Letter 16 - Joseph Keller

This is the sixteenth story of the book.

Inspired by the 2015 video game Batman Arkham Knight


My name is Joseph Keller. I am a thirty-five-year-old Caucasian man from Manchester, New Hampshire. I had lived there with my roommates, Brandon Evans and Franklin Crito at a white apartment complex in Rimmon Heights. Every day I woke up wondering what experiences would happen.
             I worked as a director of operations for a nonprofit organization in Downtown. I worked so hard at my job, the executive director, Caucasian man Joel Lovecraft, noticed it. One warm spring day while I was at my desk doing my job, Joel called me to his office for a check-in meeting. “Say Joel, I just want to say the work you're doing is an impressive display.” Joel said. “Thanks sir. Of course, I learned from the best.” I spoke. “Yes. Keep it up.” Joel said. “Sure. Will do.” I spoke. And after that day, I continued to do well at my job, just as Joel suggested me to up to the point where we became good friends.
             One day while I was doing my regular tasks at work, Joel called me to his office for another meeting. “Say Joseph care to have dinner at my house this Friday?” Joel said. I smiled and replied, “Yes sir. I would like that very much.” “Great. My wife and I would be glad to have you over.” Joel said. “Of course, thank you in advance for that sir.” I said as I walked away back to my desk. As I resumed my work, I thought only of making an even better impression to Joel.
             Later that week, the night of dinner at Joel's house finally arrived. I made sure that I dressed well for the occasion just the same as I did for my job. I managed to arrive at Joel's house in Hanover Hill carrying a bottle of wine with me. I rang the doorbell with a heart of gladness that my life had reached the point of being in an even closer friendship with Joel. Within ten seconds, Joel answered the door, opened it and said, “Hey!! Joseph great to see you made it here on time.” “Of course, sir.” I spoke. Joel immediately cut Joseph off and said, “That's Joel. Outside the office I'm not only your employer but I am your friend. So, call me by my name.” “Oh. Okay Joel.” I said as I handed Joel the wine. “Good, now come on in.” Joel said as I headed to the dining room with the circular wooden table already set. I followed Joel to go sit down and have a drink of the wine.
           As I sat down at the dinner table, I turned my head to look at the many pictures on the walls of the dining room. While looking at the wall behind Joel, I noticed a bright red stain on it. I immediately thought that the stain was blood but ignored it and gave my focus onto the occasion. Joel’s Caucasian wife, Laura Lovecraft, came into the dining room with the plates of food to serve us. “Oh, thank you very much.” I said as I took my plate. Laura, on the other hand, remained silent and looked at the table. I felt a bit upset with the fact that Laura ignored me. I looked down right at her arms and hands and noticed that they were both covered with scars. Some looked old, others looked infected, and a lot looked like they were inflicted on Laura right before I came over. Because I was too afraid to say anything about them, I fixed my focus onto my plate of food. “He said thank you.” Joel said as he kept his eyes on Laura. “Um. You're...welcome...sir.” Laura said as she walked to serve Joel his plate of food. Laura then sat down next to Joel and didn't eat until he told her to. I couldn't help but feel even more curious about the marks on Laura's limbs. That curiosity remained in my mind for the entire time I spent at Joel's house. That led me to believe that Joel wasn't really living to be the person that I thought he was.
             One month has passed since I had dinner at Joel's house. Seeing those wounds on Laura's body made me ask Joel about her well-being at every check-in meeting. I couldn't handle seeing the sight of those wounds on her limbs. Every time I asked about Laura getting treatment for the wounds Joel would always say, “Don't worry I will be sure to get to that when I have the time for it.” That response made me feel even more skeptical about Joel and the true feelings he had for Laura. I strongly believed that Joel didn’t care about keeping his word. This led me to believe that Joel was the one who inflicted the wounds on Laura. I wanted to fight for her, but I kept the situation to a minimum because I still cared for my best friend Joel. Despite of it all the friendship between us continued to get stronger.
            One Autumn Day that look like another normal one for me, I decided to go fishing with Joel at the Merrimack Valley River. I packed all my fishing equipment into my car hoping to make a big catch. I drove over to the docking area in my red passenger car believing that it was going to be a time to remember. After a long drive of anticipation, I got over to the dock safely. Joel was already there patiently waiting for me to show up while smoking a cigarette. I smiled as I got out of my car, took out my fishing gear and headed over to Joel. “Hey Joel.” I spoke. “Hey Joseph. Wow you came here prepared.” Joel as he looked at all the gear that I was holding. “Well, I learned that I should be.” I spoke. “Good. Now let's get started.” Joel said. “Right.” I said as I put a hook onto my rod as well as put a slithering brown Earth worm on it.
            For the next three hours, Joel and I had the time of our lives catching fish of various sizes and placing them into a large white bucket filled with water. We both smiled and laughed knowing that we were letting any fish caught in our hook get away from us. "This is a blast." Joel said. "It certainly is Joel." I said, giving him a smile. "Yeah." Joel said. "Say Joel can I ask you one thing?" I spoke. "Certainly." Joel said. "How did Laura really get those wounds on her arms and hands?" I spoke. "She dropped a glass mug, broke it, fell on it and scraped them up with the pieces." Joel said. "Joel...I don't believe you. I'm not going to judge you. I want to know the truth because I feel bad for her, and you don't seem to care. Please be honest with me." I spoke. Joel changed his expression to a smile, but it wasn't one out of joy or happiness. It was a smile out of an evil passion for inflicting pain onto others.
            In that brief second, Joel began to laugh like an evil scientist who just accomplished an experiment. Joel replied, "Okay. You want to know the truth? You want to know? I did it!! I beat her. I beat her every single day and night. I just beat her this morning and had no problem with it." "But...but Joel. Why did you do that?" I spoke. "Why? I am tired of her insolent tone and attitude. I am sick of it all. That's why I did it." Joel said. "Joel, don't you realize that what you did was wrong? It was wrong. Please I really want you to stop beating her." I spoke. "Oh, so you came here to control me. Is that it?" Joel said. "No. That’s not it. I'm just encouraging you to do the right thing." I spoke. "Like I want to do that good crap." Joel said as he grabbed a black handgun out of his pants and pointed it at me. The moment I saw the gun I flinched and got right to my feet and said, "Joel, what are you doing?" "I told you the truth. I can't let you leave here knowing what I did. You'll probably call the police on me." Joel said as he began to pull the trigger. "Joel please don't do this." I spoke. “You are going to die here." Joel said as he moved closer to me while laughing. I desperately tried to back away from Joel until he got within an inch of my face. I looked at the gun and constantly asked myself how it ended up this way. All I wanted to do was to help my friend. Without even thinking, out of self-defense, I slapped the gun out of Joel's hands making it land on the dock. The moment I watched the gun make a loud thud onto the ground; I had dived with the effort to get it into my hands. Joel immediately followed, trying to get it back. For ten whole minutes, we fought in a desperate struggle trying to get our hands on the gun. I remembered what I learned in my martial arts classes and successfully pushed Joel onto the ravine of the dock making him land onto the ground. I then picked up the gun. "I have it now." I said as I pointed the gun at Joel. Joel changed his smile to a devastated frown making him say, "Come on man. I was just playing around." "Playing around? Playing around?!! You just tried to kill me. Like I'm going to believe you." I said as my hands clenched onto the gun. "Please believe me." Joel said as he slowly approached me. As I watched Joel move slowly towards me, I couldn’t help but want to shoot him but all the memories I shared with him prevented me from pulling the trigger. "You'll just do it again." I spoke. When Joel reached an inch away, out of fear, I pulled the trigger and shot him right in the arm. The anger that I had for Joel made me shoot the gun until the clip ran out of bullets. Each time I shot Joel, I couldn't help but scream like I was the one being killed. Joel fell to the ground dead covering the ground of the dock with his blood. To cover up what I did, I took Joel's body and tossed it into the water. I then tossed the gun into a nearby bush. As I saw Joel's body sink into the river, I asked myself again why everything turned out to this. Feeling ashamed of what I had just done, I ran to my car and drove back home. I left all my fishing gear at the scene. When I got back to my apartment, I didn't say a single word to my roommates and ran straight to my room to lay down on my bed. As I laid down pondering over what I had done to Joel, I shed tears knowing that I killed the very man who was my mentor, employer and above all my friend.
           In spite of the guilt of killing Joel, I was able to go into a deep slumber. Within the sleep, I found myself in a dream that would haunt me for the rest of my life. In the dream, I was standing in a dark empty room where the only source of light was a lamp sitting beside me on the floor. Feeling scared, I picked up the lamp so I could see what's around me in the room. I used the lamp to flash at the walls. Less than a second, I noticed my name was written on the wall. As my curiosity began to intensify, I realized it was a sentence written in blood all over that wall. I read the sentence out loud, "Joseph. You murdered me. You killed me!! You killed me!!!" In unison to Joseph's voice, lights all over the room turned on. Out of shock, I noticed that the sentence was written all over the room as well as pictures of Joel everywhere with blood covering his face. I couldn't help but scream bloody murder desperately wanting the nightmare to end. The next day, I woke up out of the dream feeling happy that it was over. I asked myself how I was going to live the remainder of my life with something like this on my shoulders.
           At work, I barely remained calm while working on my tasks. I lied to everyone at the office telling them that Joel was out sick. With every passing day, I gave the other staff members a new lie, one after another. One cold winter day, while I was conducting daily tasks with a forced grin on my face, my assistant Ashley Johnson approached me. "Hey Joseph." Ashley said. I turned over to her and said, "Yes, what is it, Ashley?" "Can I talk to you in private?" Ashley said. "Sure thing." I said as I got up out of my chair. Ashley led me out of the office building to Pulaski Park and sat down on a bench. "Now Joseph, the reason why I brought you out here is because I want to ask you something.” Ashley said. “Go ahead.” I spoke. “Do you have any idea when Joel will return." Ashley said. "Joel should be back real soon." I spoke. "Joseph, you're running away from my question. I'm worried about you. You have been acting very strange lately like you did something you regret doing." Ashley said. "I'm fine Ashley. I have done nothing wrong." I said, trying to keep my body language at a believable expression. "You can tell me Joseph. I don't care what you did. I want to help you." Ashley said. "I'm fine. Joel will be back real soon. That’s the end of this discussion. Now we need to get back to work." I said as I got up off the bench and headed back to the office.
           A week later, I found myself being approached by Ashley again. "Joseph." Ashley said. I turned my head around and said, "Yes Ashley." "These men here would like to speak with you." Ashley said pointing at the two tall slender Caucasian police officers standing next to her. "I'm officer Andrew Swindoll." Officer Swindoll said. "And I'm Officer Lewis Carter. We would like to talk to you about Joel Lovecraft." Officer Carter said. "Sure, what about him." I spoke. "Well to make sure we don't disturb the piece of your office I think it be best if you come talk to us about it at the station." Officer Swindoll said. "Okay..." I spoke as I got up out of my chair and followed the officers out of the office to their car. Swindoll and Carter had me sit in the back seat as they drove me to the local police station on Valley Street. As I sat in the back seat of that police car, it was as if I was being taken into custody for the death I caused. The shame of what I had done prevented me from looking out the window to enjoy the scenery of the city I loved. Moments later, the officers arrived at the precinct. They helped me out of the car and led me to an interrogation room in the building. I thought up a cover story that I believed to be as swallowable as I thought it could be.
          Officer Swindoll and Carter had me sit down at one end of a table while they sat at the other. "Okay so what is the real reason why you two brought me here?" I spoke. "Well Joel Lovecraft was found dead at the Merrimack River yesterday." Officer Swindoll said. I gave my all to give the officers a confused look at the scene. "Um...what. Oh no. That can't be true." I spoke. "Earlier today from an autopsy report there appeared to be bullet wounds all over his body. This means that he was killed before we he was dumped into the water." Officer Carter said. "Of course that would be the case." I spoke. Officer Carter then took out a plastic bag and placed it onto the table. On that cold white painted wooden table was the very gun that I used to kill Joel. Joseph did all I could to hide the shock I was facing from taking a life. The gun greatly reminded me of it. "This is the weapon that murdered Joel Lovecraft." Officer Swindoll said. "Yes, I understand that it is...,” Joseph said. "We chatted with Lovecraft's wife, and she told us that you were the last person that he was around with at the time of the murder. Your fingerprints are on this gun. You killed him, didn't you?" Officer Carter said. The moment I was asked about killing Joel I thought about my life and where it was facing ever since I made the choice. I knew I couldn't take hiding it any longer as well as the haunting of the nightmare. I shed tears and said, "Yes. I did it!! It was me!!! I killed him!!! I did it!!!! I only did it because Joel tried to kill me with the gun. I hid the body and the gun because I was too afraid of what might happen." "Thank you for telling the truth, Joseph. It was courageous of you to do so but we must arrest you." Officer Swindoll said as he got up and put hand cuffs onto my wrists “What you did was a crime of obstruction of evidence even if it was self-defense.” Officer Carter said. I didn't bother to resist, I sat there in my chair and faced the consequences of my crime.
            A week later, I found myself standing in a courtroom on Amherst Street ready to be judged for my actions. One of the jurors stood up and said, "We the jury find Joseph Keller guilty!!!!" The judge immediately said, "Well Mr. Keller, I hereby sentence you to ten years in prison. In order to attain parole, you must serve no more than six years." As I stood in the court room, I kept my head facing the ground ignoring all the surrounding aspects of the scene. The bailiff grabbed me and led me to be taken to prison.        
            Six years have passed ever since I was sent to prison. I did all I could to make the best of my situation by making friends with other inmates including my cell mate. It was as if I was in a prison trapped within himself. Even after being placed into the Merrimack Valley Correctional Center, I was still being haunted by the very same dream night after night. Deep down I still couldn't face the fact that I took someone else's life. I thought that I was cursed to carry this till the day I die. One hot summer day, while I was working out in the recreational area, I found myself being stopped by a guard. "Yes sir?" I spoke. "You have some visitors." the guard said. "Okay I will be right down there." I said as I got up and followed the guard. As I headed over to the visiting room, I wondered who bothered to come all our way just to see me. I felt very surprised that the people who came to visit me were Laura and Ashley. "Oh my God. Why are you two here?" I spoke. "We're here because we want you to tell us what happened." Ashley said. "Please tell me. I want to know what you did to my husband." Laura said. "Okay I will do what you ask." I spoke. I sat and told Laura and Ashley about everything that happened that night at the dock as well as the reason why I did what I did. I left no detail of the scene hidden. Laura smiled and said, "Joseph thank you so much for telling me the truth. I understand it completely. I didn't deserve any of the beatings Joel gave me. I could have left him at any time, but I loved and had too much trust in him to do that. I feared what would happen in my life after it changed. I neither have a grudge nor a heart of hatred against you. Because of your honesty, we have a surprise for you." Laura said. “What’s that?” I spoke. “Ashley and I have signed up to get you a pardon. The governor approved it. You’re getting out of here.” The moment I heard what Laura said, my eyes opened wide making me say, “Really?” “Yes.” Laura said. “Why would you do that for me?” I spoke. “Because I don’t want you to suffer for Joel’s mistakes. You don’t deserve that. As I said before since you were honest, I now know that me fighting for you wasn’t a mistake.” Laura said. I sniffled, wiped my face and said, “Thank you. Thank you both for doing that.” “You are most welcome.” Ashley said.
          A week later, I made the brightest smile I could ever make the moment I set foot outside of the prison. When I saw Laura and Ashley standing outside, I ran and embraced them. "Thank you again. Thank you both. I'm so grateful for this." I spoke. "Anything for you Joseph." Ashley said. I stared at the prison guard as he closed the gates to the facility. As I heard the gates close, it was as if I escaped from a life I had been running from for so long. "I don't know what I'm going to do now though." I spoke. "Don't worry we'll figure it out together." Ashley said. So, I got into a car with Laura and Ashley and drove away. I felt even more proud knowing that I stepped out of the darkness and ran towards the light.