Eyes of the Serpent

The walk to Josie\'s apartment was spent in silence, with Remmy\'s attention cast everywhere around them. He peeked around every corner, as if he was more scared of the strange man than she was. He made sure she got inside the door before letting his guard down. The next morning, he was waiting for her, and stayed with her all day - but the strange man did not come back. In fact, two, three, four, then seven days passed, and neither the strange man nor Sid even came. Maybe Sid had been scared off by Mrs Mattas, or maybe he just decided to give her more time. Either way, she was getting a strange sense, almost like the calm before the storm. She couldn\'t really explain it, and honestly thought she was merely being paranoid because of mister creeper. Either that, or she was growing too much like Remmy. His presence in the cafe the last week gave a few people pause, but most of them ignored him.



Then, of course, it changed. In pranced Sid, grinning like always, with that same sickening air of filth that took over the cafe. Remmy stared at him silently, but kept wary, none the less.



"Jooooosie, Josie, Josie. What have you to say about my offer, hmmm?" he purred, slinking a little too close for comfort.



"I guess I have no other choice, do I?" she replied, feeling bile trying to bubble it\'s way out at the thought of dating him and his friends. "I really have no other way out."



"Aww don\'t be like that Josiiiiie. Smile a little, ahh?"



She glared at him, and bit her tongue. "Might want to leave before Mrs Mattas catches you here, \'No rat\'." Sid\'s face relaxed a little and faded slightly at the thought of his sudden eviction last week.



"Alright alright, I\'ll get...But I\'m coming Friday to tell you who you\'re seeing and where on Saturday." he told her, then exited the room. The moment his car was out of eye range, Josie slammed her fist on a nearby table with an angry growl.



"Ooooooh I hate that man!" she sneered, which earned a few claps from the people in the cafe. Remmy stood up, and stepped over to her.



"What was THAT about?" he asked, not really expecting an answer from her. Josie-Rae glanced back up through the window as she turned to wipe off another table, and spoke to respond.



"I\'ll tell you on the way ho-" she started, but froze, and dropped her cloth. He was there, staring at her from across the street. Catching her expression, Remmy glanced up, and thinned his eyes. "...home..." she finished, as the strange man turned and walked away.



"That the guy?..." Remmy asked, his tone guarded, and almost hunting.



"Yeah." was all she said, turning her attention to the table she was cleaning off.



* * * * *



"I can\'t read him." Remmy said with an icy note, as they exited the cafe, Josie locking the door behind herself.



"What do you mean?"



"I mean, I can usually get a general sense about someone\'s character and whether they are good or bad based on their spirit and aura, but him....I can\'t. It\'s numb; like he has no feelings left at all."



"I sort of felt that too, it reminded me of a wolf, or a, a..."



"A snake." Remmy offered for her.



"Exactly. I don\'t like it, and he gives me the creeps, but there\'s nothing to be done about it."



"I\'ll just keep walking you everywhere." Remmy volunteered, grinning.



"And what about the library? You have a job too. You can\'t keep taking time off like this. You need money like everyone else."



"Well yeah, but you\'re more important, and--"



"And nothing." she interrupted, frowning. "You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of me. Besides, you only work an hour later than I do on weekdays; I can just come over to the library and wait for you if that makes you feel better." They cut through the park, as they had every day that week. The sun was starting to go down, and the air was cooling off.



"I GUESS that\'s good enough - until this creeper leaves--" Remmy began, but tripped on something on the ground. He fell forward, and caught himself on the ground, saving himself the crack to his skull. Before he could even get up, Josie started to scream. Confused, his hazel eyes darted around, and finally fell on what he\'d tripped on - Sid. He scrambled back as his heart skipped a beat or twelve - there, in the middle of the path, lay Sid\'s body - and his neck was half missing. Josie-Rae was hysterical, and couldn\'t move in her terror.



"Shhhhh shhhh shh, you\'re alive, you\'re okay," he soothed, standing up to hold the girl. She was shaking like an off-kilter washing machine, and was still screaming. "HE\'S HERE THAT\'S HIM HE\'S HERE! HE\'S KILLING US OFF!" she screamed, and got louder - until she finally passed out from terror. Remmy frowned; it was going to be a long week.



* * * * *



Josie-Rae\'s eyes flicked open, focusing slowly on the strange room she was in. It was dark, and she didn\'t recognize anything she could see, though it looked newer than her own things. It didn\'t smell as musty, and it felt a little warmer. She couldn\'t see much, except the red glow of an alarm clock that read 5:09 am. She noticed a lamp in the red hue, and reached to turn it on. The brightness hurt her eyes, but they focused quickly. The room was a newer build, and was painted a deep, royal purple. There was one pale black feature wall, and on it were many pictures of people of the town, one of them being herself. She recognized it right away; Remmy had taken it a few years ago. This must be Remmy\'s place, but why was she here? She glanced down at the warm down black comforter that she was under, then finally caught sight of Remmy - there he sat in his computer chair, fast asleep, with a shot gun draped across his lap. She grinned; he was trying to keep her safe. But then her smile faded as she remembered the events of the night. Sid had been murdered in the park the same way that the people in Alamo had. She shivered at the memory, and whimpered. How could she possibly go back to work, feeling like this, feeling so frightened of everyone that walked in the door?



"Mmm..." Remmy moaned, stretching as the light woke up his brain. "Feel any better?"



"Better slept, maybe..." she replied, noting that she was still in her work uniform as she sat up.



"You\'ve been asleep for almost a full day now....I haven\'t slept since. At least, not until a while ago, I guess. Was still up at three. The park\'s all clean now, but the city is swarming with cops, and now they\'re talking about Marshal Law in all southern Texas. I didn\'t want to take you home or to the hospital without making sure you were okay with that, so I just brought you here...My mom\'s totally fine with you staying here for a while...Unless of course you want to go home, that\'s fine too..."



"I don\'t know right now and I don\'t really want to talk about it." Julie-Rae replied sullenly, running a hand through her hair. "I think I just want to get out of town and run away, but I can\'t leave the Mattas\' in the lurch like that. Mrs Mattas can\'t do it all herself anymore and Mr Mattas isn\'t much of a waiter..."



"I have to take you to the Police Station in the morning for a statement..." he told her, putting the shot gun on it\'s butt against a nearby wall. "And, I won\'t push you to talk to me if you don\'t want to, but I\'d like to know at least if you need to stay here before we leave tomorrow \'cause I have to let mom know to cook extra for you..." Remmy seemed rather preoccupied with something, and he was trying not to look too closely or for too long.



"What\'s wrong?" she asked, frowning a little. He straightened a little in tension, and his eyes widened slightly.



"N-nothing. I\'m just tired, that\'s all. Yeah. Tired. I\'m fine." Josie-Rae frowned a little, and glanced over his tense figure. That wasn\'t it, that wasn\'t it at all. Then, hiding a smirk, she noticed - the peak in his pants. She rolled her eyes at him, and he flushed. He knew she\'d figured it out. "W-well....I-its not every day th-there\'s a girl a-asleep in my bed....Actually, there n-never has been....Uh...I\'m gonna go downstairs now..." he started, then escaped the room as fast as he could. Josie let a giggle pass her lips; men were so funny when they were shy. Maybe Jean was right; maybe he DID like her a little. They\'d known each other passingly nine years, since day one now; he never mentioned anything. She settled back down in his bed, turning the light off. Might as well try and sleep till dawn.