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Chapter Twenty-Five: A Needed Calm

Joji and Reis entered Joji's dark office. The blinds were down but open about a fourth of the way, allowing thin, separate rays of sun light to cascade through the room. Joji went over to his desk and opened the squeaky metal drawer toward the bottom. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey and placed it on the desk and then took out two shot glasses which he placed next to the bottle. Then, out of his front jacket pocket, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and threw it on the desk along with a lighter that he had in his pants pocket. He took one cigarette out of the pack and placed it between his pointy gray ears. Joji unscrewed the lid, put the bottle to his lips, and took three gulps of the liquid and then pulled it away to gasp for air. He then poured the whiskey into the two shot glass and lifted one up, presenting it to Reis.

"You wanna shot?"

Reis started at the shot glass. He hated hard liquor. But he couldn't bring himself to shake his head.

"Come on. It'll calm you down."

Reis slowly took the glass from Joji, who gave a faint smile. "Wait for me," said Joji as he poured the second glass. Reis squeezed the glass with enough force that he thought he could crush it. As Joji raised the glass to his lips, Reis poured the liquid down his throat. It had a familiar bitter taste that burned his unhardened mouth and throat as it proceeded downward. Reis began to hack outrageously, to the point that he found himself leaning against Joji's desk and coughing to the floor.

"Easy there," Joji chuckled, "guess it's not your taste."

Still coughing, Reis shook his head. Joji smiled as he poured himself another glass, "Me...I could do this all day..." he took another shot. Then Joji took the cigarette from his ear, put it in his mouth, and lit it, and inhaled to stoke the fire. Still leaning over the side of the desk, Reis looked up to see Joji now presenting the same cigarette. Again, Reis shoot his head.

"Come on, Reis. Just one puff. You'll need it."

Reis took the cigarette and putvit to his lips. Reis had never tried smoking before, so he was not accustomed to the method of first the smoke into the mouth and then inhaling. So he inhaled the cigarette right away, which burned his throat. Again, he started hacking all over the office.

"I take you're not going to finish that..." said Joji. Reis handed the cigarette back Joji, who put it in his mouth and began to blow smoke all throughout the office.

"I try not to smoke in here. But you gotta understand, right..." said Joji with a whimper. The subsequent silence was abruptly broken by a knock at the door.

"Yea."

Jerry walked in.

Joji held his cigarette close to his mouth, and did not look at Jerry when he asked, "What's the word."

Jerry stepped forward, grasping a bundle of papers in his hand, "We ran a check on the kid downstairs, his name is Donald Ferguson. Turns out he was a senior over at Mayfield. And..." Jerry looked at Reis cautiously, "and the girl's name was Natalie Hartman. She's from quite a ways away and has been missing since the beginning of summer. Her...parents have been looking for her and..."

"-We've seen them before," snapped Joji still looking at Reis who was now leaning against the side of the wall, head lowered and his piercing eyes staring straight forward aimlessly, "we saw them when we picked Lighthorn up a few months ago. They were with him."

Joji took an extended drag of his cigarette, "How..." the smoke went down the wrong pipe and he belched out a cough before he could continue, "...how many did we lose?"

Jerry moved his old, hazy eyes from side to side searchingly. Finally, he muttered out, "Forty-seven wounded. Twenty-three of them in critical condition. But...none dead...that's the current report."

Joji nodded as he held his cigarette in place with his index and middle finger, staring at the streams of fumes and they ascended. "I guess Alex is one of them," he said, "...I mean...uh...I mean...you know...in critical condition..."

Jerry placed his hand on Joji's shoulder, "Go home, Joji. We can take care of things around here."

Joji paid him no attention, he only continued to stare at the red flames and the grey fumes. Then he looked at Jerry, "Where're the confessions?" Jerry looked at him with confusion, but quickly recollected what Joji was talking about. "Oh...the papers? I think Karen's got them."

"Good. Please bring me one."

Jerry said nothing, but immediately walked out of the office. Joji stirred. He got up from his desk and walked over to a cabinet in the corner of the room, to the left of the door. He pulled open the drawer and, without taking a second to scuffle through the files, pulled a pile of papers about half a foot thick. Then he dropped them on his desk and looked at Reis.

"Okay. Time to roll."

Reis pushed himself off the wall and back onto his feet as he prepared to head to the door.

"Wait for me outside, I gotta make a phone call."

Reis nodded and quietly shut the door behind him. Reis's eyes ached a little from the bright hallway. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone: 58 missed calls.

Fuck!

Reis flipped his phone open and placed his thumb on the call button. He hesitated, but after taking a deep breath, he pressed the button and gentle placed the phone to his ear. There was silence for a good ten seconds.

"We're sorry but the number you have reached is not in service at this time. Please..." Reis's heart sank as he clapped his phone closed again and dropped it in his pocket before falling backward against the closed door.

Joji hacked up a little as he slugged down a more whiskey. Wiping his lips, he picked up the phone, dialed a number, and slowly placed the phone to his ear. The purr of the ringing on the other side began.

Ring...Ring...

Come on...

Ring...Ring...

I know you're there...

Ring...

Please be there...

"Hey, this is August, can't come to the phone right now but please leave..."

Joji let the phone slide out of his hands and fall onto the deck.