“It’s final,” she said as she reached out to caress my cheek with her thumb. “Let’s just keep what you did between us, though, okay? If your step-father found out...Norah, I worry it might be the thing that finally makes himsnap.”
“Then leave him,” I said, pleading with my eyes. “Don’t stay with a man who would react thatway.”
But she wouldn’t. If she hadn’t left him yet, she neverwould.
Chapter Three
Workingat the theatre’s ticket office had become a strange kind of exit from reality for me. There, my life was not the disappointing mess it normally was. My mom wasn’t guarding my every movement, and my step-dad wasn’t lurking menacingly nearby. None of the kids I’d gone to high school with ever came to see a show. It was an off-off-broadway place located on a small quiet side street with a name that no one ever heard of unless they were deep within the theatrecommunity.
It was myhaven.
“Four tickets to seeBelles and Brawls,” a deep lyrical voice rumbled from the other side of the glass. My eyes locked on the hand that slid four twenty-dollar bills across the counter. I sucked in a deep breath. The skin was luminescent, faintly shining underneath the fluorescent lighting in the ticket booth. With it came the otherworldly scent of frost andmint.
I looked up, heart hammering hard against my ribcage. The four guys from the night before were standing quietly before me, and the one who had followed me into the bathroom was right in the front. They were each looking at me with an intensity that took my breath away, though their bodies reflected none of the tension. Their arms were slung into their cloaks; their stances were relaxed. It was as if they wanted the world to see one thing, and meanother.
“You,” I whispered, standing from the wooden stool where I usually perched the entirety of my four-hour shift. “Are you following me? Why did you ask me about my ears? Why did you tell me not to take mypills?”
A pause. “Four ticketsplease.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the owner of the theatre—and my boss—staring my way. She’d always been kind to me, and she’d given me this job even though I’d had zero experience in a theatre, or any job experience at all. Still, she was tough. She wanted attendees to be greeted with a smile and a chirpy hello, as I’d been told one too many times. Some days, I found it hard to be friendly. Some days, I just wanted to curl up and hide from theworld.
She’d given me a lot of breaks, but I knew if I wasn’t careful, she could easily lose her patience withme.
So, with a faux-smile pasted on my face, I tapped the ticket number into the computer and took the guy’s money. I still didn’t know his name, despite the fact he’d brushed his fingers against my skin. Despite the fact it felt as though Iknewhim, in some weirdway.
When I slid the tickets across the counter, I held on for just a moment longer. Our gazes locked, and I dropped my voice to a hush. “Please just tell me something. I feel like I’m losing my mind, but I know there’s more to it than that. And I can see it in your eyes.Youknow.”
“Norah,” came the sweet, smooth voice of my boss, Andrea. “Is everything okayhere?”
I loosed a breath and released my death grip on the tickets, turning to Andrea with a smile. “Everything’s fine. I just,ah…”
“We just had some questions about the show,” the guy in front spoke up. “Thanks for your help,Norah.”
They turned to go, taking with them any hope I had of getting answers anytime soon. The show was starting in ten minutes, and I’d most definitely lose my job if I interrupted it to demand some answers from four of theattendees.
Why were they here? There was no way in hell it could be a coincidence. And, if it wasn’t, why pretend to watch the show? They wouldn’t talk to me. They wouldn’t give me anything but strange intense looks. What did they want? Were they just here to…to watchme?
I shuddered. It was the only thing that made sense. I had four stalkers. With glowing skin and piercing eyes, two important features that I might very well beimagining.
I would have to talk to them after the show. My shift would be over, and I would no longer be obligated to smile and nod. It was going to be a long twohours.
* * *
When the show was over,I stood on the sidewalk outside of the theatre waiting for the strangers I should probably be more afraid of than curious about. The New York summer air was stifling, and the sun had only begun to dip behind the buildings in the west. I was still wearing my black pants and black t-shirt, along with my name tag for the ticket booth, which only amplified the heat. It made me dread goinghome.
Before my step-dad had moved in, Mom and I had a boxy air conditioning unit in every room, including the bathroom, which meant that we normally had five of them blasting all through the summer. But when my step-dad had moved in, he wouldn’t hear of it, pointing out the astronomical utility bill. So, he’d downsized us to only two units. One for the living room and one for theirbedroom.
I’d been stuck with just afan.
Just another one of my step-dad’s micro aggressions toward me, his own special way of demonstrating just how much he wanted me out of that apartment and out of hishair.
Something crashed in the alley on the right side of the theatre, and my mind was jerked away from my troubled thoughts of home. A heavy thump followed, and then a screech. I frowned and shifted sideways to peer down the side of the building, but it was drowning in shadows. The cast usually exited the theatre through the door at the end of the alley, and the crew would cluster together there for smoke breaks. But they would always flick on the light to chase away thedarkness.
“Hello?” I calledout.
Silence answered. With a sigh, I shook my head. Maybe I was imagining things.Again.
But just as I shifted away from the alley, another crash exploded in the silence. Heart hammering, I glanced around. There was no one else around on this side street. No other business lined the skinny sidewalks. All the doors were shut tight, leading up into apartments that were buzzing from the echo of air conditioning units chugging along in the stiflingheat.
