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.