Dumb Love and Hellfire

“Very few people have ever been to hell and back… I’m sorry you were one of them…”

Whoever came up with the saying ‘beauty’s only skin deep’ obviously never met Lexi Bradshaw. She was beautiful inside and out. Composed of one-half pure love and another half whimsy, she was the surprisingly perfect byproduct of the all-American dream; the daughter of a local cop who worked his ass off to raise her by himself and the sister to anyone who was lucky enough to have ever met her. And to make matters worse, she didn’t even know how beautiful she really was. How beautiful she might have been one day. How beautiful she’d never be again.

Standing in front of the mirror of that tiny little bathroom, she hummed to herself while straightening her hair.

“And where do you think you’re going?” her dad asked, making his way down the hall to drop off his duty belt.

“To the movies with Tyler.”

“Are ya now? What movie?”

“I don’t know. Some scary movie that just came out.”

“Ahh, alright then. Which theatre?”

“The one that plays the scary movies,” she chuckled.

“Yeah… that really narrows it down.”

Were Lexi anyone else’s daughter, she might have accused her dad of being a little too nosey. But then again, he’d been a cop since well before she was born, so she was used to the constant stream of questions. In a strange way, she actually kind of liked it. At least she knew he cared.

Undoing the buttons of his shirt, her dad propped up against the doorframe next to where she was standing.

“Anything interesting happen at school today, sweat pea?”

“No, not really. Katey and Drake broke up again, but that’s about it.”

“They broke up again?”

“Again!”

“Damn. As much as they fight, you’d think they were married or something.”

“I know, right! I tried to tell her that he’s no good for her, but she doesn’t listen.”

“Oh my God, me too! Like, I’ve totes been trying to tell her the same thing, but she won’t listen to me either!”

Realizing her father was being facetious, Lexi cocked her head with a smile.

“Daddy, do you even know who Katey is?”

Dropping the façade, he shook his head with a grin.

“Nope. Not a damn clue.”

“Oh my God! She stayed the night here at my birthday party that one year. The one who’s mom tried hitting on you right there in front of her husband.”

“Baby girl, I don’t know if you know this, but your old man gets hit on all the time. It’s pretty much an everyday occurrence at this point. That’s why I have to carry so much pepper spray. Gotta fight them hoes off somehow.”

“Daddy… KATEY! The one who you brought the… you know… the thing to my sweet sixteen.”

“Wait… The dildo girl?!”

“Yes! That’s Katey!”

“Oh dear, God! Well in that case, good on her boyfriend for breaking up with her. She’s fucking nuts!”

“Oh, stop. She’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad?! That damn thing was as big as my arm! All flopping around like an elephant trunk!”

As the two of them shared a good laugh, a car horn honked out in the driveway.

All at once, Lexi’s eyes lit up with excitement.

“Oh! It’s Tyler!”

“Oh my God, it’s Tyler!” her dad gawked, putting on his best impression of a seventeen-year-old girl.

“Stop!” Lexi laughed, dabbing some cheap perfume on her wrists before wiping the rest on her dad’s shirt for the fun of it.

Checking her hair one last time in the mirror, she shot herself a little wink before rushing down the hall and sliding on her shoes.

“Okay, I love you, daddy!”

“I love you too. Oh, hey! What time will you be home tonight?”

“I’m not to sure. We won’t be out too late.”

“That… That doesn’t even answer my question, actually.”

“We’ll come home after the movie.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question.”

“Alright, I’ll see you tonight! Love you, Daddy!”

And just like that, she was out the door.

Lexi Bradshaw, the sweet seventeen-year-old with a heart of gold. She left the same way she always left: in a whirlwind so adorable that all you could do was smile at it.

Leaping into the door of that old Mustang, Tyler hadn’t even made it out of Lexi’s driveway before she was leaning across the center console, kissing the side of his neck and gripping his arm like she hadn’t seen him in years.

“Hey there good looking!” Lexi gleamed.

“Hey there,” Tyler muttered back with a half-hearted smile.

Truth be told, Tyler had been a bit distant for a few weeks now; ever since his brother got arrested for running cocaine across the county line. Of course, part of Tyler’s distance was due to the embarrassment. Though, another part of it was because Lexi’s dad was the arresting officer. Either way, Lexi being Lexi, she was more than understanding of the situation, and though she wished he wouldn’t push her away, she ultimately agreed to give Tyler some space.

Reclining back in her seat, she began tracing little circles on his arm with her fingers.

“How was your day today?” she asked.

“It was a day, I guess. Spent most of it at the courthouse.”

Taking a deep breath, Lexi chose her words carefully.

“Did the DA offer a plea deal like ya’ll were hoping for?”

Tyler didn’t answer immediately.

“They offered him five years at thirty percent if he agreed to snitch on who he was running dope for.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Good? He’s looking at over a year in prison! And that’s if he talks! And you know as well as I do that if he talks, he’ll be a dead man as soon as he gets out!”

“I mean… You don’t know that.”

“Yeah, I fucking do, Lexi!” Tyler scorned. “The Hudson boys are in deep with a bunch of different biker gangs. They don’t fuck around when it comes to this sort of shit! They’ll have him skinned alive if he says a word. Not to mention, he still owes them almost fifty grand for the drugs your dad ceased!”

Taking a deep breath, Lexi turned and stared out the window.

“I’m sorry,” she sighed, still holding Tyler by the hand.

“It’s fine,” he huffed, pulling his hand away. “It’s done now.”

“What’s done?”

“Just, everything… It’s done now.”

Lexi wasn’t exactly sure what Tyler meant, but she decided not to push the subject. She’d barely been able to get a hold of him over the last couple weeks. The last thing she wanted to do was mess it all up now. Hoping to lighten the mood, she forced a smile and leaned back across the console.

“Well, at least for tonight we can just enjoy ourselves.”

Again, Tyler didn’t answer, and again, Lexi didn’t press.

For what felt like an eternity, they sat there in silence; Lexi trying her best to be the comforting girlfriend she’d always been while Tyler raced down old country roads like a man on a mission.

Glancing out the window, Lexi noticed Tyler had missed the turn leading into town. What’s more, he hadn’t just missed it. He blazed past it.

“Umm. Aren’t we going to the movies?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. We are. I just gotta run and get something from a friend’s house real quick.”

“Okay? Is everything alright?”

“It’s fine,” Tyler snapped. “Why are you asking so many questions?”

“I’m just trying to talk to you,” she sheepishly replied.

Tyler just shook his head.

Whipping around corners and darting down backroads, it wasn’t long before Lexi realized that she had no idea where Tyler was taking her. By the looks of it, they were out in the sticks.

“I didn’t know you had any friends out this way.”

Tyler didn’t say anything.

“Your hands are sweating like crazy,” she added.

“Yeah,” he murmured, turning down a gravel road that led into a secluded area in the woods.

Driving down the bumpy road for a short ways, Tyler eventually parked under a cluster of trees hidden away off the main road. Turning off the ignition, he trembled as he stepped out of the car.

Both confused and worried, Lexi followed behind him.

“Tyler, what’s wrong?! You can talk to me! I swear, I won’t judge you!”

Again, Tyler didn’t say a word. He just stood there behind the car, shivering like he’d just seen a ghost.

“Tyler! Say something to me!”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Just then, a set of headlights flashed in their direction, nearly blinding Lexi. Spotlights trained on the two of them, a large truck rumbled down the dirt road, coming to a stop a few yards away from where they were standing. Stunned, Lexi clung to Tyler’s arm for dear life.

“What’s going on,” she whimpered. “Tyler, are these your friends.”

Before Tyler had a chance to answer, the doors to the truck swung open as three men stepped out.

“That you, Tyler?” one of them called out.

“Y-yes, sir,” he murmured back.

Squinting, Lexi was just able to make out outline of one of the boy’s faces. A rough looking young man, she could have sworn she’d seen him somewhere before, though as scared as she was, she struggled to remember when or where.

“This her?” the taller of the three men asked.

All at once, Lexi felt her blood run cold.

“Yes, sir,” Tyler muttered back.

“Good deal.”

As the three men drew closer, Lexi thought for a second that she should run away, but for the life of her, her feet refused to move. With a soul full of panic, she stood there frozen like a helpless animal, unaware of the horrors that awaited her. Looking up at Tyler, she thought for a moment that this was just some sort of prank he was playing. Almost like she half expected him to burst out into laughter at a moment’s notice. However, when she saw the look of pure terror painted across his face, she realized this was far from any sort of prank.

She was in danger.

And her chance to run away had already passed her by.

Looking back at the three men, she watched as the man with the familiar face raised up a baseball bat. That’s when she remembered where she’d seen him from. She saw him in a newspaper article once; a man wanted for running cocaine across county lines.

He was one of the Hudson boys.

CRACK!

Before Lexi even knew what had happened, she was lying on the ground, the taste of warm blood trickling down the back of her throat. Ears ringing and half dazed, she felt herself being lifted up and stuffed into the back of a car. All the while, she could hear Tyler crying in the background while the taller of the three men talked over him.

“Let this be a lesson to ya, son! If some no-name law man thinks he’s gonna come after us, then he’s gonna have hell to pay! And you make sure to tell your piece of shit brother of yours that if he even thinks about snitching, you’ll be the one in this fucking trunk next time, Tyler!”

Struggling to breathe, Lexi felt something being poured over her body. Something with a pungent smell.

Gasoline.

As they slammed the trunk to Tyler’s car shut, she could faintly hear Tyler saying something.

“So, is his debt paid?” he asked, choking on his own words.

“Yeah… I guess so. Sorry bout your car though.”

And with the strike of a match, it all went up in flames.

To this day, no one knows for sure how long that car was on fire for, and to be honest, maybe it’s better not to know. What is known is that by the time the fire department showed up, that beat up old Mustang was little more than a smoldering heap of metal. And there, in the trunk of that carnage, was Lexi Bradshaw; the most beautiful girl anyone could have ever met.

She was left there as a warning, like some sort of sacrificial lamb. Her body burnt to a crisp. Her beauty consumed by hell fire.

Lexi Bradshaw…

She was supposed to die that night.

But she didn’t.