Chapter Sixteen part two

(I was in a rush to upload the first part of the chapter the other morning. I even fell asleep as I started to write the first part. Geez, I hate that. I hate it when I fall asleep when I'm working on a chapter.

By the way, I am going to another overnight athletics trip because apparently, during our regionals tournament (My team won first place!) last week, a coach was watching our team and he said that we played so well that he's invited my team to a state tournament this weekend. The hotel that I'm going to might not have good WiFi but I'll try to figure out a way to upload the chapters.

So anyway, here is the second part of the chapter.

Enjoy the story and life as it goes!

-imaginarytoon1)

Beatrice:

As I heard Greasy's stomping footsteps fade away as he walked down the hall outside of my room, two words popped into my head: "I'm dead". Voice Numbers One and Two began to fight inside my head and at first; I tried to look on the bright side. Unfortunately, I didn't see any good in this situation.

"Pretty Girly, why did you tell Greasy?" Psycho asked.

"I didn't want to tell Greasy, Psycho. Everything just slipped out of my mouth." I replied. "Now that I am talking more often, it's a little hard for me to not talk about certain things that aren't meant to be talked about."

I deeply regret the idea of telling Greasy about his book and how he tried to poison me by giving me a green apple. For some reason, I feel like I'm in a scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. If you're not familiar with that scene, I'll say that it's the scene when the Evil Queen, disguised as an old lady, tempts Snow White to eat a poisoned apple (I probably digressed so I'm going back to the story.).

"What do you mean by 'certain things that aren't meant to be talked about', Pretty Girly?" Psycho asked.

"It's just as I said, Psycho." I replied. "There are things aren't meant to be talked about. Like if someone knew something that meant trouble, they want to talk about it but someone else decides that it's best to not talk about it at all, in case that if it were discussed, then things would get worse. Even discoveries can be bad news to some or most people."

Psycho, with interest, crawled towards me and the bed. Like a dog, he leaps on to the bed. Then, Psycho sits up and crosses his leg like a kindergartener during story time. I can tell that he's interested. This is what I get for being smart and being a bookworm. Those two things are like a headache that won't go away.

"What kind of discoveries were bad to discover?" Psycho asked.

Man, he's got a lot of questions to ask. I thought.

"Well, um…" I said and began to think of something from my old history class. "Have you ever heard of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle?"

Psycho thinks over my question and then, he shook his head.

"Well," I began. "during the times when people were moving in to the cities because of job opportunities, the most common place, I believe, to work at were factories. The meat-packing industry was also pretty big at those times but one man, Upton Sinclair, discovered many things that weren't right in the factory. A couple of those things were if a dead rat was found in the factory, it'll automatically go inside the processed meat and if someone forgot to wash their hands after handling dirty work, the foods that were being processed get contaminated."

Psycho wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"But a solution was made after the consumers of the meat discovered the hazards of the meat-packing industry. Inspections were made and the working conditions began to improve. Consumers never began to worry about the hazards again."

Then, Psycho smiled and giggled a short 'HEE, HEE'.

"But what I just said isn't really important now. I have to face the fact that Greasy is coming back here any minute and he'll probably kill me somehow. I'm doomed." I said.

Psycho, while looking down, began to have a sad look on his face.

I looked at the door and then, I looked at the window. Slowly, I got off the bed and looked out of the window and aimed my eyes at the circus cage. I squinted and watched for any signs of movement. I began to aim my eyes at the floor of the circus cage. Lexi was lying there. I wasn't sure if she was lying down in starvation or if she's asleep while wrapping herself around with a blanket made out of burlap sacks.

"Just hang on, Lexi." I said. "I'm almost done with the challenge."

I heard Psycho walk over to me and he, too, looked out of the window. I felt him hold my hand in respect (I knew that he was doing that in respect because I remember doing something like that to my dad when he was standing in front of his mother's grave after she died.).

Then, I heard the door opening up.

Psycho and I looked back and watched…Greasy opening up the door and walk in the room and he looks like he walked out of a casino with no fat wads of dollar bills in his pocket. The frown on his face tells me that things are going to get series. My skin begins to feel like I walked into a giant freezer without a coat and pants and my palms began to sweat. Those two feelings, my friend, are my definitions of feeling scared.

"Psycho, get out of the room. I would like to be alone with the muchacha." Greasy said with seriousness. And then, he told me to sit down on the bed.

As Albert Marrin (I can't remember if he was a poet or a writer) said, "Words have consequences." I can tell that there is about to be a whole lot of consequences coming up.

Psycho, although he didn't want to leave me, leaves the room with a blank but worried look on his face. After he left, Greasy walked over to the door and locked it. While I walked to the bed and sat down, Greasy puts the key in his right trouser pocket and then, he looked at me with a frightening crossed look on his face. That was the same look that Mom gave me after she caught me watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit for the first time.

"Boss told me everything." Greasy said.

With nervousness present in my voice, I asked, "What did he say?"

"He said that he didn't want me to near you. He was afraid that I was going to distract you during the challenge. After remembering how your curiosity about our hyena cousins overpowered you, Boss took my book and he hid it underneath the bed. He figured that if you looked through the book, you would've been so scared that you wouldn't even go near me. When I found the apple in the woods, I had no idea why you didn't eat it until you told me."

I glanced at something in the room to my right and I sighed.

"I didn't want to tell you in the first place." I said.

"Why not? I could've told you about the book and then, say no more about it." Greasy replied.

I shook my head in doubt.

"You don't trust me." Greasy said in a tone like he's reading my mind.

"If I told you about the book or what I thought about the apple, then you wouldn't believe me and you would've slapped me on the cheek or think of another cruel way to kill me."

"I wouldn't slap you."

Greasy walks over to me and sits down on my left.

"You slapped me in the hospital after I told you about Doom going to dip you after completing his freeway." I reminded.

All of the sudden, Greasy grabbed my arms and made me look at him in his eyes.

"I slapped you because I didn't stop to control my actions." He said. "Ever since I did that, I deeply regretted the way I reacted and after I got out of jail, I decided that I should be responsible for my actions and I'm doing a whole lot better because of my responsibility of my actions."

"But did you really kill the women that were in your book?" I asked.

Then, in my head, a little person in my head shouts 'WHAT' after I heard Greasy say to me, "Yes, I did." After he said that, my eyes grew to the size of plums.

"There's no way that you can get away with at least sixty or seventy murders." I said.

"Like I said, muchacha, I did kill the women that were mentioned in my book. But that was a long time ago. Before I joined the Toon Patrol, I was in a mafia group in El Paso. I was considered as the best person to get away with murder after persuading a woman and leading them into a trap. When suspicions were beginning to rise, I left the mafia and took the book with me. After moving to Nevada, I decided to do more killing. I also chose to do the killing without any help from anyone. The first few women that I wanted to kill immediately came to me after remembering the times of being harassed by a group of girls in high school. After figuring out that the girls are in their separate places, I went to those places. During each encounter of the girls from high school, I began to start a routine. I would bring up what sort of thing that each girl from the group did to me, the particular girl would laugh it off, and I would pretend that the past was behind me. That's the routine. After the girls became my 'friends', I still had the urge to kill. I created a plan to wipe them out all at once…by adding arsenic in their drinks. After the deaths, nobody suspected that I killed them and the desire of killing women overpowered me. Whenever I would date a woman, I would kill her and move on to another. After every murder, I would get a picture of the woman that I've murdered and put them in the book. Even when the suspicions were rising, I still got away with the murders. But when I came across a girl who looked and acted a lot like you, I tried to stop murdering women."

I got to point of that.

"But the habit of killing women was so strong that you went right on ahead and killed the girl." I said.

It's kind of like trying to give up smoking. I thought. But the 'pleasures' from that are so strong and addictive and it makes it hard to quit.

Greasy nodded.

"Si, I killed her. After seeing the girl lying down on the floor of her kitchen next to a broken glass, I sat next her, raking my fingers through her hair and I muttered 'Dios mío, ¿qué he hecho? ¿Qué he hecho?' multiple times. I said, 'My gosh, what have I done? What have I done?' I even tried to forget about the murders that I committed but as days passed, I felt like I was carrying the world on my shoulders. Finally, I called the police and turned myself in. After my time in jail, I decided to join the Toon Patrol. It wasn't my first decision but it was either that or stay in jail for the rest of my life."

I was stunned.

"You really went through a lot." I said.

Then, Greasy releases me and takes something out of his pocket. It was a little box that was big enough to hold wedding ring. Greasy handed the little box and I opened it. Inside the box was a black and white picture of a girl.

"Is that the last girl you murdered?" I asked.

"That's her." Greasy replied.

After giving the box back to Greasy, I asked,

"But what did I do in the Acme Factory that made you fall in love with me?"

Greasy grabbed my arms again and I looked at him in the eyes.

"As soon as I saw you looking around in the Acme Factory, I was immediately reminded of the last girl that I murdered." Greasy said. "After leaving the Acme Factory and during our interactions throughout the murder of Marvin Acme, I thought of everything about you. Then after you left and when I had to go to jail with the other members of the Toon Patrol, I went back to my book and I tried to write down some details about you. I couldn't think of anything until I got out of jail. 'She's mean a lot to me.' That's what I thought. 'She's not like other girls…smart…play the piano very, very well, and…she's always taking risks.' They were the only thoughts that I thought of. As I saw you taking risks in the challenge, I was afraid that you were going to hurt yourself or die. If I were Boss, then I wouldn't make you do dangerous things."

"I've been taking risks for a long time and I'm used to all of the things that happen afterward, whether they were good or bad." I said. "I said no to things that weren't good for me, I climbed a tree without an adult supervisor, and I even called the police to stop a serial killer from hurting my parents and Tommy. I still have the bruises on my back after I was beaten by certain people. Even if I was a part of a challenge like this so that I can help a relative, then I would risk my life to get them to safety."

"You don't have to be very extreme to help someone get out of something. You mean a lot to me and I don't want you to hurt yourself in order to help someone."

I aimed my eyes on the floor in an embarrassed but flattered matter. I even feel my cheeks burning.

So Greasy does care about me. I thought. Although I am flattered, I still like him as friend and really nothing else. I seriously don't have a crush on him. Greasy's a friend, not a date.

It's been a really long time since a boy told me about how he thinks of me. It felt like it was too long and it feels like going on your first date. The guy that you like begins to talk about you a lot and what he thinks. He tells you the things that—Gosh, why am I saying this? Romance is mushy and pretty much a lie! The guys who have dated me the past never truly liked me. They took advantage of me and even use me to make the girls that they dated with previously jealous! One guy even made up a rule that didn't apply to me. As I said before, ROMANCE IS A LIE! There will never be a Prince Charming for me. I will never be the right girl for the right guy. I am in a world full of lies! There is no Prince Charming.

"Muchacha, are you okay?" Greasy asked me.

As soon as I aimed my eyes at Greasy, I felt my eyes getting itched with salt and a teardrop running down my face and I wasn't even thinking about crying my feelings. I wanted to keep them bottled up and cry somewhere else…some place where no one would walk in on me and ask me if anything is wrong.

"I'm fine." I said as two more teardrops ran down my face. I wiped them away and tried to not cry anymore. "I shouldn't be emotional at this moment. I don't usually cry about something about this. I'm not sad about anything, I assure you."

Then, Greasy puts his hands on my shoulders.

In a serious tone, almost sounding like my dad in some situations, Greasy said, "You are sad of something, muchacha. It's too obvious."

I sighed in frustration and rolled my eyes.

"All right, I'll admit it." I said with my voice shaking. "I am sad about something but I don't want to talk about it."

I looked away from Greasy. Instead of getting off the bed and leaving me alone, he wraps his arms around my body and began to hug me. Then, a stream of tears began to run down from my eyes and I stared to breathe like I'm hyperventilating as Greasy was patting his hand on my back and then, he puts his hand on the back of head.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay." Greasy said. "Just let it all out, muchacha. Let it all out."

Why do I have a reason to cry? I usually don't worry about romance or finding a date. I don't see any good in romance if someone tries to make your life miserable—Oh, here I go again, rambling about something that I don't normally think about.

"You can't hide your feelings all the time, muchacha." Greasy said. "If you keep doing that, you'll feel like the whole world is on your shoulders." I think that's what Roger Rabbit said to me. "You need to let them out instead of keeping them bottled up."

"I can't help it." I replied while I try to settle down. "I am still trying my best to talk to people and try to stick up for myself. It still isn't easy for me to expose my true feelings about something or someone."

"I know but you still have to try."

"I try my very best at everything."

"I know that you do."

This was something that I would never expect from Greasy. I never expected him to hug me. What's next after hugging?

"I want you to listen to me, muchacha. Are you listening to me?" Greasy whispered in my ear.

As my sadness was slowly faded away, I said, "Yeah, I'm listening."

"I'm not a murderer anymore and I would never do anything that could hurt you or put you in danger. I want you to finish the last part of the challenge and get your cousin back home. You don't have much time. Since you probably know that you're in a dream, I want to give you a warning. If you don't finish the last part of the challenge and get back to the real world before the midnight hour, then you'll be in Toon Town. It's nine-fifty five in the evening and you need to tell Boss that you're ready to move on to the challenge."

Then, Greasy stops hugging me and looks at me with a not-so-series look on his face.

"You think that you can handle that?" He asked.

With a determined smile, "Yeah, I can handle that."