Lose Lose

Pete Sortwell

Waiting outside the court there’s been nothing on my mind more than letting the scumbag get the comeuppance he deserves. If the great British justice system can’t serve justice, I will.

I’d been inside the courtroom, of course. A two year suspended sentence he’d been given. That basically meant he wouldn’t go to prison at all for what he did. A day in court, a couple of hours in the cells, and he’s deemed to have paid his debt to society. Well, he hasn’t paid his debt to my dead wife and baby yet.

This country does nothing for the victims of crime. He chose to get behind the wheel of his motor after six pints, he chose to drive it down the high street at sixty miles an hour. No one, least of all my loved ones, chose to have a red Fiesta drive over them, causing horrific injuries.

Getting the call was one of the worst moments of my life. I can’t remember putting the phone down or leaving the office. I remember getting to the scene to find the emergency services lifting the car off my wife. There was blood everywhere. My daughter was found in someone’s garden, she died from head injuries. My wife was in such a bad state, almost cut in half. It would have been a painful death. That’s what this cunt will be getting, too. Peter Andrews, a lawyer, no less. No wonder they let him off. The judge said he’d have to suffer for the rest of his life; I don’t suppose he knew how short that would be.

I’d had the conversations with my parents, of course, they begged me not to do it and waste another life. I, of course, agreed not to, but in the back of our minds I think we all knew I was lying. Killing this guy is the only way I will die anything close to happy.

He comes out, all smiles and relief. His family in tow. This just makes me all the more angry. How dare he? I wasn’t going to do it in front of his kids, but I can’t help it. I run over from the bench I’ve been waiting on. I’ll always remember the look on his face as the broken bottle I’m holding comes towards his face. It’s a look of shock. The impact isn’t what I expected, it’s firmer; I expect the bottle to break up more, but it doesn’t, it just goes deep into his face. The plan was to pull it out, but it seems like it’ll hurt more if I leave it in. I pull the knife out my belt and go to work on the vital organ areas with that. There’s screaming and at one point a woman jumps on my back, but she’s light enough to throw off.

The police come, of course. I knew they would. Cells, court, his kids and wife looking at me, prison, Mum crying, and then numbness.

Killing him was easy.

It’s living with it that’s hard.

© Pete Sortwell 2024