There was no response. Jimmy frowned. The image of Jesse with a pen or knife sticking out of his neck, facedown on the floor in the back filled his brain. He pushed that aside. Certainly that had not happened.
Had it?
It was hard to shake the image once it was there, but Jimmy forced himself to move on. He was trying to be brave, even though every instinct inside of him was telling him that it was time to head back and get some help. Maybe he should call Tabitha and get her to meet him here. Maybe he should have suggested that Warren come with him and bring his guns.
I can bend reality, Jimmy thought. Why should I be afraid?
It was a comforting thought for about half a second. But the truth was that warping reality was killing him, and he hadn't been able to do much more than explode a few light bulbs the last time he had tried it. And that had nearly wiped him out for days. He still felt weak. He doubted he would even be able to stop a slow moving cart from running into him from down a long hallway, given the state he was in now.
"Jesse?" he called again.
Stupid. So stupid. Why did he do that? No one ever learned from the horror movies, did they? The person who wandered into a darkened room and called out always got an ice pick to the head. Yet here he was, doing just that.
"Jimmy?"
Jimmy jumped at the sound of the voice. For just a moment he was sure that it was the voice he had heard from the giant, faceless creature that had haunted his dreams the night before.
"Yes," he replied.
"Ah," said the voice. "Sorry. I was going to close up early."
Jesse stepped forward from the shadowy area near the back. That was the children's area. He looked a bit disheveled. He had growth across his cheeks as if he had not shaved in a few days, and that was something Jesse never let happen. His hair was a mess, but that wasn’t uncommon. His clothes, however, looked wrinkled, and there were stains on his shirt, which was odd.
"Are you OK, Jesse?" Jimmy asked.
Jesse's right eye twitched strangely, and the entire right side of his face seemed to twitch in response. Then his face broke into a smile. "I'm fine, Jimmy. Please, come on in."
Jimmy stepped forward. He tried to reassure himself that this was Jesse, the man he had known for years. This was a man who had, in many ways, been a father figure to Jimmy. He had spent so many hours in this library helping Jesse fix book spines and putting cards back in the little slots pasted into the back of the books. He had also learned how to put those clear plastic book covers over the hardback books to try and keep the covers nice longer. Jesse had always been there, always trusted Jimmy, and had given Jimmy nearly free reign over the place. This was a friend.
"Jesse," Jimmy said, “Devlin Little is dead."
Jesse's face did that strange twitch again, and this was followed by a smile. Jimmy was suddenly sure that he was now inside some science fiction story. This was a robot Jesse who had murdered and replaced the real Jesse. And every time that twitch happened, the robot was rebooting.
"I heard," Jesse said, crossing over to his desk. "I’m not exactly sad about it, as you can imagine."
Jimmy nodded and stepped farther into the library. He leaned against the same desk he had leaned against the night he and Tabitha had been in here questioning Jesse. Or had it been morning when they did that? Suddenly time and space were things that seemed elusive to Jimmy.
"I thought maybe now you could tell me what really happened that night," Jimmy said. "You know, with Sapphire."
A pained look crossed Jesse's face, and both sides went into a kind of twitching war. For a moment Jimmy thought that Jesse was going to completely break down in front of him. Then, suddenly, Jesse's face relaxed, and he gave a strange, crooked, sad smile.
"I told you guys what happened," Jesse said softly.
"Tabitha and I both think that you were lying," Jimmy said.
Jesse's head whipped around and, for a moment, anger and hatred flashed in his eyes. Jimmy also heard the buzzing in his head get louder. Sapphire was there, and she was listening. More importantly, she was worried.
"I'm hearing all kinds of crazy stories, Jimmy," Jesse said, ignoring the statement. "I’ve been hearing stories that you can fly and bend the world to your whim. I’ve heard that Sapphire can suddenly manifest from the land of the dead in the living flesh and also manipulate reality."
He paused, his face twitching, then the smile.
"Crazy, huh?" he finished.
Jimmy shrugged. "A lot of crazy things have been going on lately, Jesse."
Jesse's smile slid off of his face like it was made of something slippery. "Are you telling me that those things are true?"
"I'm not here to talk to you about that, Jesse," Jimmy said. "Let's just say that the world as we know it is not the world as it really is. I know, because I've seen the other side and I've seen how fragile it is."
Jimmy extended his hand. A book on Jesse's desk suddenly flew across the room and landed softly in Jimmy's palm. Jimmy closed his hand around the spine of the book. It was some kind of how-to book about fixing your car. Jimmy tried to hide the fact that making the book do that had nearly caused him to pass out. The world was spinning and he felt like vomiting.
"Wow," Jesse said, his eyes wide, but that one eye still twitching. "Impressive."
"It takes a lot out of me," Jimmy said weakly.
"I bet. I've never seen anything quite like it."
Jesse came around the front of the desk. He leaned against it and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked down, his chin almost on his chest for a moment; he appeared to be thinking.
"Is it true that Sapphire appears to you?" he said quietly. "I mean in the flesh and not as some ghost? That the two of you can alter reality?"
Jimmy said that was true, but weakly. The buzzing in his head was getting louder, but he was also feeling faint. Was Sapphire trying to talk to him or had that simple act of moving the book across the room wiped him out completely? He reached out his hand to steady himself.
"That is remarkable," Jesse said. He seemed to think for a moment longer. "You know, I really did love her. I really did."
Jimmy felt alarm bells going off in his head along with the buzzing. He tried to stand up, but it was impossible. His limbs seemed to have lost all muscle. Was he dying? Was this what a brain aneurysm felt like?
"I keep a photo with me," Jesse said. "I still have it. I keep it here in my desk."
Jimmy remembered that after he had overheard the conversation between Devlin and Jesse that Jesse had sat down at his desk and looked at something, weeping. It must have been the photo.
"I'd love to see that," Jesse said. "I'd love to talk to her again."
"I'm…I'm not sure that I—" Jimmy said, then swallowed. "I'm not so sure I can do that right…right now."
Jesse looked up, that eye still twitching, and a look of concern crossed his face.
"Are you OK, Jimmy?" he asked.
Jimmy shook his head. "I feel a bit lightheaded."
Jesse's look of concern got even deeper. He stood up and came toward Jimmy. The buzzing in Jimmy's head got louder. For a moment he thought he could hear Sapphire calling his name, but his head was so fuzzy.
"Could you use a drink of water?" Jesse said. "I have a water cooler in my office in the back."
Jimmy felt himself nodding, but he did not feel in control of his own actions. He stood up, leaning a bit against Jesse.
"Yeah," Jesse said, his voice seeming like it was a long way away. "That's it. Just rest easy. That must take a lot out of you. Come with me and get that drink of water. Maybe if you rest up, you can show me how you can bring Sapphire here."
Jimmy again felt himself nodding. His thoughts would not coalesce. He could not form a decent sentence or thought. The buzzing was getting so loud. What was wrong with him? Why did the air in this place seem so heavy? Why was Jesse talking to him so low and slow? Where were they going? They were headed back toward a darkened, shadowy place.
"Right, your desk," Jimmy mumbled, and his feet moved of their own accord.
Jimmy took several steps down the short hallway. He could see light coming from inside the office that Jesse kept. It was a small office, but it was warm and inviting. It always had been. It was like a den in a big house, and Jimmy imagined that if Jesse had a den in his home, it would look like this office. There was an oak desk and, in front of that, a big, soft leather chair. That chair looked so inviting. And yes, there was indeed a water cooler somewhere in there, back in the corner. That would be good right now. He was so thirsty. Moving things with his mind made him so tired and so thirsty. If he could get a drink, he would feel as right as rain.
Right as rain.
He took another three staggering steps toward the office.
Where was Jesse? What did he have to get? What was that buzzing sound?
Was someone screaming his name over and over again?
Sapphire?
JIMMY!
Jimmy snapped his head up. It was like a slap across his face. The sound of Sapphire screaming his name cut through the clutter in his head. The fuzz and the buzzing stopped for a moment. He looked around. The hall was so dark. The office ahead of him was so bright. Where had Jesse gone?
Jimmy turned around.
When he did, he saw Jesse standing at the end of the short hallway, framed by the darkness of the library behind him.
In his right hand was a pistol.
"I'm sorry, Jimmy," Jesse said.
"Jesse?" Jimmy asked. "What are --?"
Sapphire screamed Jimmy's name again and again inside his brain. It hurt his skull, the sound of her screaming.
That was when Jesse pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot was actually louder than Sapphire's scream. At the same time, Sapphire was still screaming inside his head, and then she was screaming in the hallway. Jimmy saw Jesse suddenly look up and cover his ears, and then books started flying off the shelves behind Jesse. Sapphire didn’t appear, but there was a sudden rush of wind just as the bullet crashed into Jimmy's chest.
The force of the impact caused Jimmy to spin around. The entire world exploded in pain, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. Then his feet went out from under him and he fell hard. The floor seemed to rush up to meet him and he felt the hardwood floor collide with his head. Jimmy saw stars, felt blood rushing out of his chest and spread across the floor.
JIMMY!
Just before Jimmy slipped into blackness he heard another voice. It was not Jesse’s. No, it was the voice of Stan Little.
"Did you kill him?"
"I think so," Jesse replied. "Help me move him."
Blackness took Jimmy.
13
The blackness seemed to go on forever. Then, suddenly, there was light. It was a bright white light mixed with blue. Although it felt as if he were walking on solid ground, Jimmy could tell that the ground wasn’t actually there. There was no "there" anywhere around him, and yet, there he was. He held up his hand and there it was, and yet, at the same time, it was not there.
"Jimmy!"
Jimmy squinted into the strange, white, foggy nothingness that was not nothing. Mists flitted and floated past his vision, as if he were in a vast marsh filled with fog. Strange shapes and shadows darted in and out of his vision all around them. Some of the shapes looked vaguely human, while others had eyes that glowed and more than a few had mouths with shining, sharp, white teeth.
"Jimmy!"
Sapphire emerged from the mists. She was gorgeous beyond Jimmy's ability to comprehend. Her hair and eyes glowed, but not in a scary way. She seemed lit from within, shining like a sun. Her dress had never looked so blue, and Jimmy could swear he saw stars, suns, entire universes forming and swirling and dying within the blue fabric that covered her. The fabric itself was like the mists that surrounded them. It swirled and twitched and moved, covering her strategically, but also shifting and changing as she moved. Her skin was beyond milky white, something ethereal. She would be visible and then suddenly vanish, swimming in and out of his field of vision. Her voice was in his head, not in the air between them.
"Sapphire?"
She floated to him, her feet not even moving. Her arms were open and he held up his arms that were not really his arms, and yet were, and she was in them in a moment. She felt real, and he felt real, and the ground beneath them no longer felt unreal and they were standing on something solid and real. Her lips were against his lips, and they felt solid; there was heat coming from both of them.
"Where are we?" Jimmy said.
"Jesse shot you."
"Jesse?” Jimmy asked. “It was him?"
Sapphire nodded, and then she placed her hands on either side of Jimmy's head.
"See," Sapphire said, her lips close to his, the sound of her voice inside his head and throughout the strange space that they both occupied.
The images came fast. Jimmy felt himself spinning around and around as if in a whirlpool. The images overwhelmed him. He was lost in that moment, just like when he dreamed of being in the car, but this time he was in the backseat and he was seeing what was happening, and, just like in the original vision that had shown him what Jesse and Sapphire had done that night when they were at the dance, he could see what was happening, but not do anything.
Jesse was driving and Sapphire was ranting. This time, however, Jesse just looked angry.
"Can you believe that they kicked us out of there?" Sapphire said. "Can you believe that they did that? I mean, of all of the nerve! What right do they have to kick us out of the dance? What did we do but try to defend ourselves? This is what happens whenever a woman tries to stand up to men these days. They get the shaft and the man gets escorted off somewhere."
"I know," Jesse said. Jimmy could tell that he was gripping the steering wheel hard. Jesse's knuckles were white. "Just relax. Come on, Sapphire, I wanted to spend this night with you. I don't care if it's at the dance or not. I want to be with you."
Sapphire seemed to finally notice the fact that Jesse was there. Her face softened a bit and she looked at him in a kind way. She moved closer to him. Jimmy could not help but feel a bit jealous of the way she moved and the look she was giving Jesse.
"I'm sorry, Jesse," she said. "I guess I kind of ruined the dance for you, as well."
Jesse smiled, his grip on the steering wheel relaxing a bit. "It's OK. You can make it up to me."
He turned and smiled at Sapphire. Sapphire smiled back, and then she leaned in and planted a small kiss on Jesse's cheek.
"Where are we going?" Sapphire asked.
Jesse shrugged. "I thought we could find a place to be alone for a bit. Maybe talk or something, until we can figure out some other place to go."
Sapphire smiled and settled back into the seat. Jimmy looked up and recognized the stretch of road that they were on. They were approaching the bridge and the river. The road was dark on either side, the headlights of the car cutting through the darkness like twin blades, pushing back the blackness.
They drove for a while. Neither of them talked, but Sapphire seemed like she was no longer angry, or at least not as angry as she had been. She stared out into the darkness and there was the hint of a smile on her face.
"They'll probably talk about what happened there for years," she said with a laugh. "The day Devlin Little got what he had coming."
Jesse laughed, but there was a hardness to it that Jimmy didn't like.
"We should do this kind of thing more often," Sapphire said. "We should push those idiots every chance we get. If we all stood up to them more, maybe they wouldn't be such jerks all the time. There's no reason that the football idiots should rule the school."
Jesse shrugged, but he also smiled and nodded.
The car slowed and Jesse turned the wheel to the right. They were close to t
he bridge. Jimmy could see it up ahead, but there was a short dirt road that seemed to disappear into a copse of trees that was no longer there in Jimmy's time. Jesse turned right and darted down the dirt road. Now the darkness was like a living thing, pressing up against the windows.
"Down here?" Sapphire asked. "Why, Jesse? Just what do you have in mind?"
Jesse smiled sheepishly and guided the car to a spot that was shrouded in darkness and trees. Then he turned on the radio, shifted into park, and turned the engine off so that the car was running on battery power. There was a strange light in Jesse's eyes, and they were very wide. His breathing was heavy.
The next few moments were agony for Jimmy. Jesse leaned in and, as he watched from his seat in the back, the two of them began making out heavily. Their mouths locked together and Sapphire pressed close to Jesse, both of them heaving and breathing and groaning and kissing. It seemed to go on and on forever.
Then, as things went on, Jesse seemed to get more eager. His hands began to wander over her chest and clothing. Sapphire moaned, and Jesse seemed to take that as compliance. Jimmy, however, could tell that she was getting uncomfortable. Her hand pushed his away, but it came right back. He got closer, his other hand drifting, as well, and Sapphire let out another groan and pushed that hand away.
"Jesse," Sapphire whispered, breaking the kiss.
"Yes," Jesse whispered and he leaned in closer, pushing Sapphire onto her back on the long front seat.
"No, Jesse, no," Sapphire whispered and she put both of her hands on his chest and pushed. "Stop."
Instead Jesse pushed forward, almost shoving her back, and his hands went to her dress, groping, fumbling, tearing. Sapphire reached out and pushed harder this time; Jesse was thrown against the driver's side door. He was panting, out of breath, his face flushed and his eyes so wide that Jimmy thought that they might pop right out of his skull.
"Dammit, Jesse, I said no!" Sapphire yelled, and she reached out and slapped Jesse across the face. The slap was amazingly loud in the car, like a bone snapping in half.
Jesse was shocked at first. His head snapped to the right and then shot back to the center, so he was gazing intently—and with anger—at Sapphire. His eyes seemed to blazed, and Jimmy could sense the rage that flooded Jesse.
Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance Page 27
