JANET, LAUREN, TRACY
Day 3 - @Lauren's
It's the night before Halloween. A wrap yourself up tight in a warm blanket night. Stars light up the sky and the winds are cool and strong, normal for this time of the year. The red digital numbers on the clock radio reads 11:39 . Forces of winds breaks the silence in the house and whatever the wind can carry beats up against the home, but not on purpose. In some parts of the country, this is called Devil's Night.
Tracy, a light sleeper, sleeps but is often trying to find comfort on the couch that he choose to sleep on; wakes up and walks over to the window. He hears the wind wrestling with debris and giving the house a whipping. He knows he isn't gonna get much rest tonight so he decided to watch television. He turns on the television and scans the programming channel. "I don't wanna watch anything scary, I could tell you that", he says to himself. Tracy
"No, do you mind if I watch with you?" Janet asked.
"Umm, yeah I actually do. No offense," Tracy
"None taken, (baby cries in the distant) awe man. The baby is crying," Janet said.
"Tracy
"Janet. That is your responsibility. Your baby…figure it out. You are going to have to learn to do things by yourself. We are doing enough by letting you stay here," Tracy
"Just this one time, please?" Janet begged.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it," Tracy
Lauren walks into the bright kitchen sheltering her eyes from the shock of the light, "good morning, it don't seem like I slept at all." Lauren plugs in the coffee maker and grabs her mug out the covert.
"Well that's because you just went to bed like an hour ago," Tracy
Lauren looks at the clock on the kitchen wall, "well that explains it. What's going on then?" Lauren looks at Tracy and Janet.
"Nothing. Just up with the baby (sigh)," Tracy
"Well excuse me…I am going back to bed. I have a long day tomorrow. Jon and I will be in meetings all day and I need to be bright eyed and bushy tail, good night," Lauren said and went to bed.
Janet holds and feed her baby while Tracy
Janet walks over to the couch where Tracy Tracy
"Wait; come back when you put him in his crib."
Janet takes the baby boy to the bedroom and carefully places him in his crib, "slept tight little baby" she whispered.
Janet grabs a pair of scissors off the dresser and put them in her robe pocket. She walks towards Lauren's room and peeks inside the dark room. Lauren is sound asleep and the only like is from the red numbers on the clock radio. Janet slowly puts one foot inside the room and the other followed.
(15 minutes later)
- the door bell rings -
Inside of the house, you hear the baby boy crying. Outside the home, you hear sirens and see flashes of emergency lights. "Shhhh, shhhhh, quiet baby," Tracy said while rocking the baby and answering the door in a bloody robe.
"Sir is the baby harmed in any way," a police officer asked.
"No, no I don't think so. Come in," Tracy
Two officers and four EMT workers enter Lauren's home. "Where's the body?"
"We need a statement. Can you tell us what happened?" the detective asked.
"It was Janet, Janet Capt…"
_________________________________________________
FRANCESCA
Francesca is in her security room looking at her first captured "part" on a security monitor. She is eating her favorite meal, her guilty pleasure, Popeyes Chicken. She rarely ate this meal because she is fixated on keeping her perfect figure and keeping her skin glowing like a bronzed beauty. Francesca is not much of a meat eater except when she is stressed; she always is weakened by the smell of Popeyes Chicken.
Francesca knows that she locked the door behind her. She would never let anyone witness her eating Popeyes Chicken. She hears the lock rattling and she starts to get a bit nervous and wonders why her security team hasn't called her. She tosses the food in the trash and calls out, "who's there!?" She doesn't get a response. She grabs her gun and points it in the direction of the door. "Who ever is playing fucking games with me I got something for you. So come on in my sweets. Let me penetrate you with lead if you please!" Francesca stands up against the wall not knowing what to expect. The door burst opens and she lays her eyes on what she thought was burnt or buried, he smiles as if he is happy to see his best friend, Francesca on the other hand looks as if she sees a ghost.
"Hello there, old friend? Wow, don't you look stunning?" he says grinning with rotten teeth.
"You bastard, you are supposed to be dead. How did you get in here?" Francesca says digging deep to keep her cool.
He starts to walk closer to her. Her backed is up against the wall. She lift her arm fires her gun at the assailant. The bullet hitting his shoulder does not faze him. He runs and puts his swollen hands around her skinny neck and squeeze. She grabs his wrists to pull his hands from around her but she doesn't equal or dominate his strength. She gasps for air, coughing and feels weak. He speaks with a deep old voice; "you are no match pretty lady" thick drops of saliva lands on her face and this totally disgust her. Francesca lifts her right knee and hits him between his legs. "Sorry bitch, but I didn't get that," he says as he tosses her around the small room.
"Aw, fuck. This isn't a fair match. This is no fun," he says and lets her go.
"You are a brave but (coughing) a stupid son of a bitch," Francesca says while grabbing her neck from relief.
"Aw, c'mon Fran, let's see what your daddy taught you."
Francesca breathing is heavy but she finds the will to get pass him and runs out the door. While in motion, she kicks off her Louboutin heels. Francesca passes the lab notices Sahralonda is not in the lab anymore and now no one is chasing her. She slows down, "WHERE ARE YOU? COME AND SHOW YOUR FACE. COME OUT YOU LITTLE BITCHES. YOU FUCKED WITH THE WRONG BITCH!"
She stands in the long hallway and the building is completely silent except for a few drops of water from leaking pipes. She feels warm air on her neck and a chain gripped by small hands and wrapped tightly around her neck. Francesca fights hard but not hard enough. She falls lifelessly to the floor.
"Thanks Charles," Sahralonda says as she stands over Francesca.
"You welcome (echoed in the building)," Charles Romaine the Third responded.
JON
Jon lays in his king sized bed; eyes wide open, listening to the wind gusting outside his window. He reflects on his life over the last couple of years. He remembers when he first got married to Janet and how happy he was to have someone in his life. Jon never imagined that on October 30, 2012 he would be laying in his bed alone and not sharing stories with someone he love. He thought about Tracy and the baby that he could have been raising and at that very moment, he could have been standing over him or her watching them sleep. He thought about how he was fooled not to long ago by a woman who said she was pregnant by him and wasn't, she was just out to get money. Jon also thought of how success has changed him. He has good days and he has bad ones. He thought about Lauren and his secret crush on her. He thought to call her to see how she was doing but he knew it would be strange especially at 11:40 at night.
Jon decided to take a night stroll because it don't seem as if he would be getting any sleep tonight. He dressed in layers because of the chill and wind but he knows the fresh air would do him some good.
After getting dressed, he locked up his home, and he walked a couple blocks to a park. It’s a beautiful park tastefully decorated for Halloween. Jon find a bench to sit on and gaze at the sky until he was interrupted by a homeless man, "Hello sir, I don't mean any harm, but do you have any spare change so that it could help me get a meal?" the homeless man said shivering from the cold.
"How about we both get a warm meal? There is a diner a block from here. Do you have time?" Jon kindly said.
Jon didn't seem nervous about the homeless guy approaching him. In fact, Jon seemed as if he really needed the company.
Jon stood and extended his hand out, "I'm Jon, by the way."
Accepting Jon extended hand the homeless man seems reluctant. He normally don't get this treatment from people, they normally just give him loose change and go about their business. Jon was different so took a chance, what does he have to loose? "I'm Hector," the homeless man introduced himself.
All you can hear is the buzzing noise that the light bulbs make when the energy surge through them. Jon and Hector found a booth and sat. Jon pierced into Hector's eyes while Hector look away. Hector felt weird, this isn't something that he is used too.
The silence was interrupted by the 50 year old something waitress who probably work their since she had her first born in the 9th grade. "What can I get you two?" She looked at a decent dressed Jon and then her eyes turned to Hector, who of course fit the profile of a homeless man. She looks back at Jon, "Sir, I'm sorry…is he bothering you?"
"No, he is my welcomed guess. Two coffees (he looks at her name tag) Shirley," Jon told the waitress.
"You do want coffee?" Jon asked Hector.
"Coffees find, thank you," Hector answered.
The two patrons exchanged small talk, Shirley stood at the counter looking at the two men wandering what they are doing with each other.
"Shirley, that coffee should be ready by now! It's been a few minutes!" Jon yelled aggravated that she is being so rude.
Shirley jumped from the shock of Jon's tone and went behind the counter to grab the coffee pot. She walks to the table and pours the coffee with a puzzled look on her face.
"What do you want to eat?" Jon asked Hector.
Hector told Shirley his meal choices and she leaves to fulfill her duties.
"So what happened?" Jon asked.
"Well I will make a long story short, Jon. I was married for 14 years to the most beautiful woman you could lay eyes on. She was so humble when we meet, but when I finished college, got my MBA, started to work in the corporate world and giving her the finer things in life, she changed. She started with plastic surgery, that she didn't need, and her attitude was really repulsive. Well she had it all planned out, she beat her self and made this whole story up about abuse. I went to jail; she filed for divorce and got my stocks, and money. HOWEVER, I know that God has a plan for me and I don't let it get me down. I here people say 'get a job' or 'we all are struggling' but they don't know is that I have hired people like them. I can't walk into an office building flashing my MBA with these clothes on. They never see passed the criminal record, that is false, or the outer appearance. They don't know my story. It can happen to anyone. So here I am, alone, no kids, waiting for a miracle," Hector told Jon.
Jon told him his story and the two really hit it off. Jon offered Hector a position at Unigrow and Hector accepted and in the meantime, Hector will be living with Jon until he gets on his feet.
Jon sees an image in the diner window and it looks like Janet. He jumps up and runs outside the diner.
"JANET?" Jon yelled. The image has now disappeared in the distant.
Hector walks outside the diner, "did you know her?"
"I think that was my ex-wife I was just telling you about," Jon said a bit startled.
"That's was a bit creepy," Hector said.
"I knew y'alls was crooks! Come back here or I'm gonna call the police!" Shirley demanded.
Hector and Jon looks at Shirley and shakes their head. "We weren't leaving, we just thought we seen someone," Jon said.
"C'mon lets get out of here," Jon said and paid bill.
