The first part of this story can be found HERE.

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“Why are you holding a naked clown doll?” the hotel clerk at the front desk asked Bevin Elderberry.

He laughed. “I just paid a visit to the antique store and the old guy there gave me this thing.”

“Hmm. Slim Jim gave you that creepy thing?” she asked.

“That’s right.”

She leaned in closer. She smelled like makeup. “I know you’re not from around here, but I’d steer clear of that Slim Jim character. He’s a weird dude.”

Bevin was puzzled. “He seemed like a nice guy.”

“Well, he’s not. He’s a weirdo like I said. He collects the strangest things… Like that creepy clown you got there.”

“His name is Jiggles,” Bevin pointed out, and he clamped his mouth together and talked out the side of it like a ventriloquist as he moved Jiggles from side to side as if he were alive. “Hi hotel lady. My name is Jiggles the Clown, and I think you’re very good looking,” he made him say. “You want to get together for some hot loving?”

The front desk clerk snapped back; her ponytail swayed as she wildly shook her head no. “Don’t be doing weird shit like that in this hotel. We’ve got a respectable place here.”

“Sorry.” Bevin chuckled. “I was just messing with you.”

“You plan on doing weird things with that doll up in your room. Because I can’t give you a room if you and Jiggles are going to be doing weird stuff.”

“No. Not at all.” Bevin smiled a guilty smile. “I’ll just set him somewhere while I drink myself into oblivion to forget all my personal problems.”

The pretty young clerk eyed him. “Don’t let that drinking come spilling out of your room. I won’t put up with that, and especially management isn’t going to put up with that.”

“No worries. I’m a dark, brooding drunk. I rarely get wild and crazy.”

“That’s pretty sad. What happened to you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Bevin looked at her name tag. “Well, Heather, if you must know, my girlfriend dumped me.”

“Did you love her?” Heather asked with a hint of empathy.

“Sure I did. But she didn’t love me.”

“Yeah. Love is a tough thing. That’s why I steer clear.”

“Good thinking,” Bevin said, and he fished a credit card out of his wallet and handed it to her. “Make it two nights for now.”

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Bevin entered the room, and it had that dim, lonely look about it. There was that scent of cleaning, but at the same time the lingering smell of other lives passing through hung in the air as it would forever.

He put his bags down and placed Jiggles the Clown in a chair by the window. “There, you can look at stuff while I get loaded.”

Bevin unloaded three pints of Swedish vodka from his bag and lined them up on the table.

“Ooooo eeeee, you’re going to die if you drink all that.”

Bevin whipped around, frantically looking for the source of the voice.

“Down here on the chair, guy. It’s me. Jiggles the Clown!” And then that’s when he got up and jumped down from the chair and started walking around the room, naked. A naked creepy clown.

“You’re alive?” Bevin asked with frightened wonder. “But how?”

Jiggles had made his way over to the small refrigerator and tugged it open.

“What are you looking for?” Bevin asked him.

“Something to wash all that vodka down with.”

Bevin laughed. “Are you too much of a pussy to drink it straight?”

Jiggles mocked his laughter. “No. But, come on. I want a chaser.”

Bevin went through his bag and pulled out two big jugs of Gatorade and held them up. “This is the best thing for you. It will keep you going. Fights dehydration.”

“Thanks Mr. Commercial. Could you pour me a cup?”

“Do I have to tie you up or something? I’m not sharing my vodka with you. You’re a doll, a naked clown doll. And could you please cover yourself up. Grab a washcloth or something.”

Jiggles sighed with disappointment. “I should have just stayed dead.” He walked off to the bathroom and made a laborious climb to get a washcloth. When he came back out, his nakedness was covered. “There! Now can I drink with you?”

“I suppose. Because how much could you possibly drink? You’re so small.”

Jiggles the Clown threw his hands up in the air. “I thought we were going to be friends, and it just seems like you don’t want to hang out with me at all.”

Bevin uncapped a pint of the vodka and drank some down. He followed it with a gulp or two of Gatorade. “Maybe I don’t. So what. I’m in a bad state and just want some alone time. Is that so bad? I didn’t think you were going to come to life. I wasn’t expecting any of this.”

“You should have. Didn’t you listen to anything Slim Jim said? My friends and I all come alive.”

“Fuck that guy,” Bevin scowled as he drank more vodka and then more vodka. “I ought to take you back to that creepy antique shop right now and leave you there.”

“But I was a gift.”

“And I want to return you because you suck!”

“Wow,” Jiggles scoffed. “That hurts my feelings.”

“Feelings? You’re a doll. You don’t have any feelings.”

“Yes I do!”

Bevin sighed and dragged himself to the edge of one of the beds. He tipped the first bottle of vodka and drained it.

“Damn!” Jiggles shouted. “Why do you want to get so wrecked anyway?”

“Because love is shit, man,” Bevin said. “Don’t ever fall in love.”

“So this is your answer? Sit in a hotel room with a naked clown doll and drink yourself into a coma?”

Bevin looked at him and smiled as he cracked open another pint and began sipping on it. “Yes. This is my answer. Quality alone time to mend my broken heart. So… You should leave.”

“Wow, again. I thought we were going to be together forever.”

“Forever,” Bevin scoffed. “There’s no such thing as forever. Believe me. Anyone who tells you they will love you forever is lying.”

“You seem very bitter about love,” Jiggles said.

“And why shouldn’t I be!”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been in love.”

“Of course you haven’t. Just look at yourself. You’re a creepy naked clown.”

“Everyone deserves love!”

“Not a creepy naked clown.”

“Stop calling me that!”

“It’s what you are! I’ve already asked once for you to leave. Do I have to ask again?”

“Fine! Fuck you, Bevin. Isn’t that a girl’s name?”

“It can be for a guy or a girl. And look who’s talking. Your name is Jiggles. Were your parents Jell-O?”

“Shut up! I’m about to kick your butt.”

That’s when there was a knocking on the door. Bevin went to answer. It was Heather from the front desk.

“Mr. Elderberry?”

“Yes. Nice to see you again.”

“I’m afraid there have been some complaints of noise.”

“From whom?”

“Your neighbors.”

Bevin leaned his head out the door. “They can suck it!” he yelled.

“Please Mr. Elderberry, I don’t want to have to call the police.”

“The police?”

“Yes. They can make you leave.”

Bevin waved his hand in the air. “Oink, oink. I’m not afraid of farm animals.”

“Maybe you should stop drinking.”

“Maybe you should come on in and join me.” He reached for her hand, and she pulled it back.

“I can’t do that. I have to get back to the front desk, so please, keep the noise down.”

Bevin watched her rear-end sway as she walked away. He went back into the room and closed the door. “Great ass,” he said to himself, and he went to the window and looked out. It wasn’t long before he started to cry.

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Special thanks to Edge of Humanity Magazine for publishing three of my poems recently: Coffee Shop Rain, The Translucent Wander Pain, and Space Curtain. Please go check them out! Also, a reminder that my new e-book is now available for purchase: The Apocalypse Pipe. The print edition is also now available! Thanks for reading and supporting independent creators.