by Riley Ross, Sally Slayer, Kaydence Rayne, & Dovey Mayali Cralk
Chapter Two
The next morning when I opened my eyes, I saw my mother sitting in the rocking chair. Her cold smile in place and there was a hint of frost in the air. I was getting ready to scream as she moved towards me but her hand locked around my throat.
“You stupid little girl. I know what you did to protect your precious boyfriend. That will not stop me from destroying you.” She hissed at me.
While she focused her attention on me, she never heard Delia come up behind her and swing a heavy cast iron pan down on the back of her head. “Take that, you wackadoodle!” Delia crowed happily.
Looking down at the seemingly lifeless form of my mother, I bit back a scream of terror as the face morphed into Irina’s friend, Connie. Delia dropped the frying pan down onto Connie’s face and we both grinned as her nose broke.
“I never liked her anyways,” Delia said cheerfully as we restrained our visitor. “Here’s the game plan, while I interrogate her, you go on in to work and act like everything is fine. Stay away from Jake.” I was getting ready to disagree with her but decided against it. She didn’t take to kindly with anyone disagreeing with her. The last time someone didn’t listen to her, Delia made their life a living hell for a week. She turned her boyfriend into a poodle.
Once I got to Delia’s bookstore, I took a moment to process everything that had `happened. I lost the love of my life and my wicked mother was back to wreak havoc in my life. The only thing I had going for me was that it was Friday. Friday nights in our small town meant classic movies shown in the library. The librarian always picked the black and white films from the 1950’s.
While doing the opening routine for the store, I sang Spice Girls songs to keep the silence at bay. Lost in my cheesy imitation of Ginger Spice, I never heard anyone come up behind me until I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned around quickly and threw a punch that connected with Jake’s chin.
“Dammit Sam, what the fuck? I was just bringing you a soda. You know our little morning ritual?” He growled at me as he held his cold soda to his chin.
“Go away Jake!” Tears started to well up in my eyes and I heard him sigh. Drinking in the sight of him, I took in the fact that he didn’t have any battle scars from the night before.
“What’s the matter with you Sammie? Did your mom do something to hurt you?” He asked softly as I started to sob uncontrollably.
“Jake, if our friendship means anything to you, please leave me alone. Stay away from me. You have been my best friend my entire life and I don’t want to lose you ever again. Trust me on this.” I sobbed as he continued to hold me against his muscular chest.
“You never lost me,” he said warmly. “Sammie, you are my best friend in the whole world. Just tell me what to do so I can fix this for you.”
“Leave me alone. She will hurt you to get at me. I don’t want that. So please stay away from me. I promise you that once it’s safe, we can be friends again.” I was pleading with him until he snapped.
“When you get your mom issues sorted out, give me a call.” He stormed out of the bookstore with a slam of the door.
Wiping the tears away, I decided to get to work and make the store presentable for Delia. She has a room off to the side of the main room where she does Tarot card readings. I dusted the shelves and lovingly straightened the books. Delia is the one who taught me to appreciate the beauty of books. Books are what caused my bond to Jake. One of our classmates was teasing him about reading a book; since Jake wouldn’t defend himself, I did it for him.
Going over to the wooden counter where the cash register was, I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. It seemed like there was hundreds of snakes coming out of the walls and slithering towards me. Paralyzed with fear, I let out a little squeak of terror. Before the snakes could get any closer to me, there was a sound of booming thunder.
“Sammie, it’s okay. You can open your eyes. The slithering little bastards are gone.” The voice sounded like my grandma’s thick southern drawl but I was certain that it was a trick so I kept my eyes closed. “Samantha Jane Kennedy, open those eyes now. You can trust us Baby Girl.”
Opening my eyes, I saw Grandma and Delia standing there with concerned looks upon their faces. Sighing with relief, I hugged them both tightly to me. After I told them about Jake’s visits and the snakes, they were silent for a few minutes. The silence was eating at me because I had the feeling they knew something but were holding it back from me.