Well... Cadence’s voice tapered off. Then it came back mean. Hurt. I didn’t mean to. I had to make sure you weren’t a threat. I didn’t ask you to come here. I didn’t ask you to show up in the middle of the night and get right to worming your way between her legs.
God forbid I should touch anyone else but you, Melody.
Just... Cadence paused, collecting herself. I understand you want your explanation. And you’re owed it. If only to correct your distorted and false memories. Just, not now. Let your anger pass and do what must be done. Please?
If it doesn’t pass, then I’ll think about you. Or I’ll think about you.
No, David, that would be inappropriate. She won’t—
You can hear her, right?
Yes, David. I can hear her. I can hear everything she says to you. As long as you can hear, I can hear.
Then you know she thinks you’re physically repugnant. She may call you my new girlfriend, but you’re nothing but a joke to her. She doesn’t use the words homely and pug-ugly, when she calls you a little bitch, because she considers you a sexual threat. Strangely, the only person I know who doesn’t find you beyond attractive is me.
You’re trying very hard to be sweet, aren’t you?. You may dispense with the shallow flattery. I’m not—
Just. Cadence. Please stop. At least for tonight. If you really believe what you say about yourself, could you just pretend you’re desirable? Like you want me to pretend I have any remaining interest in Junie? What can it hurt? You never know. It might help.
My own beloved won’t even sleep with me yet, David. He can barely tolerate the sight of me, much less share a bed with me. How desirable am I, really?
That’s his loss, Cadence, he said. Maybe we should switch partners.
A feeling of great shame swept over him as she said, I promised myself to him, David. One day he will see me as you claim to. And it won’t be an insult, like the way you so ‘adore’ me. One day he will marry me. When the time is right. I promised I would wait. I could do no greater wrong than to... Than to... You’re making me confused again. Please, do what you must to ensure Juno is back here, too tired to stay awake, by eleven twenty-six tonight. We’ll talk about this later. You’re making me feel things I shouldn’t be even remotely able to. Promise me you will do what I ask, please? However you have to. When you see me. When you truly see me for what I am. Later. Then this will no longer be an issue. Cadence paused. Then I will forgive you for this. And you will forgive yourself. I promise. Perhaps you’ll also forgive me. I must go. But... Thank you, again. Though you’re mistaken about me. Thank you for making me feel I deserve to be adored. To be loved and respected. It’s helping me to believe and know I didn’t choose Brent mistakenly. It’s been so long since I’ve felt that. Never since... Oh for God’s sake. Don’t overdo it. Now go and do what must be done. Or there will be no more you, or me, or Juno, after tonight. And please understand, for reasons your language isn’t fully able to express, I can’t bear to lose you. Please go and do what must be done. I swear to you I will explain myself fully, and beg your forgiveness as I should, as soon as I’m able.
David agreed with her, feeling a bit confused about why Cadence—or was it Melody?—was suddenly so eager to lower herself before him, and continued to exit the front door as Juno followed, pleading with him to talk to her for a moment. As she’d been doing during his entire conversation with Cadence.
He shook her off his arm, as he’d been unconsciously doing for the last three minutes, too, as he rounded the front of the house and saw the garage. There was no grey car in the driveway. A car he’d only seen in his head, but he was sure was supposed to be there. Only the body of a vehicle inside the garage. Brent was sitting on its hood, staring at seven large freezers lining the back wall.
“Hey Davey...” Brent turned around as he heard footsteps approaching. “And Junie. Good to see you both. Everything all right?”
“What’s this?” Juno rushed ahead of David, putting her hand on Brent’s shoulder and rubbing him there. She looked back at David. “Is this the car Franky left me? He said it was a piece of shit, and he wasn’t lying, but I don’t think it’s going to run. Not without wheels. Or an engine. It’s just an auto body. That mother fucker. He really did send me out here as bait.”
“It doesn’t surprise me,” David said. “He was never straight with either of us.”
Juno frowned. “With you, Davey. I never dealt with that scumbag. I knew he was using you. I knew it. I told you the whole plan to get out of the life was bad, and it was stupid, but you wouldn’t listen.”
“Hey you two,” Brent said. “Take it easy. Look on the bright side. Sure, your house got broken into. But you were out of harm’s way when it happened. And, though it sounds like the guy who set you up here left you with less than he promised, at least he fixed you up with plenty of food. There’s lots of fresh steaks in these freezers. I was thinking, since we ate a late lunch, I could bring a couple of these over to my place and we could have a late supper together. Grill out. Say around nine?”
“Sounds good,” David said. He looked over at Juno, seething. “Junie?”
“Go back inside and make sure everything’s there,” Juno said. “You know what I mean. Make sure they didn’t take any of what I might need if I have to run. Make sure it’s all still there.”
“All right.” David began walking back around the front of the house. “We’ll see you tonight, Brent. I’ll let Junie fill you in on the details. She’s not too happy with me right now, so I’ll leave you two alone and go inventory the house. See if there’s any damage that needs fixing.”
“Cool,” Brent said.
David left Juno in the garage with Brent.
Cadence’s voice returned to him shortly after. What are you doing, David? If we’re not near them, we can’t hear them. I don’t mean to tell you your business. I would never. But shouldn’t you be with Juno right now? She’s, if you’ll please forgive the expression. She’s not entirely right. Not right now.
It’ll be fine, David replied. My feeling is, if they talk, nothing but good will come from it, in the end. I don’t know why. It’s just a feeling. That’s how you make your decisions, isn’t it? Plus, if you can hear what I can hear, shouldn’t I be able to hear what you can? I guess it only works one way, right? Melody?
No... Yes, but... Cadence’s voice began to fade. You are my equal now. I should be trusting your judgement and not condemning your actions. Please forgive my intrusion. I will leave you to your business now. Just know, if you feel you need my assistance. Ever. And you will need it from time to time as you get used to this. The way you... We are now. No matter how much you grow to despise me. Know you may call on me any time and I pledge to answer you always.
That’s all I’ve ever wanted, Melody. Except for wishing I didn’t miss you. Or that I could, at least, forget you. And I pledge to answer you always, too, Cadence. But we both know I’m not entirely your equal. Too many things about us aren’t the same. Take that how you will. As David replied, he felt a sense of calm, and a feeling of sadness, come over him. As if Melody were wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a warm, comforting hug.
David closed the front door to his home quietly, listening to the sounds of Brent and Juno beginning to talk about something his heightened instincts told him he couldn’t care less about. More of the same paranoid badgering from Juno and more of the same strangely suggestive comforting from Brent.
He ran his fingers through the blood on the walls, feeling its warmth and tracing little stick figures of decapitated Guatemalans on the dry spots. Not sure why, or how, he knew there had been exactly three Guatemalans sent to bury a blade in his skull and do God knows what to Juno. Or how he was positive they’d been beheaded before they were torn to shreds by some awesome and ugly beast he could only envision as a blur of teeth, talons, fur and matted feathers.
Sitting on the bench chair closest to the front window in the living room, he le
t out a frustrated sigh and stared at the window’s closed blinds. Wondering how long it would take him to investigate the house and make sure nothing had been stolen if he didn’t already know that was the case and felt like going through the motions.
He heard a noise from the kitchen, like someone opening and closing a cabinet and then a familiar voice: “It’s time, Davey, you charmed little junkie mother fucker.”
David turned around quickly, feeling puzzled, and his eyes fixed, locked and went wide. “How in the hell did you get here?”
Brent sat back on the front hood of what used to be a relatively decent mid-sized car, and patted next to him for Juno to take a seat. She looked at him sheepishly, moved into the garage and jumped on the hood. Scooting over to sit side by side with him. Making sure their bottoms touched and giving his thigh a rub.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just. It’s not fair what Davey did to you. And Cadence. He didn’t think. Davey didn’t think, and I went along. Now all this is happening and you could die because of it. And it’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything to deserve any of this. I just. I hate myself for not having stopped this. For not having stopped Davey before I let him convince me doing this was a good idea.”
“So this is about the people who are coming for you? Or the fact that people might not be coming for you if things had gone a different way? I don’t understand. Why are they coming for you, anyway?” Brent paused and looked away. “I’m sorry. It’s a good thing. It’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s okay. But it’s not good. And it is your business. Now that your life is at risk because of it. That entitles you to a piece of the business, I think.” She giggled, pushing thoughts of David from her mind. Keeping the anger inside her from taking control.
“Well, then. Since I’m a part owner now.” He chuckled. “Maybe you can explain this business we’re in together.”
“It’s complicated.” She looked down. Feeling ashamed. Scared.
“Nothing’s complicated.” He rubbed the exposed back of her neck. “Tell me in bullet points. Nail them out. One by one. As fast as you can.” She looked back at him, trying to stifle a grin. “Seriously,” Brent insisted. “Give me all you got. Don’t hold back. I promise I won’t be offended. Maybe surprised, but never offended.”
“You’re sure?” she asked. He moved his hand to rub her shoulder as she blushed and tried not to look at his other hand that rested to the side of his crotch. She took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes.” She paused again, taking in another huge gulp of air, and began. “I had a bad childhood. I mean, like, ‘holy shit’ bad. Anyway. Fast forward. I was a prostitute in the city. I met Davey. He was a client. We were both drug users. Mostly heroin. We became exclusive. I quit working the streets and he did what he did. Never anything big. He made most of his money dealing the same drug we were both hooked on. We started to fall apart when the drugs became more important to us than we were to each other. During that time, I went back to prostitution to keep us in smack. He went back to stealing from his employers to supplement the income he made from dealing, since we were using most of the product ourselves. Then I realised, if I didn’t quit, I was going to die. That scared me into kicking the habit. It was near impossible. Even after I quit, I was still living in the same apartment. With the same temptations all around me. Davey decided, on his own, to start working with the police. To turn evidence against his bosses. They were supposed to relocate me when he provided what they needed to put his bosses in prison for a long time. Somewhere in there, I dumped Davey’s worthless ass. But the cop he was working with just left me here, with the only evidence Davey’s bosses need to make sure they stay out of prison, and then he let them all know where I was. Now they’re coming for me, and they’re going to come for you and Cadence if I run. But I don’t even have any money to run with. Davey’s fuckin’ cop buddy made sure of that. That’s where we are now.”
“See? Simple.” Brent touched her far shoulder and Juno rested her head on his arm as she felt his hand lightly, but clumsily, trace its way to the waist band of her jeans before releasing.
“Yeah. Simple. They’re never going to stop coming though. Not until I’m dead. There’s nothing I can do about it. There’s no one I can turn to for help. Even that piece of shit cop who dropped me here won’t so much as call. Davey’s brilliant plan hasn’t just fucked me, it’s put you and Cadence right in the middle. He’s a great guy, isn’t he?”
“It sounds like he did what he thought was right. I mean, maybe he didn’t realise what he was up against, but he did try to get you away from the city. Away from all the bad things your lives used to be. He’s a decent guy. Though this turned out badly, he probably didn’t mean for it to.”
“That’s the problem with Davey,” Juno said. “He never means for anything to go wrong. But he’s a junkie. He’s an addict like me. Though he’s not using anymore, he still doesn’t think things through. We’re the same in that way. Except I get super cautious and he gets super irresponsible.”
“But you’re here now. That part couldn’t have worked out better. Everything will be all right.”
“How, Brent? What happens if they kill him? Or you? Or Cadence? What happens if I’m left all on my own again? I’m almost twenty-eight years old.” Brent looked her up and down, neither approving nor disapproving. “Okay, I’m just over thirty. Even worse. If I’m left on my own again I’ll be back to doing the only thing I’ve ever been any good at. That will lead me right back to the drugs. Then I’ll be done as surely as everything and everyone else.”
“Look.” He brushed her hair to the side and lightly squeezed her chin. Puzzling over why his doing that made her pupils dilate, and her body momentarily stiffen, with a mixture of paralysing fear and palpable sexual arousal. “Just because you used to... For money. That doesn’t mean you can’t do anything else with your life. I wouldn’t worry about it. You should cut Davey some slack. We’re all going to be fine. This will all be over when it’s over. We’ll all be here when it’s done. And we’ll all be better for it.”
“How can you know that, Brent? How can you be so sure. Nothing about this has any structure. It’s fuckin’ chaos, man.”
“Well, it’s like Cadence said. You’re protected now. Like everyone else we know who lives here. Everyone you met on Saturday night. We’re all protected. We have nothing to worry about. The outside world. Even the bad men from the city. Nothing can touch us.”
“That’s the plan?” she asked. “I sit around and don’t worry about it? How is that a good plan?”
“Listen, Junie. It’s not so much a plan as it’s a way of... Just a state of knowing.”
“How am I protected?” she asked. “Who, or what, is protecting me? I hope Cadence isn’t seeing that in Davey. God bless him, and I love his dumb ass, but he’s not made for stuff like this. He barely got through it to this point. He’s a scared little mouse. He’s worse than I am and, if it comes down to it, though I hate to think it, he’d sell me down the river to save his own skin. In a heartbeat.”
“Jesus.” Brent shook his head. “It’s not all about him, but, seriously, how can you talk that way about Davey? You say you love him and then you say you don’t trust him not to throw you to the wolves. It’s either one way or the other.”
“You know, Brent. Maybe I should just keep my fuckin’ mouth shut. Nothing I say is good enough. Or right enough.” She grabbed his hand and kneaded it. “Do you trust him, Brent? Would you put your life in his hands? Not knowing him even one twenty-seventh as well as I do? Or does my fuckin’ opinion mean nothing?”
“Look. Calm down, Junie. It’s got nothing to do with that. Cadence says we’re going to be okay, so we’re going to be okay. She says Davey has something to do with that, so Davey has something to do with that. There’s no point in arguing about it. I’m not putting you down or discounting you. There’s just the way it is. And that’s the way it is.�
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“Because Cadence says so?” She looked at him with disbelief. Shaking with fear and shuddering at what she could only assume was fantastic stupidity brought on by blind faith. “That’s why I’m safe? How do you know she’s right?” He looked into her eyes again and she interrupted him before he could answer. “And not just because you know she’s right. Please don’t say it’s so because it’s so. That’s just circular logic. That’s just... It’s not sane thinking.”
Brent stiffened. “So Cadence isn’t sane? I admit she’s a bit much to deal with at times, but, seriously?”
“That’s not what I said,” she replied, exasperated. “I just mean. What’s the story with you two? Why do you...? What made you trust her the way you do?”
“She’s always right,” he said. “Simple.”
Juno’s brow furrowed. “Have you two known each other all your lives? Has she said such and such is so, for long enough, that now you think everything is going to turn out how she says, no matter how fuckin’ ridiculous?”
“It’s more than that, Junie. She has a gift.”
“A gift? Are you kidding me? Tell me you’re kidding me.”
“No. I’m not kidding you. She’s not normal. Not to your way of thinking, anyway.” Brent released his hand from Juno’s grip, hopped off the car and began pulling meat out of the middle freezer. “She can see what’s going to happen next. She can see things in this world that don’t exist in mine. Or yours. I mean, maybe they exist, but we can’t see them and she can. She just knows things. As long as she’s healthy, she can protect us all. That’s why she was so glad you two showed up.”
She held her head in her hands, shaking it back and forth. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
“She said you two were rare, like I told you when we talked this afternoon. She said you would be bringing rare things to you. Or, more specifically, that Davey would. The whole town’s been going through a depression over the last year. Especially her. She’s sick. That’s why she gets so tired. I can’t say what she needs, but I know I can’t provide it. All the people who could, have already provided for us. Everyone who used to live in your house. Those transient people. She tried to allow them to provide for us, but those who could only made her ill. She got worse because she got so... Hungry? That she stopped listening to her own common sense. And now that you and Davey have arrived, she’s getting better and the depression is starting to lift.”
fiX - A ParaBnormal Fairy Tale Page 23
