couldn ' t see because my eyes were so bruised they were swollen shut . I could only hear a sound like thunder as he kept pummeling me in the face , but everything would go white each time he made an impact ."
" Police , put your hands up , now !" men began shouting from the stairway as Laurel ' s bruised and bleeding head flung loosely to one side .
The police opened fire and the dogs were killed immediately . The kidnapper put his hands up , smiling in a strange and eerie sort of way .
After Laurel had called me from the hospital and told me the story , I immediately raced to get there to be by her side . Seeing her like that broke my heart . She died in front of me not long after I got there .
" I love you , Max . I wish I didn ' t go to the movie store that day . I wish I could spend years more with you , but I can ' t . Please kill that sonofabitch , Max . I wish I could have ."
Those were Laurel ' s last words to me . I clenched her hand as it began to go lifeless . I stayed like that until the nurses told me I had to leave , tears of anger and regret and sadness burning rivulets down my face .
***
It ' s been a hard few months since the trial . I quit my job , I got no money and I have nothing to work for except going to the gym everyday . I have dreams of murdering bad sweater in his padded cell . I can ' t wait ' til the sonofabitch gets out ' cause I have something real special planned for him .
I have someone working on the inside of the asylum . Bad sweater apparently only has three more years . Three more years ! How the hell the jury decided that I will never know . Maybe I should murder the whole jury , too . " Good ," I said to myself . " I want you out ." I would fake some antic to get into the same insane asylum so I could beat him everyday for the duration of his stay , but I needed him out .
" Nothing ' s going to stand in the way of what I have planned for you ," Max would say to himself in the mirror every morning . His biceps were thick and bulky and his legs were more defined .
***
Years pass . It ' s the big day . His release date . I monitor him as he settles back into his home . A probation officer appears at his front step adherent with release protocol . I notice the bracelet on psycho ' s ankle as he approaches the officer . They shake hands .
First night home and it ' s gonna be the last , I thought to myself as I placed my binoculars down .
Wilky and I had gone over everything before several times .
Wilky ' s the only friend I have in the world right now , and that ' s only cause I ' m payin ' him to help me . He ' s a lanky , seven foot tall Houngan ( a Haitian Vodou priest ), and we ' re in this together .
We wait until 2:30 a . m . I kick the front door down and I hear psycho in his bedroom loading a gun . Wilky and I are both wearing bullet proof vests , though , and I ' m not worried .
Wilky and i have gone over every possible scenario for this night together since I first started paying him to work for me . I know I ' m ready to kill this man for what he did to my Laurel .
Bad sweater points a shotgun at both of us as Wilky barks words at him in Haitian Creole .
The gun seemed to get heavier and heavier in psychopath ' s hands . Psycho struggles and won ' t let go so he falls to the floor wrapped around his precious firearm . Frustrated , psycho thrashes about , unable to pull the trigger .
Wilky is still uttering words in Creole , his eyes closed and his head tilted back as if