Jeb

The room was quiet and he was thankful for that.  It was a small efficiency apartment and he was paid up for the month.  No one would even recognize him, he thought to himself.  "I guess that's the point." he muttered to no one.  Jeb Thaddeus sat alone at the small circular table by the bedside.  He had never married nor did he ever think he would desire such a thing.  If his mother had taught him anything it was the misfortune of such an endeavor.  As he surveyed his new accommodations he noticed a single roach on the wall.  Jeb had always had a fondness for the creatures.  Their ability to reproduce and occupy their surroundings was something to be respected in his opinion.  "You guys are gonna rule the world someday" he told his new friend.  His feelings for roaches never hindered his motivation to kill them.  But he was fascinated by their resilience.  Jeb quietly took off his shoe and with a keen eye hurled it at his guest.  "You guys are fast but you're not that fast." he said as he surveyed the carnage.  The body of the roach lay flat against the wall with fluid spattered around it.  "I guess I'll have to notify the maid when she comes in tomorrow." he chuckled to himself.  As the last remnants of the day's sunshine poured in through the single window his thoughts turned to the job.  His last job was a week ago and normally he wanted a month in between to survey the next target. This one was gonna be his last but he felt a little rushed into it.  "I'm gonna miss the money." he mentioned to his dead friend on the wall.  It seemed so simple when he first started out.  He could be defined as a loner with no real friends or family.  Originally born and raised in a small town in Kentucky he had escaped to New York with the hopes of forgetting his past and never being recognized in his future.  His childhood had been nothing short of traumatic.  His father had retreated into the bottle so far that he couldn't even remember the last conversation he had had with him before pulling the trigger.  His mother had cried "Don't Jeb" before he fired the gun but all he could see was the blood on the wall from the beating she had taken.  She died with the vision of her abuser on his knees with Jeb standing over him.  All that hate had bottled up inside and he carried it as a reminder of what men were truly capable of doing.  If Jeb was sure of anything it was the fact that men were no better than his uninvited guest splattered against the wall.  He thought of himself as an exterminator rather than a hit man.  He was doing humanity a favor rather than committing some crime.  "If anything I should be getting a medal." he thought to himself.  He was tired from the trip and the bed was calling to him like a long lost friend he hadn't seen for awhile.  Sleep never came very easy for Jeb but tonight he was gonna sleep good.  It always came easy on the night before a kill.  As Jeb brushed his teeth he thought of that night so long ago when he said goodbye to Trinityville.  His disappearance was investigated by the police and was declared as an unsolved mystery.  If he remained in that category the rest of his life he would be okay with that.  He missed his mother but he also hated her at the same time.  He never understood how a woman could be so weak to not be able to protect her her own child.  But he did miss her and always thought of those moments when his father was gone on another binge and they would just talk at the table.  In some ways he would never be able to let go.  In others she had never been there.  But that was history and tomorrow was all about the kill.  Yes, he would sleep good tonight. He always did before a kill.   My name is Rueuhy and I approve this blog.