Chapter 3- Beauty of the Boardwalk
It was sunset on the boardwalk. Everything was shifting. The surfers were making the trek from the waves in the ocean across the beach to the parking lot, where most of them would change out of their wet suits right there. The small children on the boardwalk were going home, and the Night People were coming out. The youth with no where to go flocked to the boardwalk at night, it's bright lights keeping the dark, cold night out, making it seem more distant. Dyed hair and tie dye shirts moved down the boardwalk along with a mass of leather and denim, all the people who hung out there regularly. All the regulars were there, except for four of them that was.
Evelyn walked down the boardwalk, her heeled boots clicking on the wooden planks and a wide-brimmed black hat pulled down low over her eyes. As usual she carried her large, black basket. Everyone knew not to mess with her. Firstly, she'd devour your soul, and if she didn't get you, The Lost Boys would. She walked alone on the boardwalk, a card-carrying member of the Underworld of Santa Carla, at night. Not a very safe thing to do.
Evelyn had also become a small legend amongst the Boardies, as they kids who basically lived at the boardwalk were called. The combination of her strange arrival on the boardwalk crowd mixed with what seemed instantaneous acceptance into The Lost Boys surrounded her in mystery. She had just shown up one night. None of them recalled seeing her before she was by David's side, even though she was around in reality. To the Boardies, she just emerged from nowhere, from the same place The Lost Boys came from when they just showed up all those years ago. No one knew where she had come from, either. If you listened closely, you could hear the slight lilt of a southern accent, soft and with a twang, around the edges of her voice. That led to guessing, and talking among those with nothing to talk about. Her story went from harmless speculation in passing to an adventure of epic proportions. Some said she came from the hot fields of Alabama, a land with a segregated and violent past, or the hot cities of Alabama. Some said she was from the voodoo bayous of Louisiana; the story grew and grew until she was the daughter of an ancient voodoo queen who lived forever, and then it was Evelyn herself who was the voodoo queen who lived on and on. Some said she was from the kudzu filled fields of the Carolinas, and others said she was from a farm in Tennessee. Still others speculated that she was born on the cornfields of Texas, or in the city, in Austin, where everything was a little bit stranger. No one knew, she just appeared. No one knew where she lived, because no one knew where The Lost Boys lived.
Another thing about the gangs and wannabe gangs of the Boardwalk is that it was hard to have turf. You had your regular spots, but the territories weren't as clean-cut as in some other areas. If there was no turf, it was hard to have turf wars, which is basically what gangs do. One gang angers another gang and that gang retaliates and then the first gang retaliates back and maybe the second also angers another gang who retaliate until you've got this web of grudges and retaliation. One thing that had developed into some sort of prize was actually not a thing at all, but a person. Another thing about Evelyn that made her slightly infamous was her beauty. She wasn't pretty like a beach girl, or a model, or an actress. She didn't have that Paris Hilton type of prettiness, or Anna Nicole Smith looks, or Jessica Simpson or Jessica Alba or any of them. She had an unusual face, it had a beauty like a Renaissance Master painter's portrait. Her unusual beauty combined with the mystery that surrounded her made her like a coveted property. If you could get her on your side, that was respect, but she, Evelyn, was associated with no gang other than The Lost Boys. Many other gangs tried to get her, to make her their "property". Evelyn would have none of it, and certainly David wouldn't either.
Most respected the power of The Lost Boy's protection of Evelyn, but many cared to try it. Jake was one such person. Jake was fifteen, but he thought he was twenty five. He was skinny with greasy hair and bad acne. He had two goons, Larry and Garth, who stood with him. He thought he was a gang banger, but he was just a wannabe. He thought if Evelyn would be his girl, then he would get some respect.
"Hey, kitty, kitty," he said to her, he and his goons following her along the boardwalk, a little too close for comfort. She said nothing, kept her pace, and watched them from the corner of her eye.
"Watch out," she said flatly.
"Aw, c'mon…" Jake said, reaching out and putting his arm around her waist, touching her face with his other hand.
"You will not touch me," she said, deadly, pulling away.
"Aw, baby," said Jake, and his goons laughed. He reached out towards her.
"I'm not your—" Evelyn started to say, but then Jake called her something truly terrible. It was demeaning and crude and misogynistic. Evelyn's eyes bugged and she opened her mouth to give him hell when both Jake's arms were grabbed from behind and wrenched back at a painful angle.
Jake cried out. He was picked up by his arms and slammed on the ground. David stood coolly above him. He said nothing, just growled softly, a deep rumble sounding very faint. Larry and Garth were shocked for a moment, but then a little message blinked into their brains registering what was going on: fight. They lurched forward, each one grabbing one of David's arms. David reached up and threw each of them impossibly far across the small side street they were in. David nudged Jake's chin with the tip of his boot, scraping his face. He raised his eyebrows. Jake was afraid, but his tough act was the only defense he knew so he said "I'll say it again. I'll call her that again," his voice raspy from having the wind knocked out of him.
"You will…?" said David quietly, coolly. 'Don't get mad, get even' was a core part of David's personal philosophy.
Jake opened his mouth to utter some other stupid remark when David picked him up by his shirt, slightly ripping it, threw him against the wall of the building they were next to, and held him there with one hand. The goons were trying to get up, completely winded, but they could see that the way David had thrown and grabbed Jake was not abiding by the normal laws of strength and physics.
Evelyn sat on the edge of a box, holding her basket and calmly knocking the heels of her shoes against the wood she was sitting on. She blinked. Though the fighting worried her, it always felt nice to have someone taking care of you, to be worth fighting for. She smiled, pleased, but still fearful.
"Hey!" yelled a store owner, stepping outside from his doorway to the alley. "Get out of here or I'll call the police, ya boardwalk trash!" Evelyn knocked her boot against the dumpster loudly to get David's attention. She widened her eyes and jerked her head towards the street, telling him that she wanted to get out of there. Evelyn was always afraid that they would get caught. David stood there, contemplating. Evelyn hopped down and motioned towards the man in the doorway.
"The cops!" she whispered anxiously.
"Doesn't matter," said David. He had found his meal and didn't want to leave it.
"David!" she whispered urgently. "It's too early for that. There are too many people around! C'mon," she pleaded. "They'll lock us both up."
David grunted. Women. But he knew she was right. He dragged the boy, fingers digging into Jake's shoulder, down towards the chain link fence in the middle of the small side street alleyway. David ripped a piece of fencing away from its post and motioned for Evelyn to step through, which she did, smirking at Jake. David threw Jake up and stepped through the opening.
Evelyn watched as Jake got scratched on the fence on his way down. She smiled. She loved the feeling of protection, but took off down the alleyway as soon as David was through to escape the scene of the crime. David gave Jake one final smirk before turning around and following Evelyn at a fast pace to keep up with her, letting Jake know their business wasn't over. Jake tripped down the side street out onto the main boardwalk along with his goons before the cops got there.
David caught Evelyn as she hurried out the other side of the alley, holding her hat on her head. "Hey," he said. "Be cool." He smiled at her and pulled her along in the direction of the boys.
Paul laughed out loud when he saw Evelyn in that big black hat coming down the boardwalk with David. Marko looked over at Paul's laughter and saw them and started laughing as well. Dwayne chuckled darkly to himself.
"What," she said, "you don't like my hat?"
"Why are you wearing that?" asked Paul, flipping it off her head and catching it.
"I like it! It keeps the sun off my face during the day," Evelyn answered.
Marko took the hat and put it on his head. "Do you like it? Hmm?" he asked.
Evelyn laughed at Marko. He was making a ridiculous face that only magnified the silliness of the hat on him.
Paul took the hat back from Marko and put it on his head. "What about me?" Paul looked even more ridiculous because of his wild hair spilling out from underneath the hat.
"It looks like a flattened, black sombrero," said Marko. "Where did you get it?"
Evelyn shrugged. "Some bargain basement or another. C'mon, give me back my hat. Can we get back to the cave? I have to drop this stuff off," she said, motioning towards her basket. Inside were some various food and drink items.
"Can you go by yourself?" asked Paul. "We got some… uh… business to take care of."
Evelyn looked at the pack of boys and noticed Marko was looking around, liking his lips, and that the other boys looked a bit more anxious than usual. "Sure, I brought my car. You guys take care of business," business was their word for feeding when they were around other people, "and I'll take this stuff back. Meet you at the benches by the carousel."
Later Evelyn sat on the benches, eating Dip 'n' Dots and waiting for her boys. She looked around, afraid of seeing more brave boys like Jake. She felt two strong hands on her shoulders and jumped. She looked up and saw David, and smiled as David took the cigarette out of his mouth and blew the smoke upwards. She never heard him come up.
"You okay?" he asked, noticing her reaction.
"Yeah," she said getting up. "I was just afraid of Jake coming back when you were gone." They joined The Boys walking down the boardwalk, enjoying the energy.
"Jake's not going to be a problem anymore," said David coolly, never altering his gaze or his step.
Evelyn looked at him. "Don't tell me you had business with him?"
David looked at her, blowing smoke and smirked just a bit, saying nothing.
"Oh, for that? That was nothing. I thought you were after… what's his name, the big guy from the bar?"
"He," said David, "can wait his turn."
"Oh," said Evelyn. She was still getting used to the idea of David killing people. It was weird the way it was. It was like it wasn't even a part of their lives. He just went out, came back, sometimes a little messy, cleaned up and they went out and had a wild time. She had never really experienced the absence of anyone the Boys had "business" with. She didn't even have names or faces for them usually. When she did it was just like… well you just never saw that person again, and with so many people on the boardwalk, it was easy for the brain to imagine that they were still around, just not nearby. It reminded Evelyn of the Happy Farm her hamster had gone to one time while Evelyn was on a Girl Scout campout. The people just went away. Jake just went away, just like Freddy the hamster. She knew she had to deal with it, so she tried to wrap her head around it. It was hard to, even though she had seen David kill that man on the highway that night, but that night seemed so far away in her memory. She didn't like to think of those days she spent with Isabel and her gang. "Where is he?" asked Evelyn, trying to make her brain understand.
"What?" asked David, a note of surprise in his voice.
"Jake, where is he now? Where did you put him?" Evelyn asked.
"I, ah, put him in the ocean. He's swimming. Jake has gone for a good, long swim," said David, joking darkly. David was trying to ease over the situation. He was afraid that if Evelyn knew too much about it, about him and what he did, she would try and leave. David knew that if she tried to leave him he would have to kill her. If he didn't, Max would. Why did he even have to get himself into this? David hated being worried and afraid for any reason.
"No, really…" said Evelyn, knowing David was pulling something.
David stopped their brisk pace along the nighttime's boardwalk, looking at her, leaning close. "Really. I went out and dropped him in the ocean. The fish and whales and sharks will eat him. He's dead, Evelyn."
"What if he washes up?" she said, matching David's quiet tone as they were in public where anyone could hear. A sudden pang of fear struck her.
"He won't. I dropped him out too far." David sighed, smelling Evelyn's fear. "Evelyn, I've been doing this here for almost thirty years now, and even more time before I was in Santa Carla. I know what I'm doing. I'm not the twenty-year-old boy you think I am." He was annoyed that she thought he would be making mistakes. He was far too old to get caught these days. He didn't have to worry about himself. If there was anyone he would have to be worried about it would be Paul, the youngest, or second youngest, next to Evelyn, if she chose that path. Paul had been a vampire for nearly twenty years now. He didn't have to worry. It was Evelyn he had to be concerned about now.
Evelyn clenched her teeth and put her hands in her pockets. "I know you're not twenty years old, David. I know about your past. Hell, your past came and kidnapped me and kept me locked up for three days. Is there a better way for me to become acquainted with your past than listening to its stories for three nights?" she said bitterly.
David knew there was a better way to get to know him and his past, but he wouldn't mention it here, so he said nothing.
Paul, Marko, and Dwayne were walking silently forward with them, pretending not to hear their miniature fight. "C'mon," said David, turning around and walking backwards in front of her. "Let's have some fun."
Evelyn smiled and sped up, catching up with the rest of The Lost Boys. She didn't want to fight any more than David, so she let it go. "What are we gonna do?" she asked.
"What we always do!" said Marko.
David smiled mischievously at Evelyn. "Whatever," he said.
Evelyn loved these nights. They just hung out and screwed around on the boardwalk, messing with people, chilling out. David was right, they did whatever. It was all good.
