Under His Spell

I worked the rest of my shift in a constant state of anxiety as I kept watching the door for ‘Linda’.  When the afternoon rolled around and nothing came, I figured he was just messing with me and left for the day.  I made my way through the streets, heading towards my bus stop, plopping down onto the bench.  Jeremy handed me half of his sandwich. We always got off work at the same time and since we lived at the same apartment building, we usually brought each other meals at the end of our shifts, splitting them to save money. Today was a Tuesday which meant that Turkey was on sale. I savored my sandwich, knowing it would be probably be till tomorrow I would eat again.  “I had a

"Well Avery... It will certainly be a pleasure to work with you.” Derek said.  I narrowed my eyes, unsure how to take that. Fortunately I was saved by Linda softly knocking.  “I have her stuff ready.”  Derek waved her in, walking back behind his desk. “Go ahead, take her. Tell Matt I want to talk to him if you run into him.”  Linda nodded, pulling my elbow to lead me out of the office. We walked back toward the apartment style space again and into a small bedroom. Well, smaller. This bedroom was still larger than my entire apartment. An outfit we had picked out at the store was laid neatly on the bed.

They sent me to the waiting room as they rushed him off to another section bending closed doors. Someone finally came up and handed me a clipboard with a bunch of paperwork and walked off before I could ask how Derek was doing. The paperwork was asking for a bunch of his information like date of birth and insurance which I didn’t know so I threw it to the chair next to me as I sat down. After a few minutes, the phone in my back pocket started to ring, scaring the shit out of me as I had forgotten about it. The screen had Linda written across and a green or red button, assuming the green was for pickup I selected it. 

When we arrived in Tokyo, it was dark. We headed straight for the hotel without a word together. It was raining but the light up towers were just as pretty as back home. When we got to the hotel, Sam was quick to get out and grab everyone’s suitcases. We didn’t have much considering Linda only had me book the rooms for a few days.  She accompanied me to the receptionist desk as I went to check in and grab our keys, while everyone else waited by the elevator. The lady was nice and welcoming, greeting us in English to my surprise. It did make me feel a little guilty for not knowing the language of the land but also I know Linda had mentioned this was one of Derek's favorite hotels to visit while here. The hotel was small but luxurious enough that I was able to book an entire floor for all of us, so we would all have ou

I wrapped my legs around Derek as he pushed me harder into the wall.  Derek gasped at the motion, dropping my legs as I slid to the floor. He clutched at his side, blood seeping through his shirt.    “Fuck I think you tore some stitches” he said, pulling his shirt off to revealing the bleeding wound.   “I’m so sorry” I apologized, running into the bathroom to grab a towel. He took the towel from me and pressed against it. “Do you need anything else?” I asked him.   He looked at me blankly. “I need you to leave”   His harsh tone shocked me and I don’t know why it also hurt. I bit down onto my teeth to stop myself from crying as I nodded and hurried out the door