STARSHINE, THE OCEAN ANDTHE UNICORN

Chapter Five                                                                                                   Part Seven



                  Joe opened his eyes to a blurry image of Jason's ugly misshapen face and heavy jowls leaning over him. 
                             " Wakey, wakey rise and shine !"  Jason spoke with a gleam in his eye and a fixed, sour smile.  His words were syrupy with cynicism and contempt.  " I've been worried about you son.  Quite the little sleeping beauty.  For two days.  Dead to the world."
                Joe felt as though he should indeed have been dead, but had woken up alive by mistake.  His mouth was dry and the daylight burned his eyes.  Jason filled the kettle at the yellow stained sink.  The electric ring did not work so he crossed the room and put a coin in the meter.  Joe lay still, limp and too weak to move.  He was barely able to keep his eyelids from falling as he watched Jason's bulk move about the room, filling its height and width with his size and presence. 
                " I've got another little job for you son.  Now I'll make this one easy for you, seeing as you've been so under the weather. "
                  Joe did not have the strength to fight the dark malevolence that came from Jason, so he lay  still and let it flow over him knowing that the orders would once again be deadly and that he would once again obey them.
                   Jason stood at the foot of his bed.  He took a black notebook from his coat pocket and a pen from inside his jacket.  He jotted something down, tore the page from the notebook  and put it on the table.
                   " Jemima Sutcliffe.  A very beautiful, sophisticated young woman with a very nice gaff in High St. Ken. "  He pocketed his pen and notebook and took out a tiny square of folded paper which he held up for Joe to see before putting it down on the table beside the name and address.
                    " She'll be expecting you with this within the hour. "
                   Then he looked around Joe's bedsit with mock pity and disgust.  He looked at the lino curling up at the edges, the rickety furniture, the loose window frame and the empty doorway. He was writing his initials in the grey dust on the table when the kettle began to sing.  He reached it in one stride, spooned coffee into a mug and poured on the water.  He held the mug out to Joe. Joe heaved himself up and sat on the edge of the bed.  Jason leaned down and once again put his face close to Joe's ,
          " And get yourself a decent meal for Christ's sake ! "
                  Then Jason was gone and the room seemed bigger.  Joe drank the coffee, it was foul, thick and acrid.