Part 4

That Day:


I lean back in my seat and take a deep breath.” Dana was driving down interstate sixty five. He was headed to work at Wall-Mart, probably running late as usual. It was dark and late; the interstate was almost deserted. Chris said that he was fucking this girl in his bed, she was hot as hell. She had this sexy little tramp stamp tattoo of a skull and crossbones with the word princess underneath. We will talk more about her later”.
I pause to light up another smoke. “Chris said he was pounding away at this girl when his phone started ringing. Of course he didn’t stop; he was on the home stretch. Chris was about to finish when his answering machine picked up. After whatever rude greeting he had recorded for the week was over, he heard Dana singing his heart out to ‘Valentine’ by Martina McBride. Chris immediately went limp. The girl asked him what was wrong. He told her that he couldn’t fuck her while Dana was singing to him.
“C’mon baby, finish,” the hottie begged as she rolled over into a new and more inviting position. “I said no, bitch!” “You are a fucking asshole,” she yelled as she put her underwear back on, she opted to stay topless. “Again, not the first time I have heard this. Why don’t you think of something that can hurt my feelings while I call dip-shit back.”
The hottie rolled over on her stomach and fell asleep on top of the covers and Chris picked up the phone to call Dana back.
Dana is still driving down the same stretch of interstate when he hears his cell phone ring. “Hello?” “Why do you refuse to lock the keypad on your fucking phone?” I can see Dana’s face turning beet red and his eyes watering. “Did I call you?” Dana asked. “Yeah Valentine, you did,” Chris accused. “Shit, man I am sorry, did I interrupt something?” Chris looks down at the girl’s ass and gives it a slap; she jumps a little and drifts off to sleep again. “Yeah, something like that. Dude, just start locking your phone.” “Sorry, man. Talk to you later.” I know Dana put his cell phone back in his pocket without locking it, that was Dana. His mind was never worried about things like that. He never worried about himself at all.
“Hey, can I get another cup?” I hold out my empty Styrofoam cup and the orderly rolls his eyes as he takes it to get a refill for me. “Ah, where was I? Oh yeah, Dana was close to work when he saw a broken down vehicle on the side of the road with its flashers on. Knowing Dana, he pulled over right away without taking anything else into consideration. Chris had woken the girl up for another round, and was about to finish again. I can hear him curse God when his phone rang again, only this time it wasn’t Dana singing. God knows we all wish it was Dana singing, but it wasn’t. It was Dana crying, begging for his life. Chris said all he heard was Dana saying “, shit man, I’m not ready to die!” and another voice say “, goodbye, Dana.”
“so the killer knew his name?” Josh asked me, leaning forward and hanging on to every word I spoke like a kid listening to a Christmas story. “Don’t jump ahead, dick head. That didn’t mean shit to us. Dana didn’t meet a stranger; everyone knew his name within seconds of meeting him. Anyway, the last thing Chris heard as he was already dressed and headed out the door was the gunshot. I hated that for Chris, having to be the only one to hear the fatal boom. Well, the girl heard it but she didn’t know Dana very well. Chris was the first on the scene. He was Dana’s roommate. He knew Dana’s way to work and he sped down the interstate until he saw Dana’s car. He called Aaron on his way, because Aaron lived the closest to Wall-Mart, but Chris beat Aaron there. Aaron said that when he got to Dana’s car, Chris was sitting on the shoulder of the road cradling Dana’s head in his lap and crying. That was Chris and Dana’s love-hate relationship; we will get to that later.”