by Sweet
Cassie admonished herself for acting like a nervous Nellie.
“Um, I don’t know. Haven’t really been checking. Maybe,” she mumbled.
Naturally, losing a few pounds would’ve been a compliment. But under the circumstances Cassie felt far from celebrating dropping a dress size. Eating food had taken the backseat lately. Her head hurt, not just from the overall soreness, but she suspected from all the dehydration since all her bodily fluids may have very been on her bed back at the apartment. She shivered, as if she were jolted by an unexpected electrical shock.
“What’s the matter, Cassie?”
“N-Nothing,” she stammered. “Must be all the caffeine in my system.”
“Right.” Lauren peered at her. “So, you’ve been seeing that hottie from the club?”
“No!” Cassie exclaimed. Lauren looked at her harder, suspicion in her eyes. She didn’t believe Cassie’s answer, making her even more nervous. Luckily, Lauren soon gave up and left her alone.
Unfortunately, just like the day before, Cassie had started to see “things.” Ghastly faces, demons, sinister unexplained creatures plagued her all day. Other people were oblivious to these hideous beings. Everywhere she looked, there they were. She saw them in the soup and in the grass. The cloud of smoke of a nearby smoker held menacing specters that took her breath away.
There were times, too, that she felt as if she was being followed. At one point she thought a man in a hoodie was stalking her.
Then again, when she had a flash of rational thought she’d laughed at her ridiculousness and say—“But this is a freaking university! Every student has a hoodie! You’re being silly, Cassie!”—to herself, her laughter hollow, unconvinced.
She shook her head and wrung her hands in a feeble attempt to rid herself of her own paranoia.
CHAPTER TWO
IT WAS GETTING late.
The crowds of students on campus were thinning out as everyone went home, to work, or somewhere else. Cassie was desperate to some place to go to other than her haunted apartment. A few night classes were starting but Cassie wasn’t enrolled in one.
Instead, she sought comfort and headed to a dorm apartment just off campus. She had to grin at the closed door before she knocked. On it were posters and clippings of hot men. Seemed a little high school girl-ish but she thought it was fun.
She shifted her backpack of books and rapped on the door. Someone threw the door open and yelled at her.
“Well, look who’s finally crawled out of her cave and graced us with her presence! Get in here!” Anne commanded as she stepped back to let Cassie into the apartment. Anne shared the place with Lauren and she bounded towards the couch. “Krystal didn’t come with you? That girl is such a chicken. She said she might come over after classes. Which means…”
Cassie, Anne, and Lauren all looked at each other.
“Not happening!” they said in unison.
“You looking for a free meal, Cassie?”
“N-No. Um. Do you have the notes from Simons’ class, Lauren?”
Lauren nearly choked on her soda. “You were right there!”
Cassie did her best to look noncommittal. She shrugged. “Brain hasn’t been functioning this week.”
“Neither has Lauren’s,” Anne piped in. “I slept a little funny myself. Hell, I think I’m starting to think her nightmares are contagious,” she giggled, her laugh had a touch of hysteria. “Here, I’ll email my notes to you both. Simons does the same lecture in my class as she does in yours.”
Cassie was a bit crestfallen. She had hoped to spend at least a half hour to copy the notes, and then she’d stall for more time with some inane conversation. But with a push of a button, had sent the email and Cassie had no viable reason to stay.
“So, why isn’t your brain functioning, Lauren? Nightmares?” Cassie asked.
Lauren blushed, which was uncharacteristic of her. She looked embarrassed about something. “No particular reason,” the other girl said.
“I say she just needs a man,” Anne volunteered. Lauren shot a glare at her roommate, who backed away, hands up then giggled. “Hey, I think she’s been getting serious about some hottie, or at least some serious action!” Then Anne ducked, laughing as Lauren sent a pillow in the direction of her head.
Cassie was curious. “Really? Who?”
Anne continued, in spite of the obscenities Lauren was yelling her way. “She won’t say, and I haven’t figured it out yet. But mark my words, I will!
Although I can’t figure how he gets in her locked room, I never catch him in the morning. He has to be someone we met at the club that night. Maybe the blond…?” Lauren shook her head “no.” “Well, L finds the males of our student body to be such boys. She wants ‘a man.’ The Asian guy with the gorgeous eyes? No? And the way she’s been moaning in her dreams. Yikes. He must be really good in bed! Who is it, Lauren? Tell us. We’re friends. I’m your roomie, and I pay half of everything so tell me!”
“Not happening.” Lauren crossed her arms, stood up and stalked out of the room.
“Well,” Anne commented, loudly. “Whoever he is, he must be seriously packing some hard dick between his thighs!”
“Shut up!” Lauren called from the bathroom.
They laughed at that and changed the topic. And later, Anne asked Cassie to stay for dinner, much to her relief.
Their meal was good. Anne may be a student but she could actually cook. It was a homemade pizza. Nothing frozen or microwaved here.
Several times Cassie wanted to confide in her friends about everything. But seeing how Lauren was being scrutinized and ridiculed didn’t really help. Besides, what’s there to tell? That she thought she might have been raped by a ghost? That her dreams after that night involved really twisted torturous acts against her body? That the bruises on her skin resembled those that she’d gotten while she was struggling in her sleep?
As if Anne could read her mind, she asked, pointing to the black and blue marks on her neck. “Hey, how’d that happen? That sure doesn’t look like an ordinary hickey to me!”
Cassie hearts raced. “What?” she asked, trying to keep the panic from her voice and instead tried to reach for the pizza.
Anne caught her wrist. She turned over Cassie’s hand to expose the underside of her wrist. There, peeking slightly from the sleeve of her sweater were rope burn marks. Anne dropped her friend’s hand.
“What the hell, Cassie!” she exclaimed.
“Listen, I know it looks bad but really, it’s fine.” Cassie said as she took a bite out of her pizza. “Besides, it’s really none of your business, okay?” she said, managing a weak smile.
“If you say so, Cass,” Anne said cautiously. “I know that BDSM shit is all the rage nowadays but… promise you’ll be careful, okay? Oh, and take lots more vitamin C. It’ll help heal that faster. In fact, have some of mine,” Anne continued as she got up to look for her vitamin supplements. Cassie nodded her thanks as she took the bottle Anne offered her. “My sister sells them online. I have more than I really need.”
Before long, it was time to head back to her apartment. Cassie anxiety started to grow as she said her goodbyes.
As she walked she couldn’t help but feel sorry for herself.
Her first apartment. Haunted.
Her steps slowed as she caught sight of the forbidding building. Then she straightened up and said aloud, “No. I’m not going back,”
She hurried past it, her steps intent and determined. As she walked deep into the dark of the night, she didn’t care less of any of the dangers of being out alone at such a late hour. She just kept on walking until she felt drained and sleepy. She didn’t even know where her feet were taking her anymore.
But in spite of her weariness, a renewed sense of conviction took over. She just about had it with whatever she was going through the moment she slept at her apartment. Whatever that shit was she wouldn’t allow it to happen again. Ever.
She swore to herself, with all her he
art and soul—that she wouldn’t go back there that night, or ever. She’d find a way.
“God help me, I’ll find a way, somehow,” she breathed.
But as luck would have it, her feet just lead her back to her building. The very place she vowed to stay away from just moments before. It was almost as if she were being pulled back there. Over, and over again.
She snapped out of her reverie long enough to realize where she was.
“Dammit!” Cassie said as she turned on her heel to start running away from the dreaded place. She would have, if not for the man.
“Oof!” Cassie said as she ran directly into a tall, hard body.
“Hey!” the guy said in protest.
Cassie started to mumble a half-hearted apology when something behind the man caught her eye.
A taxi was parked at the curb.
CHAPTER THREE
HER APPREHENSION ABOUT going home had come to a head and all Cassie wanted was to be anywhere but her apartment. The taxi gave her a much-needed shot of hope at an escape.
Cassie broke her gaze long enough to take a closer look at the person—the taxi driver—she had run into. He had delicate features for a man—he looked almost feminine. And then his outfit did not match his face, as they were hardcore hip-hop complete with the bling, the baggy pants, and big shirt.
Cassie was horrified that she’d run into someone, and yet was in even more terror when she realized she was home. “I… are you on break, Mister? Because I’d really like to get out of here.”
The driver chuckled a bit. “Sure looks like it, Miss.” He twisted his torso for one last stretch and beckoned Cassie to come walk with him to the car. “Where ya headed?” the driver asked as he unlocked the cab and opened the door for her.
“Am open to suggestions. A-Anywhere, but h-here,” Cassie could not stop her voice from shaking.
“Alrighty then, little angel. Anywhere it is. Name’s Gabe by the way,” he said with a flourish as he shut the door and walked to the driver’s side.
Cassie looked around her. The name “Gabe’s Gypsy Jitney” was on the medallion. Something about the taxi made her feel at ease. The sweet smell of some sort of incense wafted in the air. She didn’t know why, or how, but she felt that the incense was clearing her mind of cobwebs. She was suddenly thinking more clearly.
As the cab pulled away from the curb, Cassie realized that she really had nowhere to go. She couldn’t really ask Gabe to drive around all night. She didn’t have enough money for that. She also didn’t want to go over to any of her friends. Too many questions that she’d rather not answer. She’d just been at Lauren’s and she didn’t know if she’d be welcome at Krystal’s. All of them would wonder about the bruises and why she was afraid to go home.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
I really have nowhere to go. I wonder how much it would be if I took this all the way to my parents. She hastily wiped at the tears. No. She was not going to give up now. She just needed to sleep–asafe, dreamless, long sleep.
She caught the driver watching her in his rearview mirror. He smiled when he saw her looking. “Long day, Miss?”
She nodded. “Exhausted.” Cassie looked again in the mirror, her gaze meeting her driver’s bright eyes, and a flash of recognition came to her. She had seen him before. At the club!
The club! The club she and her friends had gone to the other night – she could hide out there for few hours. And, she thought to herself, he might be there. That nameless hunk she had danced and flirted with. The one she thought had…
Cassie drove the thought away from her mind. He didn’t. That’s it. Her friends said they had left her in her apartment and had locked her door. He did not come with them, so in case he had some kind of Spiderman ability and could climb walls, he had not come inside her apartment like a few flashbacks into another nightmare was telling her. She could not remember the whole of that dream though. Why couldn’t she remember the good ones?!
Hopefully, he is not dancing and holding tight to some other girl rubbing up against him. That’s my job. Shit, I’d pay to have that job.
She giggled a little hysterically in spite of her exhaustion. She relayed her instructions to the driver.
“Do you know where that is, Gabe?”
He smiled, almost smugly. “Absolutely.”
Cassie sighed, breathing in more of the warm, lovely scent in the cab and dozed off. So after what seemed like only seconds, she was transported across town.
“We’re here, Miss,” called the driver gently voice.
“Oh. Really?” Cassie looked out of the cab, her eyes drowsy. She’d arrived, all right, and the disappointment hit her. “It’s closed.”
“Sign says ‘closed for maintenance, go to our sister club...” the driver trailed off when his eyes moved somewhere else to the right. “Wow. He’s a looker,” he cooed in admiration at a man just passing the club, under the light of a fading street lamp.
Intrigued, Cassie looked towards that direction, too.
It was Paulo! The guy from her dream! She had a flashback about a guy giving her a massage in a sunny beachfront and in her dream, he was Paulo. Or…
No. This was the guy! The hottie she’d danced with who had all those magic drinks. She couldn’t be mistaken even when she had been helplessly drunk that night. Why else would she dream about him if not after meeting him?
Not minding the muddling of her thoughts – she had been quite familiar with muddled thoughts the past few days anyway – Cassie hastily paid the driver and leaped out of the cab before the man “Paulo” could get away.
“Hey you!” she yelled, and the man stopped. There was no one else there except him. It was quite late already, and all the other customers to the club must have gone to the sister club. She clumsily rushed over to where he was and nearly fell at his feet if he had not caught her. She should have been embarrassed, but her relief at seeing him was much more intense than any other feeling she might have had.
He’ll make it better, she thought. He’ll tell me what really happened. He’ll take care of me. He’ll make the nightmares go away! were the thoughts that rushed through her head somehow. Everything started that night. He was in her dreams. He must know something about all the weird things that had been happening to her!
“Hey, take it easy, lady!” Recognition dawned on him as he got a closer look at her face. “It’s you!”
He remembered her, and Cassie was pleased that he did. The look on his face certainly showed his delight at seeing her. But the light in his eyes was quickly extinguished as he did a quick scan of their surroundings.
His gaze was particularly penetrating when it passed over the shadows and the darker alleys. It was almost as if he feared they were being watched. It was late, and the clouds had obscured the moon. The nearest street light chose that moment to die, leaving them in darkness and making her move closer to him.
“What brings you here, Beautiful?” he asked in his tender, low voice.
“I, uh…” She looked back for her cab and saw nothing. Cassie looked up and down the street. Nothing. Where did it go? She did not even hear it leave.
“What are you looking for?” he asked, uneasy. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was just as alarmed as she was.
“There was a taxi cab…” she explained. “Gabe’s Gypsy Jitney. Right there. I rode it from across town… didn’t you see it?”
He let out a heavy sigh saying, “Always interfering.”
“What?” Cassie asked, confused.
He made a face. But he did not look angry. He just looked grudgingly annoyed. She was almost sure he was talking about Gabe the cab driver because she knew he knew him. She distinctly remembered the two men bumping shoulders and looking at each other like they knew each other but they belong in different companies so they shouldn’t be friendly or something like that.
“Sorry, Beautiful. Wasn’t paying attention. I saw nothing, and then I saw you.” He smirked, amused. “We
ll, I saw you nearly fall on me.”
“Yeah, it’s been that kind of night…” she thought. And she just faded. She was just so exhausted and her knees gave way underneath her.
“Whoa! Are you high?”
High? No! “Exhausted. Just exhausted,” she gasped. “I can’t sleep, haven’t slept, mustn’t. Won’t…” She was becoming more confused and delirious, her speech was starting to slur. She wanted to cry. She felt like her brain was giving up on her. “Where’s my cab? Did I even pay him? Or was he a she? I’m so tired, I can’t remember. So sleepy…”
“Come with me,” she heard him say determinedly. “My car’s close. So is my house.”
He slipped his strong arm around her and she leaned hard against him, feeling really good to be with him. He smelled wonderful, except she thought she smelled female cologne on him, too. She closed her eyes after he had guided her inside a car that was parked beside the road.
She realized that he smelled of both male and female perfumes. A jolt of memory of how they’d danced in the club that night came to her, so vivid she could almost taste the liquor she’d been drinking then and her overwhelming hunger for him. They had both rubbed hard against each other like crazed cats in heat.
Fueled by the combined scents that seem to cling to him, Cassie’s own insecurities reared its ugly head. Jealousy ate at her at the thought of her “Paulo” dancing with another. Her blood boiled at the possibility that some clingy girl rubbed against his hard body. Maybe it was even some eager boy grinding his ass on Paulo’s crotch! Though she had no idea if the man swung both ways, but she wouldn’t be surprised if he did.
She sneaked a glance at him as he drove.
Who wouldn’t want him? she thought. And then her thoughts took a more pitiful turn. Who have you been with since I last saw you? Who was with you tonight? Who had rubbed herself at you so well that she'd left her perfume all over your shirt?
Her pangs of jealousy were so intense, so foreign to her that she didn’t quite know how to feel. Why was she so territorial? She barely knew him and yet she didn’t want others touching him…
