“What?!” Brendan gasped.
“Kill him?!”
“That’s right. Why do you
need to keep ‘im around anyway? If
someone found ‘im, there’d be trouble.
But if we killed ‘im, there ain’t no way anybody could ever find out the
truth. If you destroy the evidence,
there ain’t no proof of anything,” Sonny explained.
“That’s true…” Brendan said slowly. “But to actually kill him? If we did get caught, we’d be in much worse
trouble.”
“Yeah, but who’s gonna catch us?” Sonny pointed out. “Ain’t nobody gonna think that Brian Littrell
ain’t really Brian Littrell. You know
what I mean?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“So let’s kill ‘im. Then we
won’t have nothin’ to worry about no more.”
Brendan swallowed hard.
“You’re right, Sonny,” he said.
“We gotta kill him.”
***
It was nearly pitch black in the basement where Brian lay, unable
to sleep. The only source of light was
the moonlight that streamed in through the tiny rectangular windows near the
ceiling.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps from upstairs. Two pairs of them. And then, through the heat vents, he heard
faint, muffled voices. As the two
people upstairs neared the stairs that led to the basement, the voices got
louder.
“How ya wanna do it?” Brian heard Sonny ask. “Want me to get my rifle?”
“Nah…” Brendan replied.
“Not good enough. Too
instant. I want something long and
painful. Plus, someone might hear the
gunshot.”
“How about we stab ‘im?
That’d be more painful,” Sonny said.
“Nah… too much blood.”
Brian listened from below in silent horror, as the two men talked
at the top of the stairs. They were
coming to kill him! And he was powerless
to stop them.
“We could jus’ starve ‘im to death then,” Sonny suggested.
“That would take too long,” Brendan responded.
“Strangle him?”
“Boring.”
“Suffocate him?”
“Even more boring.”
“Let’s jus’ beat the crap outta him then,” Sonny said.
“Alright. But not enough to
kill him. Not yet anyway. We want to make him suffer first.”
As then they started down the steps. With each footstep, Brian grew more and more
terrified. And by the time the two men
entered the room, he was about ready to throw up.
His eyes widened in horror, as they walked slowly closer to him,
their eyes narrow and menacing.
“Enough’s enough, Littrell,” Brendan said, his voice low and
hateful. “Are you ready to die?”
Brian struggled, grunting and twisting about as much as he
could. But with the cords tied around
him, he couldn’t get far, and with the tape over his mouth, he couldn’t
scream. They could do anything they
wanted to him. And he knew they would.
Brendan stepped up first, his fists clenched together. He raised one of them, prepared to get in
the first punch. Brian clenched his teeth
and squeezed his eyes shut, knowing there was nothing he could do to protect
himself. It was all a matter of waiting
for Brendan’s fist to connect. And so
he waited. And waited. And waited some more.
Perplexed, Brian opened up one eye. Right at that moment, Brendan propelled his
fist forward. Brian prepared for
contact. But, inches away from his
face, Brendan’s fist dropped. He just
stood there for a moment, staring at Brian.
“Brendan?” Sonny asked, cocking his head in confusion.
“Take care of it,” Brendan said, shoving Sonny up to the bed. Then he hurried upstairs without a glance
back.
Brian was confused. What
had just happened there? Had Brendan
chickened out? He’s a coward,
Brian thought.
But unfortunately for him, Sonny was not.
Seconds later, Sonny’s fist was in Brian’s face. Pain instantly radiated through his
jaw. But Sonny did not back off. He struck Brian again.
And again.
And again.
With each blow, Brian saw his life flash before his eyes. He saw visions of his mother and father, his
brother Harold, his wife Leighanne, his four best friends, Kevin, Howie, AJ,
and Nick. He pictured himself as a
child, performing in church. He saw
himself on stage with the Backstreet Boys.
He envisioned himself at his wedding with Leighanne.
Sonny struck him now in the chest and in the stomach. Brian gasped for breath, and blackness
appeared at the edges of his vision. As
Sonny raised his foot and shoved the heel of his cowboy boot into Brian’s gut,
he let out a muffled cry, gasping and choking for air. The blackness spread. With one more blow, it flashed red. And then, finally, everything went black
again. And this time, it stayed that
way.
***