The Salvation Shark, Chapter 22

Becki

The sky is black, and the lamps on the highway make the air look orange. I’m pretending to be asleep with my head slumped on the leather upholstery. Anton pushes on through the night.

Out of nowhere, he says, “So you believe in God and the Devil, huh? Heaven and Hell?” I sit up slowly and look at him puzzled. “Do you understand that most of the world is already scheduled to be hell-bound? All these supposed ‘Christians?’ They’re going to burn in a lake of fire.” He looks at me with those piercing blue eyes. “You have been given a special chance here. This isn’t only a chance to redeem your own lost soul, but to be a miniature Messiah.”

I don’t know if Anton could shock me with anything at this point. “What are you talking about?” I ask flatly.

“The whole reason I chose you. It had very little to do with you.” His eyes drift back to the road, and he turns off his awful classical music. “It was your parents.”

I suppose I was wrong. “What?”

“In the months before you won that talent show and were given a recording contract, you may have noticed life was very strained around your house. There was a reason, your parents were very close to divorce, though they did their best to hide that from you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your mother was having an affair with a co-worker. It had been going on for some time, but your father had just found out about it, and didn’t know what he planned to do. He still loved you and your brother obviously, but the sight of your mother made him sick. The record company had paid a pretty penny to keep them together, very much against their will.” He stares at the road for a little while. I can't cry. “That’s not it though. We can’t blame it all on your whoring mother, it was equal parts your thieving father.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“You need to know all this to complete your mission.”

“Oh, Anton,” I moan. “I don’t want this mission. I just want to go home. I just want to go home and see my mom and dad! Please just let me do that!”

“We’re trading favors, remember,” he hisses, never losing that smile. “I do something for you, you do something for me. You’ve chosen to stay with me so far. Now, if you are going to ride with me, you are going to do this job for me. Call it... gas money.” He shakes a cigarette out of a pack in his jacket and lights it with a gold Zippo. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to finish my story.”

He looks at me expectantly. I sigh in defeat. “Yes, continue,” I groan.

“Your father... Oh, that father of yours... The computer genius that he is, he found a way to hack into his company’s bank account and funneled money to a secret account. He has been at it for a couple years now. The first year, he was careful about it, taking very little. It turns out that the accountants and CEO’s had their own operation going on as well, which will come out in the laundry a few years from now. The hundred thousand that your father stole last year hardly even showed up in comparison to what they did. If he knew about this, he may have taken more. Of course, maybe he wouldn’t, he has always been a bit of a coward. Hell, he chickened out when he was going to kill your mother.” He chuckles. “That would have destroyed your career before it started. Your mother never would have been able to enter you in that talent show if she was dead!” He is silent for a couple seconds. “Your parents have gone and broken two of the Ten Commandments. Of course, they have broken others, everyone has. They are unrepentant sinners. Their tickets to Hell are signed and stamped, they need to repent and ask forgiveness of their Maker. Here they are, doing all these ‘Thou Shalt Nots,’ stealing and coveting thy neighbor’s ass and whatnot,” he looks over at me, a light in his eyes. “They need to be saved, and look who is able to do it!”

“You’re insane!” I whisper.

He laughs. “I’m insane? I’m insane! These rules are written out for all of you very clearly in a book they claim to believe in. If they were of a different faith, they couldn’t be held to those rules, but here they are, running around, claiming to be Christian, but stealing and fucking everything they can. Disgusting, really.”

“Please stop,” I whimper, rolling down the window. The air stings my face. It has felt like it was going to snow all day long.

“Could you roll that up,” Anton says. “Doesn’t make much sense to have the heat on if you are going to put the window down, does it?”

I look at him and try to be defiant, but in the end, roll up the window.

“Thank you,” he says, keeping his eyes on the road. He doesn't say any more.


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