’t fathom how hard it is for me.
“Whatever.  I know that it doesn’t matter to you at all.  Just go ahead and ask your questions.”
         “Have you and your family been fighting about anything lately?” Douglas asked.           
         “What are you asking?  Do you think that I might have done this?”
“Not at all,” Hamlin said.  “We just have to ask these questions.”
“Of course we have.  I’ve been mad at my wife at one point and vice versa.  And we’ve both been fighting with Ally at some point in time.  But that is what happens in a family; there’s always going to be some kind of fighting going on.  But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to flip out and try to harm my family.”
         “Do you know of anyone that would do something like this to your family?”  Hamlin asked.
         “No I don’t,” he said as tears fell from his eyes.
As he raised his hand to wipe the tears away, he saw the bracelet on his hand, and it immediately clicked in his head who the sender was: the husband of one of his employees that he had fired for having sex in his office.
*        *        *        *
         “What’s going on in here?” Larry said.
“Oh my god! Mr. Coyne, I am so so sorry!”
“Patricia I want both of you to get your clothes on and get out of my office now!  And I do not want to see you here ever again because you are fired!”
“Please Mr. Coyne I’m so sorry.”
“Look, it was my fault that she did this,” Eugene said.  “Come on you’ve never wanted to do anything at the spur of the moment like this.
“Please, don’t fire her like this.”
“If the two of you aren’t out of her in thirty seconds, I’m going to call the cops and have you both arrested for trespassing.”
“You don’t want to do that man,” Eugene said as he walked up to Larry still naked.
“Don’t threaten me,” Larry said as he walked out of the office and picked up the secretary’s phone.
“I warned you.”
With that said, Eugene took a couple of steps towards Larry and knocked him down to the floor with his forearm to his back.  He then began punching the back of Larry’s head, neck and back.  Larry tried to ball up into a fetal position, but that didn’t help because Eugene started kicking him in his mid-section.
At the same time as this was happening, one of the firm’s secretaries had been walking by the office and saw what was going on.  She instantly picked up her cell phone and called the cops.  She then ran inside to try to pull Eugene off of Larry.  Larry took that distraction as an advantage and stood up.  Pushing the secretary aside, he punched Eugene with all his strength into the nose and watched as he fell to the floor.
His wife, now clothed, ran to Eugene to try and comfort him as blood poured out of his nose. 
Larry watched the two until the cops came and took them both away.
*        *        *        *
         Larry now looked closely at the bracelet, and for the first time, it seemed like the figures on it were laughing at him.
         “Mr. Coyne, is everything all right?” Douglas asked, breaking Larry out of his thoughts.
         “I think I know someone who could’ve done this.”
         “And who is this person?” Hamlin asked as he got his pen ready to write the name down.
         “Eugene Davids,” Larry said.
         “And this person is related to you in what way?” Douglas asked.
         Larry explained everything that had happened a month ago in his office, and when he was done neither of the cops looked like they believed a word he said. 
         “This guy called me up this morning before I found my secretary dead and told me that my world would end up worse than he can imagine,” he continued.
         “If there is anyone out there that I believe could do this.  It would be him.”
         Douglas and Hamlin looked at each other and shrugged.
         “We’ll check this out,” Douglas said.
         “Thank you, Mr. Coyne,” Hamlin said.  “We’re going to have one of our men posted here for security reasons.
         “If you need us please feel free to call at any time.”
         “And Mr. Coyne, please do not plan on leaving the state any time soon.”
         “Where the hell would I be planning on going while my wife is still here struggling?” Larry asked.
         “Sorry about Douglas,” Hamlin said.  “He sometimes need a check up on his emotions.
         “We’ll keep in touch.
         “And again, we are deeply sorry for what had happened.”
         “Yeah, prove it by finding the person who did this,” Larry said as he walked back in the direction he had came from. 
*        *        *        *
         “Mr. Coyne what are you doing here?!”  Sam, his assistant asked.  “I thought you would be with your wife at the hospital.”
“I can’t stay there any more, Sam,” he sadly said.  “My daughter is dead and my wife is possibly close behind her.  All I’m doing there is constantly seeing pictures of both of them playing over and over in my head.  I figured that maybe if I come here I can do something to keep my mind some what busy.
“Anything new going on here?”
         “Not that I know of,” she said.  “The other execs have been into a whirlwind of something but none of us know what it is.”
         “I’m sure I’m going to find out later once they find out I’m here.
         “Listen, I want you to find as much work as possible for me to do.  I don’t know how long I’m going to be here, but I definitely want to try my hardest to drown myself into something.” 
“Will do,” Sam said as she walked away.
*        *      *      *
         “But John, his wife is in the hospital fighting for her life, and his only child was killed in cold blood.  You can’t be serious about doing this now.”
         “I can’t say that I understand what he’s going through right now, because I don't.  Right now I’m only thinking about the interest of the firm.  If he’s strong enough to come to work today then he’s strong enough to take what’s coming for him. 
“I realize that he hasn't had the best of days, but I can't stand to let this continue.  I know that you think that this is immoral of me, but look at it from my point of view; how about looking at the things he’s done against this firm.”
Thomas looked at his boss but didn’t say another word.
*        *        *        *
         “Mr. Coyne?” Sam said from the intercom.
         “Yes Sam?”
         “Mr. Stanford just called and he wants you in his office immediately.”
         “Did he say what it was for?”
         “No sir, he just said for you to get up there ASAP.”
         “All right, thanks.”
         “Well I guess its time for me to find out what the whirlwind is about,” he thought as he walked out of his office into the elevator.
         When he got to the top floor, he walked passed the secretary who looked at him like he was a murderer, and walked into the office where Thomas, the CEO of the firm, and Stanford, one of the owners of the firm, stood waiting for him.          
         “Hello Larry,” Thomas said.  “I’m so deeply sorry—”
         “Look don’t say it,” Larry said.  “I’m tired of people telling me that they’re sorry about what happened.
         “Why are you here?” Thomas asked.
         “I had two choices,” Larry said.  “I was to either stay there and kill myself with worry or come here and kill myself with worry but while doing something.
“Now excuse me for being so blunt, but you guys didn’t call me here to express your sorrow for my family.  Now did you?”
         “No we didn't,” Stanford said.  “We called you up here because we just found out that someone has been stealing money from this firm.”
         “Now I’m going to take a wild guess that you think I’m that culprit.”
         “The finger does point to you, Larry,” Stanford said.
         “What a coincidence.  Do you guys wish to feed me to the lions while you’re at it? 
         “You know what; I'm not even going to argue this one, because it looks like your minds are already made up.  All I'm going to say is that you guys can believe what you want.  The only money that I took from this firm was my paycheck, nothing else.  But I guess telling you that is like telling the town's people that the boy who cried wolf was never a liar.”
         “We’re sorry Larry, but we never expected you to return so soon,” Thomas said.  “We were going to tell you—”
         “When I came back!” Larry finished.  “What?!  You were going to wait till this nightmare was over before you gave me another one to worry about?  First of all, this sorry crap is really getting on my nerves.  Secondly, I would really like to know what you would have done then.  Throw a big fucking party for the occasion?  I never took any of your money.  I've worked my ass off in this place too long to ruin it by stealing money from it.  But I really don't give a damn anymore because this is worthless at this point in time.”
         “We’re so sorry Larry, but you gave us no choice,” Thomas said.  “We won’t get the police involve right now because of what has happened to your family, and I doubt we ever will, but we are going to have to let you go.”
         “Well I guess that’s it,” Larry said calmly.  “Keep my stuff, I don't think there's anything important that I want.  Thanks for making me realize that when one thing gets fucked everything else just follows in its steps.  There's no use fighting it because no matter what, life goes on.  And once life starts to be characterized as a bitch, it then proves to you that it can go on just as long as you can.  Good day, gentleman.”
Larry walked out the door and left the two looking at each other thinking about what they had just done.
*        *        *        *
         “Julie, I love you.
“I never thought in my most horrifying nightmares that this would all end like this.  If and when you wake up, I hope that you’ll be the stronger of us two and continue living the best way you can. 
“When I married you, I expected us to live happily ever after till death do us part.  But I was wrong, dreadfully wrong.
“One day our paths might cross again in a different lifetime, and until that time I will wait for you in a world of supposed beauty." 
At this last remark, her hand moved and tightly grabbed a hold of his.  He smiled down at her as he placed his other hand into hers, leaned down and kissed her on the lips.
“I love you,” he said again as he watched her tears run down her cheeks.
*        *        *        *
         As he stood on the edge of the building looking down, he thought about all the enjoyable days of his life up to the time he had received Eugene David’s package.
         In the last two days all that he had acquired in life had been destroyed and he felt that he would never find peace unless he took his own life.
         He looked at a picture of him and his family in his hands, and then looked at the bracelet which seemed to be grinning at him.
         Before he had a chance to think anymore, he jumped off the building, destined to fall fifty floors down to his death.
         As he fell, he realized that it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be: he felt surprisingly good and relaxed.
         When he slammed into the ground, face first, screams of terror filled the streets as people nearby looked at a man driven to suicide for whatever horrible life he believed he had.
Unnoticeable, a few seconds after, the bracelet popped loose and fell off.  Its job was done.
*        *        *        *
         “Detective, do you have any idea what this is?” the officer asked as he picked up the bracelet.
         “Are you that much out of the Academy to not realize a bracelet when you see one?”
         “But sir look at it,” the officer handed it to him.
         “Yeah, it does have an unusual look to it, but if you turn it over, you'll see the name of the wonderful makers of these things.”  He turned it over, revealing a little sticker.
         It said 'Made in Taiwan.'