Jack the Stripper

by Jennifer Macaire

  “You have to find her soul,” May said to Brianna.

  “You don’t have any orders to give me,” Brianna snapped.

  The two women glared at each other. Then May said, her teeth gritted, “Please go find her soul. It will be in a jar someplace and looks like glowing honey.”

  “Fine.” Brianna shrugged. “I can do that.”

  Jack let his breath out. For a minute he thought they would start hitting each other. He relaxed a fraction and looked around. They were in the living room, impeccably clean. The couch and two arm chairs were spotless, almost as if they were brand new. A low table gleamed in front of the couch. There were no books or magazines, no plants or anything that would give some personality to the room. It could have been a hotel room, so impersonal it looked.

  Suddenly the door to the bedroom opened, and a woman came in and said, “Who are you people? What are you doing walking on my clean floor?”

  She wore a red dress and a white apron, and she held a can of furniture polish and a dusting rag in her hands. Her face was devoid of makeup and her eyes were strangely blank, as was her voice. But it was the Weeper. Sorrow covered her like perfume. Her spirit, caught in her body against its will, screamed in agony while her body walked, talked, and, Jack supposed, cleaned. The screaming was like fingernails dragging across a blackboard. The sound emanated from her in waves, although she never opened her mouth, and her eyes were dry. Not a tear wet her face.

  When she stepped into the room, the vibration from her weeping made Jack’s teeth hurt, and May started to sob. Sally gave Jack an anguished glance and vanished. Brianna shivered visibly and went toward the woman. “Are you Mrs. Mercury?” she asked, her voice gentle.

  The woman sprayed polish on her rag and wiped at the wooden wainscot. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Who are you then?” asked Jack, fighting against the bitter, sorrowful feeling the Weeper inspired.

  She crouched down to get the bottom of the wall scrubbed. “I’m the housewife. I have to keep the house clean. I have to keep myself occupied. It will pass. It will get better. If I get tired I have to lie down. Have a drink, Sharon. Oh, no, it’s not right, it’s just not right. My chest hurts,” she confided suddenly to Jack. “Did you ever read the story of Cupid and Psyche? It’s a lovely story, but scary too. He’s invisible, you see, but he loves her. One day she goes to see him. In the dark. While he is sleeping. I can sometimes see him when he’s sleeping. Cupid. He loves me so much, you see.” She gave the wall a close inspection and stood up again. Her words were laced with distress. “I don’t remember and I can’t taste anything. I think I just want to sleep. Why can’t he just let me sleep? When we eat dinner he tells me everything is just fine.” Her expression never changed, but her voice rose and lifted the hair on the back of Jack’s neck.

  Brianna was looking for the soul. She looked under the couch, under the cushions, and then went into the kitchen. Sharon Mercury followed her, replacing the cushions, straightening everything she displaced. May finally seemed to get a hold of herself and trailed after them, her face very pale.

  Jack followed the women. No one spoke except Brianna, who said, “not here. Not here either. Not over here. Not in here. Where could it be?”

  Jack started to get a very bad feeling. The Weeper cleaned, but she didn’t seem to realize who she was or what had happened. Jack remembered what it was like still being caught in the veil, and he imagined that the woman was still caught in that in-between place. It must be a nightmare. A dream. He stopped. “Mrs. Mercury,” he said carefully, “Are you dreaming?”

  She dropped her can of polish. Turning slowly, she faced him, her expression suddenly alert. “You know it’s all a dream?” Her voice rose. For the first time a spark appeared in her eyes. But it was faint.

  “It could be a dream,” said Jack carefully. Behind the Weeper, May stared at Jack with an expression of terror in her eyes. She moved her hand. “No!”

  But the Weeper was talking to herself again. “I knew it was a dream. But why can’t I wake up? I’ve tried. But he won’t let me sleep. I have to sleep before I wake up. Oh, this makes no sense at all. No, it’s not a dream. It’s real, all real. He comes and goes and I never see him except when he sleeps or when we eat.” She shook her head. “Once upon a time there was a man and a woman and they lived happily ever after.” She stopped speaking and shook her head again. “Happily ever after. But how long is ever after? There has to be an ending to the story sometime. Ever after is too long. Too long.” She picked up the can of polish and sprayed the kitchen table.

  “I think I found something,” said Brianna. She reached into the refrigerator and took out a jar filled with what looked like honey.

  The can of polish clattered to the floor again. “Put that down!” screamed the Weeper. Outside, the wolves began to howl.

  The door opened and the Heart Taker stepped in.

  Time stood still. Brianna, May, and the Weeper froze.

  Jack and the Heart Taker looked at each other. There was no triumph in Jack, only a sad, worn out feeling. “Doctor Mercury, I presume?” he said.

  “Yes.” The Heart Taker didn’t smile. He was as tense as a coiled spring. “I didn’t think you would find me,” he said. “I don’t even know who you are.”

  “You killed me,” said Jack.

  There was no recognition. No flash of memory. The Heart Taker just shrugged. “I don’t remember everyone I killed. I try not to look at their faces. Someone brought you back, I see.”

  “In order to catch you. I suppose you could say that you’re part of me.”

  “So that’s why you can stop time. I wondered about that.”

  “Could you always move so fast?” Jack asked.

  The Heart Taker nodded. “Even as a child. It made some things very easy, but I was always careful not to break the rules or take advantage of others. My parents were both registered mutants, but they managed to hide my affliction so that I was never in the mutant records. I met my wife in high school,” he added.

  “I’m sorry about what happened to your wife,” Jack said.

  “She should have gotten a heart, but some rich man in Texas jumped the list and got the heart that would have saved her.” The Heart Taker shook his head. “I killed him first. Took that heart right back. But it was too late for Sharon. She passed into the shadow land and I just barely managed to get her back.”

  “But she doesn’t want to stay,” Jack said, keeping his voice soft.

  The Heart Taker’s black eyes hardened like solidifying glass. His lips drew back from his teeth. “What do you know?”

  “If she wanted to stay, you wouldn’t have to keep her soul in a jar, prisoner. She thinks she’s dreaming and it scares her.”

  His expression sharpened and he said, “Can you stop time, or do you just react to my speed? If I snapped back to normal time, would you still be moving at speed, do you think? That would give you a certain advantage over me. But I have a feeling that you only react, you can’t create the time lapse.”

  “What is important is that I can keep up with you, so you can’t murder my friends, like you murdered me.”

  “Your friends?” He looked at May and then at Brianna. “That one I know. She heard me in the casino and I followed her home. I left her a poem.”

  “You frightened her badly.” Jack took the handcuffs out, intending to grab him.

  “I have to keep my Sharon alive.” He smiled at Jack, and “SNAP!” time caught again and Brianna screamed.

  She didn’t drop the jar. She clutched it to her chest. Her eyes wide, she backed against the wall into a corner. The Heart Taker passed in front of his wife and gave her a kiss. His eyes softened when he looked at her. “Hello dear. Did you have a good day? The house looks so clean. You do an amazing job.”

  His wife nodded happily. “It’s sparkling clean.”

  “I see that, dear.”

  “My name’s not dear, is it?” She shook her head.
“I don’t think I’m a dear.”

  “No, you’re Sharon. Remember? Sharon.”

  “Sharon Dear?”

  “No, Sharon Mercury.” For the first time a shadow seemed to pass in front of the Heart Taker’s eyes.

  “I don’t know who these people are. They came without an engraved invitation. I didn’t even have time to get the cocktails ready.” She shook her head again. “Is there a reception here tonight? Are these your colleagues? May I take your coat, Madame?” she said, turning to May.

  May looked startled and backed away. “No thank you,” she said.

  “Well, I’ll just have the butler take it to the cloak room. Silas, darling, where’s the butler? Where’s the staff we rented for the party?” She put her hand to her hair. “How strange. I remember a big party. We had a huge reception when you passed your internship and got the job at the hospital.” Her face cleared and she gave a huge smile. “Is this the party?”

  “Sharon …” The Heart Taker looked stricken.

  She looked around, confusion on her face. Her hand strayed to her chest and she pressed against it, wincing. “This is not our house, Silas. And I don’t know why, but my heart aches. It’s terrible. It aches and aches.” Her voice kept rising and it raised the hair on the back of Jack’s neck right along with it.

  The Heart Taker took his wife’s hand. “I can take care of that ache.”

  “No, no you can’t. I wish you’d let me go, Silas. I wish …” Her expression changed again, going from tragic to curious. “Who are you?” she asked him. “What are you doing in my clean house?”

  “I’m your husband,” he said, his tone getting desperate. “Your husband. Silas.”

  “I hope you wiped your feet, whoever you are. Because I’ve been cleaning all day.”

  Jack couldn’t take it anymore. He stepped toward the Heart Taker, holding the handcuffs out in front of him. “Doctor Mercury, in the name of moosie I—”

  “Give me that jar,” said the Heart Taker, ignoring Jack and going to stand in front of Brianna. He held his hand out.

  Brianna gasped and pressed into the corner, clutching the jar tightly.

  “Please, give it to me,” he said. “I want to set things right.” His face was a mask of utter misery. “I think I can make things right.”

  May finally seemed to get a hold of herself. She took the Weeper by the elbow. “Mrs. Mercury, if you’ll come with me please. My father can help you, I promise.”

  Jack reached toward the Heart Taker.

  The Weeper uttered a screeching wail. The ear-splitting sound nearly crippled Jack. It sent May crashing to the floor, Brianna dropped the jar, and Jack clapped his hands to his ears. Outside, the wolves howled even louder.

  Time and sound stopped as the Heart Taker lunged and caught the jar. Then he snapped time back to normal before Jack could take advantage of the sudden silence. The handcuffs fell on the floor with a loud clatter. The Heart Taker straightened up, the jar in his hands, and the Weeper reached down, wrenched May’s revolver from her holster, and pointed it straight at her husband.

  “Give me that jar,” she shrieked, her hands trembling.

  Jack stepped toward her, and the Weeper said to him, “Don’t move. I don’t want to shoot you.”

  Jack had no idea if the bullet could harm him. He thought not, and was about to throw himself in front of her gun, when she looked past him and said, “Is that you, Silas?”

  Her voice wavered. She blinked, but kept the gun trained on the Heart Taker. “Silas, is it really you?”

  The Heart Taker nodded, his expression beatific. “Yes, yes darling, it’s me! You remember now, don’t you?”

  She wrinkled her brow in thought, and then nodded. “Oh yes. I remember. I remember dying and you brought me back. But I didn’t want to stay. You forced me to stay. I would have waited for you. You would have joined me. But you had to wrench me back and I am so unhappy about that.”

  “Sharon, I can make it right now. Here, take your soul. If you just open the jar you’ll be free. I’m sorry …” The Heart Taker faltered as he looked at his wife. “Sharon. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too. I would have waited for you, but now I can follow you.” She closed her eyes tightly and pulled the trigger.

  Time stopped for a heartbeat.

  The Heart Taker looked at the bullet. Jack looked at the bullet, hanging motionless in the air, and then at Brianna, standing frozen behind the Heart Taker. If he moved, she’d get hit by the bullet.

  “No!” Jack cried, anguish ripping the word from his throat.

  The Heart Taker glanced behind him, sighed, and then closed his eyes. The air around them gave a hard jolt.

  The bullet hit him in the heart.

  First though, it shattered the glass jar he held and a golden light burst from it like shooting stars, whizzed silently around the room, and vanished before Jack could draw a breath. The Heart Taker slammed against Brianna, who caught him. The Weeper crumpled to the floor, dropping the gun.

  May snatched it up, her face tragic. “I’m so sorry,” she cried, cradling the Weeper in her arms. They got to their feet and came to stand over the Heart Taker. May held the Weeper by the waist, and the woman leaned on her, walking like a robot. May was so small she was dwarfed by the Weeper. Jack knelt by Brianna and tried to find words, any words, but they were locked in his throat. If he opened his mouth he’d either throw up or scream. He was just glad Brianna was safe. He reached over and grasped her arm.

  She looked up, gave him a weak smile, and said, “This is going to be a hell of a report to write.”

  The Weeper, whom Jack could not think of as Sharon, no matter how he tried, looked at her husband and shook her head sadly. “Blood all over my clean floor,” she said. “What a mess.”

  May led her out the door, to where a police car was parked, its blue lights flashing. Looking back over her shoulder, May said, “Jack, will you come with me?”

  “Go ahead, Jack,” said Brianna, reaching over to close the Heart Taker’s eyelids. She remained sitting by his side, not minding the blood that seeped into her pants. Her shirt was scarlet, but she wasn’t injured. Her eyes were sad. She looked up at Jack. “He could have let me be killed.”

  The words untangled themselves from his throat. “That’s what I was afraid of.” Jack was still shaking, but he managed to lean down, kiss Brianna, and make it out of the trailer before leaning over and puking into the weed-choked ditch.

  “Nice work,” said a wolf, sitting nearby.

  “Feeling better?” asked a second wolf.

  “Not really,” said Jack, wiping his mouth off and wishing he had a glass of water or something stronger. “I need a drink.”

  “Mr. Ling-Li is waiting. He will have some tea,” said the first wolf, in a kind voice. “Go on. We’ll make sure nothing happens to your beloved. We’ll also make sure the Heart Taker’s spirit finds its way to the gate and passes it.” The wolves pointed their muzzles to the sky and howled in unison.

  Jack hurried to the police car, where May sat in the back with the Weeper. They went straight to the morgue, passing an ambulance on the way out of the trailer park. It was going to pick up the Heart Taker’s body. But his spirit would already be long gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ever After

  In the car, all the Weeper had said was, “Will I be able to sleep now?”

  Jack hadn’t known what to reply, and May had lost her composure. It was the first time Jack had seen her like that. He almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Thanks to her, the capture had turned into a fiasco. Brianna could have been killed. But by the time they arrived at the morgue, Jack had decided he was being unfair to May. His own fright had made him angry. Seeing May so disheveled … so harmless looking, turned his anger to pity.

  Jim Ling-Li met the Weeper as the car pulled up. With infinite gentleness, he helped her from her seat and led her to his office. Jack and May followed. May still pale and crumpled looking, Jack num
b.

  In his office, Jim had tea waiting. Jack took a cup gratefully and drank, washing the bitterness from his mouth with the strong, lemony taste. May took some tea as well, but the Weeper simply sat in her chair, her expression one of polite interest.

  “No thank you,” she said, when Jim Ling-Li offered her a cup.

  “Your soul has been liberated, and you are free now,” said Jim Ling-Li.

  “I know.” The Weeper touched May’s hand. “You shouldn’t blame yourself. I did what I needed to do. Dr. Mercury knew it. He could have easily saved himself, you know.”

  May turned to Jack. Her eyes were full of tears. “My carelessness could have cost you Brianna. I am so sorry.”

  Well, that was a surprise. Jack had lost his ire, but he sensed May’s sincerity and it touched him. “We were all distracted,” he said. “No one could have guessed what Mrs. Mercury would do.”

  “What now?” asked the Weeper, turning her gaze to Jim Ling-Li. “Is it time to go? Will you help me sleep, at last?”

  “Yes. It is time.” Jim stood up and gave her his hand. “Come. And you too, May and Jack. One day this will be your choice to make.”

  Jack followed silently. They went into a back room, just off Jim Ling-Li’s office. In it was a bed, a chair, a table with three candles, and an incense burner. Without speaking, the Weeper lay down in the bed. She lay on her back, her arms crossed over her chest, her face serene.

  Jim Ling-Li motioned to Jack and May to stand near the bed and they did, though Jack wished he were anywhere but in that room. Quite frankly, he was terrified. For one thing, the woman on the bed was not human. Jack felt that very keenly. She looked human, and spoke like one, but her eyes were strangely blank and her movements jerky and slow. He swallowed hard. She was a real zombie. Was he like that to others? No, he didn’t think so. His soul still resided within him and that, perhaps, was the difference. After all, even May was completely different from the creature lying on the bed. Humans must perceive him like he saw May—slightly different from others, that’s all.