Ransom X

  Chapter 22 Painted Love

  The morning didn’t return any dignity to Laura. There really was no morning in her world. She slept until Blue came to wake her, make her up for her next role. The camera’s eye had captured her wrapped in plastic wrap, the only holes for her mouth and other points of entry. Leather fetish, baby-doll, schoolgirl were all now in her distant memory. Still she sat stoically, carefully painting her face and body for the next session. Blue now gave her the freedom to mark her skin with fertility runes and glyphs – he thought it was quaint to have some history brought into the brothel. He always kept one of her hands bound and for good reason. The one time she’d had both of her hands free, she’d found a way to sneak a pair of tweezers into her mouth and then just before they were supposed to go live, she’d cut the ties on her hands and was strangling Brown and Yellow was bleeding. A stun gun had brought her to her knees. The boys took out their fantasies, and their anger on her, but she never gave them the satisfaction of being a victim.

  Laura performed like there was nothing at all wrong going on when she was on camera. There was a detachment to her performance, as she created the illusion that she was in control. Things were not being done to her, things were just being done. Her eyes were wide open the entire time. It was the kind of power that most people give away to their abductors, but she never did. Blue pushed her to react, but she didn’t flinch even during his most shocking sermons. Blue started to develop an attachment to her, instead of the other way around.

  Laura dusted her eyelids with a neon eye shadow then turned to him and batted her eyes, pursed her expressionless lips. He couldn’t help but laugh. Eleven minutes to air.

  The group was waiting a couple of buildings away their costumes form fitting around lanky arms, boney shoulders. It was clear they didn’t like Laura at all.

  Feely, Yellow, watched the door, “It’s those fucking spooky eyes.”

  Brown added, “She reminds me of my mother.”

  Purple cracked a smile, “Thanks for getting my dick hard.”

  Brown shot back “Don’t mess with my mother.”

  Purple put forefinger to nostril and snorted out a bullet of mucus on the carpet. Green surprised everyone in the room by opening his mouth. “I’m having a hard time getting hard with her.”

  Yellow continued, “That’s what I mean it’s those fucking eyes.”

  They waited watching the door in silence. Green walked over to a case of champagne sitting by the door. He asked Brown “These were outside all night, right?”

  Brown nodded. Green picked up a bottle and began shaking it like he was playing a Tommus. “Nice and icy.”

  Ten minutes later Laura entered the room, dressed the part of a slutty schoolgirl, glasses and backpack completed the costume. Each day they changed the surroundings slightly to represent the theme of their performance. Many things had occupied the center of the room: airline seats, military bunk beds, a sandbox filled with mud, but today there was a long banister with a chandelier hung overhead. The cast led her into the foyer then started spraying her with sticky sweet champagne – she was the entertainment for a graduation party. She kept her eyes wide open even though the bubbles stung. Laura turned away from the camera. Only Blue would notice what she was doing, and if he ever figured it out she’d be dead. She wondered if any of her colleagues would see what she wanted them to – it would be easy to focus on anything but the pain and suffering, she’d learned that early on.

  The “graduate” was moving in to straddle her, pulling his vinyl-covered friends into a circle around them. She drifted off, eyes open but at least it didn’t feel real. Her mind clung to the fact that she had two secrets and either one of them could break through the circle.