Invitation to a Better Life (Truth Be Feared More Than Lies Part Eight) (standard:drama, 3998 words) [8/8] show all parts
Author: Siobhan	Added: Oct 01 2002	Views/Reads: 2599/1987	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Her mother is still dying, the tumor starting to ravish her completely and Jessica cuts off the popular people only to have the school turn on her. She also is introduced to the interesting theory that Brandon may not altogether be human.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

had done.  Her mother might buy the “too drunk to drive” scenario but 
she knew better. 

“I don't want to hear another word about him being a killer from you. 
You're being irrational and I have to wonder if you're on something,” 
her mother spoke in her cool tone that said another word was deadly.  
Even sick, possibly dying, her words carried a threat that touched the 
core of Jessica's heart and froze her with fear.  But, though she was 
frightened, she couldn't stop, couldn't bring herself to admit that it 
was possible that they had been drunk.  She had to let her mother know 
even though she knew her mom would never believe her. 

“Mom, you're not listening to me.  I'm not being irrational, I have been
to his parties and I can tell you that he wasn't,” but before she could 
finish, her mother sent her such a deadly look that the rest of her 
words came out in a quiet mumble, “having a party.”  Somehow, having 
her mother who looked half dead already, shoot her a dirty look was one 
of the most scariest things she had seen.  It transformed her face into 
the mask of a demon bent on destruction and chaos. 

Suddenly Steven leapt into the room and his eyes were ablaze with anger,
“How dare you argue with your mother!  Has it not occurred to you that 
part of her pain is stress and that fighting equals stress?”  His words 
stung Jessica, as if he had slapped her or told her that she was worth 
nothing.  She knew that he spoke only out of the passion of his heart, 
but it burned her and she wondered how long before she spoke back. 

“Steven,” her mother attempted to intercede but Steven would not be
diverted from his target. 

“I cannot believe all that you are doing to bring about her early death.
 You're never home and when you are, you don't talk to her and if you 
do, it is to argue.  If you cared for her at all, you would be doing 
your best to make the rest of her life enjoyable,” Steven roared but 
the meaning of his words was what deafened Jessica.  His words stopped 
the blood in her veins and sent a million thoughts parading through her 
mind.  She felt lightheaded and fought to keep from passing out.  She 
didn't believe what he was implying, but she already did. 

“You talk as if she were dying tomorrow,” she whispered, dreading to
hear his reply.  She had been right, her mother was a walking corpse.  
Though, thinking it was one thing, but to say it out loud was like 
condemning her mother before they had any actual facts. 

“Not tomorrow, but the doctors fear soon,” her mother replied, her voice
barely audible. 

“Mommy?” she questioned, feeling as if she were a tiny child and lost,
“But I don't want you to.”  Her bottom lip trembled and she struggled 
to refrain from crying but the look upon her mother's face broke her.  
It was a face of utter despair and of compassion.  Jessica ran to her 
mom and threw her arms around her, burying her face in her shoulder.  
Nothing was fair it seemed, and even worse, it appeared as if 
everything she cared about was being ripped out from underneath her.  
Steven silently slipped out of the room as if aware this was a moment 
for only the mother and daughter. 

That night, Jessica cried harder than she had in her entire life.  When
the tears quit flowing, she knew that her eyes would remain dry and 
that she would not be able to cry again.  She sat for a moment, buried 
in thoughts, and then out of exhaustion, dropped dead asleep into a 
fortunately dreamless night. 

The next day, she slept until evening and when she walked out, Steven
and her mother were out for an evening on the town.  She watched a 
couple movies until she couldn't see straight. Then she wandered into 
her room and collapsed on her bed.  When she awoke, her mother was 
sitting at her vanity, watching her sleep with an expression of 
contentment. 

“Mom, what are you doing awake so early?” she asked, desperately
attempting to rub the sleep out of her eyes.  She knew that her mom 
needed all the rest that she could get so it made no sense that she was 
in her room as the sun was rising. 

“I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd sit in here and watch my baby sleep,”
her voice was choked with emotion and Jessica noticed that she was 
squeezing Jessica's first stuffed bear.  She hadn't even known her mom 
had kept the old thing, but watching her mother kneed the paws made her 
feel as if she were a baby again. 

“Mom, why else are you in here?” she knew that there was another reason,
she could sense it in the air. 

“I wanted to know, with what happened to your friends, if you wanted to
stay home?” she questioned and for a moment, Jessica wanted to stay 
home. Then she thought of staying home alone, in the empty house with 
only her thoughts and bitter memories as her companion.  There was no 
way she could stay home and keep from going crazy, she wasn't sure that 
she could busy herself and still manage to stay sane.  There was too 
much pain in her life, too much hardship, and she should be enjoying 
these years of her life. 

“No, I need to go to school.  I need to keep my mind moving,” she
decided and her mother nodded in agreement. 

“Well, then I will see you later for today we go in for the results of
my tests.  Wish me good luck,” she kidded and crossed her fingers.  
Jessica forced a smile that seemed to falter on the edges and crossed 
her fingers back.  Pain ripped its' jagged fingernails through her 
heart, rending holes that would never heal. 

“Mom, I love you,” she exclaimed as her mother was walking out the door.
 Her mother turned back and smiled softly at Jessica and tilted her 
head in a mock imitation of the greeting of teenage boys. 

“Back to you, cutie,” then she was gone and Jessica had the urge to leap
out of bed and chase her down the hall.  She would then wrap her arms 
around her and not let her got cause if she let her go, she would be 
gone forever.  She shook the feeling off and rationally stepped out of 
bed.  By the time she got downstairs, Steven and her mother were gone. 

The moment she was in school, she knew that she was being watched. She
could feel the eyes upon her and finally her eyes settled upon 
Katherine and Erica.  They eyes were cold and unnerving and Jessica 
quickly looked away.   She felt as if the world were her enemy and they 
were the leaders of the pack.  She turned around to find herself face 
to face with Rhonda.  It was an unexpected occurrence and she squalked 
in shock. 

“So, how are you doing today?” she asked, a wicked smile playing on the
corner of her lips.  Her face was so unemotional and empty that Jessica 
wondered if she were really human.  It was hard to believe that Jessica 
had really been believing that Rhonda was her best friend.  She was so 
obviously a back stabber and  a manipulator and it hurt her that she 
had been so naïve. 

“Don't talk to me, I know you guys were one of the causes for their
deaths,” she spat and Rhonda's lips broke into a wide grin.  The smile 
sent chills down her back and made her want to run away, to escape the 
cold, even gaze that she was receiving. 

“You know so much , don't you?  How'd we kill them?  The cops will find
nothing and even if they are able to conduct a blood test upon their 
charcoaled bodies, they'll only find booze.  Come on Sherlock Holmes, 
how'd we kill them?” she teased and Jessica felt uncertainty fill her.  
She could not say what or how they had killed her friends, but in her 
heart she knew that they had.  Maybe it had been poison in their 
drinks, maybe they had hypnotized them to self-destruct, god knew what, 
but they had done it.  It didn't matter how, when or why, she just knew 
they had and they deserved to be punished. 

“I said, don't talk to me,” and Jessica ran away, her heart thudding in
her ears for she had the feeling that Rhonda would leap upon her 
unguarded back and rip her apart.  She hated feeling as if she had no 
control yet it seemed that the events in her life were spiraling into 
chaos.  She wondered if Joey had even still been alive when his car 
went out of control.  Maybe he had been the walking dead, but that was 
a crazy thought and she pushed it out of her mind. 

“Jessica, you look pretty upset,” Brandon's husky voice cruelly teased
and she spun around to see his gloating eyes laughing at her.  She 
wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp, make him scream out apologies as 
his organs were removed one by one from his body, but she knew that she 
had to control herself.  Keep from loosing it so that she prove that 
they had murdered Joey and his friends. 

“Screw you,” she spat and his devilish smile widened. 

“Any time,” he smirked and she recoiled from him.  How had she ever
thought that he was attractive?  He was a psychotic killer and she knew 
that he could destroy her and her family.  He had already ruined the 
lives of those eight and of their families.  She had to bring him down 
before he slaughtered more innocent lives. 

“Is that what you want Brandon?” she smiled coyly and she leaned her
body slightly towards him, “Well, good, cause it is never going to 
happen.”  She whipped around and stalked away, wishing that she would 
be whisked away to safety where Brandon and his friends were not. 

“Don't worry Jessica, it will happen.  When you have no one left, you'll
coming running back to me,” he chuckled lowly and she shivered because 
somehow, she knew that he was warning her.  She finally managed to get 
into her class and the loss of Joey hit her like a fist in her belly.  
She began to cry hysterically and the world was fuzzy through her film 
of tears.  If she hadn't agreed to go on that date, Joey would still be 
alive.  If she hadn't met Brandon, never came to the cursed place, 
everything would still be okay.  Damn Steven for dragging them here, he 
was the cause of everything bad and Jessica wished with all her might 
that he would just die. 

Everywhere she went at school, she could feel eyes upon her and everyone
seemed to shun her.  In science class, she had made a friend named 
Alisha.  She had asked her for a pencil, and Alisha who was usually 
compliant and sweet, laughed rudely and turned her back to Jessica.  
People in the hallways parted from her while smirks and devilish 
glances were cast her way.  None of the teachers were nice to her and 
they all picked on her for questions about things that she knew nothing 
about.  She was beginning to wonder if she was imaging everything due 
to all the stresses in her life that was until Timothy walked up. 

“Like how everyone treats you when you disconnect yourself from our
group?” he inquired, his face laughing at her but his eyes hinting at a 
deep sadness. 

“Now you're taking credit for how people behave?  Wow, like I am really
going to believe that one,” she retorted and continued walking, 
pretending to be unaware of his stocky build beside her.  She did 
believe that they had some sort of mind control over the people of this 
stupid town, she wouldn't put it past them. 

“We have different gifts than other people, that's all,” he explained
and Jessica giggled nervously for she was trying to be tough, but his 
voice was so serious that she wondered if he were for real.  He 
couldn't really be, but she had seen so much that was starting to 
convince her. 

“Oh yeah, I know, like murdering people and being able to get away with
it,” she saw Timothy wince and he squeezed his eyes shut briefly before 
replying.  She congratulated herself for getting in a good hit that had 
caught him off guard. 

“No, Jessica, I know that you blame us for that but how in the world
would we be able to work that one in?  I mean, we are powerful but for 
goodness sakes, we are not Satan,” he threw out into the air and she 
wondered how she would reply. 

“You have special powers so why the hell would committing a few murders
and making it look accidental even faze you?  Trust me, I don't believe 
for one minute that you guys are innocent of their deaths.  I'm going 
to prove that you all were responsible for it somehow.  Just wait,” and 
she ducked into the girls restroom before he could respond.  She hid in 
a stall and leaned against the tortured wall, messages of crude desire 
and anger were scrawled into the hideous pink paint.  She closed her 
eyes and took in deep breaths.  When she opened her eyes, a message 
caught her eye. . . 
“&#61545
;&#61545
;”.  She shut her eyes again, thinking perhaps she had h
allucinated the weird message. When she opened them, the hastily inscrib
ed message was still there.  She ran her fingers over the message and a 
strange chill swept down her form.  Brandon couldn't be a vampire, could
 he? 


Then she laughed nervously at her own foolishness and hurriedly stepped
out of the stall.  When she walked out of the bathroom, neither Timothy 
nor any other unwanted person was waiting.  Jessica let out a sigh of 
relief then darted to her classroom, a nagging fear at the back of her 
mind and a new terror forming  deep inside. 

When she got home, she began thinking about everything that she knew,
including everything that she knew about vampires.  They only came out 
during the night for one thing, at least according to legend, but 
Brandon and his cronies were at school, and in town, along with having 
parties and activities during the day.  But vampires deprived life and 
Brandon definitely qualified for that one.  They also managed to 
hypnotize and manipulate people, and Jessica was fairly certain that 
they did have that ability.  Her mind flickered over the sickly boy who 
would take care of the door, and she thought of his hungry eyes and 
eerie complexion.   The group was extremely selective, though appearing 
to have parties for everyone, they singled out people to stay for the 
“extras”.  “Extras” that caused the people to appear drunker, more 
drugged, which brought up another issue.  They had such easy access to 
drugs, alcohol, and willing “victims” and yet nothing was ever said to 
them.  The cops wilted in their presence, authority figures backed off, 
and the rest just went gaga.  It was as if the whole city were under 
their influence and perhaps they were vampires who broke the rules of 
the night living.  They never seemed to sleep, nor eat or really drink 
either.  The more she thought about it, the more Jessica began to 
really wonder if perhaps Brandon and his gang truly were bloodsuckers. 

Then her thoughts took a dramatic and unwelcome turn.  She was suddenly
thinking about her mother, imagining her dying in her arms, frail and 
helpless; unable to lift her arms in a gesture of help.  Her mother, 
who had always been there for her, been her best friend, was suddenly 
being pulled out of her life.  It was as if she were already gone for 
Jessica had grown so detached.  She didn't understand why this had to 
happen to her mother, who was a sincerely sweet person who deserved so 
much better from the world.  She began to try to imagine her life 
without her mom but Steven presented such a menacing and formidable 
opponent in her mind that she couldn't bear to imagine the thoughts.  
If her mother died, all hell would be released.  She didn't know where 
her father was and Steven would be too much for her to handle.  He 
would blame her and she would blame him, and the gap of hate between 
them would be widened a thousand degrees.  She also wondered how she 
would ever be able to have a night's sleep again.  One that was not 
haunted with memories and images of her mother.  How could the world 
continue without even casting a tear for someone who deserved the best 
of life and instead got a good kick in the rear? 

Thinking of death made Jessica think of her friends who now were
probably being analyzed for drugs, alcohol, and other issues, even 
though the obvious cause of death was accident and fire.  She thought 
of cute Joey, his warm brown eyes full of life.  She thought of being 
tackled and tickled by the gawky cutie and then she thought that she 
would never again be able to just laugh with him.  She would never 
again be able to be disappointed about a date with him or even have a 
date to look forward too.   There would be an empty table in the food 
court for a couple of days where only last week, a group of fun loving 
individuals had spent their last days enjoying life.  An empty table 
that would have been overflowing with warmness and mischief, if Jessica 
had refused Joey's date offer and accepted Brandon's,  A table that 
would not have been empty if her  mother had never met Steven.  And 
maybe her mother would not be in the same situation if Steven had died 
in his birth, never living to become the horrible monster that he was 
now.  She felt bad for blaming it all on Steven because it really 
wasn't his fault.  He wasn't that bad of a guy but she needed a 
scapegoat for all the anger in her life, and he was the most 
convenient. 

But, Jessica felt in her heart that more trouble was on it's way and
stressing the lives of those already gone was foolish so she quit and 
instead did her homework.  She had to do something to take her mind off 
the train of thoughts and even though pre-calculus made her head hurt, 
it worked wonderfully well.  Though, she did wonder when her poor 
mother would finally come home and if the darn doctors had anything 
possible to say. 


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