"What IS she wearing today?"
"Why in the world did they hire someone so,
average." The voice was dripping with disgust. If they had been
standing in front of her, she knew that they would be looking down their noses
at her like they had done so many times before.
"And that hair! You'd think she
could find something that was in style, like last year, not ten years
ago." The group laughed and walked away, leaving her in
peace.
She was stunned when she arrived that first morning. The
five of them were there along with their dancers and the group of workers that
kept things running. Every last one of them, even the workers, was
beautiful, tall, slender, physically perfect. All except her. She
wasn't a beast by any stretch of the imagination, but she wasn't perfection like
the rest. Short, glasses, average figure, piercing green eyes framed by
long lashes, full red lips. She had been told on several occasions that
her eyes were perhaps the most beautiful eyes anyone had ever seen. Her
best feature, however, was her mind. The rest may have beauty, but she was
smarter than all of them. It was her mind that kept her sane.
Rolling her eyes, she went back to her work. The amount
of money that flowed from these people was amazing. What was more amazing
was the amount of money that flowed in. If their success ever faltered, it
would be a matter of days before they were all bankrupt. She was working
in a large room in the arena, the various workers milling around while the five
held court, joking and laughing with their cohorts. The workers tried
their best to attract the attention of the five. She blocked all of it out
as she worked with her numbers. She loved this, making the numbers work
was like a puzzle and it satisfied her need for order. She wasn't really
sure why they needed her, no one looked at her reports anyway. As long as
they could eat, drink and spend to their hearts content, they were happy.
"Almost done crunching numbers for today?" a voice
whispered in her ear. She had been working so intently she didn't even
hear the footsteps behind her and jumped at the sound of his voice.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." She looked up into his blue
eyes, but didn't answer, just waited for the ridicule. "You know, I
think you might be developing a hump, you're bent over those figures so
much. Then again, I think you had a hump when you got here."
The room tittered at his remarks. She still didn't answer. "I
guess the ugly ones have to prove themselves in boring ways. You, what's
your name, Carmen, come with me." He pointed to a tall, blond, buxom
woman who was in charge of the travel arrangements. Her eyes lit up with
the knowledge that he had chosen her and she hurried to his side. He
captured her face in his hands, tracing her lips with the tip of his tongue
before leading her from the room. The rest of the women sighed, wishing it
was them. She only rolled her eyes again and began to pack up her things,
ready to explore London, their stop for the week.
"You do realize that none of us would ever choose
you." This time it was AJ who spoke to her. "We have
standards, you know."
"And you do realize, that even if you did, I wouldn't
allow it" she retorted, stunning them into silence. She came to the
realization early in her travels with the group, that they couldn't fathom the
concept that she didn't worship them like the rest. It was the one thing
that drove them crazy. "I do have some taste." With
a raise of her eyebrows, she picked up her things and left the room, a smirk on
her face.
"I despise that woman!" AJ yelled, knowing full well
that she was still close enough to hear him. He threw his glass against
the wall when he heard her laughter taunting him. "Why do we keep
her?"
"Now AJ, she is fun to play with. I'd like to see
just how far we can push her before she breaks. You've got to hand it to
her, she's the strongest one so far." Nick had returned to the room
alone, a satisfied look on his face. "Watching her break will
be exquisite." The topic soon turned back to the mundane, the workers
still buzzing about, doing their best to attract the attention of the five, or
four as it was now. None of them had noticed that the leader was
gone.
She didn't even have a plan for her explorations.
Sometimes it was just easier to go where her gut led her. She wandered the
streets, stopping in a bookstore here, an antiques store there, finally
stumbling upon an old church. Her fingers reached out for it's walls, the
cool stone chilling her fingertips. Always fascinated by old buildings,
she wondered about the men who had built it, wondered about who's fingertips had
touched it before hers, wondered about all the history these walls had seen,
wondered about the spirits that haunted it. A chill ran up her spine as
she realized that the feeling of being watched was back. She didn't bother
to turn around, for no one was ever there. Shaking her head, she scoffed
at her overactive imagination and headed inside.
Sleep took her easily that night after the show.
Thankfully she had her own room and didn't have to share with the people who
worked so hard to make her miserable. The man in her dreams had
returned. He still caressed her and she would reach out for him, sometimes
touching him, swearing that when she woke up, she could still feel the warmth of
his skin on her hands. Sometimes in her dreams he held her, protecting her
from something, something she couldn't see or feel, but danger she felt deep in
her soul. Sometimes he would make love to her and she would awaken, crying
out as her body shuddered with pleasure, alone in her bed. Those were the
dreams that left a haunted look on her face the next morning......