John Scuzzi was a ravenous, evil monster that plagued this world for more than 40 years before he was brought to his own ugly end. No one will ever know how many people he killed, how many women he violated or how many people he hurt, both directly and indirectly. The man had no soul. He had never held down a steady job before Nolan started paying him to collect the rents from deadbeat residents at Morgenthau. He had no purpose on this planet. It could be argued that he was a walking anti-purpose. He existed to end existence. He lived to kill.The less you knew about him, the better. I knew very little. I knew he had been to prison and that it was in jail where he acquired his nickname. None of us really knew what it meant until Kendra was killed. I knew that he was incredibly dangerous, and he could be easily manipulated into doing terrible things. I knew he was extremely disciplined, but had moments of random savagery. I think he lashed out because he enjoyed being disciplined by his handlers. I knew that he was a predator, and that he preyed on the weak. He had no shame in hurting women, children or people who could not fight back. He was a bigger monster than Nolan and Simeon put together, he was scarier than the ghosts that lived with Winston in the library, and he was as slimy and disgusting as the snakes in the quadrangle.
I had moved to Morgenthau in the months after he had become designated as Nolan’s hired muscle. The Watcher had been installed into this position because Kendra had come along and had really began to tie things up for Nolan, who had been making some decent money for his family by collecting rent from rejects like us.
Kendra had come to Morgenthau with lofty aspirations of raising our destitute denizens from the hopelessness and unhappiness that bound us to the abandoned campus. When she first found out that we were being charged to live on the abandoned property by the Grasso family, she was livid. How could a bunch of money grubbing fiends like the Grassos try to turn a quick buck from people who had absolutely nothing? The folks who lived at Morgenthau had to do some really nasty things to make money sometime, and all of that dirty cash ended up in the thickly lined pockets of Giovanni Grasso and his two dog-faced sons.
Kendra had worked at for a slew of city outreach programs while at college, and she was well aware of laws on the books that protected squatters from slumlords. Legally, we were not allowed to be living on the private property, and all the Grassos ever had to do was call the cops and have us forcibly removed. On the other hand, because the area was not zoned for anything other than a college or farmland, the squatters could not legally be charged rent to live there.
When Kendra first moved to Morgenthau, she stayed on the second floor in a room later occupied by Eva after we found her shivering in the Gardens. When Nolan came out on one of his random monthly collections, he barged into her room and demanded the rent. Kendra said that she was a squatter, and that if he wanted her to leave, all he had to do was call the cops. Of course, if he called the cops, then he would have to explain why his family was running an illegal tenement in the abandoned campus.
Nolan grabbed her by the throat and demanded that she pay up, while gasping for air, she told the brutish bastard that she would see him in court. He simply threw her to the floor and muttered some insults and racial slurs on his way out.
Nolan thought her claims were bullshit and he believed that these junkies were not “squatters” with rights, he felt they had no rights under the law. The problem was that if the case did go to court, it would be a terrible black eye for the Grasso family, who continued to work their hardest to win votes in the county zoning board. If the county found out that they were running the slum, there was a good chance that it would sway the board to vote against their proposal.
As a result, he never asked Kendra for rent ever again, although The Professor secretly paid her share up until the time she was killed. Nevertheless, Kendra felt like she had beaten a monster like Nolan at his own game. Every new resident and every old resident heard about her plan, and gradually, over her first spring and summer, dozens of residents began to threaten Nolan about going to court or the press with claims that the family was running an illegal slum.
It got to the point that Nolan’s collections had virtually ceased about a year after Kendra had moved into Morgenthau. He could not keep kicking the asses of the druggies and deadbeats and he needed some desperate help.
It was the middle of June when Nolan went knocking on the door of the Fieldhouse and found a 6’4”, balding Neanderthal sleeping on a mat up in the bleachers. Nolan—who now came to campus packing brass knuckles and a Jaeger switchblade in case anything went wrong—had intended to shake the new resident down for some money. However, seeing his size, Nolan began to realize that he might not be able to subdue this ugly giant. Much to his surprise, The Watcher agreed to Nolan’s demands and told him that he would have the rent ready by the next month. He went about collecting his money by robbing other residents days before their rent was due.
The man was so formidable that Nolan would have not questioned him if he refused to pay, but his uncontested submission to Nolan’s demands began to spark other ideas. Winston hadn’t paid Nolan since Kendra had let him in on her free secrets a year earlier. Winston also hid out in the library at the beginning of the month, knowing that Nolan—having once encountered the ghosts in the building—refused to go in there. Nolan told The Watcher that if he could get Winston to pay up he would give him the keys to the inaccessible pump house on the north side of campus. It had no windows, one door, and a somewhat functional toilet and did not get overly hot or cold.
The Watcher did as he was told, and one night following soup at Grover’s, the brute caught up with Winston and beat him into submission, threatening to bite the fingers off his painting hand if he didn’t pay Nolan the back rent that he was owed. A few weeks later, Winston answered the door when Nolan came knocking and paid him a couple hundred dollars, and begged him to tell The Watcher to leave him alone.
By the end of the summer, the campus was gripped with fear knowing that no matter who they were or how diligently they had paid Nolan, there was no escaping The Watcher; and that there was no reasoning with him. The more and more Kendra heard about The Watcher’s terrorism, the angrier she got. Quietly through the fall and winter, she began formulating a plan to bring the misdeeds of the Grassos and The Watcher to light.
However, the surviving the winter seemed to prove even tougher than surviving a violent encounter with The Watcher. Bitter cold descended upon the campus in early November, and did not cease until an unseasonably warm night in March when Alistair burned the fieldhouse to the ground.
The winter was merciless. Many of the addicts and maniacs froze to death in the tunnels or the basement. The Professor was terribly sick for almost a month and would have died had he not begun cohabiting with Kendra, who provided just enough body heat for him to stave off the hypothermia.
In late December, a heavy blizzard rolled through the campus and dumped close to two feet of snow, buckling the roof of several buildings, including the Main Residence Hall, Science and the Fieldhouse. Alistair would later attribute the stress caused by the record snowfall as a necessary aid in his demolition of the old gymnasium months later. The arrangement of the buildings around the quad caused a thick drift to pile up near the entrance to the dorms, and for a good three weeks, nobody could get in or get out. This prevented The Watcher or Nolan for coming around for a few months, although we knew that they would come back eventually and that nobody would have any money to pay them when they did.
We did what we had to do survive. Grover continued to make his treks to the soup kitchen in order to return with sustenance, although the journeys left him cold and weak. His soup nights were godsends. We needed both soup for food and the cooking fire for some warmth. I spent a number of nights sleeping in the old common room where Alistair had built Grover a stove. The stove was rarely extinguished, and some people spent all day maintaining the fire in order to stay warm. I spent quite a few nights in Grover’s bed, mostly because I needed the warmth since the blizzard had broken the window in my room on the second floor. The winter would ultimately kill Hook Hands and Doobie, as well as countless others. Willie couldn’t even dig proper graves because the ground had frozen solid. By the time April came around and the coldest winter of our lives had ended, we foolishly thought that the worst was over.
By April, the snow had melted, and Nolan and The Watcher were able to come around looking for our rent. This time, they wanted the back rent for the months they took off due to the weather. Nobody had made any money during the winter. We couldn’t. There wasn’t anywhere to go and there was nothing to do. Neither Nolan nor The Watcher cared. It was all or nothing. Many wished that they had frozen to death.
I was happy to feel a warm, humid rain fall on an early April morning, not once thinking that 24 hours later I would be witness to one of the most disgusting acts of human cruelty ever perpetrated at Morgenthau. I had spent the morning hiding out in the alcove of the library with Winston, knowing that Nolan was afraid of the ghosts. By nightfall, I knew I had to go back to my room and face the music. I was able to slip through the front door and I climbed up into my room silently. I could hear Nolan and The Watcher talking to The Professor upstairs. The Professor was easily shaken down, especially when they threatened the well being of Kendra. He just insisted that she never find out about this arrangement. Much to the chagrin of The Professor, she had returned early from a visit to Grover, and overheard the transaction from outside the room. Kendra had been under the impression for close to a year that her threats to Nolan had been taken seriously, and that the shadow of her ultimatum had bought silence from their retribution. After shaking down The Professor, Kendra and her landlords crossed paths in the hallway. Nolan blew a sarcastic kiss at Kendra who shot back at him an ugly glare.
She was furious at The Professor for going behind her back and giving to the unreasonable and illegal demands of the Grasso family. Despite her arguments, The Professor was steadfast on the issue. She meant a whole lot to him, especially after she had kept him alive through the terrible winter that had just passed. The Professor hated the Grassos as much as anybody, but the last thing he wanted was for Kendra to get hurt by them. It wasn’t about the money. It wasn’t about the insult. She was worth every penny to him.
Kendra didn’t see it that way. It was such a terrible insult to her. She had fallen in love not only with The Professor, but with many other residents as well. She had helped nurse The Steve back to health when he was beaten within an inch of his life. She meant the world not only to me, but also to Willie, who had the biggest crush on her. She had helped Alistair kick the junk for more than two months, and she had found a way to connect to Winston, who only felt comfortable talking about his ghosts and demons with her. She meant everything to us and she felt the same way. We were worth whatever beating she might receive. And she knew that if she could somehow instill the confidence in us to stand up against these monsters, that we might be able to rise up not only in our situation at Morgenthau, but eventually out of that wretched place and into a real life in the real world.
She stormed out to follow Nolan back to his car and confront him once and for all. She walked fast, knowing The Professor would be slowed by the lingering limp I had given him a year earlier in the Tri-Towns. The Professor asked Willie to accompany him on his quest to restrain Kendra, but after Willie was uncooperative, The Professor begrudgingly ventured forth.
Outside, night had fallen and a hard, steady rain drenched Morgenthau. A few cracks of thunder could be heard in the distance as the winter’s cold air mass was finally being replaced by warm tropical air moving in from the south. An equally violent clash between forces of nature was about to take place down on the avenue that led to the entrance of the campus.
Kendra chased down Nolan in the rain as he walked underneath an umbrella towards his Land Rover. The Watcher followed at his side without the benefit of staying dry. He did not complain about the arrangement. Nolan was boss, if he wanted to stay out of the rain, that was the end of it.
Kendra finally got within an earshot and let out a loud yell at Nolan as he got close to the car.
“Get back here you son of a bitch!” she yelled at him. Nolan stopped and looked around to find Kendra looking more like a drenched cat. Her wild, curly hair stuck to the sides of her face as if she had just emerged from a patch of seaweed. She was filled with such vicious anger, but Nolan thought her appearance to more comical than intimidating.
“Kendra,” said Nolan with a chuckle, “You look lovely all soaking wet.”
Kendra continued, unfazed. “It’s over Nolan!” she yelled. “The threats, the rents, the violence! It’s over!”
Nolan was in no mood to continue discussing this in the rain and stepped forward to Kendra, almost poking the top of her head with his umbrella.
“Oh yeah,” said Nolan, menacingly, “And what is little old Kendra gonna do, huh? You don’t look like a lawyer. You look like some junkie gutter trash. They’ll take you as seriously as the crazy bitches that flash people in the subway station for money. Who in their wildest dreams would mistake you for a lawyer.”
“I know what’s illegal, you scumbag!” she yelled back. “You can’t make these people pay rent, and you sure as fuck can’t get that ugly monster to punch their faces in when people who have nothing to begin with can’t come up with a hundred bucks a month! We are human beings! We have rights!”
“Tell ‘em to go to the shelters!” Nolan quickly shot back. “They don’t got to live here. This ain’t no homeless shelter, bitch, and I ain’t no priest. You can make all the threats you want, but it’ll never do any good. You’re just a useless homeless bitch, and nobody’s ever gonna listen to you.”
“If they won’t listen to her, they’ll listen to me,” said the voice of The Professor as he emerged through the dark rain. Nolan quickly diverted his attention from Kendra to the limping old man. The Professor slowly walked up to Kendra, caught his breath and stared fearlessly into the eyes of Nolan and his puppet.
“You know damn well who I am, Nolan,” said a defiant Professor. “And you know that if I raise hell, it’ll fall right down on you and your father, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” He was right. The Professor might not have done anything to preserve his friendships with people in power, but just like his homeless brethren, people still respected him. Dr. Salisbury in the Tri-Towns kept reaching out to him, despite the how rude The Professor was at their annual meetings. The county had refused to give the land over to the Grassos and the board would continue to do so until they were fired or usurped. There were deep loyalties to Morgenthau, and The Professor might have despised every single person at the campus, but they were his people. We were the student body, the class of no tomorrow, and it was all still worth fighting for.
“You’d better watch it old man,” warned Nolan. “Don’t think that I won’t have this big ape crush your god damn skull.”
“I’m not afraid of him!” yelled The Professor at full volume, so much that his bones shook to their core. “I’m not afraid of any of these lowlifes. And most importantly, I’m not afraid of you, Nolan, or your father, or your uncle or any one of your family’s cronies! You’ll never get another dime from me you fucking scoundrel!”
A furious scowl crawled across Nolan’s face as The Professor’s gusto had seemingly collected the fury of the elements, and his words carried the rain sideways and all over Nolan’s designer khakis. He felt insulted by the old man who had never shown any backbone, and paid his rent due to his own apathy and because it was more convenient that way. Kendra had corrupted everyone on campus, including The Professor. Nolan knew that something had to be done.
“You won’t have to…” said Nolan as he turned away and walked back to his jeep. He paused for a moment as he passed by The Watcher, who stood stoic in the rain in a tense state of readiness. “Kill them both,” he said calmly to the ex-con, as he beeped the alarm on his Land Rover and left the scene.
Kendra could have run. The Professor could have yelled for help. But they stood face to face with The Watcher with righteous hearts and courageous dignity. Watcher wasted no time. He hit Kendra first, knocking her down to the ground with a loud thump. The Professor tried to swing his cane at The Watcher, but the brutish monster caught the cane in mid-swing, twisted it out of his hands and swung it swiftly against The Professor’s right leg, easily cracking a bone and sending him to the ground. As The Professor hollered in pain, The Watcher kicked him in his midsection four or five times. The old man was in so much pain that he couldn’t even scream, letting out wheezing gasps and coughing up blood.
Kendra had fought to regain her balance and rushed over to do something to stop the attack on her closest friend and lover, but he was just too strong. She tried to choke the monster, but he elbowed her straight in the jaw and knocked out several teeth. As she fell back to the ground, she let out a squealing groan. Suddenly, The Watcher’s deep, dark urges, the ones that had landed him in prison for close to ten years became re-ignited. Kendra was vulnerable and nearly unconscious. As the blood started dripping from her mouth and nostrils, The Watcher felt his evil passions that prison had tried to kill suddenly awaken. He couldn’t help himself. Nobody could possibly stop him.
Kendra felt him climb on top of her and start to tear her clothes out from beneath his massive, stinking torso. She tried to muster a defense, but he quickly jammed his thick right hand under her chin and gripped her throat like an alligator’s jaws. She was choking on her own blood and teeth, and now this monster was cutting off the air to her brain.
Only four feet away, The Professor could see what was happening, but found that even with all the hate he had for Nolan, with all the love he had for Kendra and with all the fury and rage that had caused him to stand up against The Watcher, his body just did not have the strength to get up and stop what was happening. As The Watcher slowly choked the life out of Kendra, he stole her dignity in swift, gorging thrusts, making sure at all times that The Professor kept his eyes open.
“Yeah!” growled the monster, “I like it when you watch.”
When he was done, he pulled up his pants and stared at the Kendra’s dead body without remorse and with an air of accomplishment swirling around his head. He scampered off into through the rain back to the tiny shack he occupied on the other side of the campus. In the afterglow, he had forgotten to finish off The Professor.
The addicts, who had always been our faithful protectors and disciplinarians, had done nothing to stop the single most terrible act in the 80-year history of Morgenthau.
By midnight, Grover and I knew something was terribly wrong. We debated going out into the rain to see if they were okay, but we were afraid. We were afraid of the addicts and the snakes, of The Watcher and the maniacs. The Professor and Kendra did not fear any of them. Neither Grover nor I slept. At daybreak, a platoon of volunteers—including Grover, Alistair and myself—set out to search for them. I was the one who found the bodies. I couldn’t even yell for help. Kendra had nearly been torn to pieces, and both she and The Professor sat in puddles of rainwater that had been tainted red by their spilt blood. Somehow, The Professor was still alive, although he wished that The Watcher had just killed him. It would be another six months before he would finish the job himself.
Kendra died for us. The Professor had intended to do the same thing, but he suffered even worse pain and suffering by surviving. We all wanted desperately to rally around our fallen martyr, but it was just so hard. Kendra had been a source of a lot of the renewed feelings of faith and hope that had begun to permeate the residents. Suddenly, that source dried up. To make matters worse, Nolan returned the next day—with his younger brother Simeon in tow—to make it very clear that anyone who stepped out of line might fall victim to the same fate as Kendra and The Professor.
For a long time, it felt like Kendra had died for nothing. It was only after The Professor took his own life and the bulldozers started tearing down the college that Kendra’s sacrifice finally had meaning.
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