People always assumed that Jo was a lesbian due to her size and shape. She was of medium height and weight; the fact that she loved plaid shirts and loved football even more didn’t help either. She was a lesbian, but it didn’t help that other people always assumed she was anyway.
Whatever. So she was a football fanatic. Yes she was in several pools and watched every football game she could all season. Lots of men watched hockey all the time and had fantasy hockey leagues, but no one ever said the men had the problem. Her last girlfriend had dumped her because she deemed her football obsession “unnatural”. Bitch. She was better off without her.
What she didn’t know was that Jo had a talent. She wasn’t physic or anything as grand as that. No, Jo’s talent was a lot more mundane but very profitable. She was able to pick the winning team. Every single time. It wasn’t the greatest of woo woo talents, but she would take it.
Approaching Petunia’s apartment building, she took her phone out of her coat pocket. She was wearing a blue pea coat today and a pair of nice khaki pants. She had even washed her hair and put on one of her most favorite plaid shirts. Jo drew the line at make-up, however.
It was all for Petunia. She had called Jo earlier that evening after Samantha had left her, telling her she had been with the other woman the entire time she’d been with Petunia. Jo figured the fact that she had changed her name to RiverMoonFalls hadn’t helped matter; but to Jo, she would always be Petunia. Lovely sweet Petunia. She wondered if she had told Samantha where to stick it.
Jo knew that there had been problems and she had sat in the shadows, waiting. She was also holding onto her secret crush. God, she loved Petunia. She had no idea what she saw in Samantha and Jo hoped that one day Petunia would look at her and see the love that was in her eyes every time she looked at her.
She dug out her cell phone and dialled Petunia’s number. It was only then that she noticed the dead body on the front lawn. Letting the phone ring while pushing it to her ear, Jo walked over. She recognized this woman-it was the unhappy woman with that awful man who played around with computers all day. Colleen, and the guy was named Blaine. There was an awful lot of blood and her throat had been cut. Jo wondered what had happened to her.
The phone clicked. “Jo?”
“Petunia, you’re okay! Did you know that there’s a dead woman outside your apartment building?”
“There are a few inside the building as well. Whatever you do, Jo, stay away, get far away from here!”
There was fear in Petunia’s voice and Jo felt immediate concern. “What’s going on? What happened Tunnie?”
“You know I hate it when you call me that.”
“That’s why I do it. What’s going on?”
“There’s so much to explain, but you have to get far away from here Jo! I’m not worth becoming involved in this sickos game. Please just-”
The line went dead and Jo’s heart went into over drive. She lunged for the apartment door, not stopping to think about how it opened on its own. Nor did she car about the dogs she saw walking around. Until they lunged for her.
Jo was a football player at heart, so she tackled the first dog, a large Rottweiler, to the ground. The three tiny tea cup poodles came at her with teeth bared and red eyes. She wasn’t worried about them until one of them sunk his teeth into her leg.
She normally loved dogs. She was an animal lover and had three Chihuahua’s of her own named Sophie, Molly and Molson. However, there was no way she was going to let some demonic tea cup poodle take a bite out of her without giving some payback. Jo usually didn’t swear, not at all. She may be a lesbian, but she thought that a lady must be ladylike. However, she let out a loud “DAMN IT TO HELL!” and grabbed the poodle and threw it at the other two, knocking them over like bowling pins.
The Rottweiler made another lunge for her and she tackled it against the stairs, using it to jump up a few of the stairs and race up them. She ran right into a flock of birds, black ravens and crows, that tore at her hair and clothes and hair. She batted them away with another swear word, one she never uttered: “FUCK!” She ran through them and stood in front of Petunia’s door. It was covered in black fire that move like tar and had no flame.
Letting out a cry she imagined men on the football field would let lose, she reached through the fire, feeling it burning her skin. The door wouldn’t open so she gave a hard lunge against it with her shoulder, as if she were tackling a football player. The door opened, spilling her on the floor of Petunia’s apartment and then the door closed and locked behind her.
Sitting in the living room were Petunia and a man with the most beautiful blond hair that she had ever seen. Burning moved through Jo and then was gone. Petunia let out a small shriek. “Jo! You didn’t have to come, you shouldn’t have, oh God, what’s wrong with you?” Petunia ran to her and helped her up, enveloping her in a tight hug that, despite the circumstances, was a beautiful thing.
“What do you mean? I came to save you.”
“Why would you do something so dangerous?”
“Because I love you.” She hadn’t meant to just blurt it out like that, but what’s done is done. She muttered a soft “Damn it to hell” under her breath.
“Um, ladies?” It was the blond haired man.
“What is it Corey?” Petunia asked.
“Your friend is glowing.” He said.
Jo looked down at herself and saw that he was right. A black glow had begun to throb and pulsed on her skin as if it were something alive.
“Well shit balls.” Jo said.
69B 