Lethal

Chapter Seven.

*dear rereaders, the ending of this chapter is different so you have to read in order to avoid future confusion*

Kicks, that's all I felt as I brought my knees to my chest; assuming the position that I'd come to know all too well. Aisha was hidden under our bed, I kept my eyes trained on her to make time go by faster and subtly shook my head when she moved to come out of her hiding place.

"Dumb fuckin' brat! Tell me where the fuck that nappy haired bitch is!" The alcohol wafted off of him in gut churning waves but I remained silent, refusing to let his boot meet my sister's beautiful face.

All I could wonder in that moment was if I would ever be anything but the scum under his boot.

My eyes bolted open with a start, I surveyed my surroundings with relief. I was okay, I was a grown up in my own home; no one could hurt me. I reached beneath my bed for the bottle of gin that I kept there and took a swig in disgust; not at the taste but at the similarities that I shared with the devil incarnate.

According to my phone's screen, it was six in the morning and I unfortunately had no plans for the day until night time. Getting out of bed, I went through the motions of my morning routine while pushing the unpleasant memories out of my head with practiced ease. I didn't want to go there, and I would pretend that I wasn't in that place, even if I was. There was a specific routine that I had for mornings after nightmares; I would play music at its loudest so that I didn't feel alone, I'd text Aisha to make sure that she was safe and I would try to go outside as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, I wasn't left much time for my mind to wander. About an hour later I received an email from Ms. Fox thanking me for my work on the shoot and letting me know that the money for my time had been sent to my account. I sighed in relief at the good news, though it was bittersweet. The four days that I'd spent on set were the most fun that I'd ever had on the job in my short life. However I was painfully aware that I would be on the hunt for work yet again.

I checked and rechecked my account balance in disbelief, Ms. Fox had paid me far more that we initially agreed which led me to send her an email immediately. I wanted to be honest with her, in case it was a mistake; she was a nice woman but an even better connection that might have offered me another job in the future. My phone rang nearly ten minutes later, Ms. Fox was on the other line.

"Hello, Ms. Fox." I said, attempting to sound professional.

"Zana dear, I'm calling in reference to your email. Your initial wage didn't include all of the extra hours that you put in or the attention to detail with regards to Pardison's entourage." Ms. Fox told me while I could hear her tapping away at her keyboard.

I couldn't hold the gasp in at her words, "Really? Wow, thank you so much! I hope I'm your first choice if anything else comes up in the future."

"Definitely Ms. King, you've got a good eye. Oh, I've got another call coming in but it was a pleasure to have you on this project." She hung up before I had a chance to reply.

My mood had been lifted significantly by the call, the acknowledgement for my work gave me the extra confidence that I needed for me to be sure that I was in the right field. As a typical millennial, I figured that a post to my social media would be a perfect way to mark receiving my first paycheck as a stylist. I scrolled through the pictures that Aisha had taken of me throughout our time on set and settled on one that I liked a lot.

ZaZaKay