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Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part VIII – The Accident

Marcus had gone all out for this particular extravagant soiree because for him, it was a special occasion. He had thrown everyone off his scent by spreading the rumor that the party was in Julie’s honor. A rumor she had no idea was going around because he had sworn everyone to secrecy, and most of the people coming didn’t even know her anyway.

Read from the start to get a better experience, Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part I – A Monster Awakens…

But for Marcus, he had an announcement to make, and he was busting at the seams. That was the reason for the DJ, who was referred to him by several credible members of the student body. He didn’t just hire a guy who could download songs from the internet and play them on his laptop through a sound system. That wouldn’t do. He wanted a DJ who could mix it up and do some original work on the fly to get the party hopping.

That was also the reason for the huge spread on tables that lined the walls. There were wings and pizzas for the troglodytes, while on a table across the room was a delicious assortment of mini caprese skewers and charcuterie, as well as stuffed mushrooms and bruschetta for those attendees who had learned how to stop dragging their knuckles. On two different corners of the room were bartenders! Who thinks of bartenders for a party where drunk students normally just pour their own shots and chase them down with a beer bong?

As he looked around the hall, he was very pleased with all the work he had put into it. He even looked at the building itself, a huge loft he was able to talk himself into because he had charm like that. If there was going to be the party to end all parties, this was the perfect place where he even went all out by hiring a party designer for those details no one else would have ever thought about. He left no stone unturned, and he couldn’t wait to make his great announcement.

But he needed his special guest to show up, and he had no idea when that was going to happen. It was probably pure coincidence, or he could have manifested it through the power of positive thought, but it was at that very moment that his sight went dark. He felt her soft hands and could hear her giggle. So, he waited patiently for those two pathetic words that always come with the joke.

“Guess who?”

Feigning surprise, “Julie!”

When he turned around, she was a sight to behold. Her smile was infectious, and her lame jokes made her even cuter to him, “It’s about time, girl. What are you wearing?”

“I told you,” Tori said with attitude.

“Hi, honey,” he leaned in, and Tori gave him a nice one-armed hug.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Julie protested.

“Oh, nothing,” Marcus said softly as they embraced each other. “You are precious just the way you are. And now that you’re here, the party can get started.”

In his dimly lit dungeon, where Jeph normally surfed the internet and chatted with anonymous names around the world, he sat staring at a stupid bobblehead who had talked him into writing her in the first place. Its ridiculous grin, like Jack Nicholson taunting him, was wreaking havoc on his nerves as it sat there with self-righteous judgment on its sarcastic face. Jeph had urges he couldn’t even explain at the moment.

“So, you couldn’t seal the deal with the young lady, huh?” the hunk of plastic provoked.  

“It was the message you helped me right, Mr. Jackwagon,” Jeph fired back.

“Good one, Mr. Rogers,” the toy laughed with its big head bobbing in different directions.

“Shut up,” he yelled.

“Well now,” the big head continued. “Can’t take rejection? With a pathetic life like yours, you’re going to have to learn how!”

Jeph’s red eyes snapped up, staring in cold blood. His eyebrows were set, and his face lost all expression. It was eerie how his mind suddenly lost all thought. It was as if he were empty and nothing registered at the moment.

“Hey now, big boy,” the chuckling idiot wannabe comedian started to plead. “Got to learn how to take a joke. I mean, we’re buddies, right? I’ve known you since you were a kid. Remember how we met? That was a good day, wasn’t it?”

His face still expressionless, tears started to roll down his cheeks. Fire started burning in his eyes. Then, his lip trembled as his hand slowly rose and wrapped itself around the mouthy hunk of junk that had just pushed the wrong button.

“Now, come on, pal,” it begged. “Let’s talk about this. Don’t do anything rash. We have history! Don’t throw it all away…”

That was the wrong thing to say. The sheer thought of it gave Jeph great release as he slung the pathetic coward across the room, where its mouth finally learned how to stop running. Shattered into a hundred pieces, the bobblehead bobbled no more.

That’s when Jeph looked at the monitors in front of him. They were going to do exactly what he told them or suffer the same fate. And just as he expected, they over-delivered on everything he asked. What they had just witnessed, they really had no choice if they were going to survive.

“Can I get everyone’s attention?” Marcus spoke into the DJ’s microphone. “Everyone’s attention, please!”

Marcus looked around the room, and some people were still dancing even though the volume on the music had been cut way low. People were eating right off the plates at the tables, and there was a loud buzz in the room that annoyed Tori to no end, even though Marcus was smiling through it all.

“SHUT THE HELL UP,” Tori yelled. The room went deathly quiet as everyone turned their attention to her. “Thank you,” she said as she looked toward Marcus.

Julie was laughing as Marcus nodded, “Thank you. My dear friend Tori, everyone. Give her a hand.”

The room exploded with laughter and applause. But as they noticed Marcus still standing there with a microphone in his hand, the room eventually quieted down again. The whispers to get everyone on the same page finally came to an end as Marcus waited patiently.

“I do have an announcement that I have been dying to tell everyone,” Marcus started. “A few months ago, I flew to L.A., where I auditioned for a part in a new show that will start filming over the summer, coincidentally after I graduate.”

“No,” Julie said as she raised her hands to her smile.

Marcus looked at her, “Yes. Guess what, bitches?”

A low roar in the room started.

“I’ll be sunning it up in Cali as soon as I have that paper,” Marcus announced.

The party went crazy. Tears started in Julie’s eyes as she clapped and shook her head in amazement. Marcus dropped the microphone and walked away from the DJ.

“Could have handed it to me. That was an option,” the DJ murmured.

As Marcus was greeted with hugs, he finally made his way to Tori and Julie. They embraced in an unbreakable triangle and held on for dear life as tears kept pouring like they had no plans of stopping. It didn’t linger. It was a warm embrace that was welcome to stay as long as it wanted.

And that was the moment that Chad felt would be right for him to interrupt, “Wow! Marcus, that’s awesome.”

Tori and Marcus looked at him as Julie hid her face, “He isn’t there. Tell me, he isn’t there. Please?”

“I wish I could, baby doll,” Marcus said as if the wind had just been taken out of his sails.

“Why?” Julie whispered.

“Oh, I told him to come,” Tori announced.

The hug ended. Marcus and Julie pulled away. They looked at Tori, stunned.

“What? Why?” Marcus asked.

“What’s the deal?” Tori asked.

Julie looked at Chad and then looked back at Tori. Marcus shifted himself a little in front of Chad so he couldn’t see what Julie was whispering, “I didn’t want him here.”

Tori looked aghast, “Well, I didn’t get that memo.”

“Is something wrong?” Chad asked.

Marcus and Tori turned to look at him again. Then, Marcus broke, “No. It’s okay. Go over there and grab yourself some food. Have fun. There are drinks in that corner over there.”

“And the door is there,” Tori pointed.

“No. No. It’s fine,” Julie nodded as she looked at Chad. “Have fun.”

With his phone attached to his dash, pointing the way to the party, Jeph drove in the night like he was on a mission. He checked the phone to make sure he was on the right track as he scoped the streets like a prowler. Write me a message talking about how the site says we’re compatible. Write you back to find out, you said. Well, I wrote you back, and what do you do? Nothing. That’s what you did. Didn’t even take the time to read it. What kind of shit is that?

He took a turn, and the map on his phone adjusted. Coming into a more focused view, Jeph could tell he was still a few miles away. What are you going to do when you get there?

What do you mean, what am I going to do?

I mean, what are you going to do? Do you have a plan?

No. I don’t have a plan. Do I need one?

You should probably come up with one.

Like what?

Like what you’re going to say? That’s a good start.

That is a good start. What am I going to say?

~

Marcus cocked his head as he watched Julie trying to dance on the dance floor, and that dunce following her around like a lost puppy dog. She had tried to get away from him twice, but he just wasn’t taking the hint. When Marcus scanned the room for the pitbull, he found her by the bar, talking it up with a bunch of guys. One definitely was in love. The way he was staring at her, he had hearts in his eyes. It was absolutely pathetic.

So, it was up to Marcus to save the day. But just as he started to move in her direction, she turned and walked straight toward him. She shook her head the entire way and even waved her hand in that frustrated fashion, the international sign for “I’m done.”

Marcus just tilted his head as Julie finally reached him, “Marcus, I love you. I’m happy for you. But I’m out of here.”

“Really?” Marcus questioned. “You’re going to leave because of him. I was about to be your buffer.”

“No,” Julie protested. “You should be having fun. Not keeping jerks away from me.”

He looked at her with a half-smile. She looked up at him and nodded, “You’re going to be great. I can’t wait to watch you and brag to all my friends about you.”

“You are going to come out there to see me, Missy,” he invited.

“You know I’ll be there,” she confirmed their plans.

“I know you will,” he said with all the faith in the world.

With that, she gave him a long hug, and then she pulled herself away, “Tell her to be safe.”

He chuckled, “Sure.” Then he thought, “Hey, if you go to that bathroom back that hallway, there’s a door that goes straight outside.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, and with that, she was gone.

For a moment, Jeph lost himself in another imagination of her. It was hard for him to let go of her so quickly, even though he felt anger from a place he had never been. His strong feelings for her lingered in a heart still beating, refusing to be quiet.

They were in the stands watching a baseball game, sharing popcorn. Suddenly, there was a crack, and they both looked to the sky as they watched the baseball come right at them. Jeph reached up and caught it one-handed. When he handed it to her, the Jumbotron caught their sweet moment that ended with a kiss.

Her hair flew with the wind as they rode horses through the countryside. She screamed and laughed as the horse went faster. Jeph was right behind her, admiring the view of the most beautiful woman in the world, enjoying a day away from school for a moment.

BUMP! BUMP! BUMP! Jeph was suddenly jerked out of his fantasy when he realized what he had done. He turned the wheel and drove the car back off the sidewalk just before coming to a stop sign. He hit the brake and sat there for a moment.

Just as he hit the gas, he saw her out of the corner of his eye. But he couldn’t react in time, and she wasn’t paying attention. Julie hit the hood of his car and then landed on the ground.

What are the odds of that?

Lying in the middle of the street, she reached up and felt the back of her head. She looked at her hand. There wasn’t any blood, but “Oww!”

She looked up at the stars as her vision went in and out. When she regained focus, that’s when she saw him. Jeph was looking down at her, but something was odd about his face. Was he smiling?  

If you are ready, proceed to the Finale of the Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series!

This series is inspired by Joker Joker Deuce, a psychological thriller set in a college town where students are being targeted by a serial killer. Available now on Amazon!

The post Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part VIII – The Accident appeared first on Michael Allen.

Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part VII – The Party

The sounds of balls cracking on the pool table echoed throughout the hall as music played on low in the background. This wasn’t a hopping club after all. It was still on campus at the Student Center where Julie caught up to Marcus. They grabbed a seat on the couch by the window and shared a cup of soda from the cafe like friends do in that cute kind of way. Actually, it was Marcus’ soda. Julie was just stealing a sip of it from time to time.

Read from the start to get a better experience, Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part I – A Monster Awakens…

“What’s up?” he finally asked because he could tell something was bothering her.

She let out a sigh of exasperation as she looked out the window and then back at Marcus.

“Let it out, girl,” he stomped his foot. “You’re killing me.”

“You know that Chad guy?” she finally confided.

“Yeah.”

“He’s a nut case,” she blurted out.

“Yeah, and?” he questioned with a blank stare.

She smirked and then began, “He’s just a twisted jerk. A petty little kid in a grown man’s body, going to college. He has less going for him than a glove someone threw out the car window and is now living the rest of its life on the side of the road.”

“That’s not a lot going for him,” he agreed. “What’s got you all bothered about him?”

“He does. That’s who,” she fired back. “I was talking to my parents, okay? A very private conversation, mind you. And he walks up and listens in on it.”

“That bastard,” he joked.

“No, seriously,” she asserted herself. “Then, he tried to turn it all around on me. Talking about how I was having the conversation in public, and how people don’t have any expectation of privacy. Then, he’s following me around campus, trying to explain all this while I’m trying to get away from his sorry ass. He just kept following me. He’s a mess.”

“For real,” he agreed. “Sounds like it.”

“I mean, he’s listening in on a very private conversation,” she continued. “Like, a really private conversation that was only my business, and he wants to act like his entitled little ass had every right to hear what I was saying? I mean, what is that?”

“That’s a juvenile,” Marcus answered in a way that made it seem like the conversation had taken its course. His attention span was only so long.

But Julie wasn’t finished, “I mean, my parents are having a hard time. They’re doing their best, but they just can’t afford me being here. And I offered to quit, but they’d rather run themselves into debt to pay for me. That’s my business. That’s nothing anyone else needs to know about.”

“Girl, the next time, lead with that,” Marcus said, concerned.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to throw that on you.”

“No, listen,” he grabbed her hands and stared her straight in the eyes. “I’d rather talk about that than this Chad dude. He’s already dead to me.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “But one more thing about him?”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t want him at the party,” Julie was serious with a look in her eyes that offered no compromise.

“Oh, done deal,” Marcus didn’t hesitate. “He’s uninvited. Like, no one’s invited because we don’t do shit that way. But if he were invited, he would immediately be uninvited. He’s on the off list. The list that says he’s not on the list. That’s how not invited he is.”

~

Tori’s skin glistened under the dim light of the sauna as sweat rolled off her chin onto the club towel. Every muscle in her body screamed from the workout she had just put herself through. She ran her hand down her wet legs and dripped the sweat onto the sauna floor. Then, she reclined back again to close her eyes for a quick nap as she crossed her legs and claimed the whole section of the tiny hot room for herself.

When she opened her eyes, she felt one hundred percent better. So rose gently to her feet and bent over to touch her toes. Then, she reached to the sky to stretch the remaining tension away. That was all she needed to put her body back in motion and head out for the rest of her day.

After taking a shower and changing into fresh clothes, she walked through the gym, feeling the eyes of all the guys she simply chalked up as her fans. She even waved without acknowledging any of them. But just as she had imagined, guys around the gym waved back as they watched her walk out the front door.

Chad was in the parking lot, walking toward the gym when he spotted her coming out of it. He changed his step and turned around to head back to his car. Tori hadn’t noticed as she rummaged through her bags for her keys. When she found them, she clicked the button and heard the beep.

That’s when Chad was suddenly in her face, “Hey uh, Tori, right?”

She stepped back, more disturbed than startled, “Yes. Who are you?”

“This is Chad,” he pointed at himself. “I’m Chad, from the party? Remember? You were there with, um, Julie? I think that’s what her name was.”

“Oh,” Tori began. But didn’t bother to finish. She was never in the mood for the fake shenanigans between acquaintances as if they actually knew each other, but didn’t. She looked him up and down, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m working out,” he answered. “I was just in there and saw you.”

She looked down and then back up again, “You work out in blue jeans?”

“Oh, uh,” he had to do some quick thinking. “I was in there earlier. These are my, you know, go-home clothes.”

“Right,” Tori brushed him off. “Well, nice meeting you,” she said as she started putting her bags in the car.

“Hey uh,” Chad continued. “You know Julie, right?”

Tori looked at him like an odd spectacle she was witnessing, “Yeah?”

“We were talking and, listen,” Chad interrupted himself. “I don’t know what happened.”

“But I thought you just said,” Tori shook her head like she was already done with the conversation.

“What?”

Tori looked at him, not one bit amused, “What, what?”

“You said I just said,” Chad shook his head like he was leading her to finish the sentence.

“Dude, you just didn’t know her name five seconds ago,” Tori spoke as if exhausted. “Now, there’s some drama or something?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say drama,” he shook his head. Then, he thought for a moment, “Okay. It’s drama. Yes. That’s what it is.”

“Work it out,” she advised.

“That’s the thing. I need help,” he looked at her with a pathetic face.

“You want me to help?” she smirked. “Like, how?”

“Can you talk to her for me?”

“What am I, five?” she joked.

“Well, you’re good friends with her,” he reasoned. “Can you just put a good word in for me?”

She looked at him and shook her head, this time totally done with the conversation, “Just come to the party. Fix it yourself.”

“The what?” he asked, surprised.

She closed her door and started the ignition. Then, she rolled down the window, “If you want it bad enough, you’ll figure it out.”

With that, she drove away. As Chad watched, the look on his face spelled that he was thinking. Did she just invite me to a party? I think she just invited me to a party. I’m going to have to figure out where it is. And when it is. That shouldn’t be too hard.

Jeph normally didn’t get excited about delivery at the college, but he didn’t exactly hate it either. It was a great time for him to observe people and make fun of them in his head. But this trip was different. He was looking forward to making the delivery.

He walked around the campus with his head on a swivel. He even went in a few extra directions, even though he knew exactly where the Student Center was. Had he known that Julie was already in there, he would have made a straight beeline for it. Ironically, he didn’t see her right away.

He looked around for his party, and when they waved at him, he carried the food over. It was a bunch of friends counting out money to make it work. Why they didn’t have it added up before he came was beyond him. So, he stood there waiting for them to get it right, and that’s when he saw her. She was on the other side of the hall, heading toward the door.

He looked back at the geniuses still counting money and crushed their heads one by one. The guy who was flipping through ones was the worst. Jeph put the delivery bag over his head and held it tight until he suffocated. Then, a girl stood up and grabbed all the money so she could count it herself. He stomped on her foot and poked her eyes out.

You’ve got to be kidding me! Aren’t you college students? Don’t you know how to count? It’s like a prerequisite or something, isn’t it?

When she finally handed him the money, he didn’t even count it. He wasn’t even paying attention to her whole spiel about how sorry she was that the tip wasn’t bigger. He grabbed the money, shoved it in his pocket, and walked briskly to the door. When he got outside, he looked around but couldn’t see her anywhere. She had been gone. Stupid people!

~

Julie liked to tease, like the time she rolled over in bed and flashed him. Then, quickly covered herself with the sheet again. Jeph had gotten used to it by now. She was a flirt with a playful nature, and there wasn’t any reason to try to change her. That would ruin everything.

But he did know what to do. He rolled over right on top of her, her body under his. As she looked up at him, she touched his face. His hands ran the length of her naked body until they stopped at her waist while they were in a passionate kiss, both losing themselves in each other’s arms.

Just as he felt that dizzy feeling in his head again and his breathing had become heavy, he heard the horn behind him. Somebody wasn’t going to be on time to their meeting where they talk about their important life. When Jeph looked up, he saw that the light was green, but he didn’t have the ability to move. His head was spinning, and he just needed a moment to compose himself.

In anger, the lady behind him went around. She gave him a look as she passed, and that was followed by the finger. But Jeph just shook his head with blurry vision of the passing lady. He was going to need a few more moments before he would be able to do anything about it.

~

As Chad walked back to his dorm room, he saw several guys acting overly excited as they got ready for something special. One stood in the mirror in the bathroom and sprayed himself with too much cologne. Another joined him and asked whether or not he should wear his shirt. Then, he darted out of the bathroom and slid down the hall to his room. These guys obviously weren’t the typical cool students who knew about parties or how parties worked.

If Chad was reading everything right, here was his chance. So, he stood at the bathroom door, “Hey guys, you know that girl Tori that’s running this whole thing?”

“Um, Julie,” one guy corrected.

“It’s Julie?” Chad asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” the guy pointed out. “You know, Tori’s friend?”

“Right,” Chad knew he was onto something. “I forgot where it was.”

A guy walked by him on the way to the bathroom, “Dude, it’s on the app.”

Chad looked at him like it had just dawned on him, “The app! Right!”

“You going?” a voice out of nowhere asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Chad answered. “I was just talking to her and forgot that quick.”

“The app,” the voice said.

“Got it,” Chad confirmed. “Yep. I will def see you there.”

“Alright, man,” three voices said in unison.

Chad walked away and went straight to his room. When he closed the door behind him, he pulled out his phone and started scrolling. It didn’t take long. There it was, a post about the party. Why hadn’t he thought of that? It didn’t matter. He was all good now.

~

Tori busted through the door to see Julie sitting on the bed looking at her phone, “Are you ready?”

“Mm hmm,” Julie answered absently.

“And that’s what you’re wearing?” Tori asked, confused.

Julie looked up from her phone, “What’s wrong with it?”

Tori took another look at her and started, “You look like you live in a jail where the store has only three outfits and you chose that one.”

“Thank you,” Julie joked.

“Is that really how you’re going?” Tori asked again, only in a different way.

“I’m fine, Tori,” Julie chuckled. “There’s nothing wrong with what I’m wearing.”

“Do you need something?” Tori kept at it. “You can borrow something from me.”

“What is it with you?” Julie finally asked.

“You know, Marcus just doesn’t do this for everybody,” Tori pointed out. “It’s kind of an important thing for him.”

“And I’ll be there,” Julie responded.

“He doesn’t just want you there,” Tori said. “He wants you to at least try.”

“Try what?” Julie had to ask.

“To care,” Tori answered without hesitation.

“I do care,” Julie said. “Just because I’m not wearing the most expensive shirt I could find doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

Tori cocked her head with attitude, and then it was like she changed her entire demeanor, “Well, at least you’re going.”

“That’s the spirit,” Julie joked. When she went back to her phone, she shook her head in disgust, “Look at this, nothing but dick pics. This one. Look at this one. Oh, here’s another one.”

“You know what you should do?” Tori asked.

“What’s that?”

“Go through them until you find one you like,” Tori offered.

“Ew,” Julie responded.

“Just sayin’,” Tori joked.

“No, you know what I need to do?” Julie asked.

“What’s that?”

Julie pushed a button and then pushed another button as she showed Tori her phone. All her messages were deleted at once. Tori nodded as she made a funny face, “That’s one way to handle it.”

~

Jeph was putting his delivery bag away and looking over his records. He counted his money and nodded before shoving it into his pocket. That’s when he heard a familiar ding.

Hoping for the best, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and started pushing buttons. When he got to the app, he went straight to his inbox, and there he found his message had been deleted. It hadn’t even been read.

She didn’t even read it? She just deleted it.

His whole world crushed down around him. He could feel his heartbeat. His blood pumping through his veins. A hot rush on his neck. It felt like steam coming out of his ears.

He stood there, heart crushed. His eyesight got blurry for a moment. Then, he wiped them with the back of his hand and looked at his phone again. Nothing had changed. His message had still been deleted without being read.

If you are ready, proceed to Part VIII of Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series!

This series is inspired by Joker Joker Deuce, a psychological thriller set in a college town where students are being targeted by a serial killer. Available now on Amazon!

The post Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part VII – The Party appeared first on Michael Allen.

Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part VI – The Bar Scene

As Dad made his way to the table with a new pitcher of beer, Stone was just finishing his mug. “Right on time,” he gasped as he swallowed, wiping beer from his beard.

“The bartender’s kind of slow tonight, though,” Dad said as he grabbed his mug and poured himself another one.

Stone looked around at the overworked mixologist and noticed five other people at the bar. That’s not a huge crowd for a seasoned vet, but he did happen to notice something, “I’ve never seen him in here before. He must be new.”

“He should go back to working the lunch line,” Dad joked.

Read from the start to get a better experience, Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part I – A Monster Awakens…

Stone looked at him with a wrinkle in his brow, “The what now?”

“You know, like serving the kiddies at the elementary school,” Dad explained.

Stone cocked his head and nodded, “It’s not one of your best.”

“Yeah, you can’t win ‘em all,” Dad agreed.

That’s when Stone cracked a genuine smile. The joke still wasn’t funny, but that’s why he was laughing. With stifled laughter under his breath, he tried to keep it light while Dad looked at him with an amused look.

It must have been one of those jokes that takes its time to hit, he thought as he poured one back.

It took a second until Stone finally gained his composure, “So, you went and did it, huh?”

“Yeah, I did,” Dad raised his mug. “What’d I do?”

Stone started laughing again as he raised his mug, “You went and got married, you Neanderthal.”

“Oh, that,” it finally dawned on him. “Yeah, she deserved a good man.”

“Oh yeah?” Stone joked. “Where is he?”

“Where’s who?” Dad asked, confused.

“The good man,” Stone explained. “If she deserved a good man, where is he?”

“Oh,” Dad laughed.

He could be a little slow at times, but Stone was used to it by now. They had known each other for years, and it was business as usual for Stone to rib him for a good-natured laugh. But nothing could come between them. That bond was one that couldn’t be broken.

“So, how’s it going?” Stone asked as he lit a smoke.

“How’s what going?” Dad asked as he took another drink and wiped his chin.

Stone just looked at him and shook his head. Dad took a moment and finally looked back at Stone. That’s when he caught the look that made him think.

“Oh, the marriage?” Dad asked.

“What do you think I’m talking about?” Stone shot back.

“It’s good,” Dad finally answered. “I mean, it works. You know? She still has those skills. You know what I mean?”

Of course, Stone knew what he meant. Stone always knew what he meant.

“Getting married didn’t change a thing as far as that’s concerned,” Dad felt the need to continue. “I mean, you know? You know, right?”

Stone looked at Dad with a blank look as if to say he couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of the man’s mouth, “I’m pretty sure I do.”

“I mean, you know what she used to do, right?” Dad asked.

Stone shook his head in disbelief. He seriously couldn’t fathom that this man had that bad a memory. First of all, Stone had known her for years, long before Dad knew her. Secondly, there was something he finally felt the need to remind him, “Who do you think introduced you guys?”

Dad looked at Stone for a moment, “Oh, that’s right!”

Stone nodded as he held out his hand and then took another drag before flicking his ashes in the ashtray. Thinking the conversation was over, he took another drink. But he was wrong.

Dad had more to say, “So, you do know what she used to do.” He pulled up his jeans and rolled his shoulders as if all of his clothes had just tightened on him, “I mean, it doesn’t bother me. She had to do those things. She was raising a child by herself, and she didn’t know who the father was. That has to be tough. So, she was looking for a good man to get hitched. She treats me good and I treat her good.”

Stone looked at him like there was an invisible line he was getting ready to cross. Dad just shook his head and poured himself another beer. He kept shaking his head as a thousand thoughts ran through his mind.

“So, you know,” Dad said more or less to convince himself as he looked around the bar. “Things are real good.”

Stone nodded and looked around, “I’m going to get us a couple of shots.”

When Mom came into the living room, Jeph immediately could smell the strawberries from her body wash. She was wearing a pink robe and matching slippers, like she was ready for bed. Jeph had never seen her get ready for bed so early. But life had changed quite a bit since she had gotten married.

She sat in the recliner and crossed her legs like the Princess of Bridgeport. She reached for her hand lotion and started her routine. To Jeph, she was a brand-new Mom who stayed home more and took better care of herself. Dad came and went as he pleased, and it was in those away times that Jeph got to enjoy some time with his mother.

Clicking the buttons on the remote, she changed the channels until she found her show. It was a boring story about rich people on a ranch who ran the world and ate breakfast together every day. But he was starting to get into it because one guy had just fallen off a horse, and they didn’t know if he was going to make it. That made the story a little interesting.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Mom looked at it with an odd expression and then picked it up, “Hello. How can I help you?”

Mom put her hand to her forehead as Jeph could hear the voice on the other end, “Hi, doll. It’s been a long time. Are you free right now?”

“Um,” Mom stuttered. “I’m not.”

“When do you think you have some time?” the voice sounded desperate.

Mom looked around at Jeph, then she tried to whisper into the phone, “I’m not available, ever. I don’t work anymore.”

“Well, shit,” the man said as if his favorite restaurant had just gone out of business. “Do you know anyone else?”

“Um,” Mom stuttered again as she looked back at Jeph, “No. I don’t. Sorry.”

“Well, damn,” the man said again, doubly desperate. “Well, if you ever get back into…”

“Don’t call me,” Mom quickly interrupted. “Don’t call here anymore. You have the wrong number. I’ve got to go.”

When she hung up, she looked at the television and lost herself for a moment. The mansion was on such beautiful property, as the view flew over from above. It was enough to take anyone’s mind off their troubles if they needed an escape. Then, she looked back at Jeph, who had no idea what any of it was about.

~

Standing in his driveway, looking at his Polara with its beautiful new shine and everything in perfect order, Jeph realized he had been thinking about her for a while. When it came to Mom, he didn’t know how to feel. He knew about her shady past. He had heard about it from certain guys he delivered food to over the years, and some ladies who had the nerve to come to her funeral. He didn’t know any of them, but they knew all about him. It was as if they waited for Mom to be gone to let him in on everyone’s little secret.

He had set out to check the car and give it a nice polish before taking it for a ride. What he found was himself in the middle of a series of flashbacks from one moment to another that painted the way through his mother’s disturbing past. But the saddest part about it all was the fact that she seemed to have finally gotten her life together and was enjoying it for once before it suddenly came to a brutal end. He lost Dad that night as well.

He had no idea what had happened, but he walked in on a bloody mess that he still hadn’t quite put together. Mom was lifeless on the bed, and Dad was slumped over in his chair with a bullet hole in his head. What had he walked into? If he had known about therapy, he might have gone. Had he known about the depths of self-help books, he might have read a few. But that night, he talked to an officer named Mackert while the bodies were being carried out of the house. The bedroom was sectioned off as a crime scene, but Jeph was allowed to stay in the house while the investigation continued.

He remembered walking out to the driveway that night and taking one look at Dad’s Polara. As he opened the door and took a seat behind the wheel, all his mind could process was, “Well, he won’t be needing this now.”

And again, his mind snapped back to the present, still standing there looking at the Polara. Why was he having so many flashbacks? Was his mind trying to tell him something?

He looked over the car and admired the fresh shine one more time, polished to perfection. It was time for that drive he had promised himself. Jeph’s life had become one streaming blur of working at the sub shop and then coming home to the basement. One out-of-pocket chat about awkward dating advice on his favorite forum, and he knew he needed a change of pace. If one thing he got out of that conversation besides hitting on women at a funeral or learning how to run was to get out and do something different.

The purr of the engine was his therapy. The flashbacks came to an end as he went down the streets of Bridgeport and found old roads he hadn’t been down in a long time. Coming up on Lancid Park, he stopped for a moment to take in the sight. The field was big enough for a football game and a baseball game at the same time. But the grass hadn’t been mowed in years.

Beyond the field was a playground showing signs of neglect. The monkey bars were rusted with chipped paint, and the merry-go-round had grown some spider webs. It was the kind of place that could be brought back to life if the town hadn’t grown up and moved on without it. What a shame! But when Jeph thought about it, there weren’t any kids in Bridgeport anymore. The town had been turned into a college community, and families found their peace away from the bar-hopping, sex-driven students who turned rented houses into party halls for their frats and sororities.

What was happening now was the marketplace in town that had coffee shops and ice cream parlors, vending trucks with every type of food imaginable, and outdoor seating that was very bougie for the college kids with their daddies’ credit cards. It suddenly dawned on Jeph that’s where he should be. If he was going to try something new, try it there.

What he found was a quiet buzz, a slight bit different from the obnoxious rumble that goes on in most places around campus. Instead of beer bongs and fart noises from immature sophomores trying to impress the freshman, groups of three or four were gathered in various spots quietly whispering about their drama. Girls held their coffee cups with long sleeves covering their hands. The guys wore shower sandals with no socks, but their sweatshirts kept them warm.

To Jeph, it was all an amusing display of confusion. Everyone was trying to beat everyone else at being cool, and it was fun to watch them all trying so hard not to try so hard. When a guy stood up and gave his girl a kiss, he lingered for a moment while running his hands over her bare legs. Then, he walked away to a vending truck like he owned the whole world.

That’s what life with Julie would be like. As he handed her a lemonade, she greeted him with a long and passionate kiss that went well past the suggested five-second rule. When she pulled away, Jeph studied her eyes for a moment, the connection between them undeniable. He smiled as he sat down in the seat across from her. She stretched out her legs and put them on his lap.

“I told you Daddy would love you,” Julie said as she smiled while sipping her lemonade.

“He really didn’t have a choice,” Jeph joked. “I’ve already got you. What can he do about it?”

“Nothing,” Julie agreed. “Not a damn thing. I’m all yours.”

As Julie’s words echoed in his imagination, he was suddenly jerked out of it by the real Julie, who had just walked across the marketplace and was about to disappear beyond the building on the other side. Jeph jumped up to go after her, but then stopped himself for a moment. What are you going to do? I don’t know. What should I do? I don’t know. But figure it out later. Catch up to her now. Good idea.

Jeph walked across the marketplace as fast as he could. He looked around at everyone as he moved chairs and bumped into tables. Miraculously, no one seemed to notice as he made his way to the crosswalk and looked down the street. He could see her in the distance, about ready to turn the corner.

That’s where he lost sight of her. He tried to run, but stupid walking people kept getting in his way. Why are they always doing that? It’s like they do it on purpose, just to annoy someone simply trying to get down the street.

When he got to the corner, she was gone. He had no idea what he was going to do if he had caught up to her. He didn’t know what he was going to say. But he wished he had gotten the chance to try. Stupid walking people!

Warning: Part VII of Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series is coming soon!

This series is inspired by Joker Joker Deuce, a psychological thriller set in a college town where students are being targeted by a serial killer. Available now on Amazon!

The post Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part VI – The Bar Scene appeared first on Michael Allen.

Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part V – Chad Unhinged

The halls smelled like too much cologne and body mist, with active students buzzing around like the coffee adrenaline had kicked into high gear. Wide awake, guys with wet hair and girls with hastily tied ponytails were making their way from one class to another with casual rebellion underscoring their apathetic ambition. There was a quick prank that didn’t land too well, as the junior who was set on fire didn’t even notice before his friend put out the flame.

Read from the start to get a better experience, Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part I – A Monster Awakens…

Julie shook her head as she kept walking. Her consistent thought every day while she walked the corridors of humanities was that boys were immature, disgusting, and ultimately self-destructive, no matter how much fun they were to play with. She had a little time between classes and wasn’t really in a rush to go anywhere, which made this particular time of day the absolute worst of her life. Marcus and Tori were on the other side of campus, so she was pretty much on her own for two more classes.

When she pulled out her phone to check some messages, she saw Tracy walking down the hall with Professor Stilling. It wouldn’t have caught her attention on any other day, but Tracy looked particularly beautiful on this one. They really didn’t know each other. All Julie knew was that she was a student on scholarship, and she kept to herself for the most part. But the guys couldn’t stop gawking at her. She was that beautiful. That’s what made her the talk of the student body.

“Then, why is the grade so low?” Tracy asked as she passed by Julie.

Professor Stilling looked back at her, “Uh, first of all, that’s not a low grade. And second, that grade’s saying your paper isn’t perfect.”

That’s when the professor reached his office door. He opened it gently as he put his hand on Tracy’s back, “Come on in and have a seat. We can talk about it more if you’d like.”

Tracy looked around shyly and then ducked her head as she passed through the door. Professor Stilling took a good look around the hall as he followed her inside. Julie found it all a little strange. It wasn’t unheard of for students to talk about their grades in their professor’s office. That wasn’t it at all. It was the way she looked like she dreaded entering the office, and he acted like he was about to get a special gift.

Say it isn’t so, Tracy. Say it isn’t so.

Julie just shook her head and put the thoughts of what might be going on in there behind her. That wasn’t her mess. She had messes of her own to worry about, like the phone call she had just remembered to make. She immediately switched apps on her phone and started dialing.

“Hey, Mom,” Julie greeted as she put her finger to her ear and found a place for quiet. “I got your message. What’s going on?”

Julie looked concerned as she listened.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

She kicked her leg as she listened to her mother give her more seemingly bad news.

“Am I going to have to pull out?” she wondered with a heavy heart as the gravity of what her mother was telling her was starting to dawn on her.

“Well, I don’t want you guys going into debt,” she said with all the conviction in the world.

“Are you sure?” she asked, knowing no one was sure.

“Well, heaven knows I’m not trying to keep dad from his chocolate chip cookies,” she laughed.

It was good to find a laugh in what seemed like a very deep conversation. “Well, I work in the Financial Aid office. So, let me see what I can do.”

She listened for a moment, “I’m pretty sure I can come up with something. I don’t work there for nothing.”

After listening a moment longer, “I’ll definitely look into it and get back to you. We’ll work through this.”

Both sides said goodbye four or five times while Chad stood behind her listening. She hadn’t noticed him standing there until she hung up the phone and he blurted into her ear, “Financial problems, huh?”

Her face got blotchy red as she turned around to see who was standing behind her, “Do you mind? That was a private conversation.”

Chad was visibly embarrassed as he looked around the hall to see who was listening, “My bad. I just walked up, and you were in a conversation. I didn’t know.”

“So, you stood there and listened to what I was talking about,” Julie fired back, still very heated.

“I was standing there. I could hear what you were saying,” Chad offered.

Julie shook her head and started walking away, “Unbelievable.”

“Well, you were having that private conversation in public,” Chad explained as he caught up to her.

If looks could kill, he would have dropped dead, “I don’t care where it was. You had no business listening in on it.”

“No one has any expectation of privacy these days,” he quoted from some lawbook or a television show.

At this point, Julie was doing all she could do to get away from him. But each turn she made, he followed, “I was joking. It’s just a joke. Come on!”

She looked back for a moment as her mind raced with the worst thoughts about him. He is a petty child. All those things in textbooks about losers? That’s all about him. He was patient zero. Then she turned and walked away.

Chad watched as he realized that his words weren’t getting anywhere, and had he known any better, he would have left it at that. But he couldn’t stop himself, “So, what? I heard your phone call! Act like it’s a big deal, why don’t you? What the hell, man?”

Then, he turned and walked the other way. That is, until he realized he was walking in the wrong direction. He stopped and looked both ways, then he made a quick adjustment after pointing with his finger to get his bearings.

Jeph had been looking up everything he could find about Julie. Using a system of reverse image lookups, it wasn’t hard to track down every account that wasn’t private. Even then, facial recognition software could be used to track down friends and acquaintances. This is if Jeph were at all, any kind of psycho.

Of course, he’d never spend money on an access system designed for security purposes, and he wasn’t into criminal investigations, so what did he need with that kind of capability? Besides the fact, Jeph really wasn’t trying to be a creepy online stalker. What he could find on his own was good enough for him.

That is, until he walked onto a chat forum that was talking about using Python to build a facial recognition tool. After reading through a few of the suggestions and seeing how the code was applied, it became a fun little task for Jeph to do for the next couple of hours. In no time, he had a new tool to play with, and it was pretty fast. So, that was added to his arsenal when he wanted to find someone online.

It didn’t take him long at all to learn about Marcus and Tori, the two friends she mostly posted about when she wasn’t talking about Jenny, which he was able to correctly assume was her coffee maker. It seemed like nonsense to name a coffee maker or treat it like a person in any way. But Julie was a college student, that time between being a child and becoming an adult, so naming a coffee maker made some kind of sense in her little world.

As he nodded in and out of his imaginations, he caught up on some lively conversation the chat was having that evening. They were getting into it about how to date women, and some of the advice was worth a try. It obviously wasn’t the top ten Cosmopolitan had to offer from serial daters who knew what they were doing. But what these guys were coming up with wasn’t half bad.

Although Jeph cringed when he read one poster’s idea that women at a funeral were emotionally vulnerable. Something about that didn’t sound right at first, but then it started to work on him. He thought about Julie being at a funeral, dressed in black with a handkerchief, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Hey, Julie,” Jeph softly whispered her name.

“Yeah,” she answered as she looked up at him with her sweet eyes.

“I can see you’re all depressed and everything. You know what’s good for that?” he asked as if they were at a club, not a funeral.

“No,” Julie looked at him with a sad, inquisitive tone in her eyes. “What’s good for getting over the death of someone I love?”

“We could put some Netflix on and then, we could chill,” he said matter-of-factly.

Julie looked at him, confused, “I don’t think you know what that means.”

He nodded as he realized he could definitely use some practice. The whole funeral strategy was new to him. But if someone were to die in Julie’s circle, a good line might be something to work on before the time came.

Another poster offered that it might be a good idea to find out what their hobbies are and adopt them. The example he gave was learning how to run and then finding trails where beautiful women liked to jog. Jeph laughed when he thought about a guy teaching himself how to run like it was hard. Just put on sneakers and shorts, then head out for the worst exercise in the world that burns to breathe. But if it was going to get him the woman of his dreams, it might be worth it to feel like death for fifteen minutes every other week. That’s how often they run, right?

“I thought I’d see you here,” Julie announced as she checked her pulse by the water fountain.

“Are you stalking me?” Jeph flirted as he walked out of the tree line.

It was a beautiful place to run, right on the water with a trail that went around a wooded area and headed back into town. There were benches along the way where the elderly fed pigeons and single fathers brought their children to pass them back to their single mothers. Jeph had never been to this place. He must have been imagining it from a show he had recently watched, but it was a perfect setting for him to meet up with Julie and give the Netflix line another try.

He talked her into walking with him, which seemed more feasible. That way, he wouldn’t be out of breath with every word he attempted to say. His plan was going alright so far, and it got even better when she turned to him, looking up at him with those gorgeous eyes, “I have something to tell you.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“My father wants to meet you,” she said. “I told him a lot about you, and he told me to set something up.”

“Set something up?” Jeph asked. “Like what?”

“Well, he’ll be sending his limo sometime tomorrow and take you to his yacht,” she answered.

“Whoa,” he reacted. “Sounds heavy.”

“It’s not, Jeph,” she urged. “I promise. I’ll be there. You’ll like him. I know you will. And I think he likes you, too.”

“He does?” Jeph joked.

“He does,” she joked back. “You’ll see.”

She reached up on her tippy toes for a kiss when Jeph was suddenly jerked back to reality. The conversation on the chat had turned from disturbing ideas of how to meet women to something much more sinister than that. One poster had joked that the easiest way to get a woman was to use chloroform. Then, another poster corrected him and informed everyone that it wasn’t instantaneous like it was in the movies. This led to an entire conversation about which drugs were best to knock out women and render them incapable of rejection.

“What happened to the old-fashioned way, just hitting them over the head with a club and dragging them into the cave? You know, nothing says romance like a vial full of potion meant to render a lady unconscious. Hey, baby, I brought you flowers…and a controlled substance. Don’t worry, I measured the dosage. I’m kidding, of course. I’m not one of those guys. I’m not that desperate.” Jeph found himself standing in the middle of the basement with his hand up to his mouth like he was talking into a microphone, “Thank you. That’s my time.”

He dropped the imaginary mic and wiped his hands on his jeans. Then, he sat back in his seat and stared at the monitor in front of him as he shook his head. It’s a good thing he wasn’t one of those psycho online stalkers.

If you are ready, proceed to Part VI of Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series!

This series is inspired by Joker Joker Deuce, a psychological thriller set in a college town where students are being targeted by a serial killer. Available now on Amazon!

The post Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part V – Chad Unhinged appeared first on Michael Allen.

Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part IV – The Chad

The windows rattled as the weedwhacker buzzed the morning silence away, not a care in the world that anyone was still trying to sleep. Jealous lawn workers must hate college students for their laid-back lives and the short hours they spend in class. Those were the thoughts crossing Julie’s mind as she sat up and looked out the window to see the creep staring back at her. But she was too tired to care.

Read from the start to get a better experience, Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part I – A Monster Awakens…

She looked around the room at the half-cozy, half-chaotic universe she shared with a girl who grew up in a totally different world than hers. The other side of the room was always a mess with dirty clothes in piles and bags of new clothes from expensive stores, because college for her roommate was a vacation. Cans of empty energy drinks and bags of fast food cluttered the bed because it was more of a crash pad than a home.

On Julie’s side, it was an organized refuge where everything had a particular order and was well kept because things were hard to replace. The bed had blankets that were comforts from home, some things for her to cuddle with and smell when she missed the world she had left behind to find herself in a stack of books. Her clothes were neatly stacked in makeshift dressers Julie had learned about in a DIY tutorial. They come in handy when money’s tight, but you want your world to look like it was meant to be that way.

Julie cracked her back as she stood up, and her entire body yawned. She looked at the coffee pot that had been left on since 3 am, and a small hint of morning potion still remained. Not enough of a cup, though. Through the steam, she swapped out filters. Then, she grabbed the pot and headed to the bathroom to fill it up with fresh water. But that was a huge mistake. The coffee pot had already seen two world fairs and a goat roping by the time she had found it at a yard sale. Forget the fact that a coffee maker can be bought for next to nothing at a department store. This beauty went for a few dollars and came with a set of cups. How could anyone in their right mind pass up that deal?

She soon found out when she put the hot pot under cold running water and the glass shattered all over the sink. That is not a good way to start the morning. She wasn’t quite to tears, but she was in some kind of shock as she carried the handle back to the room. Coincidentally, her roommate had just stopped in to change her clothes when she saw Julie standing at the door with the coffee pot handle in her hand.

“What happened?” Tori asked.

“The thing,” Julie started. “The thing just broke on me.”

Tori looked at the coffee maker and back at Julie, “Oh, shit. That’s not good.”

“No. It’s not good at all,” Julie agreed.

“Well, we can handle that later,” Tori comforted. “Let’s just head to Starbucks and grab a cup before class. It’s all good.”

Julie stared at Tori with a blank look, “I’ll have to catch up to you. I’m not even close to being ready.” That was her own code language that only she knew, which meant she couldn’t afford Starbucks because she was on a tight budget.

“Okay. I’ll see you there,” Tori said as her hair bounced with the cock of her head, oblivious to the fact that poor people shared the same space with her.

Julie didn’t like the cafeteria coffee, but as her mom always said, beggars can’t be choosy. When she came into the office with her travel cup that she got for free for filling out a form to get a credit card, she noticed the coffee pot full of freshly brewed coffee. That’s when her mind clicked with thoughts of strangling herself.

“Get it together, Julie,” she scolded. “I’m not awake yet. I’m not awake yet. I’m not awake yet. I’m. Not. Awake. Yet.”

“What are you mumbling about?” Marcus asked as he crossed the office to the other side. Another student worker at the Financial Aid office, they both did basically the same job. But because there was enough work for them to share, two student workers were justified in the office where they handle all the money. How convenient was that?

“This morning has been a nightmare,” Julie answered as she settled into her desk and looked over at Marcus. “I broke my coffee pot.”

“Jenny! Not sweet Jenny,” Marcus mourned.

“Yes. Jenny is no more,” Julie confirmed.

Then, Marcus threw up his arms as he swiveled in his chair, “You know they sell those things for like ten bucks at a department store?”

“I’m well aware, Marcus,” Julie snapped back. “I’m also well aware that I’m drinking cafeteria coffee and right there is a freshly brewed pot of your magic potion.”

“Ew,” Marcus responded in disgust. “Well, go pour it out, baby girl. You can’t be drinking that nasty mud.”

“I spent credits on it,” Julie sighed.

“You poor people,” Marcus remarked as he reached for his cup of coffee. “Sit over there and suffer if you want. Or pour it out and embrace the guilt while you enjoy my cup of morning sunshine.”

Julie pondered her next move, and then swiftly poured the cup out into her trash can before she had a chance to reconsider.

“Not in the trash can,” Marcus protested. “Girl, you’re cleaning that up.”

It was at that time that Marcus went silent. To Julie, his eyes said it all. He was looking past her at something behind her, a clue that someone was back there. When she turned around, she saw him. It was Chad…again.

Chad was a senior at the college, about to graduate. He had no business in the Financial Aid office, his bills fully paid, and nothing more for him to do down in the basement of the Student Center. But he came through every day, almost right on time. He had been visiting the Financial Aid office regularly for about two weeks, and that first moment can easily be traced back to the time he first bumped into Julie at a party.

He stared at her awkwardly for about five minutes until he gathered up his courage to walk over to her. He asked some weird questions at first, but Julie was used to that. It’s what boys do when they don’t know what to say, but they’re struggling to strike up a conversation. So, she lets them get through that part. It’s the least she can do to help them become more positive contributors to society.

One of the questions he asked was where she worked, and she was starting to regret telling him. Two weeks later, and here he was, right on time. It was like he knew her schedule and came as if some kind of whistle had gone off.

“Hey, Chad,” Julie greeted.

“Sup, Chad,” Marcus had gotten to know him, too.

“Oh, hi, Marcus,” Chad answered out of courtesy before turning his attention back to Julie. Fiddling with a folded sheet of paper, “I, uh…I think I messed up my tax form thing. The dependent box or something. I’m not sure if it’s right.”

While Julie looked at him with a slight cock to her head and a mind racing with thoughts that this boy had filled out these forms every year since he’d been at college, and he wasn’t sure if he got them right, Marcus started having a little fun with it, “I looked at that for you already.”

Chad’s eyes shot over to Marcus with a nervous twitch, “Um, no. I don’t think you did.”

“Uh, yeah. I remember that,” Marcus recalled. “You brought that into me a few weeks ago, and I took a look.”

“I don’t, um,” Chad fumbled to find the words.

Julie tried to hide her smirk when she realized what Marcus was doing, and watching Chad squirm was part of the entertainment. Poor boy!

“Oh, wait,” Marcus added. “It was someone else.”

Chad drew in a deep breath as he could feel his heart beating out of his chest, “Oh. Yeah. Because I…”

Because I what, Chad? Julie was enjoying this moment a little too much as she thought of a whole different scenario where she was the one making fun of the guy who found a new reason every day to hang out at the Financial Aid office at the very same time that she came in to work.

But when she looked at him, she could see he was a good-looking fellow. His charm was his innocence, even though he was a senior in college who should’ve been over that. Not everyone gets the same education in college, and Chad was a prime example. There’s book learning, and there are extracurricular activities that add to the quality of life at college. Chad had missed a few of those other classes.

Julie looked over the form real quick, “Yep. Looks good to me.”

“Oh, okay,” Chad said with a hint of desperation that the day’s meeting was over that quickly. Now, he had to come up with another reason to be there, and he only had a few more minutes to do it because he had class soon. “Did you hear about that party they’re having?”

“Who?” Julie asked, seeming genuinely interested.

But Chad hadn’t heard about a party. He had picked up on this line from a friend of his, and it seemed to work. It’s how you get information on a party, and then you find the person throwing it to get the invite. So, it was really weird what came out of Chad’s mouth next, “I’m not really sure. But I’ll find out and get back to you.”

“That party was canceled,” Marcus threw from across the room.

Julie blinked her eyes hard and shook her head while Chad scrambled to find a comeback, “No. It’s not that one. I heard about that one. It’s another one.”

What were the odds of two people talking about parties that didn’t exist? Marcus studied Chad for a moment, “You heard about the one that was canceled?”

“Yeah, they canceled that one,” Chad started making up stuff out of thin air. “So, my friends are throwing one because of that one…getting canceled.”

“But I thought you said you’d find out?” Marcus was enjoying every moment of it.

Julie was just watching Chad’s head spin before he came up with the stupidest save ever, “I’m not sure where. So, I’ll find that out and then get back to you. Okay? Both of you! You’re both invited.”

“Yay me,” Marcus clapped sarcastically.

“Okay, I have to go,” Chad announced. “But I’ll get back to you about that. Okay?”

“No problem,” Julie answered as she shook her head. “Sounds good.” She pulled some paperwork together and straightened it out as she watched Chad walk away. Then, she turned and laughed with Marcus when Chad rounded the corner, out of sight.

“That was too fun,” Marcus cracked.

“You are evil,” Julie joked.

“The worst,” he agreed.

This particular delivery was out there, miles from the sub shop. There was an extra fee for deliveries this far out of town. For some reason, Jeph liked taking them even though it meant more time to get there and more time to get back, missing other deliveries in the meantime. But these rides gave Jeph time away from the world, where he liked to be on certain days.

He had spotted something on his way to the house, and even though there was a quicker way to get back, funny how roads around Bridgeport worked that way, he took the same route back to see the place he had eyed before. It was called Sandmont Hill, and there was an interesting tree right at the top of it. When he drove up on it, he stopped and took a mental picture as his imagination started to drift.

Her legs glistened in the sun as she reclined on the blanket he had spread out on the grass. Jeph had thought of everything from the wine to the cheese and even those long rolls of bread that make a picnic look more like a romantic tryst. She had kicked off her leather sandals and pulled her leg up so that the split in her dress divided just enough to be seductive.

Around her ankle was a gold trinket, a touch of class that drew his attention. He was finding out that he was definitely a leg man. There wasn’t any part of her body he didn’t like, but her shiny tan on those legs made his heart do flips.

He kneeled on the blanket and melted right into her as he gently pushed her back with a long kiss, his hands exploring every inch of her body. Her moans in his ear made sensations vibrate up and down his spine. They started to move together with a rhythm that worked them both into heated passion.

Suddenly, he got dizzy. His eyesight was out of view. When everything came back to focus, the tree stood alone on that small hill where an imaginary blanket used to be. With heavy breathing, he put both his hands and his forehead on the steering wheel until the sensation went away. Then, he shook his head and put the car into drive.

~

Back at the Financial Aid office, Julie was winding down her shift with a quick look on Wink. She was going through her messages, and all she got was one disgusting picture after another. The boys who were messaging her had no problem showing themselves off.

She swiveled in her chair and showed her phone to Marcus, who looked with a hint of interest. Julie shook her head, “What are you talking about? It’s nasty. These boys are nasty.”

“Yeah,” Marcus agreed. “That’s not always a bad thing.”

“Evil,” Julie joked.

“The worst,” Marcus agreed.

Julie deleted and deleted until she was bored with it. Then, she closed the app when she had had enough. Little did she know that Jeph’s message was waiting next. But it would go unread yet again.

Are you ready for Part V of the Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series?

This series is inspired by Joker Joker Deuce, a psychological thriller set in a college town where students are being targeted by a serial killer. Available now on Amazon!

The post Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part IV – The Chad appeared first on Michael Allen.

Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part III – Wedding Day

Jeph could remember the smell of charcoal, beer, and freshly cut grass that day. It wasn’t the only memory he had from way back when he was eight years old on Mom’s wedding day, the day she got hitched to a man who called himself “Dad” on the first day. They hadn’t known each other long, although the memory of exactly how long alluded him. But it wasn’t long enough for Jeph to be calling the man, “Dad.”

Read from the start to get a better experience, Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part I – A Monster Awakens…

Jeph didn’t know why he was having this memory. But it was one of those that snuck up and captivated him until it was over, even though he had lived it. His mind was going to make him live it again. The pathetic day his mom wore a smile all morning while she ran around the house getting ready for her big wedding. She had a humble flower sundress and cork wedge heels that made Jeph admit she did look nice. He remembered her running down the hall toward the bathroom while trying to hook her earrings.

But Jeph had no idea why she was making all that fuss. Especially when Dad came dragging his feet out of the bedroom in his underwear and took one look at Jeph, “Better get dressed, boy. Your mother’s almost ready for her big day!”

Why did they need a wedding? The man was already spending the night. Jeph looked at the clothes he had put on and wondered what was wrong with them. Then he looked back at Dad, and a whole different thought went through his mind, “Me? I need to get dressed? What do you mean, I need to get dressed?”

But Jeph didn’t have to say anything about that when he heard Mom, “Oh, the boy’s fine. But you need to get some clothes on, honey.”

He smacked her on the butt as she walked past him and into the bedroom. Then, he scratched his belly as he let out a loud yawn. He stood there and stared out the window for a moment before turning around and dragging his feet back into the bedroom. But not before stopping to study Jeph for a second. It was a stare that lingered, and there wasn’t much context behind it. So, Jeph had no idea what that was about.  

Within an hour, they were off to the courthouse. A quick ceremony with a clerk of the court acting as a witness, and their new family was off to a barbecue, where Dad introduced them to one of the most interesting men Jeph had ever met. Stone had long hair and smelled very organic, but he had a calming presence, a stark contrast from the kind of life Jeph had at home.

“Well, we went and done it. I made her the old ball and chain,” Dad said as he patted her butt, something he particularly liked to do all day long.

Mom rolled her eyes as she waved at Stone, obviously already acquainted with the man, “Hi, Stone. How’s it going?”

“It’s good, Doll. Haven’t seen you in a while,” the man said with a huge smile on his face. Then, his eyes floated down to Jeph. “This must be the little Tiger. How are you doing, Jed?”

“Jeph,” Mom corrected.

“Jeph! That’s right,” Stone made a deal about it like he had just cussed in front of a nun. “I’ll get it right from here on out. My promise.”

Jeph just smiled and nodded. It didn’t matter what Stone called him. He could make up names if he wanted. He was just that cool of a guy.  

“Got something to wet my whistle?” Dad blurted out as soon as the greetings were over.

“You know where they are, brother,” Stone pointed at the refrigerator in the yard by the trailer.

When Dad looked at Mom, she knew what was going to come out of his mouth, “Why don’t you head over there and grab us a few?”

“I can do that,” she answered, and then she started walking away.

“It just dawned on me that’s your first official act as my wife,” Dad yelled like he was claiming his territory.

She turned around and just shook her head as she looked back at him. But it wasn’t long before a bunch of ladies had surrounded her with smiles and questions. She was showing off the ring like it was a lost treasure from the Nile. Jeph could remember her smile. He could also remember the feeling he had of how out of place she seemed.

Everyone else was dressed casually in shorts or jeans. She was the only one wearing a dress with healed shoes. Dad didn’t even put anything nice on for the occasion, and Jeph didn’t have anything nice. The barbecue they were at wasn’t even for the wedding. It just happened to be on the same day they decided to tie the knot.

The more Jeph watched Mom interact with the others, the more he thought about how sad it all was. She wanted some kind of life so bad and was willing to do whatever it was to get it. What Jeph knew about Mom, she was funny and thoughtful. She seemed to be better than all these people she surrounded herself with. But there was something to her that Jeph just couldn’t name. People didn’t see her or treat her that way. It didn’t add up, and he had no clue why.

When he overheard Stone and Dad talk, it wasn’t that interesting for an eight-year-old. But it gave Jeph a chance to get to know more about the man who had just moved into his home and attached himself so quickly.

It seemed like he made decent money. Jeph couldn’t quite make out exactly what he did. He could have been a chemist because he talked a lot about dropping acid. Stone seemed to work with him on that.

But Stone was into other stuff, too. It sounded like he was a gardener the way he talked about herbs and greens. The way Stone talked, he made everything seem so interesting. Dad just droned on like the world was paying to listen to him. It was this monotone hum that felt like it was making Jeph’s ears bleed.

He finally had to walk away and find something else to do. There weren’t any other kids at the barbecue, so it wasn’t going to be that easy. Jeph took a tour and walked the driveway up to the drainage that ran at the end of the road. He threw a few heavy rocks into the water and watched them splash. But that kind of fun only lasts for a while.

Then, he walked back to the party where he spotted a football under the trailer. When he climbed underneath, he found himself face-to-face with a snake.  That was an interesting sight. It was hissing and sticking its tongue out, and then it squirmed away.

“You almost had him,” Stone said.

Jeph bumped his head on the bottom of the trailer when he tried to turn around. Stone squinted while Jeph rubbed the spot. Then, he grabbed the football and climbed out from under the trailer.

“You okay?” Stone asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Jeph answered sheepishly, embarrassed by such a stupid move.

“I don’t know how many times I do that a week,” Stone comforted.

Jeph looked up at him, “You do?”

“Comes with the territory,” Stone answered. “You climb under stuff, you’re eventually going to hit your head.”

“You climb under a lot of stuff?” Jeph asked.

“All the time,” Stone answered. “So, imagine that. I do it all the time, and I still hit my head.”

Jeph’s laugh was like a low growl. It was like he didn’t know how to laugh, and that was all he could muster.

“You like football?” Stone asked.

“I’m bored,” Jeph blurted out honestly. “I was just looking for something to do.”

“Let’s do it,” Stone encouraged. “Here. Throw it to me.”

As Stone stepped back a few feet, Jeph cocked his arm back and let it launch. When Stone caught it, he took a look at it, “It’s a little on the flat side. It’ll do, though.”

Jeph shrugged as he watched the ball flying back at him. He caught it in his gut. He felt it a little bit, but he tried not to grunt. He sucked in some air and threw the ball back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jeph watched as Dad sat down in a lawn chair. He pulled Mom on top of him. His hands seemed to go everywhere. When he saw Jeph watching something over his shoulder, Stone looked around and nodded. Then, he looked back at Jeph and shook his head, “Sorry, there aren’t some kids here for you to hang with.”

Jeph shrugged again. Playing catch with the coolest guy at the party was better than having other kids around. The ball went back and forth a few more times before some guy on the other side of the yard yelled, “Food’s ready! Come get you some!”

 That’s when Stone looked at Jeph, “Let’s get a plate. Come on!”

As Jeph walked over to the picnic table full of different kinds of foods, he overheard Dad order, “Hey, honey, why don’t you go grab me a plate?”

She looked at him and nodded, keeping her smile on her face, “What would you like?”

“Oh, just fill her up,” he answered. “I’m hungry.”

She climbed off of him while his hands were still feeling parts of her. As she made her way to the table, she heard, “Hey uh, hon, can you grab me another beer while you’re at it?”

She looked back and nodded. Her mind was so full of the excitement of the day and the happy moment it was all supposed to be that she had no awareness of how she actually looked to the people around her. Jeph noticed them looking at her and looking at him. He couldn’t quite figure out the social cues, but he felt the vibe.

While Mom fixed Dad a plate, a nice lady from the party brought Jeph one. He hadn’t met her before and didn’t know what to say. So, she just tapped him on the top of his head and told him to eat up, that there was more if he wanted.

Jeph looked around, and all the chairs were taken. The table had no room. So, he copped a squat right where he was. When he looked at the plate, he liked what he saw. There was a cheeseburger made with a bun, not with two slices of bread like Mom made at home. He had no idea what the white things were beside it, but he knew it was made of egg, and that smooshy stuff on top was awesome. He was definitely going to go back and get some more of that.

The more he tried to concentrate on his plate, the more Dad was making a spectacle of himself. He had scarved down his food, and some dropped on his shirt. Mom grabbed a paper towel from the picnic table and tried to clean the mess. She had to fight off his hands while she did it, and they were just making a show for everyone to watch.

Dad would ask for a kiss, and while she was giving him one, his hands were all over the place. But they were doing more than that. He didn’t just run his hands over her dress. He ran them up her dress as well. Jeph saw her legs and even knew what color underwear she was wearing.

Stone hadn’t been paying attention. But when he saw Jeph watching this rated entertainment, not suitable for kids, he whistled. When that didn’t work, he made a clicking noise with his mouth. That didn’t seem to work either. So, Stone did the only thing that came to mind.

“Hey, look at that,” he yelled as he pointed into the distance.

Jeph looked suddenly, but everyone around the party laughed. Then, Jeph overheard Stone say, “Um, you have kids here. Save that shit for the bedroom, bro.”

Dad looked around at Jeph, “See? We shouldn’t have brought him with us.”

“And do what with him?” Mom asked.

“He’s old enough to leave at home, isn’t he?” Dad asked.

“Not at eight years old,” she answered.

“Who would know?” Dad asked.

“So we come to a barbecue and leave him at home alone?” she asked.

“What? We would have brought him something back with us,” Dad answered.

When Mom looked over, Jeph was staring straight at her. At one time, there were two people against the world. It was just her and him, the way he liked it. It wasn’t his preference, but it was the hand he was dealt, and he was fine with it. But those days were gone.

There was a new man in town. Jeph was put in the backseat. No longer the little man of the house. No longer the little man in her life. And by what it seemed, he was hardly anything to her at all.

Warning: Part IV of Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series is coming soon!

This series is inspired by Joker Joker Deuce, a psychological thriller set in a college town where students are being targeted by a serial killer. Available now on Amazon!

The post Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part III – Wedding Day appeared first on Michael Allen.

Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part II – Obsession

Jeph took in a few deep breaths like he was about to lift a heavy weight. He was psyched to the max and psyching himself out even more as he thought about Julie. That was her name, his new obsession. Now, he had a name to go with that beautiful face and those nice legs he encountered at the gas station.

Well, he didn’t really encounter her. He watched her as she pumped her gas, and he pumped his. But she did look at him, and her stare lingered. Then, she looked back as she drove away. So, that could be considered an encounter. He decided to count it because her message was proof. She had written him a nice little note after finding his profile on Wink.

There was no arguing that. It was a short and sweet message he kept reading over and over, “The site says we are compatible. Write me back if you’d like to find out.”

Why yes, Julie. Yes, I would.

He sat back in his chair and cracked his knuckles. That’s when his mind went completely blank. He stared at the monitor, the cursor blinking in the empty form was enough to get on anyone’s nerves. It kept blinking like it was making fun of him.

“So, you have nothing to say now. All you have is your active imagination. But when it comes to actually doing something to get laid, you’ve got nothing.”

He shook his head as the cursor continued to blink obnoxiously, “I think it’s time to clean my keyboard. That’s a crumb, isn’t it?”

He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a can of duster that blew out all of the debris caught between the keys, “Jalapeno crackers! I suddenly want some. Is that box still down here or what?”

He spun his chair around and saw the empty box in the trash can by the coffee table, “That sucks!”

“Hey, Sparky!” he heard from behind him.

When he spun around, the monitor was still waiting patiently for him. He looked across his desk, and there was a bobblehead of a throwback to The Shining grinning back at him with that creepy look in his eyes. But instead of saying, “Here’s Johnny!” it just grinned like a sarcastic mental patient.

“What?” Jeph asked.

“Get focused, Chief. Aren’t you trying to write some girl?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” Jeph answered.

“Seems to me, you’re looking for anything else to do but focus on the task at hand. Are you allergic to girls, Jephy?” the bobblehead taunted.

“No,” the lovestruck admirer answered.

“Then, don’t you think you should write her back and head off to work before one of those blood vessels in your head pops?” Jack cracked.

“Alright, you don’t have to be so harsh about it,” he answered.

“You think this is harsh, Missy?” the sarcastic-faced plastic head on Jeph’s desk remarked. “You wouldn’t know harsh if it walked up to you and sat on your soft face. Now, get your fingers typing on that damn keyboard or I’ll give you something to whine about.”

Jeph shook his head, staring back at the mouthy toy that might soon find its way into the trash can. But for now, it was right. Jeph needed to write her back, and how hard could that possibly be? All he had to do was type a few words into the form and hit send. She had made first contact. What was there to lose?

His fingers started slow and then caught speed at the end, “If the site says we’re compatible, we owe it to ourselves to find out.” Send. He clicked the mouse so fast, he didn’t give himself time to think.

“See, was that so hard?” Jack asked as his eyes stayed steady while his head kept moving around.

“Eww,” the cursor on the monitor made a face. “I can’t believe I had anything to do with that drivel.”

When Jeph arrived at work, he had a little pep to his step. His mind was racing with the possibilities. He had already imagined them on several dates and even fantasized about her in his bed. But stepping into the back of the sub shop was the wakeup call that pulled him right back into reality.

Missy was the first person he laid eyes on as he entered the prep area where the computers are. She was a junior at B.U., which made her kind of the boss in the shop, having worked there the longest. A cute girl on the short side, she was cool at barking orders that made it seem like she was asking for a favor.

Sean was standing on the other side of the prep table with a bag of rolls and a huge jar of mayonnaise. He was getting the bread ready to become subs with thick spreads of mayo slapped into each one. His perfect hair and gold assortments around his neck, wrist, and fingers made him look like he just got the job for something to do, like it was extra credit. Brian was in his station flipping beef around the grill like it had insulted his mother. He was a clean-cut guy on the muscular side, and a sense of humor that kept the shop light.

If Jeph could take a snapshot of this very moment, it would be the same week after week. Missy and Sean in the prep area all day, and Brian on the grill with the meat. The scene never changed. But Jeph had been through this for years. These guys would one day go, and new ones would take their place as the world kept turning and college students went off to greener pastures.

As Missy hung up the phone, she yelled, “Someone just ordered tuna on a meatball sub.”

“What?” Brian yelled from the grill. “What kind of psycho wants tuna on a meatball?”

Jeph was grabbing his delivery bag and stuffing it with napkins when he turned around to study Brian for a moment. Tuna on a meatball wasn’t a normal combination to order. But why is it psycho? There are food combinations that would make tuna and meatballs seem tame. How about ranch dressing in spaghetti, Brian? How does that sound?

“You can’t handle tuna with meatballs, Brian?” Jeph yelled at the college kid tied to a chair in a dark room.

Jeph dipped his hand into a bowl of meatballs and pulled out a handful. He walked over to the young, squirming man in the chair and held him by the throat as he shoved the meatballs in his open mouth. He pushed down on the ground up beef as Brian choked, trying to survive with a throat full. But Jeph wasn’t finished yet.

He grabbed a bowl of spaghetti and started pouring it into Brian’s mouth. It fell all over his face and onto the floor while he kicked and shook his head. When the bowl emptied, Jeph shoved it on his face and watched as Brian fought for air. Then, he remembered the ranch sitting on the table across the room.

“The moon landing was actually filmed in an airplane hangar at the Kennedy Space Center,” blasted through Jeph’s ears. And just like that, he was back in the real world. He looked at Brian, who was happily grilling beef and throwing diced onions in the mix. He had come so close to eating a mouthful of ranch.

But who in the world had the idea that the moon landing had been filmed in an airplane hangar? Had he heard that right?

“You watch too many movies,” Missy slapped Sean on the arm with her towel.

“A movie based on the truth,” Sean fired back.

“It is like hell,” Brian yelled from the grill.

These guys had to be the most entertaining students Jeph had ever met. There wasn’t a dull moment in the shop. The topics they would fire at each other to make the time fly were the most random and so absolutely ridiculous. Some crews over the years were boring. They did their jobs and left like it was nothing. But this crew kept the shop alive.

As Sean spelled out why he thought the moon landing was filmed in a hangar, Jeph watched as he stopped stirring tuna salad with a pasta fork. Then, he set it on the table in front of him as he kept pace with his speech, “I’m telling you, Nixon was up against a lot of things, and landing on the moon was very important for his Administration. He couldn’t let the American people down, not after being given an entire space program to begin with. But these rockets…the rockets they had spent years building…they just weren’t ready.”

As Jeph watched Sean talk so energetically, he pounded the table in front of him with his fist a few times. Jeph couldn’t help but imagine the pasta fork flying up and going right through his eye. That would be a funny scene to watch, Sean trying to pull it out. Maybe Missy would run around the table and start helping too. Blood squirting all over the place. So much blood, Brian slipped on it as he tried to come to the rescue. Maybe they all ended up on the floor somehow, squirming around in the pool of blood coming out of Sean’s eye.

Jeph heard himself laugh and stifled that before anyone noticed. It didn’t matter because that was the very moment Shane came busting through the back door. He was another delivery driver there to help Jeph for the evening. They would tackle the deliveries together because it was hitting that time of evening when business would start to pick up.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Shane announced as he walked through with his fashionably messy hair and thick cologne that could choke a smoker.

“Hey, player,” Brian yelled from the grill, another batch of steam climbing to the ceiling around him.

“What it be like, Bray Bray,” Shane yelled back.

“Sup, Shane,” Sean greeted.

“My boy. How’s it hanging?” Shane kept going with his daily ritual of hellos.

Missy waved as if she didn’t care. So, Shawn grabbed her and gave her a big hug. That made her giggle like a little schoolgirl.

Jeph rolled his eyes. This was every day. How long could he keep it up, coming in every day like he owns the place, the most popular kid on the block, a completely insecure mess because if he doesn’t get attention, he cries about it? Jeph grabbed one of the knives on the table and pulled Shane back by his messy hair before running the blade across his neck. The blood poured out of the beautiful slice as Shane’s eyes darted around in confusion.

“One meatball with tuna,” Brian yelled out as he placed the wrapped sandwich on the counter.

“The what?” Shane laughed as his question slipped from his lips.

“Yeah, someone ordered a meatball with tuna on it,” Missy filled him in on what was going on.

“What psycho does that?” Shane joked.

Jeph smiled, his imagination running wild again. But he was too busy grabbing the sandwich and putting it in his delivery bag. He walked to a computer in the prep area and claimed the delivery. Then, slung the bag around his shoulder as he walked by everyone and out the back door.

When he got to his car, he put the delivery bag in the passenger seat and fired up the engine. Then, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He took a look on Wink, but there was nothing. Julie hadn’t even seen his message yet. This was going to be one long night.

Warning: Part III of Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series is coming soon!

This series is inspired by Joker Joker Deuce, a psychological thriller set in a college town where students are being targeted by a serial killer. Available now on Amazon!

The post Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part II – Obsession appeared first on Michael Allen.

Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part I – A Monster Awakens

A gray sky for a shiny black 1971 Dodge Polara spells disaster, especially when it had just been washed earlier that day. The clouds weren’t quite dark yet, but they were getting there, and Jeph just knew the day was going to piss on his parade. But he had orders to fill, and there was no way he was going to beat the rain to get his monster in the garage before his wax job got ruined.

That was life. There was something new every day to annoy him. Like finding a house on a street he had been down a million times. He had probably even been to the house a million times. Why weren’t these things stuck in his head like all the other useless knowledge he seemed to find there? He knew that wombat poop was cube-shaped. Why did he know that, but he couldn’t find a simple house in the middle of a small town?

As his Polara crept down the street, he finally came to a stop. He looked at the number on the porch and verified the number on the ticket. Then, he grabbed the delivery bag from the passenger seat and studied the house for a moment. First of all, how does a wombat poop cubes? That’s mental. It just doesn’t fit with the scheme of things, but the world has so much weird in it, he tried to stop asking those kinds of questions a long time ago.

After knocking on the door a few times and looking to the sky for a hint of rain, Jeph was greeted by a lady who slowly opened the door. She wasn’t the age of a typical Bridgeport student, or at least she didn’t look like it anyway. Plus, she answered the door alone. Five other giggling, energetic schoolgirls didn’t join her to help with the nearly impossible task of grabbing lunch. So, she must have actually been a resident of Bridgeport.

He shook his head when he thought of how he couldn’t remember ever meeting her before. She was a nice-looking lady with a pleasant smile. He would definitely have remembered her. But all that was shattered when she took a look at her order and started going off about how wrong it was. She hadn’t ordered a cheesesteak sub, and she wanted onion rings. Why did it come with fries and not the onion rings she had ordered?

Jeph took a deep breath as he listened to her go on about it. He had been in this situation before. It wasn’t his first rodeo. Sometimes, orders get mixed up. They put the wrong name on the ticket, and the wrong food shows up at the house. It happens. Of course, Jeph could have picked the wrong order. It wasn’t completely unheard of that he could have been the culprit. But he confirmed it wasn’t his fault when he simply looked at the ticket and saw the house number with the list of items. He had done his part the right way.

That aside, there was another issue Jeph had seen many times before. This once sweet, smiling lady could be one of those hustlers always looking for some way to get free stuff. That was the most common reason when things like this happened. So, Jeph followed protocol and called it in, to which he was told that the shop would fix it and that would be that. Taking the loss was no big problem for the shop.

When he hung up the phone and explained the situation, that’s when he heard the words he just knew were going to come next. There wouldn’t be any tip for him. What a totally useless lady and an absolute waste of time. Not only was this real piece of work going to get free food out of it, but she couldn’t even bring herself to tip him for his troubles, especially when she knew what she was doing. Just add that frustration to the growing list of frustrations for the day.

“Well, you got a free lunch out of it, too,” he said as he drove super slow down the street, turned the corner, and imagined shaving her head while she slept. Driving slowly was a coping mechanism he had developed for those times when he found himself frustrated. Needless to say, he drove that way a good bit of the time.

“Yeah, I guess a cheesesteak will work,” he consoled himself as he came to a stop sign, looked down at the order that wouldn’t make it back to the shop, and imagined gluing her butt cheeks together.

“Remember to check on her when we get back to the shop. See how many times she’s sent an order back,” he reminded himself as he took a look at the dashboard and noticed the fuel gauge.

“That’s a good idea. You need gas, by the way,” he told himself as he looked around for a gas station, shook his head when he saw the gas prices, and imagined pulling out her teeth one by one with pliers. A smile crept across his face as he pulled into the parking lot.

When he saw her kick open her car door, his heart leapt in his chest. All he knew was that she had a good-looking leg, but that was all any guy needed. It was that good-looking of a leg. Then, her body followed, and everything fit together perfectly. She was wearing tan shorts and white tennis shoes that made her tan glisten in the sun.

That’s when Jeph realized that the weather had gone the other way, and his Polara was safe for now. Then, his mind went right back to this beautiful lady getting out of her car at the gas pump in front of his. She was a welcome distraction to an otherwise brain-numbingly awful day.

She had a V-neck T-shirt that highlighted her cleavage, and she walked around like she knew it. She looked at the pump and read the instructions because obviously, this was her first time ever getting gas. She pulled her card out of her back pocket because that’s the best place for a credit card when you’re sitting in a car, driving around all day. Every move she made was perfectly orchestrated, and the longer Jeph stared, the more he started to think that it was all a show for him.

When she looked back at him, that’s what sealed the deal. Her gaze lingered a moment before she unscrewed her gas cap and gently slid the pump into the pipe. The way she bent her leg and curved her spine, she was posing as if she were doing a photoshoot for her social media. She didn’t have a blemish, so what was her deal?

Forget the fact that she was obviously a college student at B.U. His imagination running wild, she was the daughter of a rich businessman who took the helicopter into the city too often and left her home alone with the staff. She had a very pampered life, which pushed her to seek out relationships with what the elite call “undesirables.” That’s where he came into the picture, right at the part where she’s trying to do something awful to get her daddy’s attention.

The click on his pump brought him back to real life, where he got to enjoy watching her put the nozzle back and bend over to pull the car door open. She slid down in the seat with as much elegance as she could muster. Then, she drove off slowly, making sure to look back a beat to see if he was still watching.

He hadn’t taken his eyes off of her since he first saw her leg kick open the door. He sure wasn’t going to miss a glimpse of her now as she was leaving. And long after she was gone from his view, the thoughts of her kept playing themselves over and over in his mind. Not just the beauty that he beheld with his eyes, but what he imagined while she was patiently waiting for her tank to fill at the pump. Those were some beautiful thoughts of entanglement that followed his imaginary courtship.

“Yes, nice to meet you too, Mr. Rich…That’s right, your daughter and I have been on a few dates, which means that we’ll be having coitus the next time I pick her up…No, I’m sorry you really can’t do anything about it. It’s happening. It’s what she wants, sir. You know all too well, when she wants something, that’s what she’s going to get. And of course, I want her. I mean, look at her. She’s one hot little number. Kudos to you, sir. You did a great job with that!”

It was right about the time when his hand slid up her soft thigh that an obnoxious car behind him with a loud horn had to ruin the moment. He looked up to see that the light was green and there were no cars in front of him. So, he did what any normal person would do and waited until the light turned yellow to hit the gas. He saw the middle finger as he drove away, and that was good for a laugh. It was the little things that kept him entertained throughout the day.

But his thoughts kept returning to the girl at the pump. When he was driving to a delivery, he thought about her. When he was driving back from a delivery, he thought about her. Forget the thousands of other girls he saw walking across the street or driving in the car beside him, Jeph’s mind was lost on that beautiful, rich girl at the pump. It wasn’t his first time seeing a beautiful girl, but you’d think it was.

When his shift was finally over, he retreated to his basement, where he liked to unwind. That was his special place where he had two computer systems set up on the desk against the back wall. One was for browsing the internet, and the other was for diving deep into the dark areas of it.

The room was like a dark dungeon, but it was his escape. He was full of contradictions like that. It’s like escaping to a prison, only this was a safe space that brought him some comfort despite the battles that raged in his mind. As his fingers danced across the keyboard, websites flashed on the monitor. He had no friends on Lookbook, but that didn’t stop him from browsing through the profiles and seeing what everyone else was doing. Wink was a new dating site he had just discovered, where there were plenty of beautiful ladies in his area just dying to meet him. The only problem was that they weren’t as excited to meet him as the advertisements made it sound.

Profile after profile, beautiful girl after beautiful girl, he must have been surfing for about an hour when he heard the most delicious ding in his life. It was from the phone in his pocket. He knew what that sound was, even though he hadn’t heard it that often. Most of the time, it was about a new profile in the area that Wink thought would make a good fit. But this time, it was something different.

When he pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a look, it was that girl at the gas pump. That was too strange, too coincidental. Could it be that she was actually flirting with him, and then she looked him up on Wink?

That’s crazy! The beautiful girl at the gas pump had sent him a message. It took him a moment to wrap his brain around that, and then he read the message…

“The site says we are compatible. Write me back if you’d like to find out.”

Warning: Part II of the Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series will be coming soon!

In the meantime, dive into Jeph’s world, Joker Joker Deuce, the psychological thriller that inspired it all. Available on Amazon now!

The post Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part I – A Monster Awakens appeared first on Michael Allen.

The Fire He Carried: The Murder of Mackenzie Lueck

Morning sunlight spilled through the curtains of her apartment in Salt Lake City. The city was just waking up, soft and quiet, the kind of calm that always comes before the noise of the day. Mackenzie Lueck moved through her morning the same way she always did, coffee in hand, scrolling through her phone, planning her classes and her next trip. She was twenty-three, full of plans and ideas that reached far beyond Utah.

Her friends described her as confident and caring, a young woman who never hesitated to help someone or chase what she wanted. Mackenzie Lueck loved her family, her dog, and the thrill of trying new things. To anyone who knew her, Mackenzie’s life looked ordinary and good. The kind of life that was still being built, still stretching forward with promise.

She never guessed that the phone in her hand, the same one that connected her to friends, would also connect her to a man she should have never met. A message. A plan. A late-night meeting that seemed harmless at first.

What Mackenzie did not know was that her fate had already been sealed. It had been written in the eyes of a boy who once watched a brutal murder many years ago.

Ayoola Ajayi was fifteen when the shouting started. The noise pulled him to the window, where smoke rose like a living thing over the rooftops. Outside, the crowd had gathered in a circle. Men with torches. Women with covered mouths. The heat from the fire made the night shimmer.

At the center of it all, a man begged for mercy. His clothes were soaked, his face slick with fear, his arms tied to a post that stood like a warning. No one listened. The boy stood still, his hands pressed to the glass as the mob threw the first flame. The light caught fast. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.

People shouted things that sounded like words but meant nothing. Some laughed. Some turned away. The boy did neither. He watched until the man stopped moving and the flames died down to embers. He remembered the silence that followed more than the noise.

Later that year, it happened again. Different town. Different man. This time it was someone the boy knew. A friend of his father. The mob burned him, too. The boy did not cry. He only stared, memorizing the way the fire licked the skin and the way it left nothing behind.

When the smoke cleared, something inside him stayed warm. It was not comfort. It was something else. Something that whispered, remember this.

Years passed, but the fire never left him. It followed quietly, tucked behind his thoughts like a shadow that never stopped watching. He learned to smile in photographs and speak softly when people asked about his childhood. No one ever asked what he had seen.

He grew into a man who understood how to look ordinary. He went to school, worked quiet jobs, and kept his apartment clean. He held doors for strangers and waved to neighbors. To anyone passing by, he was polite, kind, and harmless. The kind of man who could fade into a crowd.

When the memories grew heavy, he wrote. At first, it was only notebooks filled with fragments of dreams and violent shapes. Over time, the pages turned into something more. He gave his words a title and called it Forge Identity. The story told of a boy who had watched a man burn and learned to live with the fire inside him.

Mackenzie Lueck had always trusted her instincts. She was cautious, but she also believed in people. Online, she kept her distance, never sharing more than she had to, but loneliness has a way of bending rules. The night she met him, she had just come home from her grandmother’s funeral. Her flight had landed late. Her messages were brief. One last text. One last meeting before she tried to sleep.

He told her he understood loss. He said he had been through it too. His voice in their messages was calm and comforting, the kind that seems to know when to pause. She agreed to meet him at Hatch Park, a quiet place in the early hours where no one would notice two cars parked close together.

Her friends would later say she looked tired that day but in good spirits. She had plans for the week ahead. There was nothing unusual. Her phone’s last location pinged at 3 a.m. Then the signal went dark.

It’s hard to imagine what happened…

via Salt Lake City Police Department

It was late when Mackenzie’s plane landed. After a long flight home from California, she was tired and numb from the weight of her grandmother’s funeral. The airport felt empty at that hour, just a handful of travelers moving through the fluorescent light. She texted her parents that she had landed safely, then sent another message to someone else.

She picked up her luggage and drove through quiet streets toward Hatch Park. The clock on her dashboard crept past two in the morning. The park sat still in the darkness, trees barely moving, only a few lights flickering near the entrance. She parked and waited.

His car pulled up beside hers. A simple hello. The kind of small talk that fills empty space when two people are still strangers. He smiled, and for a moment, she relaxed. The night air was cool and heavy with the smell of wet grass.

Then something gave her pause. A question that sounded rehearsed. A tone that did not match the words. Her pulse quickened. The conversation slowed to awkward pauses, the kind that make the world feel smaller.

He asked her to come with him, just for a while, to talk somewhere private. Every instinct in her body told her no. She hesitated, her hand on the car door, trying to decide whether to leave. But she did not want to seem rude. She had met him voluntarily. People were not supposed to turn that dangerous that quickly.

The park was quiet. No traffic. No footsteps. Only her own reflection in the car window and the faint hum of crickets in the dark.

What happened next would never be fully known. The phone that had guided her there would go silent minutes later. The park would stand empty by sunrise, the grass flattened in two places where cars had once been.

Mackenzie Lueck was gone.

By morning, Ayoola Ajayi had returned to his house in Salt Lake City. Neighbors saw him dragging something heavy across the yard. The smell of smoke drifted over fences and through open windows. Some thought he was burning trash. Others thought it was wood. No one imagined what the fire really was.

When police searched his backyard days later, they found the remains. Charred bone. Blackened soil. Fragments of the girl who had trusted too easily.

He told them nothing. He didn’t cry. The same quiet he had carried since he was fifteen filled the room again. The boy who once watched the fire burn had learned how to build one of his own.

When detectives entered his house, they found order. Everything in its place. Dishes washed, counters clean, lights dim. It looked like a home belonging to someone who valued calm. But calm can hide rot.

In a back room, they found notebooks stacked neatly beside his computer. The same name appeared over and over. Forge Identity. The manuscript described fire, secrecy, and a man who could erase himself. The story’s hero watched people burn to death and believed the flames could cleanse the world.

The detectives kept reading. The words blurred with the details surrounding the death of Mackenzie Lueck. Fire pits. Late-night arrivals. The quiet satisfaction of control. It was not fiction anymore. It was confession in disguise.

When they searched online, they discovered he had published the book through Amazon months before the murder. The description told of a boy who had witnessed a burning and grown into a man haunted by it. The investigators compared the book to what they had found in his yard. The fire had returned, stronger than before, guided by the same hand that had once trembled against the window.

He had written his story before he lived it.

News of the arrest spread fast. His face was everywhere. The quiet man from Salt Lake City was suddenly a headline, a villain, a name tied forever to the woman he killed. Reporters crowded outside his home, filming the place where the fire had burned. Neighbors stared through their blinds, whispering about how normal he had always seemed.

In court, he said little. He looked down, blinked slowly, and listened as the charges were read. Murder. Kidnapping. Desecration of a body. There was no emotion in his voice when he spoke to the judge. He had already retreated somewhere deeper, the same place he had gone as a boy when the mob’s flames painted the sky.

Mackenzie’s parents sat in the courtroom, holding hands. They wanted answers that would never come. There is no explanation for that kind of cruelty, only silence where humanity should be.

After his plea, Amazon removed Forge Identity. The book that mirrored his violence disappeared from the internet. But the story he had written lived on in the evidence. It became proof that evil can rehearse itself long before it acts.

He was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of freedom. The smile that once looked polite now felt like a mask stretched too tight. Somewhere behind it, the boy who watched the fire still waited for the next spark.

What Mackenzie Lueck was looking for through a sugar dating site is anyone’s imagination. Maybe she wanted someone who would take care of her. Maybe she thought Ayoola was the man for the job. It’s hard to tell. What’s clear is that she walked into the life of someone who already had darkness waiting for her.

This story strikes a similar chord with Joker Joker Deuce, a psychological thriller that is a must-read this Halloween. Jeph is on a dating site, scrolling through profiles, looking for something that feels real. Every time he reaches out, he gets ignored or rejected, and in his mind, that rejection turns cruel. He convinces himself the women are teasing him, laughing at him, playing games. That belief is what puts him in motion.

Ayoola had different motives for what he did, but Jeph snapped just the same. And now he has his eyes on Tracy. Like Mackenzie Lueck, she has no idea what’s coming or what she’s about to go through.

For this Halloween, you deserve a good thrill – Joker Joker Deuce.

The post The Fire He Carried: The Murder of Mackenzie Lueck appeared first on Michael Allen.

Taylor Swift Gracefully Holds The Spotlight Together Despite Trolls

Taylor Swift has released her latest album The Life of a Showgirl, and with it, she continues to redefine what it means to be an artist in the modern world. She is not just a performer or a celebrity. She is a phenomenon. Few ever reach the level of fame she has built, and even fewer manage to stay there with the kind of balance and grace that she shows every day. Taylor is operating in a space that most people cannot even imagine. It’s not just about talent anymore. It’s about endurance, strength, creativity, and an unshakable sense of who she is.

Her success has become something more than commercial. It is cultural, emotional, and personal for millions of people around the world. Every song she releases becomes part of a larger story that her fans feel deeply connected to. She carries herself with a mix of vulnerability and control that makes her both relatable and untouchable at the same time. She has built an empire around music, love, and storytelling, and she wears the weight of it all like it belongs to her.

The Elizabeth Taylor Parallel

One of the most striking things about Taylor’s new album is her comparison to Elizabeth Taylor, which also happens to be the title of one of her tracks. It is not a random reference. Elizabeth Taylor was the kind of Hollywood legend who lived her life on display. She was adored, criticized, and analyzed at every turn, and she still managed to remain an icon of grace and power. Taylor Swift sees herself reflected in that.

Like Elizabeth Taylor, she understands what it means to live in front of the world. Every decision she makes is dissected. Every outfit becomes a headline. Every lyric sparks debate. Yet she keeps showing up, smiling, and performing with authenticity. The connection between the two women runs deeper than fame. Both have a timeless quality that makes them seem like they belong to a different era altogether. Both have turned their personal stories into art that resonates across generations.

When Taylor Swift sings about Elizabeth Taylor, she isn’t just referencing another celebrity. She’s acknowledging a shared burden and a shared resilience. She sees herself as part of a lineage of women who have learned to survive under the brightest and harshest lights.

The Music that Defines Her

Taylor’s music has evolved over time, but the one thing that has never changed is her authenticity. Whether it’s heartbreak, revenge, hope, or pure joy, she writes it all in a way that makes her audience feel seen. She can take a private moment and turn it into a universal feeling. That is what separates her from everyone else.

Her sound has shifted from country to pop to indie and beyond, but it has always felt like her. Every new project she releases shows another side of her story. With The Life of a Showgirl, it feels like she has reached a point of reflection. She knows the kind of world she lives in now. She knows what it takes to keep it all going. She knows the price of fame and the strength it demands. Her songs are both celebration and confession, and that’s what makes them powerful.

I’ve always loved her music. There is a rare honesty in it. Even when she is being playful or sarcastic, there is truth underneath. Every line has intention. Every melody carries weight. She understands that art is not just about perfection. It’s about connection.

Her Humor and Humanity

One of the most underrated parts of Taylor Swift’s personality is her sense of humor. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, which is remarkable for someone living under a microscope. She jokes about her mistakes, laughs at the chaos that follows her, and finds joy in the absurdity of fame.

Her humor makes her human. It reminds people that she’s not a machine built for stardom. She is a person who still gets embarrassed, still feels awkward, still gets caught off guard by life. That self-awareness makes her even more magnetic. When she smiles, you can feel it. When she pokes fun at herself, you sense that she has learned how to survive by staying lighthearted in a heavy world.

Humor is a form of strength. It takes resilience to laugh in the face of scrutiny. Taylor Swift has mastered that art. Her jokes, interviews, and onstage banter show that she understands how to disarm the pressure with wit. That’s part of why people love her. She doesn’t try to be perfect. She just tries to be real.

via Instagram/Taylor Swift

The Mystery of the Haters

I will never understand her haters. Every time she rises, someone tries to tear her down. It’s almost as if people are more comfortable watching someone fall than watching them succeed. But Taylor Swift doesn’t give them that satisfaction. She keeps thriving.

The criticism she faces says more about the culture than it does about her. People project jealousy, frustration, and insecurity onto those who shine too brightly. Taylor’s success challenges people to confront their own limits. That is why some react with negativity. But she does not respond in anger. She responds with art.

Each time she is criticized, she turns it into fuel for her next project. That is power. Her songs like Shake It Off, Look What You Made Me Do, and even the deeper cuts from her latest albums all show that she understands how to take pain and transform it into creativity. She turns every insult into another verse and every doubt into another reason to stand taller.

Strength Built Under Pressure

Taylor’s strength is what truly sets her apart. No one else could carry the weight that she does. Fame at her level is not something you can train for. It tests your mental health, your relationships, your boundaries, and your sense of self. Yet she keeps going.

It’s like working out in a gym. The more you lift, the stronger you get. Over the years, the weight of her stardom has grown heavier. Every album release, every tour, every public relationship adds more to that load. But she has grown stronger right alongside it. She has learned how to manage it, how to balance it, and how to rise above it.

If anyone else were put in her position, they would crumble in half a heartbeat. The constant attention, the pressure to perform, the judgment from millions of strangers, it’s too much for most people. But Taylor was built for it. She did not just inherit fame. She earned it, learned from it, and adapted to it. That is what makes her unstoppable.

The Grace Behind the Glamour

People talk about her relationship with Travis Kelce, and it’s sweet to see her happy. But none of that changes who she is at her core. She could surround herself with the best support system in the world. She could have bodyguards, friends, and assistants managing every part of her life. Yet at the end of the day, she still feels the pressure.

Fame is isolating, even when you’re loved by millions. But Taylor carries it with grace. She keeps her composure when others would break. She smiles when the spotlight burns. She continues to show gratitude and humility despite having every reason to grow jaded. That’s the mark of true strength.

What makes her extraordinary isn’t that she has it all. It’s that she handles it all. The grace she shows under that kind of pressure is what makes her such an inspiration. The Life of a Showgirl is not just a title. It’s her life. It’s her story. And she’s still standing tall in the center of it.

via Instagram/Taylor Swiftvia Instagram/Taylor Swiftvia Instagram/Taylor Swiftvia Instagram/Taylor Swiftvia Instagram/Taylor Swiftvia Instagram/Taylor Swiftvia Instagram/Taylor Swift

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