Jericho

Chapter 4

I quickened my pace. A new chapter of Jericho burned in my mind. I reached my apartment without being aware of traveling the remaining distance. Hurriedly, I unlocked the door, closed it, relocked it, and opened my laptop. I had a new word processor document open and was just about to start typing when I stopped.

What on Earth was I thinking? The last time I’d written something for the story, it had come true. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t work on it anymore. And yet here I was, literally trembling with inspiration. I to distract myself, reasoning that the feelings might pass. To pass the time, I got out the notebook I’d been writing in at the coffee shop the night before. I tried to transcribe what I’d written onto the computer, but it was slow work. My heart was not at all in it. I longed to write Jericho, to return to the dark city that was the culmination of all my worst fears.

Finally, I gave up trying to fight it. I saved the document I’d been transcribing to and opened a new one. With a sigh of relief, I began to write.

Jericho Chapter 2

Carson Quinn looked at himself in the mirror. Looking back at him was a young blond man, just under six feet tall, green eyes scanning himself critically. He was fit, but not overly muscular. Carson always ate right and exercised. His body was the Lord’s temple and he worked every day to keep that temple in top condition.

Carson was vaguely aware that he was an attractive young man. He’d been told this by enough people and had observed the reactions of young women around him to confirm it. And though Carson was attractive, that didn’t really influence his life overmuch. He had no real interest in the opposite sex. A girlfriend would only distract him from what was truly important in life. And that was serving God to his fullest ability.

Carson had known ever since he had been very young that he was different. Special, in some way. For as far back as he could remember, Carson had been aware that God had a plan for him and Carson had dedicated himself to fulfilling that plan. When he’d arrived at Castle University, Carson had found his purpose.

The young man had found himself adrift in a sea of sinners. But this had not discouraged him. The presence of so much darkness only served to make Carson’s light seem brighter by comparison. It had strengthened his resolve. Carson had found a church and attended every week and was extensively involved in every activity he could for the church. And so much time spent in the presence of God had given Carson insight to the root of humanity’s sin.

It was women. Women were the originally tempted. Women went on to tempt men. Even the angels were not immune to their wiles, laying with them and siring heroes and giants. Woman was, by default, a creature more given over to sin than man. Which is why, when Carson realized his true purpose, he was unsurprised to find that it centered around these flawed second drafts.

Carson was to become a cleanser. Carson would find those persons who were sources of sin. Seductresses, false prophetesses, harlots and witches. He would find them all and he would end them.

He’d taken is first victim. Christi Dale had been a loose woman, leading good men astray with her feminine wiles. But it wasn’t enough to remove the source of sin. No, if any lesson was to be taught, the people would need to be educated. To that end, he had taken one of his many bibles and sacrificed it to exhibit her sins to the world.

The papers were calling him the Bible Killer. He was okay with that.

I looked at what I had written, astonished. I felt like all of it had poured out of me at once. I wasn’t consciously aware of having written any of it. As I reread the chapter over and over, I found myself occupied by a strange thought.

Now I know my enemy, I thought. A strange thought. I still had no proof that Carson Quinn was anything more than a figment of my imagination. And yet the thought was still there. I needed to think. And by extension, I needed to walk.

I saved the document and shut down the laptop. I threw on my jacket and walked out of the apartment, making sure that I locked the door this time. I didn’t want a repeat of last night. And though I felt overall more levelheaded, I was still leery that I might panic a bit.

Once outside I began to reason with myself. Honestly, this chapter didn’t seem too dangerous on its own. It had merely revealed to me the identity of my antagonist. That the Bible Killer was a fellow college student. Probably at Ross University, since Kristi’s doppelganger had been a student at Castle University, just like Carson Quinn.

That was another thing. I seemed to predisposed to think of Carson in terms of his full name. Rarely was he Carson. Often was he Carson Quinn. Maybe there was some significance to that? There was no way to tell, really.

Again I returned to the idea of the dangers of this chapter. I mulled it over for quite a while and decided that I didn’t really need to feel guilty since no one had died in the story. For that matter I didn’t need to feel guilty if someone had. The more I thought about it, the more the Kristi Dell case seemed like it had to be coincidence. There was simply no rational explanation otherwise. And the realm of the irrational, especially in this case, was thoroughly terrifying.

I needed something to distract me from this story. When I’d been around Adrienne, I’d been able to stave off thoughts of Jericho. Maybe I just needed to keep my mind occupied. And away from the computer.

I flipped open my cell phone and dialed David Wright. David had been my best friend since high school. He and I had plans to hang out the next day, but I figured I’d check and see if he was busy today.

Three rings and then David picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey David, it’s Aaron,” I said.

“Hey Aaron. What’s up?”

“Not a whole lot,” I lied. “You free at all tonight? I got a few things I’d like to talk about.”

“Uh,” said David, unsure. “Hold on just a second.” I heard the sound of paper rustling. “Um, yeah, sure,” he said. “I’ve only got a couple pages of reading left before I’m done with this homework. I should be able to get it done by the time you make it over here, assuming you’re walking from your apartment?”

“I’m just outside it, but yeah,” I said. “The timing should be about the same.”

“Okay,” said David. “Sounds good. I’ll see you in a few.” He hung up.

I began making my way to David’s apartment. He shared a two bedroom apartment with another friend of ours, Carl Norris. I say friend of ours, but Carl and I didn’t really get along that well. We were both friends with David and we were civil with each other when he was around. But when he wasn’t, we mostly ignored one another. Carl and David had been roommates since freshman year and had gotten used to living together. David had invited me to live with them, saying we could get a three bedroom apartment, but I had declined. I’d gotten pretty used to living on my own. I’d managed to grab a single in the dorms my freshman year and had lived in the same single apartment from sophomore year on. I’m sure Carl had been relieved when I’d turned down David’s offer. It meant not moving and not living with me. Both things would have been a lot of hassle.

I got to David’s apartment having kept myself preoccupied with the question of what exactly I was going to use to fuel conversation. I couldn’t exactly just say that I thought I was writing a novel that killed people. I decided that Adrienne would be a good topic to start with and let the conversation develop organically from there.

I knocked on the door to the apartment. Carl answered the door.

“Aaron,” he said, simply.

“Carl,” I responded.

“Can I help you?” he asked, coolly.

“Yeah, I, um,” I said. “I’m here for Dave.”

“Just a second,” he said and started to move away from the door. He turned back to me and added, “come on in.”

I stepped inside the apartment and closed the door behind me. Carl knocked on David’s door.

“Aaron’s here,” he said through the wood.

I heard David’s muffled reply of “one sec!”

A few moments later, the door opened and out stepped David.

“What’s up, Aaron?” he asked as he made his way to the closet, retrieving his coat.

“Just wanted to take a walk and get a little talking done,” I said with a shrug.

David turned to Carl. “I’ll probably just grab dinner while I’m out, cool?”

Carl shrugged noncommittally. “Sure, I’ll probably just warm up some of the leftover Chinese.”

“Alright,” said David. He turned to me and gestured at the door. “Let’s get to walking.”

I opened the door and we both left the apartment.

“So,” said David. “What’s on your mind, Murphy?”