Chapter Two: About Jupiter
Chapter Two: About Jupiter
Jupiter’s outside was made of stone and surrounded by tall modern buildings that were covered in sheer glass. This made Jupiter’s orange and red stone appearance stick out like a missing middle finger. The sign Jupiter was hanging in the center of the building in bright yellow neon lights. Underneath the ginormous sign, there were enormous black matte doors that had two gold diamond-shaped handles. Finally, a place that doesn’t make me feel like a product of society, Jane thought arrogantly right before gracefully swinging the left door open. Immediately after opening the door, there was a red curtain and a man in front of it.
“Hi, welcome to Jupiter’s descendants, home to the most peculiar people and drinks. Have you been here before? “ said the worker, whose name tag read Justin.
Jane had never been there before in fact Jane had hardly been anywhere within New York City. She recently moved to New York from Boston, thinking it could serve as a restart for her life.
“Never? Then how’d you hear about us?” said Justin.
Jane ranted about how being out in a different environment helps her feel more productive than if she were to just apply for jobs at home. She then explained how she let a taxi driver determine what environment she would go to. By the end of her rant, Justin had his question answered.
“So, it is true, your taxi driver didn’t lie, we do have great coffee! But, I’d have to say our Irish coffee is by far the best coffee drink we serve. Should I take you to our Death Quarters otherwise known as our death-themed bar instead?!” Justin commented persuasively.
Will I be drinking? I think the universe wants me to drink,…. at three forty-five pm, on a Sunday, …. and by myself. Alright the ‘logical me’ has kicked in and the universe has made its decision. We will be drinking. Janes’s thoughts raced, while Justin blabbered about why Jupiter’s Irish Coffee was ‘the best ’. With it being a late Sunday afternoon, and Jane being unemployed she quite literally had nothing better to do than drink an Irish coffee at some extraordinarily fancy, and random bar while applying for jobs.
“Well, Justin, whatever it was your lips just said, sure! Take me to this Irish Coffee.”
Acknowledging Jane with a smile he initiated the way to the bar area or evidently the ‘The Death Quarters’.
Justin and his dazzling suit maneuvered first to the far left of the red entry curtain where stairs spiraling downstairs followed. Jane followed him down three elongated flights of stairs. The spiral within the staircase felt unusual to her. Nevertheless, she felt unusual. “Isn’t this supposed to end soon, feels like we just skipped two stories?”
“Technically there are four stories in total. But we skipped the magic room, where all the magic happens. That happens to be level two. But don’t think once to occupy your mind with that. We don’t let that become an option for our customers.”
“Why?” Jane replied in a short response because she was too busy occupying her mind with imagining this ‘magic room’.
“Solely because it’s private”.
Based on Justin’s appearance with his gelled brunette hair and his slick black and white suit, Jane expected the place to also look as upscale as Justin’s outfit; however, once arrived at the ‘Death Quarters’ the place felt modern, humble, and earthy. Jane was pleasantly surprised. Is this place expensive and odd, or just odd? There were chairs and tables everywhere. To the far left of the bar there was an ice cream parlor and to the far right was where the actual bar lay. Almost all of the material in that bar was made out of cherry wood, from the bar itself to the chairs and tables. Every item had an intensely earthy characteristic to it. The only material that was not made out of cherry wood was the walls. The walls were iron and of high reflection making them appear overwhelmingly shiny in contrast to everything else. Speaking of walls, the ‘Death Quarters’ truly lived up to its theme. The wall to the right of the bar was filled with portraits of dead people. Under every individual’s portrait was a date of birth, date of death, and two words. After Jane took in the entirety of the place she browsed these portraits. First, there was a portrait of a person named Liu Pengli. The drawing was of a side profile of what appeared to be an Asian man with a mustache, and a sword in his hand while sitting down. The words underneath it were “lucky” and “powerful”. Next, there was a portrait of the side profile of a woman named Locusta sitting down pouring a red substance into a jeweled old medieval king’s cup. Locusta’s painting felt sinister. All the colors of the portrait and Lucusta were in the blues and greys. It was promoting heartlessness and carelessness through an act of art. The words underneath her portrait were “respected” and “honored”. These portraits were both drawings however, the next was a well-drawn portrait sketch of a man named Peter Stump. Peter had a nice luscious hairy brown beard that matched with a mustache. His face was stern and stoic, and similar to the eyes in the previous drawing he appeared cold. The two words under his portrait were “enlightened” and “powerful”. Following the first portrait sketch was another portrait sketch of a lady named Elizabeth Báthory, she had the look of a sixteen-hundred New England Queen. Elizabeth’s body was pampered with a white dress with huge ruffles that only appeared around her neck. The turtle neck dress merely looked like it was choking her, or at the very least ever so slowly suffocating her. The sleeves of the dress were extraordinarily fluffy with thicker material than the rest and the middle of the dress resembled a corset that was embroidered entirely with tiny white and red crystal-like jewels. The words under her photo declared “beautiful” and “exhilarating”. Albert Fish was the name of the next portrait. This one was the first photo portrait to exist on this wall: although, not an entirely clear photo, but at least a more accurate representation than the sketches, and drawings. He was an elderly man about the age of fifty-two, wearing a very standard 1920s black and white with a tie suit and black outer coat that went down past his torso. His soul from the photo pierced straight into the camera without a gleam of a smile. The words written under his photo were “alive” and “satisfying”. Albert Fish; pretty sure he was a serial killer. The next portrait photo was of a middle-aged man named Ed Gain. Ed’s portrait photo was much clearer than the last photo yet, it was still in black and white. The words under it were “understood” and “content.” These all must be serial killers because I am pretty sure Albert Fish was one, and I know Ed Gein was. Let me google this. Jane thought as she pulled out her phone. While Jane began to read about Albert Fish, a sterling handsome man came up from behind.
“Not trying to startle, you but I can explain this wall if you would like?”
Sure handsome, explain the wall it will be a lot easier to pay attention to you explaining it than on my phone.
“Please do,” Jane replied out loud, despite thinking something entirely different internally.
“Alright, but first I may need your consent to rant,”
“ Sure, consent granted!”
The stranger felt at ease and so the stranger’s lips began to move.
“What we have here is a serial killer-themed wall. From left to right we have the oldest to youngest serial killers. The adjectives under the portraits are adjectives to describe how I think they viewed their horrific acts upon mankind. Ranking the oldest, and the first to receive an outcry of emotional responses from many of mankind we have Liu Pengli…”
The stranger continued to rant as Jane continued to listen. Through listening, Jane learned about almost every portrait from the stranger. Liu Pengli was an infamous serial killer. He was king of the Han Dynasty and reigned as King from a hundred and forty-four BCE to around a hundred and fifteen BCE. Liu Pengli would take people’s belongings and then kill them for the thrill of it. Eventually, his drive to kill allowed him to invent a cult centered around it. This cult of his became devoted to flocking to the city late at night to rob and kill. Luckily, this king was just a ruler over a small region called Jidung, and his cousin, Emperor Wu of Han was a massive ruler during the Han dynasty with incredible influence and power. It was Emperor Wu who started a secret investigation into Liu Pengli after allegations of him robbing and killing in the middle of the night for sport were brought up. Emperor Wu then forcibly removed Liu from his reign, and so his reign ended after about thirty years. Next was Locusta; she was infamously known as the poisoner. Liu was considered China’s first known serial killer, and Locusta was Ancient Rome’s. Locutusa’s weapon of choice was poisonous plants. Locusta’s skill set and knowledge of these poisonous plants put her in high demand. Such a high demand that she was used as Emperor Nero’s personal poisoner. Eventually, Locusta had her own poisonous plants training school that Emperor Nero helped fund. After Locusta, Jane learned about Peter Stumpp. Peter Stumpp was born in Bedburg, Germany, in fifteen-twenty-five. Peter Stumpp was a wealthy widowed farmer that no one initially suspected would kill others for leisure. For Peter, it began with animal killings, such as cows and sheep. He killed these animals in such a brutal, animalistic way that the owners of these animals began to believe these killings were by vicious werewolves. After a killing spree of animals, a killing spree of children and women began. Peter Stumpp, in total, murdered thirteen children, two pregnant ladies, and countless livestock. How he killed them was barbaric and wolf-like: ripping the fetuses right out of the pregnant ladies, eating their hearts, and ripping children’s throats off with his bare hands. Peter Stumpp was devilish, often raping and eating his victims in addition to killing them. Peter Stumpp was demonic; not only admitting to the heinous crimes but to the practice of witchcraft since he was twelve years old. In addition, he claimed the Devil gave him a belt that, once worn, would allow him the likeness of a greedy, devouring, ruthless wolf. After learning about Peter Stumpp, Jane was flabbergasted yet not enough appalled to stay quiet for the next portrait explanation.
“Albert Fish, I think I can take it from here!” Jane’s chime-in on the stranger’s explanation took him by surprise.
“Albert is commonly nicknamed The Gray Man, after the movie about him. Albert was born on May 19 of eighteen-seventy and died on January 16 of nineteen thirty-six. This man practically grew up with a family full of mentally ill individuals ranging from mental illnesses such as; mania to audio and visual hallucinations. Leading up to what got him arrested (the murders), Albert had serially molested young boys, engaged in disgusting practices like; drinking urine and eating feces, and self-harm that included shoving needles up his anus. According to what we know, he was first arrested for killing the father of the daughter he tried to kidnap and harm. All for the reason that the daughter’s father, Francis McCdonnelled, forced him to leave his property during the attempted kidnap or, who knows, potential rape and murder. Then after what really got him arrested was the Grace Budd case, pretty much to summarize it, he apparently strangled the girl, carved up her body with a saw, and then ten years later wrote in the full description (as to what he did) and sent it to Grace’s mother. As anyone would assume, yes, the letter was traced back to him.”
After explaining Albert Fish, Jane looked at the stranger, and the stranger glared back with a smile. It was not an ordinary smile, as the smile didn’t come from flirting or from finding something funny. It was a soft warm smile that often comes after one admires beauty. The stranger’s smile and gaze put Jane in a tizzy and himself in a daze. Catching himself in a daze, the stranger quickly returned to the next portrait.
“I’m impressed now, how about him?” The stranger added while pointing to the portrait of Ed Gein.
“Wasn’t Ed Gein the serial killer that the movie Psycho is based on?”
“Yeah, you want to try and brief me about him as well?”
Jane then gave a great summary of Ed Gein. She mentioned how he was known for digging up graves, taking dead bodies, and making them into furniture or common household decorations. She mentioned how the show The Bates Motel is based on him. When she finished her summary, the stranger peeped in with a comment,
“That is pretty much it, but those common household decorations are automatically discredited for being ‘common’ if they are made from dead corpses.”
Jane laughed, and the stranger congratulated her on an outstanding memory. The stranger then pulled up his index finger and pointed to the next portrait, a photo of Jeffrey Dahmer. Suspecting that Jane would continue to give another serial killer summary, the stranger found himself bewildered when Jane confidently pulled up her hand just to bring the stranger’s hand back down to his side.
“Jeffrey Dahmer? I know. I know all about him, and I know you do too. So, how about you just tell me about yourself instead?”
Tactful of this, Jane. Taciftul. A bit abrasive too, but not with any distaste.
The stranger then vanished from the scene as he escaped the premises and went through the doors that were labeled ‘employees only’. Completely out site by customer sight, then back again twenty seconds later. The stranger returned with a black apron tied behind his back and a name tag attached to the left corner of the apron that read Ethan.
‘Hi, my name’s Ethan. I work and CO-own Jupiter with three friends, what can I get for you?’
What in the world of Jupiter, Jane thought.
