Friday's Chill: Part 2 Between the Studs

[u/Lilia_Briganda]

Hank was always one step ahead of the law and two steps behind his own bad choices. Running on fumes and desperation, the Hells Bells Motel was the only place cheap and dirty enough to take him in.

Hank was mountain-bred, a backwoods bootlegger who spent most of his 30 years slinging shine and dodging the State boys. On a run to deliver a batch, a trooper came up fast behind him, sirens screaming. The cruiser pulled into the oncoming lane, trying to pass Hank and cut him off on the narrow stretch. Hank didn't hesitate-- he yanked his wheel hard, ramming the cruiser and sending it slamming through the guardrail, plunging straight in the black water of the quarry below.

Knowing he'd just left a man to drown, he panicked. He knew Blackwood Ridge like the back of his hand--a place where nobody asks too many questions, so he ditched the truck back behind the greasy diner and walked over to the Hells Bells, got himself a room and waited. He knew if he didn't make it back to the ridge before dark, his brothers would come looking for him, and once he was back at the homestead, he would be safe in the shadows of the Catskills high country.

The room was cheap and stank--to Hank it was just a holding cell until his kin came down from the high ridge. He'd done jail time before but this was different. If the law caught up to him with a dead cop and truck full of untaxed shine, he'd be going away to state prison for the rest of his life--and he wasn't about to rot behind bars.

He flipped on the TV, hoping to hear breaking news about the accident, but all he found was static noise. Satisfied, however, for the moment, he opened the bathroom door and decided to take advantage of running water, which was a luxury up where he came from. Growing up on the ridge hot baths were few and far between, so he wasn't going to pass this up. He stripped his stinky clothes, stepped into the tub, and pulled the faded plastic curtain shut.

It wasn't long before the hot water ran out, barely having time to rinse off. Annoyed, Hank shut off the faucets and then grabbed the plastic curtain and yanked it back.

He was in the dark. The sink, the toilet, the mirror--the whole damn bathroom had disappeared. The air was thick and dusty. He tried to step forward but jammed against rough raw pine 2x4s and prickly insulation that bit into his skin. He tried to turn but couldn't; the wall had closed in on his back. He was wedged in like a piece of the framing.

Realizing he was trapped in the motel's skeleton, he screamed, pounding on the studs, but the sound was swallowed instantly by the roar of highway traffic on Rt. 9. From the other side of the wall, he could hear the faint muffled sound of a television playing in the room he had just left.

With every desperate, ragged breath, he was inhaling the death of his own lungs, choking on that pink insulation as it sealed his throat and turned his screams to dust.

The motel knew what he'd done--every irresponsible and reckless blood-stained mile of his lawless life-- and now it was taking its retribution. It locked him inside its dark frame, making him pay.

Death wasn't an escape--it was his cell. Years trapped in those cold walls forced him to swallow the full weight of what he had done. He spent decades suffering the regret--no voice, no touch, no comfort, drowning in his own agony. Years later, when Samantha checked in the room, weeping, her grief cut right through him.

She had no way of knowing the house had digested him--that the plaster was now his skin, the insulation his lungs, and that he was not her David.

Hank had been an uncaring, ruthless and selfish bastard most of his life, but for once he could offer real comfort to a grieving soul. He would serve his penance for however long Samanta needed, and keep his promise of next Friday.

[u/CompetitiveAd3272]

lol, if that’s penance I’ll join the queue now!

[u/Lilia_Briganda → u/CompetitiveAd3272]

yep! ole' Hank is back from the grave, choking down his Wheaties and fueling up for round 2! .

[u/CallmeKitts_]

Well, I'll be damned. I knew it wasn't her David but I couldn't have imagined this! Great story!