Chapter 14 #3
The two figures were wearing high-waisted, wide-legged trousered zoot suits.
Their broad-shouldered coats reminded Jessica of the 1940s.
Of course, the scar makeup on the positively gorgeous Black woman looked so real, but Jessica had met Miss Jaleesa before and knew it wasn’t.
DeShawn, one of Miss Jaleesa’s many subs, had a hilarious third eyeball affixed to his face, making Shanice laugh.
“Show you around, ladies?” Miss Jaleesa asked. She was so tall and athletic that Jessica was powerless. She slipped her arm in Miss Jaleesa’s offered arm.
“It’s okay, Miss Jessica,” Shanice said. “That’s Miss Jaleesa, and this guy with three eyes is my friend, DeShawn.”
“More eyes to see you with, my dear,” DeShawn said in a low, intentionally creepy voice.
“Follow me, please,” Miss Jaleesa said and led the way with Jessica on her arm.
The entryway led to a marked one-way hallway. It was narrowed and decorated with more cobwebs. There was a giant spider web on the right side, and Jessica was not pleased to see glowing red eyes affixed to it.
“Ooh,” DeShawn said and snatched one of the spiders off the web. He pretended to put it in his mouth and eat it. “Delightful.”
A rat skittered across the floor. Jessica practically leaped into Miss Jaleesa’s arms. “Oh. My. God. That was fake, right?”
Miss Jaleesa simply shrugged and ushered them all forward. “Come meet my pets.”
“Oh, no, no, no,” Jessica cried. There were clear sounds of not one, but many rattlesnakes up ahead.
The entire area was covered with snakes. Some of them were moving. A fake tree stood in one corner; bats with glowing red eyes hung upside down. Miss Jaleesa picked up one of the rattlers. “Come to mama, my precious.” She kissed it right on the mouth and then wrapped it around her neck.
Jessica knew the snakes, bats, rats, and spiders were fake, but the dim lighting, eerie music, and their guides made it seem oh-so-real. Something swooped down from the tree right in front of her face. She screamed like a little girl. It was a bat on an electronic wire.
“No, no, no, no,” Jessica said and ran behind Shanice and Bernadette. “Your turn to lead. I’m done being brave.”
Bernadette said low out of the side of her mouth, “Why do you think I’m pushing her out in front of me?”
“I heard that,” Shanice said. “C’mon, chickens. Let’s go.”
“This is where we leave you, my friends,” Mistress Jaleesa said. “Please enjoy some refreshments in the next room.” And with that, she and DeShawn turned, and they were alone.
“Do we dare?” Bernadette asked. “Refreshments? How bad can it be?”
It was bad.
A cute blonde woman that Jessica recognized from the coffee shop greeted them. She was dressed as a waitress, complete with a pink dress and apron. One ear looked as if it had been severed and was drooping down. She also had a nasty scar on her face.
“Tasty balls?” the blonde asked, presenting a tray.
Shanice screeched and then laughed. The tray was filled with bloody eyeballs, each one speared with a toothpick.
She held out napkins. She leaned closer to Shanice and said, “You can actually eat them. They’re made of Jello.
Miss Rowena ordered them from a specialty shop. ”
Shanice took one, looked at it, and then popped it in her mouth. “Thanks, Miss Lydia,” she said with her mouth full.
Both Jessica and Bernadette declined. Jessica just couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Another diner worker came out from behind a curtain. She placed a tray on a table, dinged a bell, and said, “Order up.”
“That’s Pammy,” Shanice said over her shoulder. “She’s the short-order cook.”
Pammy was adorable with her chef’s hat and grimy cooking “whites.” The tray she’d set down on the table had bloody, severed fingers on it. She turned to get another tray, and Jessica had to laugh. The woman had a bloody meat cleaver sticking out of her back.
Pammy popped another tray on the table, this one with roasted cockroaches, except some of them were still moving. Hopefully, they were fake. They were fake, right? Yes, they had to be fake.
“Hard pass,” Bernadette said with a laugh, and Miss Lydia motioned for them to move on.
A chainsaw revved right behind them. All three nearly jumped out of their respective skin. A hairy wolf circled them, brandishing the chainsaw. It was Miss Marta, and as much as Jessica was relieved to finally see her, she was terrified. That was a fake chainsaw, right?
Miss Marta jabbed the saw at them. She revved the motor and basically chased them into the next room. And then all was silent.
“That was Mama,” Shanice whispered.
“She was not very nice to us,” Bernadette said with a teasing scowl.
The silence was broken by distant screams as people moved through the haunted house behind them.
The room they were now in proved to be much calmer.
Several life-size movie monsters lined the far wall behind red velvet ropes.
There were Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, Harley Quinn, and Ursula.
There were even classic characters, including Dracula, the Mummy, Freddie Krueger, Chucky, and Pennywise.
It looked like an old movie museum or something.
An evil clown stood up and thankfully didn’t rush at them. He held a camera. “A place to catch your breath, Ma’ams,” he said. “Mistress Rowena would like you to take home a souvenir. An instant photo with the character of your choosing.”
Jessica wasn’t going anywhere near the Chucky or Pennywise figures. No way. Shanice chose Harley Quinn. The character moved when Shanice got close. Ahh, they were motion-sensored. Bernadette chose the beautiful Maleficent, but Jessica was going to go classic.
When it was her turn, she posed in full mask and hood in front of Frankenstein’s monster. This picture would become her new avatar. If she wasn’t recognizable, that is.
They each thanked the photographer and held their pictures out in front of them as instructed so they would dry properly. They parted the curtains, and both Jessica and Shanice squealed in delight at the vending machines.
“Free candy,” Shanice squealed. “Mama said I could have some.”
“My Domme said I could, too,” Bernadette said with a grin.
They each took a turn and punched in the numbers for their favorite full-sized candy. The metal spiral spun, and the candy bar or bag dropped below.
They headed beyond the vending room curtain to the exit by the main doors.
“Bwah ha ha ha,” the gorgeous witch said.
“You survived. Most do not. Now I’ve got you all to myself.
” Miss Rikki grabbed her wife and kissed her gently, making sure not to ruin the makeup.
Miss Rikki leaned down to Shanice and said, “Is it getting hot in here or what?”
Shanice giggled, and Jessica smiled. Here was another couple who seemed very much in love. It made her wistful, but since there was nothing she could do about it at the moment, she pushed it down. As usual.
Back upstairs, Jessica finally felt ready to have some food. She talked with so many people that she would never remember all their names. Oh, well. She didn’t always have to be in teacher mode.
“Uh, oh,” Kari said, sidling up next to her. “The aunties have you on their radar.” She pointed.
Bernadette, Mistress Shasti, and their host, Mistress Rowena, had their heads together. Mistress Rowena was nodding, and every so often, one of them would look toward Jessica.
“What does that mean?”
Kari sighed. “Could mean any number of things, but my best guess is that they’re figuring out who to set you up with.”
“Seriously?” Jessica asked. This could be a godsend.
It wasn’t long before Jessica and Kari were surrounded by littles.
Madison, Shanice, and Pammy were talking a mile a minute about the haunted house and showing off their instant photos from the museum room.
It was nice to feel included. Unfortunately, Jessica started fading.
It was a school night, and she would pay for it all week if she didn’t get home soon.
She hated to do so, but said goodbye to her new friends, thanked Mistress Marta again, and then made her way over to her host.
“Having a good time, dear?” Mistress Rowena asked.
“Oh, yes, Ma’am,” Jessica said. “Thank you so much for the invitation. School night I’m afraid. I have to get going.”
“She’s conscientious, too,” Mistress Rowena said to the universe. “What grade do you teach?”
“High school kids,” Jessica said succinctly.
“Excellent,” Mistress Rowena said cryptically. “You know how to handle people who haven’t quite grown up yet.” She made a signal, and the cute blonde Ashley appeared at her side. “Ashley will escort you out. And Ash?”
“Yes, Ma’am?”
“Please invite Jessica to our meetup at Rocco’s this Saturday. Give her the details.”
A big smile grew on Ashley’s face. “Yes, Ma’am.” Getting an invitation to Rocco’s must mean something.
Jessica thanked Ashley at the door and then thanked the female attendant who walked her to her car.
Once alone inside the car, she let her head fall back on the headrest and blew out a sigh. Wow, she’d had no idea Denton Heights had such a big BDSM population. She was a little leery about the obvious attention the three aunties had apparently given her, but time would tell what all of that meant.
Before heading out, Jessica checked her Kinks messages, hoping maybe Daddy Vic had responded.
She was disappointed, but then curious when she saw a message from Cazadora Catalina.
Cazadora Catalina: Got an STD somehow. Specifically, Chlamydia. You shouldn’t be having sex if your clam is buggy, querida. Just saying.
Jessica was stunned. And insulted. “Buggy? What the ever-living fuck, Catalina?” she raged. She searched for the symptoms of chlamydia. Okay, symptoms typically showed up within one to three weeks after infection. She hadn’t been with the cazadora since June, over four months ago.
“How dare you blame me,” Jessica stormed. One of her mentors once told her that people lied and bent the truth when it served their own self-preservation. “Fucking narcissist.”
She scrolled to find the symptoms. Painful urination, abnormal discharge, bleeding between periods, lower belly pain, fever, and nausea.
“No, none of those since June or before.” She hadn’t felt sick in so long that she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had a cold.
“You’re a fucking narcissist. You could have been the one to give it to me, loser.
” Oh, God, how many women had the cazadora infected?
“STD test right after school tomorrow,” Jessica muttered. She made the appointment using an app on her phone and then drove out the gates. “Thank God, you dropped me when you did.” She drove home, musing on one of the biggest wakeup calls she had ever received.
“It’s all fun and games,” she muttered, “until someone gets chlamydia.”