And the Forth Seal was broken
And I heard a voice say “Come and see”
And I saw
And Behold a Pale horse
And the name of the rider upon it was Death
And Hell followed with him
Revelations, chapter 6, Verse 8


“Storm is coming in.”

Ororo was wiping the counters down as Jubilation stared out of the window of the small diner. She rested her chin on the handle of the mop she had not used in the past half hour and lounged against the side of the wall.

“You know, that floor isn’t going to get any cleaner with the mop in only one place,” Ororo said, glancing up at her.

“Bad stain here, think it’s old coffee,” she replied, her eyes never coming away from the approaching clouds. They were dark and heavy with rain. She sighed loudly, knowing the bonfire party her friends had planned for tonight was probably not gonna happen.

“Sucks,” she mumbled and finally started moving the mop halfheartedly.

“Oh, come on, Jubes, don’t take it so rough, there will be other parties.”

Jubilee just pouted. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Maybe it won’t rain,” Ororo said, trying to bolster the girl’s spirit. “And then you can go and do whatever seventeen-year-olds do at parties like that.”

She walked back around the table and started gathering up what was left of the dishes as Jubilee gave her a wicked grin.

“You have no idea what that would be, do you?”

Ororo picked up a knife from one of the plates and pointed it at her. “I know damn well what it’s not gonna be, and if little Mr. Drake does not want his religion changed, he better have a good idea, too.”

Jubes stuck her tongue out at her adopted sister. “Oh please, like I’m some kind of slut to just give it away, after only a first date.”

“Your little ass better not be any kind of slut, or I will lock you up in your room and brick it up.” Ororo warned, with no hint of humor. “Mom would kill the both of us.”

She threw the knife and the rest of the dishes in a wash bin and hefted them to the back. “I have heard of Bobby Drake’s reputation, and I have no intention of you ending up a notch on his bedpost.”

“I would settle for a notch on the back seat of a car right now,” she mumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“I am warning you, Jubilation, Lorena Bobbit doesn’t have anything on me!” she shouted from the back.

“Yes, General,” Jubilee saluted, and she went back to mopping. “So what time are you opening shop tomorrow?”

“Going to be here at six; expect a big rush in the morning. Nate said he was going to bring some of his work buddies here for breakfast,” she replied, throwing away what little food remained on the plates. “If we make a good impression, we could be serving the entire mining crew.”

Jubilee twirled her fingers in the air. “Woo-hoo, that means I’ll be slinging eggs and pancakes for five hours.”

Ororo laughed a bit. “You won’t be complaining so much when we have enough finally for you to get a car.”

“Right now I’d settle for a mule; probably fit in better with the locals around here, anyway.”

“Oh, come on, this place is not so bad,” Ororo said, smiling. “It kind of grows on you.”

“Like a fungus.”

Ororo laughed out loud. “Brat.”

They had been here for almost a year now. The little dream their mother had of wide-open spaces, living in a quiet Midwestern town. Moving from Los Angeles after their father died had been hard for all of them, but Ororo knew her mother had a determination tempered in steel. She had told them that a fresh start was what they all needed, a chance to build something of their own.

And to get away from the dark times the city had caused.

Ororo rubbed absently at the ring on her right hand, the one her father had given her before he had died. He had told her it was like the one he had given her mother, a link between their souls. She had not taken it off since.

The diner was their mother’s idea. A promise of an easy life away from anything that resembled what their lives were like in the city. Ororo remembered the look on her mother’s face the day they had opened; it was like she had given birth to another child.



For that one day in such a long time, they were united as a family again.

Then the heart that had held her and Jubilee and Ororo together for so long stopped. She died not but a few days after the diner had been finished. Heart attack, that was what the doctor had said when they pronounced her DOA at the hospital. Just as the pain of her Father’s passing was beginning to ease, her mother was gone just like that.

Jubilee had screamed for them to leave this all behind and go back to their old lives, but she had refused. Her sister had told her that there was nothing for them here anymore, but Ororo responded by saying that all they had left in this entire world was a this place and a dream their mother had for them, and God help her, she was not going to let that last part of her mother fade.

Eventually, Jubilee came around and even became enthusiastic about helping her before and after school. They had adjusted as best as anyone could expect. And nothing more could be asked of them.

“So, how was the “date” between you and Deputy Dipstick?” Jubilee piped in. bringing Ororo out of her thoughts. “Should I call the caterer and book the church?”

Ororo rolled her eyes. “Please, I would rather gouge my eyes out with a curling iron. He asked me out, and I want us to get in better with the townspeople, so we had a drink and that was it. And it’s ‘sheriff’, not deputy.”

“Oh, excuse me! Are you going to see him again?”

Ororo grimaced. “No thank you, the guy is creepy as all get out, I got away as soon as I could, and I tell ya, Jubes, the guy has some issues.”

“Hey, it might do you some good to have a good run in the saddle, it’s been a good long while for you,” Jubilee said, setting the mop aside and coming to help her with the dishes.

“The guy is psycho, Jubes, he’s like Barney Fife from Hell, and he kept giving me the Ted Bundy looks.”

“Should have told him to fuck off, then,” she said, popping a piece of gum into her mouth.

“Trying to fit in Jubes, telling the sheriff to fuck off is not the way to go; besides, he’s friends with Mr. Fisk. The guy pretty much owns this town, so we’ve got to try to maintain some amount of civility.”

Jubilee shrugged. “Whatever, wuss.”

Ororo splashed her with some of the dishwater.

“Ughhhh, so not cool!” She wiped off the water with a rag. “Well, the front is good, and I’m out, gonna see if the party is kicking yet.”

“You want a ride?”

She shook her head. “Nah, Bobby is gonna meet me at the flea market they call a mall here, don’t wait up.”

“Remember what I said, Jubes, or I’m going to jail for murder,” Ororo reminded her, shouting to her fleeing sister, “And if it starts raining I expect you home pronto.”

“Yes, Mein Fuhrer,” she said, and she was gone out the front door.

Ororo snickered and put away the last of the dishes, undid the apron she wore and finished up the last few chores.

The thunder echoed through the sky as she stepped out of the diner and locked up the door. The clouds had settled over the sky and the wind blew a harsh chill. Ororo pulled the brown jacket she wore around her more tightly and made her way to her truck in the back lot.

The narrow alley way was never a favorite place of hers to go, even when the sun lit the expanse. It was always colder here, darker, rats scurried throughout the trashcans and dumpster, and the smell was always strong. Ororo always had her pepper spray close to hand for some reason when coming through this alley.

She always had a feeling of being watched as she walked down it. A presence that waited for her every night, lurking in the dark, waiting for her to come just close enough to…

Ok, enough girl, she scolded herself. No more Clive Barker books for a while, going back to Nora Roberts.

A bird called overhead, a crow; the sound sent goose bumps down her arms and she slightly quickened her pace.

Finally reaching the end of the alley, she turned left and saw her pale green Ford Ranger. Some would say it was a strange choice of vehicle for her, especially Jubes, who had begged her to pick something different, but there was just something about a truck that appealed to her more than a car could.

Of course, if she could have, she would have chosen a motorcycle, but Jubilee had almost had a conniption at the thought of having to ride on the back of a cycle with her.

Getting in, she started the truck and pulled out of the lot. Their home was just outside of town, about seven miles worth, in the backwoods. A nice home if anyone should see it, not huge, but more than ample to house just her and her sister. Ororo liked it a lot; Jubilee did too, even though she said the surrounding area looked like the summer home of Jason and Leatherface.

Ororo headed east on the main road, past the other closing businesses, waving at a few people here and there. She saw Nate and Scott, two of the miners who had came into the diner the other day and praised her for a hell of a meal, standing outside of one of the few bars in town, talking.

Nate smiled and waved back at her. Scott absently did the same, apparently wrapped up in whatever conversation they were having.

Nathan Dayspring was a nice guy; Ororo thought maybe something could develop between the two of them as well, if the situation ever presented itself. The thought of dating again, after such a long hiatus, scared her a bit. The only date she had to account for in almost three years was with the Sheriff straight out of the pages of the novel Desperation. So at this point, she felt that it would be best for another to bring the topic of the ‘D’ word up first.

She was only a couple miles from home when she saw the flashes of red and blue in her rear view.

“Shit.”

She pulled over to the side and groaned when she saw the Sheriff step out of the cruiser and saunter over to her car. He had on mirrored sunglasses (It was dark outside, for God’s sake) and a tan cowboy hat pulled down low on his forehead. He was tall and of a good build, with hard features, but his skin was a strange shade of white, almost a transparent pale.

Just one more thing that added to his overall creepiness, Ororo thought.

He tapped on the window and smiled.

She rolled down the window with a sigh. “Evening, Sheriff.”

Nathaniel Essex, town sheriff, removed his sunglasses and let his almost black eyes devour the woman that sat before him.

“Ms Munroe,” he said in a flat voice. “How are ya this evening?”

“Good, just heading home, really beat, been a long day,” she said, wearing a fake grin; if ever God wanted to send a meteor down now would be an awesome time for it.

“IS there something wrong?”

He took a long and deliberate look over her body.

Jesus, the guy isn’t even discreet about it, Ororo thought.

He inhaled and let that wicked grin crease his mouth back up. “None at all, just thought maybe I could see what you had going tonight, thought maybe you might want to come have another drink with me.”

“I am sorry, Sheriff, I won’t be able to tonight, I’m dead on my feet.”

“Well, maybe you won’t have to be on your feet all night.” The look of his eyes was blood curdling. “I am sure we could find plenty of things to do that don’t require us to stand.”

Ororo gave him a hard look. Over and over in her mind, she was so tempted to kick this guy in the nuts, but other than the fact that she would end up in jail, she sure did not need that on her reputation.

The little devil in her that looked so much like her sister was cheering her on for it.

Taking a deep breath, she matched Essex’s look. “I don’t think so, Sheriff, my sister will be home shortly, and I don’t like leaving her in the woods by herself.”

It was not a total lie.

Sheriff Essex leaned forward, coming very close to Ororo’s face. She felt for the pepper spray in her pocket and held it tight. If it came to it, she would spray this guy and THEN kick him in the balls, jail be damned.

He took another deep breath and licked his lips as he pulled away. “Well, I sure don’t want to keep your little baby sister waiting all alone in the deep dark woods by herself.” He placed the sunglasses back on his face. “I guess we will have to schedule for a different time.”

Ororo quietly let out the breath she had been holding. “Good day, Sheriff.” She pulled out onto the road and drove off.

Nathaniel Essex stood still as he watched the truck drive away, quite fast and none too discreet about it. Even as the rain began falling on, and it flowed down the brim of his hat, he kept his eyes fixed on the gradually fading taillights

Ten minutes later, Ororo reached the gravel road that led into the back woods where she lived. The sky was very dark now, and the rain had started. Flashes of lightning illuminated the tree line, making shapes appear that were not really there. Ororo just wanted to be home and out of this weather. She loved the rain, but at this moment she wanted to be behind a locked door, in case a Manson in a badge happened to be around.

She reached the house, pulled her purse and jacket with her and went inside. She wanted a nice glass of whatever had a proof level and a bit of TV. She would have to call Jubes, too, and hope the girl had her cell phone on and that it was getting a signal. The area around here played hell with cell phones. They only had the one between them, but she was almost certain that it was the only one in the whole of the town.

She picked up the house phone and dialed. The message service came on and Ororo gritted her teeth: Jubes had the phone turned off. She left a snippy message for her to get home ASAP, and then threw herself onto the couch in the living room, switching the tube on and just relaxing.

Hours later she had fallen asleep on the couch, the TV set to a scrambled station, and the glass of wine she had drank sitting on the stand beside her. She was wrapped up tightly under a blanket and her breathing was deep and even.

Outside the rain poured, the thunder cracked and the wind howled.

Nothing was stirring.

Not even the crow that sat on the tree limb outside. It stood completely still even as the rain battered down upon it, the yellow eyes never flinched away as lightning split the sky. They focused on the house in front of it and on the sleeping form lying on the couch.





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