Authors: Zoya Tessi
“It’d be a good idea to mark this date in your calendar over there. You can start celebrating it as a second birthday.”
“Why?” I breathed.
“You have no idea how lucky you were earlier tonight. If I’d caught up with you when you ran, I really might have squeezed your throat too hard.”
With those words he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. He didn’t shut it well enough though, because it swung open soon after. I was too scared to do anything about it.
Chapter
8 - The Smell of Rot and Oil
I'd only been asleep for a few hours when I was rudely awakened by the ringtone on my phone, which seemed to be shredding my brain from the inside. I reached over for it and managed to hit answer on the third attempt.
“
Mhh?” was all I could offer.
“
HOW DID YOU DARE TO DO SUCH A THING?”
The voice on the other end of the line sounded truly livid and I had to hold the phone several inches away from my head to avoid any permanent damage to my eardrums. Alex had obviously filled my father in all the latest action.
“Irresponsible, devious…” he went on, “If you had even an ounce of brains you wouldn’t...”
From experience I knew it was best to let him finish before saying anything. After around half a minute it seemed like h
is tirade might be winding down.
“…locked up far away for a long time
!”
I waited a few more seconds, just to be sure he’d run out of steam, before I put the handset back against my ear.
“Could there be anything more wonderful than hearing your loving voice in the morning, dad?”
“When I see you next time…” he sounded anything but calm, and I knew first hand that beads of sweat would be forming on his brow, his usually calm exterior ruffled on my account, but never for anyone else.
“There’s no need for threats, I’ve already been through plenty thanks to the monster you left in my closet.”
The night before, I’d writhed in bed for hours agonizing over the scene Alex had made. My deepest insights on the matter had concluded that he actually had every right to react the way he had
, given my chemical experiment. But breaking the furniture and busting down my door was still going way too far.
Venturing out on a mission to the bathroom in the dead of night, I’d passed the living room and seen from the moonlight that the table had been put back in its rightful position, and all the glass cleared up off the floor, but
that hadn’t quelled my anger. On top of everything, the door to my room was still hanging off its hinges like some sad scarecrow, determined to remind me about Alex’s temper.
“You know, sometimes I wonder if you even know what a psycho he is, the guy you sent here.”
“Serious problems call for extreme measures. Aleksey may be a little rough around the edges, but he’s one of the rare few I’d trust with my daughter’s life.”
“
Jeez. Should I feel honored to have him here then?”
“Yes, Sasha, you really should
,” he said, evidently growing weary of the conversation, “and you should be grateful, because he’s someone who’d take a bullet for you if it came to that.”
I’m sure the color drained from my cheeks as I heard
his words. Maybe Alex and I weren’t on speaking terms, but the thought of it rocked my foundations, and it took a second or two for me to recover enough to speak.
“Well, that’s what he’s paid for, right? It's his job.”
“Yes, but others would probably have a change of heart if it happened for real. Alex would do what he’s paid to do.”
“I’m honestly impressed by how much you trust him, but how can you be so sure? I’m dying to know.”
“If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t have a father to shout at you.” he sighed.
“What are you talking about?”
There was a long pause and I thought the line might have gone dead, but Nikolai’s voice came through again, quieter this time.
“I don’t want to go into details now. I
t’s enough to tell you that Aleksey went into surgery with three bullet wounds last year, any one of which might have proved fatal, when really it should have been me.”
After coming off the phone with Nikolai I needed more than half an hour to face coming into contact with Alex again. Though I was still mad at him, what Nikolai had said gave me a lot to think about.
“If you thought you'd achieve something by intimidating me and throwing threats around, think again.”
I was standing in the doorway of the kitchen looking daggers drawn at Alex, who was calmly reading a newspaper at the table. The guy obviously needed his regular fix of current affairs, since he always read at least two dailies first thing in the morning.
“And I didn’t for a moment think you might strangle me
. I really didn’t.” I announced.
Alex bent the
top of the paper down a little and gave me a knowing look.
“I suggest you don’
t test that conviction of yours.”
“Woo
hoo. Aren’t you the dangerous one... I’m quaking in my boots.” I raised my nose in his direction.
He let the newspaper drop down on the table and leaned back, then carefully drew his arms across his chest. I felt my skin start to tingle under his g
aze, so I turned to the window, feeling all of a sudden like a flea under a microscope. It was pretty obvious that I looked as uncomfortable as I felt.
“
You know, I wonder... Are you really that bold or just completely nuts?” he let his head fall slightly on one side, regarding me like some wise old owl.
Oh, how much I hate him!
Instead of saying anything clever, I did something that I probably hadn’t done since pre-school. I stuck my tongue out at him. A
s far as I could.
I expected him to ma
ke a face or offer some insult. He didn’t. Out of the blue, Alex started to laugh. But it wasn’t with his characteristic sarcastic scorn. This was an honest to goodness smile from the heart, and one that was written all over his face, even in the eyes. Dumbfounded, I could only stare. He had the most beautiful smile I've ever seen.
“You know, you're real cute when you're angry. Like a little imp.”
“I. Am. Not. Little!” I jumped from the chair with my hair flying round in front of my eyes, “But you’re an ogre if ever there was one!”
“Oho... pardon me! I didn’t know that five feet was the average height these days…”
“Five feet three, for your information.” I turned on my heel and, with what dignity I could muster, hurried to my room.
I leaned back against my door after I’d forced it closed; the hinges still hadn’t been fixed and the whole thin
g was out of joint. In my mind, I could still see his face and that radiant smile, and for all my bluster I caught my own reflection in the mirror, grinning like a fool. It felt like I’d discovered a hidden gate leading to a secret, enchanted garden.
Throwing my arms up in the air and letting out a big puff of air, I forced myself to focus on all the junk scattered around my room, very confused as to how I could have changed my point of view so suddenly.
I’d only just started packing my clothes away in the closet when a flash of inspiration struck, like in a cartoon when a light bulb appe
ars above the character’s head. Immediately, I dashed to Beth’s room, clapping my hands together in glee on the way. Opening the door without knocking, I was disappointed to find her wrapped up tightly in her quilt, almost invisible except for a few curls here and there.
“Beth
?” I called, but she didn’t move.
“Bethany!”
Her hand emerged slowly from under the duvet, reached for a pillow and made a futile attempt to throw it at me. A little deflated, since it was obvious I’d have to do it without her, I closed the bedroom door gently behind me and went in search of Alex.
I found him
smoking on the balcony and shot him a disapproving look. The guy had obviously decided to raise the blood pressure of all the girls in the buildings nearby. Sprawled on a lounger and dressed only in faded jeans, he was advertising his perfect body shamelessly, in full view of anyone who cared to peek through their blinds. Watching him set my heart racing, so that serious palpitations threatened if he didn’t stop parading his attributes under my nose.
A black form came into view, somewhere among the various unfamiliar inscriptions along his torso. It was visible between some foreign writing and a long scar that ran across his belly.
“That’s definitely the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen!” I said finally, genuinely revolted.
Slowly turning in my direction, Alex opened one eye and followed my gaze.
“An interesting observation. I must admit I’m a little surprised, though.” he shrugged and leaned back again in the lounger, ”No girl’s ever complained about it before. You’re the first...”
“I didn’t mean your muscle tone, Narcissus. I mean that... thing. I didn’t know you were in the habit of decorating your body with portraits of your victims.”
“I don’t have even a vague idea of what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about that monstrosity. It totally reminds me of the cockroach you so theatrically banished from this
life.” I moved closer, leaning in to get a closer look at the thick black outline of tattooed bug. “Yuck!”
“For someone with an interest in the history of art, Princess, your knowledge
ain’t really up to scratch.”
“And you’re kind of an expert in that field, right?”
“Student might be a better term...” he lit another cigarette and closed his eyes, a barely detectable grin hovering over his lips.
”Is that so? Would your highly educated
self enlighten me then as to what that big ugly bug that you’ve got tattooed on yourself actually represents? The Mona Lisa perhaps?”
“You're close...” he
blew a large smoke ring out in front of him, “It's a Scarab. Most people know him as Mona Lisa’s great great grandfather, on her aunt’s side.”
“Well, aren’t you a smart ass!”
“Sometimes...”
“Oh, get over yourself!” I went over and punched him lightly on the shoulder.
“Quit puffin’ on that coffin nail and heave your all-knowing ass up. We’re going out.”
He squinted against the light and sighed, “Where to,
miss Daisy?”
“You'll find out on the way. And just so you know, we’ll be long...
looong time...”
***
“Are you having fun?” I asked four hours later, as we were leaving the twentieth store in a row.
Alex threw me an angry
look, better suited to frightening small children at Halloween.
“Admit you did this just to annoy me.”
“What?” I faked surprise.
“Don’t give me that innocent look now. You’ve been dragging me round these endless boutiques all
fucking day, trying on all kinds of stuff and you haven’t bought a thing. One more shoe store and I’ll be dreaming about the goddamn things.”
“Oh, poor baby.
But, my world doesn’t revolve around you and I don’t know why you’d take everything so personal. I wanted to go shopping and I don’t see the least thing odd about that. You don’t have to tag along, I haven’t got you on a leash.”
“
Very funny, Princess. Very funny, indeed...”
I smiled inwardly, still studying whatever was in the windows of the shops we passed. I wished I’d thought of taking him to the mall before and was sorry Beth hadn’t come along because I was sure we’d have had a ball then.
I stopped in front of an upmarket lingerie store with mannequins in the window, sheer stockings and see through panties on display. Searching for Alex’s reflection in the glass, and seeing that he looked more dismayed than ever, I almost felt sorry for him.
He trailed behind me every step of the way as I moved around the store, pulling out all kinds of lacy things, being sure to hold each one up to the light and study it carefully. Most I put back on the racks, but some I held on to. After browsing for a while I finished up with a few choice items draped over my arm and headed for one of the cabins, with Alex
following me, of course.
“You’d better sit down and wait,” I pointed to a leather armchair in front of the booth, “this will take a while.”
“I don’t doubt it.” he let out a long-suffering sigh and set himself down, making a loud noise as the air escaped from the thick leather cushions.
Carefully, I examined the lingerie I’d chosen, going first for a midnight blue
babydoll with spaghetti straps. I took my time getting into it and then took a good long look at myself in the mirror. It was obviously meant for those special nights. The devil on my right shoulder whispered to me then and on impulse , I stepped out and stood on tiptoe facing Alex, who was playing with his phone.