Escape from Paradise

Chapter 18: Cat Fight

Diana hated rainy days. The rain and the damp weather were the greatest enemies of her long hair and collection of evening dresses. On the rainy days, all the parties and cultural events were postponed and she had almost nowhere to go. Life in the city came to a standstill when it was being drowned by the rain. A wide umbrella would always fix the 'getting wet' issue but that wasn't the reason why nobody left their home. It was that absence of light. With that uniform gray gloom covering the roof of the world it appeared that the night never ended and the morning never came and so nobody bothered to leave their home. Diana had no intention of leaving her cozy apartment either. She lay in her bed, in her pink underwear listening to an audiobook about naughty summer adventures of an ordinary woman to decided to explore sexual intimacies. Listening to the silly erotic soap opera she smiled as she vividly imagined herself in the shoes of the female lead – Lisa. Of course, she never craved for carnal pleasures the way the main character of the story did but getting some drama and attention from the opposite sex had always pleased her.

When Lisa attempted to seduce a bartender and comically failed, the ringing doorbell interrupted Diana's laughter. She paused the record and put on her pajamas, making sure that they still revealed her breast line hoping that the person behind the door would be Larry.

It was not Larry. I was a woman with a thick blond braid thrown over her shoulder and a face which must have never produced a smile. The intensity with which the woman stared at the peephole was hypnotizing.

"I need to talk. I know you're home," the woman said and banged on the door.

"Ok, ok. Just a moment," replied Diana and even though she sensed an unnatural dread radiating from the woman, she turned the lock and opened the door. What could ever go wrong in Paradise?

Not hesitating for an invitation, the woman entered the apartment. In the fashion of an old friend, she passed the corridor, entered the main room and stood there at its center inspecting the interior. Playing with the tip of her braid with her fingers, it seemed, helped her to focus. Her stare moved continuously from an object to an object pausing at the window for a few seconds.

Diana locked the door and walked to the room. Hands crossed on her chest, her brows narrow, she attempted to recall the visitor's face which appeared quite familiar. She asked, "Who are you miss?"

"I'm Jessie Green and I came for your help," replied Jessie in a strictly-business tone. Her stare passed a holographic TV screen floating on a wall. The name of the audiobook 'Lisa's dirty adventures' evoked a wry smile on her stony face.

"My help? What help? I don't even know you."

"Oh, you do know me but you can't remember," Jessie said. Upon finishing the inspection, she sat down on Diana's bed and leaned back, forming a tight pillow with her palms behind her head and butterfly wings with her elbows spread wide.

Jessie's pretension of being at home and her abstract answers annoyed Diana. With bitterness in her voice, Diana asked, "Would you help me remember then?" She picked up a blueish poof, brought in to the front of Jessie and sat down. The soft azure box began to change, climb up Diana's back and slide along the sides of her thighs until it formed a fluffy armchair perfectly fitting her body shape, a throne worthy of a queen.

"In the life before this one, before we came to the Paradise you disliked me. I was a well established and famous woman and you were a young, envious, hard-working competitor with interesting thought-provoking ideas that in your short life brought you fame. You were important to the old world, to me, to everyone living there. You still are important. More than you can imagine. Haven't you noticed, Diana, that this world is more than the eyes can see? Haven't you felt as if your eyes were open while everyone else was still asleep? Haven't you felt that this world lacked depth, substance, or meaning?"