Authors: Casey Elliot
*****
She waited until she reached the stairs outside the apartment until she began to cry. With nowhere to go, she rifled in her pockets and found a half-eaten bar of candy, a hair pin, and a quarter. A quick glance in her wallet wasn’t any more fruitful.
“Oh God, what have I done?” She contemplated running back up the stairs and returning home. “Don’t do it, Janey,” she muttered under her breath, as she felt the pain in her side. “You moved here with nothing, you can leave with nothing. There’s always an opportunity.”
She told herself this, as she walked out into the street and felt the chill of the air. It was going to be a long night. For a few minutes, she walked without much concern for where she was going. She looked at the people who were walking past her in large crowds of friends. They were happy and outgoing, and so many of them looked as if they wanted to set the night on fire. Jane; however, just wanted to find somewhere to spend the night.
Spying an ATM, she pushed in her card and prayed silently for there to be money still in her account. She was then given a slight ray of hope when she saw she had twelve dollars. It wasn’t the best she could have hoped for, but it was better than nothing. Withdrawing ten dollars, she crumpled up the paper money in her hand and held onto it for dear life. It was her final hope.
Still…. There was nowhere in New York where you could stay for ten dollars and, after walking the streets for a little while longer, she found there were no options. Slumping against a wall, she pressed the back of her head against the cold stone and sighed. All there was in her life was that very moment, and with nothing to lose, she decided to make the best of it.
Across the street, a red neon light glistened with excitement and, as she looked to the name, she found herself begin to cheer up. The Keller Cellars was a notorious Goth bar known for its hedonistic reputation and bizarre clientele. For a few minutes, she watched the crowd at the front, as they flicked their colorful hair from their eyes and smoked peculiar, skinny cigarettes.
“I’m going in,” she whispered to herself.
Yet, her confidence began to waver when she spotted the bouncer at the door, and something about him looked as though he was hard work. With her mind telling her she wasn’t going to be allowed in, she thought about walking away very fast in the opposite direction. Then, the bouncer smiled at her, his broken teeth like the flash of a barcode.
“Madam?” he grinned.
“Hello,” she felt awkward.
“Don’t tell me you’re alone tonight,” the bald headed man in the tight, black t-shirt asked.
“Afraid so,” Jane began to nibble on a fingernail nervously.
“Well… the Keller Cellars ease everyone’s troubles,” he spoke enigmatically, as he lifted the red rope from the entrance. “Have a good night.”
And, she was in.
“What is this place?” she thought aloud, as she felt the music hit her right in the gut.
Thumping, deep and dirty beats were vibrating from inside her and she found the sound intoxicating. Hundreds of people were moving and dancing around her, as she made her way through the club, but not a single one of them gave her a second look. To her surprise, she was fitting in and she smiled, as she sat down at the bar.
“Er…. Cosmopolitan?” she asked the barmaid in a joking tone, being not terribly sure of what the etiquette was.
The barmaid with the large brown eyes and skull tattoos laughed affectionately and leaned her elbows on the bar.
“I reckon you’d like something very special,” she purred. “We got a new case of absinthe in tonight,” she winked. “If you want it,” she raised a perfectly sculpted, black eyebrow.
“I’m in,” Jane slid her last ten dollars across the bar. “Hit me.”
When the glass of green liquor got pushed toward her, she reeled back from its putrid smell.
“My God!” She held it under her nose. “No wonder this used to be illegal.”
The barmaid laughed and left to serve the throng of customers who were waiting for her. Jane, meanwhile, was still staring into her glass, as though if she looked long enough, she would be shown the answers to her predicament. When she pushed her lip into the top of her drink and felt the first tingle of alcohol on her tongue, it was though she was drifting away from her troubles. One sip turned into another until she was gulping it down and slamming the empty glass on the bar.
“Wooop!” she shouted and raised a fist.
Her head was starting to spin while the music took over her body. The dancefloor sat in the center of the building and was now packed with impossibly glamorous misfits, as they danced to the sounds of industrialism.
Jane couldn’t wait to join them and hurried down the hallway at the edge of the club to reach the dancefloor. It was then she noticed all the posters on the wall with the identical headlines. Keller’s Cellar Fellas was written over the top of photos of hunky men with tattoos and dangerous looking facial piercings. They weren’t like any man she’d ever been with, and something about the way they dressed and looked at her with their jovial, yet arrogant attitude kept her rooted to the spot. She wavered in the hall with her eyes fixed on their bodies. That was until she happened to see something out of the corner of her eye.
There was a notice board on the wall, one that wouldn’t have looked too out of place if it was in an office. Deep within the underbelly of the club; however, it looked quite peculiar. Taking a closer look, Jane saw the board contained classified ads, and she was eager to see what kind of jobs and services a regular of this place would be attracted to.
Unsurprisingly, there was a whole host of sordid and sexual adverts covering the lurid business cards and post-it notes. The one nearest to Jane was half falling off and she felt the oddest compulsion to pick it off the board before it flew away.
Sub guy looking for intimate and regular strangle session
555 729-3888
“What the-?” she laughed and stuck it back on the board.
The one beside it; however, looked to be of a different class. The card was embossed in a faint and delicate herringbone pattern and glistened gently beneath the lights. The writing consisted of beautifully scrawled calligraphy, and looked as though it was penned by a Victorian expert.
She felt drawn to it, as though it was calling her. Brushing a fingertip across the card, she felt its quality and thickness. Then, she ran her eyes across the words that would change her life forever.
Live-in housekeeper needed. Immediate start. No experience necessary.
Her jaw dropped and her mind began to whir with the possibility of a new life. It didn’t matter where it was or who her employer would be. In that very second, it was as though all her life’s events were leading to that very job. She immediately pulled out her phone and dialed the number, as she exited the club to somewhere quieter.
Loitering in a nearby alley with the distant din of music in the distance, she listened to the phone ring. It would seem as though no one would answer and she cursed herself for calling in the middle of the night.
“Idiot Janey,” she bit her lip in frustration.
It was then, when she was on the brink of hanging up that a voice emanated through the darkness.
“Hello? You’ve reached the Gilbert residence. How may I help you?” the sleepy voice spoke with a cold and brisk accent.
“Oh er…. Erm…” Jane stalled. “I saw the job posting.”
“Job posting?” the voice sneered.
“In the Keller Cellars,” she continued.
There was a long and ominous silence, as Jane chewed on her fingernails. It seemed as though the mysterious man on the phone had disappeared and, yet again, she found herself close to hanging up.
“Eh… hello? Are you still there, madam?” The voice returned. This time, flustered and apologetic. “I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.”
“No problem,” she said relieved.
“Yes, the job of the housekeeper…. You’re available to start right away like the ad suggested.”
“Yes… Absolutely,” she nodded, as she spoke.
“Very well…..” The man was heard scribbling something down, as though taking notes of the conversation. “And, you’re at the Keller Cellars now?”
“Uhuh….” Jane swallowed down her anxiety. “I mean yes. Well, right outside.”
“And name?”
“Eh…?”
“Your name, madam.”
“Oh! It’s Jane Kershaw.”
“Ok, Miss Kershaw. Can I ask you to wait right there?”
“Eh….ok….”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” and he hung up.
Jane found herself listening to the sound of the dial tone, as raindrops began to hit her on the head.
She placed her phone back in her pocket. “Now what”?
*****
The night was dragging on, as Jane shifted her heavy backpack from one shoulder to the other, her body still ached from Lee’s brutal punch. It was starting to grow tremendously heavy and so was the rain, as it beat down on her tired body. She was also starting to grow hungry and, as she looked around at the ever intoxicated crowd, she felt her stomach rumble and her mouth become dry. She wasn’t much of a drinker, so the absinth had taken a toll on her already. She felt the dull ache of a light hangover begin to sweep across her brow, and she rubbed at the bridge of her nose to ease the pain.
Looking at the time, she realized she’d been standing at the same spot for forty five minutes. Surely, if the man on the phone was to turn up, he would have done so by now.
“I’m so stupid,” she told herself. “There is no job.” And, she continued her frantic nail biting.
Pulling her coat around her tighter, she shivered as the wind blasted her face. It was getting late and the surrounding party goers were beginning to head home. She looked to them with a hint of jealousy, as she wished she had somewhere to go.
A car horn hooted and broke her from her thoughts. Standing beside her was a blacked out limousine. She moved out of its way to let it past, but it didn’t budge. The window slid down slowly and revealed a handsome and pale chauffeur with cheekbones that could cut glass, and icy blue eyes.
“Miss Kershaw, I presume?”
She took a step back.
“Yeah.”
She stood dumbfounded, as he stepped out and opened the back door for her.
“How did you know it was me?” She asked.
“I had a hunch.” He helped her place her bag inside the car.
After climbing inside, she took a backward facing seat so her head was beside the driver’s. She looked at his slim figure and perfect complexion, as he climbed behind the wheel and reflected on the weirdness of the situation.
“I’m Gerard,” he introduced himself, as he turned the key in the ignition. “I’d be happy to engage in more pleasantries, but I’m afraid there’s no time,” and he pulled the limousine out of the alley and made his way to the nearest highway exit.
Jane couldn’t see a thing from the inside; only the blackness of the glass with the occasional reflection of street lights.
“So, have you done this line of work before?” Gerard looked at her in the rear view mirror.
“No…” she shook her head. “I haven’t.”
“That’s ok,” he spread his lips into a faint smile. “You’ll get the hang of it. It’s all pretty straight forward.” And, he stepped on the accelerator, as they hit a stretch of empty road.
Jane looked out of the window into the darkness and wondered how her life could have changed so much in only a few hours. Butterflies were tickling the inside of her stomach, and she clutched an arm to her waist to try and alleviate her nervous nausea.
“What the hell am I doing?” She whispered to herself, as she pinched at her soaked-through clothes.
“What was that?” Gerard overheard her from the front.
“Oh nothing,” she said. “It’s just…. this is all a bit crazy.”
“Isn’t each day a series of crazy encounters knitted together to create this wonderful thing called life?”
“I guess,” she looked back round to the driver. “You do this a lot, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Pick up housekeeping recruits. I can see you’ve done it a hundred times before. You look almost bored by it.”
He chuckled and turned up his lips into a wicked smile.
“Ok…. If you must know. We haven’t had the best of luck with housekeepers.”
He didn’t care to elaborate, but instead, went quiet and looked out to the road ahead, as his eyes glazed over reminiscing.
“And, why would that be?” Jane was eager to know what trouble she was getting herself into.
“Because…” Gerard took a long pause and sighed. “My boss lives in an isolated house. One that, to the average city dweller, would seem quite romantic at first, but would then become more of a nuisance.”
“I’m not following.” She was beginning to get annoyed.
“It’s an interesting house,” was all he said.
“Is it haunted? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Oh, not quite Miss Kershaw, not quite.” He turned his head a couple inches and threw her a mischievous glance.
His pale blue eyes chilled Jane and she found herself holding her breath and clutching at her chest. There was something so sinister about Gerard, but apart from his prissy accent, she couldn’t put her finger on something tangible. It was, after all, the entire setting that had her thinking she was stuck in a dream. The limousine, Gerard in his chauffeur’s cap, the mysterious house in the country they were on their way to, the job being posted in an underground Goth club….
This has all been a terrible mistake
.