Sioux Falls, South Dakota December 2015
Jenna Burton hadn’t heard from her all day, so she rang, and she noted that her credit was running low. She knew that she shouldn’t steal cell phones from high school kids, because they rarely had unlimited call and data plans. She could imagine the kid’s parents saying loftily, If your credit runs before the end of the month, bad luck. You’ll just have to stop using the phone so much. High school kids were easy targets though, always busily involved in their own issues or dramas. She could steal a phone off a high school kid before the kid had a chance to blink, and now that junior school kids were getting phones before their pubic hair started sprouting, her supply of new phones seemed endless.
The call was answered, and a voice asked, “Who’s this?”
“Hey Piper, it’s Jenna.”
“You got another new phone?”
“Yeah, but the credits running out.”
“Typical; whatchya doing?”
“I’m going around to see that guy I was telling you about.”
“The old guy?”
“He’s not old, he’s about forty.”
“That’s old as far as I’m concerned.”
“Whatever, do you want to come with me?”
“Fuck, kinda busy.”
“Yeah, whatchya doing?”
“The Nazi at Macy’s is on his break, and the old girl is doing the security, so I’m just about to do a little shopping.”
“Ohhh beautiful!”
“Yeah, I love the Equal Opportunity thing, putting up old Grandma’s as store security.”
“How old is this one?”
“Fucking ancient, like get-me-out-of-my-coffin to do my shift ancient, I mean she has to be at least fifty!”
“God, we’ll be fifty one day.”
“Hmmm, I’d be happy to make it to twenty.” Piper replied wryly.
“Hey listen, my undies are starting to disintegrate, so pick me up a few pairs, will ya?”
“Sure, satin or lace?”
“Jeez Piper, it’s winter, get me woolen ones!”
“Will do, but maybe wait until I’ve finished shopping, and then we can go and see this guy together.”
“Well, he’s meeting me there in ten minutes, and I don’t want to be late.”
“Where is it?”
“I’ll text you the address.”
“What’s he offering again?”
“It’s the tool shed in his backyard, and he said it isn’t very big, and there’s a bit of shit in there, and it isn’t insulated, but it has power, and he said if we’re happy with it, we can camp in there over winter.”
“Okay, sounds alright; what’s his asking price?”
“Two a week.”
“Hand jobs or blow jobs?”
“Hand jobs, I don’t do blowies any more.”
“Okay, two a week, we can share the pain, but what’s this guy like?”
“You know, he seems okay.”
“Jen, you know I’m paranoid, and I’ll need to meet the guy before I make a decision.”
“Sure, I’ll see him today, and if I’m happy with the place, I’ll set up a meeting for both of us tomorrow.”
“Okay, but be careful, because my Spider Senses are telling me that any guy who is happy to let two homeless girls camp in his tool shed, must be some kind of creep.”
“I think this guy is okay, because he works for the council.”
“What he does for a job doesn’t mean anything, I mean Hannibal Lechter worked as a psychologist.”
“You are paranoid girl, Hannibal Lechter is a character from a movie.”
“He was actually from a book first, but fuck off, my credits low.”
“So’s mine, so I’ll see if I can grab a few phones after I see this guy.”
“Good, so fuck off and stay safe.”
Jenna hurried down Crystal Spring Road and took a left at Freshfield Avenue, her hands shoved in her pockets as an icy wind blew into her face. As winter started to bite in, it was cold and getting colder, so the prospect of shacking up somewhere that had a roof and four walls was very appealing. Piper and her could pitch in and buy a heater, and maybe even buy a double sleeping bag. If she was a normal teenage girl, and some middle-aged council worker had offered that she could sleep in his shed, she would have bolted, or called the cops, but she wasn’t a normal teenage girl, she was a homeless street kid, and for her, normality was a thing of the past. In the phone call, Piper had said, I’d be happy to make it to twenty, and sure, that was an ambition, but it seemed so far away that it hardly warranted thinking about. Although she remembered one of the other girls from their group, Tracey, jokingly saying the same line, and she didn’t make it. Either did Emma, or Brooke or Christine.
Turning off Freshfield Avenue and into Sunnyside Drive, Jenna noticed that the properties were reducing in quality. The further you went out of town, the more impoverished the properties seemed to be, and as she turned into Clearbrook Avenue, she noted that this street had a desolate and gloomy feel about it. Obviously, the developers had bright expectations for this estate because most of the streets boasted happy and lively names, although the area itself, told a different story. It didn’t matter to Jenna though, because the twenty-odd dollars she had in her jeans pocket meant that she wasn’t looking to invest in the area, she was simply look for a roof over her head.
Jenna stood out the front of the house, and as his car wasn’t there, she cursed, “Fuck, where are you? I’m freezing!”
She sent a message; Im here
After a few moments, a reply came through; Go out to the laneway, I will meet you
Because of the laneway, his house was on a corner block, and a dilapidated and run-down house sat on the western side of his modest house, while on the eastern side of the laneway, a vacant block was bordered with high fence palings. Jenna hurried down the laneway, and as she turned into a smaller laneway at the end of his property, she jumped, “Ohhh, God! You scared me!”
“Sorry.” he mumbled, “Quick, come through.”
He shuffled her into the backyard, then pointed at the gate. “So you get into the backyard through this gate, and as you can see, it is normally padlocked, but I will get a key cut for you.”
Jenna gazed at him, the man probably in his early forties, and at maybe five feet seven or eight, and a slim one-twenty to one-thirty pounds, he looked quite unassuming. His dark hair was neatly cut and combed, and his face was thin. He wore black glasses, and because of the thick lenses, it was obvious that his eyesight was poor. Just like the first time she had met him, the man was neatly dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, and a blue tie was securely fastened under his shirt collar, while his council identification card was clipped to his shirt pocket. Strangely, Jenna thought that maybe Piper could beat this puny man in an arm wrestle. She subdued a smile as she asked, “Wouldn’t it be easier for us to come through the front and walk down the driveway into the backyard?”
The man frowned and said, “I would rather that my neighbours didn’t see two girls strolling onto the property at any old hours.”
His voice matched his slender frame, because it was almost meek and apologetic. “Fair enough,” Jenna replied, then she asked, “So somebody lives in that dump next door?”
“Not at the moment, although I believe renovations will be happening in the near future.” the man replied, then he walked forward as he said, “Come see the shed.”
The shed was tin, maybe twelve feet wide and ten feet deep. The man opened the shed, and ushered her in. To her left, an assortment of tools and boxes were crammed onto three shelves, and to her right, gardening equipment was neatly hung on hooks. The light was a single globe hanging in the middle of the room, and it featured a cord, which was obviously how you turned it on and off. The shed had a concrete base, and while it wasn’t ideal, it was better than grass. The shed was reasonably neat, and the smell of freshly cut grass hung in the air. She had noticed that the garden was well maintained, and that was important, because respectable people looked after their properties, and respectable people didn’t normally do things that they shouldn’t do. Jenna nodded. It wasn’t Buckingham Palace, but with early winter creeping forward, the prospect of having a roof over their heads was appealing.
“Yeah, this looks okay.”
“Good. I guess you can move in whenever you like.”
“Sure, but my friend wants to see it before we make a decision.”
“Your friend?” he asked with a hint of uncertainty.
“Yes, I told you, it would be me and my friend.”
“Male or female?”
“Piper, she’s a girl.”
“Okay, sure.” he nodded.
“So just say we do decide to move in, what are the toilet arrangements?”
“What do you mean?”
“We can come into the house when we need to use the toilet?”
“Ummm, listen Miss, I can make the shed available for you, but until I get to know you better, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to let you into the house.”
“What about if we need to do number two’s?”
“What do you do now when that urge arises?”
“Ohhh, you know, we use twenty-four-hour fast-food places.”
“Until we get to know each other better, I’m afraid you’ll have to continue doing what you’re doing.”
The phrase, Until we get to know each other better, was a positive phrase, because it spoke of an on-going arrangement, although Jenna assumed that she had to spell it out for him. “You’re doing us a favour by letting us stay here, so we wouldn’t steal from you.”
“Miss, in my job, I work with the homeless kids in the area, so I know that honesty isn’t a virtue that many of them embrace.”
“Okay, but as you get to know us, I’m sure that you’ll learn to trust us.”
“I hope that does happen, but at this stage, I can give you use of the shed, although that’s as far as I’m prepared to go.”
Jenna shrugged, then said, “What about when we, you know …”
The man knew what she was talking about, and he said, “We will discuss that at the appropriate time.”
The subject of the you know, had surfaced, so Jenna felt like she needed to make the rules clearly understood. “If we do move in, you agreed to two a week, and they will be hand jobs.”
The man blushed, then he nodded.
“So if my friend is happy with it, and you let us stay here, it will be two hand jobs a week, and that’s it.”
“Yes, that is what we agreed on.”
“Well I just wanta make sure you understand, because we’ve made deals with guys before, and after awhile, they start asking for more, and they get demanding and hostile.”
“If I don’t get any problems from you, you won’t get any problems from me.”
“Good, good. We are homeless, and because of that, some creeps think that they can treat us like shit, but we are people too.”
“Look, as long as you don’t cause any trouble, I’m happy for you to stay here, and if it means that I get a few thrills each week, I will be more than satisfied with that.”
“Okay, well I’ll speak to my friend and-”
“Excuse me, phone call.” he interrupted. “I’ll answer this and then I’ll be right with you.”
She watched him walk towards the house with the cell to his left ear, and she thought, Arhhh, I didn’t hear it ring …
Jenna turned her attention back to the shed, reasonably pleased with it. Piper’s shop-lifting skills were good and getting better, and her first task would be to acquire some kind of flooring to put on the concrete base. It appeared that the man had recently tidied up the shed, and apart from the lawnmower in the eastern corner, there was nothing else large or obtrusive on the floor. The three racks of shelves were all full with boxes, tools and packages crammed in. The top shelf was above her eyeline, so while waiting for the man to return, she ran her eye over the contents of the second shelf, and she saw trays of nails and screws, assorted tools, and also boxes full of documents. She smirked, knowing that Piper was an inquisitive girl, and it wouldn’t be long before she was skimming though this man’s personal documents. The bottom shelf housed small gardening tools, paint brushes and a box of old newspapers, while on the floor underneath the shelves, an open plastic storage box sat next to a collection of paint tins. She looked up and saw a paint tin on the top shelf, and she wondered why it wasn’t with the other paint tins, because there seemed to be plenty of room under the shelves. She peeked out the door to see where he was, and as she couldn’t see him, she slid the open storage box out from underneath the shelves and looked at it. Spider webs were netted around all four corners of the box, and she brushed them away as she shuffled through the box. Nothing really interesting, just things that deserved to spend their time in a backyard shed; broken toys and trinkets, baseball cards wrapped in elastic bands, a dozen or so old 45rpm vinyl records, a purse … Huh?
Jenna picked up the pink purse, opened it, then muttered, “Shit.” Realistically, she hadn’t been expecting to find a thousand dollars in the purse, although if you never open it, you never know. The pink purse had her pondering, and she made a mental note to ask the man if he had ever been married, and Paranoid Piper would be pleased with her, because Jenna would ask the man, Okay, so what happened? Why did you separate? She gazed at the paint tin on the top shelf again, noting that it was clean, and it didn’t have dried paint splattered all over it like the paint tins below the bottom shelf. Maybe it was full, and it hadn’t been used yet. She reached up and tilted the tin, and after a moment of confusion, she cocked her head in surprise.
It wasn’t full, but it wasn’t empty either, and from her very limited experiences with paint, paint should slosh in a can, rather than tinkle and rattle. Sneaking a look out the open door, she couldn’t see him, so she reached up and grabbed the tin. It didn’t slosh again, although it did tinkle and rattle. Curious, she tried to prise the lid off, but Get real girl … After taking another glance outside, she grabbed a screwdriver and chiselled it under the lid, thinking about Piper, Hey Miss Paranoid, I found the family heirlooms; are you proud of me?
The lid popped off, and she stared more in curiosity than excitement, for if these were the family heirlooms, it was must have been a pretty cheap and crappy family. Necklaces, bracelets and rings, and not expensive jewellery, not sellable jewellery, it was the kind of jewellery that they nicked from the $2 Shop. She untangled a few necklace chains, and then ran them through her fingers, looking at the necklace brooches. A dog … Wow! a star … Original! ... other popular or abstract designs, and … Huh, what the …
One brooch had a T on it, the T having an imitation diamond affixed on the apex of the T’s stalk, just like, just like …
She remembered being with Tracey when Tracey had nicked a very similar necklace, and she remembered it because Tracey herself had been nicked … Excuse me young lady, could you come with me … and together they bolted out of the shop.
Suddenly, Jenna was fretting, and she grappled for the pink purse again, because Tracey, Tracey used to have a pink purse. She opened the purse and flicked through again, not looking for money this time, looking in the purse’s compartments, and … she saw the social security card.
“What the fuck?” she mumbled. She cocked her head, thinking about the man, thinking about how he had moved away towards the house, supposedly answering a phone call, although she hadn’t heard his cell ring.
Jenna looked in the paint tin again, and she saw ear-rings; pink, star-shaped ear-rings, just like Emma used to have, and a bracelet with an extravagant, crystalized C dangling off it, just like Christine used to have … and a memory speared into her mind, the memory of Christine saying proudly, Yeah, I met this middle-aged guy see, and he said that I could shack up in his shed …
Jenna scrambled to her feet, and anxious to get out of there, she bolted … and ran straight into him.
*
Woozy and disorientated, she opened her eyes as the distinctive smell stirred her senses, the distinctive smell seemingly settling in the channels of her nose. It was a smell she was familiar with, although she couldn’t identify the smell, because things were spinning, or she was spinning, or else the room was in a slow, spinning loop.
And she was lying, lying down, and she grunted as she tried to push herself up. Her mind said, Yes, push up … but her hands said, No, sorry, no can push …
Her hands, her hands were underneath her, underneath her while she was lying down, and she never slept like that, ever, and she wanted to call out, Hey, what the fuck? but it spluttered out as, “Watta uckkk.”
She tried to bring her arms up, and despite a most determined effort, the arms, they no come. Mystified, she blurted, “Eey, eey, eeeboby, hellll …”
She tried to gum her lips, although she quickly realised that her lips weren’t gumming each other, they were gumming something else; material, tight material, saliva-drenched material. Jenna shook her head in confusion; lying down, her hands unresponsive, something shoved in her mouth, and the smell still idling in the channels of her nose, the smell, the smell unfortunately identifiable now, the smell … Chloroform.
Wriggling, suddenly frightened, she bit down on the material, and then, she saw him.
“Hello.” he said blandly.
Jenna blubbered into the gag, the man kneeling before her, his right hand working the zip of her jeans down. The man, that man, He, Mister Council Worker, He Who Wanted to Help Her … and if she could speak, she would have said, No, please don’t do that, just untie me and take this wet gag off, because I would like to leave …
“I must say,” he began calmly, “I’m disappointed that you were going through my personal belongings.”
She was in the shed, his shed, and the door was closed, the reflection from the dull light of the light globe shining in the thick lens of his glasses.
She wriggled and thrashed around, and he tut-tutted as he said, “Young lady, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but my advice to you would be to remain still and silent.”
Trembling, she stared at him, and it hit her like a lightning bolt; this was the end, this was her end. She wanted to plead with him, wanted to bargain with him, Yeah, yeah, I’ll do a blowie for you, so take this gag off … but no, it settled on her very quickly that she wouldn’t suvive this. He must have knocked her out, and now she was restrained and gagged, and macabrely, the thought flashed across her mind that she wasn’t going to make it to seventeen, and maybe soon, very soon, her Zodiac necklace would be sitting in a clean paint tin.
Terrified, shivering with anxiety, she became confused as a sobering thought fluttered into her mind; Relax, you’re helpless, so go with the easy way …
She didn’t have any identification on her, because homeless street kids never carried identification; Excuse me Miss, we are going to charge you with shoplifting, so can we see your ID? So if they ever found her body, would she be identified, or identifiable; or would she be buried in the vagrant’s section at the rear of the cemetery where they had buried Tracey, Brooke, Emma and Christine.
He pulled her jeans down over her thighs, and she felt her bare buttocks now resting on her bound hands. Jenna had never done anything that she was proud of in her life, and she had never done anything honourable, because her life was simply about trying to survive each harsh and brutal day; but as the man slid the jeans over her knees, she decided that this was going to be it, her last few moments were going to be an unwritten and unspoken epitaph to herself.
If this was her end, she was going to die fighting.
With a grunt, she flung her knees up and connected solidly with his chest, and he rocked back and stared at her in shock.
“You settle down, or else!” he puffed out.
She wriggled and thrashed around as much as she was able, and he leant over her and punched her. Flashes of stars appeared before her, although she rocked and wriggled, and he knelt over her again, his fist poised as he snarled, “So the hard way, yeah?”
Her vision was temporarily lost as he punched her again, too many stars twinkling to be able to focus, and she tried to swing her knees into him again, and he punched her again, hard, and she shuddered, new stars, brighter stars appearing, the stars popping before her eyes, although a sudden shaft of light from the door dulled the brightness of the stars. Jenna rocked and wriggled, crying now, and she saw the fist, poised again, then in a terrifying moment, the fist screamed towards her, and she closed her eyes, shuddering against the anticipated impact, and the impact came, and she tensed, and blubbered, waiting for the pain, wanting to scream out, although the new pain didn’t arrive, no new throbbing in her head, although her frantic movements had been halted, or flattened, because suddenly, she was weighed down by, by … weight.
Jenna snapped her eyes open, confused, because the man was on top of her now, and she knew that her final moments were going to be horrific, but, but …
Not understanding what was happening, fearful about the next blow, and with stars still popping in front of her eyes, she saw a boot rest on her stomach, and the boot pushed, hard, the heel of the boot dragging across her stomach, and the man, he rolled off, away from her, although strangely, he was rolling away, then he seemed to cock, and alarmingly, he fell back again and rested against her.
The gag was ripped out of her mouth, and someone was at her ankles, untying the rope, and with vision blurred by tears and popping stars, she saw the someone dig their hands under her shoulders and waist, then spin her over on to her stomach. The gag was off, and she now had the ability to talk, although she couldn’t talk, she could only blubber.
Hands free now, and the someone rolled her onto her side, and asked quietly, “Jen, you okay?”
Jenna’s eyes were open, although she couldn’t see properly, her vision impaired and distorted by the light from the door, the stars in her eyes still popping and flashing; but it was Piper’s voice.
“P-Piper?” she blubbered.
Piper helped her to her feet, then embraced her tightly.
And it all came down for Jenna, the moments of violence, the wild emotions, the feeling of the Grim Reaper knocking on her door, and she hugged in closer and bawled her eyes out.
Piper wanted to wait until Jenna had pulled herself together, but no, that wasn’t an option. She lifted Jenna’s face off her shoulder, and with a hand on each side of her face, Piper said compassionately, “Hey come on Baby, we better go.”
Blubbering, snivelling, the blubbering so severe that her head bobbled; and Jenna looked at her friend, then she turned to look at him. He was lying on his right side, his left hand resting lifelessly by his groin. She wondered why he was balanced so strangely, then she saw the large garden shears protruding out of his back, the handles of the shears resting into a cavity in the concrete floor and propping him up on his side.
“Come on Baby, we better go.”
Jenna did want to go, away from here, away from him, but she had to let Piper know. Breathing heavily, patting her chest, she sniffled, “P-Piper …”
“What Baby?”
“H-him, Tracey, Emma, Brooke, Ch-Christine …”
Piper cocked her head and asked uncertainly, “What, what about them?”
“H-him,” Jenna mumbled, “I, I found their things.”
Piper stared at her as she shook her head and asked, “What are you saying?”
“Trace, Em, Brooke and Chrissy,” Jenna said as she pointed at the paint tin, “Th-their things are in there.”
Piper moved over and looked in the paint tin, then slowly, she swung her gaze to look at the motionless body. Drawing in a deep breath, Piper took Jenna’s hand and led her outside, then she said quietly, “Just wait here for a minute.”
Jenna didn’t want to wait outside, she wanted Piper to hold her, she wanted Piper to embrace her forever, because she now realised that she had only been moments away from being ended, she had only been moments away from simply being another trinket in a paint tin. Blubbering, she pushed closer to Piper, desperately needing to collapse into her, although Piper shuffled back and said soothingly, “Jen, just wait here, I’ll only be a minute.”
Her brush with finality had weakened and dismantled her, and Jenna blubbered, “N-no, let’s go.”
Piper’s chest was heaving, and her eyes were ablaze, although she tried to compose herself as she muttered, “Jen, it’s cool, wait here, I’ll only be a minute.”
Piper moved back into the shed, and terrified by the thought of being alone, Jenna grabbed Piper’s right arm, although Piper gently peeled the shaking hand off her, and then she shuffled into the shed as she muttered, “Jen, just wait here.”
Frozen with fear, every inch of Jenna’s body was shaking uncontrollably as she stood by the shed, and she heard a Thud, and the sound scared her and weakened her, and she wanted Piper to hold her again, but then another Thud, and another one, and Jenna curled her hands up under chin, sobbing as her eyes closed and her shoulders hunched, the horror of everything rattling around in her mind. She blubbered helplessly after the next Thud, but thankfully, Piper scampered out and took her hand.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.”
As Jenna shuffled away, she glanced into the open shed, and she saw that the body was lying face down now, and the shears had spilled out of his back, although in his head, or what was left of his head, the garden fork was deeply imbedded.
*****
If Piper hadn’t of saved her on that fateful night, she never would have become a witch, and she wouldn’t have experienced this, the very best years of her life. Thinking about him though, caused her to frown, and she crouched down lower, urging the bike, “Come on Baby, show momma what ya got.”
At this speed, she’d be outside the Academy in another thirty minutes, and she began wondering how she was going to play this. The Witch-Vampire war was in the annals of supernatural history; witches and vampires tearing each other to pieces, and many wounds were still raw or unforgiven, and maybe what she was doing was foolish, although neither Piper or herself had been involved in the brutal war, so blame couldn’t be shifted towards them. All the same, she had been taught that vampires were vicious killers, existing only to suck the blood out of any creature who crossed their path, although the Piper she had seen on the steps of the Academy, seemed pretty much like the Piper she used to know in Sioux Falls. Besides, a treaty was in place, and as her Mistress had so eloquently relayed to the vampires, Don’t fuck with us, and we won’t fuck with you. Besides, Mistress now had a little blond-haired, blue-eyed vampire friend, so maybe the wounds were beginning to heal.
Whatever the case, Jenna was prepared to take a chance, because she would never forget that chilly December afternoon almost two and a half years ago, and she would never forget the person who was responsible for her being able to remember it.
The closer she got to the Academy, the denser the congestion of trees became, and Jenna knew that was by design, because just like witches, vampires sought isolation and privacy, and … What?
Jenna eased up, then guided the bike to the side of the road, staring ahead in puzzlement.
Down the road, on the southern side of the Academy, two dark tents were set up, and silhouetted figures moved in the dark night, and nestled into the forest directly in front of the Academy, more tents, more dark figures, dozens of them, while a collection of vehicles were parked on the opposite side of the road. Flaming six-foot high torches lit up the immediate area, and she could see individual figures lurching around. Maybe the vampires were having some kind of a celebration, although …
Jenna remembered her studies, remembered reading that while vampires hated witches, vampires hated other vampires more than anything. And indeed, the dark lurching figures didn’t appear as if they were getting ready for a celebration, they looked like they were getting ready for a, a …
She noticed one hulking figure, the figure standing out because of his strange glasses.
Having acute sensory awareness, Jenna gazed into the trees, for it felt like eyes were on her, watching her, examining her. Slowly, she manoeuvred the bike around, and then after having a final look; Goggles … was he wearing goggles? Jenna cruised back on to the road and headed for home, quickly.
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