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| crimsonsky |
Make yourself scarce, Daddy's got company. Girl Afraid's mouth begins to form an O of protest. " Please Daddy it's dark outside, I'm afraid." The woman who had ignored her previously hands her a coat and indicates that she expects her to hang it on the rack. She opens her handbag and removes a coin. She takes Girl Afraid's small white hand places the coin in the centre of her palm and closes her fingers around it. She smiles a red lipsticked smile as she looks into Girl Afraid's tearstained eyes and says softly " Now fuck off to the shops little girl and buy yourself some sweets. " She turns to the mirror and smooths her already immaculate hair, reapplies her already immaculate red lipstick and follows Daddy up the stairs.
The familiar street looked sinister in the darkness,even from the safety of the doorstep. She shivered in her thin summer dress. The dress that Daddy liked her to wear. She didn't want to think about what Daddy was doing but the images came unbidden into her mind no matter how hard she tried to push them back again. She looked out into the darkness and tried to concentrate.
It was too late for the local shop, she'd have to walk to the 24 hour garage through the estate. That scared her even during the daytime, now it seemed like the impossible journey. But she'd have to try. Daddy would be angry if she didn't do as she was told. She scraped circles in the dirt with the toe of her canvas shoe trying to push herself to move towards the darkness. Reluctantly she started to walk. Each step seeming to make her heart pump faster, constricting her chest, silent tears tracing channels down her face.
She tried not to step on the cracks in the pavement, the coin clasped tightly in her hand like a talisman. She dared not look in the shadows. The shadows that took on shapes in the darkness, lurking figures waiting to grasp her. Icy fingers waiting to touch her face and stroke her neck.
She reached the boundary of the estate. If she looked up the bleak,oppressive tower block seemed to be moving down towards her, suffocating her. So she didn't look up or look into the shadows and she tried not to step on the cracks in the pavement.
The smell of piss and uncollected rubbish spilling from the bins at the bottom of the shute was pervasive, she tried to stay in the middle away from the dimly lit stairwells that were littered with needles and matches and crumpled foil. She screamed when a skull like face appeared out of the darkness but his dead eyes didn't look at her, his attention was engaged elsewhere in the small package that contained his fix. He didn't look back at the girl as he headed for the stairwell.
She crossed the boundary of the estate and took a deep breath as she prepared to run the gauntlet of the gangs that patrolled the parade of shops. Hooded men with dogs in studded collars. The betting shop with the line of desperate faces waiting and watching for the boys on bikes emerging from the warren of the estate with their deadly cargo.She kept her eyes down and tried to avoid looking into the dead eyes and desperate faces and tried to avoid stepping in the cracks on the pavement.
When she reached the garage she asked the man for a Curly Wurly and a Caramac and slid the sweaty coin through the slot in the cage that covered the shopfront. The man looked bored in his warm, light cage as he watched the portable television and didn't even turn his head to look at her. He didn't see her fear or her tear stained face. She retrieved her order from the slot and tore the foil from her Caramac cramming it all in her mouth. Creamy, comforting, sickly sweetness mixed with tears. She thought about her Daddy and that woman and it didn't seem so comforting anymore.She forced her heavy, leaden legs to move quickly, quickly but not too fast, she didn't want to draw any attention to herself. She didn't look up or left or right and tried not to step on the cracks in the pavement.
She couldn't be clear when she first heard the footsteps behind her, she couldn't look back. Fear immobilised her, her heavy, leaden legs turning them to stone but adrenalin propelled her forward and she started to run. She couldn't hear the footsteps anymore over the sound of her heart pumping and her ragged breathing. She ran blindly until she stumbled and fell into a crumpled heap on the pavement.
She lay waiting for the footsteps to reach her, waiting for the lurking figure to grasp her. Waiting for the icy fingers to touch her face and stroke her neck but the footsteps passed her by and became gradually fainter. She unscrunched her eyes, glued shut with fear and cautiously looked around. She could no longer hear the footsteps and there was no trace of the shadowy figure. Her face scraped by the pavement, her knee grazed and bleeding, her dress torn. The dress that Daddy liked her to wear. Then she saw her Curly Wurly lying in a puddle at the side of the road. There was something so pathetic about the sight of her Curly Wurly in the muddy puddle that it squeezed hot fat tears out from her eyes, pouring down her face and into the murky depths of the puddle.
Her small white hand reached into the puddle for her precious Curly Wurly, dirty now and gritty with the sediment and she picked herself up and began to walk towards the safety of home, trying not to step in the cracks on the pavement.
The gate creaked her relief as she walked up the path towards the front door. When she reached the door the thoughts of Daddy and that woman came flooding back. She didn't know what awaited her inside but it had to be better than where she'd been, alone and lost in the darkness. She could deal with anything as long as her Daddy was there. She took the key that hung from the string tied around her neck and inserted it into the lock. She tentatively pushed opened the door and crossed over the threshold, the door closing behind her.
There was no sign of Daddy but the woman was there, sitting on the stairs smoking. "You took your time, I've been waiting for you little girl" the woman said blowing smoke in Girl Afraid's direction. Girl Afraid forced herself to speak. " Where's Daddy?" she asked suddenly more afraid than she'd been all night. " Daddy had to go but don't worry baby girl, Mama's here now." She held out her hand, Girl Afraid hestitated conflicting thoughts racing through her head. Defeated she took the proffered hand and followed the woman up the stairs.
| 16 Jun 09, 9:19 PM Miss_Hardy UK(E), 5 yrs  |
Jesus H christ, nomnomnom "Have people always been this angry? I've got this really funny idea that before the internet people would just write FUCK YOU! and attach it to pigeons" - Russell Howard |
| 16 Jun 09, 9:21 PM little_miss_precious UK(CF), 3 yrs |
oh... wow... umm.... I think all this porn is getting to me >.< very well written, loved the way you repeatedly mentioned 'the dress that daddy liked her to wear' x “Curiouser and curiouser!” said Alice |
| 16 Jun 09, 9:25 PM GirlAfraid UK, 3 yrs |
Goodness me That marriage proposal? That...that stands.
Also, any offers of making this real gratefully received "Could I stand by and watch my wife be raped by a nazi, I asked myself, no I couldn't." "But you're not married?" "No, but I have a very vivid imagination." |
| 16 Jun 09, 9:27 PM x_TigerLily_x UK, 3 yrs |
Wow. Sinister... I'm kinda scared now  x |
| 16 Jun 09, 9:29 PM PrinceCaspian UK(SE), 6 yrs  |
oooh nice, there does seem to a lot of fine cruelty around. "Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious." Oscar Wilde |
| 16 Jun 09, 9:49 PM Doghouse_Reilly UK(MK), 6 yrs |
Great story, no idea why people are thinking it's porn though. At least no idea why people are thinking it's porn yet. All that is required for the triumph of evil is for Chuck Norris to change sides. |
| 16 Jun 09, 9:50 PM candle_in_the_wind UK(RM), 5 yrs |
DARK.
SCARY.
DAMN HORNY.
MORE PLEASE. The Gene Pool could use a little Chlorine |
| 16 Jun 09, 9:55 PM Miss_Despotic UK(M), 5 yrs   |
My word. Hello! |
| 16 Jun 09, 10:17 PM Betony UK, 7 yrs |
Don't leave me hanging - what the hell happened to the Curly Wurly.... Edited 16 Jun 09, 10:18 PM by Betony |
| 16 Jun 09, 10:25 PM MizzScarlett UK, 4 yrs |
The wonderful scene-setting.The tightly-stretched tension. The use of language. The detail. CrimsonSky ... you are a clever writer. Well done. |
