COMMON EVIL

GEVAUDEN'S STORY

Last updated: Tuesday, 12 June 2001.  Word count: 2,449

 


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WARNING

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This story is Copyright 1998-2000 D.Hall (AKA Caveman Joe), and all rights of the author are reserved.  So, unauthorised distribution, modification or reproduction are all strictly prohibited.  Violators will be hunted down and dealt with.

I apologise for the ugliness of this warning.  Web authors - please don’t link to this file.  Use the main homepage, WWW.FURNATION.COM/CMJ instead.

Thank you for reading; enjoy the story.

 

GEVAUDEN’S SHOCK

 

 

  Gevauden looked at his watch, and saved the document.  No more writing tonight.  Time to go and see Darker.

  He loved writing, but then, he'd been doing it enough for one night.  He'd been writing "Culture Clash" for a long time now, and right at the moment it was a bit bunk, but Gev knew he was getting better at it.  Gev had always been a fan of the written word, and for him writing was the dream job.  If someone would pay him for doing something he enjoyed this much, he knew, he would be sorted for life.

  At the time, he was only seventeen.  He closed the lid of his laptop, and turned his stereo off..  Darker had invited him around earlier.  He thought he'd tell her about Culture Clash tonight, but then, he thought about telling her every night.  He wanted to tell her about it, but he wasn't sure how she'd react - staying in writing, no matter how good you were at it, wasn't exactly cool.  She might think of him as some sad Billy No-Mates with nothing better to do every night than sit in his bedroom listening to rock music and writing some bunky novel, which wasn't really true.  Okay, so when he first started writing, he didn’t have a very active social life, but things were very different now.  And he didn't like to think of it or describe it as a "Novel", either.  The word "Story" sounded much better to Gev.

  He knew he was thinking about this too much... he thought about everything too much.  And he thought about some things too little.  He was hopeless at making any kind of decision, and he blamed his insomnia for this.  He worried too much because he couldn't sleep, and he couldn't sleep because he worried too much.  This particular descision was a really tough one.

  Just like sex, thought Gev, The more you think about it, the harder it gets.

  Gev picked his jacket up off the floor in the corner of his bedroom and shrugged it on.  He patted the pockets to make sure everything was in there.

  He knew that Darker, a vegetarian, couldn't stand the sight of him in this jacket.  Leather.  But then, there really wasn't anything else he could wear on a motorcycle, and not run the risk of being dubbed "The Incredible Skinless ManHuman Scab" should he be involved in an accident.  He really should be wearing leather jeans too, but he couldn't afford a pair, nor could he really see himself wearing them.

  Gev slipped off his denim hinnai, and struggled his tail into a leather one.  Now he looked more at home in a porno film.

  The thought brought a grin to his lips - he had been told he looked like a porn star.

  Gev picked up his helmet, with the gloves and the lock inside, and his keys, and headed downstairs.  He opened the door to the living room.

  "I'm going round Darker's, right?" he said and closed the door before he could get a reply.  He headed back through the house and out the back door, into the garage, and took his bike out to the front of the house.

  Gev started pulling on his gloves.  He thought a little bit of Darker as he did so, and whether or not to tell her about Culture Clash - she was so... well, convinced that she wasn't really what she was.  She was convinced that she was fat, which she wasn't, and she was also convinced that she was unattractive.  Despite Gev's constant contradictions.

  Gev knew that Darker had been bullied quite a lot through high school.  And he knew the effect that can have on a person...  After being told you're worthless and treated as such for so long, you start to believe it yourself, even though you shouldn't.  Gev had been through the same thing - it screwed him up pretty badly.  He had no self-esteem, and all the confidence of a shrew in the jaws of a cat.  But he didn't really like to think about that.  That was a long time ago.

  Yeah, perhaps he would tell Darker about Culture Clash tonight...

  Gev's memories were ruptured by a loud scream which cut through his ears like a razor.  He froze, and felt an adrenaline shiver wash through his muscles.

  He strained to hear anything more.

  Nothing.

  Kids.  Kids messing about.

  It was cold tonight.  He watched his breath cloud in the air, bathed in rusty orange light from the streetlamps.  He detested them.  The harsh sodium glare seemed to drain the colour from everything, and made his indigo bike look purplish black.

  Gev heard something...  A soft, scared voice, tinged with an edge of hysterical panic...

  "“Don't hurt me”"
  Before he knew what he was doing, Gev was running toward the garages opposite his house, where he had heard the scream.  He had instinctively picked up his bike lock, which was a serious weapon in the right circumstances.  And the thought occurred to him, as he ran, that the icy adrenaline that he felt raging through his muscles was a weapon enough.  The rapist or mugger or whatever might have a deadly weapon concealed about his person somewhere, but Gev felt like he had one on the end of each of his arms.  Closer, as it were, to hand.

  He looked.  Nobody there.

  He ran into the shadows.  He kept on searching, he knew there was somebody here... but he couldn't find anyone.

  The adrenaline high started to wear off.  Gev calmed down a bit.  There was nobody there but him.

  Somebody must have been playing a joke.  Having a laugh.  He stood for a moment, to catch his breath.

  He almost started laughing at how stupid he had been to fall for such a trick - some girl, shoutingshouting "“Don't hurt me!”" and seeing if anybody came to the rescue - what fun!  Yeah, real damn funny...

  Gev's breathing was back to normal now.  His heart was still going a little bit faster than it should be, though.

  He walked back across the road to his house.  He took a glance over his shoulder as he picked up his helmet.  A couple of cars were coming.

  He couldn't believe what he saw - there was what looked like a man standing in front of a garage door, pressing a woman against it.  Right opposite his own house.

  Gevauden realised what he had done.  He had looked right at them.  He just hadn't seen them.

  Or perhaps some part of him didn't want to see them, for whatever reason.  Either way, Gev started walking back over the road.  But before he could even step into the road, the two cars were pulling into the yard of garages.  They passed between him and the figures, blocking his view of them.

  Gev watched for a moment.  Fear mounted as the cars passed between him and the two figures.  Then the two people were gone - inside the car, he presumed.

  The cars circled round the garages once, then came back out, the first one indicating to turn.

  Gev knew there was nothing he alone could do now.  The cars turned out of the garages and headed off down the road.

  He pulled out his mobile.  He had never called the police before, but there's a first time for everything...

  He dialled the number, and put the mobile to his ear.  It wasn't a video one, but a bunky cheap audio-only job.  After a moment a voice answered:

  "Hi, emergency services, what service please?"

  "Police"

  There was another slight pause, then a tired female voice answered.

  "How can I help you?"

  "Hi... I think I've just seen a woman getting abducted," stuttered Gev, the adrenaline still in his muscles.

  There was another very slight pause.  "You think?  Are you certain?"

  "What do you mean, am I certain?"

  "What exactly did you see?"

  "I saw a woman getting abducted!"

  "Yeah, but we need more detail than that before we can warrant any action.  I mean, I'm not being funny here, but, what exactly happened, that you saw?"

  "I heard a scream, and I ran towards it, but I couldn’t see anything.  I went back over the road to my house and looked back over my shoulder.  There was a guy pressing a woman against the wall, and then I saw two cars pull up, and then the two cars went and the two people were gone”

  “So, they got into the car, you mean?”

  “Yeah”

  “Did the woman look like she didn’t want to get into the car?”

  Gev hesitated, amazed at what he was hearing.

  “Yeah!”

  “But you said you didn’t actually see them get into the car?”

  And so the conversation continued, Gevauden getting more and more confused and angry.  Eventually Gev gave up and shouted frantic lies into the phone, convinced that the girl was already being raped or even killed, and all because of this stupid bitch who cared more about rules and regulations than about an innocent human life.

  “YES!  Yes, I saw her being pushed into the car.  No, she wasn’t getting in of her own free will”

  “Are you certain?”

  “Yeah, I’m certain”

  “Okay.  Whereabouts were the cars headed?”

  He gave her the details of what he had seen.

  “I don’t suppose you got the number plate, did you?”

  “No”

  “Well, I’m not being funny here, but we don’t really have a lot to go on.  But I’ll notify the local police”

  “Thank you!  Finally!”

  “Can I take your name and address, please?”

  He gave her the details.

  “This is so that in the event of a complaint being filed, you can be a witness”

  “Fine, great”

  “Okay mister Felis.  Thanks for your help”

  Gev, enraged, hammered the End button just in time for the inevitable profanity to escape his lips.

  “Fuck!” he said under his breath.  “Fuckin’ useless fuckin’ bitch...”

  Gev had always despised Law, but now his hatred of it was even more well-foundedjustified.

  He paced a little, to calm down.  Then he put the phone back in his pocket, and sat on his bike.

  He put his helmet on, and pulled on his gloves.

  He turned the key, and kicked it over.  It started on the second or third kick, with choke.

  Gev squeezed the clutch and gently tapped his foot against the gear lever, dropping the motorbike into gear.  He opened the throttle a little, let the clutch out slowly, and started to creep forward out of his driveway.

  Upon reaching the pavement, Gev yanked hard, both his hands.  The clutch and front brake.  The bike pitched forward on it’sits shocks in reaction to the sudden braking.with the force of the braking.

  He lifted his foot gently against his gear lever, sliding it into Neutral.  He let the clutch out, and put his visor up.  He rolled the throttle off, letting the engine die down to tickover.

  Gevauden watched his breath cloud in the cool night air.  Noted the beautifully frosty dew covering every surface.

  The way that the glare of the streetlights made that dew look like rust, decaying, poisoning every surface.  Every leaf, every stone, every speck of dirt - all rusted and dying.

  He looked up the street, the way to Darker’s house.  He could go.  He could go, and forget this ever happened.

  He looked down the street.  There was no hope of catching up with those cars now, not on this bike.  A Suzuki RG125 Gamma, pretty fast for a 125.  But that was the point - for a 125.  Besides, even on a bigger bike, what could he do, alone?

  But Gev was still angry.  So angry he felt he had to do something.  Something more than the tools would do.

  He stared for a moment.

 

  Knowing there was nothing more he could do, Gev sighed.  With a heavy heart, he dropped the bike into gear and set off up the street.  He got to Darker’s without really thinking about it, his mind on the girl.  What was about to happen to her.  What was happening to her right now, that he was powerless to prevent.

  If only he’d seen her!  She had probably thought he had, then just ignored her and walked away.  The image would haunt her forever.  That is, if she was still alive.  She could be robbed, violated and deadkilled by the end of the night.  But he had done all he could.

  He arrived at Darker’s house.  He told her what had happened.  She called him a hero.

  He couldn’t think why.  He told her - he was no hero.  He was a failure.  And he would think of himself that way forever.  She tried to make him feel better, saying that not everybody would have gone running into the garages, possibly risking their lives, to save a complete stranger, but she couldn’t really lift his spirits.  He had failed one more of life’s little tests.

  Gev was never summoned into court.  He was never called upon to act as a witness.  But he watched the news every night that week, and there was no mention of a missing girl or a murder or anything like that in his area.  He never did find out what happened to her.

  And even today he wishes for a chance to redeem himself, for a similar situation to arise.  And this time, he would be ready.

 

  No!  That’s not what I want to happen!

  Gev blinked out of the fantasy.  He twisted the throttle open, making his bike scream.  He yanked the clutch in, slammed the bike into gear and let it all out at once, leaning..

  The rear wheel broke away from the dewy ground, and he spun the bike around on his toe, until it was facing the way he wanted to go.

  The right way..

  He righted the machine, and raised the front wheel to the stars.  Blue smoke hacked from his racing exhaust as he tore through the night, his throttle wide open…

  And he gave it his best shot.  Sometimes that’s all you can do.

tore off.

COMMON EVIL

GEVAUDEN'S STORY

Last updated: Tuesday, 12 June 2001.  Word count: 2,449

 

Thank you for reading.

“Common Evil” is a part of the Culture Shock series – click the banner to go straight to the Culture Shock home page.

 


Although all over copyright laws apply to this document, please feel free to create links directly to it.

 

 

GEVAUDEN’S SHOCK