Playette

Getting dressed quickly now I’m up, I drive straight to the warehouse my uncle lives in. When I arrive he’s up and working on his car. My Uncle Max took me in when I was fourteen, around the time when my parents were killed. He was never a loving man, on the contrary actually. On the day of their funeral, we came back here and he went to work on this car, a car that I think will never be completely renovated. He slides out from under the car when he sees me, then slides back under.

“Run me through it. Step by step.”

That isn’t going to happen. He doesn’t need to know what that man did to me. How his fingers penetrated me in a way I disliked. It had to be done, though. Things have to be done that I don’t like to get the revenge I can taste—I want my vengeance and I want it as quickly as I can get it.

Sitting on the bonnet of one of the cars he’s been hired to fix, I start at the beginning and skip the dirty details but fill him in on the rest.

“They want me back there tonight,” I finish with.

“No. Go to work. Make them chase you. A man loves the chase.”

“Okay,” I reply as he stands.

“You can’t slip, Isadora. If you do, it will be catastrophic. I don’t want to bury you. It’s not something I can do again.”

“I know.”

My parents death changed him, and not for the better. He was my mother’s only living relative. They were close, the best of friends.

“They will try to kill you once they know who you are. You do understand that?” I nod my head. “They won’t do it nicely either. They will kill you slowly and painfully.”

This fact, I have nightmares about. But my other nightmare became a reality when my parents were killed, it was one I didn’t even know I would have at such a young age.

Am I terrified that they will discover me? Yes.

But will that stop me? No.

Because in my eyes it’s justified and death will be welcomed when she comes to visit. Even if it involves me being tortured to visit her.

“Do you miss her?” I ask, looking at her photograph hanging on the garage wall, removing all thoughts of my imminent death.

He looks over then his gaze goes down as he shakes his head. “Of course, but you’re here. And you are exactly like her.”

“Am I?” I ask, a small smile touches my lips.

“You are. And that’s why I’m going to ask you to leave right now. I have work to do. There’s no time for sentimentality.”

5

Isadora

The same pink wig I usually wear is firmly on my head, but I still try to straighten it as the music grows louder. Benny smiles when he sees me wearing the usual, short skirt and bra. Heather’s not on tonight, thankfully. So, I don’t have to worry about her, or what she’s doing. She called me earlier to tell me she has plans to stay in, and I told her it was probably for the best.

“You trying to steal my spot?” Sharon pops her hip and places her hand on it.

“What?” I ask, confused.

“That dance you did… you trying to steal my spot?”

“No, of course not.”

She eyes me up and down. “If you do, you won’t like the outcome.” Her hip bumps mine as she walks past me and it almost sends me off balance.

Shaking my head, I go back to work. The night is slow, and halfway through I sneak out for a smoke. When I do I look around for him, I notice him leaning against the same wall he was last night.

“Are you stalking, or perhaps you’re a serial killer?”

He barks out a slow and deep laugh. I can see him better and what a sight he is.

“Why can’t I just be a guy waiting for his girl to finish work?”

“Nope, not buying it.” I shake my head.

He steps out more into the light, his hands staying in his pockets as he looks me up and down. “Why do you work here?” He gives a chin lift toward the club.

There’s a few restaurants around here, a dodgy hotel across the road where Heather lives, but there’s nothing fancy at all. However he’s dressed in an Armani suit and looking like he’s worth a million bucks.

“It pays the bills,” I reply.

He shakes his head and steps closer. “You’re lying.”

I smirk at him, looking up as he inches closer. He lifts a hand to my face, brushes some of my pink hair back behind my ear. “But that’s okay, I like liars.” He leans down and kisses me ever so softly on my lips. It shocks me so much that I don’t even react, I just let a complete stranger kiss me.