"Are you serious?" Michelle gasped. Michelle and Agnes worked side by side that next morning. She had told her friend about James's lustful advances though her reaction was less excited. They were taking a smoke break outside the diner by the dumpster sitting on old plastic lawn chairs that were older than they were.
"What?" Agnes became defensive.
"I'm just shocked that you would let him just finger bang you outside your house," Michelle insisted. "What if your mom saw you?"
"No one was home," Agnes explained, her cheeks flushed with irritation. "Though the dreams..."
"What dreams?"
Agnes took a long drag of her cigarette. She had often tried to quit but then a few years ago gave up on giving up. Bring on the cancer. She couldn't masturbate her stress away. Agnes would get carpal tunnel by the time she was 30. Smoking was a better option.
After taking a relaxing exhale, watching the toxic smoke cloud over head Agnes told Michelle about her erotic yet violent sex dreams about James Abel. After she had finished Michelle was silent. Usually Michelle would be more vocal about Agnes's wet dreams but this one left her still which was more disturbing.
"What's wrong?" Agnes couldn't take the silence anymore. "Aren't you going to say something like 'Damn, girl, you're into S&M?' or something?"
Michelle put out her cigarette, her olive green eyes dimmed. The color had suddenly drained from her face when she said, "That ritual totally worked."
"Oh come on," Agnes rolled her eyes. "Sex dreams don't mean anything."
"Think about it! We do that sex ritual and the next day some hot guy shows up."
"Michelle..."
"When has a hot guy ever come in to Paradise Falls? The good ones always get out of here the minute they graduate."
Michelle had a point. Deep down Agnes knew she was right but she wouldn't say it out loud. Sometimes Agnes was more like her mother than she cared to admit. Like Mary, Agnes would deny the truth of things even when confronted with all the facts.
"I don't know if we summoned him or not but those dreams might be a warning," Michelle stood up, brushing some stray ashes from her waitress uniform. "I'm going back in. I'll do some research about this ritual we did after work. Just promise me you'll stay away from Pastor Abel until I figure this out."
Agnes felt numb inside at the idea of staying away from this sexy, hot, mysterious guy that gave shattering orgasms both in her dreams and when she was awake. Nevertheless, Agnes nodded in agreement. When Michelle walked into the diner, Agnes's hand went to her chest where the hand print was left by that shadowy figure. That entire area of flesh was like pins and needles. Those pins and needles sank below the skin piercing her heart. The cigarette smoke writhed as it rose from the burning embers.
Agnes couldn't bring herself to reveal the whole truth. That Agnes enjoyed it when James attacked her. The way he took her also with tenderness. It was sick to admit that she loved the violence. She loved the dark feelings James aroused deep within her. There was a tether between them.
An unbreakable chain that may choke the life out of her but she was slowly suffocating for a long time before James. Dying a slow death of every day mundane life with the people of her life like little parasites that sucked her dry. James was like a savior to Agnes. But Michelle was her best friend. She would at least try to keep her promise.
***
Sadly Agnes couldn't keep her promise. Mary had invited Pastor James Abel to dinner. Sunday dinner with Agnes's whole messed up family. She would rather have nailed her tongue to the tree outside and wait for lightning to strike. Yet Agnes wanted to see James again.
"Agnes?" Charlie knocked.
"I need your opinion," Agnes let Charlie in, hurrying him inside. She held up two dresses. Both were modest. The red one though allowed for some cleavage while the other was a yellow dress that made her feel like she was 10 years old.
"Red is your color," Charlie scratched his chin.
"You think I should add that golden cross? It is the Pastor and all."
Charlie raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"What?"
"You've been really weird lately," Charlie accused his older sister.
"What do you mean?"
"Like you're having scandalous sex," Charlie tilted his head. "Or are you just masturbating everywhere..."
"That's gross. I'm going with the red one." Agnes threw on the red dress that made her breasts so round and appetizing. She also added a simple Christian gold cross. The cross rest snuggly between her ample cleavage.
Charlie shrugged then plopped onto Agnes's bed flipping through a trashy magazine that was at least 2 months old. They never got much Us Weekly in Paradise Falls but Louis's wife Carol loved to bring some to show the Miltons what the outside world was doing. Charlie fixated on a page with a shirtless Hugh Jackman at the beach.
"I'll find out," Charlie winked. "You'll see."