Chapter Two
Jeremy Malone indeed returned to the world of the living the next day, even if it was a bit late in the morning. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with Fox just yet, but he knew that the sooner he confronted the news anchor the least painful it would be. It wasn’t like he could wuss out and do it over the phone—now that he thought about it, he really did need to get a new one before the end of the week. You couldn’t be without a phone in this day and age. It was bad enough that he lived on his own and rarely checked his computer. After an elongated period of morning hygiene, which turned into one big procrastination fest of nose hair plucking and toenail clipping, he grabbed whatever essentials that weren’t broken and got moving.
Jeremy was still shaken up from the previous night, but the daylight comforted him. There was no way that his assailant would come at him at the morning’s peak. Too many people were commuting to work and it was too bright out. Too many witnesses meant that he was safe. It was night time that he was going to have to worry about. But that was the future, and to Jeremy the future was always some indeterminable time from the present, and that time period was always stretched out by his imagination. Right now, there was nothing to worry about save for Fox’s rage.
Children began to flock by him on both sides; apparently school was about to begin. The local elementary school was right around the corner, and those students who were so fortunate to live close enough to the school to decidedly not need a bus were braving traffic to get to class on time. The children traveled in packs, Jeremy noticed, as they migrated toward the building. They were loud—too loud for his tastes—but at least they weren’t apathetic like he was. That didn’t settle in until around ninth grade. For now, these kids lived in an urban paradise. It was the kind of paradise that Jeremy was trying to emulate every day of his life.
“Give it back!”
So much for the carefree wandering of the students.
“Jump higher, Shi. You’re too short!”
“That’s not fair! Just give it! We’re gonna be late!”
“Is your lunch really that important to you? If it was you’d hit me for it.”
Jeremy turned around to see a crowd of students. They were all just short enough so that he could see over their heads. Of course, it was a fight. It was a natural instinct of students with nothing better to do to gravitate toward conflict, no matter what risks were involved. One boy—tall and stocky—was holding a brown paper bag over the head of a smaller boy. The smaller of the two had the longest hair he’d ever seen on a kid his age. It was sandy brown, curly to the point of looking tangled, and fell past his neck. It was actually pretty distracting, Jeremy realized, as his attention was once again caught by the situation at hand when the bigger of the two kneed the smaller in the gut. The victim stumbled back, gripping his stomach and clenching his teeth. “Just give it. Please.”
“Aw, Shi remembered his manners!” Another kick saw the boy on the ground, tears welling up in his eyes. Jeremy twisted his mouth in disgust, wanting to keep walking but knowing that as a bystander he was going to be held accountable. That, and this scene reminded him of similar events in his own childhood. He wasn’t very well liked by his peers growing up, and he never could quite understand why.
Jeremy shoved past the jeering school children and pushed the large boy away from the smaller. “Dude, just get going. You’re going to be late for class.” The boy sneered up at him, and Jeremy sneered right back. “Get out of here before I get a teacher to write you up. I’m not that long out of the school system. I still know that hitting another kid can get you in deep shit. You hear me?” The kid snarled and railed his fist so hard into Jeremy’s gut that he doubled over in pain. After that, he merely ran off, joining his friends and mocking the Jeremy’s words in effeminate voices. Their laughs permeated the air as long as it took for Jeremy to recover from the blow. It knocked the wind out of him and his eyes threatened the prickling of tears, but he refused to show any more weakness than he already had. How embarrassing. This was what he got for being a good Samaritan?
The boy he’d saved had stayed behind, but kept a good distance from Jeremy, flinching whenever he cursed. His face was covered in freckles and there was a big gap in his front teeth. No wonder he was bully-bait. “What? Go on, get to class. Nothing to see here.”
“I…” The boy looked down at his feet, shuffling them a bit while he gathered up the courage to speak. Remembering his manners, he interjected, “Thank you for trying to save me.” The word trying made Jeremy cringe even harder. “I…I really need that bag though. He ran off with it.”
“So what? It’s your lunch. You can eat when you get home. I got my lunch taken from me all the time when I was a kid. It’s what you get when you don’t fight back.”
“It’s not my lunch.”
“What is it, then?”
The boy smiled sheepishly. “It’s a delivery. Like a package.” After a flat-faced, wordless response from Jeremy, he continued, “I was supposed to take it to my big brother. I wasn’t supposed to let anyone else have it. Or even look at what’s inside of it. It’s really important.”
As the Jeremy straightened himself out, he narrowed his eyes. “Then why didn’t you fight back? You didn’t even lift those skinny little arms. You were just like a rag doll.”
“Mom says I’m not allowed to fight.”
“Not even for your brother’s stuff?”
“Not even for my brother’s stuff.”
“But he was really hurting you. What he went too far? You mean to tell me that you can’t aim a punch no matter what?”
“No matter what. It’s really important that I don’t. She says it’s best if I don’t even acknowledge bullies. If they try and fight me, I just have to try and get help. Or get away.”
“Sounds like your mom’s crazy.”
“She is not! She’s really, really smart. I know she’s just looking out for me.”
“That’s one hell of a way to look out for you.” Jeremy shifted uncomfortably, as the boy didn’t seem cheered up any. He just looked up at the older man, with those eyes—eyes that expected something of him. Like an innocent version of his father or Fox. He couldn’t just walk away. He couldn’t just tell the kid to say goodbye to whatever was in that bag. For all of his physical oddities…he was cute. Stupidly cute. Like Jeremy was when he was a kid. He was looking at himself.
“All right, all right. I’ll help you get that bag back. But you have to promise me you won’t be such a wimp in the future.”
“I promise!”
The two crossed the street, and jogged a bit to catch up to the crowd the bully had joined. They were just far enough from the school grounds that Jeremy wouldn’t get any legal trouble for confronting him. “Hey, kid. We’re gonna need that bag back.”
The bully and his possy turned around and just started laughing. He was literally two-thirds of Jeremy’s height, and here he was, making an ass of him. At this point he lost all self control. “I don’t think you understood me. Having trouble paying attention? Forget your Ritalin at home?” The joke seemed to go over the kid’s head, so Jeremy tried a different approach. “Or were you held back a few grades?”
The freckled boy tugged on Jeremy’s sleeve. “I don’t think you should do that…”
“So what if I was?” The bully suddenly interjected.
“Oh-ho! Did I strike a nerve, big guy?”
“Don’t!”
The bully charged at Jeremy with his thick fist raised for the kill, but this time he dodged to the right, allowing the kid to run right past. In a blind fury, he skidded to a halt and came running back at Jeremy, who had his own fist poised this time. As the two made contact, Jeremy’s fist connected with the side of the boy’s face at full force, sending him flying to the ground. The freckled boy gasped and jumped back, and managed to glance across the street just in time to see a cell phone raised in their direction. The scene had been captured.
The remaining group of children scattered, running for the school and screaming. Jeremy turned around, shaking the pain out of his bright red fist. “What?” He then glanced down at the bully that lay sprawled out on the street, his lip split and bleeding and his cheek quickly bruising. “…shit.” The paper bag lay on the street where it was dropped by the kid, and Jeremy stooped down to pick it up. “At least I got your bag back.” Without thinking, he opened it and peered inside. All that was in it was a collection of rolled up papers secured with a rubber band and a card of some sort. The freckled boy cried out as he grabbed at the back, managing to secure it this time. “No, you can’t look! No one was supposed to see inside! My brother said so!”
Jeremy merely shrugged. “But he wasn’t here to see me look inside, was he?”
“That’d be lying! I can’t lie to him!”
“It’s not a lie if you don’t even say anything. He probably won’t even ask. Just pretend it never happened.”
“Mom says that’s as bad as lying…”
“Well, the way I see it, your mom’s ‘advice’ started this whole mess. Just keep it to yourself and no one will care.”
“I’ll try…” The young boy rolled up the top of the bag so that it was secured, looking down at his feet all the while. “Thank you for getting it back for me… What’s your name?”
“Jeremy.”
The freckled boy suddenly looked up, baring the gap in his teeth with a wide grin. “I’m Shiloh. Can we be friends?”
“Sure…I guess?”
“Awesome! I don’t have many friends. Just mom’s friends. This will be the first friend I made all by myself!”
“I’m flattered…” Jeremy cringed. What a life this boy led. His mother must have been one of those crazy, sheltering soccer-moms by the sound of it. No friends and constant bullying? Sounded painfully familiar. Damn, this Shiloh kid was just depressing.
“Anyway—I should get to class. I’ll see you around?” Shiloh said hopefully.
“Yeah, sure. I’m sure we’ll see each other again real soon.”
“I can’t wait,” the boy replied enthusiastically. “You’re so cool.” Disregarding the larger student who was now groaning and writhing on the street, Shiloh turned and headed toward the school. “Bye!”
Jeremy watched him run off as if nothing happened, then looked down at his assault victim, whose eyes were still contorted shut in pain. “I… Hey, dude, I’m real sorry… The kid just needed his bag back. I mean… Hey, do you want help up?” Suddenly, the boy opened his eyes and spat blood on Jeremy’s pant leg. He promptly left the scene.
--
Fox wasn’t waiting around for Jeremy when he stepped in through the sliding glass doors to the main studio. The large flat screen at the information desk revealed that he was in, but not available. Realizing that Fox was probably occupied with paperwork or something, Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. The elevator ride would give him time to rehearse what he would say. No matter what it wouldn’t be easy, but sometimes the right words could work as damage control.
As he walked down the hall to the elevator to make it to his own office, he was met with several coworkers who each told them that he was dead meat in one way or another. Jeremy laughed it off like he always did, but now he was slightly worried. None of them seemed willing to give more information, so he’d have to find out what Fox was going to drill him on when he actually confronted the man. When the elevator arrived at his current floor, there was someone else already in it, but he was heading up to the same floor. Jeremy gave him a polite nod before stepping in beside him.
“Floor 45, please,” he spoke to the voice-recognition system. The elevator promptly began moving again. It seemed this stranger was heading up as well.
Something about this man’s stature and clothing struck Jeremy as familiar. He studied his co-rider for a few seconds before his gaze was met and he was caught staring, causing him to avert his eyes once more. After they ascended a few more floors, it hit him. This was the man who had chased him home the previous night. Jeremy was sure of it. Wide-eyed, he slowly turned his head to once again look at the other man, who suddenly adopted a look of annoyance. “What?”
“N-nothing.”
He was alone in an elevator with a man who wanted to kill him. There were no call buttons to press discreetly; the only thing present beside the door was a directory of floors.
“Well,” Jeremy suddenly blurted out, “I don’t think I’ve seen you around. Where do you work?”
“I’m an acquaintance of Mr. Campbell’s.” He was looking forward now, his expression flat.
“Are you, now?”
“Is that a problem?”
“N-no!”
The proper connections were made in Jeremy’s brain. He clenched his fists, hoping that the damn elevator would just kick into overdrive and take him to the man who had made his life a living hell since before he could remember.
When the doors opened, both men took off, power-walking down the hall as if it were a race. “I’ve got to see him first. It’s important.”
“My business is just as important, I’m sure. And I have an appointment.”
“I don’t need an appointment. I’m the big guy around here.”
“I know you are.”
Without warning, Jeremy took off running and reached Fox’s office well before the man who had become his adversary. The door slammed open, and he stumbled in, breathing hard. “Fox!”
“Jeremy.”
“I need to speak with you.”
“I need to speak with you too. But I’m expecting someone right about now.” Around that time, the man who had tried to kill Jeremy the previous night stepped in behind him. “Mr. Campbell.”
“Ah, I’ve been expecting you.”
“But!”
“Jeremy, please wait outside. This will only take a moment.”
“Who is this guy?!”
“That is of little importance to you. He isn’t affiliated with this company. Please step outside before I have you escorted by security.” Jeremy scowled and stormed out, neglecting to close the door on the way out. He wanted to hear what this “business” was. Unfortunately, the door slid shut right in front of his face before he could even hear the first words exchanged. Fox had tried to pin Jeremy with that mechanism enough times in the past for him to know to stay clear of it. He slumped up against the door, hoping to at least catch a bit of what was said, but their tones were far too hushed for him to hear anything. This was definitely something they wanted to keep from him. This had to be something concerning him.
Only five minutes elapsed before the “acquaintance” re-emerged, but it felt like five years. Jeremy fell forward into the room as the door was opened, and ended up brushing shoulders with his adversary. This caused him to yelp and jump away, which only earned him a strange look as the other man took off for the elevator once more.
“Thank you for being patient.”
“Who was that?”
“I heard you punched a third-grader in the face, Jeremy.”
“That? How the hell did you—“
“Why did you punch a third-grader in the face?”
“I—dammit, Fox! It was in defense of another kid. How did you find out? It happened like a half hour ago.”
“Thirty-eight minutes, actually. I received a text message containing this picture.” Fox held up his phone, and a clear image of the act was displayed. It was taken right when contact was made, and looked positively dreadful. The first word that came to Jeremy’s mind when he saw his own face was demonic. The kid’s face was contorted by the blow, his mouth pursed sideways and his neck craned unnaturally to the side. He was speechless.
“The picture is pretty funny, I must say, but that’s not the point. Do you have any idea how much money the photographer demanded to not have it posted all over the internet?”
“Uh.”
“A lot of money, Jeremy. And that’s just for the picture. It will also cost a fortune just to keep the mother from pressing charges.”
“Wait, why have you made this your problem?”
“The photographer made it my problem, sending it directly to me. Did you not receive a similar text message?”
“I. Uh. My phone’s broke.”
Fox pinched the bridge of his nose and was silent for a few moments. Then, “…how did your phone break, Jeremy?”
“I threw it at a wall after I hung up on you last night.”
“Ah. I figured as much.”
“I would have ignored the text message altogether if the CEO of my own dear company wasn’t being blackmailed for it. That’s how devoted I am, Jeremy. I will not let you ruin everything we’ve—I’ve— worked so hard for all these years. If our public opinion goes down, we’ll lose our exclusive influence over the media. Other small companies will step up and we’ll just go downhill. Do you want that?”
“Hmph.” No comebacks were coming to mind. They’d likely surface after the dispute, as they always did. Instead, Jeremy crossed his arms and pouted.
“You’ve become a liability to ANC, Jeremy. That’s all you are. You’ve contributed nothing positive. Only deficits and migraines. You make the lives of everyone you work with a living hell. I’d say your family, too, but I forgot momentarily that you don’t exactly have any. Then I thought about how miserable your friends you must be, but it occurred to me that you don’t have any of those, either.”
“Is that why you hired that hitman to off me?” Hell yes. Just the snappy comeback he’d always dreamed of.
“…what?”
“You heard me. That guy you were just talking to chased me all the way home last night. With a gun. He was trying to kill me and you paid him to do it.”
“Why in the hell would I do that?”
“Why wouldn’t you do it?”
Fox sat back and paused. “You have a good point there. But what makes you think it’s me and not one of the other hundreds of people who hate you?”
“Because you’re the only one crazy enough to do it.”
“You think I’m crazy, Jeremy? Is that what you think? Am I crazy for loving America? Loving my freedom?”
“You’re crazy for keeping guns in the studio and regularly threatening everyone close to you. You talk about me having no family and friends, but you’re just as bad. The only difference between you and me is that you actually give a rat’s ass about this company.” He was on fire. This was just the argument he’d been dreaming about for years.
“Get out of my office, Jeremy.”
“I own this place.”
“You only think you do. In this country, you only own what you work for. And you haven’t put forth a drop of your precious little sweat for ANC. You’re nothing. I run this company, and will continue to do so for eight more years. By then, you’ll be dead by your own means. No one needed to hire a hitman, you paranoid lunatic.” Fox’s face was turning beet-red, and he was soon gasping for breath. “You always do this, Jeremy,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “You’re the reason I have high blood pressure in the first place.” He spun his chair around so that his back was to Jeremy while he tried to calm down. His breathing never slowed, and not before long he was phoning Lloyd Tillman, asking him to drive him to the hospital for treatment. Jeremy took this chance to disappear.
--
After doing a minimal amount of work in his own office (primarily answering emails and signing documents), he decided to call it quits and head home for the day where he could get things figured out. The meeting with Fox was far too disturbing, and he still wasn’t convinced that he hadn’t hired that hitman. No, this was a certainty. But just how far was the guy willing to go? Was he safe in his own apartment? Should he go to the police? Would they even believe him, given his reputation? He’d never experienced anything like this before, and had no one to ask for advice. He really was all alone, and could potentially die because of it. Jeremy didn’t choose to become an enemy of Fox. It just kind of happened and escalated to this point. He cursed his luck as he walked, kicking stones and stomping like a grade schooler having a temper tantrum.
By the time he passed the elementary school, classes were letting out for the day, and children were emerging from the double-doors. As Jeremy looked down, he noticed blood on the sidewalk where the boy had fallen and cringed. How morbid. As the first crowd of children passed him, they picked up running in order to get away from him and screamed.
“Hey! That’s not fair…” Jeremy winced as all of the others that passed him followed suit. Having had enough, he crossed the street, hoping to avoid the rest of them altogether. He eventually noticed one of them crossing in order to get to him, and let out a sigh when he saw who it was.
“Hi Jeremy!”
“…heeey, Shiloh.”
“I brought the bag to my brother during lunch.”
“Did you, now?”
“He was mad at me.”
“Why?”
“I told him.”
Jeremy searched his memory, but nothing came up. “What’d you tell him?”
“That you saw what was in it.”
“Why is it such a big deal? I don’t even remember what was in it anyway.”
“He didn’t want anyone to know.”
“What, were there drugs in the bag that I didn’t see? Is he a pusher or something?”
“No, no. He stays away from that stuff. He’s just doing some really important work but it has to be top-secret.” Shiloh put a finger to his lips in demonstration. “But I don’t think he’s mad at you. Just at me for letting you look.”
“Did you tell him that I looked on my own, even though you told me not to?”
Shiloh looked down. “No, I guess not.”
“Well, you tell him that next time so he doesn’t stay mad at you.”
“Thanks!” As Jeremy looked down at the boy, he was met with a toothy grin. “I ‘preciate it. Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Me too. Well, I have to go this way.”
“I’m going the other way, heh. I guess I’ll see you later.”
“Okay. Bye!” He captured Jeremy in a weak side-hug before running off for home. What a weird kid. At that moment it occurred to him that while it seemed pathetic that he was Shiloh’s only real friend, Shiloh was his only friend as well.
“Maybe I should just let that guy shoot me.”