Chapter 12

    The sun drops beneath the mountains, and Damien continues screaming.

    Jacqueline says: "Yep, just going to squish you under my shoe now. Smear you underfoot like I did your family. Are you ready for that?"

    Damien screeches: “Kill me! Kill meee! Just kill me already!”

    Jacqueline glances at Marlee and pouts slightly, shrugging. She raises her shoe over the tiny man. "Should I make you beg for it? Beg me to end your life?"

    Damien raises his head an inch as he takes a trembling breath, revealing bloodshot eyes and broken veins in his face, and tears streaming like water. “Kill me you fucking monster! Kill me kill me kill meee!" he continues.

    Jacqueline sighs. "I've broken him completely haven't I?"

    Marlee nods.

    "I was thinking of keeping him in my shoe, as a little pet, if he begged me to let him live. Like a little prize to remember this by. But that wouldn't be any good now, would it? He can't get any more pathetic than this, there's just no teasing him left. Oh, but I really wanted to hear him beg one last time." She sighs and lowers her foot, slowly. She touches one edge of her sole to the dirt as she continues carefully, descending at a slight slant. She pauses when she feels the slightest hint of resistance under her foot, listening to Damien’s shrieks squeeze out of his chest and turn into breathless, tortured groans over the dull, muffled crack of a rib.

    Marlee suddenly crouches down and carefully picks something up off the dirt. She examines it closely, and then stands and presents it to Jacqueline.

    Jacqueline squints, but when she hears the noise the thing makes, she smiles slyly, nodding.

    Marlee crouches down again and places the tiny thing next to Jacqueline’s foot.

    Pepsi barks once and then whines, running to Damien.

    He finally stops screaming. Trembling and shattered, pressed between the giant black ceiling of the shoe and the dusty ground, he gapes at his dog. Blood trickles from his mouth.

    “Well,” Jacqueline says, a smile in her voice, “I guess if you’re not going to beg for your little life anymore…” She adds an ounce of pressure to her foot, and hears the tiniest crackle of Damien’s legs and one good arm being pulverized. He emits a gurgling scream.

    Pepsi barks and gets down on her stomach, wriggling her way under the shoe to reach Damien and lick him.

    “Aaaaugh, no! Pepsi, go! Go!" Damien half screams, half wheezes as he shoves his confused dog away with his one arm and broken wrist. Most of his body is ruined now, crushed beyond hope, the rest operating desperately on adrenaline alone. His face is bloody, bloated and discolored. "J-Jacqueline wait plea- aaaach!- please don’t kill me!”

    Jacqueline smiles triumphantly. “Oh, too late.” She lifts her heel an inch off the ground.

    “Jacqueline please! God please! Pleaaaaggchh-”

    He crunches flat. His cries end abruptly, forever. The last of the Reiner family and all of its memories die under Jacqueline's foot the moment his brain bursts through the front of his skull.

    She sighs. Staring at her high heel for a few moments, she flexes her toes a bit. Slowly, she drags her foot backward and watches the red smear stretch along the ground until it runs dry. The sun is gone now, the sky dimmed to a deep blue-grey, and an evening breeze rustles her hair.

    Then, she walks off toward her house.

    Marlee hurries up beside her and they walk in silence for a bit, a happy smirk on Jacqueline's face.

    Eventually Jacqueline says: "I know I said I wanted to keep him as a pet, but I couldn't help it at that moment. The timing was just fantastic."

    "Yes Miss."

    Jacqueline turns to her assistant and says: "Well? Did you enjoy that?"

    "Yes, very much." Marlee says, flushing suddenly and hugging her tablet to her chest. She keeps her eyes to the ground.

    "Of course you did. You just love it when I'm mean, don't you?"

    "Yes Miss."

    Jacqueline laughs. "Well you've proven yourself exceptionally capable this past month, so I hope you found this rewarding. If you want more, maybe I'll let you clean my shoes with your tongue later. Hmmm?"

    "Yes Miss Jacqueline. Thank you very much.” She swallows. “It was all, terribly ingenious of you, but if you don’t mind me asking, how did you do it? How did you get them all to come over to your property like that?"

    “Oh I have my ways.” She smiles mischeviously. “I’ll tell you later. But for now, we have matters to attend. Schedule the party for next Saturday, starting at 11am. Do you remember who I said to invite?"

    "Yes, Miss Veronica of course, and the Prime Minister, Dr. Hayley and Dr. Keyla, Miss Madeyln and her daughter Autumn, the Ferderal Justice Minister Emily, and the rest of the Canadian major shareholders."

    "Good. And make sure my daughter gets the memo, will you?" She says. “She can keep Autumn company. Tell them all to bring their pool clothes and their appetites. Its going to be wonderful. Got everything?"

    “Yes Miss.” Marlee pats her jacket pocket carefully. Inside, Pepsi whines.