Authors: Lourdes Bernabe
"Sorry," he replied as I took a sip of tea. "I figured you would sleep in late today. You usually sleep longer when you know your family is coming over."
Suddenly, I choked up the tea and started coughing profusely. I spit up tea all over myself and on the floor. "Whoa...you alright there killa?" Eric asked.
"Shit Fuck!" I screamed into the phone.
"You forgot they were coming didn't you Jolene?" Eric mocked. He didn’t outright laugh but I could hear the grin in his voice.
A few weeks ago I had agreed to have everyone come over for dinner Saturday night. And I guess today was that Saturday night. It had completely slipped my mind. What with, this teeny tiny crisis looming over my head, my family dinner had fallen a few notches back on my priority belt.
"Yeah, I fucking forgot." I really did not have the time for this. But I could not exactly express my concerns to Eric.
"Hey, don't catch that tone with me. You forgot, and I just reminded you. So chill the fuck out." Eric was an incredibly understanding person and the perfect guy for me. But even he could lose his patience with me at times.
He was incredibly loving and caring and I never had any cause for complain or concern. He took care of me. But most of all he made sure I took care of myself. If I didn't have a habit of leaving in the middle of the night for a kill he would have moved in a long time ago. I most certainly appreciated having someone like him around.
"Ok, so what else did I agree to?" I asked because I could have agreed to anything to get my mom off the phone. She would begin with one little suggestion and before I knew what was happening, I was signing on for a two week trip to the Bahamas. My mother loved to pile on the requests all at once.
"Actually, you don't have to do much. Your mother is bringing dinner over to you." Good. I wasn't a cook and I wasn't about to start now. Not like I could even if I wanted to. Which I didn’t.
"I can't believe I forgot Eric. I'm so pissed at myself right now. I Don-"
"Relax babe
," he interrupted. "Take a deep breath. It's just your parents and your brother and sister. Nothing major. Just make sure your place looks decent or It'll be all they talk about till they leave. I don't wanna sit through it and neither do you."
"Ok. You’ll be here right?”
“Yes. I’ll be there.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “I better get started. I'll call you later. Love you."
"Love you, bye." He hung up.
Fuck. The last thing I needed was for my family to roll on through. I just didn’t have time for this right now. I checked my calendar to make sure this was on the schedule. Sure enough, there it was.
08 31 13
Parents coming over for dinner
The gears shifted into place right then and there. The little pieces of a broken puzzle came together to form a hazy picture. The fact that my parents were heading my way in a few hours no longer concerned me. The synapses in my brain finally came together to make some sort of sense. I grabbed the black envelope once again and stared at those tiny numbers once more.
The numbers weren't a combination code at all.
The numbers. The numbers.
The numbers were a date.
09 07 13
September 7, 2013. I had hoped that figuring out the numbers would provide more clarity as to what the sender was alluding to but it was still amiss. I checked my calendar once more. The day was right around the corner.
It would be one week from today. Was the 7th of September the starting point or ending point? Was it an engagement? Trying to sort this out proved to be hopeless. Each question yielded yet another and another one after it with no end in sight.
Nice work and 09 07 13. That was it. Nothing more and nothing less. Two words and six digits and I was supposed to decipher them and give them meaning? What a cruel game to play. If it even was a game.
Either way, I had a dinner party to get ready for. Apparently, I had a week to elaborate on any other possible meaning before the deadlin
e. Was it a deadline? I couldn’t be sure. But I would treat it as such, for now.
Chapter 10
"Jolene, I’m so happy to see you!" Exclaimed my mother as she hurriedly got out from the passenger seat of that awful green mini van. Nothing against mini vans, but that green was not so easy on the eyes.
"Hi mom. Hi dad." I mustered up all the bubbly infectious energy I could rile up inside of me and unleashed it upon my lovable mother and father.
My father slowly removed himself from the driver's seat and shut the door behind him. "Jolene. How are ya?" My father asked sincerely. He grabbed me by the arm and gave me a big tight hug. The kind that dads give their little girls. God, I had missed them so much. Even with all the added stress in my life, it felt good to see them again. Even if it meant they would spend the night irritating me to the point of exasperation. Hey, that’s what parents are for.
I helped them bring up the food and my mother immediately set up shop in the kitchen. She began gathering plates and utensils, moving seamlessly through my kitchen with much greater finesse than I could ever hope for.
My father of course, plopped himself in front of the television waiting to eat. He never actually said it, but I knew he really only ever went anywhere for the food. My place was no exception. Seeing me was an added bonus.
I took a seat on the couch next to my father and as usual, he surfed straight to the Yankee game. Hmm. Mom preparing food in the kitchen and my father sitting on the couch with me watching baseball. Some things never changed. And for that I was grateful.
"Where are Jennifer and Greg?" I asked. My brother and sister who, like me, never made enough time to see family were M.I.A at the moment. I didn't blame them though. Our parents could be pushy and more than intrusive from time to time. Young adults didn’t appreciate being pushed or intruded on.
I could certainly understand where they were coming from. But I just couldn't say no to my parents. Since childhood, whatever they requested, I acquiesced. I suppose I could be described as overly pious. I have always been a people pleaser, though, I took it a step further with my mother and father.
"Oh you know, Jolene. They're busy doing this and that. They're young and vibrant. They always have something going on," replied my mother.
“Jenny’s got some new boyfriend in Argentina. Been a whole month!” my mom smiled knowingly. Jenny was a party girl.
She couldn’t enjoy the company of a the same man for too long. She was too full of life and always needed more. Jenny was a genius too. She was the brains of the Hedon bunch but never cared much for school. As a kid, a day didn’t go by without Jenny complaining that school was “so boring.” She hadn’t studied a day in her life but managed straight A’s without a single smear of a B.
Lucky bitch.
She’s decided after her first year of college that she’d
had enough and would travel the world and see everything there was to be seen instead. No matter where she went or what she’d experienced, there was always something else to do and something else to see. She could never get enough. Maybe it was middle child syndrome. With me being the oldest and Greg the youngest, Jenny was stuck right in the middle.
She was the typical Jan
growing up, always eager to please. Once she ran off to Europe though, it was over. She hadn’t been back since. I knew that even though she agreed to come back home for tonight’s dinner, it simply wasn’t happening. Oh sure, she’d claim to be “studying abroad.” But, Greg and I knew that she really just enjoyed the European party scene. I often wondered if I would ever see her again. I did miss my sister. But I knew she was happier where she was.
“A whole month?” I repeated. “Tha
t’s real commitment on her part,” I laughed. It wasn’t a mean- spirited jab at my defenseless sister who was God knows where right now. I wished her the best. Truly.
“And Greg? An
y news from my lovable brother?”
“Not really…” my mother said. “When was the last time you spoke with your brother, honey?”
I drew a blank. I honestly could not remember the last time I spoke to Greg. It had to have been at least a week or two. We weren’t particularly close but we hadn’t been on bad terms either. He usually called when he was bored with nothing to do or if he needed some cash. I didn’t mind. He always paid me back and he was never a bother.
“Maybe a week
or two, or three. I can’t say for sure,” I looked at my mother. “When was the last time he stopped by?” I asked.
“Oh maybe a month ago,” replied my mother.
“You know how he disappears and reappears without so much as a note or phone call. He likes his privacy. You know how he is.”
“Hmm.” Greg often worked long hours. Sometimes he even worked from dusk till dawn. He fixed cars for a living. It was awfully dirty work. Even when he wore gloves, the grime would be stuck underneath his nails. I would have hated to have been his girlfriend. The filth was just everywhere. But he enjoyed the dirt and the grime and who was I to question it. Still, I’d made a mental note to catch up with Greg.
I could at the very least give him a call.
“Where’s
that boyfriend of yours, Eric?" asked my father. Dad loved Eric. And Eric loved my dad. They’d sit around talking sports and what- not. Their conversations would go on for hours and you practically had to pry those two apart.
"Oh, he should be here in a little while. He was so excited you were coming over." I said. Eric always did like when my parents came over. He was the family type. He enjoyed the small talk, the sports talk and every other type of talk. Eric could keep my parents entertained for hours.
"Should we wait for him?" asked my mother. "Do you know how long he'll be?"
"I'm eating now," my father said grumpily. I guess he was hungry. Impatient was more likely. So much for waiting.
"No worries guys. We can eat now. He probably won't stop by for another hour or so. I just hope he comes before you guys leave," I stated. My father looked annoyed. Once my father was irritated, there was no going back.
"Dive in," my mother said. And so we all did.
Dinner conversation was surprisingly pleasant. No heavy topics and none of the major complaining that usually accompanied family dinner. I was actually enjoying the alone time with my parents. I could be selfish that way.
"So…What’s new? What’s going on in your life?" my mother pried. She was a busy body. She wanted to know it all. Not knowing always drove her nuts, but only when it came to me. Jennifer and Greg would always get away scott-free. They never had to divulge details of their lives. Mom was always so worried about me. I never could tell if that was good or bad.
"Nothing really, Mom. Same ol' work stuff. You know how it is. Paper work and then some more paper work. Nothing too exciting to write home about. What about back home? Anything new going on in town?" Perfect deflection. I wanted to avoid talking about myself as much as possible. Nothing good would come of that.
I didn't want to lie and I couldn't just let her know that maybe, just maybe someone saw me commit a murder. I could just imagine how that conversation would go.
Hey mom I killed a man while having sex.
Really darling? How’d it go?
Not that I wouldn’t enjoy rehashing a few details with my mother. I enjoyed our conversations and we had always upheld a generally open line of communication. But I knew what I had to say was too much for her. It was too much for anyone really. My lifestyle was a bit out there. I wouldn’t want to scare her. The truth was simply too much to share with anyone much less your mom.
"Tomorrow, your father and I are going to the 20 year anniversary memorial of that little girl's death at the town square. - What was her name?” my mother paused momentarily to think. “Oh right, Casey Cooper. Do you remember the little girl that died on that school field trip?" she asked.
Of course I remembered. Oh how could I ever forget Casey Cooper. Sweet little Casey. She was my first. - My first kill. And you just couldn’t forget the first time you killed.
"No. I don't think I remember any Casey," I furrowed my brows in confusion. "Casey Cooper...Casey Cooper," I repeated over and over again feigning temporary memory loss. Thank God I was gifted with the ability to lie well. Very well.
-------
It was a beautiful sunny day. I was 6 years old. I remembered that my mother had made my hair into pigtails that day, just like I liked her to. I thought I looked simply adorable and the teachers agreed.
"My those are pretty little pig tails Jolene," said my 1st grade teacher, Ms. Kepner. She was a young and talented teacher. She was an excellent caretaker and always mindful of the class. And she never did suspect me of foul play. Not on that day or ever. But really, who would?
All of the children had been walking single file that day on our class field trip to the lake. Casey and I had been the tallest in the class and so we were at the back of the line, as usual.
I can't say that Casey was ever mean to me but she was a menace to the weaker more mild mannered children. I had often thought that if given a chance I would show her how it felt to be bullied. I just wanted to shut her up. Even in my wildest dreams, I had never imagined that I would get the opportunity or that I would actually go through with it. I was six years old after all. My days were full of play dates with learning interspersed here and there, not figuring out ways to hurt my friends.
The sun was beaming high above the sky and the air smelled clean and fresh. The birds chirped their little songs and the sounds of children’s laughter could be heard all throughout the park. Bright green leaves swayed smoothly along with the light refreshing breeze. Simply put. It was a perfect day.
I knew it was wrong but I just couldn't help myself. The whole class was walking in line but Casey and I fell behind while we were playing in the dirt with figs and leaves. I guess you would think I had separated us on purpose but the truth was, it wasn’t. Believe it or not, killing Casey was not on my mind that day. We just got distracted. That’s all. At that age everything was fascinating and we found a small bed of sand near the lake and we were just playing. Playing the way young children do but Casey just would not shut up. Yap yap yap yap. I continued to build messy castles in the sand and playing with twigs and leaves. I just enjoyed being out in the sun playing in the sand.