Under a Thunder Moon (5 page)

              “What’s that Katrina?” Jim went to pull at the zipper of her dress. “I was under the impression you wanted to show me something.”

              “You are so bad Jim,” Katrina said, tugging on his arm. Katrina pulled her cell phone out of her purse. “This is what I saw in the parking lot tonight. Here is the picture I took.”

              Jim took her cell phone and looked at the picture of his friend Trailer Park and his girlfriend Alyssa. They were kissing next to her car. He was furious, but kept his cool. He had his revenge planned out and this changed nothing. It fueled an already raging fire, but gave him something else to torture them with.

              “Hey can you send that picture to this phone Katrina.”

             
“Yes Jim why,” Katrina asked, but was already getting ready to do it, as Jim told her the number.

              In an instant the picture was sent to Paul’s cell phone. Jim then text messaged Alyssa sending her the picture with the caption that read…

             
“THAT’S RIGHT I KNOW BITCH!”

              Then Jim text another message that read…

              “YOU ARE GOING TO DIE BITCH!”

              Jim erased the messages and the picture from Trailer Park’s cell phone. “Hey send that picture to my cell phone Katrina.” Then he told her the number to his cell phone and she sent it.

              “You aren’t mad at me for telling you this stuff. Are you Jim?”

             
“Don’t ask crazy questions Katrina. It’s all good. Just let’s not mention this anymore tonight, because tonight is all about you and me having a good time. Are you into that?”

             
“Hell yeah baby!”

             
Katrina wrapped her arms around Jim’s waist. Jim draped his arm around her shoulder. They walked back into the boat house.

              “Good… so let’s have some drinks, sing some songs, and then if you’re lucky baby… I’ll rock you till dawn. Are you feeling lucky Katrina?”

             
“Yeah I am feeling lucky,” Katrina said, with a shy flirty smile, “but are you sure you can handle me?”  Then Katrina leaned up and kissed him.

              Paul saw Jim and the chick heading back to the Boat House. He did not want to know what they were talking about, but at the same time he did.

              “Hey Trailer Park,” Jim said, as he passed him. “Is the van unloaded?”

             
“Yeah Jim it is.”

             
“So then you ready to get loaded? Jizzy up them beers Trailer Park?”

             
“Hold on I’ll get’em,” Paul said. Then Paul headed to the back to get a round of beers for everyone.

              When Paul got back the guys were already set up for the after show acoustic jam. Paul handed out Budweiser’s to Tyler, Mike, and their “dates” for the night. Then he gave one to Jim. As he turned to take a seat Jim said, “Hey Trailer Park.”

Here it comes Paul thought. “What’s up Jim?”

              “I found your cell phone… you must have dropped it.”

              “Thanks,” Paul said, and took it from Jim. He looked Jim over and got nothing in the way of you are a dead man, but then again he wouldn’t. Jim is a psychopath like that. The nicer he is to you, the deeper the shit you are in with him. Then it’s just waiting for the axe to fall.

             
Paul looked at the cell phone.

             
“Is there a problem Trailer Park?”

             
“No Jim, I was just noticing that my battery charge was very low.”

11

             
Alyssa waited impatiently
to hear back from Paul, while smoking a cigarette on the couch. She was relieved to hear her cell phone buzz with a new text message from Paul. As she read “THAT’S RIGHT I KNOW BITCH” a knot began to form in her stomach. The next message she received was a picture of her and Paul kissing in the parking lot. The tension she felt increased like a hot steel cable tearing her in half from the inside out. Alyssa felt cold and her hands began to tremble. Her cell phone buzzed again. Alyssa was terrified to read the next message, but read it anyway. The message read…

             
“YOU ARE GOING TO DIE BITCH!”

              Her living room began to spin like The Gravitron at The Adventure Land Amusement Park. She felt like she was going to throw up again. This is not good she thought to herself. Jim is on the warpath. Where is Paul?

             
“Oh my God I am going to be sick.” Alyssa jumped up from the couch charging towards the bathroom. She tripped over her cat, and crashed hard onto the bathroom floor. She quickly lifted the toilet seat lid just as she puked.

              Emotionally drained Alyssa sat back against the bathtub and wondered what the hell she should do. Jasmine came up to her and curled up on her lap. Alyssa thoughtlessly petted her as she considered calling the Police.

              “Oh Jasmine what should I do?

If I call the Police it won’t matter, and the messages came from Paul’s phone anyway
. So there is no proof it was Jim, but I know it is Jim.

I know Jim is torturing me.
It is pointless to call Paul, because Jim has his phone. How did Jim get that picture of us? How did I get into such a damn mess? More important how do I get out?”

              “I suppose I could call the Police and tell them to go to the Boat House. Although I am sure Jasmine that Jim would expect me to do that. So if the cops show up there won’t be anything going on accept them jammin’ and drinking some beers. Jim would know why they were there and would be laughing about it. I just got this uneasy feeling that Paul is in some real trouble, but I don’t know what to do.”

              “I know what I will do Jasmine,” Alyssa said, staggering to her feet. “I will drive to the Boat House and see if anything weird is going on. If there is I will call the Cops. If not I’ll just wait until Paul leaves and then tell him that Jim knows about us. Then we can figure out what we are going to do.”

              Alyssa grabbed her car keys and headed for the door as her cat got under foot again, and pawed at her leg. “Look out Jasmine,” Alyssa said, pushing past her cat, and shutting off the light. “I’ll be back in a little bit,” she told her cat, while closing the door.

             
Alyssa checked the time as she backed out of the driveway, and headed south on Commack Road. It was 1:00 AM. I will be at the Boat House in ten minutes. Alyssa was terrified about what she might find when she got there. She hoped her suspicions were wrong and that Paul was safe.

              Alyssa turned right on Main St. and fidgeted with the car stereo as she drove. She slowed to a stop at the red light on the corner of Main St and Maple Avenue. She was so close to the Boat House and it felt like an eternity before the light changed. Finally she was able to make the left turn.

              Alyssa cut the headlights as she slowed to a stop outside the boat yard, and turned off the car. She lowered the passenger side window. She could hear Jim singing
I Used to Love Her
from Guns-N-Roses.

             
Alyssa also heard some girls singing along too. “What the hell are those bitches doing in there?” Alyssa said to herself. “I should go in and… do what? Get me and Paul killed?”

              She lit a cigarette and listened to the band play. Maybe Jim will hook up with some new girl tonight she thought, and break up with her tomorrow? That would be the easiest way out of all of this. Alyssa began to cry about that. “How did this happen? I didn’t want to lose Jim.”

              Alyssa stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray. She was as burnt out as her cigarette. Resting her head on the seat, her eyes felt heavy. “Damn what a fucked up night” she said to herself. Alyssa closed her eyes to rest a minute. She took a deep breath of the summer night air, as she faded off to sleep.

12

             
“Slut…

             
              Bitchin’

             
                            Fussin’

             
                                          Pissin’”

              Jim sang this to count the tempo of the song, as he percussively struck the muted strings. Everyone came in together on the one as The Howlers did an acoustic version of Gun’s-N-Roses
,
I Used to Love Her
.  Jim sang…

“I used to love her

But I had to kill her…

I used to love her,

But I had to kill her

I had to put her

Six feet under,

And I can still hear her complain…”

              Katrina, April, and Jenny got up and started dancing as The Howlers played on. The girls joined in and sang with Jim…

“I used to love her,

But I had to kill her

I used to love her

I knew I’d miss her

So I had to keep her

She’s buried right in my backyard…”

              Jim went into a lead as Mike backed him on the Bass guitar, and Tyler kept time on the congas. Katrina and Jenny danced close together, playing seductively. April lit a joint. She blew the smoke into Mike’s face, and then passed it to Tyler. Jim and the girls began to sing the next verse.

“I used to love her

But I had to kill her

I used to love her

But I had to kill her

She bitched so much

She drove me nuts

And now I’m happier this way…”

              Jim went into another lead. Paul sat back, watched the girls dance, and drank his beer. Paul thought to himself that maybe these bitches weren’t going to say anything. They are here partying with the band. Maybe Jim will hook up with this Puerto Rican hottie and dump Alyssa anyway. No harm no foul. Plus the band is getting ready sign with a label. So they’ll probably dump him as a roadie too. So why worry Paul thought. Just have a good time and tomorrow Alyssa will come by … it will all work out. Then Paul stumbled his way over to Tyler to get a hit off of the joint. Tyler passed it to Paul, who took a hit, and passed it back to April. Then everyone joined in on the last verse of the song…  

“I used to love her

But I had to kill her

I used to love her

But I had to kill her

I had to put her

Six feet under

And I can still hear her complain…”

             
When the band finished playing Katrina got to Jim before they could start another song. She leaned in close and whispered in his ear, and then taking Jim by the hand she led him outside towards the docks.

              “Well,” April said laughing, “I don’t think we are going to see them anymore tonight.” Then she passed the joint back to Trailer Park and headed over to Mike. She wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him.

              Tyler grabbed Jenny and carried her off to a back room. Jenny screamed, then laughed pretending to resist. Mike led April away to a boat just outside. Paul slumped down on the couch in the front office of the boat house, and finished smoking the joint. He decided he was too wasted to drive and figured he would sleep off his buzz on the couch.