In Part IV of my Halloween Video Series that you can simply skip to and view below, some mornings begin with sunshine, optimism, and the comforting smell of fresh coffee. Julie’s begins with a weedwhacker outside her window and a coffee pot preparing to leave this world. Before she even makes it to class, the day has already established that it will be taking more than it gives.
Part IV of the Joker Joker Deuce College Horror Stories, “The Chad,” drops us into the everyday chaos of college life. There are tight budgets, messy roommates, questionable beverages, and young men who could benefit from rehearsing a conversation before attempting one. Somewhere beyond all that ordinary nonsense, Jeph is building a relationship that exists entirely inside his own head.
First, though, we need to talk about Jenny. Jenny is Julie’s coffee maker, a yard-sale treasure that came with cups and apparently a limited tolerance for temperature changes. When Julie puts the hot glass pot under cold water, Jenny’s working career comes to a spectacular end in the bathroom sink.
Julie returns to her room holding the handle like someone carrying the last surviving piece of a family heirloom. Tori recognizes the tragedy but offers the kind of solution that sounds perfectly reasonable when your bank account has never frightened you. They can simply go to Starbucks, because apparently the financial consequences of coffee depend on which side of the dorm room you sleep on.
For Julie, replacing something costs more than money. It means rearranging a budget that probably did not have much room to move in the first place. That is why a broken coffee pot can feel less like an inconvenience and more like the opening argument in a personal dispute with the universe.
Fortunately, the Financial Aid office has Marcus. It also has fresh coffee, which Julie remembers only after spending cafeteria credits on a cup of something Marcus considers unfit for human consumption. He encourages her to abandon the bad coffee and enjoy the good stuff, although he reasonably objects when she interprets that advice as permission to pour liquid directly into her trash can.
Marcus brings the kind of friendship that can make a miserable morning worth surviving. He mourns Jenny, questions Julie’s decisions, and keeps a running supply of commentary available for emergencies. Then Chad arrives, and Marcus discovers an entertainment opportunity that requires neither a subscription nor a working television.
Chad has been visiting the Financial Aid office with remarkable consistency for someone whose financial affairs are already settled. His real interest sits behind a desk, but saying that would require a level of directness he has apparently not studied. Instead, he arrives with a folded tax form and the desperate hope that a dependent checkbox can sustain a meaningful connection.
Julie knows what he is doing. Marcus knows what he is doing. The tax form probably knows what he is doing, but everyone allows the performance to continue because Chad has already committed to the role.
What follows is a small masterpiece of conversational self-destruction. Marcus questions Chad’s story, briefly lets him escape, and then starts pulling at the loose threads of a party invitation Chad has barely invented. Before long, Chad is explaining a replacement party for a canceled party while still trying to determine where either party might exist.
Miles away, Jeph has found a quieter place to escape his own ordinary life. A delivery takes him into the countryside, where a lone tree on Sandmont Hill becomes the starting point for a romantic daydream involving Julie. His imagination supplies the blanket, the wine, the picnic, and the affection, without requiring Julie to participate in a single decision.
That shift gives the chapter its uneasy edge. Julie’s world is full of practical problems and awkward encounters, while Jeph’s version of her exists to complete whatever scene he wants to imagine. The distance between those two realities is where the horror begins to take shape.
Back at the office, Julie finishes her shift by sorting through messages on Wink. The experience does little to improve her opinion of the men contacting her, although Marcus finds room for one final joke. She deletes, loses interest, and closes the app just before reaching Jeph’s message.
If you’d rather read it than watch it, here is the link where you can start from the beginning: Joker Joker Deuce Halloween Series Part I – A Monster Awakens
These college horror stories are based on the novel, Joker Joker Deuce! These are not the same stories you’ll find in the book. This is the prequel to who Jeph actually becomes when he hits full stride and starts learning more about himself than anyone wants to know…
Happy Halloween!
