Sally And Susan
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The girls took turns with the wine bottle. Soon there was little space left on the table for it to rest, and they drank from their own glasses as well – a rare treat.
“Mom!” Sally suddenly gasped. “I’m thirsty…”
Her mother looked over. It took some effort for Susan to see into her daughter’s eyes; both ladies had fallen silent while drinking, each lost in thought. There was something strange going on in the room. The three of them felt oddly isolated and alone together, yet somehow also part of a great collective consciousness…
Susan nodded slowly, reaching out to take up the wine bottle and pour herself more liquid heaven. Her movements became slow, deliberate. Almost dreamy. At one point, she stopped pouring entirely and just stared ahead blankly. Unconscious? No – you could never catch her unawares like that. But if not quite conscious either, perhaps something else was happening here…
“Mmmm,” she moaned quietly before continuing to drink.
It wasn’t long before Susan passed out cold.
Sally sighed softly. “You know what I think Mom?” she said aloud. “That we’re living in hell. Just two women with no men around.”
She sat down next to her mother, putting an arm around her. Suddenly feeling much younger than sixteen years. A tiny sigh escaped her lips. “But mommy, I have to confess something…”
Sally put her glass on the floor, stood up, and moved closer to her mother until she was right behind her.
“What’s that sweetie?” Susan asked, opening her eyes ever so slightly.
“I don’t hate guys anymore. In fact-” Sally paused, taking a deep breath as the alcohol started working on her. “…in fact, I kind of wish there was one here with us right now.”
Susan closed her eyes, pressing her cheek against her daughter’s. “Oh honey,” she replied. “Don’t you feel how we’re connected?”
Sally nodded, allowing her body to relax completely against her mother’s. Somehow being next to her made everything okay again. And maybe having someone around who actually cared about her too…
Just then, Sue woke up again, remembering where she was. She opened her eyes once more, a broad smile stretching across her face.
“Oh my God, Sally!” she said. “Did you hear me?!”
Startled by her sudden return of alertness, Sally turned to look at her and saw the most amazing thing: her gorgeous mom’s eyes were filled with love…
They locked their gaze for several moments, studying each other in silence. Susan was grinning widely, unable to speak. She wasn’t sure what to say or do, for once unsure of whether to cry tears of joy or simply laugh hysterically at the sheer absurdity of this whole situation. Finally, she managed to work up the energy for speech.
“Wow! That’s sooo great, honey!” she exclaimed. “Is there anything you want to talk about?”
There was a pause, and then Sally answered: “Yeah. So…have you decided on when our wedding will be?”
Susan blinked hard, smiling in wonderment at her daughter. She had forgotten all about that. Now that things finally felt normal between them again, those plans had faded away into the past. How could she possibly forget such important events?!
“Well yeah…” she responded hesitantly. “I guess I’ll set everything up tomorrow afternoon and then you can come back home with me…We’d better get going, though; we still need to buy some stuff for your dress and-“
“Wait, Mom!” Sally interrupted excitedly. “Let’s make it special! Let’s do the wedding tonight…tonight! Right now!”
Without waiting for her mother to respond she quickly ran over and grabbed her hand. Together they stumbled from the chair and went running towards her bedroom.
Once inside, Susan let go of her daughter’s hand and followed along willingly. This time, however, she managed to shut the door behind her before falling onto her bed. For a second it seemed like there was nothing wrong with her body – but then she noticed her head start spinning very fast indeed.
As a few minutes passed, she realized something was terribly, horribly wrong. Both of her arms were dangling uselessly, frozen at odd angles – as was her body. As she lay there, watching herself moving stiffly, she couldn’t help but notice something else.
It wasn’t just her left arm that had ceased functioning…she could hear her heart beating in both ears!
A chill crept through her spine as she stared fixedly at her torso. With growing horror she discovered that her legs had become joined together, leaving only her lower torso free to move.
And as she watched, a shudder ran through her entire body. It was like something had been severed from within her, severing the connection which allowed her mind to reach out to her conscious awareness. Slowly at first, and then with increasing urgency, her brain started shutting itself down. The lights flickered once briefly, before finally extinguishing entirely.
In all likelihood, that last glimpse she had of her unconscious body was her own consciousness making its final plea for mercy. Unable to do so, she slumped slowly to the ground and was gone forever…
***
The sound of high heels clicking echoed off the walls, echoing back even louder from the concrete floor. They made their way further into the dimly lit storage room until they reached the exit. At that point, the girl stopped abruptly. Turning around, she spoke loudly into the air, loud enough for the person who had arrived so late to hear:
“Oh, dear! Why am I always such a klutz? Of course! You wouldn’t happen to know why I’m always such a klutz, would you?”
Her friend in training, sitting calmly next to her, shook his head. But before he could answer she continued.
“No no no! That was rhetorical! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that myself!”
He smiled weakly and gave a little shrug.
“So you wanted me here because you thought you might trip?”
She groaned. “Of course I did. Who cares if you can tell anyone without feeling bad about it?”
His smile grew slightly wider. “Not everyone wants to feel guilty.”
“Huh?”
“Come on, let’s leave this place. I bet it’s the same everywhere we go, anyway.”
With a nod she started walking ahead of him, trying not to let it show how glad she was to see him. He glanced at her, suddenly realizing something – and following her gaze down to where she was looking.
“Hey! What’re you doing? Stop that!”
She blushed furiously. “Geez! Do you have to yell every- No, wait,” she cut herself short and rolled her eyes.
“Okay then, don’t tell me. Please just stop already,” she continued. “Please, please,” she pleaded.
Laughing, he played along, pretending to catch her in the act – despite knowing quite well that it wasn’t really an attempt by her to steal anything from the store. When she looked at him, her cheeks burned redder than usual, and her voice sounded almost desperate.
“Don’t make fun of me! Okay, okay, fine. Here, take my bag, and look through it, okay?”
As she handed the large black satchel over to him, his smile grew genuine. Reaching in, he produced a single item from within, careful not to touch too much more than necessary.
“Uh-huh. So what’ve you got there?” she asked eagerly.
He held it up proudly and was surprised when she pulled away and stepped backward. Shrugging, he tucked the necklace between two fingers again and reached out his other hand.
“Here, hold still, please.”
When she looked at him questioningly, he pointed to the necklace. Her brow furrowed slightly as she nodded and turned sideways against the wall. After gently wrapping the necklace around her neck, he turned her back towards him.
“Ooh, it looks nice on you!”
With a sigh, he let the bag drop to the floor and draped the coat around her shoulders instead. Pulling the hood low, he led her through the doorway as quickly as possible. Outside the cold wind hit them both like a wall, and for a moment he felt sure they’d be forced to return inside. Instead, though, the wind blew past them both and carried them up the street beyond into the darkness.
***
Takao stood quietly beside the door of the room, watching the blonde woman with intense interest. In that respect, it wasn’t unlike the way she had seen those she loved to die. She knew that she couldn’t watch any longer; she just had to accept that fact, regardless of how hard that realization was to bear. But for now, she waited patiently for whatever was about to happen.
She expected some kind of fight to begin any minute. Surely she must have angered someone powerful enough to warrant the presence of armed guards… or perhaps there were even people outside right now who would start shooting at the slightest provocation.
The young Japanese man she was tied to appeared equally nervous. But nothing happened, and Takao sighed in relief, lowering her arm – which had been resting across her forehead to shield her eyes from the glare of the window.
As soon as she did so, however, the guard sitting opposite her made a gesture and muttered something under his breath. Then, at once, she could see several objects being tossed into the room via the open window behind her. Two knives, a piece of rope, and a handful of coins. Not exactly weapons in their traditional sense, but each object seemed to cause a spark in the mind of the young woman waiting in front of the door.
“A knife! A small one? Great!”
But, before either of the guards could react, the blonde woman snapped her teeth together and took a step backward. Just before she put distance between herself and the items she clutched tightly in her hands, she froze, turning her head first left, then right.
“I’m sorry, are you afraid of me? Is that why you won’t come into the room? Are you frightened?”
It was difficult to see whether the statement was meant to sound threatening or ironic, but if it did it certainly didn’t work. The two guards immediately drew their swords, staring intently at the blonde woman. She cocked her head in confusion, taking another small step backward.
“I am not dangerous… or, at least, I hope not…”
The guards exchanged glances and silently began moving forward. By this time, Takao had managed to get to her feet and had started circling the blonde, keeping several paces behind her. But she had no intention of attacking or attempting to escape.
They’d never consider her a threat, and while she might surprise them if she attacked, it wouldn’t be enough to prevent an all-out battle.
Instead, she kept her eye on the knives in case either of them attempted to attack. But neither moved and after a few moments, Takao gave up and allowed the blonde to lead the way. She went slowly, making her feel more and more like a pet that needed to be guided where she wanted to go.
It didn’t help her nerves to know just how easily she could break the slender body beneath her. And it didn’t help matters at all that the blonde was constantly glancing over her shoulder as she walked, apparently looking for something.
When they finally stopped at the foot of a long flight of stairs leading upwards, Takao’s heart skipped a beat.
“Do these stairs go anywhere?”
The blonde seemed uncertain for a moment, then shook her head. Without warning, she knelt down, fumbled around until she found a small stone, and threw it up into the air. There was no thunderous crash or any indication that anything had changed, but Takao noticed an odd look flit across the blonde’s face. A second later, she ran upstairs.
For the first time since entering the building, Takao was truly scared. With nowhere else to turn, she followed after the young woman, going up the stairs three steps at a time. When she reached the top, she heard a strange clicking sound and saw a large, glass door swinging shut.
The blonde spun around at the noise and caught sight of Takao rushing towards her. She smiled warmly.
“There we are,” she whispered softly, reaching out and gently running her fingertips along the back of Takao’s hand. “Don’t worry. You’re safe.”
Takao still felt rather uneasy. No matter what she said or did, she had a terrible feeling that things weren’t going to end well.
The End