So, after you were born I was really depressed. I’d lost my best friend and I was going through some kinda withdrawals. I was used to being around your mom regularly, basking in her aura. I didn’t come back to check on you for five years. I found you running around happy and healthy, not a care in the world. Everything was fine. You were still too young for me to be of any real help, so I took off again. I came back five years later, when you were ten. Everything looked great, Richard was a little bit distant, a cold bastard, but you had friends. Nobody was picking on you in school. You were fine.”
“You actually watched me at school? How did you do that?”
“Well, I wasn’t there in the daylight, but I was around to see how your parent-teacher conferences went, and everything seemed okay.”
“Stalker.” I accused her affectionately as I hugged her tight.
“Have I ever said any different? I admit it.”
“Okay, go on.”
“I came back again four years later, that’s when I first noticed, when you were fourteen.”
“Noticed what?”
“The amazing resemblance. I first met Mikhail back in St. Petersburg when he was thirteen. I was only ten years old then, but he was so handsome, and I was infatuated with him from that day on. And you look exactly like him. It was like going back in time. I can still remember seeing him out in the stables, before we came to New York he was training to manage the horses. They put us to work at a young age in those days. The world was a very different place back then.” She had a faraway dreamy look, reliving some century old memory of Mikhail. After a moment of spaced out staring, she looked away and continued telling her tale.
“You looked so much like him in every way, I could hardly believe it. And your aura was starting to show. It wasn’t as pronounced as it is now, but I could see it there, the same thing your mother had. I guess I was in shock over seeing you. I kinda freaked out. I took off to Nepal, and then to India. I studied all the legends, books, and myths I could find about reincarnation. I was trying to find an explanation for your return. I was pretty absorbed there for a while, time got away from me. Before I knew it, I’d been gone two years.”
I nodded. “Yep, two years ago was when it all fell apart. Must’ve been right around the time you saw me that my Dad was going through the foreclosure on the house. You just missed when we moved into that shithole trailer on Stratford.”
“I’m so sorry, if I’d have been paying attention I would have seen what was happening. If I would have stayed around for a few more days I might have been able to help you fight off the foreclosure. I would have done something.” She had that dangerous, I’m-gonna-put-acid-in-your-lotion-bottle look in her eyes. I imagined her walking into the bank and doing horribly unspeakable things to the foreclosure department staff members. Sure, she could have done something about it, but would I have wanted to see that outcome? Perhaps it was better that she was gone.
I shook off my morbid imaginings. “Well, that’s all old news now. I’m not interested in the woulda-coulda-shouldas. You’re here now, and you promise to behave like a good little monster.”
“Again, I’m sorry. It was such a surprise when I came back from India. Everything was wrong! And you were so much like Mikhail, exactly as he looked when he died. All I could think of was that I had to protect you. I couldn’t imagine losing you again. It was a little overwhelming. And your aura is in full bloom now. I overreacted. I’m just so attached to you, and when that asshole used Rachelle to set you up for his little gang bang, I just went off. I was so furious I wanted to go straight to their homes and tear them all to shreds for what they’d done! Luckily I calmed down a little and handled things more intelligently. There’s no evidence for police to find. No way they can prosecute anyone. And no one knows that I was in the sand dunes with Tommy. No one but you.”
I frowned, I didn’t care for the direction the conversation had taken. Nadia immediately went into apology mode, “I’m not usually that violent you know.” I frowned again at the obvious lie. “Okay, sometimes I am, but you really gotta piss me off to get me there. They pushed all the wrong buttons at the wrong time. I’m here to stay anyways, and we’re gonna solve these problems of yours.”
I started to remind her of her promise, but she interrupted me, “I know! Without hurting anyone! I got it already!”
Probably as good as it gets, so I let it be. “Come on, let’s go, I’m starving.” We walked away together, content in our new understanding.
“You can trust me Misha, I love you.”
“I know, I know.” Though I wouldn’t admit it aloud, I loved her too, and that was the kicker. I could look past all that she had done and might yet do because I loved this little monster.
* * * *
Later in the evening, lounging in my bedroom with Nadia on my lap, I received a call on my cell phone from the most unlikely person, Rachelle Werner. I debated taking her call. This could be an attempt to entrap me into a confession, she might record the conversation. And what could she possibly say that I wanted to hear?
Nadia decided the issue. “Tell her to go to hell!” She hit the connect button and pushed the phone in my face.
“Hello.”
“Hey, it’s me, Rachelle. How are you doing?”
“I’m okay, and you? I heard you went to the hospital.” All I could think about was avoid saying anything that could be used in court.
“I’m at the Harborview Burn Center at the University of Washington, Seattle. I guess I’ll be here for a couple more weeks. I got burned pretty bad, but they have some killer pain meds. I’m totally faded right now, feelin’ no pain.” She giggled in a way that Rachelle rarely ever giggled. High on chemically-induced happiness.
“Oh … uh … so you’re okay then?”
“Yeah …” Her words trailed off, then she came back suddenly, “Have you talked to Justin? I talked to Justin. He keeps calling me. I think he’s messed up about Tommy. I was too, a little, but I wanted to tell you something. I broke up with Tommy the night he died. I was so tired of his shit. But I really miss him. I mean, I feel bad but, he was such an asshole!” She seemed to vacillate back and forth, changing topics and viewpoints instantly. Definitely high on something.
I went with the K.I.S.S. philosophy, Keep It Simple Stupid. “Oh, I understand.”
“I’m sure you do.” She paused in awkward silence then started up again, “Did … did he hurt you bad?”
“No, I’m fine, a couple bruises, no big deal.” I didn’t have a mark on me to show for it.
“That’s funny, you messed him up big time! He was fucked up. But I think he needed a good ass kickin’. It was about time.”
“Yeah.”
I kept on letting her flow. She was weird, flipping between remorse and an eerie cheerleaderish glee.
“I want you to know I don’t believe a word Justin said about you. I know you would never do anything like that, would you?” There it was: the issue, and the moment of entrapment.
Admit nothing, deny everything.
“Of course not! Don’t even think it! Justin’s been acting weird ever since Tommy died. I think he’s losing it. He even tried to go to the police with his lies about me. They know he’s full of shit. I think he needs counseling.”
“I know, that’s what I told him, to get some counseling. They got two psychiatrists here at the University that specialize in dealing with us toasties. That’s what I call the burn victims, toasties, isn’t that hilarious?”
She giggled shrilly adding a few notches to the creep factor. Then she switched gears again, suddenly becoming serious.
“I understand now what you were trying to tell me that day at the skatepark.” Her voice broke, she started to cry. “I let him go. I broke up with Tommy and I never said a word about your warning. The stupid bastard went out to the sand dunes, got drunk, and broke his neck on that damn dirt bike. Stupid fucker killed himself and I let him do it. I didn’t listen to you! It’s all my faul
t!”
Rachelle hit a new low on the emotional roller coaster as she bawled her heart out over the telephone in great sobs and gasps.
I tried to console her. “There probably wasn’t anything you could do to stop it from happening.” Though I gave it my best, I couldn’t put much sincerity behind it. Rachelle could have made a difference. She could have made Tommy listen, stopped him from going out the sand dunes for at least a couple weeks. That might have changed things.
Then I realized it wouldn’t have made any difference. When Nadia made up her mind about Tommy, it was over. Only a matter of time.
“It was his time to go, Rachelle. You couldn’t do anything to change that.” She blew her nose loudly.
“Do you really think so?” She sounded like a whiny, needy child.
“Definitely. It was fate, unavoidable.” My mother had it right. These things were meant to be, and there was very little I could do to change the outcome of my visions.
“You’re so good to me, Mike. I should be dating you. I’ve been really stupid, I see that now.” Back on the emotional roller coaster, Rachelle, hit a new low of sentimentality. She sounded sincere, but her slurred speech betrayed heavy intoxication. Was it the drugs talking, or Rachelle?
“I got this cool little button thingy I can push. Whenever I want more pain meds I hit the button, its aawweeesooome!” She’d obviously been hitting the button quite recently. “Will you give me another chance, Mikey? I can be a better friend. You should let me make it up to you.” Her voice held a seductive quality.
I had never heard her talk like this before. Rachelle Werner had become someone I didn’t really like. “Um … listen, Rach, I think we should talk sometime when you get back from the hospital.”
“Mikey, don’t you like me anymore? I’m not burned that badly! They said they can get rid of most of the scarring. My mom found a plastic surgeon. It’s all good.” The creep factor pegged an all-time high.
“Rach, you’re not thinking straight, they got you on too many meds.”
Nadia, watching and listening, lost patience and elbowed me, whispering in a hiss, “Tell her off!”
“Listen, I’ve got Anita now. What’s done is done. It’ll never be the way it was before. I’m really happy with Anita. I appreciate the offer, it’s flattering, but I have a girlfriend.”
“I’m sorry I treated you so badly, I was a real bitch, hunh? Can’t you give me another chance?” I suspected Rachelle was one of those girls who couldn’t stand to be alone. She had to have someone available at all times.
“Honestly, you’re not who I thought you were. I’m not interested. You’re not the girl I risked my life for on the thin ice. I’m not gonna be there anymore. You’ll have to find someone else to follow you out onto the ice, I’m done.”
“Well fuck you very much, asshole!” She hung up.
I turned to Nadia. “Was that good enough for you?”
She smiled. “A little too wordy, but I think she got the point.”
* * * *
Chapter 21
Saturday, October 30th, Halloween Party
I arrived at Anita’s at 6:30 p.m. dressed all in black: black pants, boots, t-shirt, trench coat, and a black plastic pistol in a hip holster with a leg strap. My Neo-Matrix ensemble was complete with greased hair dyed black and sunglasses. I fought to keep a straight face when Anita’s father answered the door scowling. “Hello Mr. Gomez, how are you this evening?”
Manuel Gomez tried to smile, but it didn’t quite come out right, he looked constipated. I guess it wasn’t easy for Senor Gomez to adjust to the idea of Anita dating. His little wall flower had begun to bloom. Anita looked more and more like a young woman, the change taking place almost daily. If Senor Gomez had a clue of what had been going on these past weeks, he’d lock Anita in the basement till she was twenty-one.
Anita popped up next to her father as he mumbled, “Que bueno … muy bueno.”
She was dressed in a ghetto-liscious rapper chic outfit: skin tight blue velvet pants and a loose, shiny gold top cinched at the waist by a wide black belt. She had her hair slicked back into a tight pony tail, a thick layer of juicy red lipstick, and massive Tina-Turner-in-the-Thunderdome golden hoop earrings. She looked fabulous, provocative, like a booty-shakin’ dancer in a rap music video.
“What up, dog?” She winked and licked her luscious red lips.
Senor Gomez glanced down at his daughter shaking his head with a look of resignation, “Hay mija, estás loca?”
She replied in flawless Spanish, “Si papi! Especialmente en el día de muerte!” Then she kissed him on the cheek. “Te quiero mucho! Bye!” She snagged my arm and pulled me to my car in a hasty escape.
Senor Gomez yelled at our backs, “Twelve-o-clock! Not a minute later!” Anita yelled over her shoulder with a counter offer, “One-o-clock!”
We rushed off, backing out of the driveway before her father could argue differently. In the Gomez family silence is acquiescence. Sitting in the backseat of my car was a third passenger who had magically appeared during the few minutes I spent at Anita’s door. Nadia beamed with a huge grin. She had a skimpy black witch’s costume dress, her face painted pale white and lips a vibrant shade of blood red (probably the real thing). She was, of course, a vampire dressed for Halloween as a vampire.
I snickered, “How original.”
Nadia flashed a snarl with large canine teeth.
“You know what, just let me off. I can’t deal with chompers here. Didn’t you say she threatened me?” Anita had twisted all the way around in her seat, unwilling to turn her back on the killer behind her.
I looked at her, and then to Nadia. It had never occurred to me that Anita might not accept this little murderer into her life.
Shit.
“She apologized. Our little vamp has promised to behave. No more violence. Isn’t that right Nadia?”
Nadia reached out to pat Anita’s knee affectionately. “No harm intended. I’m in character tonight.”
Anita looked at me as if I was nuts. Maybe I was. How could I forgive murder, so easily?
Nadia leaned-crawled over the seat to plant a kiss on Anita’s cheek, and then reassured her again. “Misha’s girlfriend is off limits! I promise you’re safe with me. I was only getting warmed up for my big date with Justin.” Nadia smiled another flash of gleaming fangs.
Anita squinted at her, still not convinced.
I frowned at the vampire smiling with a mouthful of teeth. “Remember our deal?”
“Yes, Misha, I remember.” She spoke patronizingly. “I’m not going to hurt him, but a girl’s entitled to a little fun on Halloween.” She licked her lips with a creepy, all too familiar, slurpy sound.
“She promised, Anita. We have an understanding. I believe we can trust her. Will you give her a chance? For me?” I tried to convince my girlfriend to give the murderer a chance, but I wasn’t really feeling the trust yet either.
Anita glared at Nadia. “Okay, but the first sign of problems, and I’m gonna drown you in holy water.” She poked at Nadia’s chest with her lacquered fingernail.
Nadia grinned with delight. “Won’t work. But if you promise to go skinny dipping with me, I’ll let you try.” She winked at Anita.
Anita cracked a grin. “You know what, that just might be fun.”
We arrived at Cleo’s house in the Montlake Terrace area just up the hill from Anita’s home. She lived in a split level with her parents and a brother who were all conveniently gone for the weekend, visiting relatives in Spokane. Cleo had weaseled out of the trip, and instead filled her family home to capacity with a bunch of skate punks and high school acquaintances. Cleo answered the front door in a cute, barely-there, French maid costume short enough to flash her white panties whenever she wiggled a certain way.
She never stopped wiggling.
True to character, Nadia hissed a greeting to Cleo, baring fangs. “Oh, sexy, let me have a bite.”
Cleo retreated several steps wit
h a nervous smile. “Ah, how about later?” She took off fast. Nadia was a little too convincing with her act.
We mingled with the crowd, and Anita snagged a red plastic cup filled with beer from the pony keg on the back porch. I declined. “I’m driving tonight.”
I doubt I’d ever be much of a drinker. My father made sure of that.
Taylor slid past smoking a fat, pungent joint. He was dressed as an inmate, in an orange one-piece jumpsuit.
I leaned over to Anita. “That’s appropriate. He’ll be in orange at Grant County Jail soon enough.”
Taylor overheard and snickered, “Yeah, I might as well get used to it now.” He tipped back his cup full of beer and drained it all at once.
The house was packed, party in full swing. One group had a game of flipcup, chanting a line from Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “Flip, flip, flipadelphia!” Another group played strip poker at the dining room table, several guys and girls were down to their underwear.
I toured the house with Anita, checking out the costumes, enjoying the party. We had Zorro at the flipcup game, a Donnie Darko Frank Rabbit costume at the strip poker, a Glenn Danzig with a skull painted face playing against Freddy Krueger on the Tony Hawk skate game on XBOX 360. Freddy Krueger was winning the skate off. The den had become a dance floor run by a self-appointed DJ in a Bill Clinton mask. Several kids danced to Lady Gaga.
I dragged Anita into the fray. She chugged the rest of her beer and surprised me with a down and dirty, booty-shakin’ dance. She backed that thang up on me, twerking like a woman possessed.
Nadia had flitted away to parts unknown, disappeared. I danced with Anita as the music cycled through Ludacris, Eminem and Usher. Entwined in each other’s arms, we slow-danced to R & B as Justin walked past.