Scribner Horror Bundle: Four Horror Novels by Joshua Scribner (8 page)

Tate threw his hands to the
side. “Come on, bro. Let me finish.”

“By all means.”

“Now, bro,” Tate said
calmly. “You have to remember that what he’ll do will come in part
from his subconscious, so he won’t know exactly why he does it, and
it might not be in his best interest.”

Tate was getting braver,
Jonah thought, and now Tate was thinking again, his eyes like they
were looking inward, but as intense as always. He said, “You know I
can’t tell you exactly what he’ll do, bro.”

“Fair enough,” Jonah
responded.

“But I’ll tell you this.
Subconsciously, he’s going to need to resolve the conflict in a way
that will both endear the threat to him and take away the
threat.”

Jonah was shocked. He had
called Tate’s bluff, and Tate was showing his cards. Tate wasn’t
done. “Mark my words,” he said. “He’s going to give you something
really big, bro. And it’s going to be something that won’t make a
lot of sense. That’s the unconscious part. On a conscious level, it
won’t behoove him to give it to you.”

“All right,” Jonah said,
satisfied that Tate had just laid out a testable
hypothesis.

“And, at the same time, what he gives
you is going to get you out of his life.”

#

It was two nights after
Tate made his bold prediction that Jonah awoke from the dream,
having cummed himself.

The dream had taken place
at David’s Lansing office. Jonah found himself alone in the lobby,
the office mysteriously vacant. Jonah’s skin burned with
electricity, as he anticipated something was about to happen. David
and Cushing finally walked up, apparently out of nowhere. They both
waved their arms, motioning for him to come back to the meeting
room.

“There’s a problem,”
Cushing said, his voice reverberating. “It seems you haven’t been
doing it quite right.”

“You haven’t given the
right measure,” David said.

That was when Jonah felt
it. He looked down at his pants, where he sensed the movement. It
was on his thigh, beneath his slacks, throbbing, and moving around.
And it felt good. But it felt intense, wanting to be sated, an
irresistible urge screaming at him for fulfillment. When Jonah
looked up again, the two men were gone. He got up from the chair,
knowing what he had to do. He walked back to the office, where the
meeting was held. He opened the door slowly, and then saw her
standing there, turned away. Even though he couldn’t see her face,
he knew who it was, her hair curly but cropped short. Her green
dress pants were pulled up stupidly to her waist. Attractive, but
stupid looking. Very suitable for the boss to prey upon. Without
looking at him, she dropped those pants, revealing white cotton
panties, which she dropped also, then bent over.

Knowing that he had to do
this, because it was right, and because it was what he wanted,
Jonah stepped forward. Then he stopped, because it was moving
again, and though it felt good, it didn’t feel natural. Jonah was
somehow naked at that point, and down low was something else, where
his penis used to be. It was green with black diamonds on its back.
It stretched up, then stiffened like a pole, reaching the center of
his chest. On its triangular head, the snake’s eyes opened, black,
beady. It opened its mouth, revealing razor sharp fangs, and hissed
at him. Jonah could feel the snake as a part of his body and
against his body, as it tried to strike his head, curling up and
bolting out several times, falling short but still scaring the hell
out of him.

Then there was the
struggle. A part of him was horrified by the serpent, but another
part wanted to accept it as a part of him. Finally, Jonah took the
snake in his hands. He could feel the sensations of its scaled body
in his palms, but he could also feel the pressure against the
snake, which was his penis now. And it felt good. Jonah caressed it
for a little while, feeling the soothing ecstasy, feeling like he
would explode, knowing that he had to wait. He took the snake’s
head in his hands and held its mouth shut. He bent the snake’s
stiff body down. He stepped up to the bent over girl. He gave her
the measure.

Chapter
Three

Jonah sent his resume to
SSI in October. He passed the board examination the next month. In
January, he sent the licensing paperwork in signed by both he and
David. In February, he received his license in the mail. That same
week, he received a phone call from Cushing. He was to start his
career as an examiner in April. That night he and Tate celebrated
with a couple of bottles of wine and two fat ones.

#

Now that he was fully
licensed, supervision was no longer required. It was early March,
and Jonah hadn’t seen David in a few weeks. Jonah probably would
have declined David’s invitation to a Saturday lunch, Saturday
reserved for recovering from Friday’s pot extravaganza and for
reading in reports, had there not been a sense of urgency in
David’s voice. David had called on Monday, giving Jonah’s mind a
few days to torture him. Had Cushing called, saying something was
wrong? Had the licensing committee found something wrong with
Jonah’s paperwork and called David, Jonah’s supervisor?

Whatever had caused David’s
urgency, Jonah had to find out. They met at a steakhouse on
Intestate 27, about half way between Stanton and Lansing. Jonah
found David waiting for him, early, which was unusual for David,
who almost always kept his employees waiting. David was sitting at
a two top near the back of the restaurant. He looked up and smiled
as Jonah walked over. David, who Jonah had never known to drink,
had a pint of dark beer in front of him. Beside that beer were two
unwrapped blunt cigars.

Jonah sat down, and the
waiter was there immediately. Jonah asked for a coffee.

After the waiter left,
David said, “I was hoping we could have a beer together, our work
together coming to an end.” David’s voice was much quieter than
usual, Jonah thought, and his eyes were not as wide open as they
usually were. For the fist time since Jonah had known the man, he
thought he could see the effects of age.

“Sorry,
David, I had my share of beer last night.”
Not to mention a few dubbies.

“Oh. Feeling it
today?”

Jonah nodded, though he
wasn’t really feeling it, not in the way David was referring to
anyway. The pot hangover was different from an alcohol hangover.
Rather than a sick feeling, it was more of a zoned out, hazy
feeling, not necessarily bad, so long as he didn’t try to
concentrate too hard.

“Cuban?” David offered as
he pointed to the two cigars.

“Thanks,” Jonah said, his
hand going for his lighter.

Jonah had never had a Cuban
cigar, and he’d never enjoyed a smoke so much. It didn’t have the
grassy taste a cheap cigar had, and it didn’t have the bite of a
Camel. Very pure.

Evidently, David knew how
to appreciate a fine smoke too. He wasn’t a regular smoker, but the
way he smoked the Cuban, he looked like an old pro. He needed
it.

They were interrupted by
the waiter to take their orders, but otherwise they just sat there
and savored the Cubans. Finally, they crushed the ends out and
David abruptly said, “I’m not replacing you in Stanton.”

“Oh,” Jonah said, the status of the
Stanton office after he left a matter of indifference to
him.

Suddenly, David stared off,
deep in thought, confused looking. After about a minute, he said,
“You know, right now, Steph is basically a secretary at the Stanton
office, but I could bring her to Lansing for a few weeks and get
her trained on how to manage the office completely.”

Jonah
nodded his head to that. Steph had not gone back to school last
fall. She had said on a few occasions that she didn’t know what she
wanted to do next. Office manager would at least be a step up from
what she was doing now.
Office manager for
David.

It suddenly occurred to
Jonah why David might want to bring Steph to Lansing. She’d be
closer to the wolf. Jonah didn’t feel bad for her. No, compassion
wasn’t an emotion Jonah could really have at this point in his
life. It was more a tinge of jealousy that he had. He didn’t really
feel for Steph other than a basic lust, but there was still some
kind of primitive female-hoarding jealousy there. Steph was in his
pack.

David said, “Steph could
learn how to deal with SSI, billing and stuff like that. She’d have
to have a substantial raise, of course.”

“Oh,” Jonah said. “Is your
current office manager leaving?”

David stared at Jonah,
confused, for a few seconds. Then his face lit up with realization.
He laughed, then said, “I’m not talking about bringing her to
Lansing. I want to train her to be an office manager in
Stanton.”

“But you just said . . .”
Jonah stopped, as he was able to put it together. If David wasn’t
replacing him and still needed an office manager, that meant he
didn’t intend for Jonah to leave. But the SSI job was too perfect.
Jonah said, “David, I really think I’d be foolish not to take the
SSI job.”

“You’ll make way more money
in Stanton,” David replied.

For a few seconds, Jonah
just sat there uncomfortable. He’d done the math already, and he
really didn’t want to have this discussion with David. David was a
business tycoon and was just trying to sell Jonah something Jonah
didn’t need.

“David,” Jonah said. “I’ve
done the math. Overall, if you count the benefits, SSI is a way
better deal than working in the Stanton office.”

Again, David smiled, this
time looking like a salesman with a sure-shot pitch. Jonah expected
he was about to make him a better offer, fifty-five, maybe sixty
percent. He had no idea David was about to offer it all.

David finally said, “I’m
not asking you to work for me.” He paused, retaining the salesman
smile, then said, “I’m offering to give you the Stanton
office.”

After a few seconds of
quiet astonishment, Jonah began to hope for something to make this
simple. He didn’t want David to offer him something this good.
There had to be a catch, some hitch that made this deal not in
Jonah’s best interest. Then he could turn it down and go on with
his life as it had been planned before this lunch.

But David didn’t make
anything simple. He said, “I won’t charge you anything. You just
have to take over the overhead. That’s basically just paying for
Steph, the rent, the supplies, and the utilities. You could net six
figures in your first year, and that’s if you just do the SSI
assessments. There are not a lot of shrinks up that way, at least
not shrinks who can do the testing you can. You’ll get plenty of
other referrals.”

Thinking he might have an
out, Jonah said, “But I’ve already committed with SSI. If I don’t
go, they’ll be pissed and not send the assessments my
way.”

David shook his head. “I’ve
already talked to Don Cushing. He was thrilled with the idea. They
don’t have a lot of people doing assessments up north. And they
don’t have anyone as good as you anywhere. Working as a part of
SSI, or doing business with SSI, either way, it makes his life
easier. If anything, they may ask you to pick up another day. And
on top of that, because you’re fully licensed and proven in the
work, they’re going to give you $100 an hour instead of the usual
$90.”

Jonah did the math. It
would be six figures, easy. It was a gold mine. He hated this.
There was no out that would be acceptable down the line. If he
didn’t take this, years from now, he would be kicking the hell out
of himself.

“By SSI’s regulations, you
won’t be able to sign off on other peoples’ reports right away. But
after a couple of years, you’ll be able to bring in a few masters
level supervisees, maybe expand a little bit.”

And then I’ll be just like
David.

Jonah was silent for a
little while, then got up. “Excuse me,” he said, then went to the
restroom. There, he stood alone and stared into the mirror. Tate
was in his head. Tate wasn’t even there, and Tate was in his
head.

“It’s just like Tate said
it would be,” Jonah said out loud. David would have his reasons,
Jonah was sure. David would be able to justify it to Jonah and in
his own mind. But, despite that, David had still given Jonah
something that wasn’t in David’s best interest to give, and Jonah
would be out of David’s life. Just like Tate had said it would be.
On another night, he and Tate had talked about therapy. Dance was
the metaphor Tate had used.

“Are you dancing with me,
Tate?” Jonah asked out loud.

#

For Jonah, the relationship
with Tate was something best taken in doses. If the two of them had
dinner or went to see a movie together one night, Jonah generally
avoided Tate the next day or two. Then there was Saturday.
Saturday, the day after they got high, was completely off limits.
So, after coming home from lunch with David that Saturday
afternoon, Jonah had no intention of stopping off at Tate’s
apartment before going to his own. During the course of the drive
home, Jonah had told himself over and over again that he
wouldn’t.