|
|
|
Kalle sighed groggily as she started to wake up with a start, her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright. She could see traces of sunlight creeping in from under the black curtain. She let out a heartfelt curse and standing with her back to the middle of the sheet, she tugged the corner back.
Sun light flooded in. There was no way to escape the fact that it was daytime, and that she was late. She dropped the curtain, frustration and anger swelling up inside her.
She shouted another curse and pushed the piles of paper off the couch onto the floor and lied on her back, staring at the ceiling.
After a moment, she got up and went to the kitchen. She retrieved the phone and dialed the number for the bar as she went and fell back on the couch.
"Hey," her voice was an awkward croak, but it helped make her excuse more believable. "Ferris? Yeah, it's me, i can't make it today, i'm feeling like s**t."
"Oh, really?" His voice was rather harsh, but well... it suited his job as bartender. He was in his early forties and though grey was present in his hair, baldness certainly wasn't. He was the closest Kalle had to a friend. "You know that's the fifth time this month, right?"
"Yeah, i know..." Kalle sighed and rubbed at her forehead, frustration bringing on the starts of a beautiful headache. "Well, if you're sick your sick, huh?"
Ferris let out a raspy laugh which almost made her feel better, except for the sourness at the end. His voice turned serious. "The Boss isn't going to be happy with you, i know how much you like him." The comment was sarchastic.
"Yeah, i know..." She repeated.
"Well... you feel better. Wouldn't want to be sick again tomorrow."
"Yeah. Later, Ferris." She didn't really wait for an answer before she hung up. She deposited the phone on the end table and she sat up.
Well, she turned around and looked at the dark room. Her computer sat forlornly on the wall behind the couch. She hadn't mixed up anything in a while and her fingers were itching to create a new beat, a new track.
But then, she was home, not at work, and well... those papers... All she had to do was just stack them up neatly again, yeah, then she'd sort them later... that worked.
* * * * *
The next day Kalle was sure to get up at the right time.
She dressed in her uniform, set her makeup and forced down a piece of toast as she grabbed her coat and hopped out the door.
She walked quickly down the street, almost running. She'd have lots of glasses and dishes to wash up and put away before they opened, among other miscellaneous chores.
"That's what you get for missing a day..." She told herself under hear breath as she rushed into a lite-train and watched the buildings go by as blurs as it sped off towards a busier part of down.
It wasn't quite light outside and the streets were, as of yet, still devoid of people.
She slid her card into a hidden panel next to the door and held up her tumb to the panel. The air pressure lock released itself and the door swung open to allow her inside.
Floors to sweep and mop, chairs to take down, dishes to wash, tables to clean. Yeah, today would be busy.
And sure enough, it was. Three more kids tried to obtain drinks underage and two more fights than normal broke out. Now fights she could handle (Well, Ferris did actually. He was a big, forceful guy and could break up any fight in mere seconds, no problem.) But the kids just burnt her up.
When would they learn? When a person reached drinking age, here it was 21, he or she was injected with an ID chip that linked directly to an un-hackable (Kalle always wondered how they managed that) database and told him whether or not the person was legal. If a person was found to be alcoholic, pregnant or otherwise in an inappropriate condition to drink, the chip was deactivated. Even if the kid could get a counterfeit ID made, the chip was the real ID, and their plans always failed.
Besides the incidents, the day was especially busy business-wise in itself, and even though the day was over, Kalle was not at ease.
She sat at the bar leaning on the handle of a broom while Ferris polished the obsidian black countertop.
"The Boss wants to see you tonight," He grunted, not looking up at her.
"When doesn't he?" Kalle snorted back and flicked a used napkin off onto the floor. "I don't trust him, Ferris. Can't you stay here till he's through?"
"I told you i can't. Now quit with that face. My wife wants me home tonight for dinner." He checked his watch. "Which is now." He walked around the bar and kissed Kalle on the forehead. "Now, you'll be good, right?"
"Only if he is," Kalle mumbled back.
"Now," He gave her a sharp glance before he slipped on his hat and jacket. "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah..." Kalle jumped off the stool and got back to cleaning up.
She swept and mopped, stacked the chairs and even finished polishing the counter for Ferris. She turned off the lights and went into the back to wash the remaining dishes. The bar wasn't a very big place, for a bar at least. Her and Ferris were usually all who needed to run it, with the occational part time waitresses that joined Kalle, and the Boss rarely hired new people. Either that or scared them off. It wasn't like he was deathly ugly, but he wasn't nearly pretty, or much of a 'stick figure' either.
She sighed and threw the washcloth into the soapy water, accidentally splashing her skirt and blouse. She let out a frustrated sound and turned around to find a dry towel. Man, it was so quiet in here, you could hear the echos of what you were thinking.
"Hello, Kallel."
She almost ran right into him, The Boss. She lifted her hands and folded them over the watersplotch on her blouse. "You can't like at least warn someone before you do that?" She grumbled back at him.
He held out a dry towel with stiff fingers. She almost had to rip the towel away from him, it bothered her. She dried off her hands and started to dry her blouse. His voice was cold and calm. It wasn't very deep, but it fit his age, however old he was... Kalle couldn't tell. "At least I DO show up. You know you've missed five days in three weeks? The other waitresses don't work here full-time."
"What are you saying, John?" She hardened her voice to match his. She didnt' believe it was his real name, but she didn't know what else to call him. Man, she hated him!
"I'm saying you've missed your last day. Don't expect me to buy that you were really sick." He sneered at her with crooked, unclean teeth and spat when he spoke. She glared at him with an anger and disgust.
"So you're going to get rid of me? Who are you going to replace me with, one of your whores to work full time?!"
It wasn't a secret that the guy ran those terrible clubs downtown for all those high-class men. Kalle HATED how degrading it was, for women. She couldn't hate the guy anymore than she did now.
"Looks like i will." His evil grin had faltered, but came back full-force. "Who knows, besides coming on time, maybe she'll get us more regulars. I'm through. Take your things and go home. Ferris will finish all," He waved his hand slightly towards the sink, "tomorrow." He stood waiting for Kalle to leave. "Goodnight, Kallel." His tone of voice ended the conversation and robbed Kalle of what to say, even though she wished she could.
She didn't bother to move and her eyes narrowed. She clentched her teeth together and her breath was coming ragged with anger. Something sharp pricked her lip, but she paid it no attention. She clentched her fists together so sharply her fingernails dug into her skin. Her ears were filled with the sound of her heartbeat, and his.
Her Boss looked at her mixed with mild amusement and curiosity. What a reaction! He'd never gotten one like this before in all the time that he'd worked. His lips turned up into a crooked and greusome smile.
But then he froze and the smile was gone. He noticed the trickle of blood from her mouth... and his eyes grew wide and terror took it's place upon his face and a yelp escaped his lips as he stepped back.
"But you're--!? I couldn't have hired--!"
His words were cut short as Kalle violently lunged towards him with a terrible shout of her own.
 Mage Marina · Thu Oct 19, 2006 @ 06:56am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kalle strode down the city-street to her appartment building. Black boots, black tights, short black plaid skirt, white button-up blouse and a long black overcoat that smelled of alcohol. It had been a rough night and the bartender had gotten angry at a customer and spilled the drink on the bar, underneath which she stored her coat for the day. The drink had had plenty of time to drip off the counter onto her coat before it was wiped away.
"Up before sunrise, home after sunset." She grumbled as she slid her card through the security panel and pressed her tumb to the screen. She sighed as the door started to open, but then jammed half way. When were they going to fix that?
Kalle stepped through the door and yanked it shut behind her. It clicked shut and there was a deep whoosh of air as it locked from below.
The hall was white and plain, traveling to the side instead of straight back. Since crime was an ever present worry to those who had much to lose, especially power, she figured that, as well, was for security.
She hit the up-button for the elevator and leaned against the opposite wall as the elevator made it's way. As usual it was on the fifth floor. the indicator light disappeared for a moment, fourth floor (the light was broken), Third... Second...
The elevator let out a buzz and the doors opened. She hit the fifteen and went to a corner of the elevator and slid to the floor. She wasn't the most fond of the elevator but the stair well had been locked for some time, so she had found ways to tollerate it.
Eventually the elevator buzzed the arival to her floor and she floated through the door and down her hall. She just wanted to be home.
The corridor was like the entry, with peeling white walls and floors that she was positive hadn't been mopped in decades. A few of the light fixtures were out, too. For that nice security panel out front, the place was a dump, but it was home.
She reached her door at the end of the hall and slid her card through another panel and punched in a seven digit code. The door unlocked with a sigh and she went inside. Her rooms were dark except for her kitchen, just to the right, which she always left lit with dim, but cheap and effective, lights.
Her living room, just inside the front door, was of decent size. A television on a small cabinet table just to the left, a loveseat couch in the middle facing the tv, and a well-used recliner separating the couch from a heavily black-curtained window. The room was littered with papers. None of them crumpled or trash, but few of them with true significance. She didn't mind the mess, though, and because she worked all day, she was rarely home to clean it.
She took off her coat and dropped it by the door. She'd wash it later. She punched in the on-button of her tv and walked back to her bedroom.
Her bed was knee-high and it's white sheets were unmade. She'd woken up late and had forgotten to make it. She straightened out the comforter and pulled the pillows out on top. The window was covered with a thick, dark red sheet and a black and white photograph of a woman in a beautiful dark dress was hanging on the wall above the head of her bed.
Kalle pulled off her blouse and tossed it into a full hamper in the corner.
"Laundry day soon..." She mumbled to herself in a half sing-song voice. She kicked off her boots and nudged them to the end of her bed.
She reached up to the tie that held her blonde hair up in a bun. She pulled it free, releasing gently wavy hair that turned a deep burgandy as it feathered down to her waist. She wrapped the tie around her wrist. It was her boss's request that she add that terrible thing to her uniform. She loved her hair, but apparently it wasn't okay for a bar waitress to have hair that wasn't blonde. She would have thrown the hair tie across the room, but it was expensive and hard to find, she couldn't afford it if it was lost.
She tugged on a black camasole and went out her bedroom to the left, the bathroom. She flicked on the light and stared at herself in the oval mirror above the sink. Frowning at what she saw, Kalle picked up the washcloth, draped over the side of the sink, and smeared the makeup off her face.
Turning the light back off, she went and leaned sideways against the frame of her bedroom door, watchin the television in her living room.
She only got three stations that were perfectly clear, but none of which ran all twenty-four hours of the day. This station was usually playing something tollerable when she got home from work. Tonight was an old black and white werewolf movie.
Kalle let out a small snort of amusement and climbed over the back of her recliner and curled up in the seat. She glanced at the kitchen, realizing she hadn't much eaten that day, but turned back to the tv, deciding she wasn't hungry.
She curled back up and stared at the show. A man was slowly turning into a werewolf. She snorted again. If werewolves were real, she was positive that they would look more like dogs than bigfoot monsters.
She pulled the remote off the end table to her left and tried another station. One was out of service at this hour, her eyes flicked to a clock that said it was 11:00, but the other was showing a nature show with a bunch of African animals drinking out of a dirty pond of water, while a narrator drawled on about what was happening.
Kalle picked gently at a piece of string coming loose off the brown recliner. She'd left earlier than usual, but she was terribly tired. She yawned, closing her eyes and stretching her arms above her head.
She opened her eyes, just as a lion was lunging at a group of animals, sending them all to flight. Kalle let out a sound between a whimper and a gasp, hugging herself and folding her knees up close. She watched as her vision became more precise, and the room lighter. Her mouth grew dryer and yet more wet at the same time. The beating of her heart filled her ears.
She let out a startled cry and stumbled to the kitchen, upsetting stacks of papers and the end table lamp. She flung open a cabinet above her head and grabbed out a metalic plastic bag. She lurched forward a moment, leaning heavily on the counter.
Regaining herself quickly, she tore open the plastic and plunged the needle of a syringe into her arm. Her stomach hurt and the blood in her veins pulsed in a way that almost made her sick. She forced the yellow substance in the syringe into her arm and yanked it out before she fell to her knees on the floor.
She shut her eyes tightly, leaning forward on her palms. Slowly, all she could hear was the television instead of rush of blood in her body, and when she opened her eyes, the light didn't hurt anymore. Her stomach gave one more twist, and then she felt like herself again.
She noticed a drop of blood on her hand and sighed, touching her lip. "damn..." She stood back up and used the counter to steady herself. She splashed water from the faucet on her face and washed her hands, spitting blood from her lip into the sink. Good Job, You. She thought to herself.
She pulled down an empty container and dropped the empty syringe inside. She slid it back up on the shelf next to more of the metallic packages. She shut the cubboard and, after tossing the ripped package in the trash, she turned off the kitchen light.
She shuffled back to her chair and collapsed back into hit. Before she could turn off the tv, she exhaustedly drifted off to sleep.
Mage Marina · Wed Oct 18, 2006 @ 06:20am · 1 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
