Vice

Prologue: Vice

I stood in a dark corner, watching as the queue moved forward slowly. It seemed like I had been standing there for hours, yet the street was still flooded with eager crowds waiting their turn to look death in the eye.

Brooding boys and packs of giggling girls passed me by as they took their place in line.

My heart pounded viciously against my chest. Get me out of here! That's all I wanted- to go home. For everything to be back to normal, like it never happened. 

I squeezed my eyes shut as I imagined opening the front door and hearing Perdita's wicked laugh as she fell to pieces over dad's rendition of 'Hit me baby one more time' , mum would rent a movie and we would eat dinner as a family, like we used to.

But I won't see Perdita again. I won't hear her laugh once more. Not unless I go through with this. I'm the only hope she's got left of being found- everyone else has already given up on her.

I yanked the hem of the black leather skirt down. I felt vulnerable, exposed. I sighed in frustration- I was a walking target, I had to make this one count.

Shivering in my concrete corner, I examined the people who were standing in line. Most were wearing black; girls wore skirts which reached unimaginable heights and boys and girls alike embellished themselves with dog collars and coal black eyeliner.

Perdita had been coming to these sorts of clubs for a while, mum and dad didn't know- they'd kill her if they knew, but she'd told me. She used to tell me everything.

I had raided her wardrobe to find clothes which wouldn't make me look so out of place. As I looked at myself in the full length mirror in Perdita's room I thought I had looked the part; tousled hair (check), dark borderline drag queen makeup (check) , black leather ensemble (check) . But standing here so close to them I could see that I was incredibly under dressed. Compared to these people I looked... dangerously normal. They'd eat me alive in there. Literally.