Journal Entry 10 – 9/25/09

Rough day. I’ve got a bag of ice on my knee and I think I’m going to leave that gun I found under my pillow tonight. I’m in deep, now. No closer to Avery, but I’m in very deep.

Beautiful Charms was the shop. I recognized it from my journal as soon as I walked in. The jewelry, the snap bracelets Avery loves, and the teenage girl behind the counter were all there. I wasn’t sure about the girl. I didn’t have much of a description to go by. (I’ll have to do a better job describing people.) She was skinny, blonde, and chomping on a wad of gum. I figured it could have been a different girl, but I knew I was in the right place. The rack of snap bracelets was exactly where I expected.

The girl was sitting on a tall stool chair but stood up as I approached. Her uninviting eyes peered at me like she knew why I was there. They were telling me that I shouldn’t be there.

“I’m looking for Jenna-” was all I could say before she attacked. She planted a hand on the counter and jumped it without bending a knee or an elbow. In midair, she kicked me in my left ear. Her feet hit the ground before I recoiled. I had brought the gun that I found with me, hiding it under my shirt. I reached for it, but she was quicker. She sent a crushing blow to my knee. I screamed in pain and fell to the ground. She rolled me over to my back with her foot and pressed it to my chest. I never so much as touched the gun.

I begged and pleaded. I told her about my daughter.

Her expression didn’t change. She just snapped her gum and stared blankly at me. She breathed as calmly as she had when I first entered the store. The entire exercise had been effortless for her.

A heavyset woman stormed in from the backroom. She had an open laptop in hand. It had to be Jenna. She mumbled to herself as she approached with phrases like, “This hasn’t happened before. You are not supposed to be here. The Jinni kills you.” She ordered her attack dog to keep me pinned.

Her computer started pinging. She set it on the counter while I panted flat on the floor. Frantically, Jenna typed. I could see windows popping up and closing on her screen.

“No, no, no.” Jenna complained.

Jenna’s clerk became pale.

Jenna’s words were, “This is new, but never changes again. It’s creating a whole new timeline. Mastema found-”

Suddenly, Jenna yelled to get down, but it was too late. The place lit up with gunfire. Hundreds of splashing red dots sprang from both of their bodies. The windows were shattered in seconds. I covered myself as best as I could in a fetal position as glass rained on me. Their bodies dropped to the floor.

In seconds, the place was decimated. Before silence could sink in, four Black gangbangers stormed into the shop and grabbed me. Two of them had their faces covered with bandanas, the third had a Raiders’ cap pulled down, and the fourth didn’t seem to care. I tried to resist.

The one dressed in all Raiders’ get-up threatened me. He said they were going to “mess me up,” if I didn’t get in the car.

The thug with the white skullcap and fully exposed face seemed to be in charge. His deep voice was thicker than the others’. He told them to “chill out.” He knew my name.

The thug in the white skullcap tried to assure me that I was safe. It didn’t work. I was a little freaked that he knew my name.

I thought, Couldn’t this be Jacob

I told them that I was staying at the store and waiting for the cops.

Their leader searched me and found my gun. He told me that I wasn’t going to wait for no cops and that police would kill me for sure. Then he said something frightening, “Get in the car before I stop asking.”

I limped my way to the car. My knee had never hurt so much. One of the thugs opened the back door and I hopped in. The rest tossed their weapons, including the gun I had found under my pillow, into the trunk and got in with me. I sat in the middle back between two of them. The leader sat shotgun.

I figured I was lucky enough to be alive. It didn’t matter that I was in a car full of killers. I had just survived a barrage of gunfire. How could it get any worse? Plus, they reminded me of Jacob. Given the lack of description in my journal, one of them could have been him.

As soon as we got moving, I asked if he was Jacob.

They erupted with laughter. The leader introduced himself as The Barber, but said that I could call him Joe. After calling me a “crazy cracker” and saying that I must be nuts to run around with Jacob’s “gat”, a Watcher, and no memory trying to save my daughter, he introduced me to his “unit.” He explained they were ordered to stake out the charm shop in case something went down after Jacob broke the rules. The oracle that we contacted worked for the enemy according to Joe the Barber. He said that oracles don’t get panicked, so he knew he had to do something.

I realized they almost killed me in the process of Joe’s unit, “doing something,” but I pushed the thought aside. I had pondered about Jenna’s powers on some rereads of my journal and wanted more information. She seemed to know that I was coming that day with Jacob. She seemed to know the future. I asked Joe.

He confirmed, but said that there were many possible futures. It was a bit confusing, but I gathered that angels and demons live out existence along multiple timelines. When they do, they leave imprints. Oracles know how to find these imprints and see the future. It didn’t make any sense.

Joe took me home and told me to ice my knee.

I asked about Jacob, “Was he going to help still?”

Joe told me to forget about Jacob. He created a big mess by using Jinn.

When Joe dropped me off, he didn’t tell me to make a journal or that he was going to find Avery. He just told me to get a good night’s sleep. Before I got out of the car, I insisted he give my gun back (well, the one that I found). I don’t think he intended to give it back, but he returned it as though it slipped his mind. I’m pretty sure that he’s setting me up for something. I need to find Jacob. For some reason, I trust him even though I have no memory of him. I think it’s the fact that he was willing to break the rules to help me find Avery.