Everyday I stroll past King’s Deli, and everyday there is a guy at the counter. I always saunter past him, but out of the corners of my eyes, I can see him watch me. One day, that morning and evening ritual changes. I start out just like I would any other morning, and wake up at 6:30 AM. I am out of my apartment building by 7:30 and start walking to my job. However, when I reach King’s Deli, He isn’t there. Stopping to look for him, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I spin around, and there He is, looking down at me.
“Looking for me?” He says.
I stammer, “No…well, yeah…not really…uh, kinda?”
“So which is it? Were you looking for me or not?” He questions with a smile. I finally break down and admit that I was looking for him.
Looking up into his laughing hazel eyes, I ask him what his name is. His face shows surprise for a second, and then He grins a wide grin. “My name? My name is Dean. What’s yours?”
“My name is Rachel,” I answer.
Dean smiles and simply states, “Well, Rachel, I’ll see you tonight.”
I am slightly taken aback. “You will?” When did this happen?
Dean looks at me with question in his eyes. “Won’t I see you when you walk back home?”
I feel so stupid! “Of course! I forgot,” I say, a little abashed. “See ya later!” Embarrassed, I turn on my heel and walk briskly to work.
On my way home from work, I try not to look too eager, but I can’t wait to see Dean again... I almost walk past the deli, but then I hear someone call my name. I think I’ll play hard to get, so I keep on walking. I hear my name again, so I stop walking, and turn around. There I see Dean walking towards me. He looks so handsome! His soft and thick dark brown hair was ruffled a bit from the wind. It frames his strong, masculine face. I can see his lips form into a slight smile, and his face holds the light of the sunset perfectly. I can just sink into his deep brown eyes, but I take hold of myself, and command my heart to stop fluttering.
“So, Rachel, how was work? Loud?” He questions with a raised eyebrow. What does he mean by loud? This man constantly confuses me…
“Waddaya mean?” I reply curiously.
“Well, “Dean begins, “when I called your name the first time, you didn’t seem to hear me. So I was asking if work was so loud today that your ears are clogged, or if you were just playing hard to get.” Oh my gosh! Having never been caught doing that, I blush, so much that I think my cheeks have turned 5 dark shades of crimson.
“Was I that obvious?”
“No, I just pay very close attention to my surroundings,” Dean says with a mysterious air. Then, he asks me something I’ve been dying to hear. “Hey Rachel, I’m having some friends over tomorrow night for our monthly game night. We play Texas Hold ‘Em, Monopoly, Taboo, Scrabble, or whatever else someone brings over. You wanna come?”
I almost die of excitement, but I keep my cool and nonchalantly reply, “Sure, I’d love to come. Monopoly just happens to be my favorite game.”
Dean says that he’s glad I can come and he tells me where he lives. I turn to head home, and I swear that I hear Dean chuckle. After stopping to take out my mirror to see if he is laughing at me, I observe something strange. Dean is rubbing his hands together like he has just hatched some evil plan. Also, I’m pretty sure I detect a dangerous glint in his eyes. But hey, who knows? It was probably just my imagination, right?
It’s the next night, and I am so excited for my first date in months! I asked my two best friends, Lorelei and Kristi to come over and help me get ready. I let them in, and they run straight to my closet and start rifling through it.
Lorelei, my calmer, and more reserved ‘BFF’, holds up a pair of dark blue, almost black, jeans and a 1-shouldered sparkly black tunic. “This is perfect!” she exclaims. “The three C’s: casual, cute, and comfortable. That way you can have a good time, and look good at the same time.”
Kristi has a different idea. She is bubblier than Natasha, so naturally, Kris picked out an outfit that was brighter. “That’s too dressy. You should wear this,” she declares. She is holding up a pair of light blue jeans and a light blue cami. To keep both of my friends happy, I choose the darker jeans and the light blue cami. As I knew they would, Kristi and Lorelei both like this combo.
“Casual…” Lorelei starts,
“…yet stylish.” Kristi finishes Lorelei’s approving sentence. We all have a habit of finishing each other’s sentences, which isn’t surprising, given the fact that we’re best friends.
I’m ready to go, and they both hug me and wish me luck.
“Remember,” Kris exclaims, “don’t hurt his ego. That’s the last thing you want to do on the first date…specially with the hot ones!”
“Also, “Lorelei whispers in my ear, “In one of my classes, my professor was talking about the criminal mind. He was saying that often times, criminals pose as too-good-to-be-true people to gain their prey’s confidence. I’m not saying Dean’s a criminal or anything, but be careful. I’ve never heard of going to your date’s house on the first date. Have you??”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be careful. I promise,” I assure her. That had to be the one of the most random things I have ever heard out of Lorelei’s mouth. Honestly, why would I be a target for a criminal? I am the least captivating person I know, but Lorelei has always had a sense for someone’s character. I should probably remember what she said, but I really don’t think I’ll need it.
I arrive at Dean’s house casually late and ring the doorbell. Dean opens the door. He smiles a goofy smile asks me to come in. Dean is so polite. I knew Natasha was worrying about nothing. He takes my coat and then locks the door. I help him bring up the games from the basement, and we easily chat about a variety of subjects. After about an hour, I ask, “Dean, where are your friends?”
Dean just smiles and calmly says, “Oh, they’re not coming and joining us.”
I just sit there confused. “No, really, where are they?” When Dean smiles again, I know he isn’t kidding. I pick my purse up and run to the front door. The door won’t open!! I run to the kitchen door. That wouldn’t open either!! What is happening? I turn around to try the front door again, and Dean is standing there. He is obviously getting joy out of seeing me try to escape. “What is happening?” I scream at him.
“What is happening is what happened to the poor girl who was brutally killed in Boston. And the little boy who disappeared without a trace in Stamford,” He says with a brutal smile. That was him?!?
“That was you? Why would you do that? What did they ever do to you?”
“Nothing,” he shrugs. “I just wanted to get rid of them because they simply had nothing to fear. So I gave them something to fear. ME!”
He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a knife. A long, sharp, deadly knife. Dean is going to kill me the way he did the others. Brutally and there is no one here to help…
His hand is at the ready. The knife starts advancing towards me. It is aimed right at my forehead. I think about Lorelei and Kristi. I think about the girl in Boston and that little boy in Stamford, and I do the only thing I can. It baffles me how someone can kill another human, especially one who has done no wrong. I don’t know where the confidence is coming from, but I knock the knife clean out of his hand.
“If you had known me better,” I explain to him while pinning him down on the ground,”you would know that I am far from the being incapable of handling myself. You have killed innocent children who could have had a wonderful, and full, life. Instead, their families will be left with a hole that is unable to be filled by anyone but the one they lost. I won’t let that happen to me. And I sure as hell won’t let that happen to any other families.” Dean groans when I kick him in the gut. He really shouldn’t have underestimated me, that’s the trouble with men…
By this time, I have him bound with his tablecloth and some rope I found under his sink. (a/n: I wonder why that was there, hmmm.) As I sit there waiting for the police, I can’t stop thinking about those whose lives he had already claimed. How could those children have known that their deaths would come in the form of such a handsome man? It really is a shame that such a beautiful exterior is wasted on a twisted, ugly, and downright evil man, who really ought to be called the devil. Who would have thought that the devil is handsome?
