“If you wanted to know something about me, why didn’t you ask me?”
A WEEK HAS PASSED SINCE CHRIS tried his ploy to capture the stalker. In that week, some strange things have happened. Although not to Beverly, or Barry, but to him and Tameka. His gut feeling keeps telling him that all the things that are happening, is the work of the stalker. But he couldn’t prove the stalker was even aware of their existence, at least the letters that kept coming, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, didn’t indicate any knowledge of them.
8:00 A.M. Monday morning, Beverly, and Barry are about to have their session with John, but before they get started, John inquires about the case.
“Dr Jasbelle, have the police made any progress with your stalking case yet?”
Beverly tells him everything she knows about the case. Starting with the dinner, three months ago, the letters, the stew left on Barry’s porch, and the trap that failed to capture the stalker. She also told him about the strange things that have been happening to Chris and Tameka. Things like Chris’s car running out of gas, when he was sure he filled it up 2 days before, or coming home to find a barrel burning in his back yard. Or a letter addressed to him with nothing inside it, or the alarm system on Tameka’s car suddenly activating while she was driving down the street. And Tameka’s episode with the dead rat on her porch, 2 nights in a row. When she finished, John asked her if Chris ever thought that the stalker might be trying to get him and Tameka out of the way. Beverly said yes, that’s the reason they didn’t let themselves be seen with her for 2 weeks, still nothing happened.
“Have they checked your phone lines for bugs?”
After the session John informs Beverly that the judge wants him to bring the records of his sessions with her with him to court next week. Beverly agrees, and tells him she will have them ready for him first thing in the morning. 1 week later, John is a free man.
“Beverly! I didn’t see you come back into the room.”
“Don’t try to avoid the question.”
“I didn’t mean any harm I’m just trying to do my job.”
“Then why didn’t you ask me?”
“Sometimes victims of a stalker are reluctant to tell us about a boyfriend or lover because they don’t want us in their business.
“Is that right? Well it sounded to me like you and Barry were comparing notes so you could figure out what move to make so let me explain something to you. Who I date is my business and I’m a big girl I don’t need a man to speak for me.”
“Just what is that suppose to mean?”
“I mean, everything you needed to know about me, you could have asked me. I am not some emotional female, that requires a man to talk for me, nor am I a piece of meat to be sold over the phone.”
“You’re right, I can tell by these hostile questions that you can speak for yourself. And as far as meat is concerned, I don’t buy women, and I damn show don’t sell them. And about getting lucky tonight. First of all I don’t believe in luck. Second, any man who thinks an intelligent woman such as yourself would lay down with him just because he inquired about her relationship status, would be making a stupid mistake, and I pride myself in not making stupid mistakes. In my line of work, it could be fatal. I asked Barry about you because, Number one if you and he are not involved then I needed to know if there was someone else I needed to protect. Number two it’s my job to find out everything I can about the person I’m trying to protect. And after listening to these hostile questions there’s no way I would ever approach you because you’re the type of woman who can crush a brother’s ego. Now if I’ve offended you Miss thang, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. Oh, and one last thing, don’t ever question my professionalism again. If you don’t like the way I’m handling your case, call the department, and have me replaced. I must warn you though, I’m the best in my department at what I do.”
“Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back, you’re not that impressive. And the next time you want to know something about me, try asking me directly. Oh by the way, I do accept your apology although my name is not miss thang, and that comment you made about a brothers ego, It ain’t working for you. You’re way too secure to feel like that about anything.”
“Barry was right, your bite is worse than your bark. And there’s no need to pat myself on the back for telling the truth. Now if you don’t mind I need to ask you some questions but before I do I need to call the office. But before I do, I would like to say for the record, I will admit to checking you out and even though this may get me chewed out again I must say that you are a lovely lady. Now you can chew me out again but wait until I finish this phone call.”
“Barry talks too much, and what makes you think I would chew you out about a compliment. I don’t mind a man looking or even talking I just want to make sure that you understand that I am more than a body, I also have a mind. So in the future I would like to have any question about me directed at me. And what kind of questions do you have to ask me?”
“I’ll explain in a minute.”
Back across town, the same conversation is being replayed. “Mr. Williams.”
“Officer Teasley, I didn’t hear you come back into the room, and please, call me Barry.”
“Mr. Williams, first of all my name isn’t baby girl. And second of all I don’t appreciate a man inquiring about me as if I was a prostitute and he was planning on buying me for the night. If you have a question about me, I would appreciate being given the opportunity to answer it myself.”
“Oh no, not another one.”
“Another what? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I’m sorry, that wasn’t meant to be an insult. It’s just that I’ve had my ass ripped by the woman you’re assigned to protect for the same thing you just ripped it for. She tells me all the time that I’m sexist, and that my attitude toward women is not only condescending, but also borderline typical brother bullshit. While I don’t agree with everything she says, I realize I do sometimes come on as a playa. I apologize for the way in which I handled this. But to be honest, I’m really attracted to you, and I was just trying to find out if you were seeing someone, or more specifically were you involved with Chris, because I didn’t want to insult the brother.”
“Lets get one thing straight, I don’t mix business with pleasure. And second of all, what makes you think I would go out with you?”
I didn’t know if you would, but once I looked into those beautiful brown eyes, I knew I had to at least try. Look, I’m sorry to bother you, I can see you’re not interested, I’ll leave you alone.”
He turns and walks back into the living room. She stands there for a minute, then follows him in.
“That’s it. You mean to tell me that you’re not going to try and con me into believing that I’ll miss something if I don’t go out with you. You’re not going to tell me that your love is the bomb or how you like to go down town a lot.”
“No I’m not going to tell you any of those things. I’m not much for smooth conversation, and I’m not one to brag, beg, or sneak in the back door.”
“I didn’t ask you to beg. I don’t know of any real black woman that wants a man to beg her for it. However we do like to be pursued.”
“Well I thought that’s what I was doing. Let me try this again. Officer Teasley, after this case is finished, would you like to go out for dinner, so that I can pursue you properly?”
“My name is Tameka, and yes I would enjoy being pursued by you. But right now don’t you have a phone call to make.”
Before he could make the call, his cell phone rings.
“Barry hold up on making that call to Beverly right now, she’s not up to it yet.”
“Why, what happened?”
“Well we had to discuss some difficult questions, and, well I’ll let her explain.” He hands the phone to Beverly. “Hello Barry.”
“Sister girl, what’s wrong, you sound like you’ve been crying? What did Chris say to you?”
“Don’t worry, I’m alright, we just had to discuss some very difficult things that happened in my past.”
“Discuss what? What happened in your past that was bad enough to make you cry?
“There are some things I should have told you a long time ago, and I guess this is as good a time as any. Barry, when I was 12 years old, my stepfather molested me. When I was 13, he pushed my momma down a flight of stairs, two weeks later; she died of head injuries. And what made it so bad is, the bastard got away with it, The court ruled it an accident. For a year after that he molested me every night until I got the courage to run away. I ended up in New York, with my aunt, and her husband, and thanks to their love and a lot of therapy, I got well, and decided to become a psychologist myself.”
“I don’t know what to say sister girl, except I’m sorry it happened, and if you ever need to talk, you can call me. Let me speak to Chris.” She handed the phone to Chris.
“I don’t know what you said to her, but she seems to have calmed down a lot. I think she’s ready to handle this now.”
“Wait a minute Chris, why the hell did you have to ask her those questions?”
“Look Barry, it’s my job to know everything that I can about the stalker, and the victim. You’d be surprised at how many victims actually know their stalkers. And anything I can find out about Beverly may help me catch her stalker. Who knows, she may have counciled someone with the same problem, and she may have treated this person with extra kindness, because she felt their pain. Any little bit of information helps.”
“Ok, I see your point, it was kind of a shock though. Alright, if you’re ready, lets do this, but before we do let me speak to Bev one more time.”
Chris hands the phone to Beverly.
“Hello”
“Bev, are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’m cool Barry. I just want to get this over with, so lets finish it, ok.”
“Alright sister girl.”
“No John, and we’re not here to discuss me, we’re here to discuss you.”
“I’m sorry Dr. Jasbelle, if it bothers you to talk about it, I won’t bring it up any more.”
“It doesn’t bother me, I just don’t want to take up your time with my case.”
“Actually, your case has helped me more than you know.”
“How is that John?
“Well Dr. Jasbelle, I was happy sitting in my self pity, feeling that no one could possibly know what I was going through. Even though you made some positive points during our sessions, I just couldn’t see past my problems. But watching you and Barry go on with your daily routines while you both were under so much stress, helped me feel I wasn’t the only one with problems in their life. Watching you let me know that I could move on from this spot, to something positive. And you’ll be happy to know that the night dreams have stopped.”
“Well John, even though this is not the type of therapy I would prescribe for anyone, I’m glad something positive did come out of this.”
“So am I. Though I would like to ask you a favor, if I might.”
“What is it John?”
“Since I’ve been so open with you about my case, would you return the favor, and tell me about your case. I believe it would help me get ready to go back to work, if I started to feel like your equal, instead of your patient.”
“Alright, but first thing I want you to do is stop calling me Dr. Jasbelle. If we’re going to be equals call me by my first name, Beverly.
“I can do that, ok Beverly, I’m ready to listen.”
“Chris did that as soon as he was put on the case. They only found one in my home phone, that’s why he told me to use my cell phone for any communication.”
“Did he check the rest of your house for bugs?”
“He did that to. There weren’t any.”
“Did he check Barry’s phone’s and house too?”
“Yes he did. He didn’t find anything.”
Four letters arrive in Wednesday morning’s mail. All addressed to Simone, but each envelope has a different name on it. Inside, each letter is the same. “MEET ME IN SIMONE’S OFFICE, 8:00 FRIDAY MORNING, AND I WILL TELL YOU WHY YOU MUST DIE.”
As soon as Chris read his letter, he had Beverly’s office gone over thoroughly, to make sure there were no bombs, or electronic listening devices in the room. Then he set up a command post in the office beside Beverly’s, so that he could have some of the experts in his office trace the call. At 8:00 sharp, Friday morning, all 4 of them were in the office.
“Chris, do you actually think he’s going to try and break into the institute?”
“No I don’t, but I do think he will call us. He has to call and let us know that he’s found out about us, and now he wants to brag about his success, and tell us that he’s going make us sorry for what we’ve put him through. He’ll tell me that as a policeman, I’m to stupid to catch him, or that he’s going to kill one, or all of us, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“So you’ve got all this set up to trace the call when it comes in.”
“Yeah Barry, although I doubt if we can get him to stay on long enough to be able to do that, but if we can keep him talking long enough, we may get lucky.”
“Maybe I can talk to him and get some clue as to who he is, or maybe I can calm him down so that we can help him with his problem.”
No Beverly, you can’t calm him down, all he sees is that you rejected his love, and now you’re going to pay. But try to keep him on the line. Use what ever means you can.”
“Ok, but I still think we--, the phone rings and everyone gets silent. It rings twice more before Chris answers it, a mechanical voice answers on the other end. “Put me on the speaker phone.”
“Ok you’re on, now what do you--
“I’ll do the talking here. Simone let me hear your voice.”
“Why don’t you come over to my office so that we can talk face to face? I could help you to--
“Don’t try to analyze me bitch! We’re way past that now. You don’t seem to understand that I control all the cards in this game, and I’m going to beat all of you.”
“I didn’t realize this was a game. If it’s a game, what are the rules.”
“One rule. You die, I win. But before Chris’s inept police force manage to trace this call, let me tell you what I know about the four of you. Lets start with Chris. A graduate of Tennessee State University, majoring in Criminal Justice. 2 years Army Airborne. They call you “Golden Glove”, because you’ve never met a stalker you couldn’t catch, except the one that killed your sister. Who knows, I could be him, and since I know you have another sister, I might be tempted to do her next.”
“Give it your best shot, if she doesn’t kill you, I will.”
“Don’t worry, she’s not the one that I want. Now to you Ms. Teasley. Ex Marine, graduate of Howard University, now a police officer. What happened to the old fashioned woman, the one that was happy to rock the cradle, and rule the world? You’re about as tough as they come, except when it comes to rats, at least you acted like it when you found the two rats on your porch. I’ve never seen a woman jump so high in my life. Tell me how would you like to find yourself in a covered hole with hundreds of rats in it?
“Why don’t you come over here and bring your rat friends with you, asshole?”
“Not just yet, but I will soon, I promise you. And now to you Mr. Williams. I guess you thought you could come in here with your smooth talk, and take Simone away from me. Convincing her that I was a stalker, and that I would hurt her. You don’t even know me! But you will, I can assure you, that you will. Oh, by the way, when I cook my famous rat stew for someone, I like for them to at least taste it. It wasn’t very nice of you to kick my pot out into the yard. You’ll just have to pay for that too.”
“And last, but certainly not least, Simone. My soul mate, the only person that understood me. We could have been together forever, but you had to listen to Barry. I can’t trust you now.”
“I could still understand you if you would just come and talk to me. We could--
“Shut up bitch, it’s to late for your understanding, and I don’t need your pity. All I need now, is your death. All I need now is the death of all 4 of you. Breathe deep the sweet air of life, for death comes to steal your breath away.”
The phone goes dead and Chris runs to the other office. “Did you get the trace?”
“Yeah we got him traced to the south end of town. Officers are on their way there now. We should know something in 10 minutes.”
Chris goes back into the Beverly’s office. “Well it looks like we got a trace, and officers are on their way.”
“Do you really think he’s dumb enough to stay at the place he called from?”
“I hope he is Barry.”
“He’s one sick person. Who in the hell makes rat stew?”
“He must have a thing for rats. He wants to serve you rat stew, and he wants to feed me to those rats before he kills them and cooks them.”
“You’re right Tameka, that’s one area we can concentrate on if they don’t get him with this trace. I can tell you one thing though, he’s not just your typical stalker he’s-- At that moment Chris notices Beverly is staring at the phone with a pained expression on her face.
“Beverly, are you all right? Hey Beverly, are you all right?”
What Chris doesn’t know, is that a struggle is going on in Beverly’s head. A struggle that has been going on for 12 years. A personal struggle between good, and evil. Two personas in one mind her doctor called it “Dual personality disorder.” Beverly’s good against Ms. Jasbelle’s evil. A struggle that only happens during times of extreme stress. Sometimes Beverly wins this struggle, sometimes she doesn’t. It always comes down to who is strong enough to win the arguments in her head. And as always, Ms. Jasbelle is pissed, and ready to start an argument so she asserts herself first.
“How long are you going to take this harassment, Beverly Simone? Are you going to just lie down like you did when father used to beat, and rape you.? He just did what he wanted, and you didn’t fight at all.”
“No, I can’t try to seek revenge, our therapist, Dr. Bradden said we should learn to control our anger. That we shouldn’t lash out just because we are mad at someone.”
“Screw Dr. asshole, he doesn’t understand the pain we’ve endured. The only person that really understood, and loved us died. And when he did, we knew exactly what to do. It was easy, and we enjoyed it. So let’s take this Mutha Fucka out!!!
Chris interrupts her thoughts. “Hey Beverly, are you alright?”
“Huh. I’m sorry I was just thinking that maybe I could have helped him.”
“Look Beverly, he’s beyond your, or anybody else’s help. He feels that you betrayed him, and in his mind you have to die. He doesn’t deserve your help. Let us do our job.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right Chris, okay where do we go from here?”
“We’ll leave your protection in place, and concentrate on finding people in our files that fit the mold of a stalker with electronics knowledge. We’ll need all your past patient files too.”
“I can’t do that, what about doctor patient confidentiality.”
“Bev, give Chris the files, and let him do all he can do to protect you.”
“Alright, but try not to let your whole department see them.”
“I promise, no one will see them but me and Tameka.”
“Lieutenant Adams, officer Polim is on the phone for you.”
Chris picks up the phone, “Officer Polim, did you get him?”
“No sir, what we got was a pay phone with the receiver taped to a cell phone, and placed inside a box. No fingerprints, and the cell phone was reported stolen 2 months ago.”
“Talk to the person that reported it stolen, and see if you can get a line on him. Then check out the electronic stores in the area, and see if some one has bought any electronic phone equipment lately, and report back to me at the precinct.”
He hangs up the phone.
“Beverly, Tameka and I are going back to the precinct. There will be a guard outside your office, as well as yours Barry.”
I’ll see you two later.”
He closes the door behind him.
“Bev, are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yes Barry, I’m alright.”
“Ok, I’m going to my office to unpack. Things have been happening so fast I haven’t had a chance to fix my office. I’ll see you at lunch.”
After Barry leaves, the conversation in her head starts again.
“Well Beverly Simone, are you gonna take care of this situation or not?"
“I’m not going to let you push me into anything wrong.”
“Wrong! How can you say this is wrong? This man is threatening everybody you hold dear, and all you can do is hold onto your degrees, and rationalize why you should try to help this freak. Just like the last time you could have helped mother get away from our stepfather when you heard them fighting. But you just went into the closet while that lowdown motha fucka killed our mother. You always were the most helpless little girl I ever met. This is the same way you acted when our he put his filthy hands on you, and since you let him do it for a year before you ran away, I guess you liked it.”
“No I didn’t, you take that back!”
“And if I don’t, what are you going to do about it? You’re just going to sit there and take it. Let me ask you a question. Did you let him kill mother because you wanted him all to yourself? I bet you did, didn’t you?
“You shut up! You just shut your filthy mouth, I didn’t want him to hurt mother, but I was too little to stop him.”
“Well you ain’t too little now girl. What are you gonna do about it?"
“You know I got some real good pictures of him from the video camera behind the mirror, in the dining room. We can tell Chris about them.”
“No you idiot. If they get him to court, and that’s a big if, he’ll just get off on an insanity plea. We’ve been through enough of those cases to know how they work. We don’t want this one to get away like the last one did. What we need to do is get up in the attic, and get that thing so we can do this properly."
“But we’ll get caught, and maybe we’ll have to go to jail.”
“Don’t worry, I took care of that.
“What did you do?”
“I mailed copies of the pictures we got from the hidden camera behind the living room mirror, to John. And I added a letter that said, “this is the guy that’s stalking Dr. Jasbelle, it’s a shame good decent people like Dr. Jasbelle, and your family have to be preyed upon by people like him. And even if he’s caught, he’ll get a slap on the wrist, and Dr. Jasbelle will end up dead.
“I can’t believe you did that. John hasn’t done anything to us that would allow you to use him like that.”
“Relax, he’s already been in therapy once. They won’t convict him.
“I still don’t think this is right.”
“Would you rather end up like mother, down at the bottom of the steps with your neck broke?”
“No, I’m tired of being beat up, I’m ready lets do this.”
“That’s my girl, just like the old days. Together we can get this done. By the way, make sure you take his file out of the files you give Chris. We wouldn’t want them to accidentally stumble up on the right answer.”
After this conversation is over, the look in Beverly’s eyes changes. It was a look of desperation.
8:00 Monday morning, Richard drives to work feeling smug about himself. Last Friday, he successfully told his intended victims that he was going to kill them, and made the police department look stupid in the process. Now they know that he’s for real. Now he can go on with his plans to kill them, and maybe even get his name in the paper, or even on television. He’ll be able to show the world just how smart he is. And best of all, if he can’t have Simone, then no one else will either.
While standing there, he’s approached by a nicely dressed man with blonde hair. When he finally notices him, the first thing that strikes him is his eyes. They seem to stare right through him, as if they know what he’s up to, and are quite capable of stopping him from doing it. After a second he realizes he’s been staring at this man, he drops his gaze, and asks the man if he needs any help.
“Yes I do. My answering machine just stopped working this morning, and I need a new one. One with the top of the line features.”
“Yes sir, well let me show you what we have.”
As he shows the man each machine, he can’t help feeling uncomfortable, because the man never looks at the product, but always at him.
“Do any of these meet your need?”
“Yes, I think I’ll buy this one here.”
“That’s a very good choice, our top of the line machine. Will that be cash or charge?”
“Cash”
He runs the box across the scanner, takes the money, puts his box in a bag, and gives him his receipt, his change, and the bag.
“Thank you sir, and come by to see us again.”
The man laughed, and said, “I’ll do that.”
And Dr. John Heathcoat walks out of the door, with his package, and a “I know you but you don’t know me,” smile on his face.
30 minutes later, John arrives across town at his house, goes inside, and sits in his living room. As soon as he sat down the pictures of his wife, and kids appear in his head. They are as fresh as they were 5 months ago. How lovely his wife was, so full of life, always ready to listen when he had a bad day, and needed to talk, and afterward, they would sit and look out the window as their children played. Then just as quickly the picture changes to the murder scene. He can see the murderer standing in his kitchen with that gleam in his eye. The vision of his wife and children’s dead bodies’ lie in front of him, like a 3 dimensional movie. It’s seems so real, but it feels as if he’s peering through a heavy fog. The only word that keeps coming to his mind is, why. Why did he pick this house? Why wasn’t I here to protect them? Why did he kill everyone in the house? Why did I get no satisfaction from killing him? Why must innocent people die, because of the insanity of another? Who’s going to protect good, honest people from the likes of Richard Black? He has no right to stalk Dr. Jasbelle. The person that mailed him these pictures knew that. “That’s why someone mailed these to me. I’m the one who’s going to help decent people like Dr. Jasbelle. If Mr. Black wants to play mind games, lets see if he’ll let someone else into his little game. I think I’ll start by showing him how to make a proper stew, and I’ll stop by his electronics store from time to time just to see how he’s holding up, after he finds out that the predator has become the prey.”
He gets up, goes outside to his barbecue pit, puts the picture and the file on it, pours lighter fluid on the pile, and lights it.
“Now no one will know that I ever received this.”
It’s 8:00 P.M., and Richard is just getting off work. Outside it’s been snowing, and traffic is snarled. He decides to abandon his usual route home, to take a detour past Simone’s house, and see how his intended victims are doing. As he drives onto her street, she is walking toward her mailbox. When he gets to her house, they lock eyes; he smiles at her, safe in the knowledge that she doesn’t have a clue who he is.
“Poor Simone, what a waste of loveliness. We could have been good together. With you by my side, I could have become so much greater. With your help, mom and I could have lived a better life.”
Then his eyes darkened, his face becomes a predatory stare, and his thoughts turn cold, “but you had to betray me, now you will die, and everyone will know the great serial killer psychologist couldn’t stop her own death.
With anyone else, the change from a smile on his face, to the dark look he possessed as he passed by her, would have been enough to send them off screaming back into their home, but to Dr. Jasbelle, it was a mere after thought. She deals with serial killers every day, and she has seen that look at least a dozen times a day every since she’s been at the institute. The look never frightened her, it always intrigued her. She always wanted to know what they were thinking. How they could plan and carry out, the execution of so many innocent people, without remorse or guilt over what they had done. And in this case, the look from this particular person just brought her face to face with the remembrance of bad times, with a real bad person, which allows Ms. Jasbelle to take over the personality, and this time the look brings about anger, severe, red face, blood pressure raising, revenge driven, anger.
As she returns his stare, her face takes on the likeness of a big cat, hungry for the kill. And even though he was supposed to be occupying the role of predator, to her he was nowhere near as threatening as he wanted to appear. To her, he was just another piece of meat to be played with and disgarded, or eaten, which ever fit her needs at the time. As she looks into his eyes, her thoughts are raw in their intensity.
“Keep looking at me, you will see me again, only next time, it will be on my terms, and we shall see who is the hunter, and who is the hunted. You are a fool to think you can beat me. I’ve already taken my share of abuse from men like you, and I refuse to be intimidated by another small minded man. You think your size makes you superior, when it doesn’t. But for my amusement, I’ll let you think you’re superior until I get ready to break your spirit, and kill you, fool!!!!
They only lock eyes for a mere 10 seconds, but the look that passed between them is as intense as that first plunge down the rails of a roller coaster. Who was the predator, who was the prey? For 10 seconds, there was electricity, then they move on, each locked into their own world of hostility, each feeling smug in their own rightness, and each falling slowly into the darkness of insanity, with no means of escape.
For six months after Uncle Tommy and Aunt Velma took Beverly in, all she did was go to school come home go upstairs and read her books. They tried to encourage her to do the things normal teenagers did but she just couldn’t. All she wanted to do was graduate get a job and get out on her own.
She was alone and afraid when she first came to them but she was treated with love and compassion and she had began to open up and give some love back. With every passing day she loved them more, especially her uncle. Uncle Tommy was a strong disciplinarian but he was also a kind spirit and very funny. She loved his sense of humor and when she was down he could always cheer her up. He was the perfect substitute for the dad she never had.
But things weren’t going well anywhere else but home and Beverly had decided she needed her own place to live. Somewhere far away from everyone she knew so she could be alone, read her books, write her poetry and hide herself from the world. The world could be so cruel and she was so weak. At least she was before Ms. Jasbelle took over her life.
Ms. Jasbelle was everything Beverly couldn’t be. She was strong, and loud, and mean, and tuff, and she didn’t take any stuff from anyone. She even took care of Darious McCall and made sure he wouldn’t lie on her any more.
Beverly Simone hated Darious. He was always lying on her. He was the one who started the rumor that she had sex with half of the football team. It was a lie and she knew he did it but she couldn’t prove it. He had people laughing behind her back and she even lost her best friend Trina as a result of what happened after the rumors started. Trina told Beverly that her mother said she couldn’t be her friend anymore after what happened to Darious.
Four days after the rumors started she caught Darious in the hall and confronted him. She grabbed him by the shirt and he snatched away from her, “What the hell is your problem bitch?” She tried to slap him but he ducked and pushed her away.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Why you tell those lies on me Darious?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do. I know you’re the one that has been telling every body I had sex with half the foot ball team.”
“I didn’t tell anybody anything. I guess one of the players you sexed told every body. It’s not my fault you’re the school ho.”
She tried to hit him again but he pushed her down and walked away laughing. All the people standing in the hall started laughing too. She ran to the bathroom went into a stall sit down and cried. That’s when she heard the voice. It sounded like hers but it was different and it was coming from inside her head.
“How long your little weak ass gonna let people piss on you before you do something about it?”
“Who said that?”
“The name is Ms. Jasbelle and I’m here to tell you that I ain’t gonna put up with anyone using or abusing you anymore. The next time that Darious fool messes with you I’m going to hurt him bad.”
“How did you get inside my head?”
“Don’t worry about how I got here. Just remember that I’m here to help you and move aside when I do my work. If I hurt enough people and scare them off you won’t have to deal with getting hurt again. I’m here to be your protector.” And as fast as the voice appeared it disappeared.
She didn’t hear anything else from Ms. Jasbelle until the morning Darious stuck his leg out and she tripped over it. The next thing she remembers is feeling two teachers pulling her off him and seeing the blood all over his face. He stayed in the hospital for two weeks and she was suspended and sent for counseling. She learned afterward she had attacked him with a metal fingernail file and stabbed him in the face repeatedly. She doesn’t remember doing any of it but she was real glad she did it. It felt good to get back at someone who has victimized me. That night Ms. Jasbelle came to her again as she sat in front of the mirror on her dresser.
“See I told you I would take care of you all you have to do is stand aside while I do my job.”
“Yes but now I have to go to therapy and I’m suspended from school.”
“So what. Just sit there and listen to the dumb ass doctor tell you how to think and when he gets through tell him you feel better. And since you’re all ready ahead of every body else in all your classes all you have to do is catch up your homework and wait until graduation then we can go out on our own and I can take care of you. Now stop worrying. I’m here for you.”
After that she did just what Ms. Jasbelle told her to do, even the counseling. She hated counseling. They treated her like she was crazy but she had to go or be expelled from school so she went and tried not to laugh when Ms. Jasbelle made fun of Dr. Bradden’s toupee.
THREE MONTHS AFTER BEVERLY STARTED WORKING AT THE HOSPITAL her uncle Tommy died. He was the only man in her life whom had ever treated her right and she had grown to love him and her aunt. That was the last straw. Two nights after the funeral the stress finally got to Beverly and she retreated into her subconcious and let Ms. Jasbelle fully take over and for the first time Ms. Jasbelle was free to vent her rage. She ran down the alley beside her uncle’s house screaming and turning over trash cans. She ran up and down the alley until she couldn’t run any more then she sat down in the trash for an hour looking at the side of the building. When her aunt finally got to her and got her up out of the trash all she could say was, “Why did it have to happen to him?” Her aunt took her upstairs cleaned her up and stayed with her until she went to sleep. When she awoke Beverly had once again taken control of the personality and she appeared to be fine but something in her was lost that night. A piece of her soul died and it was the only piece keeping Ms. Jasbelle sane.
Three nights later Beverly is in the emergency room cleaning up when a big commotion starts in the hallway. Before she knows it several doctors and nurses have pushed a gurney with a patient on it into the room. One of the doctors yelled for her to leave but she panicked and backed up against the wall.
The doctor opened the patients shirt, grabbed some paddles and put them on the patient’s chest. He squeezed the trigger and the body arched off the cart then settled down. Then Ms. Jasbelle hears a steady beeping noise. This was just like one of those hospital shows on television only this was real. After several more minutes the doctor stops and tells the nurse to record the time of death at 10:26.
After the doctor finishes he walks over to her takes her by the hand and leads her out of the room. “I’m sorry young lady I didn’t mean to yell at you I just didn’t want you getting hurt.”
“It was my fault I should have left but I froze. I’m all right but can I ask you a question?”
“Sure you can.”
”What was that machine you used on his chest?”
“It’s called a defibrillation machine it uses electricity to make a still heart start
beating again.”
“I didn’t know electricity would cause a body to rise up like that.”
“Well the machine has a lot of voltage in it. In fact it could kill you if it touched you which is why everyone stayed away from the body when I put the paddles on the patient.”
“The same machine you used to save a life can also kill one?”
“Let me explain. If your heart is stopped it can start it but if your heart is working
It will cause the heart to stop beating.”
Ms. Jasbelle takes over the conversation, “In other words it could be used just like the electric chair in an execution?”
“Well yes I guess it could?
She doesn’t hear his answer. Her eyes are glassy and all she can do is stare at the machine but the change in her voice is so noticeable the doctor looks at her, “Young lady are you all right?”
She doesn’t hear him, nor does she answer him, she just turns and walks away. Ms. Jasbelle is beginning to formulate a plan that will help her keep Beverly Simone safe from harm and in the process show the world how strong Ms. Jasbelle is. Three days later the defibrillation machine disappears