Nikki Love

Becoming Hired

     Don Davidson straightened up fast when he heard the door knob turning. He wasn’t very happy these days. After nearly losing his life to get the record company years ago, he was broke. He knew he needed a new singer to make ends meet but who?

     His arms hid under the desk as a scared girl with deep blue eyes and long blonde hair stepped in. She looked about seventeen and kept glancing around as if she would escape any second.

     “What’s your name, kid,” he asked while taking out his left arm, picking up a pen and hovering it over a piece of paper. On his desk was barely anything except a pile of papers and a pencil holder shaped like an accordion.

     “Nikole Love,” she squeaked, “but people call me Nikki.”

     “Uh, huh,” he wrote, “well, go ahead, tell me about yourself.” He gestured to the only available seat in his tidy, and mostly empty, office. Nikki sat, biting her lip then crossing her legs and uncrossing them.

     “Well, I’m, uh, fifteen,” she pauses when she sees his expression, “Almost sixteen! I like singing. I play the guitar and write my own music.” Nikki pulls out a crumpled paper, unfolds it, and lays it on the desk in front of Don. He reads it and then looks up at the almost sixteen year old.

     “Not bad,” he says, “Nice lyrics….Miss. Love. What was your inspiration?”

      Without a pause, Nikki answers, “My parents. They died when I was young.” She looks away.

      Don frowns, another child with a horrible past. He sighs. Why did I have to do this, he asks. ‘Cause I need the money, he answers himself. “Let’s hear your voice,” he commands, writing. Nikki sings some notes and a line from her song. Don Davidson looks up, surprised, “You’re hired,” he declares, pulling out a contract.

                                                               ~

     A couple days go by with Nikki singing songs she wrote for the Davidson’s Records album. Since she earns more money working as a singer for Mr. Davidson, she quit working at the nightclub. Things go well for Nikki. She earns a lot of money and things seem to finally fall into place for her, but it’s not long before things change for the worse.

     Nikki is eating some lunch in the break room when Don Davidson, who Nikki hasn’t seen since the audition, storms in. He’s yelling at an employee and waving his arms around when Nikki realizes something: his right hand is missing a pinkie and half a thumb.

     Nikki drops her sandwich and stares at her boss, Don Davidson, her parent’s killer, the wrecker of her life. Mr. Davidson never notices Nikki glaring at him. All he did was continue screaming at his worker and then left the room.

     What feels like hours later, Nikki returns from her trance and tries to think. If Mr. Davidson of Davidson’s Records Co. is her parent’s killer, why did he kill her parents? Why would he crash into their car, threatening their lives? Why would he slit her father’s throat? All these thoughts ran through Nikki’s mind but she knew one thing for certain: she had to tell the police.