It was getting late, too late to start looking for Todd, Pt rationalized with himself as he drove to Jasmine’s house. He tried to just ignore the fact that he had to find a way to locate Cassie’s dog, but he couldn’t. Cassie was coming back in a few days and the thought of her coming back to his place was unbearable mainly because all the terrible things she would think about him and say to him. A reminder of his worthlessness and inability to take care of the important things in his life. He opened his glovebox and grabbed his vape that laying behind the package from the other night. He took a long hit and thought about what he was going to say to Jasmine about his recent encounter with the man from the park. But, his thoughts didn’t stray too far as his attention kept coming back to the torn blue package. He heard a faint humming, but he wasn’t sure if it was an audible sound or more of a vibrational frequency that he could feel reverberating through his body. He slowly reached into the package and grabbed the small blue box as he sat stationary at a red light.
The time it was different. No longer did he feel a sense of paranoia or fear, but a more serene feeling. A calm assuredness came over him and he could visualize everything crystal clear in his mind. It all made sense to him now. Being with Jasmine tonight was something he had to do. This night would cement their journey together and he just knew there was something more to this. Something that was calling for him. Trevor he said softly to himself. I know you, Trevor. He caught a slight glimpse of a memory in his minds eye. Friends walking together on campus on a weekend night. He could see Sammy, Georgie, and another kid. He was wearing a hoodie and was walking ahead of him. He took a drag of a cigarette and smiled back at him, a slight glint in his eye, but his face still blurry. Startled he heard the angry honking of the car behind him and hurriedly threw the blue box back into the glovebox.
He wasn’t worried about Todd anymore as he entered Jasmine’s neighborhood, the large fancy houses towering around him. He would turn up tomorrow. He was sure of it. He’d make a ton of signs and post them up around the neighborhood. He hadn’t even checked lost dog posts on Facebook or through the humane society. Someone would probably contact Cassie from the phone number on his collar and she would tell him where to pick Todd up. Who cares what she thought about him anyways, He had Jasmine now. Her opinions mattered so much more to him now. After he parked in her drive way, he called her and she told him to come in the house and to the kitchen. He grabbed the blue box once again and visualized Todd coming back to him and lying soundly in the corner of his apartment. His confidence started rising more and more. He tossed the box back in the glovebox and walked down Jasmine’s long driveway towards the large wooden door on her porch.
Jasmine was cooking something in the kitchen when he found her. He saw three people in other room watching a basketball game.
“My brother and his friends are over.” Jasmine said to him. “My parents are on a cruise so we have the house to ourselves.” She smiled as she poured a creamy mixture into small containers.
“What are you working on?” Pt asked as he peered into to the pot.
“Oh I’m making shea body butter. I came up with a really good recipe last year. And I’ve been selling them online.”
“Oh yeah, I think you’ve mentioned that. You make clothes or something to, right?”
“Well I don’t make them, silly. I resell clothes and make jewelry. I’ve explained all of this Haven’t I?”
Maybe she had told him before, but he couldn’t remember her saying a whole lot about her job or where she lived. At least not before he saw her house the other weekend. He knew she had lived with her parents, but he never pictured a house like this one. In fact, he didn’t know many details about her life at all. Not that he asked all that much. Still, he thought he knew her completely. Maybe not through stories and specific events about her past, but just by being around her and solving the clues with her. He felt like he’d seen her in just about every possible way and felt her energy or soul. It made him want more of it. More adventures and journeys with her. He didn’t want it to end. The way her eyebrows raised when she opened a package or the intense energy she had on the mysterious porch when they saw the package was addicting.
“Hey, Johnny’s been texting me.” Jasmine said.
“You got the money for Todd’s bills right?”
“Oh yeah, the bills…” He said. He didn’t want to focus on Todd tonight, that could wait for tomorrow. Also, he didn’t really care about the vet bills anymore. It seemed so long ago and dealing with Johnny Timberland was about the last thing he wanted. If he really wanted to, he could just venmo him a couple thousand.
“Just tell him, everything’s good.”
“Alright I’ll let him know. We’re meeting for lunch tomorrow.”
“Oh, he’s still in town?” he wondered
“Yeah, I guess. I think tomorrow is his last day. Then he’ll rejoin the team.”
He grew jealous thinking about Johnny and his crush for Jasmine. He thought about how he could change her mind about meeting up with him. Maybe if he could get her excited about the box again or find a way to discover the meaning behind the PO man’s riddles he could change her mind.
“How’s Todd doing anyways. Is his wound all healed?”
“Uh.. Yeah he’s doing fine. Oh I haven’t told you yet what happened. Todd and I ran into this strange man at the park. The same man who works behind the PO boxes at the Post office.
“Woah. The mysteries never end!” Jasmine said, as she eyed the boys in her living room.
“Hey can you grab the rest of those containers. Let’s go to my room. I can show you my office too!”
He followed her down a long dark hallway leading to a long spiraling staircase made of white marble. The staircase went up at least 4 floors. He watched as her bare feet quickly trotted up the staircase, her baggy sweatshirt fluttering against her body. At the third floor, he followed her down another hallway and into her bedroom.
“This is my room.” She said proudly. “It’s kind of messy right now, sorry about that. Here come see my office it connects through here.” She said as she led him through a door in the back of her large room. Her room contained piles of clothes and many closets. In the center was a large raised bed. That had a small ladder for her to climb in. It was surrounded by purple silk curtains.
Her office also contained many piles of clothes but, also a desk and tables of her homemade moisturizers and jewlery, and a soft fluffy couch.
“Wow. You have a whole operation up here.”
“Yeah, I’ve been getting so many clients. My Etsy has so many good reviews now!”
“Here help me package these while you tell me what happened to you.”
He sat next to her on the couch and told her about his encounter with the strange man in the park leaving out Todd’s disappearance. Halfway through Jasmine stopped working on her packaging and had her full focus on him. He fed off this attention and added more flair and energy to the stories.
“Oh my god! That’s crazy. So, you just woke up this morning in your bed?”
“Yeah, I guess I blacked out or something.”
“What does this guy want? I bet he’s been leading us on this trail of packages! I bet he knows Trevor!”
“Yeah I think he has been leading us. And he seemed to know a lot more than he let on” He said.
“You still have box, right?”
“Yeah, I still have it.”
“So, what did he give you last night?”
PT pulled the booklet out of his jacket. It was a scrap book of sorts. It contained polaroid’s of some of his old friends from the dorms and quotes and stories of things that happened to them throughout the year.
“Woah, this is cool.” Jasmine said. “Did you make this?”
“No, but I remember helping with it. Some of these people were my good friends.”
“Do you recognize Trevor in anyway of these?”
“I don’t know. Some of these people I don’t remember. I’m not quite sure if I even know Trevor. How would I just forget him…”
“Maybe something traumatic happened to you.” Jasmine said. “I’ve heard of people blocking out horrible events of their past, like abuse or murders or something. And they could like totally erase it from their mind.”
“Maybe” he said. “Maybe my memory just sucks. I wonder what else I’ve forgotten..” He said.
“Have you ever blocked something out of your mind?” He asked.
“No I don’t think so.” Jasmine said. “My most traumatic moments seem to get more vivid and hurt the more I try to block them out.” She said leaning towards him. He could smell the mint flavor of gum on her breath.
“What’s the most traumatic thing that’s ever happened to you?” she asked her eyes widening in curiosity.
“I don’t know..” He said. “Nothing that crazy ever happens to me. Maybe when my dad left when I was 6. But, I don’t think it left many emotional scars or anything. I mean, I was sad for a couple of years. But now the guy is just a stranger to me.”
“Oh I’m sorry. I don’t think you’ve talked about him before.”
“It’s alright. He’s kind of a piece of shit. Pretty sure he started another family in Seattle or something.”
“Have you seen him after he left?” Jasmine asked.
“Nah, He calls every year on my birthday, but it’s always kind of awkward.. Each year he seems more and more distant. I don’t think he’s even bothered to check in, in a couple years.
“That must be hard. I’m glad I’m really close to my parents.”
“What about you? What can’t you block out?”
“Gosh! It’s so much. I don’t like revisiting some of those moments though. It feels wrong to me.”
“Why does it feel wrong?”
“I don’t know. It just seems like I’m feeling bad for myself or that I just want to get sympathy from someone. I don’t want to be like that anymore.”
“Yeah, I get that.” He said trying to comfort her.
“Well there’s this one thing I don’t think I’ve told you. When I was 20 I got pregnant and got an abortion. I remember I really wanted to keep the baby, I was kind of excited to raise her.. But my boyfriend at the time really didn’t want to keep it. He was in law school and didn’t want the distraction. I didn’t want to ruin his life so I just agreed to it. I never really put up a fight, but I regretted it for so many years. I always picture her in my head and imagine the life we’d have together. I think she’d be 10 now..”
“I’m sorry..” PT said as a gently patted her back. “I bet that was really hard. Do you still talk to him?”
“No.” She said laughing sarcastically. “We broke up a couple months after that. He never even knew about the pain it caused me. He was so busy with his own life.”
“Are you still angry with him?” He asked.
“No I’m not angry.. and maybe everything turned out for the best. I just wish I could have told him how I really felt. I just didn’t feel important enough at the time.”
“Well I think you’re important.” He said. She rested her head on his shoulder.
“You have to remember Trevor.” She laughed.
“I wonder if he needs your help or something. Maybe you have to save him.” She giggled
“Yeah.. Maybe I’m his knight in shining armor..” He said and paused as a silence grew between them. Do you want to go to the post office with me tomorrow. Maybe we can find the person the works with the PO boxes. I’ll bet it’ll lead us somewhere.”
“I want to come with you. But, I told Johnny I’d meet up with him..”
“Can’t you just facetime him or something.” He said leaning closer towards her.
“Yeah.. I guess so. I’d rather hang out with you.”
He stared at her brown eyes. The seemed glistening as if she were holding back tears. She didn’t seem sad though. She seemed intently focused on him. He leaned towards and started kissing her on the couch, their bodies soon folded in, enveloping one another, their hands sliding around their bodies feeling and exploring each other..
