Clara or Daniel

Clara or Daniel Addas




Page 289

Broken Vows: A memoir
February 3rd.
I raced out of the house . The streets were my destination. Downtown. Where my Uncle lives. Yes, my father has a brother that lives on the streets. I'd been coming here for two years. Since that first day I decided to turn Papa's death into a national scandal.
Rule 24: be patient.
I'd been coming here so long that when I do what I must do Uncle Kaamil won't ask questions. We're family again now. Friends.
We both hated Papa.
We'd sit around the fire late into the night (while Papa thought I was sleeping) and conjure up stories. Often we liked to make up these stories about dead Papa, killing Papa, badly mutilated Papa. It's very dangerous to entertain murder mysteries about your father. Especially when they're told by a drug addict. An addict that will do anything for a fix. It was a wonder Uncle Kaamil hadn't sold me too. He never keeps anything.
For a long time I'd visit him, carrying food and money for his next hit. He became as hooked to me as he was on cocaine. On the day of my father's death, I asked him to come to my house. Something he would never normally do but we were friends. Family.
He trusted me.
Uncle Kaamil was the third triplet. He looked like Papa. Same height. Same body build. Same set of teeth. The only thing that could tell them apart was Uncle Kaamil's thin hair. The top of his head was bald to begin with. I went with Uncle Kaamil to my house. Papa had to 'die'.
My father's murder wasn't as exciting as I'd have liked. He made the classic cliché movie drama (anticlimax). He had his hands up in the universal sign of surrender (like in the movies). He made talk about me dropping the gun (again, like in movies). He begged, manipulated, blackmailed, guilt tripped (same as the movies). Please don't kill me./ you don't want to do this./ you'll get caught./ you'll regret this./ what have I ever done to you./ you won't get away with this./ it's not easy to kill a man.
The only problem here was that unlike the movies there wasn't a third person that mysteriously came to the rescue, shooting me dead first. Another problem (for him) was that no matter now much he begged. I was gonna kill him./ I did want to do this (first kill is always exciting)./ He was a precaution so I was definitely not going to get caught./ I was too damn excited to ever feel regret./ Wasn't it clear what he'd done?/ I was about to find how easy it really is to kill a man.
I ordered him to his knees. And told him. "The last thing a man wants to hear before he dies is a loud bang." I added a silencer. He begged some more. Pathetic.
I aimed between the eyes. Fired. I missed. Of course, I did. I'd never held a gun in my life. Instead, I hit his jaw. Ugh: it didn't even break.
Oh, well.
I fired again. Hit his rib cage this time.
What the fuck?
I fired again and again and again. Missing every time. He just wasn't dying. I stabbed him. Begged him to die. He didn't.
He just kept breathing.
I was running out of time.
I had to bring in the jigsaw. I cut off his legs. Thighs. Torso. Arms. Head.
I chopped him as perfectly as the stake cooking on the oven.
I dug his eyes out with the knife. Long after the old hag had died. He just kept on looking at me... those big brown watery eyes. Just. Staring. Watching me. He was creeping me out.
He was bleeding too bad. I had to wash his body in the lake (no one ever goes there. I checked. Two years, and I've never bumped into anybody. But because you're cautious. You wear a disguise. Can't risk someone seeing you).
That didn't help. He still bled. I put him in the freezer. Like Jelly. He set nicely. Stopped bleeding. This was very important. For staging the scene.
The evidence has to lead police on a wild chase. One: make them aware of Daniel's OCD and obsession with the number four. Pack the pieces the way Daniel would if he'd killed his father.
Two: Make sure the police know Clara has a severe hair phobia and shave Zayed's whole body. People (in this instance, the police) would expect Clara (if she's the murderer) to shave her father raw. Make sure they always know Zayed was extremely religious. Never dared cut off his hair.