Down in Arizona (Unedited)

1.

An unhoused man stood at the opening of the underground tunnel. It wasn’t a sewer system; it was a way to drain out the rain during times of flash floods. And what lurked in there was something from nightmares. The man took one last puff of his cigarette before he threw it on the ground stepping on it to kill the fire.

He journeyed further into the tunnel with a dull flashlight in hand. He was humming ABBA’s Dancing Queen while he tried to find a spot to sleep on. It was a warm night in Utana, Arizona, it was about 87 degrees Fahrenheit (30.56 degrees Celsius). Surprisingly though the tunnels were ten, maybe even 20 degrees cooler than the above ground.

The unhoused man, known as Mr. Quarters, because he always asks for quarters, stepped on something sticky, he pulled his bare foot up to try and pry it out, but his foot was stuck in the tackiness. He bent down and with his hands he tried again to release his foot.

But it was too late for Mr. Quarters. Because Bella was behind him. She could feel the vibrations of his steps on the ground. It was a signal that something or someone had entered her home. She was stealthy when she made her way to him. Her steps were silent as she scaled the walls of the tunnel. She was famished and couldn’t wait to sink her greedy fangs into the man.

Mr. Quarters was too busy to notice Bella creep behind him. He tried to remove his foot from the stickiness to no avail it wouldn’t budge, and the adhesive seemed to be spreading the more he touched it. Bella had him now! She sunk her fangs into the back of his shoulder. The venom spreading like wildfire. She watched the man choke on his saliva as he contorts on the ground. Grunting as he stares into her two black middle eyes.

Once he stopped moving, she continued to devour him. She sunk her straw-like mouthparts into his torso and drank him until he was shriveled up and empty. All that was left was his skin because everything else had liquefied from her venom.

***

Déjà Vu won 300,000 dollars as a settlement of the racial discrimination case. She clinked her champagne glass with her best friend’s martini, as they enjoyed their Sunday brunch. It was a perfect day to celebrate her winning the jury award. But since she had burned bridges, she was out of work, and the money she earned could only last for so long until she found a new job.

Déjà’s dream was to become an anchor for the news station she worked at. She wanted to present the news live on television, and travel if she needed to with her cameraman. That was the dream she wanted, but it was crushed when she spoke with her boss about promoting her to become an anchor. The man laughed in her face and made remarks about her dark complexion.

“People like you are not made to be on television,” her boss had said. “You’re made to work behind the cameras. You know, do the grunt work,” he’s shaking his head laughing to himself. Déjà did not find this amusing one bit! She was seething.

“What do you mean by people like me?”

“People who are dark skin. Come on, kid. You know what I mean!”

And that was all Déjà Vu needed to sue the company. Good thing, she recorded the whole conversation, and it was in a public place where she recorded it too. They were out in the parking lot, where Déjà ran into the boss. He was a busy man to the point she couldn’t catch him in the office but was able to catch him before going home.

Sadly, after this fiasco Déjà Vu was out of a job. Her boss was fired too. But because of all the drama Déjà created she was not welcome back to the news station. A lot of people were rioting and boycotting the station for racism. Until everything was resolved. Yes, they now have people of color presenting the news on the small screen, but then again, the person who was affected by the racist remark was fired for doing what was right!

“What are you going to do now that your out of work,” her best friend, Hailey Rose Thompson-Garcia, asks.

“Well, I don’t want to move because that means we’ll be apart.”

“True, you can’t do that.”

“So, that leaves me with something…” Déjà sighs sadly. She takes a sip of her champagne trying to think of a job she could apply for. She didn’t get this in recording because the big boss told her all recordings must remain off, but they threatened her that she will remain jobless if she decides to find work in the field of current events. Because the big boss has connections with other news stations all over the United States of America, not just Minnesota.

After years of hard work Déjà must find a new career.

***

When they got to the apartment their third housemate/good friend from college was on the couch with a beer in his hand. His cheeks were flush pink from anger. He was not mad at the rerun football game he was watching, but the fact that their boss decided to get rid of Déjà Vu instead of keeping her for making the company a safer place.

Damien was so upset about this information he got today that he quit!

“I cannot believe they fired you,” Damien puts his beer down, and rushes over to Déjà to give her a comforting hug. She accepts the embrace but only shrugs in response.

“At least she won the court case,” Hailey mentions.

“That’s my girl! I knew you would win,” Damien hugs her even tighter. Then extends his arms for Hailey to join in for a group hug.

When he releases them, he delivers his news too. “I quit.”

“What,” They both yell in unison.

“I heard Déjà got fired for her brave act that I quit. I wasn’t the only one. A good number of people quit too.”

“What are you going to do for work?”

“I’m an artist. The camera is my tool. I can shoot anything with it and make a living.”

Both girls looked at each other skeptically at what their housemate said. But they both knew they didn’t have to worry too much about Damien because he comes from a well-off family. They know from time to time his worrywart of a mother sends him money. Which he returns because he swears he doesn’t need it. But to his mother, making only sixty grand a year is chump change, and you cannot do anything with that kind of money! The good news is, Damien is frugal. So, he’s great at saving money.

And then it just clicked for Déjà! It was an epiphany!

“What if we work together, Damien?”

“I need more clarification on that.”

“You know on YouTube they have those short form content and even longer form content too.”

“Yes.”

“What if we start our own news channel on YouTube? I’ll do the research and the reporting. You can do the filming and editing? We can start small and report the news here in Minnesota, once we get a larger audience, we can travel around the States!”

Damien was doubtful, but he thought it wouldn’t hurt to try. That was one thing he admired about Déjà, she was a dreamer and goes after what she wants! He respected her for that.