Jaws of Love

(Chapter 1)

* * *

Blowing forever like the wind

Moving from one place to another

Growing stronger with time

This simple thing called love

* * *

The woman watched as the man, only a few years younger than her, stared at the ocean before him. A strand of curly blond hair fell into her face but that didn’t prevent her from spying on him. From where she was sitting, which was the driver’s seat of her blue convertible, that great body of water looked like that thick blue line of ink. But that was because she was far away and she wasn’t facing the beach. She only caught a reflection of it in her compact mirror as she applied a fresh coat of magenta lipstick across her lips. When she saw the young man, she couldn’t help but stare at that reflection more. He didn’t do much except stand and gaze at those waters. He had something in his mind but it was hard to tell cause she couldn’t see his face.

“You’re worried.” She murmured as if she was talking to the young man. She ran her thumb across the mirror, wanting to touch him. “That’s why you’re here.”

Almost on cue, the young man turned around and began walking away from the ocean. The woman didn’t know where he was going but she knew he was going to be alone. She waited until she couldn’t see the man in her mirror anymore. Then she closed it and slipped it back into her purse. She turned on the ignition, released the parking break, and drove off.

There was no more doubt in her mind; she had found the man she was looking for.

* * *

Dylan Grier stared up at the white board and pressed his palm against his cheek. Behind him, a class of thirty high-school seniors waited patiently, seeing what he was going to do next. He frowned as he looked at what he had put on that board. When he graduated from college four years ago with his degree in high school education, he had taken every required class needed to go ahead and start teaching.

Of course, not one of those required classes had been art. He didn’t think he needed it but when he drew a map of Europe on the board, he regretted not taking a drawing class (or cartography, for that matter) back then.

“Whoa! That does *not* look like England!” He exclaimed. It was a shapeless blob outlined in blue marker surrounded by squiggly lines that were supposed to represent waves. “But it’s not that bad, is it?”

A couple of students giggled behind him.

“Do you want the truth, Mr. Grier?” One young man asked.

“Not really.” Dylan murmured, picking up the eraser and wiping his crappy version of England off the board. Then he turned around and faced his students. “Okay, I can’t draw. I give up.”

“Why don’t you get Ms Donnelly to draw it for you?” One girl asked. “She’s good at drawing stuff.”

“Yeah.” Another girl voiced. “And you know she’ll do anything for you.”

Everyone laughed as Dylan looked away and blushed. The students probably weren’t trying to embarrass him but those comments made him uncomfortable. Still, they were true. Ms. Donnelly was actually Tiffany Donnelly, a fellow teacher at the school and his longtime girlfriend. She taught math in another building and often stopped to see him whenever she had free time. He had told her many times not come by while he was teaching class but Tiffany, damn her, didn’t listen to him and made unannounced visits almost everyday. Finally, he gave up and let her come.

It wasn’t that he hated her company. On the contrary, nothing made him happier than being close to Tiffany. She was a beautiful woman with wavy hair as orange as a setting sun and eyes as dark as a secret that one would keep forever. Her legs went on forever, usually displayed underneath a short skirt or covered by a pair of pants, and her nose was dotted with light brown freckles. She painted her nails a different color almost every week and she always wrapped a silk scarf of some kind around her neck. The scarves were Tiffany’s trademark; she had one to match every outfit in her closet. Dylan was probably the only one who ever got to see (and kiss) Tiffany’s bare neck. He would often tease her about that, saying that she had been turned into a vampire and wore those scarves to hide the bite marks on her neck. Then Tiffany would playfully punch him and chase him around ‘til they both got tired.

She was an intelligent woman. She had a brain in her pretty little head and she knew how to use it. She was also one the most nicest and tolerable women Dylan had ever dated. Anytime he told a joke, she would either laugh or roll her eyes. When he got into a fight with her, she’d fight back and wouldn’t back down until he admitted she was right. That was one of Tiffany’s flaws: she was stubborn. She felt like she could do no wrong and that irritated Dylan. She was also very hot-tempered (perhaps because she was a redhead) and she didn’t always listen to him. Her random visits to his class, even though he had told her several not to come when he was teaching, were a good example of that.

Dylan’s face drained of its red color and went back to normal. He turned to his students and grinned. “I don’t think I should bother her. I mean, you’ve heard me before. I complain whenever she comes in unexpected. I don’t want her to throw my words back at me. Besides, my version England doesn’t look that bad...does it?”

“You’re right. It’s not *that* bad.” One of the boys said. “Denmark looks worse.”

“No, I think that’s Russia.” A girl piped up. “Or is that France?”

Dylan sighed. His students were right. Not only did England look like crap, his entire drawing of Europe was nothing of lines and curves. He wished Tiffany would burst in right now and draw for him. She may have been a math teacher but art was her passion. Dylan was one of the few people in the world who ever got to see her drawings. Many of them were of him. He hated to admit it but she was an amazing artist. She managed to capture all his good physical features: his wavy dark hair, his mischievous hazel eyes, and his boyish grin. She made him look as strong, happy, and friendly as he was. And Tiffany didn’t just have one drawing of him. She had several.

“You’re my favorite subject.” She’d always tell him before turning red and looking aside. “All my other drawings have something wrong with them. Sometimes I make other people look shorter than they are. Sometimes my sunsets aren’t brilliant and my clouds are fluffy enough. But when I draw you, Dylan...when I draw you, everything comes out perfect.”

“Aw, Tiff, stop being sappy!” Dylan would always groan. “You know I’m not perfect.”

“Oh, that‘s an understatement. You complain too much, you can never stay quiet for long, you swear at inopportune moments, you smoke, you drink, you never put the seat down after using the toilet, and_”

“Okay, okay! I got it, Tiffy! What I was trying to say was that...don’t make me look better than I am. Draw what you see and what you know.”

But Tiffany couldn’t do that. Once again, she refused to listen to Dylan and drew him better than anything else. She knew of his many flaws and never wanted to put them in drawings, regardless how much more realistic they would be. Perhaps she felt that his flaws would make her drawings look worse. So she only drew what she imagined and what she saw without going too far.

“Now before we make more fun of my drawing skills, anyone have a question from last night’s reading?” Dylan asked, going back to the important matter at hand. Right now, everyone was reading Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and they seemed to follow it fairly well. Usually, they would complain about how hard it was to understand some of the stories. His ears still hurt from hearing everyone whine about Thomas Hardy’s “The Native”. But “Macbeth” was doing a good job of keep the kids interested.

After what seemed like a minute, a boy named Jeff raised his hand. Dylan nodded at him, allowing him to ask the question.

“Was Macbeth anything like that one girl in Wilmington?” He asked. The class fell quiet. Finally, someone had enough guts to bring that up. The others had wanted to tell their teacher but weren’t sure how to do so.

“Huh? What girl?” Dylan raised his eyebrows when he noticed that everyone was silent. This was his loud and energetic class so to find them quiet and still for a few minutes was a shock. Besides, that question had sparked his interest too. Jeff smiled for he was glad they could talk about something other than “Macbeth” and his classmates looked grateful to be away from Shakespeare.

“You don’t know? Some guy walked into his apartment to find his girlfriend all covered in blood and eating a human being! He found flesh everywhere in her room!”

“Ew!” A bunch of girls exclaimed. The rest of the class had looks of disgust on their faces and Dylan‘s own face creased with worry.

“Really, Jeff, did you have to mention that? I have lunch after this class!” One girl exclaimed.

Jeff chuckled and shrugged. “Sorry, I was just curious. But don’t you think it’s weird? I mean, is that girl turning into a Satanist or something? I heard that she was normal and everything until she started eating that person.”

“Ew! Gross!” The same group of girls looked squeamish. Dylan, however, was thinking of what Jeff had said. This was the first time he’d heard about a girl eating another person. He had dealt with strange people before but nothing like this. A cannibalistic girl certainly made Macbeth look sane. True, Shakespeare could be grotesque. In “Titus Andronicus”, the main character grounded up his enemy’s sons, turned them into meat pies, and handed them to the evil woman herself. Dylan remembered feeling sick after reading that. But “Titus Andronicus” was a play. This was reality. The girl who killed and ate a human being was real...or at least that’s what it sounded like. He pondered for a while before he decided to put literature aside for a few minutes and question the class about the girl. They had only ten more minutes of class left anyway.

“So back up a second, Jeff.” He began. “What’s this about a girl eating someone?”

“It happened two nights ago over in Wilmington, like I said. Some dude walked into his apartment late one night and he found his girlfriend sitting on her bed. According to him, she was covered blood and finishing off the remains of a human being. They don’t know whether she was eating a guy or a girl though. But there was like flesh, bones, and blood everywhere.” Jeff explained, making the class groan in unison. A couple of girls squealed and covered their mouths. Dylan held up his hands and got them to quiet down.

“What happened afterwards?” He asked.

“The cops came in and found the girl a few hours later. Turns out she killed herself. Took the same knife she cut that person up with and shoved it into her own chest. That probably sucks for the guy.” Another young man picked up from where Jeff had stopped.

“But why would she do that?” A girl asked. “I mean, you said she was normal until two nights ago.”

“Beats me. I think she was brainwashed. Or maybe the guy was just imagining things.”

“No way! They saw the blood and everything! One person may go crazy but more than one?” Another girl pointed out. “I feel sorry for her and her boyfriend. I heard that she was an honor student and a popular person at her school. Why’d she change all of a sudden?”

“Her boyfriend is nowhere to be found either. They said he found her and disappeared. Since then…”

Dylan kept hearing bits and pieces of the conversation but was too busy thinking of what was said. Cannibalistic girl eating a human being and then killing herself was not everyday news. He wondered if any of the other teachers had heard about this. Suddenly, he didn’t care about Shakespeare. He wanted to know more about this mystery. Any normal person wouldn’t bother trying to find out more about such a case. A normal person would leave this with the authorities and go about with their own lives. Strange as it sounded, a normal person would not think about this cannibalistic girl.

Dylan Grier was not one of those normal people. He had a secret within him that none of his students knew about. His girlfriend was one of the few people who did know and she wasn’t telling anyone. He made her promise not to reveal it to other people, even her closest friends. If they knew the truth about him, they would be shocked.

The bell rang at that moment, signaling the end of class. Everyone put their literature books and notebooks away, finally glad to be out of English.

“We’ll read more of Act II tomorrow!” Dylan reminded them as they headed out the classroom. “Try and get further if you can!”

“More reading?” Everyone groaned as they left. Dylan just smiled at them and watched them go out into the hallway.

To think I was complaining about how boring life was this morning… He thought as he watched everyone head off in their separate ways. Yes, a girl turning into a cannibal was the most interesting piece of news he had heard in a long time.

* * *

The young man looked at the television sets and DVD players displayed in the window of an appliance store. The same talk show was playing on every TV in that store. His face held a sad expression and he pressed one hand against the glass. People walked by him, going about their own lives and thinking of their own plans. Not one of them stopped by to ask the young man how he was feeling or whether he needed company.

Across the street, an older man was watching the young man. His violet eyes kept peering above the newspaper he was pretending to read. He had been following the boy since he first caught sight of him wandering around downtown. He wasn’t about to let him go.

So you’re the one. The older man thought. The boy was at least twenty years younger than him and didn’t look interested in anything being displayed at the stores. The way he moved made him look like a corpse who had just been released from his grave. His posture also said that he’d gone through too much in the last few days. Instead of looking straight and confident, he was slightly bent over and pathetic. He kept watching the TVs, not paying attention to what the people on it were saying, and thought about what happened.

I can’t believe I ran out on her. He thought. She probably needed me. I should have been there! I could have talked to her...

The talk show immediately switched over to a news update. He didn’t look surprised. A few other people stopped by him and listened to what was being said. The news reporter, a black woman in her thirties, appeared on the screen.

“Police are still trying to figure what really happened in Wilmington two nights ago. A young woman supposedly had murdered and eaten another person before killing herself. The identity of her victim is still unknown...”

She killed herself. She was probably scared of what I’d do to her. She thought I was going to turn her in...

“No one is able to explain her strange behavior. Her professors described her as a hardworking, bright individual who often helped her fellow students. Her friends say she was kind, fun-loving, and honest...”

It’s true. Ash would never try and kill someone! It’s not her!

“There are no reliable leads to this case…”

I let her down. I can’t believe I couldn’t help her. I can’t believe I ran from her. I let her down.

The older man kept watching the boy. Though he wasn’t telepathic, he knew exactly what the boy was thinking.

You are in no way responsible for what happened. He thought as if he was trying to send the boy a message. Somebody else is. And I promise you, we’re going to make them pay for all they’ve done.

He flipped a page of his newspaper and continued reading the story from the pages before. The young man still stared at the TV as the world passed him by.

* * *

Not too far from where the young man was, two teenage girls were gushing over a fashion magazine by a news stand. They kept admiring the pictures of the models and reading the articles, which bothered the man at the news stand. Ultimately, one of them paid him and they were on their way. Both had bought a magazine but they kept looking at the cover. A beautiful young woman wearing a strapless black dress trimmed with gold and silver smiled back at her. Her dark brown hair fell to her shoulders, covering them. Her hands were pressed against her hips and her head leaned a little to the right. She had beautiful brown eyes that looked like they could bore holes into anyone‘s soul. Her figure was trim and slender, which was expected out of someone who was going to be on the cover of a magazine. The makeup she wore bought out her beautiful features, not mask them. The girls, despite how envious they really were, admired the cover.

“She’s so pretty, isn’t she?” One girl asked her friend.

“Not only pretty, she’s smart and talented. I heard she got into Julliard and that she’s won all these awards because she’s such a good musician!”

“I know! You think she’d be dating someone famous.”

“No, she’s dating some guy. I don’t know who he is though. I’ve heard he’s a simple person while she’s so glamorous. Wonder why she’d go for a guy like that?”

“I guess it has to do with being famous. A lot of glamorous women date simple guys and vice versa.”

“I guess you’re right. But this is Suzanne Crenshaw!” The girl pointed to the woman on the cover. “Why would she want someone simple?”

Her friend didn’t have an answer. Suzanne Crenshaw was her biggest idol and she looked up to her more than she looked up to her parents. Not only was the woman beautiful, she had talent and brains. She seemed to be perfect, the type of woman all girls wanted to be when they grew up.

The two of them were so into their magazines that they didn’t notice the other woman coming from another direction. She had a bouquet of red roses in one hand and holding a large candy bar in the other. Her eyes darted in both directions, checking out the different things going on around her. There was a mother carrying to crying children and a hot vendor on her left. A couple holding hands and a woman complaining about her dress was on her right. Everyone else around her was just walking by. She had been so busy watching the crowds of people walking around her that she didn’t see the two girls. By the time she did, she had already bumped into them and dropped her flowers.

“Hey!” Both girls exclaimed.

“Oh, excuse me!” The young lady apologized, picking up her roses and walking past the girls. She was dressed nicely in a blue plaid cotton coat that reached her knees, blank pants, and black dress shoes. She had earrings that were shaped like spirals and several bracelets around her right wrist alone. Her hair was tied up in a simple ponytail and she carried a black bag over one shoulder. Her eyes didn’t bother to look at the two girls as she walked away. But it was too late. They knew who that was.

“Oh my God, did you see who that was?” One girl asked.

“Yeah! Let’s get her!” The other one exclaimed. Together, they chased their idol while calling out to her. “Hey! Suzanne! Suzanne! Wait up!”

Oh no. Suzanne Crenshaw looked up and froze in place as the girls suddenly popped up from both sides. They shoved the magazines into her face and began talking at once.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe it’s you!”

“You’re my hero, you know that?”

“Will you please sign the cover of my magazine?!”

“Yeah, sign mine too!”

I’m in hell again. Suzanne thought to herself. The girls began tugging at her coat and gushed over how cool it was. She had to roll her eyes at that. It was nothing more than a coat. Maybe it was the latest trend but she wasn’t the only one who had a coat like this. She was trying her hardest not to shake these girls off her.

“Well, I’m flattered you like me so much.” Suzanne said, feeling uncomfortable. She hoped that they’d get a hint and leave her alone.

They didn’t.

“Oh, red roses!” One of them exclaimed, leaning over and smelling the flowers she was carrying. “Oh…Oh, I know! Your boyfriend sent these to you, didn’t he?”

“Uh…”

“And he gave you candy too.” The girl plucked the candy bar out of Suzanne’s hands before she could protest. “Mmmm…Hershey’s milk chocolate! My favorite!”

I didn’t say you could have it, bitch! Suzanne thought, growing a little irritated. Normally, she wouldn’t get mad over something like that. But these were gifts that her boyfriend gave her and she wasn’t going to share them, especially not with two rabid fans.

If they noticed how annoyed Suzanne was, they didn’t seem to care. Instead, they began talking about how much they loved her. As nice as those comments were, she was getting tired of hearing them. She knew she was pretty. She knew she was intelligent. She didn’t need to be reminded of that time and time again.

One of the girls began walking backwards, waving her magazine around. “I’m so glad to finally meet you in person. After hearing all this talk about cannibals in Wilmington…”

“Cannibals?” Suzanne was puzzled.

“Yeah.” Her friend nodded. “Some guy found his girl eating people.”

Gross. Suzanne thought but said nothing. As the two girls kept talking, she seemed to get the story. Evidently, a college student in Wilmington came home two nights ago to find his girlfriend eating a person. He ran away and she killed herself. As sickened as she was by the story, Suzanne wanted to know more. This sounded like something she could share with her friends and see what their opinions were. After all, it sounded like something they’d want to get involved in. They loved dealing with strange things. She made sure to remember every detail as the girls went on telling the story.

The other girl ultimately bumped into a young man who was staring at the TVs in the window of an appliance shop. She let out a yelp and he caught her before she fell to the ground. Her magazine dropped from her hands and onto the concrete. After helping her up, the young man picked it up.

“Here you go.” He handed her back the magazine. The girl stared at him for a good moment. Her friend was also silent, leaving Suzanne to wonder what had happened.

“Oh my God, first we run into Suzanne Crenshaw and now you! You’re the guy who found his girlfriend eating a human being!” One of them exclaimed. “Michael Appleton, right?”

“Um… yeah.” The young man nodded. Suzanne could see that he didn’t want them to ask about his girlfriend. She hoped they’d go away. Instead, they cornered him and began asking questions.

“How’d you feel when you found your girlfriend in that pool of blood?”

“I bet you were scared, weren’t you?”

“Did you come here to escape people or something?”

Poor Michael looked confused and didn’t say a word as the girls pestered him with their questions. Suzanne bit her bottom lip and thought hard. She had to keep them away from him. Finally, an idea hit her and she took a pen out of her bag. Grabbing the magazines, she began to write on them.

“Here you go!” Suzanne quickly signed her autograph on the magazines, making the girls squeal in glee. They didn’t question the poor boy anymore because they were glad to have met someone famous. Suzanne sighed and watched as the two teenagers ran off and headed into some clothing store. Then she turned and faced the young man. He was cute with brown hair and a nice body. His face was sweet and he seemed like he would have a friendly composure. But his eyes…soft and green…held hints of sadness in them. It was as if the lights in them had burned out for good. She had a feeling that he hadn’t gotten over the loss of his girlfriend yet.

“They won’t bother you anymore.” She assured him. He looked up at her and gave her a small smile, obviously forced. As nice as she was, he didn’t want to show her his true feelings.

“Thanks, Miss Crenshaw.” He said.

“Sue. Call me Sue.” She insisted. “And you’re welcome. You don’t want anyone to bother you. It’s understandable.”

He snickered as he remembered how embarrassed the poor model looked with those two girls around her. “I don’t see how you’d understand. You must love getting attention from all sorts of people.”

Suzanne laughed. “Sometimes I do. But it’s also annoying when people gush over and ogle me the moment I enter a room. I don’t see what’s so special about me. I’m just a normal person.”

“So was Ash.” Michael murmured causing Suzanne to stop laughing and look serious. She turned red again. She didn’t mean to accidentally tread on the subject she had been trying to avoid. Michael noticed her hesitation and quickly added. “I’m sorry. I know you weren’t trying to bring my girlfriend into this.”

“I’m not going to ask you any questions.” Suzanne promised. “It’s not right since I don’t know you that well. Here.” She handed over her chocolate bar. “For all the trouble those girls and I caused you.

Michael took it and held it gingerly. “Are you sure? I mean, it’s yours...”

“Take it. I’m supposed to be dieting anyway.”

“Uh...okay. Thanks.” Michael looked at the candy bar for a bit longer before putting it away.

“I’m really sorry they asked you such things.” Suzanne apologized. “I should have said something to them.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad to find someone who won’t irritate me about Ash’s death.” Michael smiled, this time a genuine smile. For the first time in two days, he was feeling better. Those girls were right; Suzanne Crenshaw was more than a pretty face and fine body. She was also very considerate and honest. Anyone else would have tried to pry information from him but she didn’t. Evidently, she *did* understand how he felt. He could trust her.

He nodded towards the roses she was carrying. “Are those from a secret admirer?”

Suzanne looked down at the gifts. “They’re from my boyfriend, Cole. That crazy idiot took time off work to take me out and buy me these things.” Then her pretty face froze with horror. “Oh my God! What time is it?”

Michael glanced at his watch. “Ten after one.”

“Oh shit! I was supposed to be back at the studio ten minutes ago!” Suzanne clutched the flowers close to her chest and looked all around. Finally, she turned away and started to run towards the bus stop. Michael stared for a good minute before opening his mouth again.

“Wait! Where are you...” He tried to stop her but was cut off.

“I’ve got to go! Take care of yourself!”

Suzanne ran off in the other direction and Michael watched He waved as she disappeared into the crowds. The older man, who had still been sitting from the bench across the street, also got up and left. He had everything that he needed.

* * *

Michael Appleton finally made it back to the hotel room where he was staying. He now resided on the third floor of the Holiday Inn and he didn’t know how long he was going to stay there. He had sunk back into his depression again. While meeting Suzanne was nice, he was still mourning over Ash.

Why did you leave me like that, Ash? He put the key in the hole and turned it. Why wouldn’t you let me know what was going on with you?

Michael opened and disappeared into his room. He never noticed another woman, different from the one at the beach, watching him from the backseat of her car. She had one hand pressed against her cheek and her gray eyes never diverted until he had gone inside. Pushing her blond hair back, she waited for a good minute before getting out of the backseat and opening the driver’s side of the car. A smile played upon her pale pink lips for she had found what she was looking for.

“You’re definitely the one.” She said to herself before she slid into the driver’s seat and closed the car door.

TBC…

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