In the Dark

Lori was an influential woman. She traveled often and met with people whose very existence seemed fictional to most people. She would never speak of her work to anyone; she had taken a vow of silence. Nobody actually knew what she did, but in her wake, everything functioned as it should. Nobody dared to question this beautiful woman, because those who did often vanished.

In the rear view mirror of the small rental car that Lori had acquired to travel around the city in which her assignment was located, she saw her own eyes peering back at her. She studied them very closely. They were hazel, golden lines formed a pattern reminiscent to Lori of honeycomb in a beehive. The gorgeous gold sat atop a deep green color, with flecks of aquamarine blue throughout.

Suddenly, their was a tap on the window of the car. Lori jumped, a little irritated at herself for becoming so distracted by her own appearance. She rolled down the window enough to hear what the man standing outside her car was trying to say.

"You can't park here ma'am." He said gruffly. He was wearing all black. a name tag on his shirt read Castle Security, with a small emblem of a chess knight next to it. His name was David, according to the tag. Lori sized him up quickly.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir, I'm here on vacation and I don't really know where I am." Lori said innocently, "Maybe you could give me a tour around the city when you get off work?" There was a mischievous glimmer in her stunning eyes. The man stammered; Lori watch as he hid a golden ring on his finger with his other hand. She swept fiery red hair away from her face as she waited for David to get a grip.

"I get off in about an hour miss, there's a coffee shop right down the street on the left if you'd like to wait for me there." David gestured down the road towards the cafe. Lori smiled at him. Her smile was crooked, but it was very becoming. "I'm Lori," she extended her soft hand out to him.

When David got off work, he met Lori at the coffee shop that he had directed her to. Scoundrel. Lori thought to herself briefly, noticing that the ring that was on David's finger the last time she saw him was now gone. She let the thought go, her job didn't afford her the luxury of caring about such moral conundrums.

"Where are you from?" David asked Lori curiously. "Not from around here." Lori answered, sipping on a latte. The non-answer flustered David. "What do you do for work?" He tried again. "A little bit of everything." This was not a lie, but it still didn't give David anything to work with to keep the conversation fluid. There was a moment of silence between the two.

David tried to take the conversation a different direction; "Have you eaten?" Lori nodded, "I have, but I could go for some dessert." She didn't really want anything, but she decided not to shut David down again, she needed him not to leave yet. David gleamed at the suggestion, "There's a little shop down the way, they make a killer devil's food cake." "That sounds great!" Lori said. Lori spent the rest of the evening seducing David, the awkward introduction phase had ended. Really, seducing anyone was not a difficult task for a woman as stunning as Lori was.

David rented a hotel room, and their evening took a turn in the direction one would assume. Lori left afterward, her hair disheveled and a big grin on her face, she had gotten what she had come for, and she could now go home.

Lori's home didn't reflect her wealth. it was of the Victorian era, but the beautiful old home was decrepit. Lori spent so little of her time there that the state of disrepair was rather insignificant to her. When she was there, she stayed in the living room, which had beautiful vaulted ceilings that were completely uncharacteristic of the rest of the home. She figured that this room was added on well after the initial construction; nothing about it matched the house as a whole. Thanks to the relatively newer construction, the living room had far less damage than the rest of the dwelling.

Lori was reading a novel when her cell phone rang. UNAVAILABLE read the screen of the phone. "Hello?" Lori answered. A distorted voice answered on the other end of the line, "Did you get the video?" "I did." Lori said in a flat tone. "Excellent, take it to the usual location and someone will meet you there to pick it up. " Lori held her breath for a second while the voice spoke, "Have you found any information on Ellie yet?" She asked at last. There was a moment of silence, and then the call disconnected. At this, Lori broke down crying.

Ellie held her breath. The creak of the wooden staircase told her that her mother was coming. Light crept through the otherwise dark room as her mother opened the door. Ellie closed her eyes, she prayed that she was just coming in to throw her a bowl of . A shadowy figure appeared in the doorway. "You've been bad, Ellie." Her mother's cruel voice growled. Ellie's heart raced, oh no she thought.

Before Ellie had time to react, her mother had crossed the room and was beating her brutally. Ellie tucked her head as far as she could into her chest and tried desperately to shield herself from her mother's wrath. It was no use; Ellie couldn't tell what her mother was wielding, but there was no doubt that she was armed.

TO BE CONTINUED...