[Jenna's] Gang of Deadheads

by Paul Atreides

  Jason’s countenance stood huge and dark, his eyes big and deeper than any cave. With each unwanted step he took, Jason appeared to grow taller and spread wider, until Harvey was engulfed, swallowed as if he’d been sucked into a black hole in space.

  Mournful, grieving howls pounded against Harvey’s ears. Arms with crawling, grasping fingers clawed at him and pulled him into a bottomless well of pain and anguish. Tortured faces painted with evil smiles swam up at him. No matter how he struggled to free himself, to run from the visages, he fell deeper into the pit. He stood in the presence of hundreds of thousands of souls who’d been taken before him: despots and dictators, torturers, abusers and sadists; each of them suffering the same pain they’d inflicted on others. Harvey sensed and came to know pure and utter hatred, centuries upon centuries of torturous bigotry and enslavement, murder and rape; complete and wanton cruelty. He begged for forgiveness, pleaded to be set free, insisted on innocence and misunderstanding, and his cries for help were met with peals of unforgiving sinister laughter so loud he feared his eardrums would burst.

  The further he ensnared Harvey, the more Jason’s body shrank. A deafening weariness spread over him. He still heard the man’s screams and pleas for help and understanding and mercy. It seemed with each new slice of evil Jason removed from the world the more he struggled to contain it. Even the longest-kept malevolence now burdened him in ways he never thought possible. He longed for rest.

  After a final gaze upon the woman huddled in fear and pain, he mustered enough strength to leave. Shoulders slumped and his back bent, he walked out onto the street in search of a place to recover. He would have to entrust Nancy as Keeper until he could return. “It’s getting so hard. Too hard.”

  -17-

  Nancy had followed Jenna at a distance for almost two months; close enough to know her intent, yet far enough on the periphery to provide for a quick exit when needed to fulfill her main function. And Nancy’s growing and emerging ability was needed. She chose her course of finding and keeping evil with great care. Two had to be taken when their belligerence wouldn’t be tamed. Three others proved to be as frightened of that dark eternity as Marvin had been all those months before, and she released them. Though should the character of their intent darken, they would easily be found.

  She saw Jenna thwart an attack by sliding into the victim and admired the swift takeover that removed the woman from harm’s way. Jenna stayed inside her until she’d made it to the shelter and stepped away. The woman gawked around for a moment and then enrolled into their program.

  Soon after receiving Jason’s request to watch Jenna, Nancy had become aware of a troublesome young man; a kid really. In his mid-teens, there was malice evident in his stride, a sneering challenge he projected to those who crossed his path. Now, his mean-spirited bearing would result in his own demise.

  He’d watched the girl prance through the aisles and followed; her short skirt and low-cut blouse mighty temptations to his raging hormones. With a fake southern drawl and easy smile he lured her outside. She pushed him away when he pulled at and tore her top. He snagged her arm in a tight grip. “You can’t get away with teasing this cock.” After a few heavy-handed slaps to the face, he shoved her into a corner behind the concrete building and pushed himself against her. One hand pinned her arms above her head, the other hiked her skirt and thrust up between her legs. She screamed and fought against his more powerful body.

  Nancy waited. Her inexperience prevented her knowing how he would die, she only knew he would. And she watched. And waited.

  Jenna rushed through the delivery doors behind the store and missed her target. As Marvin had done, she ended up in the young man, but his strength and awareness proved too strong. The change in his facial features registered surprise at the invasion, but he renewed his efforts.

  Up to that point she’d never tried controlling a man, much less one who was intent on doing harm. Before, it had always been women she’d entered and took control of; women whose intent focused on self-preservation, rather than fighting, which made the effort easier. Jenna’s voice echoed between the wings of the building in an oddly masculine register. “Diane, a little help here!”

  Nancy moved forward and called out. “Jenna, don’t. Not this time. Get out, get away from him.”

  The boy’s awareness of Jenna slipping into his body allowed him to see what the living typically couldn’t. He turned to face Nancy, and his grin exuded menaced delight. Though Jenna tried to respond, her own words didn’t find a voice. “Ah, new meat.” The actions Jenna tried to force upon him failed. The body twisted at the hips and the free hand groped lewdly at the flesh protruding from his open zipper. “Come on, bitch, come and get some of this.”

  “Diane, you come out here now,” Nancy commanded, still keeping an eye on the struggling Jenna. Diane burst through the wall of the building and Nancy pointed to the struggle.

  Diane strode over, grabbed the dangling testicles and squeezed. A strange, unearthly howl burst from the boy’s throat, and he lost his grip on his victim. The girl cowered to the pavement, her arms and hands covering her bared breasts.

  With the boy’s attention on his genitals, Jenna struggled to free herself. Caught fused into both worlds, Jenna felt his hand as it brushed against a long, thin bump attached to the waistband at his side. Intending to pummel him into unconsciousness with whatever it happened to be, Jenna grasped it and swung at his midsection with all the force she could muster. The knife blade swiped through Diane and sunk into the boy’s diaphragm, tearing a long gash in a lung. As his body doubled over, Jenna raised her arm and swung again. This time the knife sliced through his neck. He fell to the ground.

  Jenna stumbled toward the side of the building, slid to the pavement, and sobbed. The boy lay bleeding out, gasping to fill his gurgling lungs. Diane stood hovering over the girl, who’d fainted into a heap in the corner.

  “You,” Nancy said, and pointed to Diane. “Get the girl into the store, and make her ask for help.”

  “How?” Diane’s voice sounded small and weak.

  “This is not the time to play coy. I’ve watched you help her,” Nancy said, nodding at Jenna. “Now, just do it.”

  Nancy waited until the girl lurched around the corner of the store and then turned her attention to Jenna. In a quiet voice she said, “Oh, Jenna. What have you done?”

  “I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to stop him. He’s going to be okay, isn’t he?”

  Nancy ignored the question. “Do you know how serious this is? When Jason finds out … ”

  Jenna’s tear-filled eyes pleaded for understanding. “I just — I wanted to, I was trying to get her away from him, that’s all. That’s all I wanted to do. I don’t know what happened.”

  Nancy heard the boy’s breath rattle in his chest with a rasp and watched. “You better get out of here. Go home, Jenna.” One last long, heaving inhale exited his body in a slow whisper. “Quick.”

  Jenna rose and ran through the back wall into the storeroom of the building, back the way she came, to hide among the stacks of boxed merchandise until Nancy left.

  “Brandon, you come over here now,” Nancy said to the boy as he rose from his body. She wondered if she’d be able to show him what fate might await and release him, or if she would need to take him and keep him, locked in misery for eternity. He turned to face her. His anger raged, but instead of resisting, fighting to stand in place like others did, he bellowed and rushed at her. Her body shifted and surrounded him. Nancy heard his taunts, his threats, for only a few minutes while she pushed his existence to the depths of darkness.

  -18-

  Though Diane grated on Jenna’s nerves early on, an honest friendship began to develop. She regretted leaving the woman behind and hoped the disastrous results wouldn’t be enough to make Diane change her mind about helping again. But the tone of Nancy’s command left serious doubt there could even be a next time.

  The realization she caused someone’s death ra
ttled Jenna to the core. Her mind became a jumble of confusion. She longed for the security of Marvin’s arms, but since Tommy had been in the world of the dead longer than anyone else she knew she wanted and needed his advice. She emerged from the storeroom and rushed toward home.

  She wrestled with the decision during the short yet interminable elevator ride to the top floor. Should she head straight to Tommy and Mike? Or run to Marvin who would either offer comfort or begin to chastise her for again interfering with the living?

  The elevator doors opened and the din of animated conversation coming from their own suite solved the dilemma for her. It sounded like a party was in full swing, and she headed down the deep-padded carpeted hallway. Not that any living soul would’ve heard her footsteps, or the laughter and boisterous conversation emanating through the door. She paused to gather the proper demeanor. Rolling and shrugging her shoulders to release the tension she feared would be evident, she brushed fingers through her hair and plastered a smile on her face. Stepping through the door she forced a false brightness into her voice when she asked, “What’s the occasion?”

  A line of people standing in front of the sofa turned to greet her.

  “Well, it’s about time,” Marvin exclaimed with a smile as Jenna strolled in.

  “There she is!” Davy rushed to her. “Girl, do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?”

  “Davy.” Jenna accepted his air kisses. “Oh, well, here I am,” she said as if she hadn’t been purposely avoiding him since hearing of his return. The declaration sounded false even to her ears.

  Mike raised a goblet in her direction. “You’re way behind the rest of this drunken crew. Let me get you a glass. Red or white?”

  “Dude, champagne first.” Tommy waved the bottle. “I saved enough for her. Tonight is about her, after all.”

  “Me?” Jenna scowled at Tommy and made her way to Marvin’s open arms. She gave him a peck on the cheek, and greeted Colleen and Patrick with swift hugs. In her distraction over the incident and the commotion of all the guests, she didn’t see the man seated behind them and headed for the bedroom. “Just let me freshen up.”

  As she made her way back into the room, Tommy held a glass of champagne out for her. It took a split second for him to notice the shaking hand and the ‘help me’ expression on her face. “Here, let your Uncle Tommy set this on the coffee table until you recover from the surprise.” Tommy recognized the appreciation that registered in her eyes and led her toward the couch.

  “I have a surprise? What is it?” Jenna asked with a somewhat normal tone.

  Davy took her other arm. “There’s someone here to meet you.” It’s a good thing he’s a patient person and I’ve been able to find ways to entertain him around here for so long.

  Gianni rose from the couch with arms outstretched. “Bella.” He grasped her hands and planted a kiss on the back of both, kissed both cheeks, and took a step back to admire her. “How perfect a meeting.”

  Jenna recognized the famed designer. She didn’t need to be a fashion hound, as Diane and Davy both certainly appeared to be. The circus-like media coverage of his murder had been more than enough to familiarize even the most casual observer. “Mr. Versace, what a pleasant surprise.”

  Davy, of course, stood beaming from ear to ear. “He’s agreed to do your dress.”

  “My dress? What dress?”

  “For the wedding,” Mike prompted.

  A quick sigh escaped from Jenna, her shoulders dropped, and her eyes lowered in apology. “I never agreed, all I said was I’d think about it.”

  “Oh, but you must. The designs, they are all swirling around up here.” Gianni rotated a finger at his temple. “Ever since Davy showed me your photograph. Bella, you shall be the most beautiful, the most stunning bride, you will make … Iman look like Quasimoto.” The entire group laughed appreciatively at the joke. Gianni smiled for his audience, lifted Jenna’s hand, spun her around as if in a dance, and continued to admire her. Something special emanated from her that indeed fascinated him, an aura that surrounded the auburn hair, a certain sparkle in the green eyes, the line of her chin as it swept to an elongated neck that cried out for his touch. “Now that I see you in the flesh, may I say, señorina, the picture did not do you justice at all.”

  Marvin’s emotions vacillated between pride and jealousy, but he taunted his guest in good humor, “Hey, hey, careful there.”

  Davy leaned into him and whispered, “No worries, Marvin. He’s one of us.” Davy swept a gesture toward the group.

  “I know that.”

  “No, silly, I mean he’s gay.”

  Jenna laughed. “Well, Mr. Vers —”

  “Gianni. You must drop the formalities. We are friends now.”

  “Gianni. Thank you, I’m sure you’re exaggerating. But, I do feel bad that Davy made you come all this way before anything has been settled.” Jenna turned her face to Davy and raised an eyebrow.

  “Nonsense. Now, after we’ve finished celebrating your engagement — you are engaged, are you not — then we shall measure and I’ll be off.” He looked her over head to toe in appreciation. “I cannot wait to get started.”

  “But, what if my answer should be no?”

  “No? You would say no to me? You would turn down a genuine Versace?” The incredulous tone in Gianni’s voice increased with each question.

  Tommy, who’d stayed silent all this time, piped up. “Oh, come on, Jenna. You know you want it. Really, I mean look at that face.” He pointed to Davy who stood with longing. “How could you bring disappointment to that face?” Then Tommy added his own hang-dog puppy eyes and smile. “Or this one. Please.”

  “Or this one?” Marv added, moving toward her from across the room.

  Marvin’s gentle tone sent her into a tailspin. Now that she’d found a means of being useful in this life, Jenna stood torn between her need for independence, her drive to accomplish what she’d put her mind to, and her love for Marvin; between wanting to make him happy and keeping promises she’d made to herself during years of growing up being shuffled from family to family in the foster care system. Her expression of confusion and consternation served to cover up the more immediate issue. “Marv, it’s not that I don’t want to get married. Honest. But …” She fished for a reason and, after stammering, finally landed on something she figured would appeal to his sensible side. “Isn’t it kind of wasteful to have a beautiful gown that will be worn only once? And then what will I do with it?”

  Versace broke in to the conversation before Marvin got further than opening his mouth. “But, I must design for you. Such beauty as yours should be properly adorned. So, for you, I shall design a dress that will serve many purposes.”

  Jenna reached out with both hands to grasp Gianni’s and she managed a slight smile. “Well, then, how can I refuse such an offer?”

  “Bellisima!” The great fashion designer pulled her into a bear hug and kissed both cheeks.

  The room broke into a cacophony of happy sounds as each deadhead pushed through to embrace her and shake hands with Marvin. The loudest voices belonged to Davy, who’s waving hands augmented the beaming smile and “Oh, my God’s,” and Tommy, who blurted, “Far freaking out!”

  Marvin let out a laugh, grabbed Tommy in a headlock, and scrubbed his knuckles across the back of his head. “Your sixties are showing again, hippie!”

  “I know, isn’t it great?” Tommy poked a finger through Marvin’s stomach.

  Mike, who’d tried his best to get Tommy to ditch all the 60s’ expressions, let it pass and broke open another bottle of champagne. The group gathered in a circle, Mike filled glasses, and then raised his own for a toast.

  Diane breezed through the door, concern in her voice. “Jenna. Jenna, are you —”She stopped halfway across the room, stunned. “What the hell is this?”

  He didn’t know the exact nature of the problem but sensing the seriousness of it, Tommy broke away from the circle to intercept and greet Diane with a
cheery tone. “Diane, come in and join us.” He mouthed, “Not here,” with a serious expression. “Mike, get Diane a glass so she can join the toast.”

  “What is this? Did I miss something somewhere along the line?” Diane allowed herself to be led toward the circle, consternation painted across her facial features until she recognized the guest of honor. She broke from Tommy’s grasp, took the proffered glass of champagne from Mike without so much as a glance of thanks, and made a beeline to Gianni, the earlier episode forgotten. “Gianni Versace? Why, Davy, I had no idea you had this kind of influence or I would’ve insisted on an introduction long ago.” She held her hand out. “I’m Diane. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  Gianni recognized the attitude. He’d come across more than his share of models and clients who held themselves in high esteem. As he’d always done in the past, he bowed graciously but with reserve, his lips grazing the back of her hand. “Buona sera.”

  “How ever did Davy convince you to visit our common neck of the world?”

  Gianni tipped his glass in Jenna’s direction. “Why, for that vision of beauty, of course, how else?”

  Before Diane could respond in a withering tone he knew all too well, Davy beckoned to her and raised his glass high. “Diane, sweetie, come stand over here with me. There was about to be a toast to our guest.”

  Mike lifted his glass. “To the world’s most famous designer.”

  “Well, most famous dead one, anyway,” Marvin added.

  “Now, Marvin, was that called for?” Colleen asked after she took the requisite sip.

  “No, no, but he’s quite right,” Gianni said. “I dare say death certainly added to the acclaim.”

  The circle broke into small groups of animated conversation. Jenna approached Tommy and whispered, “I need to talk to you.”

  The two exited to the hallway where Jenna recounted what happened in as much detail as she remembered. The huddle didn’t escape the notice of Marvin, who stole expectant glances at the door. Nor did it get past Mike, who knew Tommy, though a total goofball most of the time, could be entrusted to find solutions to the most troubling situations of the dead.