Frozen

She stared at the hot vapor of her breathe. She wasn't used to crisp bursts of wind and below zero weather. She had thought she was prepared for it. Long underwear, leg warmers, and of course a down jacket. She thought she looked ridiculous, but she seemed to blend right in. Nobody gave her a second thought. Not even when she tried to enter the subway with a quarter instead of a token. Some middle-aged man had grumbled at her for slowing him down, but he did take the time to point out the token booth. Everywhere she looked there were people, but she also noticed all the secluded cameras. She was not as hidden as she had originally thought. But her thoughts and the contents of her bag were only known by her. She saw no policemen. There was one parked cruiser but it was empty. It gave her a false sense of security. Nobody was keeping guard, but again there were those cameras. The businessmen the store managers, all were prepared. She had reserved a hotel room. She was happy to be settling into a glitzy establishment. Her boss would pay for her drinks. She wondered what actually she was doing here. They had been so secretive. They had told her when she got there to order a White Russian. She didn't know you could get cocktails through room service. The drink arrived with a pretty cocktail napkin. Taped to the back of the napkin was a key. She was slightly angry. A key to what? She looked at the design on the glass. A traditional hotel glass, no numbers or hidden message. She heard a knock on her door. He had forgotten to give her her copy of the bill. Customers don't usually request one. She thanked him. The clue must be on the bill. The cocktail napkin was very pretty. It had on it a photo of a frozen lake decorated with icicles. Nobody was ice skating on the lake, what a strange promotional image. She looked at the bill. At the bottom of the bill was an advertisement for ice skating. It was at a downtown lake. Would they have lockers, and if yes how would she know which one. Why the nonsense? Why not just a note on her pillow?

The next morning she had a good breakfast. Eggs Benedict, one of her favorite meals. She then walked to the lake. There were lockers. Only twenty of them. They were numbered oddly. But one of the lockers had her room number. She tried the key. In the locker was an envelope, and of course a pair of skates. But she did not like ice skating, so she left them on the rental counter. She felt slightly nervous. She knew she didn't have to accept the job. She went to the bar and ordered an Irish Coffee. They said she could take it upstairs. She promised she would return the mug. The envelope had in it a picture of a young girl. She must have been around sixteen. There was a quick note, her name, and address, and the words save from her boyfriend. She was supposed to convince this young lady to leave her boyfriend. She most likely would not want to leave. She checked the young lady's Facebook. She was an artist so she accepted the Facebook request. She looked happy with her boyfriend. The pictures had them hugging and laughing. Maybe she shouldn't take this job. Their apartment was in a brick building in the middle of the city. Too public to force her to leave. There was a rent an apartment sign on the building. She got a one-bedroom for a month. The landlord was not thrilled about it but the two-week offer had been quickly rejected. She did not want to furnish the apartment, to be honest, she did not even want to sleep in it. How was she supposed to meet the young lady? She was two doors down the hall from the couples' apartment. Her usual trick was to borrow something. Flour, milk, toilet paper. But there was a small market across the street. She could just introduce herself, say she was a new neighbor. The apartment was okay, with no bugs or mice. What she needed was some luck. She had the hotel for a week. She went there during the day and spend the evenings in her apartment. But she never saw the couple, she could hear their music. They were definitely there. On the third night, she was awoken by a fight coming from their apartment She put on a robe and ran to their apartment. She was not the only one. Three or four neighbors knocked on the door. The young lady opened the door and slid out. Two men were wrestling in the hall. The male neighbors went and broke up the fight. The women went and comforted the crying woman. Nobody was injured but the girl did not want to go back into her apartment. She held the young girl as she cried She asked her if she would like to spend the night in a hotel. The girl was shocked that a stranger would do that for her but she said yes. Together they walked to her hotel room. Her boyfriend had accused her of being unfaithful to him. She had insisted nothing had happened. Then he called the guy to come over and once he got here he confronted him. But she didn't want to sleep with someone who didn't trust her. She was not sure she would be going back. The bed was unmade in the hotel room, but she didn't seem to notice. No questions, no need to explain. The key to this job seemed to be conversation. She gazed around the room. She was glad it was not as cluttered as her actual condo. there were a few magazines lying on the bed. The young girl gazed through one of the interior decorating magazines. She had always wanted to build a house and decorate it. Her boyfriend did not believe in aiming high. He wanted to live in the city. The less posh the better. But he provided other things, but if he didn't trust her. She just wasn't sure. The young girl just kept rambling.

She listened, knowing that this turn of advents had given her the upper hand. But she was not sure she was going to play it. She asked the y0ung girl about her family. The girl shrugged her shoulders. She was 18 it was time for her to start her own life. She was a little scared to do it on her own. The young girl stopped talking and reached out her hand. HI I'm Anna, She was not sure what to do but she decided to tell Anna her real name "My name is Beth. Anna and Beth talked, one honestly and one strategically. Beth told Anna that she knew of a counselor. Someone who would help her think out what she wanted to do. Anna thought that would be a good idea, but it would have to be soon. That night they went swimming and ate in the dining room. Both of the women had a good time Anna didn't seem to want to know anything about her. Beth finally began to relax.

The next morning Beth took Anna to the counselors office. She just dropped her there and left. She was hoping she could give up the apartnent but she extended her stay at the hotel and waited. 5pm no word from Anna or Beth's client. She watched a movie, a alnight movie. At about 2am she had had enough and fell asleep.

The next day she was awoken by the phone. The apartment lease had been canculed, she could leave at any time. She wondered if Anna had gone home to her parents. Would Beth be paid. She signed onto her internet account. She had been paid. The hotel had been paid up . Even the extended stay she had arranged, and the account had a credit of thirty dollars. That would pay for her eggs benidict breakfast. The rest of the expenses would be hers. She felt some distresss though , she wanted to know what Anna had decided to do. She sipped on a coffee and wondered