Chapter 2: Jonny Boy

He sat in the dim shadows waiting for her to come around once more. He was now on his fourth cup of coffee, the effects of which had taken place somewhere around his second. He had been here a while, and it obviously had aroused suspicion from the manager who seemed to glance his way every five minutes. However he didn’t mind it at all. In fact he liked the attention and agitation that his presence had brought to the employees of Trudy’s, especially to the slender young girl who had been serving him. She wore a worn plastic name tag that read Tina, but he knew better. He knew that she was the girl for whom he was sent, and that her name was in fact Rachel Chiang. Cali had confirmed it. His instructions had been clear and concise. He was to do anything he wanted with her at first, maybe have some of the usual fun, but in the end she was to go down like the rest -fast and quiet. He glanced at his watch, which read eight minutes to ten. Pretty soon the coffee shop would close and his cute little waitress would tell him in her most polite manner that he had to leave. He anticipated this, for he wished to examine her more closely, to look into her unknowing eyes before he took action. He needed to catch her soul in its unsuspecting and normal state. He closed his eyes for a moment with the thought of her soul flowing through his veins, and then opened them again in anticipation as she started to make her way across the aisle.

Her dress was not typical, especially not for a small coffee house waitress which was how he had first known that it was her. Besides, her character was totally out of place, she was much too young and chick to be working in a place like this and her bored expression showed it. However now and then she still managed a cute perky smile to the customers that kept everyone else fooled. She wore a white, Baby-Doll T-shirt, worn blue jeans that accentuated her long slender yet sculptured legs, and a black pair of Mary Janes -minus the socks. The only items identifying her as a waitress was a small apron she wore loosely around her waist and the crooked nametag which barely hung on its side. He was surprised that the WPP had allowed her to wear such things, but then again her file had inferred that she was the independent/headstrong type. Her pale face appeared innocent and yet one could sense its threatening undertones of post-teenage rebellion. The only apparent make-up that she wore was red semi-gloss lipstick, not the typical bright blend and yet not unattractively dark either. He wasn’t surprised by her beauty, for her file had also mentioned that she had spent some time modeling in Paris just a couple of years before the accident happened. It was now that she approached him. He casually looked up from the paper he had never been reading. Coming face to face with her he realized that she was even more beautiful than he had thought. She pouted her lips looking genuinely sorry, “Sir, I’m afraid that you’re gonna have to leave. Normally we’d wait until you leave to close up, but Potsy over there has to get home to his wife, and”, whispering, ”I heard that she can be a real bitch.” She ended the act with a wink and gave him an understanding smile. “I can call a taxi if you want.”

“No Miss, it’ll be quite all right. My motorcycle is parked just around the corner.” He smiled back at her and as he did he looked into her eyes. There were some things that could not be told in government files, and he wanted to know all of it.

Some say that the eyes are the windows to our souls, and those of Jonny Boy's were created to jump right through other's. He enjoyed the sudden surge of emotions that coursed through his body, filling him with the essence of his victim. It told him who the person was, what they had experienced, what they had felt throughout their lives all in one tiny instant. It was if he had a direct access to their very soul. Whether it was happiness or pain, love or sorrow, it really didn’t matter. The sheer intensity alone sent waves of pleasure through his body and enabled him to assimilate his target better. Throughout his lifetime he had never had a problem, he always knew his limits and when he had to stop before he fully assimilated, but now something was wrong. Something he had never anticipated as he looked into the young girl’s dark brown eyes. He would later describe it as being a flash of intense light and then a feeling of fear, horrible pain and emptiness, but at the present all he could do was scream.

“G-Get out of my head! What are you doing to me?!” As he stumbled from his seat he managed to knock over the table, his coffee mug shattered violently as he fell to the floor shaking. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t even think about anything but the pain, and the white light. He had always been a big man, physically and mentally, but now he found himself drooling uncontrollably like a baby on the floor.

The girl just stood there in shock. Did they finally catch up to her? And she had been so careful. "React normally. Act surprised.." she told herself right before screaming “OH MY GOD! SOMEBODY HELP!!”