End of Days: The Temptation of April, Part 2

END OF DAYS:  THE TEMPTATION OF APRIL
by UCIBOY

BEGIN PART II

When April walked into the house, she was amazed at what she saw.  "This place
has been abandoned for years," she said as she looked at the comfortable
furniture and pictures on the wall.  "I always thought it was a haunted house.
But it looks beautiful now."

"Thanks," Jezzie said as she stubbed out her cigarette in an ashtray on the
coffee table.  "Come on into the kitchen.  I've got some cookies in the oven."

April had a seat at the kitchen table as Jezzie opened up the oven to pull out
the cookies.  "Don't burn yourself," April said quickly as she noticed that
the woman had no oven mitts on her hands.

"Don't worry," Jezzie responded casually as she pulled out the hot metal pan,
"I'm used to it."  

April assumed that the cookies must have been baked earlier, but when she
picked one up, she could feel her fingers burning.  "How did she do that?"
April thought to herself as she tried to make sense of Jezzie's reach into the
oven.

"Do you mind?" Jezzie asked as she pulled out a cigarette from the pack lying
on the counter and proceeded to light it from the gas stove.

"No, I don't mind.  I'm used to it.  My Mom's restaurant is the only place in
town where you can still smoke indoors."

"Really," the mystery woman replied as she casually raised the smoldering
cigarette up to her lips to bring the tip to life with a few good puffs.
"Would you like one then?"

April hesitated.  She had never thought of smoking as particularly sexy until
she saw this beautiful Asian woman in front of her light one up.  "No thanks,"
she finally said, "I better not."

"Ahhh, a guilty conscience.  We'll have to work on that," Jezzie said with a
wink as she brought the 120 to the side of her mouth for a gentle draw.  "So
you still haven't told me your name," Jezzie said after slowly exhaling a
cloud.

"I'm sorry," April said as she munched on the cookie.  "April.  April Choy."

As the two chatted about common interests they had in music, movies, and other
personal topics, April could tell that she and Jezzie were going to be close
friends.  But there was something mysterious about this Chinese woman who
April guessed to be in her late twenties.  When April asked where she was
from, Jezzie simply replied, "Oh, I'm from all over.  I like to travel a lot
and meet new people."  When April asked whether she would be staying long,
Jezzie replied ambiguously, "I don't know yet.  It depends on how much I can
accomplish while I'm here."  April found these replies all quite mysterious
and came to the conclusion that Jezzie preferred not to talk about her past or
her present business in town.

"I see you're wearing a crucifix," Jezzie said as she pointed with her
cigarette to the cross hanging around April's neck.  "Is Father Ken still the
preacher around here?"

"Do you know Father Ken?" April asked with excitement as she thought about the
young priest.

"We met many years ago," Jezzie said with a warm smile without revealing much
to April about her relationship with the man.  "How's he doing?"

"Oh, he's wonderful," April replied gushingly.  

"Really," Jezzie replied after a nosehale, "sounds like you're his biggest
fan."

April shifted uncomfortably in her seat and decided to change the subject.
"Are you Christian, too?" she asked.

"Well, let's just say I had a falling out with God a long time ago," Jezzie
said before pausing to blow a cone of smoke that climbed slowly towards the
ceiling. 

"Oh, that's too bad."

"Not really," Jezzie replied almost cheerfully.  "It's actually given me quite
a bit of freedom to do my own thing.  I've never been much for following
rules."  Jezzie was about to take a puff on her shrinking 120 and then paused
to make a point.  "Take smoking, for instance.  I miss the days when you could
light up anywhere without feeling like a criminal.  But now, you can't smoke
without getting dirty looks."  Jezzie paused as she took a close look at the
cigarette between her fingers.  "But you know what?" she asked thoughtfully,
"I don't care what people think."   Jezzie took a final puff and dropped the
cigarette into a glass of water sitting in the sink as she hissed out an
exhale.  "In fact, you know what I say?  'Fuck 'em!  I'm gonna do what I WANT
to do!'"

April began to giggle when she heard Jezzie say the word "fuck."  What great
fun these two were going to have.  It was like Jezzie was her alter-ego: the
bad girl that this good girl could never be.

"So April," Jezzie began as she took a seat across from the girl, "is everyone
in this neighborhood as nice as your friends out there?"

"Only if you're fat and Chinese," she mumbled as she looked down at the table.

"Hey, what kind of talk is that?" Jezzie replied with concern.
  
April suddenly felt the need to completely open up all her frustrations to
this stranger.  "I just get so angry at people around here.  Just because I'm
different, they treat me like a dog."

"Believe me, I know that feeling," Jezzie said as she slowly pulled out a
cigarette from her pack.  "But you know what my motto is?"

A wicked grin appeared on April's face.  "Fuck 'em!" she said with a giggle.

"There you go!" Jezzie responded warmly as she tilted her head up and lighted
the cigarette freehanded.

Watching Jezzie light that cigarette stirred something within April.  She
found the scene exciting, yet she couldn't help herself from also feeling some
concern.  Smoking was bad, right?  "Jezzie, aren't you worried about smoking
so much?"

Jezzie smiled coyly at the teenager as smoke cascaded down from her nostrils.
"You haven't smoked before, have you?"

April suddenly felt embarrassed at the question, as if she were about to
reveal how immature she was.  "No."

"I love to smoke.  It makes me feel good and look good.  Hell, I wish everyone
smoked!"  Then she asked April in a mysterious tone, "Wouldn't you like to try
it?"

For some reason, at that moment April did want to try it.  She was so
impressed with Jezzie's demeanor and care-free attitude that she would have
given anything to be like her.  But still she hesitated.

"I don't want to cough," she said.

"What if I told you I could make it feel wonderful," Jezzie replied as she
held out an unlit cigarette, "as if you had been smoking for years?"

April was growing nervous at Jezzie's enigmatic smile, but also curious at her
proposal.  "I'm not going to get addicted, am I?"

"Silly April," Jezzie replied warmly, "You can't get addicted from a single
cigarette."

April's curiosity got the best of her as she reached for the cigarette in
Jezzie's hand.  But when their fingers touched, April felt a cold shiver move
through her.  She wasn't frightened by the shiver, but rather felt it almost
comforting.  She put the cigarette between her lips and leaned forward as
Jezzie offered her a flame.  As she drew the creamy smoke into her lungs, her
chest began to tingle with the most interesting and pleasurable sensation -
and she smiled broadly as she exhaled a stream of smoke in Jezzie's direction.

"Woh - that feels much better than I expected," April said as she brought the
cigarette up for another puff.

"I knew you'd like it," Jezzie responded slowly.  "There is something
deliciously wicked about smoking, don't you think?"

"It is rather naughty," April admitted with a smoky giggle in admiration for
her friend. 

"Yes," Jezzie replied as she sat back and held the VS 120 perpendicular to her
face, "there is promise in you, April Choy.  I expect we'll see great things
from you."

April had no idea what Jezzie was talking about; but for the moment, all she
wanted to do was keep smoking that delicious cigarette.  

"Why don't you take these with you?" Jezzie said as she slid the pack of
Virginia Slims across the table to April.

"No, I can't," April replied.  "I shouldn't smoke."

"But you like it, don't you?"

April's pause in replying was an obvious affirmative reply.

"Tell you what then - why don't you come see me after school this week?  I
could use the company and we could share a cigarette together - if you want."

April agreed that she would return every day after school.

+++++++++++++++

Later that night as April lay in bed, her thoughts were of Jezzie and the fun
time she had with her new friend that afternoon.  She also couldn't help but
replay in her mind her first experience smoking.  Her whole life she had been
told by her teachers how unhealthy smoking was; and from her mother that only
"bad girls" smoked.  After all of this indoctrination, she never imagined that
smoking could actually be kinda fun - and as she drifted off to sleep, she had
a smile on her face.

+++++++++++++++

April found herself on a crowded platform near an elevator.  But this was an
elevator unlike anything she had seen before.  As a group of young people her
age moved into the lift and took it below ground, the read-out on the wall
above the doors did not show the floors the elevator was stopping on, but was
instead tallying the number of people that had reached the elevator's final
destination.

With some trepidation, April walked into the elevator alone when it had
returned to the platform.  As the doors closed and the lift moved below
ground, the profiled silhouette of a woman came into view down a long hallway.
Emanating from this woman's head was a massive circular orange light, glowing
as brightly as the sun.  April could not tell who the woman was, but she
instinctively knew that there was something sinister about both her and the
orange light that was growing larger by the second.  She also sensed somehow
that anyone who entered into the radiance of the light would be so infused
with wickedness that they, too, would become a part of that evil.  As the
elevator came to a halt, April stood silently as she looked deep into the
fiery sun.  She could feel the warmth of its malevolent radiance and was
unafraid.  In fact, she felt a longing desire to walk into it.  She didn't
understand why, but she wanted this evil to embrace her; to let its power
infuse her with all the wickedness she knew it contained.  And so she
willingly walked down the hall towards the light.  

Within seconds, April saw herself as thin and beautiful, seductively lying on
a bed puffing on a long cigarette.  She knew that she was wicked now - and she
liked it.  As a curtain of smoke began to slowly curl upwards from her lips,
she watched Father Ken enter the room with an evil smile on his face.  She
knew what would happen next as she felt a great force building towards climax
between her legs.

----------------

April quickly opened her eyes with a gasp.  "Oh my God," she said as a feeling
of guilt began to consumer her, "where did that come from?"

She took several deep breaths to try and banish the dream's images from her
mind, but she found that she enjoyed replaying them over and over as she
drifted back to sleep.

END PART II

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