The Story about Cheryl Hancock
By Daniel Todd

She gave a start when the telephone suddenly rang. Immediately, she put her Stephen King novel over to the side that she's been reading within the past week and handled the phone.

"Hello," Cheryl answered.

"Hey Cheryl, we're still doing something today, right?"

"Yeah, come on over at eleven," she replied.

The conversation continued for a while longer and Cheryl finally hung up the phone. She was trembling with excitement as she went over the passages she read from Stephen King's novel. Any guy would love the mysterious character, she thought as she fabricated what displays of personalities she should play today. Maybe she should tell him about "The Room" and the power it gives her. She recalled through past vivid images of telling her ex-boyfriend about the "The Room" and that they should both share the power that is generated from "The Room." In a state of excitement, Cheryl hastily sorted out which garments she would wear during date.

"I need to wear something that would make me look sexy," Cheryl said to herself as she pulled out a pair of extremely short shorts that hiked up her posterior end. She quickly finished up dressing up as she went to the bathroom to brush her blonde hair which was in disarray. Looking the best was what Cheryl wanted to do when going out with guys.

One hour later...

With a slight hint of irritation, William slammed the car door.

"Why does Cheryl have to live all the way out in the boonies?" he asked himself.

In a dark mood, William made his way around the organized grapevines that were lined up through the yard and climbed up the unsteady steps that led to a trailer. He knocked, and relaxed as he waited for a delayed response. To his surprise, a middle-aged woman answered the door the second William withdrew his hand from it. At first glance, William noticed the woman had a few wrinkles on her face, saggy breasts that resembled beaten-up saddlebags, and a frown that made William want to run into the nearby woods to retch.

"Hello," spoke the middle age woman in a tone that was similar to a mating bullfrog.

"Cheryl will be ready in just a minute."

Just as the words left her mouth, she shut the door in William's face. With the shutting of the door, exited the woman's stench of rotten hamburger meat. William's nose wrinkled in disgust. Hopefully, Cheryl won't be smelling like that.

Moments passed and Cheryl finally crept out of the front door in a sexy-wannabe fashion. Shocked flashed in William's eye as he took into view on how she was dressed. Cheryl was dressed like a hooker. The shorts that hugged her rear end and the tight shirt that squeezed her chest gave a hint that she was trying to get a certain message through. Cheryl did not speak as she followed William to his '87 Camaro. They got into the car and headed off.

*********

Later in the evening, after a trip to the mall and an expensive restaurant, William was on the way back to Cheryl's house. Her selfish attitude somewhat brightened despite numerous flaws. Flaws that severely scarred her such as her racism, refusal of entering inexpensive, non-classy places, negative ramblings of people she hates, and her ridiculous statements on how much better she is than everyone else. However, she was acting more generous towards William that evening although she always bitched about how stupid her ex-boyfriend Joe Pageant was. She nick-named Joe "Nirvana Boy," since that is all he ever listens to. It evolved into a trademark name for him, whenever she was making fun of him. Yet, William was fairly sick of listening to Cheryl and her bitchy attitude. She lacked any life the other girls seemed to have. Cheryl seemed greedy and money-grubbing. He silently began to question if it was worth it. His relationship with Cheryl was a crash-course in boredom. He was fairly disappointed. Maybe things will get better he hoped.

The next day....

As a result of another uneventful day, William decided to take Cheryl out to the beach. During the long drive to the beach, she fired off her mouth in an explosion of words. William aquired a headache as a result of her relentless talking.

"I hate niggers," Cheryl pulled out of nowhere.

"Why do you say that, Cheryl?" William asked, taken aback by surprise. "There's nothing wrong with the color of someone's skin. I'm friends with a few black guys and they're some of the nicest people I know.

Cheryl responded, "Well, they have no class. You see how they act? They all have no class. You see? They're just like Nirvana boy. He has no class. I have class. I act in a decent fashion. I am the righteous one!"

William really did not care. For all he knew, she was full of it. From was he was hearing, Cheryl had about as much class as cheap prostitute one would see walking on a sidewalk. First of all, her mom didn't have a job. Secondly, her family lived in a trailer. William had nothing against people living in a trailer, but he figured it is not sensible to classify people when one can be classified. Don't judge people unless you want to be judged was something William always believed in. Then, there's the fact that Cheryl's father was a prison guard. Basically, he gets paid from watching the inmates take showers. There just wasn't any reason why, Cheryl should be judging people by their appearance, race or class when she was one to be judged.

"Okay Cheryl," he said, making it obvious that he didn't want to hear anymore. Her repetitive rambling was an obstacle to his driving.

"But I think I'm smarter and better than everyone else at Milton High," she proudly stated, oblivious to what William just said. "I think I'm the righteous one. There's people like Joe Pageant that have no class and are low-lifes. I think he has no class. You know," Cheryl chided as she tucked the stray strands of her blonde hair behind her ears.

"Cheryl...." William groaned, "shut up!"

That statement triggered a violent reaction in Cheryl's mind. She gritted her teeth and lashed out at William. Startled, he did not have time to react. The only thing he could to keep from steering the car off the road was to hold out one arm in hopes to deflect some of her attacks and grasp on to the wheel with the other. This girl is crazy, William thought as Cheryl's nails sank into the flesh of his neck. Blood started flowing as he managed to pull over on the shoulder of the road and come to a complete stop.

"Get out of my car and walk home you anorexic bitch!" William screamed as he struggled to restrain Cheryl, despite her blood-frenzied rage. However, Cheryl's attacks were more fierce than a wild boar. There were scratches, scrapes, and cuts all over William's body. Desperately, he resorted to pulling out the taser he kept under his seat for his self-preservation. He pushed the taser against her head and clicked the trigger button. Small flickers of electricity sparked and Cheryl went limp. Horrified at what has just occurred, William just sat there trying to catch his breath. There was blood flowing down his neck and staining his shirt. He looked over at Cheryl's unconscious form and sighed. Next time, William swore, he would think long and hard before he ever considered taking out another girl. Especially a girl that fabricates her personality from Stephen King novels.