Oblivion (14 page)

“That guy who killed Drea could be here a while too,” Jace mused.

“Yeah, well best thing could happen if she passed on soon.”

“How does it happen?”

Merrick smiled and looked delighted. “The light comes for ya, Kid. It’s about the most beautiful thing I ever saw. It comes and leads you away. The demons can’t even touch you then, and they try. They bounce off like bugs hittin’ a zapper.”

“Are they angels?”

“I believe they are,” Merrick said and smiled fondly. “All I know is that light fills you with such joy you don’t doubt there’s a God, Kid. It’s hard to explain. You have to see it for yourself. I figure Drea will be the first of us to go.”

Jace smiled at the tough black man’s expression. “The light could come for you too, Merrick. You might be surprised.”

Merrick’s smile faded and a bleak look entered his gaze. “I know where I’m going, Kid. Some things are unforgivable. No amount of Newbie’s bein’ saved is goin’ to save me.”

“You don’t know that,” Jace pointed out. “You heard Raymond. This could be a way to redeem yourself.”

“Yeah well Raymond, he in the same boat as me, maybe worse,” Merrick said with a cackle. “We just see which of us get greeted by the light or the dark.”

“The dark?” Jace asked. “What does it look like?”

“It’s a black fog and it comes for you, surrounds you, and drags you away,” Merrick said and looked slightly uneasy. “Like I said, ain’t no comin’ back from my sins.”

Jace felt bad for Merrick, but he still had no intention of letting the man relinquish his soul to the demons. If he was there, Merrick wouldn’t get away with it on his watch. He left Merrick and returned to the living room. Daphne was back, her long red hair wet from the shower, and a subdued expression on her pretty face.

“What do I do now, Jace?” she asked in a small voice that made him want to hug her.

He could see she suffered to know she couldn’t get to her child.

“Daphne, use your time here to learn and to train. I’m new here too, but what I do know is you don’t want to fall prey to the deadheads or these demons you saw. Help the group and you have a place here.”

“I’m a waitress, Jace,” she scoffed and raised an eyebrow. “How am I going to help?”

“You’d be surprised,” Jace said. “I didn’t have much use for guns and such back home and I’m a crack shot. Just use your head mostly. Listen to Merrick and do what they tell you to do.”

“Do you miss home?”

“So much it hurts,” Jace responded with a sad smile. “I had a girl I loved. I was asking her to marry me before all this happened. I have a brother and sister that counted on me. I know how you feel. Me being dead means those two are on their own. I know there isn’t anything anyone can say to make you feel better, but know you aren’t alone.”

“Are we ghosts? Can we go back?”

“Merrick said that isn’t allowed. You go out of here and a demon follows you, they could get to your family,” he warned and felt bad, because he was willing to take such a risk.

“I just want to peek in and make sure their ok.”

“It’s too dangerous. A demon follows and your son is at risk.”

“Tell me you haven’t been tempted to see how their all doin’?”

“I won’t lie. It tears me up. I wouldn’t risk their safety though, just to satisfy my own curiosity.”

“How is it done?”

Jace tensed. He was aware of the ripple separating them from the world. He already planned to leave here. He could walk through the doorway there. In order to get back, it had to remain open with no one there to close it for him.

That was the danger in allowing demons entry. What Merrick didn’t know was that he planned on never returning and closing that door behind him. He kept that to himself. Daphne needed to settle in, not learn how to raise hell in the lives of those she loved.  

“Later we can talk about all that,” Jace said. “For now, I’ll tell you what I know about this place.”

He spent the next hour telling her what was expected. She would live here with him and Merrick. She was already aware her human needs were gone and seemed delighted to not sleep. The things that distressed him seemed to please her. People were all so different.

Daphne was twenty-two in human age. She and the guy she married weren’t getting along. They got pregnant too soon. The baby was a lot of responsibility and the guy wasn’t down for it. Now that she calmed down, she realized her husband probably gave their son to her parents. This seemed to please her. When Jace asked about her marriage, she looked amused.

“Aaron didn’t want to get married; I did,” she said and shrugged. “He cheated whenever he thought I wasn’t looking. We weren’t happy at all. We talked about divorce. Me dying just frees him up and my mom gets Jacob.”

“You handle it better than I did when I got here,” Jace noted in approval.

Daphne was really pretty and he couldn’t help but notice it. He felt like he betrayed Lindsay by continually noticing how perfect her lips were and how incredible her eyes looked with her red hair.

“I figure some serial killer passing through got me. I mean, nothing happens in the town I live in. We have three street lights, Jace.”

“Yeah, sounds like Little Bend,” he agreed with a laugh. “Blink and you miss it.”

Daphne frowned. “I don’t want to see what happened to me. I’m scared.”

“No, you gotta try and see it,” Jace told her. “Merrick said that’s an important part in getting out of here down the road. Bits and pieces come back every day. You need to know who killed you and why. That’s part of the reason you’re here.”

“What if it was just some freak?” she asked with a laugh. “They don’t need a reason to kill somebody.”

“What if it was your husband?” Jace couldn’t help but ask and saw her tense. Her face looked stricken.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, that’s a fair statement. Aaron certainly didn’t love me anymore,” she said and seemed to contemplate it. “Now that you mention it; Aaron recently got life insurance on both of us. He said it would take care of Jacob if anything happened to us. I just signed something about a month ago.”

“Well, if he did it; he’s busted,” Jace consoled her. “They always go after the husband first and look to see if they have recent life insurance. I watched crime stories on TV all the time. If he did it; he’s going to prison, trust me.”

“Aaron is too much of a wimp to do it himself,” she said with a laugh. “We didn’t have any money so he couldn’t have hired someone.”

“What about a girlfriend? You said he cheated. He could have wanted you out of the way to be with someone else. Whoever killed you could have been a female too.”

“Who killed you?” she asked curiously.

Jace tensed, not wanting to think about Cam. “He was my best friend. There were some issues between us. I thought we were tight. I definitely didn’t see it coming.”

“Is he going to get caught?” Daphne prodded when he stopped speaking, content to think her husband would pay for it if it was true.

“I don’t know,” Jace said and looked miserable. “I see bits of that day and see him stabbing me. I wish I knew why he did it. Out of everything; that’s what I ask myself. What was worth killing me over?”

“Some best friend,” she said and Jace laughed. Merrick said the same thing.

“Yeah, he screwed me over, for sure. Cam was pretty good at hiding his feelings. What he did to me took hatred.”

Daphne looked sad. “Jace, don’t excuse your killer. Whatever you did in life couldn’t deserve being murdered like that.”

Jace thought about Marnie and tensed. He never got to see her that day to give her the money for an abortion in Helena. Cam refused to help her, claiming the kid wasn’t his. Dooley blew her off when Sheriff Wilson announced he was retiring and his job was up for grabs.

Jace wasn’t about to let her go through it on her own. He was saving the money in his account to fly down and register for classes with Lindsay. When he determined he wasn’t going, he used the six hundred dollars to buy Lindsay a ring and help Marnie.

Jace regretted his actions back in December. Lindsay started wanting to have sex. He was embarrassed he didn’t have any experience. Cam laughed at him when he discovered he was still a virgin.  After taking care of Sara and Dougie, he didn’t have time to chase girls. Lindsay was a virgin too. He never thought about sex like other guys did.

Cam was determined he lose his virginity, saying he didn’t want to look like an idiot to Lindsay. Jace told him to leave it alone. His best friend reasoned he needed to know what he was doing when he and Lindsay finally slept together. He reluctantly agreed. The next thing he knew, Cam drove him to Marnie’s trailer after school let out for Christmas break.

Thinking about how Marnie took him to her bedroom and showed him another world while Cam waited in his truck in her driveway bothered him. The casualness of it made him uncomfortable. Cam said he didn’t care. What were buddies for? He laughed and said his sleeping with Marnie didn’t bother him. Marnie got around and most of his friends had already been with her, he claimed.

 Marnie and he were friends since they were old enough to talk. Her dad ran with his. Even so, something so intimate was awkward. She eased him into it with sensitivity and Jace could hardly deny he enjoyed that afternoon in her bed.

She was patient and instructed him without a bit of judgment because he was seventeen and a virgin. If anything, she seemed to respect him more for it. After, he got dressed and felt bad about using Marnie. He shouldn’t have worried about her feelings. He was assured it was the least she could do. Still, the gentleman he always tried to be rebelled at treating her so shabbily.

Jace didn’t see Marnie in school much a month later in January, or in early February. A few weeks later Cam announced the two cooled things off. She came to him the night before he died in mid-March to tell him she was pregnant. She cried her eyes out, saying it wasn’t fair to him.

 Obviously she had no clue who the father was. She’d been with him, Cam, and Officer Dooley that month, all unprotected. She told him how Cam shunned her right after he found out, saying she wasn’t pinning it on him, calling her a whore.

Jace would have paid for the abortion whether there was a chance it was his or not. That was just him. He knew Marnie would get kicked out of the house if her parents found out. Jack and Dee Slade wouldn’t take in any grand babies. Marnie was warned to not get knocked up or else. It was the right thing to do and he had failed in that too.

The thought of what his death meant to Marnie made him aware he was her only hope. She told him how Cam refused to get the money for the abortion from his parents. For months he put her off until she had one week to make a decision or it would be too late and she couldn’t have one legally. Marnie’s condition would spread like wild fire. His name was bound to come up. Lindsay would find out he cheated on her. That thought devastated him.

That was what burned him the most. Cam was with her since the previous summer and took no responsibility for her condition. He totaled his truck that summer and wanted the Mustang from his Father. He thought his parents would back out if they knew Marnie was pregnant.  

 Jace lost all respect for his friend overnight. He recalled the conversation he had with Cam that night at The Point. Cam told him he was the biggest sucker for paying for it, saying for all they knew she was sleeping with other guys too. Jace decided at that moment Cam was not who he thought all those years they’d been friends.

The next day when Cam caught up with him outside the jewelry shop he avoided him, saying he needed to pick up Dougie. Cam begged him to be dropped at Marnie’s. Cam said he had to talk to her about the abortion. He said he was taking her into Helena on Monday and cutting school so Jace wouldn’t have to.

Jace refused at first, thinking Dougie would be upset to find him gone if he got done early. Cam said she needed the money that day. That decision to give into Cam cost him his life. Out of all his regrets, that was the worst. The one time he acted out of character it cost him big time.

Cam obviously harbored a hatred of him that went beyond mere competitiveness in school, sports, and the thing with Marnie. Whatever it was troubled him. Cam was still back in the world maintaining the illusion of a grieving friend.

He thought of his former friend’s attraction to Lindsay and stiffened. Merrick didn’t understand why he had to go back. Lindsay needed to be warned away from Cam. If it was the last thing he did, he would make sure Cam got caught for killing him.

“You’re a million miles away, Jace,” Daphne said with a smile. “I’m sorry if I brought up bad memories for you.”

Jace shook off his melancholy and grinned. “It just happened three weeks ago, not really memories yet.”

Daphne looked sad. “You’re a Newbie too. I’m sorry. You just seem so knowledgeable about everything here.”

“There’s nothing to do but learn while you’re here, Daphne. Trust me, after three weeks you will be on the welcome wagon for the others.”

“There’s more deadheads here than us,” Daphne surmised with a sad look. “Isn’t that something? I don’t think I could ever take my own life, as bad as things could have gotten. I would have thought about my son.”

Jace nodded and agreed. “I was surprised too about how many of them there are, but they stay here, so it stands to reason they’re more in number than us. Eventually you’ll move on, all of us will. They stay here and more join them every day.”

Merrick came in then and smiled at them both. “I got some things to do tonight so I’m gonna leave you two here. Jace, you take Daphne out back and teach her to shoot. Be on the lookout for the demons. They ain’t happy they lost out on getting’ these folks.”

“Where are you going?” Jace asked.

“Raymond is demanding a meeting with all of us except for the Newbie’s.”

“A pep talk?”

“Something like that.”

Jace was dismayed by his growing attraction to Daphne. She filled out the black fatigues pretty good, showing off her lush full figure. He was disgusted with his panic to know he was to be left alone with her. Merrick must have seen something in his face.