Mystery surrounds missing woman.
The little bell above the door jingled and he turned with a scowl, expecting to see Aiden. But instead of Aiden, he was greeted with a large man with wide shoulders, greasy hair, and a shotgun in his hand.
“Behind the counter, boy,” the man growled out, and slammed the door shut behind him before sliding the lock into place. “I want the cash from the register and the safe.”
Danny didn’t argue the point that he didn’t have the code to the safe, or bother to tell the man that he’d just pissed his pants and it was running down his leg and into his two year old sneakers. Instead he headed back around the counter, his hands held high where the man and the world could see them.
“Open it up, now.” The man gestured with the gun to the small register on top of the wooden counter.
Danny moved over to the aging contraption and pressed the button for the drawer. It slid out on rusty hinges with a groan and Danny reached in and pulled out the small amount of money that it held. From his reckoning it was around one hundred and twenty dollars, give or take. He handed it over to the man, trying to not look as scared as he felt. He was twenty seven years old, but right now he felt as helpless as an old man.
“Where’s the rest?” the man barked out, agitated. “There should be more than this, I was told there was more. What about the safe? Where’s the damn safe?”
“I don’t know the code to the safe, sir.” Danny winced as the barrel of the gun came towards him, hitting him square across the forehead and making him see stars. His body was flung backwards, hitting the wall behind him. The keys on the pegboard rattled, but stayed in place. “Please, Sir!” Blood trickled into Danny’s eyes from the small cut made by the gun. “Please!” he held up his hands in defence, covering his face as much as possible.
The large man charged around the counter and grabbed Danny by the shirt, pulling him up to standing and bending him over the counter. He forced the end of his gun against the side of his head.
“I’ll ask you one more time, boy. Where is the god-damn safe?”
“Please, it’s in the back office, but I don’t know the code,” Danny yelled, panic tightening at his throat and making his voice sound like he was going through puberty all over again. Tears trailed from his eyes, skimming the side of his nose and dripped down on to his ratty t-shirt.
The man bent down to stare into Danny’s face. “I won’t ask you again. I was told there would be more money, and that you knew the code to the safe, now where is it?”
As he looked in to the man’s eyes, his own reflection staring back at him, Danny’s mind went back to the woman from earlier. Her blank stare, the emptiness that lived in those eyes. He finally got it; he knew why she’d chilled him to the bone, why he was so worried and frightened for her.
She knew she was going to die.
As he stared at his own reflection in the other man’s eyes, the horror chilling his body, and running trails of fear up and down his spine, he saw that same finality. And he knew he was going to die too.
“Please,” he whispered, and then the world went black.
Chapter Five
Delores
The hum left her lips as she showered making her gasp.
She opened her eyes, letting the water trail into them. She was shocked by the sound. It was sweet, almost innocent. And yet, she was anything but innocent. She’d stopped being innocent a long time ago.
A flash of Michael’s angry face cut through her mind and she winced at it, feeling every painful thing he’d said to her. She’d earned it, she knew that. But it had still hurt like a branding to her heart.
The shower water was lukewarm, leaving Delores with goosebumps across most of her body, but she enjoyed the cool water against her hot skin. She enjoyed the way it pounded against her skull, making it hard for her to think. The way it drowned out the noises and voices in her head and stopped the thoughts from intruding upon her actions. So many voices all talking at once. They made her feel sick.
She lathered the soap into her hair, closing her eyes tightly again as the scented bubbles slid down her face and back, the water cascading down her body.
She washed with the bare minimum of effort. Soaping up her armpits and crotch area and then rinsing herself clean. With a heavy heart, she turned off the shower and pulled the bland greying shower curtain back, before reaching for a towel and wrapping it around her shivering body.
The room was warm and stuffy, a mixture of summer heat and dampness from the shower, but regardless, she felt better for being clean.
Better.
Did she deserve to feel better?
No, she didn’t, but she needed it. She needed it like flowers needed water, like cake needed frosting, and a body needed both a heart and a soul to survive. She needed it; the peace, the calm, but she knew the screams were still waiting for her in the shadows. They were always waiting for her.
Delores wiped away the steam from the mirror, and her reflection stared back at her. Her features looked gaunt and grey, and her eyes wretched. She picked up the hairbrush from the counter and pulled it through her wet locks, drawing out the thick knots. Water trickled down her back from her hair and she put down the hairbrush and grabbed a towel to rub some of the damp out of it.
Her eyes fixed on her hairbrush. Not hers, but Anabel’s. Her sweet, sweet Anabel.
