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Mace stood there waiting at the dark street corner. She leaned against the flickering
light post getting dirt on her white turtleneck sweater. She played with her
long caramel bangs twirling it around her long finger. The lights were dim and
all she could see was the brick building to the side of her and darkness. Then
came a soft shuffling noise.
"John. Is that you?" She asked nervously shooting upright off the
lamppost and looking around. The noise grew closer and she could see a dark
figure gliding towards her. "John?" she swallowed. There was no answer
from the man as she watched him leap into the air like a cat and pin her to
the ground. She screamed, but no one in the alley could hear her. In a fit of
panic and adrenaline
Mace used her feet to push the man away from her. She watched him flip off the
ground with no effort at all and looked at Mace with glowing red eyes.
"Bitch." he hissed.
Mace freaked and started to run. The creature floated swiftly after her, but
Mace did not stop. She could feel the hot breath of the creature at the back
of her neck, but fueled by sheer fear Mace drove on.
"I won't stop until I get to my apartment." Mace thought, but she
was wrong. She slammed into another figure. This one was female. Mace looked
up from the ground. The woman looked at the man behind her with a wry grin.
She looked down at Mace again. The woman lunged for her throat.
"I'll be so glad when my shift is over," Nadia thought drowsily
to herself and she tallied the price of a box of condoms carefully hidden amongst
twenty-four packs of gum. "This is when all the crazies come out."
The nervous customer in front of her, strongly resembled Brittney Spears...fake
boobs and all.
"Is that all?" she vocalized in the same droning tone.
"Brittney" looked at her like a deer in the headlights of an on-coming
18-wheeler for a moment and nodded wordlessly, before throwing a twenty on the
counter, grabbing the bag, and dashing out the door and into her forty year
old boyfriend's BMW.
"My, you're a funny looking one, I must say." a middle-aged woman
with a sun-bed tan and painted on eyebrows approached the counter.
"Can I help you Ma'am?"
"Oh, I just came in to pay for my gas. Pump number three, dear...is that
real?" she eyed Nadia's nose ring.
"Yes it is."
"I would just die if my daughter looked like you." the woman laughed.
"White-washed faces, black lip stick, and metal in every appendage is an
acquired taste, I suppose." she commented, cheerfully "Have a nice,
day!"
When Mace woke up she uncurled from the dank street sidewalk. She sat up
dizzily and placed her hand onto her forehead. She had no idea where she was
or how she got there, but she did know one thing. She was hungry. Mace got on
her feet, her white clothes grungy from being outside, her hair even worse.
She stumbled forward a bit and thought about her situation aloud.
"Ok, so I know I was supposed to meet John last night." she assessed
as she stepped down the walk. "I should have known he wouldn't show. He
never does. What happened after that? I know I woke up here…but why? What
happened between waiting and now…why can't I remember? Ouch." she
rubbed her head a little more. The harder she tried to remember the worse her
head hurt. "Oh well. I need to get some breakfast." She rooted through
her pockets and pulled out a few bills she had stuffed in there carelessly the
day before. The money was slightly caked with wet dirt like her pants were.
"Then I'm going home to take a shower." she told herself.
"Mace is in trouble," a squeaky voice chanted. She looked around to
match the voice with its owner, but there was no one there. "Mace is in
troouuble." It taunted again. The only thing around her was a chipmunk,
but it couldn't… "Mace is in trouble, hee hee hee." This time
she watched that chipmunk's lips move as it talked.
"Gah!" Mace leapt backwards. "A TALKING CHIPMUNK? What's going
on here?!"
"Mace is in trouble." It continued on.
"I'm going nuts." she reasoned with herself. "That has to be
it. Why else would I think this chipmunk is talking to me?" Mace backed
up a little more. The chipmunk giggled. "Oh now it's laughing." Mace
stopped backing up before she walked into the street. "Ok, now we know
I'm nuts. Now to get a cat scan . How much do I have?" she counted her
money. "Five dollars. I can get a cats can for five dollars. Sure I'm crazy
now anyway. I can buy the London Bridge while I'm at it too. Be a regular entrepreneur
with five bucks." she babbled to herself.
"You know what?" The chipmunk chattered in the tree.
"What?" Mace by this time sounded as crazy as she called herself while
she looked at the chipmunk.
"Yooouuu're aaa psyyyychooo biiitch." the chipmunk sang once again.
"Psycho bitch? Ooo, I like that." she started walking ahead past the
chipmunk. "You hear that everybody! I'm a psycho bitch! Here to save the
day once again from SANITY!" she laughed a bit and fell on her butt with
a thud. The chipmunk followed her.
"Where ya goooin?" It asked.
"Someplace where I can't hurt myself or be a danger to others." Mace
answered cheerily.
"What for?" it asked
"Yes, that's right. The state asylum." Mace muttered to herself.
"Awww, why don't you have some fuuun?" it bounced in front of her.
"I think I've hallucinated enough for one day thank you." Mace didn't
stop.
"I'll give you a cookie," It told her still bouncing beside her.
"Oh a chipmunk with a cookie. Yes that makes me even LESS CRAZY!"
Mace shouted the last word hitting her foot on the ground. The chipmunk scattered
off and everyone and their dog stared in her direction in the suddenly crowded
street. Even the birds fluttered away to escape the intense stare. "BOO!"
she jumped at one little kid who ran screamed to his mom. With a proud smirk
Mace walked down to her apartment.
"You're a mess." Nadia commented, wryly as Mace trudged into the living
room of the apartment they shared.
"Not now, I've had a hard night." she closed the door wearily and
trudged across the room to the linen closet where she removed a fluffy pink
towel.
"Obviously." Nadia stood, straightening out the shirt of her shroud-like
night gown with great care. Her face was void of pale make-up and her black
dyed hair was an utter rats nest, yet she retained her superior composure.
"I'm going to take a nice, hot shower, and going to bed." Mace continued,
pretending not to hear the bitchy remark. She walked into the bathroom and closed
the door. She slowly removed her dirt coated clothes and left them sitting on
the floor. She opened the curtain and climbed into the shower itself. Outside
Nadia could hear the shower running. She got up with a sigh and went into the
kitchen. In the refrigerator was a bottle of red liquid labeled "Blood",
which she removed and partook of in several large gulps. Some of the liquid
escaped and ran down the corners of her mouth. She wiped this away with a satisfied
exclamation and replaced the bottle.
"Nothing like human nectar to wake you up." she quipped to herself.
Of course, it wasn't really blood. It was cranapple juice. But it was fun to
pretend anyway.
After an hour or so Mace emerged from the bathroom dripping water across the
apartment as she traveled into the kitchen. She had realized how hungry she
was after she put on her nighty, which by this point was soaked. She walked
to the refrigerator and pulled out the "blood" in a drowsy fashion
and poured some into a cup. She set the bottle down in the spot she had lifted
her cup from and started to take a long drink of it. Nadia saw her opportunity
to have some fun with her roomie.