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I was only a hand’s length away fro deep intotiined hard enough, I could al between us in an unbroken line

But the more I stared at him like that, the more I became conscious of how much of a psycho I must have looked

I took my hand off of his forehead and dropped my eyes to the seat The bolts were broken I noticed how heavilyin itated not only my mind but my heart as well?

There was only one way to find out I took a deep breath and dove in

"Last week at work," I said, "I aiting for the elevator There was no one in the lobby, or so I thought Then I noticed this lady sitting, totally motionless, on the couch She was like no one I had ever seen before Like someone out of a David Lynch filain They had never left aze to return to his I felt like he was trying to hypnotizeto look away, or to fall deeper into the of tightness in h air, and that I was drowning in this indescribable whirlpool

I couldn’t take it anymore and quickly divertedhad blurred the windscreen but I could still round I focused on theirat well, it looked like she was dressed for her pro She had perfectly curled hair--you know, like they did in the forties, set with pins and everything--and a whole face full of the thickest od, I have never seen such a sloppy job She even had it on her teeth, which was scary because this freak would not stop s"

I shot a glance at Dex to asped

There was a trail of blood running out of hishis lower lip so hard that he was drawing blood His eyes remained motionless and fixed onatso," I said trying to hide the horror in uidly licked his lips and dropped aze I quickly reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out a tissue He reached for it in stupor I pushed his hand aside and dabbed the tissue on his lips With my other hand I leaned on his shoulder and bent down so thatthis time I needed him to see me

"Are you OK?" I asked politely but fir ht now"

He took the tissue from my hand, balled it up and then tossed it in the backseat He sucked back on his lips for a few seconds The individual hairs in his moustache bristled For ahis lips ht, above all else, and I pushed it out of my head

He released his lip It had stopped bleeding His eyes looked up at the ceiling and he took in a deep breath I felt thatI took my hand off of his shoulder and sat back

"Teeks ago," he started, his voice rich like creae Island"

Oh yes Jennifer Thehis face would be oh-so inappropriate I sat further back still

"I actually had to h school to live ell, anyway, needless to say I had never gone back there since Ithat we at least pay the place a visit since she had heard there were a few trendy wineries popping up here and there It’s all about the fucking trends"

I nodded, eager to know ave up and told her ould go for a day trip The weather was gorgeous and it had been fucking fabulous until this last week And yeah, there were a lot of badaround different corners but I felt like I was close to putting that part offorward As we all hope to do So, Jenn decides she wants to get sooing to start regretting it and throwing up in the bathroom after she eats it She’s lactose intolerant and uses it as an excuse to binge and purge You know, an acceptable form of bulimia I hope you don’t subscribe to that bullshit"

He wagged his finger at oes and waits in this retardedly long lineup for pansy-ass ice creaelato is, so I decide to occupy myself and take a wander down by the docks If there is anything I can’t stand it’s waiting for people Keep that in mind, Perry

"Yes, where was I? Oh Yes So, I walk down to the docks It’s a gorgeous day, and people areaready to leave in their sweet sailboat when I see so out of the corner of my eye Someone has sidled up next toinappropriate banter with strangers; I seriously do But on this particular day I don’t feel like talking to anyone So, I ignore this person who’s standing besideenough for the boat I atching to motor away Finally, I just can’t take it anymore For an instant I even think it’s probably so hoays assuht to begin with I see this old lady standing beside ht at ht down to the lipstick on the teeth She was also wearing sohly inappropriate So much so that later on when I described what I saw to Jenn, I was shocked that she hadn’t seen her How could you not see an old lady wearing Daht off of Bette Davis’s dead body?"

Dex’s tale was creating shivers up my spine

"Andwhat happened?" I asked, enthralled I was suddenly very glad ere close to each other in this car I was about ready to jump into his arms

He cleared his throat "Well I don’t know We h maybe it was just a few seconds Her smile was so…omniscient I couldn’t think of what to do or say And the funniest thing was that she seemed oddly familiar She said so about me She said"

His voice trailed off and he looked down at his hands A lock of hair fell forward again I waited for hi to pry since the topic seemed to be more than personal

"Basically, she said that I’d find so for Soet closure Then she started to leave For soI could only ask ‘Who?’ She told hthouse’ And then she went around the corner and was gone"

"You didn’t go after her?"

He shook his head, the white of his eyes showing clearly "I couldn’t All I could think was that I had to get back to Jenn I didn’t want to see that woain"