She got home and immediately went to shower. Her mother’s apartment was much smaller than their old house. A two bed one bath type. Jessica tried to open the bathroom door, and it was locked. The soundproofing was on, lovely. She went to the kitchen, she scanned her wrist and chose a yogurt tube snack. It was strawberry, not bad.
She heard the ping from her glasses as the school paper was released. Jessica ignored it. IT was nothing but an advertisement for the school’s winter solstice party, which would be happening in a few days. She didn’t understand why it was advertised since attendance was mandatory. She also didn’t care. She’d just sit in the corner and read the whole time anyways.
As it turns out, drawing is a lot less fun when your drawings get over analyzed by a therapist. For shits and giggles she had drawn King ripping the head off of her current therapist, and had been shoved into a holding cell because of my “instability,”. King had a good laugh at that. Asshole.
Jessica opened a book, but couldn’t really focus on it. It wasn’t fair to call King an asshole. He was haughty and acted as if any day she’d come to a realization or something, but otherwise… She took off her glasses and wrapped them in cloth. She locked and soundproofed her door and pulled out a pad of paper. It had been hell trying to get this. Paper was a controlled substance due to the lack of trees within the walls. She got it off a kid whose father could get anyone anything for a price. Kid’s an ass, but he got a pad for her to draw on that wouldn’t be shared with her new shrink.
She opened it to her drawing of King, it was rough, but getting better. Jessica drew as her mind wandered. It was a bit ironic that the source of all her problems became the only one she could talk to in confidence. He wasn’t that bad a guy, and he listened. When she didn’t want to talk, he would fill the silence. He was a bit self-centered, but compared to Jessica’s mother he was a saint. She stopped drawing. She still couldn’t focus.
That fucking therapist. She was right, and it ranckled something awful. Fuck her. Jessica didn’t control her life anymore. That was just a fact. The moment King entered the picture her life was set. Jessica scoffed and hid her pad again. Control, what a joke. Jessica had already finished her homework for the weekend, and now she was bored. She sucked the last of her yogurt out and unwrapped her glasses. Maybe the new episode of Captain Buck was out.
The show was pretty bad honestly. Cheap animation and stories meant for eight year-olds, and it was her guilty pleasure. Not that she would admit that, she’d die first. She got up to check the bathroom, tossing the tube into the trash as she passed the kitchen. It was open, mother classically nowhere in sight. She stepped in the bathroom and stripped her clothes off. She shoved them into the rapid-wash her mom had splurged for, and with her own money too, shocker, and looked at herself in the mirror.
She frowned and parted her light blonde hair. Her roots were showing. Jessica’s hair used to be blonde like her dad’s but it had slowly darkened into the mud brown of her mother’s. She hated it and dyed it at every opportunity. Well, she’ll have to get a bit of extra cash before the week’s out, she did not want brown streaking her hair for everyone to see. She looked into dull brown eyes, cupped in an almond face. Dad had said she looked like mom, and to her horror he was getting only more and more correct.
Not that her mom was ugly by any means. In fact she was beautiful, she had to be to land someone like her dad, a soldier with a big heart who wouldn’t beat her for failing to cook dinner. She shut that line of thinking down right away. Her dad had made it clear that Jessica was worth it all, but it wasn’t something to dwell on. She stepped into the shower, set it to set 2, then grit her teeth as cold water rained down. Her mother claimed to enjoy cold showers, and she knew damn well that setting 2 was NOT cold. Jessica swore the bitch did it on purpose.
Setting everything to blast scalding water took a minute, but it just led to a screaming match. Instead she reset the shower to her preferences and washed up. It wasn’t worth the effort to spit her mother, not anymore. In another year she was free of her. She could see her dad again and get a job and never deal with this woman again. So instead she focused on where she could find some quick cash. She pulled up a message board discussing a line of assembly toys. That wasn’t the actual reason for the board, it was just a front for an under the table courier business.
Actual delivery services were both expensive and nosy. A personal courier didn’t ask, didn’t look, and charged a far more reasonable fee. Her’s was a bit on the high side since she’s never been caught. She was pretty, and most people avoided the armband at all costs. That made it pretty easy to get from point A to B without being talked to, stopped, etc…
She saw someone she recognized,
3lectricb00galoo3: Dang, just finished the postman build, can’t wait for the next one.
BlursedBoundary7510: Hey, that’s sick, care to share a pick?
Then she waited. It would be a picture of the Postman set with a background of a specific street corner. It was easy to spot real messages from the memes since the memes were actually shot on location. A poorly edited picture of the set on a park bench not far from here came through.
3lectricb00galoo3: I got the receipts if you need them.
BlursedBoundary7510: You better.
And just like that, she had a job. She would get 75 credits per 10 miles traveled. The city was pretty big so that could mean a lot of credits. She got out, dried off, put her now clean clothes back on and grabbed her things.
She pulled her bag liner, with a nifty chip that spoofed bag readers into ignoring its contents, and put her tablet, some food packages and a water bottle in there, the lining in last. Now her obviously full bag wouldn’t read as empty. Good way to get caught. Granted, she was pretty sure someone somewhere was aware of the courier hustle, but it didn’t cause trouble, just shunted the lobbying fucks at Packurcares Inc.
She’d get a fine if she was caught delivering without a license, maybe worse since she was bound. A risk she would take. That kid she got the paper from had introduced her, asshole he may be, but he had his dad’s smarts. She didn’t work for them. No way was she getting caught carrying whatever stuff his dad dealt in but again, her status as bound meant people naturally avoided her. Perfect for delivery jobs.
She walked five minutes to the bench. She sat down next to a lunchbox. It had a plastic sleeve cut into the outside. Jessica opened it and saw the card and a small piece of rice paper. It would be loaded when delivery was complete, then she would deposit it into her account at any ATM. She pocketed the card and put the lunchbox into the liner. She waited another 10 minutes to make sure that no one was looking at her. People avoided her gaze like she was a gorgon or something. Good.
She stood and looked at the piece of rice paper, she memorized the address and ate it. The address was only a few hours walk, and would land her maybe 60ish credits. It would be enough. She set off. It was pretty simple to find, a small restaurant called Chet’s Cheddar. She had eaten there once, it was pretty good and the hair dye was only 30 credits. Jessica shook her head, the rest would go into her savings. She was smart enough to open a separate account her mother didn’t have access to. She had maybe 3000 credits, and had to pull some every now and then but it would be enough to live off of till she got a job.
The walk itself was uneventful, the light wind chilled through the sweater Jessica wore, not that it got too cold, even in the dead of winter like they were in. They were close to the equator, which meant really hot summers and cool winters. Jessica recalled that the area was once called the United States, the 53rd she thought. Before that she vaguely recalled it was something more like Mixaco… or something. That far back the records got a bit mixed up. Then it had been the Sun God’s kingdom before he was killed by Lucifer.
More accurately they killed each other, then Death knight claimed it, then he died, then a few lesser Bound before they were killed and the walls were put up. Jessica used to wonder what was on the other side of the walls. Turns out that having so many bound with summoning abilities fucked up ecosystems. The entire continent was filled with things that could only be technically called “animals”.
She would likely be there one day, fighting on the walls against anything getting too close with whatever power King gave her when she eventually let him “touch her light” which quite frankly sounded dirty. King was scandalized when she asked what else he wanted to touch. The memory made her laugh out loud. Or maybe she would refuse and work a shitty desk job. Probably safer.
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She got on a bus soon after since she realized spending the next three hours walking sounded hard. There wasn’t any issue, the bag was a carry on and the driver’s sneer kept him from looking too close. She was surprised when the council decided to return to human drivers, but it kept people employed so it was probably for the best. She got off a few stops later and entered Chet’s. The guy behind the counter knew immediately what was going on. The manager looked very grateful and tipped me 10 credits, nice.
She emptied the card, her 62 credits matching her own calculations, and tossed it into a drain. She took the bus home and decided to use the “Walking” excuse. Which was good because she was late for “family dinner” as her mother put it. The once a week ritual where she would pretend to care about what Jessica had to say for about a minute or two before talking about how hard work was for 30 minutes.
Jessica entered the apartment to a predictably annoyed mother. “Where the hell were you? I was worried sick!”
“Sorry, I got lost in thought while walking.” Jessica headed into the kitchen, pizza tonight. Her mom must have really wanted to vent.
“You didn’t take your glasses, how was I supposed to call you?” Her mother demanded. Jessica frowned, “Did you go in my room?”
“No, but they clearly aren’t on your face!” Jessica sighed in relief. “Yeah, sorry. I wanted some space. How was work?”
Her mother only got Saturdays off, so Sundays were usually meetings, meetings, emails and more meetings. Must’ve been a bad one since her mother, while shooting an ‘I don’t believe you care but I want to talk so I’ll let it slide’ look, answered, “Just awful.”
Jessica, knowing how this would go and not really looking to fight, thus ruining the happy feeling of making easy money, replied, “Tell me about it.”
It seemed we were skipping the talking about me stage, which was for the best. Jessica had nothing to say on that subject.
“An auditor looked through the records today. She didn’t even tell anyone. Now everyone is pissed.” Her mother sighed dramatically. “I swear if I get asked if “This was REALLY an appropriate use of funds” I’m going to strangle someone.”
“You mean getting an espresso machine in the teacher’s lounge was a bad idea? Damn, who’d have thought.”
“No back talk. She was nitpicking everything from the power usage to teacher engagement scores to even student bathroom usage. The bathroom usage!” She rubbed her temples as I bit back a comment. Kids spend a lot of time in the bathroom, mostly to hang out where they aren’t monitored.
“Then she tried to ask about the library, as if students even use that. They just play games anyways.” The libraries haven’t been updated since Jessica got access to them, and considering the titles, probably well before then.
“I shut her down right away of course. A few keywords moved things along nicely.”
“God forbid we have to spend money that could be used to improve the teacher’s quality of life.”
“Exactly, the teachers are the ones needing the resources here.” Jessica wondered at the mental acrobatics needed to miss the point as far as her mother does.
“The desks are fine, the grades do well, and the sports teams bring the advertisement money.” Her mother said proudly, Jessica scoffed, “Isn’t the school’s average a grade lower than the others in the area?”
“A grade higher than the city average.” She explained. Ignoring the fact that they were in one of the richest parts of the city. Jessica had to wonder how her mother managed to keep her job, then remembered it was because she spoiled the sports program and got the school council the ad revenue they wanted.
“She’s filed a dozen complaints and now I’m going to have to talk with the school council. As if those assholes care about anything but keeping their little spots of power intact,”
“Unlike you,”
“Exactly. Then you add the new budgets I have to deal with, nearly a 1000 credits cut, we had to cancel our production of Macbeth since we couldn’t afford to rent the local theater like we usually do.” Jessica’s mother complained. If she hadn’t approved new turf for the field despite it being only two years old, she may have felt bad. Instead it just ticked her off.
“That caused Mrs. Berkins to come to my office and she dared yell at me for it. I couldn’t even defend myself cause of those fucking complaints.”
“You mean you couldn’t bully her into silence?” Jessica couldn’t help that one. Her mother pursed her lips.
“Always attitude with you, what's that therapist even doing?” She moved on, “So I just had to explain the budget then she argued that the turf didn’t need to be changed, but it looked just awful! It had to be changed or we would have looked bad to the other schools.”
There it is, it wasn’t power or money that motivated her, it was looks. Somehow that was the most disappointing thing to learn about her mother, she had no motive beyond how others viewed her. She would get money to look richer than she was, she would restrain her dad from seeing her in a delusional attempt to make her look better to others, make the dumbest decisions just to look just that much better. It was pathetic. What a waste of smarts on such a shallow woman.
Jessica couldn’t stand it anymore, she tossed her plate and made to leave. “Where are you going, we’re not done talking! I didn’t even ask about your day.”
Jessica laughed aloud, “Please, were you going to ask before or after talking more about how your own actions have bit you in the ass?”
The woman frowned, then stopped since she thought frowning created wrinkles. “I feel as though you’re attacking me for just wanting to spend time with my daughter.”
Jessica thought, she really thought about sitting back down. She really disliked this woman, but some hated part of herself wanted her attention, to hear that she loved Jessica. Jessica smothered that part of her in the crib and gave the bitch the one finger salute. She locked the door behind her as her mother started yelling and soundproofed her room. That had felt good, though she’d probably hear about it for a week.
She just pulled out her glasses and opened a book. She was reading a romance, it was a modern trash piece. Lots of close encounters and empty lines that every book like it used. This one’s twist was that she was an enforcer and he was secretly a smuggler. It was bad, but in a fun way. Jessica needed to know how it ended. She didn’t quite get there before she fell asleep.
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“That Dr. Lindsey is a character. I’m rather impressed with her.” King’s voice quietly thundered in the void. Jessica looked cooly at the monstrous face. Well, perhaps not that bad. It was still awful and gray and scaly, but it wasn’t impossible to look at. The four eyes never looked right though.
“I don’t like her,” Jessica said, then immediately regretted it. King’s laughter boomed out.
“You are, as you like to say, full of shit.” Stupid mind reading asshole. “You liked that she got the better of you and didn’t rise to the bait, you hated that she said what you needed to hear and it hurt. Not to mention I’ve been saying it for at least a year, since you spit in Maddie’s face when she spilt her milk on your dress.”
“Can we not talk about that, or the shrink?” Jessica asked, “Why don’t you talk about yourself some more.”
King chuckled, “I think you’ve had enough of that from your mother. No, I want to know your plans for the ball.”
Jessica rolled her eyes, “It’s not a ball, and you know my plans.”
“Come now, surely you’re not actually going to read in the corner the whole time. Find someone to dance with at least.” King talked with a smile, how that face of his smiled charismatically Jessica didn’t know but he managed it.
“That is exactly what I’m going to do, you really think anyone’s gonna go to that party with a Bound on their arm? Fuck no.”
“What about Micheal? He’s a decent sort. Lord knows no one else is going to ask him.” King answered back.
That was true enough. Michael was already a bit of a black sheep at school, and then he committed social suicide by talking to her. They just shared a lunch table when one or the other wasn’t in lunch detention. Beyond that they didn’t really know each other. It was more a book club than a friendship.
“Oh don’t give me that, you like him.” King said with a smirk.
Jessica ground her teeth, “I do not, I like his taste in books, mostly. Stop acting like you know me that way. You don’t!”
“Do I need to remind you of your funny little thought back in july at the pool when you two-”
“Fuck you, shut up. I want to go to sleep now.” Jessica glared, she hated being reminded of shit like that. It was so much worse with someone who could read minds and seemed to have a photographic memory.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” He dropped the smile, looking away at the void. “Can. Can we talk just a little longer? It’s really boring here by myself.”
She didn’t pity King, he did this to himself after all. He still won't tell me why, something about showing me. But he would have to touch me first and there is no shot of that happening. Hell, there’s a lot he refuses to explain until that point. Jessica resented that fact, and she knew that King knew that. Still, she didn’t want to go to school tomorrow. A bit of procrastination never killed anyone.
“Fine, what do you want to talk about?” Jessica released a frustrated breath. “Actually, what about that story you mentioned the other day, the great chasm. What’s that?”
King froze. “I’m not ready to talk about that, it’s… not something I can’t tell you about but I’m not ready to. How about-”
“Why not?” Jessica pried, she couldn’t help it. She wanted to know more about the creature who shares headspace with her. He was a blowhard sometimes, talking about how great his reign was, how beloved by his people he was and all, but in all of that there was always stuff not said.
King tapped his claws on the non-existent ground. He answered slowly, “I don’t know how you’ll react, and… I don’t think you’d be receptive to it.”
“That right?” Jessica deadpanned, she figured as much. Jessica was aware that of the thing she had inherited from her mother, her sharp tongue was one of them. She had a bad habit of defensively cutting people down with it. Shame it only works on decent people. Her mother seemed immune.
“I could share my own party experience,” King offered. Jessica scoffed, “You partied?”
King nodded, a wide grin on his face revealed fangs that could shred syn-steel alloy. “Oh yes, and while we don’t have alcohol in the Dusk, we do have sniffer shade, which is equivalent to your plane’s ecstasy.”
Jessica was suddenly very interested, and finally sat down, signaling that she was willing to stay for a bit longer than normal. King looked relieved, “So, on this particular ball, it was my 10th 33rd birthday, and one of the named entities, Proven was her name, has a bit too much to sniff. She was spilling some nasty secrets.”
Jessica listened intently, for all the trouble King caused her, he was one hell of a storyteller. Since entities are immortal she assumes he’s had a lot of practice. They spent hours in her dreams, and Jessica forgot about the outside world, Maddie, her mom, the upcoming event. It was nice. Even with the bragging thrown in. It ended though, with Proven in what is essentially a river with at least 3 powerful entities chasing her in a rage.
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Jessica was still laughing when she woke up.