Fortune Cookie

Part 1

“Where’s he taking you out for dinner, Roxie?” One last look to make sure my long black hair was still in its curls. It didn’t look as good as when I left the house, but it wasn’t terrible, so I left it alone.

“No where fancy,” I told Emily over the phone as I checked my makeup to make sure it hadn’t rubbed off. I took extra care to make sure my hazel eyes popped out. Even curling my hair was out character for me, but I wanted to make a good impression. “Anyways, I gotta go. I spent long enough in the restroom, he probably thinks I’m either taking a dump or ditching him.”

Emily sighed. “That’s an exaggeration, you’ve only been gone a couple of minutes. Now tell me, what are you eating?”

“Chinese, Emily. Bye.” Before Emily could say anything I hung up on her and stuffed my phone back in my purse. One last look in the mirror and a double check to make sure my zipper was up on my pants, I exited the restroom.

I headed back over to the table where Allan, my date, was waiting for me. We first met at a bar a couple of days ago. He offered me a Band-Aid when I cut my finger by accident. We chatted for a long time and when I was leaving he asked if I would see a movie and have dinner with him. Sounded like a typical cliché boring date, but I said okay since I enjoyed talking to him so much.

So here I was, at a nice Chinese restaurant and afterwards we were going to see a movie. What movie we were going to see was a surprise. When I sat back down at our table, Allan smiled at me. “Our food still hasn’t arrived yet, I’m going to go check on it.” I said okay as he left the table.

As I was waiting, a waitress with a basket of fortunate cookies came up to me, “Fortune Cookie?” she asked.

“Yes please!” She handed me one and left. I watched her walk away, not stopping at the other tables to offer them fortune cookies. I concluded she had passed the others their fortune cookies while I was in the restroom.

As I ate the cookie, I read my fortune, “Your life is in danger. Say nothing to anyone. You must leave the city immediately and never return. Repeat: say nothing.” I laughed; of course I would get a creepy fortune. I put it in my pocket so I could show it to Emily later. I was sure she would get a kick out of it too.

A different waitress approached me, “Are you Miss Roxie?” she asked with a heavy Chinese accent.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Allan asked me to bring you back to him. He has a surprise for you. Please follow me.”

“Okay…” Strange, I thought. I hoped the guy wasn’t already trying to propose to me on our first date.

I grabbed my purse and followed the waitress towards the back of the restaurant. She led me through a pair of double doors, out of the customers view and down a hallway to a back door that led to the alley. I followed her a couple of steps outside then stopped, “Um… I think I should go back in…” I didn’t finish my sentence when she suddenly turned around, wielding a knife at me. Before my brain had time to process that she was going to attack me, my body reacted, applying the Aikido training I’ve been doing for years. I used a tanto dori move, throwing her and disarming the knife from her grip. Her head hit the ground during the throw knocking her unconscious. “Shit!” I bent down and felt for a pulse. I breathed a sigh of relief. She was still alive.

I grabbed my phone from my purse and dialed 911. I put the phone to my ear and listen to it ring once. “Hello Roxie,” said a male voice. “It looks like you’ve chosen to ignore my warning.”