Everyone Has A Price
By Leonella (idea based on and some lines taken from the White Lies song 'Price Of Love')
My blood is pulsing with excitement as he starts to dial the number. Oh how much fun this is! Silence takes hold of the quaint hidden apartment we are stood in, as the phone rings out. I hear a muffled threat down the phone line from a voice that I would recognise anywhere- God how I have come to hate that voice.
"One million in a week or the girls gonna go."
My hero says calmly down the phone. Then he hangs up. We smile at one another, then he walks out of the lounge. I collapse onto to the leather armchair, still smiling to myself. 'Make me disappear' I'd begged him. I was just beginning to drift when I found him. Everyone gets bored with their life. Doing the same routine day in day out, year after year. But he was new, he was fun and he promised me excitement. I was sat alone at a bar somewhere in London; somewhere where no one knew my name, irritated, having fled that evening trivial dribble. He came over to me, bought me a drink and sweet talked me into dancing. And now, three weeks later we're still dancing. I still get that same buzz I got the second night, the first time I snuck out. That adrenaline rush that comes with lying my way out of the house, of sneaking through the shadows at night and most of all of having such a secret. I think this must be what it is like to be a spy, to be living two lives at once, one in the day and one at night. My night life is filled with dancing, laughter and loud music from skipping from club to club. Its filled with long walks along London bridges, gazing at the stars and full filling each other how ever else we please the way our marriages no longer. Now my life during the day seems only like time to wind down, to be my old boring self again. My job is now a way to fill the long hours till I can live again at night, a way of paying for my new double life. I sit in my office cubicle dreaming about the evening awaiting me. Don't get me wrong, I still do all my work to the same high standard of before. To all my office 'friends' I'm till good old Rosa who laughs at their jokes no matter how lame and always throws good parties year after year. I even still sit through the monotonous that is home life with dear Henry. Why does he have to be so faithful even now? He cooks and cleans for me when I am tired. He rubs my back and shoulders when they are sore. It almost makes me wish that I still loved him. Almost.
I was woken from the deepest sleep I'd had in months, lay sprawled across the sofa, by the landline ringing out. Its been a week since that first phone call and I have not left the flat once apart from at night. I've gotten into a habit of sleeping during the day and coming alive at night. I've gone nocturnal! I'm a sly fox, coming out only at night, on the hunt for fun. After about the 10th ring my Hero came out of the bedroom and answered it, smiling devilishly at me. I giggle like a little school girl. This is what Charles does to me, he makes me feel young again. Charles is a tall lean man with smooth golden tanned skin covering hard worked muscles. He has a rather square face as he has a hard set jaw, with ruthless full lips that call to me, a large nose and thick suggestive eyebrows which cover the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. They are a deep sea blue, seemingly endless, I get lost in them every time: happily lost at sea. Covering his head is layers of thick wavy black hair that falls into his sea eyes. He's my devilish lost Greek God. And I am his human Goddess, his forbidden fruits.
"You got the money?" His voice is a menacing type of velvet. His long golden body is lent against the window, relaxed, in business mode. There was a pause as Henry spoke. I held my breath but I still couldn't hear what he was saying. Suddenly Charles chuckled deeply, darkly before turning to me. Shivers ran up and down my spine.
"He's been on a Game Show Rosetta! Won £8,000 to save his 'beloved' wife." Even though he sneered the word 'beloved' I couldn't help but laugh too. "What do you think? Is that enough?" He asked me playfully. I thought about this for a moment.
"Is that enough to run away to New York with? Anyway I don't we can squeeze much more out of him." He smiled approvingly before turning back to the phone.
"Midnight by the bridge tomorrow. Bring the cash. All of it." Another pause "Yeah yeah she'll be there- alive yes- whatever." He hung up again. He turned around to face me, smirking, his arms bracing the edge of the windowsill. "Tomorrow I promise." I clapped my hands together with hysterical glee. I'm finally running away from this place! With one swift sudden movement Charles swept me up off the sofa and into his strong arms then proceed to carry me into the bedroom.
Afterwards I lay silent, content, next to him as he slept soundly snoring ever so slightly. He almost looks innocent when he sleeps. I lay thinking about how this had come to be, this plan of ours. It had been only roughly a week after we'd first meet. We'd been club skipping again around London's centre this time and by the time we came to Hyde Park to watch the sunrise I was rather drunk. Drunk or not I remember it all perfectly, how beautiful the sunrise was. How the ink black sky had gotten lighter and lighter till the black had nearly all but vanished and was instead replaced by an explosion of gold's, ruby red's and sinful pinks. How the colours were more vivid the closer to the horizon and to the rising sun they were, till eventually it was only the sun filled horizon that still glistened and the rest of the sky was a innocent baby blue signalling the start of a new day. I remembering thinking how bitter sweet it all was. How cruel the sun was making me having to somehow survive another long mindless day till sunset saved me and yet having the guts to be so beautiful. It was then, cuddled up in his arms on a park bench, when I turned to him and said "Lets run away together" He laughed at me, well more at the statement I assumed and gave me a weird look.
"With what money?" He had asked.
"We could blackmail Henry." The words fell out of my mouth before my brain had a chance to catch up. He looked just as shocked at the suggestion as me but then it all fell into place into my head. It felt like revenge for him ruining my life. "Yes lets blackmail Henry! It will be so much fun!" I said again, my voice sure and excited this time. He laughed again, looking me hard in the eyes as if to check my sanity before he answered, speculation clear in his husky voice. "Blackmail your husband? For fun?" I nodded feverishly, the plan forming in my head. "You could pretend to kidnap me and say that unless he brings us X amount you'll kill me."
"What about the cops?" He'd turned his body round to face me, still holding me slightly around the waist.
"Tell him if he tells anyone, anyone at all that you'll kill me there and then. I know Henry, he'll bow to every word you tell him. Like the pathetic whiney dog he is." He had taken a moment then to let this all sink in, to see its full potential, its possibilities.
"Would you really be willing to do this?" I'd nodded and kissed him passionately. After he was sure of my willingness he's taken it fully on him self to arrange absolutely everything right down to how I was going to be 'kidnapped'. The only look in I got from that morning onwards was to decide the destination to run to once we had the money. So one seemingly normal afternoon that I had off work, I'd offered to go to the shops to grab some milk and that is when I 'mysteriously disappeared'. We then phoned Henry the same day to tell him that I was perfectly safe as long as he did exactly as he was told to. Just like I had said he would, he'd begged and cried like the dog he truly is. I'd even cried, begging for his help down the phone. I should of won a frigging award for that performance to say I haven't done any Drama since I was at Secondary School. Another of my dreams that had been crushed for me before it really had a chance to blossom.
Its nearly Midnight, Charles left the flat ten minutes ago and I have not stopped pacing this room. I cant sit down. Its my nerves and the excitement creeping into my very being that is keeping me going. I've already packed some clothes and a few items I care for that I had snuck from the empty house earlier. I knew Henry would leave insanely early and timed it perfectly. Its stupid the things one picks up when your running away to America. It was mostly stuff from my childhood that I'd made sure had never left my side so far. I'd even texted my parents and a few friends from the Office that I may miss at first. To my Parents I had simply said, 'Thank you for everything', that I was sorry and Good Bye. It doesn't really matter anyway, by the time they find these bleak texts I will have a new number and a new life abroad. I don't feel bad, my parents will understand that it wasn't them I'm running from. I suddenly stopped myself by grapping hold of the empty fireplace, realising that I was starting to wearing a path into the carpet. I turned blindly not sure what to do with my self. The flat is white, modern and empty. It suddenly feels cold without Charles. Where is he? Rosa, chill out girl. I find a magazine lying on the windowsill and try to read it. Its no good, I simply can not concentrate. Where is he? I check the time again. Its nearly 1 o clock for Gods sake! I can feel what's left of my excitement turn into paranoia and so finally, defeated I collapse heavily onto the sofa. I can feel my eyelids begin to drop as exhaustion finally kicks in. I feel myself begin to drift off into a peaceful sleep when a door slamming jars me wide awake again, I jump up, ready for action. But Charles walks straight into the bedroom, totally ignoring me and then comes out a moment later with his black shoulder bag of clothing slung over his shoulder, the suitcase of our money in another and his long drench coat slung over his arm. My heart begins to beat erratically but not from excitement. He's just standing there, just of out the bedroom doorway, refusing to look at me. He looks….lost almost. Sad but like he cant quiet make up his mind. My own mind starts to reel and spin. The atmosphere in the room turns cold as ice. A gasp of air escapes from my trembling lips as I realise that I have been holding my breath. I take in a deep breath and summon up some courage.
"Well, what happens now?" He still wont look at me, just keeps staring down at his feet. A sharp knife pierces my racing heart, why won't he look at me? Finally he speaks after another few moments of this terrible silence.
"Well, to your husband your dead." I gasp sharply in shock although I already knew this was going to happen. It was the last little twist in our plan, allowing me to be truly free. But its still such a strange feeling being dead to someone who unconditionally loved you and has done for more then 10 years. Oh why did I marry so young? I'm so sure that I am suppose to feel some sort of guilt, or remorse or something. I even prepared myself for all these things but not for this. I feel…..numb. This whole situation is just too much for me, and Charles, my Hero, my saviour is still just standing there! One part of me is screaming yes, yes I'm free, I'm free. I can start my life again, live it all over, make something of myself this time round. While the other is screaming at Charles…for….for just standing there! We're suppose to be celebrating. We're going to miss our flight. Finally the tension proves too much for Charles and he turns towards the door to leave.
"I'll erm, see you around Honey. It will never work, you and me. You get bored too easily babe. What happens when you get fed up with me? Ey? Will you mess around and then blackmail me like you did your husband? We had fun, hold onto that Rosetta."
And with that my Hero walked out of the flat, out of my life. I stand frozen to spot, not quiet processing his words, not quiet believing any of this. Im filled with this odd cocktail of emotions. Shock. Confusion. Anger. Betrayal. Heartbreak. Its an out of body experience. I listen to him descend the stairs, still unable to move. It takes the slam of the building door to bring me back to life. I run full speed to the long balcony window, thrusting it open as wide as it will go and scream at the tall dark figure walking away from me.
"I LOVE YOU!" I accidentally gave that man my heart and now he's left it to die. I fully realise this as unbearable pain fills my entire broken body and tears stream down my face, stinging my eyes and cheeks making then blood red. The dark figure stops walking, turns around slowly and looks up directly at me. For the last time in my life I gaze into his endless sea blue eyes as he shouts back up to me a broken sad voice.
"I know." Then turns back around and walks off into the night, leaving me forever. I stood leaning out of the window as I watch my love, my future and my hope walk away from me. I scream into the black night to no-one in particular.
"So is this the price of love?"