Chapter 27 [Kris]

“So have you beaten a hooker?” I ask Rose.

         “That’s just a stupid question. Of course I have.” She answers. “Well, many, that is.”

         For the past 2 hours I’ve been talking with Rose, about why she’s here. This is all I’ve gotten so far: When she was about 20, she was raped. Her assaulter left scars all over her face, because he was a fucked up, twisted man. Rose told me she couldn’t understand why someone could be that cruel, until she became cruel herself. She found out how fun it was to be mean. So after she turned 22, she started cooking meth, robbing stores, pretty average stuff. But then, at about 30 years old, she started to kill people. Girls who had been assaulted, or abused by any man, would ask Rose for help. Then Rose would kill that man. “The last thing I was thinking about while I was killing those b******s was going to Hell. Honestly, I didn’t give a f**k.” Rose had previously told me. She was never married, but she had a serious boyfriend. When he cheated on her, she killed both him AND the girl he was having an affair with. After that she was willing to kill just about anyone.

         “My fiancé, Ana, she’s still alive, had an abusive boyfriend, I wish you were there so you could have killed that b*****d!” I tell Rose. Then I tell her the story of how we met. I stop, when I see her crying.

         “You’re a good kid, Krissy.” She says, cupping my face in her hands. That’s all she’s been calling me. “You don’t find many guys like you now a days.”

         “I do what I can.” I say, with a goofy look on my face. I hear someone burst through the door of the coffee shop. I look to see who, and it’s Aimee. She walks up to the counter where Rose sits.

         “Oh, hey Aimee. This is-”

         “Good Morning Rose.” Aimee says.

         “Aimee. I seen you’ve dyed your hair again.” Rose retorts, sounding annoyed. I look confused.

         “So Kris, why are you talking to this old broad?” Aimee says, turning to me.

         “Well, Aimee, I do believe I’ve made a new friend.” Is my response.

         “Uh, Kris?” Aimee says. She puts her unusually cold hand to my forhead. “Are you feeling okay? Because nobody likes Rose Franklin.”

         “Shut your trap, Sommers. Leave us alone.” Rose snaps at Aimee.

         “Why does nobody like Rose?” I ask.

         “Because she’s a crazy b***h, Kris. And not the funny kind.”

         “Scared of an old lady, are you Aimee?” Rose says. Aimee looks at her, meanly.

         “Come on, Kris.” Aimee says, and grabs my arm. I go voluntarily, and we walk out of the coffee shop.

         “I’ll call you or something!” I shout to Rose as we leave the shop.

         “What’s wrong with you?” I ask Aimee, once we get outside. Her ivory skin has a red tint against the crimson sky.

         “Like I said, Kristofferson,” I don’t know why she calls me Kristofferson, “She’s f*****g crazy.”

         “Well, I want an explanation.” I say.

         “Maybe later, okay Kris?” She says. She seems stressed out.

         “What’s wrong?” I ask her.

         “Ugh, I’m just in a bad mood about the whole writing Skye a letter thing.”

         “Well, why don’t know you just come into the dream with me?” I say. “It would be much easier.”

         “I don’t want to risk getting in trouble or something.”

         “Please, what are they going to do? It’s not like this place is actually threatening. Barely even a Hell.” I say.

         “I don’t know about that. I think this is a great Hell. Or, a horrible Hell I should say.”

         “But… it’s just like living. That’s not bad at all.”

         “Are you kidding me? That’s why it’s so horrible. We have the same pressures, stresses, people still judge you, don’t you see Kris? It’s f*****g torture here.”

         I hadn’t thought about that before. Maybe this is the perfect Hell. I used to think about after I died sometimes, and I would always imagine to just be in a blissful happiness. I thought after I died I would have some Utopia or something- and I guess I don’t know what Heaven is like, now, but I just get the feeling it isn’t. I imagined Hell to be a fiery pit of doom. People getting beaten and tortured non stop, physically. But this Hell… it’s so much worse!

         “You know what? You’re right! That’s so fucked up!” I say, aghast.

         “I know… it makes me sick to my stomach.” Aimee says.         

         “The worst part about it is that I shouldn’t even be here.” I tell her. I haven’t told that to anybody yet.

         “What?”

         “The Devil, Keith, you know, he told me I was only here because a mix up with files or something.”

         “What the f**k!” Aimee suddenly yells.

         “I know.”

         “I would be so f*****g pissed if I were you!”

         “Trust me, I am.”

         “Well, I guess he would keep you here if you didn’t serve some purpose.”

         “I don’t know. Can we talk about something else?”

         “Sure. Well actually, I was going to go hang out at Charlotte and Kale’s place. You’re welcome to come.”

         That wouldn’t be awkward. No, not at all!

         “Um, I think I’m just going to go stab myself in the penis. It’ll be a lot more fun.”

         “Oh come on, Kris. It won’t be bad. You can remdeam yourself. If it helps you can like, be all over me or something, to make Charlotte jealous.” Aimee says.

         “Eh, I tried that and it didn’t work. I’m just going to try to be… uh, nice.” I say. Aimee laughs.

         “Whatever you say. So that means you’ll come?”

         “I guess I’ll go.” I say. We walk to her house. Aimee rings the doorbell. Kales the one to answer it.

         “Why are you here?” He says, looking me up and down.

         “I could ask you the same question.” I respond. Why the f**k would I say that? It doesn’t even make sense!

         “Touché.” Kale says, laughing. “Please come in, children.” He says, escorting in. There house is very messy, but smells like cookies. Charlotte walks out of one of the rooms, in a skimpy cheerleader outfit.

         “G-O C-A-L-E, WHAT DOES THAT SPELL, GO KALE!” She shouts. As she jumps into the air, she sees us, and then falls. Aimee covers her mouth, trying not to laugh. I do the same.

         “You okay babe?” Kale says, helping her to her feet.

         “Sorry… Yeah, I’m fine baby.” She says, her face red.

         “Hey Char, you do know ‘Kale’ is spelled with a ‘K’ not a ‘C,’ right?” Aimee comments.

         “Yes, Aimee, I know that. That’s what I said.” Charlotte responds.

         “No you didn’t.” I say, chiming in. Stupid Kris. I’m supposed to agree with her, she’s going to think I’m a d****e! Instead, she laughs.

         “Yeah… I know…” She says. She has the cutest giggle. I start to laugh, and so does Aimee. Kale does not.

         “So, Kris. We weren’t expecting you here, I’m sorry, we don’t have food for you.” Kale says.

         “Oh, that’s fine. I’m good.”

         “So what are we having?” Aimee says.

         “Meatloaf! Made by me!” Charlotte says, excited.

         “Oh! That’s awesome… You know I’m feeling a little sick, so Kris, you can have mine.”

         “Alright. Sounds good.”

 

 

         We all sit down. The wooden chair hurts my butt. Charlotte walks out of the kitchen, with an apron on, and she has the meatloaf in her hands. She sets it down on the table. A burning smell dances into my nostrils. Charlotte starts to cut it, but it’s too hard to cut. She struggles a second, and we all watch, not bothering to help.

         “I’m going to get a stronger knife!” Charlotte says, cheery. And walks into the kitchen

         “Why did you let her cook?” Aimee whispers to Kale.

         “She insisted, I felt bad!” He whispers back. “Kris, don’t attempt to eat this stuff, okay? Charlotte can’t cook for s**t.”

         “Noted.”

         Charlotte walks back into the living room. She cuts the meatloaf, and plops come of it on my plate.

         “Eat it Kris! I want to know what you think of it!” She says, smiling. I look to Kale, who just shrugs. Sticking the burnt meat to my plate, I raise it up to my mouth, and with all my mite, I tear off a piece of it. Right when it enters my mouth, I want to puke. It’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted! I gag. Charlotte looks at my innocently, so I smile and give her the thumbs up sign. Without chewing more than about 4 times, I swallow it.

         “Mm! Amazing!” I say. She clasps her hands together.

         “Great! I knew you would like it.” She says. And she sits down, watching us eat.        

         “You aren’t going to eat?” Aimee asks her.

         “No, I’m not hungry.” She says. I wish she would eat so she can see how horrible of a cook she is.         I actually feel like I’m going to throw up.

         “Are you okay Kris? You look a little green.” Kale says, with an amused look on his face. I run to the bathroom and puke my guts out.