Nightcrawlers

Berry throws herself through the doors of the ladies bathroom. Raz is not far behind her. "It's only tequila!" she laughs. Berry hates her playful tone. She's not serious. She's never serious. 

Berry grips the side of the bathroom sink. It's been years since she was a teenager but she remembers her Mum sitting in that chair by the window. Her Mum would wait up until she got home. Not to reinforce curfew or to make her feel guilty, but because she couldn't sleep until she knew Berry was safe. Berry imagines her Mum sitting in that chair, waiting for her all these years that she's been away. She clutches her stomach. Guilt.

"Oh God, are you gonna chuck up?" Raz asks as she takes a step back. The woman working toilet attendance stands to attention and glares at Berry with a furrowed brow. "No, no, I'm not gonna be sick. I'm fine" she says, trying to reassure them both. "Well let's go then" Raz giddily grabs Berry's wrist and drags her behind. Berry always wondered how she could be so excited... doing the same thing to different men each night. Sometimes Berry felt sorry for Raz. Sometimes she felt afraid of her.

Berry is pulled back onto the club floor and her heartbeat immediately syncs up with the base of the music. The lights swirl around her as if they are dancing too. There are roars of laughter and excitement as a group of lads in the VIP area pour bottles onto each other. Raz moves with sultry, effortless grace. Someone catches her eye and gestures her over. "We're in," she says. 

A man dressed in all black disconnects the rope and let's them pass. Raz speeds off to her latest subject. He and all of his friends are tall, confident, rowdy and rich. Footballers. Berry feels out of place. She sits down and gets her phone out to look occupied. "Is that The Revenge of the Nightcrawler?" a voice asks. Berry looks up. A man is standing over her with two champagne flutes. His eyes are fixated on Berry's phone case. Berry is fixated on him. "Yeah" she says, embarrassed. Sci-fi novels aren't kool until they're film franchises or television series. He hands her a flute and then reaches into his pocket. "I'm Team Earthling" he shows her his phone case. Berry is surprised and pleased. "Well I don't know if I should drink this then... you might be trying to poison me" she teases. He looks at Berry and chuckles, then nods towards the empty spot next to her. "May I?" he asks. Berry is caught off guard. She's so used to being left alone that she's struggling to remember how to act when you get attention. What would Raz do? "Well, you are supposed to keep your enemies close..." 

Berry is captivated by their conversation as the club raves on around them. Raz eventually comes crashing through. "Hey! Terrell is taking us to a private afterparty" Raz relays excitedly. A handsome man strolls behind her. Raz eyes the person sitting next to Berry. "Harry Potter can come too". Berry smiles apologetically. "It's Fred, actually..." he begins. But Raz is already distracted. The four of them stumble out of the club and into a long black car with tinted windows. Raz hits a button and the roof of the car begins to open. She clambers onto the seat and pulls the top half of her body out the roof. Her hands are in the air as the car speeds through the empty streets. Raz is in bliss. She's flying.

Terrell leads the group to the living area of his bachelor pad. He serves them drinks from the mini bar and plays music from the surround sound speaker. Berry and Fred talk on the sofa. Raz and Terrell disappear upstairs. Fred looks slightly embarrassed. "I have something to show you but you have to promise not to laugh at me". Berry is intrigued. "Alright" she says, "I promise". Fred reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pack of collectors edition Revenge of the Nightcrawler cards. Berry almost jumps with excitement. She leans in to Fred, inspecting the cards in awe. Fred looks at her in the same way. "Why do you have these?" she wonders. Fred hesitates to answer. "I keep them in my locker room during matches. They make me feel ... powerful". Berry looks down at the laminated gold cards and picks out the perfect one, holding it gently between her index finger and her thumb. It's Alfearia, the unstoppable warrior princess. Berry knows that every time she's needed to feel unstoppable, she's pictured herself like this. She wants to share this with Fred. Instead, she holds up the card, "She's my favourite".

The morning sun peeks through the curtains and warms Berry as Raz tries to shake her awake. Berry slowly opens her eyes and sees Raz mouth the words "follow me". Fred is asleep on the opposite end of the sofa and Terrell is asleep upstairs. The girls tiptoe to the basement. Raz clutches a Rolex and shows Berry four digits carved on the back. Raz types the same digits into the code on the safe. It clicks green. She throws her head back and whispers "Thank you!". The door to the safe swings open. Their eyes widen as they look at piles of neatly stacked cash. Raz spots a sports bag and dives towards it. They hear a thud from upstairs and muffled voices. They look at each other in fear.

Fred is startled awake. Terrell charges towards the basement. He yells instructions at Fred on his way down "Call the police! Look for hairs on the sofa... glasses they drank out of... fingerprints... anything!" Fingerprints... Fred glances towards the oval table. The Princess Alfearia card lies in the centre. He remembers Berry holding it. He remembers Berry's smile. Fred looks around, quickly wipes the card with his sleeve and then shoves it into his pocket. 

Terrell is throwing his body weight against the door, Berry tries to hold him off on the other side. Raz scrambles to fit all of the money into the bag. Berry's eyes dart around the room and she notices a window that leads onto the lawn. They're on lower ground so they'd have to lift themselves up and out. "Raz, look!" she alerts. Raz darts towards the window. "It's locked!" she says in a panic. Raz frantically searches the room for a solution... a brick... a crow bar... keys! Raz spots a bundle of keys in the corner. Her hands are shaking as she searches for a match. Berry can't hold Terrell off forever.

Terrell lets out roars of profanities on the other side of the door. Berry feels sick with fear. Raz finds the key and unlocks the window. She shoves the bag out before pulling herself up. Raz crouches on the grass and reaches her arms back through the window for Berry. Berry knows that she'll only have seconds to get there. She takes a sharp inhale of breath and pictures herself as Princess Alfearia. She imagines she has armour. She imagines she's unstoppable. Berry exhales and runs for her life. 

Raz grabs Berry's hands and pulls her up as quickly as she can. But there's not enough time - Terrell bursts into the basement. He grabs at her ankle, scratching her leg as he tries to get a grip. Berry tries to tuck her knees to her chest and she rolls out sideways onto the lawn. They run until they find an empty street corner and sit, exhausted, at the bus stop. Berry usually finds the sunrise relaxing but today the adrenaline is still coursing through her veins. Her scratch marks let out droplets of blood that curl themselves underneath her heel. She calms herself by imagining what could have happened if she had met Fred at a bookstore. Or in an online forum for superfans. Somewhere that she didn't have to be this. Somewhere that she didn't have to do this. 

Raz gasps. Berry's fantasies of Fred slowly fizzle out as reality comes into sharp focus. Raz is clutching the money in her hand and her eyes are sparkling. She's just finished counting. "It's... it's... £20,000!" she exclaims. She closes the bag and hugs it to her chest, barely able to contain her glee. Berry knows she should share her excitement. But after years of living like this she just feels tired. 

Raz reaches in her purse and pulls out the little black book. Still smooth despite the adventures it's been on. She pulls back the elastic binder and flicks through the pages. It is lined with the names of places they've been. Raz reaches today, she puts a line through it. "We can never come back here again". Raz drops her shoulders and turns her face towards the rising sun. "We will never have to".