Miss Polly had a Dolly (Emma Frost #2) (15 page)

"What was that all about?" she asked
as we moved forward again.

I shook my head. "I'll tell you another day."

Patrick
couldn't stop giggling.
After the stunt outside he had
returned to his dressing room inside the old theater. Oh what a joy. What a
thrill to hear all those screaming voices calling his name, demanding his
presence. Oh how he loved it.

Now he was dancing around his room, twirling,
wearing an old red cloak that he had found on the racks. It had probably been a
part of some play.

Now it was going to be a part of his.

He looked at himself in the mirror while
giggling, dancing, and just feeling high, ecstatic, slowly losing control.

Patrick, Patrick you can't
lose it. You have to keep it together. Keep both feet on the ground!

"Shut up, you loser," Patrick hissed
out loud to his own reflection. "I'll do whatever pleases me. And they'll
love me for it. They'll love everything I do."

Don't do it, Patrick. Not on a
day like this. Wait till it's all over like you usually do. They'll catch you.
Someone will see…

"Didn't I tell you to shut the hell up?
Nobody asked for your opinion you pathetic little creature. You're not in
charge anymore. I have wiped you out. I have cut you off. You're so weak. No
one cares about you anymore."

Finally his mind was quiet. Then he laughed
again. His cheeks were blushing, probably from all the excitement. Patrick's
hands were flickering in the air. He just couldn't…he could barely contain it
anymore. He had to do it. He had to do something. It was just too…too tempting.
With all the police everywhere. It was almost like they were challenging him.
And Patrick loved a good challenge.

"I have to do it," he whispered. He
licked his teeth in front of the mirror. "I simply have to," he
hissed. "There is no use fighting it anymore."

Patrick found an old long haired wig and put it
on. He kept the cloak on, and put the hood up to cover his face. He put dark
make-up on his eyes to make them look creepy before he left the dressing room.

The auditions always attracted a lot of strange
people, dressing in weird costumes so he blended in easily with the rest of the
crowd. He wasn't supposed to be on for at least an hour, so he had plenty of
time to do his little thing. As he walked along the corridors of the theater he
felt a thrill race through his entire body. The anticipation of finally getting
his fix. The excitement of the danger of getting caught. It was so…so alluring,
so arousing.

Patrick felt the butterfly-knife in his pants
underneath the cloak. This was going to be so much fun.

Patrick didn't have to walk long before he found
his victim. She was standing in front of the toilets behind the scenes where
the auditions were. It was a secluded area for people who worked on the show or
people who were done with their auditions. But they usually left quickly for
the most part.

She wasn't old, but Patrick had been looking to
go younger for a while. He hated those more than anything. The small girls who
were oh so pretty, oh so adorable with their long hair and sparkling eyes. To
him they were the ultimate victims. So innocent, not yet corrupted by the world
and all its evil. They had not yet experienced the roughness of life, the
harshness of people.

He wanted to be the one to introduce them to
that. That was the plan. To ruin the innocence, spoil the feeling of security
that they still possessed, the belief that the world was a nice place and that
people were good. This girl seemed to still posses all of that.

"Hi there," Patrick said.

The girl looked into his eyes. "You're
Patrick, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes. And you're a smart girl, aren't you?
What are you doing back here all alone?"

I was just in the bathroom. I'm waiting for my
mom. She told me to wait for her outside."

"She's in there?" Patrick asked with a
shrill edge to his voice.

"Yes. I have just done my audition and
we're going home afterwards."

No you're not!

"I see. Did you go through to the next
round? Did you DAZZLE the judges? Did you make them just LOOVE you?"

The girl looked at him. He smiled. Then she
shook her head. "Ah, that's too bad. I'm sure they made the wrong
decision. I'm sure you're absolutely FABOULOUS."

The girl was shy and looked down. "I don't
know…"

"Oh but I do. I might know a way for you to
get in anyway. Would you be interested in that?"

The girl looked up, then nodded heavily. A
sparkle of hope was lit in her eyes.

"Okay then," Patrick said with a grin.
"Come with me."

"But…but what about my mom?" she
asked.

"Don't worry about her. I'll have someone
tell her where you are when she gets out. Don't worry. She'll be very pleased
that you did this. You'll be FAMOUS after this. I'll put you on the cover of
all the papers. Just you wait and see."

"I'd like that," she said and put her
small hand in his. "I'd really like that."

"I want both of them."

The man who pointed at Nina and Blanka next to
her was sweating heavily. He wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. His hair
was greasy, his hands and arms covered in black hairs.
Looks like a monkey
, Nina thought to
herself.

He had been in there before but never picked
Nina. She felt good that he finally picked her. The man was important, she had
learned that much. Nadja, the woman who took care of the place always acted
different when he was there. Now she smiled and nodded. He was a mafia boss,
Blanka had told Nina. He was the one who owned the brothel that Nina had been
brought to two years ago when she was last sold. Now she was closer to town.
Which town, she didn't know, but some town. She watched the beautiful lights at
night and dreamed herself away.

"Nina and Blanka, go with Mr.
Zaleski," Nadja said. She grabbed Nina's arm as she passed her. "Now
don't let me down. Do everything he says. Make him happy and you make me happy,
okay? You'll get reward. Big reward."

"Like what?" Nina asked. She had been
in this business for a long time now and knew that she was worth a lot of
money. She was the only one who could speak to Nadja in this way.

"Food. I'll give you steak, you like steak,
huh?"

Nina shook her head. "Not enough. I want
something else."

Nadja sighed. "Okay, no men for two days.
Make Mr. Zaleski happy and you'll be off for two whole days. You stay in your
room, but you don't work, alright?"

"Blanka, too," Nina said. "She
gets reward, too."

Nadja closed her eyes. "Okay. Blanka, too.
But just go before he changes his mind. Remember. Make him happy."

Nina smiled as she grabbed Blanka's hand and
walked towards her room. She looked at Blanka before they walked inside with
the greasy man. Then she winked at her to let her know about the reward.

"No men for two days," she whispered.

Blanka's eyes glistened with joy. Nina looked at
her and felt great love for her. She had loved Blanka from the first day she
came to the brothel. It was almost a year ago and what a year it had been.
Blanka was young, much younger than she and Nina had taken it upon herself to
take care of her, explain to her how things worked around there. Blanka had
thought she was going away for a job at a restaurant in Greece to support her
family back in Slovakia where they were suffering badly. She was no more than
eleven when they sent her away to work and send back money. But they were
tricked as was Blanka. She never went to Greece, instead she was brought to the
same brothel as Nina. She had never even been with a man before she came there
and now she had been molested by hundreds already. Nina felt bad for her and
had taken good care of her, as good as she possibly could, given their
circumstances. But she could never protect her from all the bad things and that
hurt her so deeply. At least now that the man had picked the both of them, Nina
could make sure he didn't hurt Blanka. She could keep Blankaaway from all the
nasty stuff and make sure he only did it to her. In Nina's eyes Blanka was as
pure as snow. In fact, she was certain that she loved her deeply. Nina had
never loved anyone before and it felt strange and absurd but at the same time
so right. Blanka was so right. Her skin like caramel, her eyes brown as
almonds, her hair smooth as silk.

"Now you two kiss," the nasty man said
while sitting on the bed.

Nina smiled and looked at Blanka who smiled
back. Yes, Nina was certain Blanka loved her as well and the thought of kissing
her instead of that old ugly man was quite compelling. Nina leaned over and
closed her eyes. The kiss was soft and tasted sweet. Nina's heart was beating
fast in her chest.

"No, no," the man yelled. "With
tongue. Like this," he said and stuck out his tongue. "Like
that."

Nina shrugged, then leaned over and grabbed
Blanka's face between her hands. She closed her eyes again as she opened her
mouth and kissed the only person she had ever loved on this cruel earth.

"Ida? Where is Ida?"

Sophia looked at me nervously. I was standing by
the door leading to the scene where Christoffer was auditioning right now. I
couldn't hear much, but by the look on the judges' faces through the glass
window, he shouldn't count on becoming famous any time soon.

"Have you seen Ida?" Sophia asked
again.

I shook my head. "I thought she was with
you."

"She was. We went to the bathroom together
and I asked her to wait for me outside. I had to change Alma's diaper. When I
came out she was gone.

"Do you think she might have gotten
lost?" I asked. "There's a lot of corridors down there. It's an old
theater where the actors were supposed to be able to get on stage from all
kinds of places, probably even from under the stage."

Sophia nodded. "I guess she might be lost.
Maybe I should go look for her?"

"Do that. I'll wait here for Christoffer.
He should be done soon," I said.

I watched Sophia disappear down a corridor
calling Ida's name. I turned my head and looked at Christoffer secretly hoping
to catch a glimpse of Patrick, but he didn't seem to be in there with the
judges.

"Well hello there. How's it going?"

The voice was coming from behind me and could
come from none other than Patrick himself. I turned and looked at him. For some
reason I blushed. "I think it's going pretty good," I lied.

Patrick's eyes flickered maniacally. I had never
seen him this close in real life and never noticed that look on him before. It
was a little creepy, like he was about to lose it and have a manic breakdown or
something. I don't know what it was.

"So you're his mom?" Patrick asked and
peeked in through the window, as well.

I stepped backwards to let him see better. He
was wearing a long red cloak and a wig. I figured it was all a part of his
weird act but there didn't seem to be any cameras around. Maybe he was just
always acting.

"No, I'm his neighbor. His mom just went
out to find his sister."

"So he has a sister too, huh? Does she
sing?"

"She does. But right now we're afraid she
might have gotten lost in the corridors of the theater."

Patrick turned his head fast, almost like an owl
and looked at me. His right eye had a tick in it. "Oh? Is that so?"
he said. "Well I do hope nothing bad has happened to her down there."

I wrinkled my forehead. "What do you mean?
What bad could happen? We're in a theater and the place is packed with
police."

"No. No. Of course not. Of course she's
fine. I just meant that maybe she would be all AFRAID or something."

Patrick yelled the word very loud it made me
jump. He was even weirder in person it seemed. I had always thought it was just
an act but now I realized that it was just the way he was.

"Well, I think she'll be fine," I said
and hoped Christoffer would be done soon so I could get away from this lunatic.
I was highly uncomfortable in his presence. If he wasn't a famous TV host I
think he would have been locked up somewhere and had the key thrown away. Or at
the very least, highly medicated.

"Of COURSE she will," he yelled.
"She's fine. She's just FINE."

Patrick breathed heavily and looked at me while
his right eye kept blinking constantly. I think he saw that I noticed because
he put on his sunglasses really fast. Then he smiled awkwardly. "Hot
today, huh?"

It really wasn't. It was one of those icy cold
days where the wind blew in from the North Sea, but I didn't want to tell him
that. I was very disappointed and just wanted to go home.

I looked at him with a strange feeling that he
wasn't really well, when suddenly we were interrupted by an ear piercing scream
that made me forget everything. It was coming from the corridors. My heart
literally stopped and everything inside of me froze. I knew that voice.

It was Sophia.