Into the Darkness

Chapter 4

Jack and Wendy Davindale unfortunately previously lived beneath the apartment Jeffrey Dahmer, David’s older brother, rented out and performed his studies in.  When he wasn’t out at the local bars luring men back to his apartment for photoshoots, he was drilling small holes in their skulls and injecting acid, in a failed attempt to make them zombies, submissive slaves that would do anything he wanted.  When that failed, David’s older brother would kill them and dissect them, making sure to save the best organs and meat for later consumption and enjoyment.

Being so close to the tragic area, Jack and Wendy felt that they needed to look out for David as they knew what would be coming his way, a life of torture and torment, none of it his doing.  Jack took a much stronger liking to David than Wendy did, but she liked him, truly.  The two made sure that any aspect of David’s life they could make more positive, they would go out of their way to do so.  

David walked in, setting off the old nineteen-seventies door hits the bell chime.  The level of relief he was feeling right now, being free of Sasha, was almost intoxicating.  David was on cloud nine, prescriptions in hand, about to interact with two people that didn’t judge him for the misdeeds of his older brother, “Good day my dear friends.  I have some papers for you.  I can come back tomorrow, so there is no rush at all.”  David’s face was beaming, he was so happy to be around normal, nonjudgmental humans.  

With an overly large smile, Jack Davindale greeted his favorite client, “David!  My boy!  How are you today?  Anything we can do to help you?”  Wendy smiled as well, just not as emphatically as her elderly husband.  It is my belief, as the narrator, that Wendy Davindale was slightly scared of David Dahmer.  Perhaps she had a fear that Jeffrey’s horrifying acts were hereditary.

With a handful of crumpled up papers and a goofier than normal smirk on his face, David handed over the prescriptions to Jack, “I need these filled please.  Lithium, Xanax, Effexor.  I have one more Lithium pill left so tomorrow will do the trick.”  David handed over his prized possessions and turned to leave, his business was done, why hang around even if these are the only two people on the planet that can stand your presence?  

Stopping short of leaving, David paused at the door and returned to the counter, “Actually, I do have something I need some guidance with.  I met this woman, Sasha something, at Doctor Winchester’s office.  She was really pushing for me to do some wild and crazy stuff, similar to the sort of things Jeffrey did.  Well, as I was about to execute her direction or risk getting gutted by her knife fingers, yes you heard me right, and the next thing I knew, she was gone.  Vanished.  I don’t get it.”  David’s face was genuinely locked in a look of confusion.

Pretending to not know exactly what happened, Jack loosened his smile, “Well, that is very interesting.  As you know David, there are a lot of strange people around these parts.  She probably got off at the bus stop, maybe you just lost some time and missed it.”  The pharmacist was working on something, something mischievous perhaps.

Jack looked at David as he handed the papers over to his wife, “Honey, let’s get these turned around right now.  Code three them, will you?”  Wendy nodded and went back in the distance behind the shelves of narcotics, antidepressants, and erectile dysfunction pills, the entire personality of the world was sitting on these shelves and Jack along with his lovely wife Wendy had complete control over them.

Wendy worked to remove the defects in the prescription by working the papers back and forth on the edge of the dark blue wood counter, “You wouldn’t happen to have that last pill on you, would you?  I’d like to take a look at it, there’s been a recall.”  Let the games begin.  David handed over his final Lithium pill to Wendy Davindale and she did her best inquisitive diagnostic of the perfectly fine Lithium pill.

Shaking her head, “David, this is the recalled pill.  I am going to have to replace it.  Just hang around for a bit and I’ll get all your meds ready so you won’t have to come back tomorrow.”  

Feeling perfectly fine, rare for David, he decided to have a seat and wait out the refills.  Wendy made a good point, save the trip, no need to return tomorrow, “Excellent.  Probably for the best.  Thank you, lovely Wendy.”

Once David had departed far away to the seat deeply buried in the corner away from the window, Jack turned to his wife, “Code three, clear?  We have him right where we want him.  Hallucinating but the Lithium stopped it.  Swap in the sugar pills and let’s get rid of some of these lowlife folks around here, I know exactly who to sick David on first, the Sheriff.”  Jack waved his wrinkled old man hands out in front of himself as if to swat his wife away, sending her off to get this mission underway.  Shit was about to get real.  

Literally twiddling his thumbs, staring at the credit card operated blood pressure machine, our heroine had no idea the level of hell that was about to be bestowed upon him.  Once this dose of Lithium wore off, there was no telling what was going to come his way next.  At this point in time, medicated and relaxed, David was just sitting peacefully, ignorant and oblivious.  There was no weird dialogue with himself, no odd thoughts, and no Sasha.  No Sasha was an absolute blessing.

Jack and Wendy pretended the best they could that the refills were taking a little longer than normal as to not raise suspicion.  Lithium, sugar pills.  Xanax, sugar pills.  Effexor, normal.  Effexor would keep him happy, not depressed.  A happy zombie is a good zombie.  This just goes to show you, even old people you have known all your life can betray you and use you like a puppeteer manipulating a marionette.  If I didn’t know the ending of this wicked tale, I’d feel sorry for David.  Sit tight, read away, and get ready for a wild ride.

Twenty minutes had passed since David had handed over his crumpled-up prescriptions.  He was still sitting as still and calm as before, he was being a proper gentleman, not knowing he was being walked directly into a trap.

Pulling his wife next to him closely, Jack whispered, “You see how we were able to get Jeffrey to do all those horrible things?  Just wait and see what we can accomplish with his little brother.  Are you ready for this, love?”  A wicked smile filled Jack’s old face, stretching all the decades of wrinkles back making him appear thirty years younger.

Wendy nodded and giggled a bit, she hadn’t giggled like that since grade six, “I’m always up for a little fun.  Yes, Jeffrey did well, but David, my God, David can accomplish so much more.  I’m ready to serve him, sugar pills for three months, ready and verified.”  She waved the stapled shut bag in the air as Jack laughed under his breath.  Evil really does surround every aspect of our lives, David was being led into the darkness.

David Dahmer hopped up from the corner as soon as his name was called, “What’s the damage, how much do I owe you?”  In this moment, David was content, happy, normal.

Trying not to smile, Jack replied, “Davey, this one's on the house.  Enjoy, be safe, and keep getting better.  You're a good man."   Wendy stood next to her man with the power of evil fueling her heart.  The two of them were both dreaming of who else they could kill off once David started to really go bonkers.  Sometimes, life is a bitch.  

With a genuine feeling of goodness pushing him, David took his meds and went on about his way.  His lower level ‘all he could afford’ apartment was just two blocks from here and he still had at least two hours left before his Lithium wore off, of course he didn't know that, but he would soon find out. 

The darkness was about to consume poor David, regardless of how much he wanted to do good, the darkness always wins.