Chapter 28: Darkness comes sooner than you think…..

After several frenzied hours, packing, arranging with Steven to take care of the cats, and finding Michael to take them to the airport, Kate and Jessie were finally on their way. The phone had rung several times. Jessie forbade everyone from picking up the calls. Most of them were from Justin, pleading with Jessie not to do anything crazy. Each time he called, Jessie’s scowl deepened. Kate decided she would be happy when they were in the air, and away from all of the stress.

As soon as the plane left the ground, Jessie fell into an uneasy sleep. She kept having a foreboding feeling that they might be heading into more trouble. For some strange reason she suddenly started worrying about Gregory. No one had seen or heard about him for a while, and she kept feeling that he may have headed north. As far as the show was concerned, she knew for a fact that the studio would more than likely inform the affiliates to go into reruns until further notice.

Kate silently watched Jessie’s face while she slept. Her concern for her lover was growing by the moment. It seemed so out of character for Jessie to act so impulsively and put them on a plane so quickly. Kate resolved to speak to her about it later when they were settled.

A nervous thrill ran through Kate when she thought about where they were going. She hadn’t had a chance to notify anyone of the trip, so Laura, Kate’s parents, and even the caretakers of Jessie’s house would be surprised by their arrival. Michael attempted to argue with his sister before he dropped them at the airport, but it was to no avail. Jessie refused to listen. She just wanted out of there. Michael too had offered to contact the caretakers, but Jessie bluntly told him to mind his own business.

Before she could even get comfortably settled, Kate was shaking Jessie awake. Grumbling, she mumbled something about better planning, and then stretched and prepared to leave her seat. The plane was taxiing to its final stop next to the terminal, and the flight attendants were bustling around preparing the passengers to disembark.

San Francisco was sunny and warm, even for late fall. Kate could see the fog just beginning to roll over the hills to the west. She suddenly had a pang of regret that she couldn’t have at least let Laura know. The surprise would be fun though. Since it was so late in the day, Kate was able to convince Jessie that they should stop at Laura’s first, and stay there for the night before they went on to Jessie’s home near the coast.

Kate noticed that Jessie was beginning to relax finally. Stealing a glance at her while they walked swiftly to a car rental stand, Kate noticed the fine lines around Jessie’s eyes that had appeared earlier, were beginning to disappear. She was genuinely worried about her girlfriend. Jessie had grabbed Kate so abruptly, and just dragged her along as though she were a rag doll or a child. Kate had decided that it would do no good to approach her about it now, but later when they had a quiet moment, she was going to ask. That side of Jessie definitely scared her.

About an hour and a half south of where the two women were preparing to drive to Laura’s house, Gregory was, as usual, sitting in front of the computer. He had left Star staring blankly at the TV screen, sporting a fresh bruise or two. More and more her mere presence was enough to provoke him into some sort of uncontrollable rage. She interrupted his thoughts a short time before, and without thinking he had lashed out and knocked her to the floor. It was getting to the point, where Star was so numbed by the drugs that she barely even flinched.

Gregory considered this. If he kept her so saturated, that she was no longer reacting to pain or any other kind of stimulus, then she would not be a very good plaything for his very special friend "Baby Doll". He would have to come up with a better plan for Star, and quickly. If his calculations were correct, only two more weeks, and he would finally be rid of her. He would have his beloved Jessie back instead.

Switching to his E-mail account, he was pleased to see that he had quite a few stored up. He had joined several mailing lists, to wile away the time, and had become quite involved in their little communities. A few had to do with serial killers, and he had actually joined one or two of the Kendra Knight lists. It was amazing how much these people knew about the stars of the show, and each other for that matter.

Skimming the list, a small shiver ran through him as he recognized a message from Baby Doll, his partner in crime. Later he thought. Instead, he selected a post from someone called Lady Knight. This woman by far had the most information of anyone on the list. He knew she was a lesbian, because of her periodic references to her "girlfriend". Gregory entertained a small fantasy that this might even be his next target, Laura, Kate’s friend. Scanning the message she posted, he hit the reply button. Earlier in the day he had changed his E-mail identity to something less noticeable than the one he used on the serial killer lists.

GT <kndralvr@netglobeworld.com

Chuckling to himself, he clicked the send button. If this was the person he thought it was, it may end up being a lot easier than he thought to snare her. Judging by her participation on the mailing lists, she was pretty involved in the Internet communities, and very open about her lifestyle, and her opinions. He had discovered just now in this current post that "Lady Knight", writes fan fiction stories as well. Vowing to research this person more carefully, he decided that even if it wasn’t Laura, she might provide a good practice subject. Before the main event that is.

Working her way through traffic, Kate was surprised to see Jessie had dozed off again. Jessica had always been so easy going, quick to give her a smile, hard to ruffle. Now she was easily angered, and so tired. Duh! Of course…she’s exhausted. Man, I was afraid it was me she was upset with. Poor baby, well, if we don’t hear from the studio for a day or two, then maybe I can get her to rest. Geez, I can be so stupid sometimes. Her whole life gets turned inside out, and I’m worried about me!

"Hey…if you grip that steering wheel any tighter, you just might pull the whole thing off." Jessie smiled and whispered, one blue eye peeking from behind her sunglasses.

"I thought you were sleeping. I’m sorry, did I wake you?" Kate cast a glance in the rearview mirror while she changed lanes.

"No, I wasn’t really asleep. Actually, I owe you an apology. I realize I’ve been acting like some crazed wild woman. I hope I didn’t hurt you." The last word died on her breath, a glimmer of sadness surrounding it.

"Honey, it’s okay. I admit, you scared me there for a while, but I understand. If you look over the last few weeks, it is almost as though we have been living inside the eye of a hurricane. Every few hours or so we slip into the main stream, and get blown from one side to another. With all of the emotional ups and downs we’ve been through, it’s a wonder you didn’t blow sooner." Kate reached over and covered Jessie’s hand with her own.

"Yeah, well, I’m sorry anyway. I don’t know what has gotten into me. I guess I’m just tired. Tired of all of the BS that keeps getting shoved my way. Let me ask you something. Is it too much to ask just to have even a small semblance of happiness in my life? They attack you, they attack me. All I want is a safe happy life for both of us. Am I out of line here?" Jessie’s face had a look of extreme pain.

"No Jess, it’s not. You are a human being, and you have every right to be as happy as you want to be. Remember, I love you, and what ever I can do to make you happy, then that’s what I want to do. Exclusively! If I have to get a job at Taco Bell to feed us, then so be it. If we’re happy, then bring on the tacos." Kate gave Jessie her best "If I can convince you, I’ll convince myself" smile.

Grinning back, Jessie squeezed Kate’s hand. "Fair enough. But if you ever decide that tacos aren’t your bag, then let me know. I’ll see if I can get a job at one of those chicken places or something."

This information set off a round of hysterical giggles between the two. Kate almost missed their exit. Signaling, she stepped on the gas, and slipped the car into the next lane of traffic. Quickly heading for the exit, she downshifted, and spun the wheel with one hand, while downshifting again until she reduced them to a much more reasonable speed.

"Hey there, Ms. Andretti, be careful. I would hate for Laura to find out we’re here, by having to call her to scrape us out of the front seat of this car. Speaking of cars, are you sure this is all they had? I mean a Geo for crying out loud. I could almost be comfortable if I sat in the back seat, and hung my legs over this front." Jessie pinched Kate’s arm, to tell her she was just kidding.

"Yeah, well next time give me some more warning. It isn’t my fault we chose to disappear so quickly. The Bay Area gets a lot of traffic, and there wasn’t time. They said they would deliver a replacement as soon as the next one came in. Now, are you done picking on me? Because we are less than 5 minutes from our destination, and I wouldn’t want Laura to pound on you for being mean." Kate grimaced in her best threatening manner.

"Heh, Laura doesn’t scare me. She should be the one that’s scared." Jessie mock growled back at Kate’s threat.

"Hmmm, we’ll see." Kate’s eyes twinkled.

Laura was sitting in her usual spot at her computer, when April announced she was heading outside to water the plants. "Okay hon, I’m just going to answer this one post, and then I’ll join you."

Hitting her reply button, she quickly dashed out a note to this "kndraluvr" person. She was so wrapped up in her message; she failed to hear the sound of a small car pulling into her driveway.

Hitting the send button, Laura was startled out of her thoughts, when she heard April start to scream. Bolting out of her chair, Laura was at the front door and down the steps, before she realized that she had even stood up.

"What in the hell is going on out here? April! Where are you? Are you okay?" Laura shouted.

"I’m back here. I need you’re help, come out here now!" April shouted back, trying hard to cover the bad case of the giggles that were threatening to overwhelm her.

Laura skidded to a stop, and then reversed direction jogging towards the back yard. She saw April sitting on the ground in the gravel, and was immediately concerned that she had hurt herself somehow. So worried was she, that she failed to notice the two women crouching down behind the furniture stacked in the corner. Reaching for April, she was caught off guard when a pair of arms suddenly restrained her from behind.

Startled, Laura immediately began to struggle to be released. A second pair of hands came around and covered her mouth, to keep her from yelling so loud. Without thinking, Laura attempted to bite that hand. Failing to get a good grip on it she did the next best thing…licking the palm.

"Ewww, that was gross. Let her go Kate." Jessie was wiping her hand on the leg of her jeans.

"Ha, catch me will ya!" Laura shouted.

Kate released her, and waited until Laura’s brain caught up to the moment. Moments later, Laura’s brain did engage, and realized that one of her assailants had called the other Kate. Spinning in place, the expression on Laura’s face was enough to appease both of the friends.

"Aughhhh…you guys! When did you get here? What are you doing here?" Laura’s words all came out in a rush.

Holding Kate at arms length Laura quickly locked eyes with her friend. Time seemed to stand still as Laura evaluated Kate’s emotional well-being. Jessie, uncertain what was going on caught April’s attention signaling to her to explain. April got off the ground, and shrugging her shoulder signaled back to Jessie to wait and see.

When Laura was certain that Kate was okay, she pulled her into a warm hug and closing her eyes kissed her on the cheek. Feeling a rather menacing presence nearby, Laura opened her eyes and found herself inches away from a pair of blazing blue eyes that could only belong to one person. Separating from Kate, but never losing contact with those eyes, Laura suddenly fell backwards into the waiting arms of her lover April.

Jessie was the first to react. As April laid Laura on the ground Jessie pushed past Kate and kneeling over Laura felt her wrist for a pulse. Not readily finding one, she bent lower and turned her face to listen for Laura to breath. Suddenly she was pulled into an iron grip, and Laura was planting a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

"Grrr…do you always slobber on your guests?" Jessie growled.

Laura turned her loose, and accepting Jessie’s hand rose from the cement and stood for a moment refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Brushing herself off, she turned her back on Kate and Jessie for a moment. Laura choked back the small tears that were threatening to make an embarrassing appearance.

After regaining her composure, she turned back to face her friends. Extending her hand for a proper handshake, she was still unable to speak. Puzzled, Jessie took her hand and held it for a moment.

"Laura…?" Kate began.

Holding up her hand, Laura cleared her throat. "I only slobber on people I like. Normally I wouldn’t make quite such and idiot of myself in front of strangers. Honestly, I never in my life would have pictured myself doing that to you of all people Ms. Ryan. I must have lost my mind. I apologize."

Releasing Jessie’s hand, Laura bowed at the confused group, and excused herself. Walking up the back stairs to the mobile home, she disappeared inside.

Kate was stunned. Turning to April, she mouthed, "What was that?" April shrugged her shoulders. Moving closer to their friends, she whispered that if it didn’t come up in conversation later, that she would try to find a way to tell them what was bothering her lover.

Jessie was crestfallen. Here she is meeting Laura face to face for the first time, and she hurts the poor woman’s feelings. Sitting down in one of the chairs on the patio, she put her head in her hands to think. Kate and April had already followed Laura into the house. What happened here? Why was I so jealous, and offensive, and why was Laura so…silly? Hmmm, and why shouldn’t she be. Nervous, excited, and how many times has Kate told me that I am Laura’s ultimate idol. Of course she was silly. They don’t actually give lessons in star etiquette now do they? She was just trying to treat me like one of the gang, and I screwed it up.

While Jessie mentally bashed herself for being so mean, Laura took a peek out of her bedroom window, and noticed the actress still sitting where they had left her. Laura sighed. It would figure that Jessie would blame herself for Laura’s behavior. Opening the blinds and sliding back the window, Laura startled her guest from her thoughts.

"Stop beating yourself Jess. It isn’t you. It’s me." Laura said quietly.

Standing Jessie stepped up to the window. She was almost tall enough to look right in. "What’s up Laura? Why the show and all?"

"Honey, I’m having a real hard time right now. Life sucks, and I can’t seem to shake this feeling of impending doom. I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in at least a week now. Again, I’m sorry." Laura sighed, a fresh torrent of tears threatening to appear.

"Whoa, wait….don’t cry. What feelings of doom?" Jessie nerves began to clang.

"I’ve been having nightmares involving all of us, but specifically Kate. Something bad happens to her. I can never see what or who, but it certainly scares the daylights out of me." Laura wiped the tears on her sleeve.

"This is not good." Jessie sighed.

"Come on in, and let’s start over. Maybe it’s just me and my over active imagination." Laura gestured for Jessie to come in the back door.

Jessie turned to the door, and followed the others previous passage into Laura and April’s house. If she had thought that Kate was overly obsessed with her, she really had a surprise waiting for her inside.

Laura’s home was a jumble of knick-knacks, and Kendra Knight paraphernalia. Jessie stopped just inside the doorway, momentarily stunned by the wealth of goods scattered around the interior. It wasn’t overly garish, just cluttered. But, cluttered in a very homey, comfortable way. All of their furniture was large, cushy, with velvet upholstery, and recliners at the end of each piece. That way no one had to be uncomfortable when watching TV. Where there wasn’t couches or comfortable chairs, there were bookshelves, crammed full of paperbacks, and hard backs alike. Upon closer inspection, Jessie realized that most of them were either Sci-Fi/Fantasy, or Murder/Suspense.

The Kendra Knight collectibles were another thing all together. Laura had every doll, comic book, collector’s card and every other little toy or gift item with Jessica’s image on it. Laura’s computer even had a Kendra Knight screensaver running. Behind her, in the room she later discovered was primarily for the cats, she came across several posters, and the first standup that was released. Shaking her head, Jessie wasn’t sure how she was supposed to take all of this.

Kate crossed over and encircled Jessie’s waist. "See, I told you she was in love with you. Didn’t believe me did you? And trust me honey, she’s not nearly as obsessed as some people we know."

Jessie made a big show of being embarrassed by all of the attention. Bowing her head, she covered her eyes with one hand and shook her head back and forth. "I had no idea. When I first met Kate, I stumbled on to her "Kendra" shrine, but I never expected something like this. It’s a weird feeling being surrounded by yourself."

Finally gifting her friends with a smile, Laura offered to move them all into the living room. Fortunately the Kendra-abilia was less evident in that room. Following her, they all picked a cozy spot to sit, while April poured beverages for the group.

"So, who goes first? You guys and your sudden departure from the land of LA, or me and my sudden spate of insanity?" Laura started off the conversation.

Kate responded first. "Why don’t you go Laura. Since I won’t be able to sneak you off and make you tell me what’s bothering you, then you have to tell all of us. Besides, I think you scared poor Jessie here."

Elbowing Kate, Jessie spoke up in her own defense. "I wasn’t scared, bewildered maybe, but not scared."

Chuckling, Laura visibly relaxed. When April joined them, Laura told them her story. "Kate for your benefit, I’ve been having some pretty awful and disturbing dreams lately. All of them are similar, and all of them depict an individual determined to do some sort of serious harm to you. It’s been scaring me so much; I wake up before I can see who or what is happening. Between the nightmares, lack of sleep, job hunting and all the rest of life, I’m pretty beat. I guess I’m feeling a little out of control."

Visibly disturbed, Jessie interrupted. "Laura, can you tell if the person is a man or a woman?"

Pausing to think, Laura shrugged her shoulders. "I’m not sure, but I think it’s a man. Someone with a great deal of evil surrounding him."

"Second question…do your dreams normally come true?" Jessie’s voice was strained.

Looking Jessie straight in the eye, Laura said, "I’m not always certain. They cannot always be interpreted exactly to real life. I can be pretty intuitive though."

Kate sat there silently the whole time. Part of her wanted to be extremely scared of what she was hearing, and part of her wanted to yell the whole thing was "hogwash". She loved Laura, but she didn’t want to believe that anyone was intending her harm, or stalking her. Remembering the guy that had stalked Laura for a while, she wondered if that incident might be transferring itself into Laura’s dreams.

"Laura, could some of this be a hangover from when that guy was stalking you?" Kate inquired.

Shooting Laura an evil glare, April spoke up for the first time. "What guy stalking Laura? Honey, what is she talking about?"

Looking sheepish, Laura blushed, giving away the fact that she hadn’t informed April about her stalker. "It’s no big deal. Some guy was following me back when I was still working in Half Moon Bay. At least I’m pretty certain he was following me. He took a few pictures, and some notes, and then I stopped seeing him. I was thinking that maybe my former boss thought I was stealing from him or something. Really, its not a big deal, babe."

April was clearly unconvinced. "Dammit! I wish you would stop thinking of yourself as invincible. We should call the police."

"Look, its too late to call the police. It was a couple of weeks ago now, and I haven’t seen him since." Laura was wishing the subject had not come up.

Kate was busy trying to hide behind Tasha, the larger of Laura’s two cats. She was feeling guilty about spilling the beans to April, but she had told Laura when it happened that April should hear about it. And Laura promised to tell her. So, it wasn’t really Kate’s fault…but she realized too late that she probably should have waited for Laura to mention it, or at least ask her in private. Jessie could sense her lover’s discomfort, and reached over to grasp her hand. The cat shot her a look of "don’t you dare, she’s mine", but Jessie missed it.

Laura was trying desperately to redeem herself to April, in front of her friends. "Honey, really, I’m sorry. I just didn’t think it was worth getting you all upset. I mean it’s been a couple of weeks, and I haven’t had any more problems since. Please, let’s just forget about it, and I promise, I’ll never hold back on anything like this again. Okay?"

"You better not, or I’ll…well, just suffice to say it will piss me off big time, okay?" April kissed Laura’s cheek, but gave her a look that said, "This is not over, not by a long shot".

Petting the cat, Kate breathed a mental sigh of relief. While she scratched the cat’s neck, she discovered a small lump of some sort. "Laura? What’s this bump on Tasha’s neck? Right here behind her ear."

Laura chuckled grateful the subject had been so smoothly changed. "That my friend is a GST probe."

"A What!?" Jessie and Kate said simultaneously.

"A Global Satellite Tracking probe. You know how I am about the cats getting out. The last time Tasha got out, I slept on the chaise lounge on the patio, and waited all night for her to come back. I can’t face the possibility of losing them. No way! Anyway, it’s a small transmitter injected under the skin that uses satellite tracking to locate them. I can connect to the tracker program via the Internet, and after a few sweeps, it will map out their location. A lot of people are using them for pets, and even children. I know, silly but I can’t help it." Laura blushed again.

"So, enough questions about me. What in blazes are you two doing here a week early?" Laura asked.

"Well, it’s a little confusing, but we attended a board meeting this morning, and some Right Wing religious guy took over the meeting, and demanded that they find some way to fire Jessie. She saved them the trouble by quitting." Kate cast a sheepish glance in Jessie’s direction.

Laura’s eyes nearly bugged right out of her head. "WHAT!? You quit? Ohhhh Nooooo!"

Laura pretended to be devastated. "What will I do without Kendra Knight?"

Jessie blushed. "I don’t think they’ll really take me seriously. I mean they have a lot at stake here, even though I could be sued for breach of contract. I’m putting all my bets on Justin to protect me and the show, and by that protect himself. I chose to take this drastic action, because I have always put everyone else ahead of myself when it came to the show. I try really hard not to act like a primadonna, and I’ve had it. For the first time ever I have the opportunity to have a real life, and these guys are threatening me over it. Actually not all of them, just that jerk, Jack Everland."

The room was quiet for a moment, as everyone absorbed Jessie’s speech. Kate was the first one to speak up. "Jess, do you think they might fire me? Not that I care, except I won’t be able to be with you all of the time if they do. I’ll have to get Diane to find me another job."

Jess smiled at Kate giving her hand a gently squeeze. "I don’t think so. If they decide to see things my way, and invite me back, then I’ll make sure they don’t separate us."

Laura took that moment to direct everyone to the dining room table. Dinner was ready, and she didn’t know about the rest of them, but she was starving.

While the friends were sitting down to a rather large, sumptuous meal, Gregory was reading the mail from Baby Doll. He eyes grew large when he realized what Baby Doll was telling him. It seemed that they shared some low friends in high places.

Baby Doll: I just thought you should know, that it seems we share a mutual acquaintance. A gentleman named Jack Everland, who happens to sit on the Board of Directors at your wife’s studio, contacted me by E-mail this afternoon.

Gregory suddenly let his breath out in a rush. He hadn’t realized that he was holding it while reading Baby Doll’s message. Frantically, he stood up then sat down again. Jessica! Here already…? I need to get going on this. I wonder if that sorry excuse for a PI is still available. I’ll need to know where she is, and what she’s doing so that I can schedule this properly. Jackson Briggs, I’ll call him, and have him set up a meeting with that PI and me.

"STAR! Where the hell are you? STAR! I need you right now! Get in here!" Gregory shouted, suddenly disturbing the dusty silence of the warehouse.

Star vaguely heard her name. She had almost completely given up on even trying to think anymore. Her despair, and her addiction had finally won out. Closing her mind to the annoying sound of her name being blasted off the walls, she tried to climb back into the fuzzy white cocoon her drug-saturated mind had created for her. Without warning, she was pulled out of her reverie, and slammed into the floor.

"Oh God! What do you want with me?" Star cried.

"STAR! Wake up you whore! I need you now. You have to sober up Star. Jessie is already here." Gregory was at once excited, and scared.

Confused, Star blinked her eyes for a moment. "Here? In this building? What do you mean here?"

"No you idiot, here in Northern California. A… friend of mine…well, anyway, someone let me know that she is visiting up here. She arrived today, with that slut of hers. And the "friend", thinks that she may be staying at that bitch Laura’s house. I gotta get ahold of that PI. I need to know what they are going to do for the next few days. HA! It’s finally show time Star. Shit! You need to get cleaned up. You look like death warmed over. Geez, I’m sorry for doing that to you Star. Wow, you’ve lost a lot of weight over the last couple of weeks. Go take a shower, and then meet me in the kitchen. You really need to eat." Gregory’s concern startled Star.

While Star was showering, Gregory paced nervously. He couldn’t decide whether or not to change his plans. Deciding against it, he dialed Jackson Briggs’ phone number on his cell phone. After several rings a very drunk young man answered the phone.

"H’lo? Whose it? What?" The young man slurred.

A slight tussle was heard in the background. A man’s voice, presumably Jackson Briggs, was heard telling the young man that he was not to ever answer the phone. The next time would be the last.

Chuckling, Gregory waited for Jackson to take over the call. "Jackson! You filthy stinking pig! Got another young piece with you, eh? Listen slime bucket…no, no, don’t talk, I’m not done yet. I want you to hire that PI for me again. I need updates every four hours as to Jessie’s whereabouts. She’s here…in Northern California. Yes, I am, but you would never be able to find me. Tell him to send his information to Star@interworldglobe.com. I mean it Jackson, I want to hear from him every four hours."

Jackson could barely squeak out his answer. "Oh…okay. No problem. I’ll take care of it as soon as possible. Sure thing Greg."

"You know what will happen if you don’t Jackson…." Gregory hung up without finishing his sentence.

Star met Gregory in the kitchen. He had taken the liberty of putting together a small meal for the two of them to share. After her shower, Star was a little bit more together. Enough to know that she needed to be afraid again. Gregory had changed so much in such a short time. It made him very unpredictable. Somehow, Star got the feeling that she played a key role in his future, but she couldn’t figure out how. Too much dope! Quietly sitting down, and making an attempt to eat, she was surprised that her stomach didn’t lurch, and force the food back up. Warily watching Gregory out of the corner of her eye, she ate slowly, ready to run if she had to.

"So Star, looks like we’re gonna be able to move ahead here soon. I heard that Jessie and that Kate are near here somewhere. I got someone looking into it. I still want to take that cat Star. I think that would be a great way to lure that Laura here. I’m just not sure how to let her know I have the cat. We’ll have to think about that I guess." Gregory’s gaze shifted nervously around the room, never quite able to settle on Star.

Star decided to press her luck. "Do I still get to keep the cat Greggie?"

Gregory shot a look at Star, as though she was a stranger, making her cringe. "Huh? Oh yeah sure, no problem. You can keep the cat Star, as long as you take care of it."

Star smiled for the first time in days. "I will Greggie, I promise."

Gregory’s mind went back to wandering. So much to think about, so little time. Every so often his heart would start to pound. He couldn’t decide if it was because he was almost afraid at what he knew he would be doing soon, or because he was sure that this would all lead to the return of his beloved Jessie. Idly finishing his meal, he decided to check his mail again.

Star, left alone to finish her meal, tried desperately to focus her thoughts. She knew there was something going on; lurking in the background, and it wasn’t going to be good news for her. In her heroin-saturated state though, she was unable to focus on what that something might be. Resolving again to do her very best to clear her head up again, Star drifted back into the twilight.

Continued in Chapter 29……………….

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