Into the Darkness

Chapter 3

Rubbing his shoulder, spreading the small spurts of blood around his former pristine flannel button up, David boarded the bus that led directly to the stop to his pharmacy, the pharmacy where they all knew him by name.  Sasha followed behind, closely behind.  It was almost like she wasn't even there, at least to the bus driver.  She managed to skate by and avoid detection, therefore circumnavigating the payment process.  In all truthfulness, it didn't matter, the bus was half full if that.

Finding an empty filthy molded seat, David sat with a bit of caution.  He had had an incident with bubble gum and khaki pants on one ride and hell would have to freeze over for that to happen again.  Sasha sat next to him in the dual seat without a care in the world.  Bubble gum be damned, filth is just a concept to her, life was meant to be lived, not avoided and coddled.  

Sasha rested her hand on David’s thigh, his inner thigh to be exact, resulting in a massive flinch and an instant sweat wall building up on David's forehead.  He begged out loud, "No claws this time, please, no claws.  That is a very delicate area, Sasha."  Immediately, anyone within three plastic seats of David stood, grabbed their belongings, and moved all the way to the back of the bus leaving David and Sasha sitting at the front, just them and the driver.

Chuckling at his childish fear, Sasha had an idea, "You ready to cause some trouble?  Actually, it's not a question.  We're going to cause some trouble."  Sasha clenched down on David's thigh, inciting a moderate amount of pain to make it very clear that her message was to be taken seriously, "See the driver up there?  See him?  Go swipe his glasses off of his face while he's driving, while the bus is in motion.  Maybe take a bite out of his ear too, you know what, definitely take a bite out of his ear, just like Mike Tyson.  If you don't, I'm going to kill you, right here in front of all these frightened people."

Swallowing as hard as he had ever swallowed before, David immediately fell timid and weak.  His body was shutting down at the ultimatum Sasha had just laid on his lap.  All he knew was that he was not ready to leave this world, not now, not today. David felt he had no choice in the matter, he had already felt the wrath of Sasha and her talons.  Before he stood to scoot butt first by Sasha, David took out his lunchtime dose of lithium.  He casually popped it in his mouth and proceeded to chew it into tiny bits.  No water needed; he was a pill taking veteran. 

Glaring up from her seat, Sasha took a huge exception to this, "Did I say you could take meds during this trouble making session?  What the hell David?  Now, I'm really going to kill you if

you bail out on this expedition."  Sasha held her hand out far, more than enough for David to see, and flashed a completely morphed hand in front of his face.  Her fingers were now steak knives, serrated and glimmering in the sunlight, "You damn fool, this is going to be so painful.  Better get on with it now, get that driver...or else."

Swallowing hard and deep, the lithium burned its way down David's throat.  He was now awkwardly standing in the middle of the isle while the bus was in motion.  All the passengers that had retreated to the rear if the public bus watched on in terror, they were very unsure of what the local crazy was about to do.  The driver checked his large rear-view mirror and noticed David standing still, doing nothing, "Sir, David, sit down.  You know the rules.  Sit down or I’m going to have to kick you off the bus."

Now David had even more decisions to make.  Sit down and accept death from Sasha, attack the driver and complete his mission, or do nothing and get kicked off of the fear filled bus, resulting in death by Sasha and her steak knife hand.  It was truly a catch 22.  After about fifteen seconds, David had decided that today was not the day to get stabbed and disembodied by this horribly scary Sasha.  He walked tentatively towards the driver as both their eyes bounced from the mirror to each other.  This was about as tense of a situation as it could get.  

Coming within arm’s reach of the driver, there was once more proclamation made, "Sit down, David.  Last warning or you are off of here and barred for life."  This threat made David stop in his tracks.  He quickly looked back towards Sasha; she was gone. Immediately a sense of calm filled his body.

"I'm going to go sit back down, you are an excellent driver.  I appreciate you," David said this about as creepily as possible.  Crisis averted; he did not know where Sasha went but she was most definitely not on the bus anymore.  That was impossible as the bus had not slowed down or stopped during this entire interaction. 

Nevertheless, David was relieved and sat back down, still clutching the life out of his paper prescriptions.   He wasn't sure what had happened, where Sasha had gone, and why he was so calm now, but damn it was a hell of a relief.  

Subconsciously checking over his shoulder every five seconds, David sat and rode in silence.  The bus, scared passengers filling the rear, fell silent and calm.  Sasha was gone for now; did that mean he was safe from the murder she had promised him.  For now, at least he didn't have to live up to his heritage and eat the bus driver's ear.  His brother, now deceased, would have jumped at the chance.

Our hero, troubled as he was, began to take mental notes similar to how people that suffer migraines or panic attacks would note everything.  Sasha was gone, but what had caused this.  Things were calm and there was absolutely no human eating going on, how had he reached this point.  Was it the lithium?  Had he given in to Sasha’s demands and threats, resulting in a premature exit being taken by our haunting young lady character?  Perhaps there had been an opportunity to exit the public transportation and David simply missed it.  That had to be the ultimate answer.  Sasha bailed, thinking that her instructions were about to be followed, trying to avoid the police that would undoubtedly be called to the scene.

None of that mattered now, Sasha was gone, and the pharmacy stop that David had grown so fond of was coming up.  The passengers were safe and would soon be able to disperse throughout the bus with calmness and ease.  Sadly, this was the life David Dahmer was cursed to live.  It wasn't his choice, his older brother had designated this future for him when he began torturing, killing, and eating young men in Milwaukee.  Sometimes life just deals you a shit hand.  You gotta play the cards you are dealt, there are no discards and no do-overs in life.

The huge bus came to a stop right at the sign for the mom-and-pop pharmacy David had been using for years.  The big chain pharmacies, well, they kindly declined his business.  They wanted nothing to do with him, all because of his older brother's sins.

Off the bus, David waved at the driver.  The door slammed behind him and there was no wave sent back his way, that was life.  As the bus pulled away, David watched the scared passengers move themselves around the bus, free of the threat that David imposed on them. 

He waved at each and every one of them, "Bye, enjoy the rest of your commute!"

A dull and faded sign hung in front of his face as soon as he turned around, 'Davindale's Medications', his pharmacy.  The only place that would take him as a client, but the owners were very nice people, they knew David had problems but they also knew that Jeffrey was the psycho, not David. 

Looking left and right before heading in, David was free from the terrifying grasp of Sasha.  He had officially lost her, at least for now.  Inside he went, confident and happy for the first time in a long time.  Jack and Wendy were waiting at the counter, smiling when he entered their store.  

It's nice to feel wanted.

Time to re-up his medications and try to figure out where that pesky Sasha went off to and how she went off to wherever it was.  If she disappeared off the face of the Earth today never to return again, that would be a gift from the Gods.