Dark Obsession Takes Hold

Joe expected the bomb to burst that same day, but nothing, of course he saw Grace hovering in the background, but there was no mention of the photo. The moment he got the time he ripped it up and scattered the smaller than small pieces in different dustbins, he feared that she might even decide to tell some of the student council that he carried pornography with him and showed it to the younger kids. This didn’t happen. Nothing happened for two days and he wondered what game Grace was playing at. He got his answer soon enough, he was heading out for practice when his phone rang, it was Maryse’s ring tone, he was frowning as he answered, she never called during the day and never during the week.

“Hello?”

“Thank God Joe! I thought you had left already!”

She sounded scared and immediately he was angry and worried,

“Reese, what’s wrong?”

There was a slight pause,

“I received photos today Joe...pictures of us...”

He sat down on his bed,

“It had a note along with it.”

Joe could feel something grip his heart,

“What did it say?”

“I want this as well, or I show everybody.”

Joe could feel the drop in the pit of his stomach, but Maryse continued,

“It’s signed Grace...Joe who do you know who Grace is?”

This titbit threw his entire mind into turmoil,

“Uhm...yeah I know her, she used to be in the same grade as me, still is. Andy said that she had this huge crush on me back then, I didn’t notice.”

There was a long pause of silence,

“You know that we can’t let anybody see these Joe?”

He nodded absentmindedly,

“Yes I know, but what price are we willing to pay for that?”

There was another pause,

“Ask her what she wants, I think I have an idea...but let her say it.”

He breathed a sigh,

“OK I will ask her when I see her again.”

“Good...I have to go now, bye Joe and take care.”

He managed a slight smile,

“You too, talk to you again.”

She ended the call and he slipped his phone onto his desk, what would Grace want? He realized then that he would be late for practice if he didn’t hurry and he grabbed his duffel bag, leaving the house at a run. Practice was hard and by the time Joe and Andy dropped into the bucket seats of Joe’s car, they were exhausted, as Joe pulled away Andy looked through the back window and frowned,

“Seems like your stalker is stalking you again.”

Joe glanced in his rear view mirror and found that Grace stood in the entrance to the stadium, he wanted to stop and turn back to ask her what the photos that she had sent to Maryse was for, but he knew that Andy wouldn’t stay put, so he drove on, just shrugging,

“If she wants to stalk me she would have to get more nerve than just saying hello in the cafeteria.”

Andy chuckled and leaned back into the seat,

“You know, you have the weirdest luck. First you can’t seem to find a girl and when you have one every weird chick wants you.”

Joe shrugged,

“Must be karma?”

Andy chuckled,

“Karma my ass, you’re a weird magnet.”

“That would mean that you’re saying that Maryse is weird and through that you’re weird too.”

Andy scoffed,

“Yup, I never argued otherwise.”

Joe chuckled and their light-natured banter continued until he dropped Andy off and drove home. After a shower and a quick recap on his homework, he fell into bed and slept.

He didn’t think once about Grace the next morning, not until she slid into an empty bench next to him in Maths, she gave him a small smirk and pulled her books from a black backpack decorated with metal studs, skulls and names which he decided had to be bands. She grinned at him and gave him a little wiggle of her fingers, it was only then that he noticed the snakebites in her lower lip, a glint on her nose proved that she had inserted a stud there as well. He raised an eyebrow and then opened his books,

“Hey Joe.”

The whisper was soft, but it still got his attention, he looked back at her, she feigned a hurt look,

“You not gonna greet me?”

He suppressed a sigh and wiggled his fingers in the same way she did, it brought a smile to the black lips and she leaned back into her seat. The teacher entered, silenced everybody, introduced himself and started off by handing out test papers. As added bonus he said that once the test was done, they could take the rest of the period off outside the class. Joe found the test just a re-cap of the previous year’s work and finished it quickly. As he packed up his books, Grace finished as well and as he exited the door, he paused and waited for a moment, Grace came out in a rush, clearly in pursuit of him. He grasped her arm, making her gasp in surprise, he pushed her down the hallway and outside into the recess area, a tree stood a few yards from the exit and he pushed her up against it. She looked up at him, expectations in her blue eyes, this angered him and he wanted to bash her head against the tree,

“I’m guessing Maryse phoned you.”

He glared at her, her words were soft, so that nobody else could perhaps overhear them, this unsettled him slightly, and why would she want to do that? He took a breath,

“Yes.”

She nodded,

“Good, the guy who gave it didn’t try anything funny?”

He blinked and frowned,

“No, she didn’t mention anything.”

This was not going the way he had envisioned it, her blue eyes found his again, for a brief moment he realized that the make-up and piercings added more to her beauty, a beauty he haven’t really noticed until now,

“So?”

He let go of her arm,

“What do you want?”

He kept his voice low and neutral, careful not to give her any reason to get upset and out of spite ruin his life. A smile briefly ran over her lips,

“It’s not that difficult superstar; I couldn’t get you all those years ago. Now you’ve gone and grow up, got yourself a devoted girlfriend and you’re doing very good for yourself.”

Her eyes seemed to search his for something and then she sighed,

“Well if you still don’t get it, I know I can’t get your love, which belongs to Maryse.”

She smirked at him,

“That much is clear even to me, I want at least something I know you can’t deny me if you don’t want your perfect little life to come to a grinding halt.”

She seemed to be talking in circles and he just couldn’t get behind the meaning of her words just yet, he was so focused on her words and her eyes, that he missed the slight movement. The sharp pain in his side made him think that she had stabbed him, but there were too many spots for it to be a knife or blade, he glanced down and saw that she had gripped him with her nails. A naughty grin appeared on her face, her eyes glinting,

“I want you to fuck me Joe, if you’re a good boy and give it to me like I want it; I will destroy one picture each time.”

With her other hand she pushed against his chest, much stronger than he would have thought, she released her grip on his side as she did so and he stumbled slightly away. She breezed past him,

“Better think on it Superstar, I want an answer tomorrow...”

Her tone had a threatening edge to it and he stared after her, could he do this? He looked away and leaned his back against the tree; he realized that his side was itching. He lifted his shirt and found that her nails had broken the skin, leaving him with five pinpricks of blood seeping from crescent shaped cuts. He lowered his shirt and shook his head; this woman was much more dangerous than he had thought her to be...then of course, he had never actually met the likes of her. He withdrew his cell phone from his backpack and texted Maryse, he knew she would get it when she finished her classes; he switched it off after he received the delivery report and then made his way back into the school building.

The rest of the day Grace haunted him, not really stalking him, but shadowing him without being obvious about it, he’d catch a glimpse of her where ever he went, but if he tried to look for her she basically slipped away. He had a firm reminder that she could be dangerous as well, the marks on his side a clear indication as to that. He suddenly wondered how many pictures she had and then another thought came to him, what if she just kept making more pictures from the originals?

The message was waiting for him when he switched on his cell phone, he read it and frowned, all she had written was that she would call him later. This seemed strange to him, but also it made him worry, why would she want to call him to tell him something? Did she need time to think? Time to mull over what Grace had said she want and what she offered? He had just finished his homework and got up to get ready for practice when his phone rang. He took a calming breath and answered, Maryse sounded oddly distant, though he knew it was not directed at him, but more at circumstances.

“OK so she said that is all? Just that?”

Joe paused,

“She did say that she’d destroy a picture each time, but I did think that she might just decide to make more copies...”

Maryse chuckled,

“I haven’t even thought about that...well it’s up to you really.”

Joe pursed his lips, blowing out a soft sigh through his pursed lips,

“I don’t know Reese; the options are rather limited, two options to be honest about it.”

There was a short silence,

“Do it, but first get the original. I don’t know how you will be able to make certain that it isn’t a copy, but you’re a smart guy.”

“Not smart enough.”

This drew a nervous laugh from her,

“We both got a bit careless Joe; I’m as much to blame as you feel you are. Actually I’m more to blame.”

He sighed,

“This just doesn’t feel right.”

He could almost see her shrug,

“We can’t do much about it now Joe, spilt milk and all that.”

He ran a hand over his face, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees,

“So you say that we should take her offer?”

There was a long pause,

“I appreciate the offer Joe, but I did tell you that I don’t want you to lose your future because of me. Things like this tend to do that, especially college scholarships.”

He looked out of the window and then started to laugh softly,

“What?”

“I just thought about it, you’ve just given me permission to do what most guys would love to have and I am less than thrilled about it.”

She sighed softly,

“Sometimes I think you’re too good for the likes of me, probably are, but I know you will disagree. Just...”

Her voice faltered and he wished he could hold her then

“I won’t Reese.”

There was a soft sniff and when she spoke tears was very close, she had just repressed them,

“You better not; I will kick your ass if you do.”

He smiled faintly,

“And what a whupping it will be.”

Her laugh was short and shaky,

“I have to go...let me know if you got the originals.”

“I will do...take care Reese.”

“You too Joe.”

And just like that his fate was sealed, he tossed his phone onto his bed and sighed, what the hell did he get himself in to? It felt like Grace knew about the consent he had received from Maryse, she sat in the bleachers during the practice, sat on the hood of a black Mustang when they had finished, her intense eyes locked on him all the time, like a cat sizing up its prey and the best way to devour it. That night Joe did not sleep well at all, he had a dream about Maryse and Grace, usually a dream about two women would be quite fun, but not when they were holding his arms, using him like a tug of war rope.

He woke up feeling tired and wrung out, luckily it was Friday and a short day...then he remembered Grace and he groaned, he hated Fridays and weekends suddenly. He was getting out of the car when the door got pushed into him, caught by surprise he looked over his shoulder to find Grace standing there, dressed in black, her hair caught back and her mascara so black it made her almost look like a raccoon, her irises blood red, she grinned at him, revealing fake vampire teeth.

“So superstar?”

He frowned,

“What the hell are you dressed up for?”

She shrugged,

“A little party after school, there’s no time to go home.”

He shook his head and she pushed the door, she was definitely stronger than she looked, but Joe shoved casually against the door, forcing her to take a few steps backwards. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and closed the door, turning to face her.

“I want the originals first.”

She pouted, he realized now that her lips were painted red and not black,

“Nope, I said you have to satisfy me first.”

He stepped up to her, leaning closer,

“I didn’t say I want it now, but what stops you from just making more copies?”

She feint a hurt look,

“You don’t trust me Joe?”

He scoffed at her,

“No.”

She grinned suddenly,

“Smart man, OK I will give you the originals...one at a time.”

He glared at her, and her grin grew wider,

“Well unless you spend the weekend with me, then I will give them all to you.”

He looked at her, not sure if he could trust her or not, she leaned closer,

“Come on superstar, it will be fun and will cut down your workload by oh let’s say a year.”

Her wide grin made her fake teeth flash in the sunlight,

“Fun for you perhaps.”

He sighed and looked passed her at the group of Goths looking at the two of them, he had never bothered to look at them; he never even had the need to talk to one of them. Of course he treated everybody equally and they knew it, he noticed that some of the girls had red lips just like Grace, the boys had more...formal clothing; he had not seen them like this ever. Grace had to be the one, who got this party thing organized,

“You can even come to the party; it will be fun for all of us.”

“I’m not dressing up like that.”

She snickered,

“You don’t have to, come as you are, it’s yummy enough.”

He looked down at her, for a moment he could see the girl she had always been, it seemed that behind it all she had not changed that much. Then it was gone, replaced with a naughty twinkle in her eyes. He heaved another sigh and looked over at the group once more, it seemed like they waited for his response, like a coven of witches and warlocks just waiting for his consent so that they could steal his soul. Then of course there was the fact that Maryse wanted him to do this, he was still puzzled by this, but in

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THE END