The Madness of Jake Caulder chapter 4

Chapter 4

​Jake stood there for several moments as if not registering what had just happened. Finally he leaned forward, spit on Jacobs, and as he walked away, he muttered that the old bastard had it coming and deserved everything that he got.

​He walked slowly back to his car, sat there for a few moments and then sped away as fast as he could.

​He drove for a long time not realizing where he was going or what time it was. When he did pull over, he opened the car door and threw up. He sat there for a moment and then the full impact of what he had done hit him in the stomach like a ten pound sledge hammer and he threw up again.

​He stumbled from the car, running blindly until he tripped. The vile taste of vomit still lingered in his throat as he lay there and wept. How could his life have taken such an ugly turn when just hours before he was preparing for a new career across the country.

​He must have fallen asleep from mental fatigue, because when he awoke, the moon was full, and every joint in his body seemed to scream in agony from having lain on the wet, cold ground.

​As he slowly got up, he staggered a little, probably from shock and exhaustion. What was he going to do? He couldn’t go to the police and explain what he had done. He had become temporarily insane, or so he was going to tell them. They wouldn’t believe him. He would be tried, found guilty and probably hung so that he would foul himself, and dance a death dance until the rope pulled so tight that his eyes would pop out of their sockets. He blinked to try and erase that image from his mind and after a few moments, it started to fade.

​He shuddered at what he had just imagined. After awhile, he began to think that the police must surely come to their senses and know that old Jacobs really did have it coming and would know that Jake was a hero and all-around great guy for getting rid of vermin such as that.

​With that, Jake felt a lot better. He even started to whistle a tune and got back in his car. He was going to go on his cross country trip after all and start his life anew just as planned.