More Than Just A Game

Chapter Two

Chapter Two:

I bet you're wondering why I do it. Don't worry, I still ask myself that same question every time a new guy offers me a ride. Yet somehow I always find Kat opening the door and sliding into the passenger seat. I guess you could say its a habit now, I just don't know how to say no. One of these days it's going to get me in trouble, but that's not enough to stop me. If anything, trouble almost sounds appealing. It's not the money, that much I do know. As Kathryn, I have everything I need - an upper class background; a private education; more than enough friends... Anyway, you get the picture. Yet something always seemed to be missing. Right from the word 'go', my whole life had been dictated by my parents. It was a life of expectations and tribulations.

So, naturally, when I got accepted into Nottingham University, I jumped at the chance. My Oxford-graduate father was far from satisfied and my mother actually wept with disappointment. They didn't care what I wanted or even if I was happy; all that mattered to them was that I uphold the family name. I spent the first eighteen years of my life feeling like I didn't belong, like I was never enough. My life wasn't my own, in fact, it was hardly a life at all. The days merged into each other and soon became years of endless routine. I just couldn't tell what it was all for. I'd had enough. It was time for change. I wanted to know what it felt like to really live.

It sounds ironic doesn't it? I wanted to know what it's like to feel alive, yet here I was considering the possibilities of death. Maybe I'm paranoid, but if you were me, then maybe you would be too. Not every night is like this, but that's not to say that the rest are any better. Regardless of the situation, from the moment I get into that car, I am Kat. The adrenaline courses through my veins at one hundred miles a minute and all of my senses come alive. Okay, so my imagination goes into overdrive every once in a while, but I'm feeling and I'm living. Even if sometimes that feeling is fear for my life.

Now you  have to believe me when I say I didn't go looking for this. When I moved away to university, I didn't plan on becoming a whore (or whatever it is you've already labelled me as). Don't deny it. I know you're already judging me. Oh wouldn't Daddy be proud if he could see me now? His perfect little Princess selling herself for the rush. Like I say, none of this was planned. For the first week or so after the move I was exhausted due to the vast amount of work and organisation I had to do. I slipped effortlessly into a life of routine and schedules, almost back to the old me, but once things settled down I soon found sleep evading me. Nothing worked. In the end, sick of staring at the same four walls night after night,  I decided to go for a walk around the block to try and tire myself out a little. Anyone could tell you that walking the streets of a foreign city at night is a bad idea, but I guess that was the appeal. At this point, it was still early September so the evening temperatures were still fairly lenient. I threw on a cotton smock dress and a waterfall blazer, along with my battered Dr Martens, and headed out of the building. It wasn't until I hit Forest Road that I realised my phone was still sitting on my dresser. Sadly, that was not something I had allowed for in my meticulous schedule. Praying I wouldn't need it and thankful that I hadn't left my keys too, I carried on heading North onto Mapperley Road, deciding to make the most of my time to explore the city.

I couldn't be sure how long I'd been gone; it may have been ten minutes or possibly an hour. All I knew was that night was drawing in fast and all the warmth had been sucked from the night. Time to call it a night I remembered thinking to myself. It was only then that I realised I had no clue which way my apartment was; everything looked so different under the obsidian sky. What had originally been my escape had now captured me, the darkness closing in, amplifying my isolation. Just then I heard a car coming up behind me and immediately sped purposefully down the sidewalk with my head down. My heart was in my mouth and apprehension was building with every step I took. The car was drawing nearer, decreasing in speed now. The gentle hum of the engine was barely audible over my erratic breathing but that didn't stop it drilling mindlessly into my head. Deciding that I was utterly lost, I slowed my pace also and leaned in towards the car as it drew level with me, intending to ask the driver if he could give me directions back to my place. At least that was my intention.

"Hi - " I started confidently, feeling everything but.

"Evening miss," replied the olive-skinned man behind the wheel, "can I give you a lift somewhere?"

By this point my legs were like lead and my fingers had gone completely numb. I certainly hadn't considered my attire when I left my apartment earlier this evening. We couldn't be further than ten minutes drive from my apartment block, and I had no idea where to start. Mapperley Road was endless and everything looked the same right now. I had a class tomorrow morning, I didn't have time for this. Besides, there was something about the pools of honey in the stranger's eyes that made me feel safe. There was a warmth there that beckoned me in from the frosty night. It had to be better than being lost and alone on the streets of Nottingham at night surely. Anything had to be better than what I'd left behind, that much I did know.

"Sure," I smiled, hopping graciously into the car,

And so, with a single word, it began.