"Are you offering me a ride?" she asks, amusement lingering in her voice as her high heels click on the hard asphalt ground until she is standing in front of me, supporting herself on one leg. I let my eyes slide down to her legs, biting my lips as...
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Irina
My high heels click against the hard floor as I walk through the ruin-like, foreclosed industrial warehouse. My nose picks up a whiff of dust and sensory-depriving smells I've never smelled in my life.
But I've gotten used to it. All this here is nothing new to me. Nightly meetings have become my daily routine, even if I would like to be somewhere else right now. But I can hardly change who I am, can I?
My eyes roam over the worn items on the floor that have suffered from the aging process over the years. My shoes crush broken glass, creating a cracking sound in the large hall. The full moon allows its light to penetrate through the lengthy windows, creating visual rays that enter through the broken surfaces in the window.
It is quiet, nothing can be heard except my light footsteps and it makes me wonder if perhaps I am the first to show up for this meeting. The large open space, with only a pillar every few feet to support the roof, would have been enough to drive through by car. And safer for me, too.
However, that was the deal of the meeting anyway, I was to drop the car off a good distance away and emerge on foot. I walk between the columns, careful not to brush against them because I can only imagine how many animals and maybe homeless people have infested this hall.
The air is cool, nibbling at the exposed skin of my thighs. Although I'm used to places like this, I can't help but shiver from the creeping atmosphere that surrounds me. It feels like I'm in a haunted house and no matter how loud I scream, my voice would just bounce off the bare walls.
Just as I'm about to look for the person I assumed was probably already here, a figure steps out from behind a pillar, whose outline I recognize.
He is the one who called me to this meeting, the one who wanted me to come alone. Not that I need anyone, because I can take care of myself very well, but with men like him it is better to be safe than sorry. My father has full trust in me about this, which is why he sent me because he has something else to take care of himself.
Besides, I wouldn't need an accompaniment. This business here is basically just a small delivery that would be a laughing stock next to all the other businesses to show up with umpteen men. Further reassurance is that by agreement, no weapons are allowed. Just the two of us, almost bare.
I can already make out the ugly grin on his face from a distance, and with each step, I take toward him, the moonlight shines more on the half of his young face. He may be a few years older than me, but he's not nearly as experienced.
Maybe it's nothing I should be proud of because, with each passing day, this life robs me of more of my youth that I would like to spend like everyone else. But it is what it is, I was born into this and there is no other path to take.
