The Devil's Mistress

~Chapter 5~

China Grill, New York. A glittering lounge of leather, wood and glass. "Can I get you anything to drink, miss?" A waiter by the name of Anthony asked. He stood over my table. Pen and note pad at the ready, as if one order alone was too much for him to bother remembering. "Water." The sound of a pen gliding across paper, inevitably staining it's immaculate spread, hit my ears. Anthony scribbled down the rest of my order the disappeared, assuring me that my meal would be ready 'soon'. How specific.

Through the window of the lavish joint, I watched the middle class stroll by on their way to work, unlike me, they didn't have the time or the money to casually step into a restaurant on 5th avenue and decide to eat there out of the blue. They were all too busy trying to make enough money to afford one single trip to some place extravagant, no doubt. Form where I sat, the people below looked like ants. All journeying through the big city, all working toward the same common goal; Survival. Some of the ants wore waistcoats, while others carried umbrellas and briefcases. One ant even wore a suit; a suit that stood out from the rest of the others. This was an expensive suit... Derrick's suit... and he was in it. E stood among the stream of passerby's, his girlfriend by his side. She seemed to be hunting around for a place to eat lunch, while Derrick absentmindedly hunted around for me; unaware that I was two floors above him watching his every move.

"Okay." The sound of Anthony's voice interrupted my focus, forcing me to shift in my seat. He was back with my order. "I have your Chinese chicken salad, egg rolls, fortune cookie, and your water." He listed, placing the metallic gold dishes down one by one. "Enjoy, Miss Katherine."

I was caught off guard; both by the fortune cookie and by the sound of my name leaving his lips. How did he know who I was? I lifted my gaze, but he'd disappeared. Something wasn't right. I reached for the unordered fortune cookie and cracked it down the middle, pulling out the crinkled strip of paper inside. "Your life is in danger, Katerina. You must leave the city immediately and never return. Say nothing. A plea for help may just cost you your life." I had to get out. My dreamland was nothing but a cruel mirage, melting away with every passing second. The city I thought I once owned now sat behind the fiery gates of hell, consumed by a darkness I had no part in controlling.

Sinister clouds loomed over a ducky sky, as if the devil himself had smashed through the pearly gates of heaven and stolen the sun. The people in the streets were no longer my play toys, but Satan's little helpers, each one nothing my whereabouts as I barreled through the streets toward the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The one place left untouched, or so I'd hoped.