Ch 13 Harbinger

Jeremiah  saw the many assembly lines entangle and raised in between each other, behind the glass he could see them climb up high to the ceiling. He was in a door knob factory waiting for Teddy to et out of work. He was wearing his glasses and his suit-like uniform, he stood out amongst the other people in the waiting room who were common and plain white t shirt-esque. 

Jeremiah was standing while everyone else were sitting down. He stared at the factory line, all the workers with white hats, scrambling pieces and putting them together. There was a large crane machine that indented the metal of the door knobs, then it quickly passed onto the hands of a worker, the process was repeated over and over again with such accurate precision. Behind Jeremiah’s glasses, his eyes were correlating, observing, and calculated. He was some sort of a genius.

He was thrown off when Teddy came in the waiting room wearing his hat and his worker’s vest. 

“Alright I’m ready to go” Jeremiah was kicked out of his trance. 

“Oh, ok, then lets leave… this place bothers me” .

Albert opens his eyes to see a pair of perfectly manicured feet standing right next to his nose. Connected to them was a tan colored man, at a first glance he might look like he’s wearing a graphic t-shirt but it would be due to all of the tattoos, from his neck to his waist and on his arms. A grizzly bear with an outstretched palm grasped his left peck, he was toned and his permed hair suggested the perfect juxtaposition, his head free of imperfections. 

“Rise and shine sweet cheeks” he said. Albert could hear Rock the Casbah by The Clash in the background. he looked again at his feet and remembered the rebellious tirade of an orgy that he was in. 

“Chico, you’re gonna be upset with me but I need a place to stay-“

“Say no more my friend, mi casa es su casa, stay as long as you like you know, just as long as you’re willing to fuck some pussy” Albert glared at him.

“I’m just kidding bro! But you ought to try it sometime-“ A topless woman walks into the living room, her breasts miniscule and non-buoyant. 

“Rosa! Get back in the bedroom, I’m not done with you yet!” Rosa scurries back. Albert stands up and sits on the couch. 

“here” Chico throws a small clear bag at Albert.  

“It’s from my personal stache, free of charge of course, as long as you’re staying here” Chico winked at him and hunched over to whisper something in his ear.

“I’d better see you in there afterwards” Albert contemplated the bag with white powder as Chico disappeared into the bedroom, he stared blankly.  

Jane kept dialing the number on her phone, she pressed the phone to her ear as she heard the tone over and over again hoping to hear Albert’s hello. She walked to her car from the science building in broad daylight as she kept dialing she stopped at her car to press dial one more time.

Suddenly her head was thrust into the driver window as her nose felt the full impact. An enraged Olivia held onto Jane’s red smoldering hair with one hand as she bashed her skull with her other hand. Jane screeched as she tried to release Olivia’s grip on her hair. She immediately thought of pulling but Olivia had grasped a good portion of her hair.

“You fucking whore bitch!” Olivia shouted as she kept pouncing at Jane skull while she shrieked. 

Iago turned around as he heard Jane’s screams from across the parking lot. He sprinted as he saw Olivia pounding Jane’s head, driving her to the floor. He ran as soon as he reached them he grabbed Olivia’s fist with a manly ferociousness, he was angry and with his grip he was crushing Olivia’s hand causing her to release her grip on Jane.

“Ow, ow, ow, let me fuckin go you fuckin piece of shit wetback!”

Iago released her and pushed her back. His teeth clenched and  his eyes glared at her his manly honor was restraining him from chasing her away and pelting her with rocks. Jane recovered from the floor and jumped up, Iago caught her and prevented her from lashing out on Olivia.

“Let me go! I’ll kill her!” It was instinctive for Iago to stop Jane from attacking Olivia but at the same time trying to defend her from Olivia. 

“You fuckin stay away from Bradley, you fuckin whore!” At the mention of his name Jane stopped struggling to get past Iago. 

“That sunuvabitch?” Jane said. Iago was in a hurry and he was not about to let these two make him be late. 

“You should leave. Now before I call campus security!” He said. 

Olivia cursed and mumbled under her breath. She jogged back to her car as Jane and Iago watched.

“Are you ok?” Jane looked at Iago’s caramel skin and his large boulder-like shoulders. 

“Yeah, im just a bit shaken is all” She bent down to grab her phone.

“Wait, I’ll get that” he bends down to grab her phone and almost as if pushed by magnetism, their hangs touched as Iago’s hand reached the phone first. They stood up and Iago handed her the phone.

“I’m sorry, my name’s Iago” 

“I’m Jane. Sorry to ask but what accent is that?”

“I’m from Colombia, I know, my English is sloppy”

“No, no, its fine. I was just intrigued that’s all”

“So are you going to be okay? DO you need to go to the doctors?”

“Um, no I’ll be fine. She hits like a pussy”

“alright well I have to get going, see you around Jane” He smiled at her as she watched him walk back to his car with a gleam in her eye, her attack seemed insignificant to the back side of Iago. 

“God, if you’re up there and your’e not too mad at me, please don’t let him be gay”

Teddy sits idly as Jeremiah walks out of the car to refuel it. Jeremiah’s car was nothing too fancy, a well kept Ford Eclipse. Teddy sat twiddling his thumbs secretly glancing at Jeremiah when his phone started to ring. Teddy picked it up and about to announce to Jeremiah that his phone was ringing when he accidentally looked at the caller I.D. It was Gemma. Teddy felt like he was suddenly in the twilight zone, automatically, he pressed the call button and raised the phone to his ear.

“Jay, sweetie, I rented Pirates Of The Caribbean, how long till you get here?”  Teddy quickly hung up and flung the phone to the driver’s seat as Jeremiah approached the vehicle.  Teddy stared at the dashboard unblinkingly as Jeremiah got in. His eyes started to accumulate water and started to shine. 

“You alright Teddy?”  It took him a while to respond.

“Uh, yeah I’m fine” Teddy bit his lip and gritted his teeth. He wanted to open his window, stick his head and just yell his heart out and let his tears fall out of his face. 

Megan walked up the stairs of one of her friends’ house, she followed a little girl to a bright fluorescent room with flower wallpaper and a giant window that overlooked the entire back yard. Megan was desperate and running out of time the window period in which she could do what she was there to do was closing.

“Hey Cessy could you get me a glass of water”  The little girl nodded and left the room. The instant she did, Megan spasmodically retracted a high caliber photography grade camera from her bag.  She lashed open the curtains of the window and pointed the camera the at the reverend’s office window hoping and praying that he had not moved the curtains the way she placed them before so that there was a clear shot. 

And sure enough, the view was unobstructed. There was the reverend naked, as Megan snapped the photo of him naked and Regina’s ass in the air. She snapped the camera again and again gritting her teeth and cursing under her breath.

Ronnie squeezed through some busty queens to get to Enrique’s dressing room. He was in front of his mirror wiping off his make-up. He lingered a while before he said anything.

“Hey, how are you doing?” He asked him. Enrique looked peppy. 

“I’m great actually”

“Yeah? Cause I was thinking maybe we could go and have that date-“

“Oh I’m sorry I kinda already made plans with someone else”

“Oh alright, yeah no problem” Ronnie had turned red with embarrassment if there was anything that Ronnie found the most unpleasant was being rejected. 

He quickly walked back to the bar as the sensual music pierced his senses. He was diffused, it didn’t really mean anything to him that Enrique rejected him. He was entranced with someone else. The dance floor teases him unwaveringly, teetering the sensual music back and forth, he looked and hoped desperately that he would find Kessler in the middle of the dance floor with leather bottoms and a sequin top.

Iago  stopped at a corner next to a heavily tattooed man wearing a wife beater. He got out of the car and went straight for the hood of the car.

“What the Hell took you so long?” Asked Chico wearing his crocodile skin sandles, showing off those prized piggies. 

 

Iago opened the trunk. “Girl fight bro, had to break it up, anyways, here’s the 50 Kilos”

Chico looked I the trunk and there were the pristine white packages of white powder. Iago’s accent seemed to vanish.

“That’s perfect bro”.

Character Profile: Albert and Melvin

This is the mesmerizing Brian Kinney from Queer as Folk who served for my inspiration for Albert. Brian Kinney is one of the most narcissistic, misogynistic, self-centered, and cold-hearted gay characters I have ever seen. Despite his personality, Brian is no dud; he's sexy, good looking, cunning, and street smart.

He's also a masochist, he likes to put himself in risky situations, Albert is different from Brian in several aspects; for one Brian is the cliche promiscuous gay man who sleeps around with every guy in town, while Albert on the other hand likes meaningful relationships.

They do share similarities. This picture is a perfect embodiment of both Brian and Albert, just lounging around the house with nothing on but some pair of jeans. Like Brian, Albert can be blunt about certain things and about others he will completely lie about to protect others. When he broke up with Ronnie he flat out explained to him that he had found the love of his life.

This is Justin and Brian from Queer as Folk. Justin was Brian's only boyfriend the entire series, their attraction started from episode 1 until the very end. And the only person Brian admits to love. Justin had minimal involvement in the creation of Melvin, Justin seemed too young, too inexperienced, too fragile to handle someone like Albert so i was inspired give Albert the partner he deserves.

This is Corbin Bleu, the face of Melvin. Melvin is Albert's rock. His calculative, rational, and pensive nature gives Albert that balance that makes them complete. Although it may not seem like it, Albert loves Melvin a great deal, and he basically tore out his heart to break up with him. Albert knows he's on a fast track to a life of failure and had no intention of dragging Melvin along. I wouldn't give up on these two just yet.

Ch 12 Invisible

Ronnie rushed through busy hospital hallways looking for the room number that the nurse at the front desk gave him, it seemed like white walls coveted by drab architecture, he seemed asphyxiated until he distinguished the red on Jane’s hair. Everyone was there including Teddy and Gemma. He wasn’t too happy to see them, not what happened after the funeral.

“Hey, where’s Albert?” he asked Jane, whose cheeks were soaked with tears, her mascara ran down a perfect path down her face. 

“He’s in there with Melvin, don’t go in, they don’t want to be disturbed.” She said as she sniffled.

“So he’s okay?”  Jane glared at him with real intensity. Ronnie understood and backed away. 

“Well what happened? I don’t really understand what happened-“

“Albert was doing crystal meth, the dumbass overdosed-“ 

“Don’t call him a dumbass!” Jane scorned Gemma. Ronnie was shocked, never had Albert been a drug user during their relationship, he wouldn’t even touch cigarettes.

“Melvin found him luckily and brought him to urgent care, I don’t even know why Melvin’s in there talking to him, he only did it for the attention, who does crystal for getting kicked out of DeMille?”

“Shut up Gemma!” Jane shouted. Ronnie looked around, astonished, to see if anyone had heard. 

Gemma glared at Jane and refused to say anything more. Ronnie was perplexed and afraid to say anything, he leaned against the wall away from them trying to endure the most uncomfortable and miserable silence. Will would probably know what to do at times like these, Will would’ve stormed in there, slapped some sense into Albert, and then he’d be on his merry way back to Flamers to finish his show, and while hearing six heels. Oh God, how he missed Will, more than he missed God himself, it was moments like these that made his loss unbearable. He suddenly heard the rapid clicking of heels and twitched his head to the right to see a random woman with heels walking around; he slowly turned his head back disappointed. 

Ronnie watches as Jane paces back and forth with a damp tissue raised to her eyes. What a thoughtless jerk Albert was, giving no second thoughts about his sister, who has literally devoted herself to their cause; his cause. It was unfair, unfair to care for someone and have those feelings being shoved back into your face. 

Ronnie looked at the time and then remembered his ‘date’ with Enrique. He wasn’t too bummed about it, he wasn’t so sure about it from the start, besides he got to see Kessler again- Ronnie’s brain went into a mode that start force feeding him images of Kessler, he tried really hard not smile given their situation, but it was as if Kessler was Ronnie’s crystal meth.

Inside Albert’s hospital room Melvin was yelling at Albert.

“I just can’t believe how selfish you are!” Melvin shook his head and looked at the floor while yelling at him. Albert sat up on the reclined bed, his face pale and his lips drained of color but his personality came through unscathed.

“Please, go on.” 

“How the Hell are you gonna look at your sister in eye, and tell her that you fucked up, she who basically, lives for your sake! She’s out there crying her eyes off and you have the audacity to just sit there complacent acting like you got a scrape on your knee!”

“You probably think I did this for the attention, ok yeah, lemme take some coke and some crystal so that my friends can see that I got kicked out of school-stop making this about yourselves, stop trying to justify what happened-“

“I can’t believe how selfish-“

“And what if I am selfish!? Melvin. So what if I am-“

“No, you’re acting like a child!”

“If I wanted some bitch yelling at me, telling me what to do, I’d be straight! Go be someone else’s wife!”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?!”

“It means fuck off!” Melvin  punched the wall, his lips clenched and tucked, forcing himself not to shed a tear. 

“So that’s it? That’s how it ends? You’re just gonna tell me to fuck off, we’re not even gonna talk about this?!” Melvin couldn’t contain it, he spilled out like a hose. Albert looked away.

“I said go! Leave already!”  Melvin swung open the door and walked out. Jane was the first to step inside the room.

“What happened?!” She asked.

“Tell everyone to go home”

“Albert they all came her to support-“

“You too Jane!” Albert turned to the side away from her. She whimpered and wiped away more tears from her cheeks. She looked at him, and thought how fragile he must be right now, how miserable, she didn’t dare defy him now. It was soft but she could hear him sob, she knew what he did. Ronnie and the others looked from the doorway, Jane nodded her head and they all dispersed, and so did she.

Kessler entered his tinted glass office, inside he found Petrovsky waiting for him. He didn’t get much sleep, he slowly sat down at his desk trying not to spill the coffee in his hand.

“Rough night?”

“Same old… so what do you got?”

“well I don’t know if it’s a lead, but I found a police report from that club where the victim worked, it dates back a few months” She hands him a file. Kessler looks over it.

“A reported assault?”

“Read it carefully, it says the offender seduced the victim and tried to get him in his car before he was stopped by a horde of drag queens”

“Patty this is exactly what we needed, our Lady Killer tried to score in this club before but failed-“

“I thought he was trying to evade the police?” Asked Petrovsky.

“No, his intention was never to hide, I don’t know what it is… we have to go there today see if we can find a witness”

“You’re gonna take that boy?”

“Ronnie? He’s gonna be 21 in a few months, besides he kinda reminds me of myself"

“Im not all that sure you should be bringing him everywhere you go, you do know that he’s a-“

“A gay? Yes I know that he’s ‘a gay’ what does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing I was just concerned about the boy, not you”

“He wants to help, he has something to prove, his friend that got killed, he wants it to be resolved, I’ve never seen such a kid with such passion, that day that he found his best friend shoved under the bed like that, it would leave anyone scarred” Petrovsky looked at him with disdain, she shrugged and then left his office, leaving Kessler with his thoughts.

Jane trudges through the hospital early in the morning, she looked like she was up all night, watching television at point blank range, she was a hot mess, her hair unwashed and in a droopy ponytail, her make-up still smeared and soggy. She was afraid before entering his room again, afraid to see what was left of her brother, her only family left. Albert and Jane’s parents died in an unfortunate car accident when they were 6 and 8 years old. Albert was everything to her.

She opened the door to find it vacated, she quickly searched the room and then shifted back and started running back to the receptionist near the elevator. 

“Where’s my brother?! Albert Tabor” The receptionist looked at her computer.

“He was just released a couple of minutes ago-“

“Dammit!” Jane sprinted towards the elevator, she pressed the down button and waited for the elevator.

“C’mon, c’mon. Dammit!” She entered the elevator before she remembered the time when Albert was 15 and he decided to run away from home because their uncle beat him for catching him kissing another guy in his room. They did everything they could to find him, they called the police alerted all of his classmates, went out looking for him, Jane even started posting posters all over town after the 4^th day he was gone. It wasn’t until 2 weeks had gone by that Albert returned home on his own, he had run out of food money and was starving. In the end, it was his choice to return, she would never find him. 

The elevator stopped at the ground floor, Jane stood there, her head hung towards the floor.

Enrique sat in front of his mirror at the dressing room of Flamers. He had a large floral print dress on and had his wig on a mannequin next to his mirror. He was applying mascara when Ronnie popped inside his mirror. He glared at him through his mirror and then also quivered as he saw Ronnie’s slender body as he was wearing a tight fitted black turtle neck sweater that complemented his shiny black hair and eyes. 

“What do you want?” he said as he kept applying his mascara. 

“I asked for you by name, and they didn’t know who you were, then I remembered you were incognito, so I described you… so your drag name is Maria?”

“yeah, what do you care?”

“I’m really sorry about last night, I should’ve called, my friend Albert was hospitalized and I just had to be at his side,-“

“And you call me the liar, why are you apologizing? I thought I was the one who killed your best friend Will?” 

“I’m not lying, and I just wanted to say sorry about that, you know I didn’t really think you were the one… anyways I just came here to say that and also to tell you to watch your back” Enrique turns around and faces him.

“What do you mean?” 

“You know, just be careful, don’t go into dark alleys and stuff” Enrique turned back around and started to apply more lipstick.

“Sure okay” After a long silence Enrique watched Ronnie turn around and leave the dressing room through his mirror, turning around as he closed the door behind him.

Ursula walked the dance floor of Chanter wearing a French mid costume, she ha such a feminine physique, one could not tell the difference between her curly blonde wig and real hair. She was tall as well, flaunting her hooker pumps, she balanced a platter of drinks on one hand as she shimmied towards the bar. 

“Ricky, give me a gin and tonic I’m dying over here these bitches are sweating salt its like they came out from Miami” She said as she fanned her hand. She received her drink and gulped it down, she turned around and saw Kessler’s rugged handsome face.

“Holy shit! Ricky, who let Hugh Jackman in da club?!” Kessler was speechless, Ursula saw Ronnie standing behind Kessler.

“And this baby looking Gary Oldman” Ronnie stared at her, while mentally saying ‘bitch’.

“Are you Ursula?” Asked Kessler loudly as he had to speak over the loud music.

“Yes, who’s asking?”

“I’m detective Kessler-“

“Ah damn! He had to be a cop”

“Listen, is there a place we can go to speak in private?” Ursula got excited and then looked at Ronnie again.

“Is puberty over there tagging along?” 

“Yes” 

“Oh alright, follow me, try not to get lost in the crowd” 

Kessler and Ronnie followed Ursula through the dance crazed crowd, and through a door way at the end. She led them to her dressing room. A cramped private room filled with wigs, brassiers, and reeked of hairspray. 

“Look if you’re here to talk about Felicia you can save it-“

“Actually were here to talk to you about the assault you reported a while back-“

“Well its bout damn fuckin time ya’ll did something about that, its only been a whole damn year” 

Ronnie hated this queen, she was to fishy.

“Listen Ursula, the person who assaulted you might be the one who murdered Felicia!” Ronnie spoke out. 

“Ronnie!” Kessler scolded him. “let me handle this. Ursula I need you to describe exactly what happened the night”

“Well it was here in the club…” Ursula looked up to the ceiling to think like a confused schoolgirl. “I was hostessing as always, I remember I was wearing my Audrey Hepburn, god I love that dress… anyways this guy starts flirting with me and buying me drinks, from then on I couldn’t remember anything, sun of a bitch spiked my tonic with LSD or some other shit-“

“He drugged you?”

“That’s what I just said”

“Do you remember anything else?”

“well I do remember him showing me a tattoo of a music note on his pelvis near his schlong, and after that I don’t remember anything else other than what Felicia told me”

“what did she tell you?”

“That she saw that guy basically dragging me, half asleep out of the club and headed to his car, she called the popo and headed outside with a baseball bat. She threatened the dude with it and the sun of a bitch dropped on the floor and left in his car-“

“What car was it?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a car person. It might have been blue-“

“Can you describe him?”

“He was a white guy, cute as hell too. That’s it.”

“If you were to see him again would you recognize him?”

“Probably” Kessler pulls out a folder of images from his coat. 

“Flip through the pages and tell me if any one there looks familiar” Kessler hands Ursula the flipbook and views the image of Reverend James, she makes a nasty face and turns the page, next she sees a picture of Bradley Haynes, she shakes her head as she turns the page onto Shawn and skips that one too, then just skims the photo of Enrique and closes the book.

“It ain’t none of these guys” Ursula hands Kessler the flipbook. Kessler and Ronnie look at each other perplexed and confused then back at Ursula’s solemn expression.

Reverend James fixed his collar while Shawn entered his office, it reeked of sweat. The reverend’s hair was undone and messy, his shirt was un-tucked and wrinkled.

“Oh Shawn come in, I was just going to call you in, how was the trip?”

“It was good for the most part, Beverly wouldn’t stop bitching about the weather though-“

“Yes , well, uh sit down Shawn, there’s something I need to talk to you about” Shawn sits down uncomfortably as he sniffs the air around him. 

“you know that fag that got killed a few weeks ago and they tried to pin it on us? Well another one of those has been killed” 

“Another tranny?”

“Yes… someone is doing this community a, a service, whoever this person is he’s sending a clear message to people- that its wrong what they’re doing and they should be punished!”  He said violently as he waved his hands around with passionate gusto. The reverend was obviously drunk; Shawn could detect it, the smell of alcohol and the smell of a woman.

“I don’t see where you’re going with this?”

“What I’m going with this is that this person has the balls to do what is needed, they are telling everyone in this community that what they are is wrong, its wrong and that God is unforgiving to them, it’s a plight-“

“Are you sure you’re not interpreting this the wrong way, sir?”

“Of course not my boy, whoever they are, they’re on our side, sure they are a bit extreme, but that’s just the type of initiative we need! A call to arms! We need to send them a message that we’re on their side, and I think you know what I have in mind” Reverend James looks deep into Shawn’s eyes, he pulls out a baseball back from behind his desk.

“Oh that again? Who did you have in mind this time?” 

“That nosy little faggot who came into my church the other day”

“Ronnie?”

“Be careful though, I don’t want that cop he was with to get in the way, we need to do this as soon as possible”

“Loud and clear” Shawn exited the room looking into the trash can near the door and saw the packaging of latex condoms; he looked back sinisterly at the Reverend who was adjusting his belt.

Character Profile: Kessler

This is the indefatigable Jake Gyllenhaal, whose face served as the inspiration for David Kessler. Much like Matthew Broderick he possesses a boyish charm but with Jake there is a gleam of experience in his eye. He's a very natural looking man, and that's what my character is just an average heterosexual Joe with a wife, kids and a job.

His role in the film Zodiac(seen here with Robert Downey Jr.) helped cement his face with that of my character. His eagerness and youthful zest really captures what David is all about; problem solving.

This photo really captures the roughness of Kessler, his natural youthful father look. I wouldn't like to think of Kessler as a complex character, he's in all essence the archetypal detective who follows his gut. not to say that there isn't any depth to him, he married young with his high school sweetheart, went into the police academy, and waited awhile to have kids, there nothing really singular about Kessler that makes him stand out, although he is in every way a means to an end. He is an important character but not a very good one in my opinion. And who knows, maybe his interest in Ronnie may not be related to the fact that he reminds him of himself.

Ch 11 Crystal Queen

Albert’s moist body swayed and thrust about in his room, moving psychotically in his room wearing nothing but his skinny blue jeans, his butt crack easily visible. The electronic techno music he had at full volume helped him get into this hypnotic rhythm, he started to lose his senses, his feet starting to lose their hold to the ground. He pulled out a tiny glass vial, opened it, and raised it to his nostrils and inhaled as he spasms and jerks his head and his eyes thrown aback. He wipes his nose spasmodically, he reaches for a box of cigarettes and a lighter and lights one.  He puffs put the smoke and then moves through it, letting the smoke smear through his pores. His sweat defined his perfectly toned six pack, his shoulders, chest and back; a perfect combination. The music hit a high point, he started to dance with cigarette smoke. He felt like Mick Jagger at a sold out concert, his roaring fans applauding him. He jumped atop the bed jumping about lazily, his movements began to slow. Reaching for his vial, his eyes forced themselves shut, and against his will, his knees turned nimble and collapsed. His face hit the ground first, his toes were raised towards sky as they slowly made way down to the floor.

Ronnie felt his stomach quiver, he was hungry but he refused to eat in front of Kessler. The same thing happened on his first date with Albert almost two years ago. Kessler stuffed his face while he babbled on about the gruesome scene he encountered. the scene was not shy of embellishment, he exaggerated to some degree, it further encouraged Ronnie not to eat anything. How could he eat when his stomach was full of metaphorical butterflies? Ronnie kept looking at his muscular and hairy hands. It was his favorite part of a man, the hands had to have some sort of damage and ware, some symbol like hair or veins that represented the entire masculine aura. And there in front of him, laced with a golden wrist watch on the left, was a pair of hands fashioned by God himself by cutting off his own and stitched them onto Kessler. He wandered and came back suddenly to Earth. The Hell am I doing? He thought. What a disgrace to Will he was, fondling over a married man like that, Will would crawl out of his grave and bitch slap him into reason, he wasn’t even paying attention to what he was saying, oh God what a terrible friend he was. 

Bradley arrived at the house he shared with Olivia, Shawn, and Beverly. Olivia was in the nice turquoise living room that might or might not have been decorated in the 1980’s. She was doing yogalates with her green tea facial mask on, her left leg in the air as she balanced her back on a yoga ball. 

Bradley burst through the front door closing it behind it. Olivia was startled and lost her balance on the ball. 

“What the Hell?!” She said. Bradley grabbed her by the arms and kissed her on the lips, smearing her facial mask onto the edge of his mouth, he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him.

“Wait, lemme take off my mask first!” he didn’t say anything as he carried her upstairs, he let loose on her neck as she tried scrape off her facial mask. He sobbered her neck until he kicked open the bedroom door and dropped her down the bed and she gave a girlish shriek as he began to undress her like a savage rapist nearly tearing her clothes off. He maneuvered his tricky tongue all over her sweaty body moving to more obscure places. 

They found themselves engaged in the salty push and pull of bones and pelvises. They wailed as they were succored in by human delights, she twisted and jerked as he towered over her, his perfect structure of a body released energy , like a hammer hitting asphalt. His passion and fervor summarized by softly spoken words. 

“oh Jane”

She raised his lips from her nipples and held them in a vice grip. All movement ceased.

“What the Hell did you just say?!” Furiously she slapped him and pushed him off of her.

“Baby, it was mistake!” She leapt out of bed with the covers wrapped around her, she went into the bathroom and locked herself in. Bradley, butt naked, proceeded to bang the bathroom door.

“Come on, Olivia, I did’nt mean nothing of it! Let’s just finish up real quick-“

“Get out!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. Bradley stood there regretting his words, he kicked the edge of the nightstand furiously and went to put on his clothes. Succinctly, from the bathroom hear could hear hushed whimpers and sobs.

Melvin walked into his apartment, he put down his satchel, and turned on the lights hoping to find Albert sitting alone in the dark ready to him an apology, right now he’d settle for just seeing him. But as he walked around the kitchen he wondered where he was, until he tried to open the bedroom door. It was locked.

“Albert, you in there? Listen, we have to talk, I know what happened with you and your sister, Albert, baby, we can, you know we can work this out… Albert!” He banged on the door loudly just in case he was asleep. But still no reply. 

“Albert, come on, let me in, we need to talk!” He starts punching the door repeatedly, not making a single dent in it, he places his forehead on the door while he quietly sobs underneath.

“Look I know what happened, Jane told me, its nothing hun, we can move past this, we’ll find somewhere else where you can go, but just please open this door!” He banged and banged but still no reply, until finally hit him. His eyes widened with panic, he immediately ran towards the kitchen. He shuffled through drawers, opening and closing them until he finally pulled out a mallet from one of them. 

He swung the mallet against the door lock and kicked it the door aside. His heart cringed as he saw Albert laying sloppily by the side of the bed with his mouth open. He immediately rushed to him while the techno music still played.

“Albert! Albert! Come on wake up baby, wake up!” He slapped him lightly on the cheek and held his head up on his lap. But he still got no reaction. He immediately pressed his hear on his chest and feared for his life, in his mind he was begging, pleading, supplicating to some sort of deity that he thought he didn’t believe in, it was in Albert’s subtle heartbeat that Melvin’s faith had suddenly rekindled in an instant.

“Oh thank God!” He clutches his head and lifts him up, Albert’ feet dangling off his knees as Melvin carries him out.

Megan walked down the stairs of her parent’s house wearing her fuchsia winter coat with her hood on. Her blonde hair poked out through it as her glasses seemed tinged with tears. Just at that moment Beverly and Shawn walked through the front door wearing large coats. Beverly looked a bit tipsy she clung to Shawn’s arm as she exclaimed her return, Shawn had grown a frothy beard that made him look like a lumberjack. 

“Arent you gonna say hi, Megan?” Asked Beverly as Megan walked right past them and through the door.

“What a bitch” She heard Beverly say as she was out the door and got to her Ford Concorde, turned it on and drove away. 

Megan scraped the tears off her cheeks with her wool coat, she couldn’t help it they we’re pouring out of her. She was heartbroken. She was inexplicably and inexorably in love with James Patterson, a man whom she longed for since the first moment she laid eyes on his savage mustache, his father-like features, it was something that cast a large shadow on her, forcing herself to keep her feelings to herself, as a married and religious man she could not touch him the way she wanted. Many times she tried to repress her feelings, in the end she resigned and settled for being by his side at club meetings.

She sped down the highway as hear tears became more solid and fearful. Her vision of James was obscured now, she didn’t know to believe what she heard or not. She couldn’t possibly believe that her beloved and good Christian of a man would commit adultery, especially with Regina, of all the women it had to be the one Megan despised the most. She just wasn’t going to take it, she was being completely blinded by the reverend, and it was time she confirmed it.

She turned the corner to the Reverend’s house and parked her car a few houses away. She was going to do something she thought would never occur. If what Regina said was true, then this was the perfect time to catch them in the act. When his wife was out of town, she was sure they’d be in there. She got out of her car, and silently closed the door. She scanned the streets and sprinted towards the reverend’s house. She neared towards the side of his house where his office was located on the second floor. She jumped a picket white fence, which was no difficult feat this was a wealthy neighborhood. There, in the reverend’s back yard was large maple tree, absent leaves, naked, which made it easier to climb. As she clung to each branch and stepped higher a viviparous sound grew clearer. She neared the lit window and looked into it. She saw, covered by suede curtains, the silhouette of Reverend James naked and slouching over shrugged pushing and pulling over and over again. The sound was unmistakable. She pressed her hand to her mouth as her foot became slippery and her grip on the branches loosened. She hastened down the tree holding back her wails of agony as she ran clumsily out of the Reverend”s back yard.

Ronnie’s phone ringed while Kessler was talking, initially he was going to ignore it, but then he checked the caller. It was Teddy. He questioned at first but then he submitted.

“Im sorry, im gonna have to take this, I’m so sorry”

“It’s fine take your time” Ronnie answers the phone unenthusiastically. Ronnie’s facial expression changes as Kessler watches him speak on the phone.

“Albert?! He O.D’d?!” Ronnie was genuinely surprised, he was angry with them but he knew immediately he had to be at Albert and Melvin’s side to support them, even though they would’nt do the same for Will, he wanted to be the better man.

“Alright, I guess I’m on my way” He said as he looked to Kessler apologetically. Ronnie hung up.

“I have to go to the hospital, something happened with Albert”

“I’ts fine, we’ll review this later, don’t worry about it” Just as Ronnie had packed his things Kessler’s phone begins to ring as well. It was Petrovsky. 

“What’s up Petrovsky?” 

“I was just looking up some records of incidents from that club in Ojai county, where are you?”

“I was reviewing some details of the case with Ronnie-“

“Giving away classified information to outsider, that’s not like you”

“Well, what can I say, this kid is passionate about finding the murderer of his best friend, and we’re gonna need all the help we can get” he said as he turned around and saw Ronnie exit the front door of the café. 

Kessler stepped onto his front porch and shuffled through his keys finding a small silver one and opened the door. His house was extremely humble, nothing out of the ordinary, no expensive furnishing, in fact therewas quite a mess upon entrance. Kessler heard the recognizable pitter patter of his 4 year old, Junior, running towards him.

“Daddy!” The little boy ran to his father’s embrace, and has hoisted up in the air and brought down again as he laughed and giggled. 

“How’s my little toy soldier?” Kessler gave him a big kiss on his forehead. The bucktooth child smiled. But before he could answer  shrill and annoyed voice was heard from further inside the house. 

“He’s been racking up a storm lately, I can’t keep him quiet for five minutes while im on the phone with Mary!” Kessler walks deeper into the house and finds Sarah, his wife, with hair curlers, a nigh gown, and fuzzy bunny slippers. She didn’t come over to him. 

“And where’ve you been? I called the Petrovsky, she said you left the station 2 hours ago!” Kessler was tired, he gestured his hand sweeping her off and turning away an heading towards the TV room. 

This wasn’t the first time Sarah would put on her jealousy fit, and Kessler was sick of it.

“Answer me!” Little Junior ran to his room. Kessler obliged her.

“I was working on the case”

“What case?”

“The ongoing investigation-“

“The fag case? I thought you said that got canceled, why are you lying to me?!”

“I’m not lying there was another murder and the case was reopened-“

“Oh bullshit! You’re full of bullshit David!” Her yelling igniting the cries of a baby that were heard coming from upstairs. 

“Oh and now you woke up Milo! Thanks David, you’re a real help, while you go out and play detective hero cop, I get to stay here locked inside, cooking, cleaning up after your kids, you think this is easy…”

Kessler tuned her out. He had learned to do that over past few months of her incessant rage rants, it was okay if it was every once and awhile, but it started into a daily thing with her. Kessler never starts the fight; he honestly doesn’t participate in it fully. He likes to think of the times when they were newlyweds, always happy, always in a good mood. Ever since Milo was born they’ve had about a few sexual encounters. Not that Kessler was a man who needed release he wasn’t very carnal at all, his emotions lie deeper, in more obscure places. 

As he sat there tuned in to the television, an image of Ronnie’s preppy boyish face suddenly popped into his head, his black piercing eyes the same as his hair coveted with his impeccable paper white skin. He stared at the image ominously.