Raise the Stakes
Page 3
Ben had five minutes to spare by the time he made it to the bank. He rushed into the bathroom to tidy himself up and make himself look as presentable as possible. With everything that had happened today, he had to admit that he looked quite disheveled. As he splashed water on his face, he had a flicker of self-awareness.
Maybe getting a few drinks wasn’t the best idea? he thought. He quickly banished the thought. Nah, it calms me down. Not that much anyway. It’ll all work out. It always does.
Looking his best, he went out to meet the bank manager.
“Please come right in,” Peter Crass, the bank manager said. “Take a seat, I’ll be right with you.” Peter stepped out for a few seconds then closed the door gently behind him when he returned.
“And how are we doing today, Benjamin?” Crass said with a fake, plastic smile.
“I’m doing great!” Ben lied and returned the same smile. Fake for fake.
“Good, good, good. Glad to hear a trusted customer is doing well.” The bank manager riffled through a few folders and pulled one with Ben’s name on the tab.
“We have this issue with your account. It is very past due,” Peter said with a frown. “What’s going on here?”
“That’s precisely why I’m here. I’ve been talking to someone at corporate about being late with my loan payments. Trust me, I DO NOT want to be behind on this but the thing is that I have fallen on rough times. I’m doing all I can to stay afloat,” Ben explained.
He gauged Peter’s reaction. Peter sat there and merely gave him a blank stare. If the man had an ounce of empathy, he wasn’t showing it.
Have a heart, Ben said to himself. Peter looked human, although a thought just struck him. He’d heard of some undead using makeup and trying to pass as living, but Peter didn’t seem like the type to do that. They’d shaken hands earlier. Was his skin warm? Ben couldn’t remember.
“See the thing is, to that guy at corporate, I’m just a number. He reviews his notes to get reacquainted with my case, and then he reads a script. He doesn’t know me. There’s no personal touch. No human touch.” Ben moved his chair closer to Peter’s desk and looked deeply into his eyes. “Peter, you know me. I’ve been a steadfast customer here for years. I know I’m behind—”
“Way behind,” Peter interrupted.
“Yes, way behind as you point out but—” Ben paused and took a deep sigh. “Ok Peter, here’s the real deal. You know I’m a single father. Raising a daughter. I have no idea how to raise a girl. She doesn’t like sports. She likes dolls, computers, and clothes. We’re drifting apart. I can’t have that. I’ve been saving up to take her on a vacation. A two-week, all-expense-paid, once in a lifetime vacation to Mouse House. I’m working some angles to get her behind-the-scenes tours of all the shows.”
Peter’s poker face broke slightly. “That’s noble of you. But if you can’t pay for it, then you’re overextending yourself.”
“And well, I’ve been dipping into the surprise vacation fund, and then I fell behind, you know?” Ben shrugged in exasperation. “Things just got complicated.”
“Listen, Ben, you are very late on your loan. Corporate has gotten very strict with delinquent accounts. There is literally nothing I can do for you now. Your account is out of my hands. That guy you’ve been talking to at corporate? He’s the one that handles all seriously delinquent accounts, yours included. He’s a ghoul. Literally. He works the night shift and revels in causing maximum pain and discomfort. If he were a human, I’d say he was a sociopath, but he’s a ghoul after all. That’s how they are.”
“Dammit. See? The undead will be the downfall of society. They have no heart, not even a heartbeat. Those cold, soulless creatures. What are they doing working in customer service anyway?”
“Listen Ben, I am so sorry you are going through all this. I really am, but my hands are tied. The only thing I can do is give you a tip. Move out of your house… fast. I know corporate is cleaning up their account portfolio with extreme prejudice. If you haven’t gotten a call from them, you will soon, and you’ll need to vacate the premises by the end of the week.”
Ben opened his mouth to complain. “I know, I know,” Peter raised his hands to stop Ben before he said anything else. “It’s not fair. That’s banking for you. If you leave soon, you can take your belongings with you instead of having the sheriff evict you and throw your stuff out on the street. You really don’t want to put your daughter through that trauma, do you?”
“No. Grace deserves better than that. I can’t have that happen. But where can we go? Everything is so expensive.” Ben slumped as the weight of his financial situation bore down on him.
“I don’t know what’s next,” Ben muttered. “Things can’t get any worse.” He moped out of Peter’s office and made his way home.
At least he had Grace to look forward to when he got home with all her news about her day. It always lifted his spirits. But how would he break the news to her? How would she take yet another move?
Chapter 6
“How was school?” Ben asked when Grace joined him in the living room.
“It was horrible,” she said, her face contorted into a frown.
“Can you be more vague?” Ben chided.
“Stuff. Things. You know…”
“All right, what happened? Fess up,” Ben said, dropping his joking tone.
“I had to use the library! Do you know how embarrassing that was? I was the only person there, except for that weird kid that always wears his sunglasses. So it was me and that guy. And I had to look for a book. Ugh,” she said in disgust. “That kid was looking at me. I could feel it.”
“Oh, the horror. Why was that bad?”
“Because I didn’t have my phone with me. It would have been so easy to just look online but you took my phone. Everyone else was working, so I had to ask to go the library and raise my hand to ask the teacher if I could use the library. Everybody heard me. And then I had to use the computer there to find the book. They use this weird decimal system. Dewey?” She made a face. “Isn’t that a duck from an old cartoon show? What does he have to do with the library? I have homework now because I wasn’t able to finish the work during the day. I hope you’re happy,” she snapped, shooting him an accusing scowl.
“Gosh, you have it so hard these days,” Ben said with mock anguish. “You actually had to use a book. I can’t imagine the hardship. Did you get a paper cut? You need to be careful because they can get infected and then, well, that’s the start of a downward spiral.”
Grace gave Ben a withering look. “Can I have my phone back? Please? I think I’ve been punished enough.” She flounced into the family room and turned on the TV to some inane police drama.
“We can discuss it in a bit. There is something I need to tell you.”
“What?” she asked annoyed, not looking at him but focusing on the TV screen.
Ben needed her undivided attention. He clapped twice in quick succession and the TV shut off.
“What the?” Grace rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you fell for that infomercial. Ohh gawd.”
Grace tried the remote. The TV was dark. She clapped twice. The TV still did not turn on.
Ben smirked. “I got the genius clapper. It's calibrated to my claps, and it overrides any other remotes.”
Grace turned to face her father and sighed melodramatically. “Yes?” she said with the longsuffering attitude that only a teenager can muster. It was a mix of ‘I know what you will say’ with a mix of ‘I have so much better things to do’ and subtle hints of ‘I will ask for money shortly.’
Ben wasn’t that great with heart-to-heart talks, but was more of a get-to-the-point kinda guy. He really hadn’t planned how to broach the subject.
“I’ve had a bad day—”
“Not as bad as mine. I don’t have a phone,” she whined.
“Stop it. I’m being serious,” Ben said.
Grace gave him a look full of sullen distaste.
“A terribl
e day.” He paused trying to gather his thoughts. “I don’t know how to say this any other way, but I got fired today.”
“Okay. You hated that place anyway remember? You said you wanted to work in a place that had no undead. Only humans. Just find another job.” Teenagers always had the solution.
“’Just find another job’ she says. This isn’t like finding a part-time job at the mall. It takes time, and there are bills to pay. Electricity, food, the mortgage, your allowance,” Ben explained.
This worried Grace. Her allowance? How was she going to survive without that? That was her reward for doing her chores. This was not right. She did nothing wrong.
“I will apply for unemployment but that’s not the worst part. Times have been tough for us lately. That’s why we haven’t gone on our road trips or gone fishing. I’ve tried to keep that from affecting you even though sometimes I can’t buy you everything you want. I can’t hide it anymore.”
“Hide what?” Grace sat up and folded her legs under her. This didn’t sound good.
“I’ve been behind, way behind on the house payment. I went to the bank to work it out, but they said it was too late. We need to move out by the end of the month. I’m sorry,” he said and hung his head.
“Move? Move? But this is my home! We can’t move. Not again. You promised we wouldn’t move again. You said this was our forever home,” she cried out.
“People move all the time Grace. We will meet new neighbors, and you’ll get to meet new people.”
“No! I don’t want to move. This is my house. Tell them we can’t move. I won’t go. They can’t make me!”
Ben sat beside Grace and laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry baby, but if we aren’t out before the end of the month, the sheriff will come and kick us out. They will throw our stuff outside. We need to prepare before then so that won’t happen.”
“But I don’t want to move,” Grace said tears spilling onto her cheeks. “I like it here.”
“I know. I know,” he said stroking her hair.
“Can’t you tell them something? Make them understand?” she asked.
“I tried. They want the money.”
Her eyes flashed with anger. “This is all your fault. You’re the adult. You’re the one that's supposed to be taking care of all of this. Now I have to suffer because of YOU!” she shouted. “Your fault we have to move!” she uncurled herself from the couch and stood up, pointing a finger at him accusingly.
She stamped her foot in impotent rage. “I HATE YOU!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. She ran to her room and slammed the door shut.
Ben was crushed. He slouched on the couch. I should have planned the talk instead of trying to wing it. Maybe I was too honest with her? he thought. Does she really hate me? Should I go talk some more or should I give her time alone to process this? He felt like an abject failure. He picked up his phone. Maybe I can call Brenda and get her take on the situation? He decided against it and threw his phone on the couch where it landed face down.
He was lost in a whirlwind of self-loathing and doubt when he missed the soft chirp of his phone and the blinking indicator letting him know someone had opened a window.
Chapter 7
Grace escaped from the house by slipping out of her bedroom window and sliding down the drainpipe and running the two blocks to go to her usual haunting place, Ingrid’s basement. No, Ingrid’s basement was not a hip club or some nefarious store that sold cursed items pretending to be innocuous antiques. The reality was much tamer. Ingrid was her best friend. Ingrid’s parents had remodeled the basement, and she decided she liked it better than her second-floor bedroom room. Ingrid had her own private entrance, and Grace could easily sneak in with no one asking pesky questions.
Grace knocked on the door. “It’s open,” Ingrid called out. “Glenn,” Grace said, surprised when she walked into Ingrid’s room. “I didn’t know you were here.”
Ben had warned Grace about hanging out with Glenn and Ingrid. He said they were the ‘bad kids,’ but Grace ignored her father’s rules. According to Ben, her two friends would be her downfall and cause her untold grief and suffering. Ben didn’t understand that they were the only kids Grace got along with.
Ingrid was a necrotic (aka zombie), but she was meticulous about her appearance. Most necrotics didn’t wear makeup, but Ingrid mastered the application of blush and foundation to give her an almost lifelike appearance. She also was very fastidious about taking care of her skin.
She’d been introduced to the afterlife courtesy of a car accident a few months ago. Her parents, devastated by the loss of their only daughter, contracted the services of a voodoo priestess. They paid an exorbitant amount of money and got their daughter back. ‘A second chance’ her parents liked to say.
In an act of solidarity, her parents also became zombies. Ingrid’s mother waffled about it, but the voodoo priestess offered a family discount and that sealed the deal. She and her husband also took the plunge.
Given her recent demise, Ingrid’s skin hadn’t yet withered into the thin, mottled, ragged and wrinkly texture typical of most necrotics. As time passed, most necrotics stopped taking care of themselves. They developed an attitude of “What for? Decay is unavoidable.”
Ingrid hadn’t reached that stage of disinterest in her appearance. She slathered on tons of moisturizing lotion every morning trying to stave off the inevitable.
Fortunately, she was able to disguise her fatal injury, a broken neck, by wearing a scarf. Otherwise, her good looks remained intact. Grace thought Ingrid was the coolest person she knew (and not because of her core body temperature).
Then there was Glenn. He wasn’t undead; he was the other type of inhuman. A lycanthrope, also known as a shifter. Although he was still breathing with a beating heart that pumped blood, he wouldn’t have passed muster for Ben. Although a living creature, Glenn wasn’t human. His genetic makeup differed from humans, and that’s where Ben drew the line.
Even up close, few people would peg Glenn as a lycanthrope. Most lycanthropes carried animal features when in their human form. Wolven shifters had long noses, while beady eyes gave away rat shifters and so on. Glenn was a chubby kid with a rash of pimples on his cheeks and eternally oily skin and always, ALWAYS looking for munchies. Chips, pretzels, pepperoni sticks, you name it. He either had it in his backpack or was scrounging around for it.
Grace and Ingrid only found out he was a lycanthrope because Jonnie, a member of their clique who was a werewolf, smelled his musky odor and outed Glenn. Outing someone was bad form, and he got kicked out of the group. Regardless, Glenn fessed up to his true nature, but he never told them his shifter animal.
Ingrid and Grace were desperately curious to know his shifter animal, but they never had the courage to ask him. The girls had a thousand hypotheses and far-fetched rationalizations for each possibility, but he never gave them any hints.
“You snuck out again, even after he punished you?” Glenn asked after Grace finished her sad tale.
Grace stuck out her chin defiantly. “Why not? What can he do now? He’s already punishing me by making me move. I’m not going to see you guys anymore. That’s not fair!”
“The end of the month isn’t that far away. Do you know where you’ll go?” Ingrid asked.
“I have no clue. I just found out and ran over here.”
Ingrid said, “What are you going to do? You can’t stay here. I mean, you can, but you need food.” She shrugged her bony shoulders. “Like, we don’t have any here. I mean, after the car accident, my family doesn’t really need to eat your type of food. Our fridge is filled with different types of brains. I’m not sure you would like that,” Ingrid said with an evil grin.
Grace shuddered.
“You can have some of my peanuts,” Glenn offered, licking his oily, salt covered fingers. He reached into the tin and grabbed another handful before offering some to Grace. She glanced at his fingers and then the tin and shook her head politely.
Grace hung her head. “I don’t know what will happen. I just don’t know.” She stood and said, “You know, I think I’ll go home. How else is Dad going to punish me? Like you said, I can’t stay here forever.”
“You want us to walk you home?” Glenn asked.
“Nah, I’ll be fine.”
The fastest way back home was to take the shortcut through the park. Usually, Grace avoided doing that at night since there were parts that were unlit, and humans no longer owned the night. Nighttime was taken over by the vampires and nocturnal shifters. Even in a good neighborhood like hers, things happened to the unwary.
In her haste, Grace threw caution to the wind and cut through the park. She wanted to get home and talk to her father. She wanted to know what they would do. He must have figured out something by now. He always did.
Walking through the park, she tried to stay near the light posts, but there were dark sections that unnerved her. Her pace quickened. She felt a presence near her. Hovering. She looked around furtively but being human; she had no heightened senses or night vision abilities.
Maybe I should have asked Glenn to walk me home. If something happened, he could have shifted, and I would have finally seen his alter-animal, she thought. If I only had my phone.
“Hey,” a silky soft voice called out to her from the darkness under a tree.
Grace yelped in terror and ran back the way she came, away from the voice.
“Don’t run,” the voice said. It now was directly in front of her. Whoever this was could move much faster than she could.
“D-don’t hurt me. I’m just going home. I don’t have any money!” she said, her voice trembling.
“Why are you walking alone? Aren’t you afraid? Didn’t your dad tell you that the night isn’t for humans?”