The Midnight Within

Chapter 2

There they were again. The white-haired singer and his taller dark haired guitarist who could make even mommy stop what she was doing and turn her head to watch when they came on the little TV in the kitchen, of course mommy would always change the channel to General Hospital, or one of her talk shows, telling Jessie she was not allowed to watch YouTube anymore, although not until after the pair had collapsed into a heap together on the floor of whatever sticky beer stained stage they were on.

Trez, her brother's friend looked a lot like the singer, with his messy white hair and clear blue eyes. Jessie had quite the crush on Trez, a fact that she would deny whenever that nasty Katie Carver teased her about it. Boys were gross, always spitting, swearing or pulling her pigtails, although her brother Daniel's friend Zakk had a nice brother who was in her class. She liked Alex because he never teased her and had even given her candy on Valentines day. She liked Alex almost as much as the singer with the odd name-Ghost.

Reaching for the milk, Jessie poured it carefully over her cereal and carried it to the sunlit breakfast nook. In all the years she had been getting herself up and off to school by herself she had only spilled twice, a fact she was immensely proud of. On the little TV her favorite band had been replaced by the man with the different colored eyes, her brother's favorite singer. She knew this because of all the posters in Daniel's room and because her step-father was always muttering under his breath about how bad it all was. She didn't know if Nick meant the man who wore bright red lipstick or the posters on the wall. Both of which made her uneasy.

Four bites in she glanced up at the special Micky Mouse clock Nick had given to her on her last birthday. He had talked real slow as he told her that now that she was eight, she was expected to be on time for school all by herself, like a big girl. Jessie hated the clock. She did not need it to get herself up or to school. Of course her mother had scolded her. Reminding her to be gracious and thank him anyway. It was something that if done right, could make the pinched look on Nicks face go away for a little while. Jessie tried very hard to be good and make her parents happy, if only her brother would try to do the same.

Finished she stood up, cast a longing last glance at the TV, walked her bowl to the sink and made her way through the living-room to the bottom of the stairs. Her shoes and backpack sat on the bench by the door. Putting her shoes on she listened for the sounds of movement and was greeted by a long stretch of silence. She didn't want to go up those stairs but she also knew that if Daniel was late again Nick would put him in detention, or worse suspend him from school. Having to go to school and have a parent be your principal was a big deal for Jessie. It protected her from the bullies but while at school, once out of school she was on her own. Luckily they were all afraid of Zakk and Daniel so they left her pretty much alone.

Grabbing her backpack, the pink one with the Hello Kitty and Lost Souls stickers, she headed up the stairs, wishing she would see her mother in her tattered blue robe but the landing was empty and both bedroom doors were closed. She was going to miss the bus for sure now but that was ok with Jessie. It was a beautiful fall day and she could enjoy the decorated houses on the way. Daniel's friend, Mia always went all out for Halloween, decorating her small duplex with a mock graveyard and lots of skeletons. It was easily the best decorated place in town. She loved to imagine being able to do that to their house but Nick didn't like decorations, saying that it was offensive to others, and a waste of money. Whatever that meant.

Lingering outside Daniel's door, she wondered if her mother was even awake yet. Now that mommy worked nights, they hardly ever saw her; even on her days off she would be out with Trez's mom on a cocktail lunch and they wouldn't see her until late at night. It made Jessie feel sad but Daniel always told her not to feel bad, that some parents just didn't know how to be parents. She didn't understand that either but loved Daniel for trying to cheer her up and was happy to have him around as much as she did. She knew she was lucky, that's why it was so hard to deal with Nick and his moods. Nick was something she was not going to think about right now either.

Trying to be quiet Jessie inched open Daniel's bedroom door. It was always so dark in there and the posters made her feel like they wanted to reach out and grab her. Daniel hadn't always liked his room this way but when they moved from California to Minnesota, he had begun to like new music and had a new set of friends. He was still nice to her though so she hadn't minded the change. Going into his room now made her want to run screaming down the hall to her own pink bedroom, filled with her favorite dolls and stuffed animals.

Trying to be brave, Jessie pushed open the door, stepping quickly across the threshold. Careful not to trip on the messy piles of cloths and scattered junk. Approaching the side of Daniel's bed she whispered loudly. " Danny? Are you up? You can't be late for school again."

Aware of her prescience, Daniel curled his naked frame tighter into a ball under the black blankets. The last thing he wanted was to be in school but if he didn't respond to her, she was apt to start poking at him. He managed to get one hand free and wave her away, but she kept talking.

" Get up Danny. Please. " Jessie grabbed the blanket.

" You don't want detention do you? Nick said you would be kicked out of school if you missed again."

Daniel rubbed his face as he sat up, letting the blanket falls away from his chest. "Why are we whispering? " He asked as he ran his black nailed hands through his messy black hair. He must have looked very bad for her to pull away from him with such wide blue eyes. It dawned on him then that she was seeing the fresh bruises from the night before.

"Did Nick do that?" She sounded scared as she edged backwards toward the open door.

"No kido, Zakk and I were roughhousing again." He hated to lie to her but didn't want her to know how bad things between him and their step father had gotten.

" You better go before you miss the buss and have to go to detention with me."

That seemed to ease the tension and make her giggle.

" Too late, snot-head. I already missed the bus. " Sticking out her tongue Jessie ran from the room, Halfway down she stopped, turned round and called up the stairs to him. " Don't forget you said you would help me carve my pumpkin tonight."

"I won't. "

" Promise! "

" I promise! Now go . "

Daniel listened to Jessie Pound the rest of the way down the stairs before grabbing a pair of jeans from the floor and slipped out of bed; still, only half awake. Reaching down into the pile of discarded cloths for an unwrinkled Korn T-shirt, pulling it down over his head he stepped to the full length mirror and grinned at the outline of his new nipple ring under his shirt.

Britt would pitch a fit but he didn't care, he loved it.

Quickly finger combing his hair, he grabbed his smokes and headed toward the bathroom. It had been yet another drunken night downtown with friends when they had stopped to look into lighted shop windows at one of Mia's new paintings and, Zakk had spotted a tattoo shop across the street, The rest was history. It might have been the perfect night had Nick not been waiting for him when he got home. Daniel's relationship with Nick was strained to stay the least and it didn't help that Nick was also the principal at the high school. Nick was on almost every committee in town and well liked by everyone. From the outside they were the perfect family, which was complete bullshit. The only reason he had not moved out was because of Jessie. As far as he knew Nick had not laid a hand on her and Daniel was afraid that would change if he did leave home for good.

Going down the back stairs he crossed the bright kitchen to grab a bagel off the counter. Zakk would be there at any moment, leaning on the horn if Daniel didn't come out right away. His hand was on the knob when Shannon Demorte spoke from behind.

" Hey Dan. We need to talk." She held a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and an ice pack in the other. She looked worse than he did and he wondered when she had gotten so old and washed out.

Shannon had once been the pride and joy of Hakke, otherwise known as that decaying little shit splat of a town on the other side of the lake. She had been prom queen, and all around star, until falling in love with the local bad boy, gotten knocked up and left town before she could graduate, only to return with, two kids and a divorce behind her. Now bitter, angry and looking more like a bag lady instead of a prom queen she was about to lay into her teenage son.

" We just don't know what to do with you any more. "

" Can we do this later? I'm late and you know how Nick loves to put me in detention."

Crossing his arms, Daniel leaned against the counter and gave her his best petulant stare.
His mother rolled her eyes at him. She could see he was trying to piss her off and it was working " Your father and I are really worried about you. You're out late every night, if you bother coming home at all. Your skipping schools and hanging out with that Myiah girl.

"It's Mia." Daniel dropped his gaze, examining his black painted fingernails. " Myiah is that playhouse DJ. "

"Whatever, I don't like it. Why would a thirty-year-old woman want to hang out with teenagers? Are you sleeping with her? Is she your dealer?"

Offended he picked up the lunch money Jessie forgot to take and said frostily, "She's more of a mother than you will ever be and Nick can kiss my white ass."

Shannon's fingers tightened reflexively around the steaming mug, her lips drawing down into a thin line. "Your smart mouth is another thing I don't like, Nick and I are worried sick and don't know what to do any more."

Daniel slipped his shades on, forced a weak smile for her and said, "You could try getting rid of him, he's a prick and you know it."

His mother dropped her angry gaze as she sipped at her coffee. She was trying to choose her words carefully. "Sure he can be a jerk but you don't understand him or even try for that matter. I would love for you to just try a little harder to follow our rules. "

" Nick is NOT my father and I am not going to follow HIS rules." Daniel exploded. "Maybe I should move out." Hurt that she blamed him for everything that was going wrong in her life he tossed the bagel onto the counter and stormed out to Zakk's waiting car in the driveway.

It was going to be a very long day. Unless he didn't go to school. It wouldn't be the first time he had ditched and probably wouldn't be the last. He was surprised that Nick had not thrown him out but that was because his mom did a pretty good job of convincing Nick to give him one more chance.

" How much do you not want to go to school today? "

Zakk ran a blue nailed hand through his faded blue hair and grinned over at his best friend. " About as much as I want a root canal. Why? "

" Because if I show up late, and we are going to late very late then Nick's going to put his boot in my face. He's been threatening to have me suspended and sent away. I really don't want to deal with it on such a nice day. "

It was going to be a beautiful day in the seventies with sunny skies and the first real color arriving on the trees all around the lake. There was no way either of them would have enjoyed sitting in class on such a nice October day. It was a day for hanging out in the park or cruising around town.

" You got something in mind? " Zakk produced a joint, lit it and handed it over to Daniel. He eased the mustang out into the street and headed towards the lake. He never needed an excuse to skip school and his mother wouldn't notice if he did. Zakk had always had decent grades when he applied himself which wasn't as much as the adults in his life wanted from him but he didn't care, as soon as they graduated they were out of here anyway. His dream was to be a chef somewhere in a big city cooking for one of the greats.

Disdain was a decently sized small town on the north end of lake Minnetonka. A quiet upper class suburb of the twin cities, but it wasn't all upper class, the side of town that Zakk and Daniel came from was more middle class than upper. The shops on the lake were trendy but if you went a few blocks in then you found your less expensive bookstores, junk shops and family owned eateries.

Lake Street was always busy in the summer with the influx of tourists but once school started it got pretty quiet in Disdain. The lake people closed up their cabins, headed home while the townie's got ready for fall and Football. It would be great if Zakk fit into that school pride thing but he had never been a small kid and his love of Horror had put him on the outside for most of his life. He was lucky though, he had grown up here. It was Daniel who had been an outsider, from California no less. Living with his mother and sister in a trailer at first and then with Nick after he married Daniels' mom. It made a great story to tell at fancy school functions except for one minor detail. Daniel was considered a delinquent. Of course that just made the gossips in town talk even more and it had drawn attention away from Zakk until he and Daniel had become friends.

Now it was looking like Daniel would be sent away yet here they were headed anywhere but the school. They passed the shuttered shops, banks and fancy bakeries. If they were to keep going he could drive all the way around the lake, passing dozens of small towns just like Disdain. It was depressing and Zakk needed to get out of the car. Pulling into a parking lot he didn't need to speak to Daniel to let him know this was their destination. Daniel could either sit in the car or follow him.

Shouldering his backpack Zakk took the keys from the ignition and got out of the Mustang. Luckily the gates of the Disdain memorial cemetery were open.