The Ninth: Sequel

Part 6. No way back

It started to rain; dark clouds hung almost overhead. It was only a couple of hours before sunrise. Among the black branches of the woods unknown to Hal before, stood a very dark house, and he and Darla entered it.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Why do you care?" she said rudely.

"I at least want to know where I am. It's already clear from the rain that you took me away from Oregon.

"Well then. Since you're so interested. We're in Redding. If you know where it is, of course."

"Northern California? What do you need here?"

"You know the map. Good. I've been enjoying it here lately, that's why we're here. Although I was thinking of taking you to Dallas again. And we need to do a clean-up here. For our benefit, of course."

"A clean-up?"

"Uh-huh. But it will be after sunset. Now we stay and spend the night here. And after the clean-up, we will go back to Endhill. We need to figure out what happened there and who dared to touch any of my people."

"Why should I do this with you again?"

"Don't ask too many questions. Rest time now."

Darla slammed the door of one of the rooms right in his face.

Hal sat down on a chair and clutched his head. He clearly didn't want to do it again like in the 1930s. But her influence was much stronger. Yes, back then, for the first 5-7 years he had liked it. But then he'd started to understand that this was a real horror. It was important to think of how to deceive Darla and how to escape. And also think of what could happen in Endhill.

- - - - -

Dean and Dana were walking through the park. It was slowly getting light already, the clouds were dispersing, and the sun was about to rise. He shuffled along and looked down at his feet.

"What the hell is going on," he said in an undertone, "Where do I live now..."

"Why are you even asking this? You can stay with me. It's not a problem," Dana reassured him.

"My love, it's wonderful. But the house is full of humans. How do I live next to humans? It's on the verge of fantasy."

"Weird question. Wanna ask me how do I live next to humans, given the fact that I'm still new?"

"By the way, I'm interested now. How?"

"I feel good in my apartment, I have already adapted. But it's still difficult to go out. I hold my breath often, I try to think about literally anything. How did I go to work by the bus? I sat as far away from everyone as possible. Headphones on. And full focus on the lyrics of the songs. Yes, Dean, I have been fighting like that for more than a month. And I'm still fighting."

He lowered his head with guilt.

"I don't even want to imagine it, knowing that you went through all this without me. That I wasn't there, that I left you. That I was with someone else."

"But it wasn't you."

"It wasn't me..."

"Let's go already, huh."

After a short pause, both moved towards the house.

- - - - - - - - - -

A day passed. It was an early frosty morning.
The sun was illuminating the clouds from the other side. Dean sat in the corner of the couch, where the sun wouldn't reach him, and he was silently staring at the wall. Dana paced back and forth in the kitchen, making herself a light breakfast.

"Why are you so quiet? Would you like something? Dean? Hey..."

"Yeah... The same as you. Listen, Dana... I wish I stood there with you now. Wish I could see the day light. Why the hell after more than eleven years, this question started to bother me again?"

He sighed in disappointment and then smiled.

"What is your full name?"

"Daniela Lauren Jones... Why?"

"Okay. I want to tell you a thing, miss Daniela Lauren Jones. Some people look for the meaning of life for years. They look for love, for their person. They look for happiness. It took me eleven years considering that now I am 32 years old, turning 33 soon. In moments when I mercilessly killed everyone who crossed my path, I often thought... that I wish I had someone who would wait for me at home. Who would think about me. Who would care about me. I had girls who I kinda liked, but something always got in the way. In 90% of cases it was my uncontrollable desire to kill. And when I stumbled upon you, I almost lost my mind. I had to follow you, I didn't know how to approach you. But I want you to know one thing now. That I..."

Dean got up and walked as close to Dana as he could, getting down on one knee. Suddenly, he took out a small black velvet box from the pocket of his hoodie.

"Don't even ask me where I got it from or how. I want to spend an eternity with you. Always and forever. Will you marry me, miss Jones?"

Tears slowly flowed from Dana's eyes.

"And now she's standing there defiantly, terrorizing me with her presence in the sun!"

Dean pulled the hood over his head, quickly ran up to her and dragged her back to the dark corner.

"It's just gorgeous..." Dana said in a stunned voice, putting it on her finger.

"Does it count as yes?" Dean asked slyly.

Dana looked at him through tears of joy.

"It does count as yes," she replied.

He smiled from ear to ear.

"Then welcome to life, Mrs. Lawrence, we're just getting started..."

Being way too happy and excited, Dean completely forgot where Hal was and sent him a message, thereby making a terrible mistake.
"Hal, I'm getting married! You won't believe it!"

At the other end of the line, hearing the sound of a notification, Darla immediately grabbed Hal's phone and read the message aloud.

"Who is it? Who texted me that?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter. We're going to a wedding that won't happen. Instead, I'll arrange ours. And I already have a plan," Darla smiled.

- - - - - - - -

A couple of weeks later. January 10, 2022.

"I hope it's not what I think it is?" Dana took a bill from the table.

"What do you think? I booked the entire Corona for this wonderful day... oh, right, night," Dean laughed, "Let's remember it forever. I invited everyone we both know. Me, you, Martha, Ellie, Kayla, Hal, Nate, your friend Bella, Kevin - a security guard from your office, well... that's the list."

"I really do know everyone, but... who is Ellie? I hear this name for the first time."

"New bartender at Corona. She works with Martha. You killed Skeet, so now she took his place. Martha couldn't do it all alone."

"But I don't know her, and you invited her. So you know her... right?"

"Well, I popped into a couple of times when she was working. Oh no... I didn't tell you. Corona is my bar, I'm the owner."

Dana's face was filled with surprise.

"What? How long?"

"For five years, I think."

"Do you do job interviews and assign everyone to work?"

"Absolutely. In my bar, I need decent, beautiful faces. She asked to join us like a week ago, and I agreed."

"You've got so many skeletons in the closet... Dean, I'm still telling you, I don't know who Ellie is. What place does she have in there?"

"Dana, you don't trust me? It's gonna be fun. Ellie makes great cocktails, by the way. You'll love it, I'm sure."

Dean wrapped his arms around Dana's waist.

"Look at you, you're jealous," he smiled.

"What? No. I'm not," she denied.

With a smile on her face, Dana dodged out of his hands and went to the closet to find clothes. Meanwhile Dean opened a bottle of beer, leaning against the windowsill in the kitchen. At that moment, he got a text.

"See you tonight?"