Chapter Ten - The New Dexter

Months went by and Dexter slowly stopped feeling the hurt that Julienne had caused him. He worked hard acquiring anything and everything he could to save up enough money for what he planned on doing next. She thought he was a loser, a disgusting man, she'd show him what he really was. He saved and saved until he had enough, and then he headed into town.

His first stop was the consignment shop. No he didn't have enough money for brand new clothes, but he had enough to buy a whole new wardrobe that wasn't ripped, torn or so dingy. After that he headed to the salon to get his hair cut. The transformation was amazing! He even flipped off the mirror pretending it was Julienne. He felt wonderful with his new look and the new Dexter was going to be happy.

As he walked out of the salon, confidence back after his makeover, he ran into Dee Tex. She was the police officer that had come to his house long ago when the burglary happened. At first she didn't recognize him and he didn't her. Then she stopped turned around and called his name. He turned not sure who was talking to him, and saw her smiling at him. She reintroduced herself and they stood there chatting for awhile before passerby's started giving them looks. Dexter didn't realize how much they had in common and didn't want to stop talking just yet, so he worked up the nerve to ask her to the fall festival. She said yes and told him she would meet him there later.

Dexter went home after that, put his new clothes away, showered and changed. He'd never been to one of the festivals in Twinbrooke's, but they always looked like fun. He was to meet Dee around 6pm at the festival, so at 5pm he called a taxi and headed back into town.

She cleaned up nicely was his first thought. Out of her uniform you could see the length of her hair and it showed off the beautiful blue of her eyes. She wasn't supermodel gorgeous like Julienne, more cute like the girl next door.

Dexter and Dee had a wonderful time at the festival, they talked a lot more, then had a little bit to eat before they headed into the haunted house. Dee was laughing and having such a good time that Dexter didn't even protest when she drug him into the photo booth to take a picture. Take a picture, that was it. Nothing more, and Dexter was relieved. He wasn't ever going to throw himself at another woman again and sure wasn't going to make the mistake of sleeping with her before he even knew her. He still didn't know if that baby Julienne was carrying was his or not. Not that he'd have any rights to it, Julienne made that clear.

As the night progressed Dexter found himself thinking less and less of Julienne and more and more about Dee. What was her story? She was single, that was a relief! Dexter had found that out right away! They played games together, laughing and having a good time. He let her win or so he thought on a few of them.

When it started to get dark, the festival announced that the fireworks display was about to take place. Dee and Dexter had just gotten out of the haunted house for a third time, and positioned themselves where they could watch the show. It was beautiful, and Dexter had to say, it was probably the most magical night of his young life.

Chapter Nine - Time For A Change

Days went by and Dexter was too scared to leave the house. His phone rang and Julienne would leave messages assuring him her husband didn't care, but Dexter didn't want to take that chance. It had been about a month since Dexter had last seen or spoken to Julienne, so he was a bit surprised when she showed up at his shack wanting to talk. She looked upset, and Dexter being a sucker couldn't turn her away.

He didn't invite her in, he didn't want to comfort her. But in the end, he found himself drawn to her apology and her story and forgave her. They talked about what had been going on the last month as they walked along his swamp. Dexter picked flowers here and there and when they got back to his property he presented them to her. He couldn't help it, he knew he was in love with this girl.

She was so happy with the flowers that Dexter thought his luck was turning around and decided to kiss Julienne next. She was furious! How dare he just take it upon himself to kiss he without asking! She had to deal with that enough with her husband, she wasn't going to deal with it from a loser like Dexter also!

Ashamed and embarrassed and agreeing with Julienne that he was a loser, Dexter tried to lighten the mood and atmosphere by starting a water balloon fight next. Julienne was so angry that all that did was piss her off even more. She yelled at him again, and then stormed off. Dexter stood there not knowing if he should go after her or let her go. He ended up letting her go.

Dexter didn't hear from Julienne again and after a week he felt it was time to get a hold of her to see how she was doing. He called and she was always too busy to talk. He finally decided to write her a letter to get his feelings out. It seemed the only thing he could do at this point.

With the letter sent, Dexter decided to give it a few days rest. He went back to "work" collecting, salvaging and stealing anything he could that wasn't nailed down. He didn't care anymore if he got caught and did it sometimes even when people were nearby.

About a week after he had sent the letter he got a phone call from Julienne. At first he thought she was calling to tell him she was leaving her husband for him. Instead she had called to yell yet again at Dexter. This time she told him that he was disgusting and dirty, she said that her husband knew where he lived and if he didn't leave her alone, Dexter would disappear.

Heartbroken, Dexter hung up the phone. He knew now he'd been used. He didn't know what for or why, but it was obvious Julienne didn't care for him at all. He looked over at his new bed he'd bought for them and sighed, so much money he had spent on it to make her happy. He didn't know what he was going to do now, he crawled into the bed and fell asleep. It was easier to sleep when you were dying of a broken heart.

It took about 3 days for Dexter to pull himself out of his funk. He laid in bed most of it wondering what he could of done differently to make her happy. She had said Bill didn't make her happy and Dexter always made her laugh, he didn't get it. It was this thinking that got to Dexter. What was really going on?! He knew he made her happy, why the sudden change of heart?! He then started thinking of Bill and the threats she said he made. What if that was just her trying to protect him? What if Bill was actually abusing Julienne and she didn't want to get Dexter involved? What if he hurt her so bad that Julienne couldn't get out of the house and had to say what she said? Thoughts and thoughts ran through Dexter's mind, all leading to the same conclusion. Bill was behind it all, and Julienne was in danger!

With that, Dexter got up, got dressed and headed to Julienne's house. He was going to get her the hell out of there before anything else bad could happen! He loved her and he would make sure she was safe, Bill or no Bill!

He took a taxi to the other side of Twinbrooke's where the Knack-Racket's lived. Dexter thought about bringing a bat or something to protect the two of them, but thought better of it until he knew for sure what was going on. On the drive over horrible images went though his head. What if he was too late? What if Bill had already hurt Julienne!? He started getting impatient and asked the driver to go faster. The driver looked in his rear view mirror and just shook his head.

It felt like forever, but finally the taxi pulled up in front of Julienne's house. Dexter sprinted up the stairs, banging on the door and calling her name. He wasn't prepared for who answered it.

It was Julienne, but she was pregnant! When did that happen? Dexter thought to himself. Was it his? Was it Bills? Dexter didn't know what to say, he just stood there with his mouth open.

Julienne looked back into her house and then shut the door quietly asking Dexter what he was doing there. Dexter told her his thoughts and she laughed so hard he was taken aback. How could he even think her husband would hurt her?! She got to do what she wanted, with who she wanted and her husband let her! How dare Dexter come to her house and accuse her husband of something so sinister! She told him to leave, opened the door and slammed it shut.

His heart broke the last bit that was left. He knew she was a horrible mean cheating manipulative bitch and used him for either a child or just for sex. Either way, he would figure it out. He vowed as he walked away from her house, that that was the last time someone used him. The last time someone treated him like shit because of the way he looked.

It was time for a change.

Chapter Eight - Could This Be Love?

Getting caught stealing was not something Dexter had ever had to deal with, so the humiliation of the situation lasted longer than expected. He looked at his new stuff with no more than distaste for it all. Why did he have to live like this?! What did he ever do so wrong in his life that he had to beg, borrow and steal just to get by? He thought again about getting a job and knew no one would hire him. He stunk most days as he still hadn't been able to steal a shower and he looked like someone ran over his clothes with a tractor shredding them to pieces. No, he knew he couldn't get a job. He looked around at all his stuff, some in nice shape, some broken and worn. He felt a bit of pride then and decided to shake off being caught by Mary. She didn't call the cops, so at least he wasn't going to jail for it.

Over the next few days, Dexter worked on some of his broken or rundown items trying to make them work. He spent more money than he wanted on parts and paint, but in the end, everything worked and he finally had a working television and stove!

One night Dexter heard something rustling outside. He had the windows open and figured it was a deer or raccoon and rolled over to go back to sleep. He had just dosed off again when he heard the front door creak open and shut quietly. Someone was in his house! Since he didn't actually have a bedroom and just slept on a bed at the end of a hallway, he could hear everything all around him. He peeked around the corner and saw a lady in a black and white outfit with a mask on. She looked around, not seeing him and then pulled out a bag. She then stole his couch! His nice expensive couch!

He didn't know what to do, and so he waited till she left and then he called the police. He was so scared he could barely get the words out loud enough for the operator to hear.

It took a bit but the police finally arrived. By that time though the burglar was long gone. Dexter showed the police woman a picture of the thief he had took on his pay as you go cell phone. She took the report and told him they would do everything they could to find the thief, but Dexter had little hopes that his couch would be returned to him.

He felt karma was getting him back for stealing so much from the Baker-Wolfs, so he decided the next day he'd go and apologize again to Mary. He arrived early enough knowing her shift at the diner hadn't started yet. He caught her just as she was getting ready to leave. She saw him and immediately started to yell at him to get off her property or she'd call the cops. He tried over and over to apologize but she didn't want to hear it. He finally gave up when she took her cell phone out and started to dial. He then ran as fast as he could away from her house.

Feeling horrible about life, and about himself, Dexter found himself at the local bar. He really wasn't old enough to drink yet, but no one ever guessed at his age, always thinking he was older. He ordered a drink from the bartender then headed upstairs to hopefully be alone. He wasn't. Upstairs there were more people than downstairs and he felt almost claustrophobic. He was just about to head back downstairs when a beautiful woman came up to him and introduced herself. She said her name was Julienne Knack-Racket. Dexter was in love!

They talked for quite awhile and before Dexter knew it he was telling Julienne all about his childhood. She listened and squeezed his hand from time to time, and then gave him a huge hug when he was done with his story. He couldn't believe how much he had shared with a total stranger! He decided he needed to get to know her a little bit since she knew all about him. Julienne hesitated when Dexter asked if she was single. She told him she was married but not happily. Her husband was much older than she and he acted like she was property not a person. She then told Dexter about how she thought her husband was in some kind of mob. He didn't work but they always had money. She knew he'd killed people but she couldn't prove it and she was too scared to get away from him. Dexter listened and decided somehow he was going to get Julienne out of her situation. He didn't know how, but he was going to figure out a way!

Julienne didn't tell Dexter the whole truth though. Yes her husband was one of the biggest mob bosses in Twinbrooks, but he treated his wife like she was a god. He let her do what she wanted, when she wanted and with who she wanted. He knew she was not faithful to him as he wasn't to her either. So when Bill Racket saw his wife talking to the grungy homeless guy he thought nothing of it. He shrugged and walked off with his winnings from playing dominos.

 Oblivious to Julienne's lies, Dexter did everything he could to impress her and make her feel like he could be someone she could trust. She wanted to sing karaoke, something Dexter would never do on his own, but for her he did.

 After singing they headed back upstairs to talk a bit more. Dexter was shocked when Julienne kissed him though, as he didn't think he had made that big of an impression on her.

What shocked him even more was when she pulled him into the photo booth! He had never been with a woman before and his heart melted when Julienne kissed his neck. He stumbled and fumbled with clasps and buttons. He bumped his forehead into hers and she just laughed. She kept telling him to relax but there was no way he could. He felt every part of her body and she felt every part of his. When she took off her pants and slid on top of him he just froze, how could anything ever feel this good? She wiggled around on top of him a bit and then everything started to get into a rhythm. Before he knew it though it was over. He tried to hold out, but being his first time, he knew it couldn't happen. He apologized and apologized, she just laughed and kissed his cheek.

When they walked out of the photo booth, both were giggling and smiling. Until Bill, Julienne's husband walked up. Dexter was so scared he pee'd his pants. The humiliation was overwhelming and before anyone could say or do anything, Dexter ran out of the bar and as far away from Bill as possible.

Chapter Seven - Caught In The Act

Several months went by and Dexter settled into a nice routine. With a roof over his head and the basic essentials to get him by, Dexter didn't feel the need to steal things as often. Instead he went grocery shopping for the first time and actually had his own food for once. He even splurged and bought himself ice cream! He hadn't had ice cream since he lived with his grandparents!

No one ever came by the old swamp lands unless they lived out this way, so it was a surprise to Dexter when he saw a car pull up to his lot and the scrap lady got out. What could she want, and how did she know where he lived?

Not wanting to be rude, Dexter invited her inside when she knocked on his door. She reintroduced herself as Alma Drill, then explained why she was there. She told Dexter she was an artist and dealt with making scrap sculptures. Told him also that the scrap he had sold her had run out and she needed more. She had asked around town and finally found someone who knew the man with the ripped up clothes and the red hair, and where he lived. She apologized for being intrusive, but thought he might like to earn a bit more money. Dexter thought about it for a minute, then decided to agree to get more scrap for her. It wasn't working for a company or anything like that, so he'd still earn everything he sold her.

Alma thanked Dexter for his time and then told him to just bring the scrap by her place once he had a nice sized pile. She then left as quickly as she came. Dexter though wasn't done visiting. He hadn't really talked to anyone in months and now that she had stopped by he wanted more human contact. He also was tired of bathing in a sink and figured it was time to again add some stuff to his house.

He wasn't sure where he was going this time. It was the middle of the day and he didn't really feel like heading all the way into town. The neighbor that had moved into the abandoned shack next to him was never home. He had tried on many occasions to meet them, but never had he ever caught someone home. He wasn't even going to try today. He decided to head to the other side of the swamp, past the house he had acquired his plumbing items from earlier to another house a bit bigger than the ones that were around him.

When he arrived he notice first the enclosed porch. He really liked that idea and thought he needed to think about adding something like that to his house. The mosquitoes in the swamps were horrific and he could barely sit outside at night because of them. This would solve that issue.

He was greeted warmly by a man named Lenny Smith-Jones. He almost looked familiar but Dexter brushed it off as just the guy having one of those faces. They talked for a little while and the Lenny told Dexter he needed to get ready for work. Dexter asked if he could use his bathroom and Lenny pointed to where it was. Dexter decided he didn't lie to the guy when he said he wanted to use his bathroom, he just left out the part that he wanted to take a quick shower. He got about halfway clean when he heard the sound of pipes breaking and then the water started squirting everywhere. Why did he always break everything?!

He snuck out of the bathroom looking for any tools he could use to fix the shower before Lenny found out. He was in mid fix when Lenny walked in and saw what had happened. Dexter humiliated apologized for breaking the mans shower. Lenny not knowing how to respond just asked Dexter to leave it and he would call a plumber.

Dexter then left feeling bad about what he had done. He knew though he didn't feel bad enough not to finish what he had come for. He waited in the bushes till he saw Lenny drive away, then he acquired a few more items he needed for his house, the bbq being one of the most important items Dexter had ever stolen.

Before Dexter could leave the lot with his new items he heard a loud swishing noise coming from the sky. It was a clear night so he looked up wondering what could be making the noise.

To his surprise it looked like a space ship! He had heard rumors that aliens existed, but that was just fairy tale right? He couldn't believe what he was seeing and instead of running he watched as the ship came to a stop an hovered over him. He wasn't prepared for what happened next. A beam of light flashed on him and all of a sudden he could feel himself being lifted into the air. What was going on!? He then tried to run but his feet were no longer on the ground and he wasn't getting anywhere. The light sucked him up higher and higher until he was sucked into the UFO.

Dexter had no idea how long he was gone for or even what the aliens did to him. The next thing he remembers after being abducted was standing out in front of Lenny's house as if nothing had happened. Was he just hallucinating the whole thing? Did he black out and dream of being abducted. It seemed nothing had changed not even the position of where he was standing. He didn't understand and looked around at the sky to try and find some answers. After awhile though when nothing else happened, Dexter chalked it up to him being paranoid, gathered his newly stolen items and headed home.

The following day he decided to head to the scrap yard and start gathering scrap for Alma. He still had a little money left but it was running out and having more would only help his situation. He was surprised that not only were there a lot of new piles of scrap, but there were items that people had tossed away as broken or damaged. He definitely wasn't great at handy work but he thought it would give him something to do at his house besides sit and twiddle his thumbs. He found an old stove, table, bookshelf and even a crib! Not that he needed the crib, but he decided to take it anyways.

There were also a few rickety chairs that he decided to salvage as well. He figured if he had more than he needed he could always fix the items up and sell them at the consignment shop. After hauling the heavy items off the lot, he went back to see if anyone had thrown anything useful into the dumpsters. Mostly just bugs were found, but he was able to find a couple of items he could make use of.

Every day for the next week, Dexter went to the two junk yards to gather scrap. If they had other items for the taking he could use, he grabbed those as well. He found an old dolly with one of the wheels missing that he fixed up and started using for the more heavier items. He wasn't expecting to find anything working or really anything of value. So one morning when he arrived and saw someone had thrown out an old television Dexter was excited! He'd learned a little about electronics and how they worked from books he'd read over the years. He wasn't sure if he could get it to work, but he decided it was worth a try. That day he also found an older dresser that actually was in pretty good shape.

It was still early enough after Dexter dropped off his new T.V. and dresser to head into town to Alma's house. He'd collected quite a bit and had to use his new dolly to push it to her house. After he left there with a little more money than what he started from he decided he was going to treat himself to a nice lunch. Instead as he walked by a nice sized house he heard his name being called. He looked around and saw a familiar face from the junk yard. He couldn't remember the guys name but Dexter had spoken to him on several occasions while collecting scrap. Timidly Dexter walked over to where the man was standing with a larger lady and another man. The guy introduced the larger lady as his mother Mary Baker-Wolfs. She seemed super nice and invited Dexter to stay for lunch.

Dexter found out she was a chef at the diner he'd just been getting ready to head too. She made grilled bologna sandwiches which Dexter thought were just delightful! After lunch, Dexter decided to explore his surroundings. He again heard that little voice in his head telling him to take some stuff. He knew it was wrong, but these guy had so much and him so little! He walked into the garage and saw not only did they have one, but three nice cars parked inside! Why would they need three cars when he couldn't even afford one? He slipped into the one that unlocked and looking very cautiously as he backed out of the garage, drove the car around the corner and up the street a bit. He'd pick it up on his way home, the thought.

Being greedy he decided to get a few more items. He had his dolly with him and now the SUV so he decided he needed a washer and dryer. This would save him on money as he had to spend so much to wash just his few outfits at the laundry mat.

Not stopping there though was his mistake. He needed so much, and these people had so many doubles on everything Dexter didn't think he was being greedy. He started in one of the bathrooms and found a wonderful picture he just had to have. Then he headed to the kitchen for the more essential items. He picked up their microwave, food processor and some curtains and ran outside with them.

He walked back into the kitchen thinking he'd get the canisters next when Mary came walking into the room. She caught him trying to swipe the canisters and was dumb founded. How dare he come into her house and try to steal from her! She didn't notice the other items that were missing yet, and told Dexter he needed to leave before she called the police. He didn't hesitate for minute! He left her house sad that he had gotten caught and ruined a friendship he was starting to make. He had new items but now he also had an enemy.

*So I downloaded a mod that lets m steal more than 3 items a day and 24 hours a day. I tired with the only 3 items per day after 7pm thing and it just seems ridiculous to me. So that is how Dexter was able to steal so many items from Mary's house.*