Gamma pt. 16

It had been a week since Jess had received the note and yet everything seemed calm. No one had contacted her since and Jess had decided that Brian was right after all. Jess found herself in the park taking an afternoon stroll, specifically the area of one of her and Dean’s dates. She remembered it vividly. They had just eaten a picnic that Jess had prepared for them and were on their way back to the car when they were about to get mugged. “Ha” Jess thought to herself. “Out of all the women in the park that day, that dumb ass picked me.”

She chuckled a bit more as a jogger passed. He was really fit, wearing a loose fitting jogging suit and an I-pod. Paying little attention to him, Jess pondered more of the memories of a rain soaked afternoon and Dean learning a small portion of her secrets. Tossing around the age old debate of whether to tell her girlfriend that she is in fact her best friend since childhood with the ability to turn into the hulking muscular beast that she is actually in love with, Jess failed to notice the Jogger sitting on the same bench as her drinking from his bottle of water and resting from his jog. “OH!”

Jogger: oh I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.

Jess: oh it’s okay. I was lost deep in thought.

Jogger: that can be a dangerous thing in the park. A girl sitting by herself is prime territory for a mugging around here.

Jess: I can handle myself. In fact about a month ago I was mugged.

Jogger: oh I’m sorry.

Jess: it’s cool. I didn’t have any money so he didn’t get anything.

Jogger: well that’s good. I’m Frank by the way.

Jess: I’m Jess

Frank: Good to meet you.

Jess: You to. So you jog in the park a lot? I don’t think I have ever seen you though admittingly I don’t hang around the park a lot.

Frank: Actually I just moved here. I took a new job and it required me to. I’m single so moving wasn’t really a big deal.

Jess: that’s cool. I work over at Omni-gym. My family owns it and my sister manages it.

Frank: I was thinking of joining a gym actually. Is yours any good?
Jess: Well I’m a bit partial to it I suppose. Why don’t you come and check it out.

Frank: Okay. When do you work?

Jess: I’m about to go in now. I pull the afternoon shift.

Frank: Cool. I’ll stop by and check it out. Maybe afterwards we can grab some dinner?

Jess: Oh. Sorry. I don’t think I can do dinner. My girlfriend hates it when I go out with guys.

Frank: ah. Figures. It’s true what they say. The pretty ones are either married or lesbian
Jess smiles at his joke not wanting to add to his rejection pain. “I appreciate the offer and if I wasn’t seeing anyone I would probably take you up on it, Frank” Turning his head a away and then looking her in the eyes, “it’s okay. But I really must insist we have dinner tonight. We have things to discuss, Jess.” Jess looked a bit perturbed at this stranger she just met, dictating to her how she will do anything let alone spend her evening. “Listen, Frank, I appreciate that you like me and God only knows what we would have to discuss, but I don’t want to have dinner with you tonight or any other night.” Frank stared at her with a confused look given with the utmost sarcasm. “Oh, I’m sorry I misunderstood. Perhaps you only go on dates as “Jade”.

The words hit her like an atom bomb. For a girl who has recently been granted the power to lift a huge crane single-handedly, she felt as weak as a kitten. She would have got up and walked or more than likely ran away from Frank were she not weighted down to the bench under a metric ton of embarrassment, self doubt and fear. “You sent the note.” was all she could muster into a sentence.

Frank: No I didn’t. But one of my people did.

Jess: Who are you?

Frank: Everything will be explained tonight.

Jess: What do you want from me?

Frank: Calm down Jess. I apologize for being so abrupt. I was hoping that it wouldn’t resort to any of that type of thing. I want to assure you that you or your family and friends are in no danger.

Jess: How can I know that? I don’t even know who you are.

Frank: no. But you will. Tonight. Chef Fred’s. 11:00pm

Jess: I can’t. I’m meeting…

Frank: Dean will understand.

Jess: How did you know that I was meeting Dean?

Frank: I know a lot about you Jessica Woods. Probably things you yourself don’t even know or realize. I know you’re a little skeptical right now because you’re afraid. There are a lot of unknown variables.

Frank stood up. “I promise you that all will be explained tonight.” Frank donned his headphones to his I-pod and began jogging away. Jess was speechless. She sat on the bench for a solid twenty minutes staring off into space. When she regained her bearings she hopped up and headed to her car. Tears began forming into her eyes she managed to grab her cell phone and called Dean’s number. As soon as the revelation that Frank knew what Jess’ secret was hit her, she immediately thought of Dean and what it might mean. “What if she finds out that I wasn’t honest with her? I could lose her.” The tears came streaming down as Dean answered her phone. “Hello?” Jess was frozen. She couldn’t bear to speak for fear of blurting out everything that had just happened. “Hello? Jess?” Before she could utter a sound, Jess hung up the phone. Embarrassment stifled her ability to talk to her love.

Jess called Brian after settling down a bit. After several rings, he picks up to hear Jess begin to bawl uncontrollably. “Jess? What’s wrong?!?”

Jess: The guy. The one who sent the note. He met me today. In the park out of the blue.

Brian: Did he make any threats?

Jess: No. He just kept saying everything was going to be fine but I have to meet him again and he will explain everything.

Brian: Was he mean? Old? Ugly?

Jess: No he was a young guy. Kind of built. Early thirties. He wasn’t really mean. Until I wasn’t cooperating. And then he let on about he knew I was with Dean and that I even had a date with her. For all I know he may know about you.

Brian: Lets just stay calm. Until we know more.

Jess: It’s easy for you to fucking say. You’re ass isn’t on the line. He could tell Dean

Brian: Which is something you should have done a while ago. So take the temper down a tad.

Jess: You’re right. I’m sorry. What should I do?

Brian: Meet him and find about a bit more. Until then, we chill. And for God’s sake, just tell Dean. That way he won’t have any ammunition.

Jess: okay. Thanks Brian. You’re a great friend.

Brian: That’s what I’m here for.

Jess and Brian hung up as Jess noticed the time. She had approximately an hour before her shift started so she decided to take a drive to clear her head. She ended at the beach, which instantly reminded her of the first date that Dean and her had shared. Jess got out of her car and walked around, soaking up the sound of the waves crashing down against the sand. This place brought her so much joy ever since the date. Now the thought of losing her because of her mistakes was tearing at her soul. The more she thought about it, the madder she got. Falling to her knees a tear began to well up. Instinctively raising both arms and bringing them down with all of her might to release some tension, a loud roar exploded from the point of contact, instantly shattering all the windows in her car along with her front and back windshield. If she were to have a car alarm it would have screamed in agony. A sinkhole formed about 15 feet wide around Jess as sand began finding new areas to lie on the new terra-formed section of land. “Shit” was all Jess could say.

Jess got up immediately as she noticed her car was trying to fall into the sinkhole as if they had just eloped and were on a makeshift honeymoon. Grabbing the front end she easily lifted the car balancing it so as not to cause any additional damage to the underside of the vehicle. “At least this beach is always abandoned” Jess thought as she lay the car down. Scraping the broken glass out of the drivers seat she got in and headed to Omni-Gym to start her shift.

It was going to be an extremely long shift for Jess. Not only did she have to ponder how the meeting with Frank was going to go, but she also had to come up with an excuse to tell Dean why she wasn’t going to make it tonight.

“I know what they mean by a blessing or a curse now” Jess thought as she pulled out of the beach onto the paved road, not noticing the cameraman behind a dune just on the other side of where Jess had displayed her emotions. “I’m sure I can use that.” He said to himself.

2 b continued

Brian