World of Darkness - Reliquary.pdf - World of Darkness - RPG

Justin Achilli- Jess Hartley

Wood Ingham- Matthew McFarland

Peter Schaefer-Chuck Wendig

At his sentencing, Manny Romito said that he was sorry for killing Bob Jesten, Albert Wilson, and Peter

Sochowsky. Manny lied, and the judge knew it. The judge sentenced him to death by lethal injection.

Manny died because of love. If anyone had asked him during his trial why he’d killed those three men,

he’d have told them it was because they’d hurt the woman that he loved. But he hadn’t even told his lawyer

that, so bringing it up himself during the trial, starched shirts, borrowed ties and all, seemed out of place.

Besides, it wasn’t like they’d raped her, or beat her up, or anything that a jury of 12 honest (white) people

would have understood. They tried to steal something from her that didn’t technically belong to her in the

first place, but that she owned anyway.

The more Manny thought about it, as he was led away in handcuffs with his mother and sister wailing and

his father turning away from him, the more he reckoned it was a good idea he’d never brought up the gold

apple after all.

••• —

Manny met Gail at a block party. At first he thought she was lost, and then that she was slumming, but

— •••

then he had to admit that other than the fact that she wasn’t Italian, she fit right in. Maybe she was just

light-skinned and bleach-blonde? He walked over to her to ask. He was already drunk.

Manny was what his mother called “good-hearted.” That is, he was honest and hard-working, but not

terribly bright. Manny recognized that, but didn’t figure being smart was too big of a deal. His cousin

was smart. He’d been in college for years, and was living in a crappy apartment while he worked on

a degree that would let him call himself “Doctor” even though he wasn’t a “real” doctor. Meanwhile,

Manny was a welder and made good money, had a good retirement plan, and didn’t have to spend

every waking minute reading boring, thick books about art and metal and stuff. Although even Manny

admitted it was kind of neat to hear about how people worked metal a hundred years ago, without

torches or galvanization or anything.

So Manny saw Gail, and while some of his brothers or cousins might have thought about how to get such a

good-looking girl in the sack, Manny just figured it’d be nice to bring her a drink. So he did, and they got

to talking. Manny fell in love.

Gail danced, but not very well. She wasn’t Italian and hadn’t been going to these block parties all her

life, like Manny had. Manny never did get around to asking why she was there, and later, in his cell

awaiting the needles, he wondered if asking that might have spared him some trouble later. The thoughts

were painful, because if he’d asked, she probably would have found someone else to help her with her

problem, and that meant she’d never have loved him. That thought nearly made him cry. But everybody cries

on death row, sometimes, no matter what they want you to believe.

••• —

After the party, Manny and Gail went for a walk around the block. Manny was still a little buzzed, but

— •••

After the party, Manny and Gail went for a walk around the block. Manny was still a little buzzed, but

he’d cut back once he and Gail had met because he wanted to feel at his best while talking to her. She told

him about the apple. He couldn’t remember later how she had brought it up, but then Manny didn’t have a

great memory for that kind of thing.

“It’s about the size of your fist,” she said. “I think it’s made of gold, but I need to know what it’s worth

and I don’t trust gold dealers.” Manny nodded, even though he didn’t know any gold dealers. “You don’t

know anyone who knows about this stuff, do you?”

Manny shook his head, and they moved on to other things. They talked about their work. Mostly Manny

talked about his work and Gail nodded, because she wasn’t working just then. They had walked all the way

around the block when Manny remembered his cousin Al. “Hey, my cousin knows about art and metal and

stuff.”

“Oh, yeah?” Gail had just stepped under the streetlight, on the corner across from St. Jude’s. Manny was

watching the way the fake light caught in her hair. “Manny,” she laughed, “what are you looking at?”

“You,” he said, and then he kissed her. She seemed surprised, but she kissed him back. Later, when Manny

was waiting to die, his traitorous mind sometimes thought that she’d used him somehow. But, he told

himself, if Gail had meant for him to do all of this, wouldn’t she have seemed more interested in the apple

that first night?

••• —

The day Manny Romito died, he said something very strange before they put the needle in his arm. He

— •••

The day Manny Romito died, he said something very strange before they put the needle in his arm. He

said, “I never got to see that apple.” Most of the people at the execution figured he was just being poetic.

Some of his family figured they’d slipped him a pill before they brought him out, just to keep him calm,

At his sentencing, Manny Romito said that he was sorry for killing Bob Jesten, Albert Wilson, and Peter

Manny met Gail at a block party. At first he thought she was lost, and then that she was slumming, but

then he had to admit that other than the fact that she wasn’t Italian, she fit right in. Maybe she was just

and that he was just drunk-talking. Only one person present knew that “the apple” was

significant, and he waited for Manny to die and then scanned the room for ghosts. He

didn’t see any, so he left, resolving to look into the matter when he had time. That might

be a while, though, because this particular person was a busy man. The only reason he was

there at all was because Manny had killed a friend of his.

If Manny’s family had known about the vagaries of life and death, and how it all “works,”

they wouldn’t have been surprised to find that Manny didn’t leave a ghost behind. Manny

didn’t hold grudges or remember slights. If he had something to say to you, he said it. If

he felt like he needed to hit you, well, he’d do that, too. That was why they felt, perhaps as

a coping strategy and perhaps with some logic, that if Manny had killed those men, he must

have felt he needed to.

They were right about that. Manny hated those people with more passion that he’d ever

hated anybody. He hated them because of what they did to Gail. But by the time he came to

die, he’d had his revenge and spent his anger. All that was left was love, and over the years

that he waited to die, his lawyer half-heartedly going through the appeals, even that turned

into memory and regret.

The man who knew that Manny’s last words were significant, but that he didn’t leave a

ghost behind, didn’t care about some blue-collar thug under the drip. He didn’t care about

Manny’s family and their confusion, and he certainly didn’t doubt that Manny was guilty,

because in his experience people were just crazy and who knew why they did anything

anyway. But he

concerned about how said thug snuck up on his friend Bob and shot him

in the head. The man got out to his car before he decided that he did have time to look into

it, after all, and went to a dingy office downtown.

The man’s door had the letters “L Y GRAND” stenciled on it. “PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR”

would have cost too much, and “PI” just looked silly. Besides, while Lyle was a private

investigator, most of what he did fell more under the “hired thief” category than actual

investigation, and if he advertised his PI license, he was sure he’d be investigating cheating

husbands within the week. Lyle couldn’t abide the notion of snooping on some fat white guy

with a hooker. The thought made him queasy.

Lyle pulled out a scrapbook and looked over photos of his friend. Bob had been in the

military, and while he wasn’t a SEAL or Army Ranger or anything like that, he had kept in

shape and stayed alert. It was Bob, actually, who’d taught Lyle about having “street eyes” —

watching shadows, reflections, looking down alleys, that kind of thing. So how did Bob wind

up getting shot by a guy like Manny?

Everybody has an off day

Everybody has an off day , mused Lyle.

, mused Lyle. Wonder if Bob left a ghost?

Wonder if Bob left a ghost?

••• —

Manny had never killed anyone before. He’d been in fights before, even a knife fight once,

— •••

Manny had never killed anyone before. He’d been in fights before, even a knife fight once,

but it had never escalated too far. A few stitches in his arm, and that was it. He’d never

considered killing anyone, let alone planned how to do it. Never until Gail…

Gail had told him that Bob had the apple originally. But he’d stolen it (Gail never said

where it had come from), and Gail wanted to give it back, but she couldn’t while Bob was

still out there free. Manny had suggested turning him in for stealing it, but Gail said he

had friends on the force and wouldn’t get arrested. She didn’t suggest killing him; she

just cried in Manny’s arms and said how scared she was that Bob would come find her.

Manny was pretty sure he had just meant to scare Bob.

He found Bob in his car outside Gail’s apartment building. He walked up, put his hand on

his gun, and put it to Bob’s head. And then he felt something. He couldn’t place the feeling

then and was never able to express it later, but he knew that Bob was

doing something

without moving, and he pulled the trigger. And he saw the hole appear from the other side

of Bob’s head and spray brains and blood all over the window. Manny ran, and he got all the

way home before he threw up.

and that he was just drunk-talking. Only one person present knew that “the apple” was

anyway. But he was

was concerned about how said thug snuck up on his friend Bob and shot him

then and was never able to express it later, but he knew that Bob was doing something

World of Darkness - Reliquary.pdf

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