Girl's Girl

This wasn’t like her, Molly kept reminding herself. It wasn’t bad, of course, plenty of girls did stuff like this, but she wasn’t one of those girls. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but she wasn’t one of those girls. Until her friends and some very persuasive magazines argued it was the only cure for heartbreak.

She looked at herself in the mirror, trying to be steel. It was just a hookup it was empowering. Her reflection showed a sexy and mysterious visage, hair freshly dyed a deep scarlet that matched her metallic red eyeshadow that totally wasn’t too much. She wore a black leather jacket and a black dress that bore white stripes on the skirt, and best of all there was cleavage. Oh yes, if you went looking for cleavage eventually you would find it, which was bound to happen soon.

Dropping down into the small plastic sink, Molly heaved. Her heart was pounding and her breath was rapid, but she closed her eyes to take a deep breath. It was going to be okay, it was just sex. People did this all the time, confident girls don’t spend their weekend with a book. Looking up at the mirror she took one last glance to see messy blonde hair and bare shoulders. It was only when the blue eyes in the mirror scrolled up and down that Molly yelped, frozen immediately.

A woman in a spaghetti string top with a gold heart locket dangling from her neck stared back. A stripe of messy bruising circled her throat and her nose was crooked at an angle. Both eyes were black, clear even beneath the running mascara. Molly trembled, the heat and color flushing from her face. When the figure’s eyes returned to Molly’s face it simply said.

“Too heavy on the eyeshadow, babe.”

Molly heaved once more, then shot up to see herself looking back.

Psychosis, great, she thought to herself.

Forcing herself to open the door Molly exited the cramped bathroom and entered the equally cramped trailer. While it was tidy it was clearly very old, the wood panelling and faded multicolor upholstery gave that away. Her host waited in the miniscule kitchen with two martini glasses holding cloudy yellow liquid. There wasn’t a single thing wrong with him from his toasted skin tone that traced up the veins of his toned arms and probably waited on the bulging pectorals that strained beneath his shirt. His thick dark hair was shaved at the sides and slicked back on top. All of it made being one of those girls a little easier.

“I didn’t have any lemon slices but this should do,” Ezra chuckled. “I know it’s not the most romantic setting, but I appreciate you being willing to come all the way out here.”

“It’s fine, it’s… quaint,” Molly returned still weak, “Really hard to find though, you’re sure it’s okay I parked in front of those apartments?”

“Yeah, they’re pubic spaces, I’ll drive you back so you don’t have to walk that far,” He gave a smirk, “Hopefully not for a while, though.”

The color returned to Molly’s face as she accepted her glass and sat on the worn couch next to where she had left her purse. Like a gentleman Ezra sat against the opposite wall with his at a breakfast nook. He raised his glass in toast and took a sip while Molly put hers down after raising it, still shaken from the bathroom.

“I know it doesn’t look like much but I move around so much for work,” Ezra explained.

“Construction you said?”

He smiled back, “Good listener. I live on sites if I can, makes it easier to guarantee quality, my father always said if your name is on the company, your name is on the work.”

Finally relaxing, Molly squirmed on the couch, “How long have you been in charge?”

“According to my father, since I was a kid,” He shrugged, “I was a bossy little brat. Three years ago dad had a stroke and now I’m here.”

Molly turned to look out the window for a moment at the night sky. This far out from the city you could just start to see the stars. Her stomach churned nervously.

“Enough about me, you said you’re a teacher?”

Molly turned back, “A permanent sub right now, but it’s just temporary. I transferred schools in the middle of the year, it’s a whole thing, but y’know…” she trailed off.

“Hey I don’t judge, work is work,” He replied, “Unless you’re on my crew, then work is standing around and vaping.” He took a sip from his drink and gestured to hers, “I hope I got it right, measuring without a tape isn’t my strong suit.”

Molly picked up her drink and felt her cheeks get a little warm. She may never be one of those girls again, but tonight wasn’t all that bad. She looked at the window again and the messy haired blonde woman stared back.

“Where’s your phone?” Blondie asked plainly.

Molly shot up to her feet, spilling the drink down the side of the couch. Darting her eyes around the surface of the window there was darkness there and nothing more.

“Everything okay?” Ezra asked, on his feet cautiously approaching.

“Yeah–I–I’m sorry,” Mollie looked down to the stain on the side of the couch.

“Look, no worries, hey,” Ezra made eye contact, “It’s okay, I get totally get it, it’s super claustrophobic in here. My first couple months I almost went crazy.”

Molly’s eyes widened, “Why? What did you see?”

“See?” He asked, but dismissed it quickly, “Hey look, don’t worry about the drink, no really. Let’s go outside and get some air, I could show you around if you want.”

Giving a weak smile and a nod, Molly watched as he walked to the door, specifically the hugging denim fabric of his jeans. Taking one last glance at her purse she considered searching it. After a deep breath and a waiting smile from Ezra she decided not to let her nerves win.

The outside air did wonders for Mollie, though it was a bit chilly. She clutched her arms to her sides and did her best not to shiver. Ezra affectionately rubbed one of her shoulders and then casually put an arm around her. It warmed the young woman up quickly.

Together they looked up at the skeleton of a building, a five story structure that was little more than concrete and platforming. Plastic sheeting hid most of the inside, even what was visible only led to another wall of translucent sheeting.

“Do you want to see what I’ve been working on?” Ezra asked gently nudging Molly forward, “I’ll admit it’s ambitious but I could use an outside perspective.”

“I… I don’t know, is that allowed? I mean would we be safe?”

With a debonair smile he replied, “With me you’re always safe. But also yes, the foundations are solid and once I startup the generator we can take the lift. As long as we avoid the active construction zones we should be fine.”

She hesitated.

“You told me you wanted to try new things right? I can promise you this is nowhere near as scary as a classroom of screaming third graders.”

One of those girls, Molly thought to herself and moved forward.

Once in the temporary lift, a fenced in box that made quite a lot of noise. After a lull of quiet Ezra was the first one to speak.

“Thank you for doing this. I’m a little proud of this one, it’s my first project with none of my dad’s involvement.”

“You and your dad are close? Sorry, it’s just that you mention him a lot.”

Ezra’s arms flexed as held the rail behind him, but he answered, “Yeah, it’s been he and I for a long time. My mom she uh, well she made a lot of bad choices, he and I dealt with the fallout. I know he feels bad dragging me into his work, but I don’t–Oop, here we are.”

Molly was surprised at once that there was clearly nothing special to this place. It was a bare and gray space, little more than a floor and columns. Half of it was obscured behind plastic sheeting. Yet Ezra still turned on the work lamps and bragged about every possible thing it could be. It was nice to hear a man with passion and plans for the future, but Molly dashed those thoughts as those kinds of girls don’t have those thoughts.

As her fling for the night wandered about the space a slight movement caught Molly’s eye and her stomach filled with dread. Painfully she forced her head to look in the direction of plastic sheeting. As if a gust of wind Molly could neither hear nor feel blew through the room the sheets parted, and there she was once more.

Average height wearing ripped jeans and the same white top the woman with the blackened eyes and streaking mascara raised a single forearm, fist in the air, so a bloody mark in her flesh was level with her throat. It took Mollie a second to realize the razor-straight lines were shaped into a number seven.

“See something you like?” Ezra asked.

Molly snapped to attention and the girl was gone, though the sheets were billowing back to position.

“Sorry,” She said, “It’s weird, it’s an empty space, but there’s so much to take in.”

“Well it’s not completely empty,” He replied, “I want to show you the thing I’m most proud of.”

Cautiously he walked over to the plastic wall and slid in. Every instinct in Molly’s head told her to panic, to run, but a small voice called out underneath the noise. Could she live without knowing? Could she really go back to the world thinking what she’d seen tonight was real? The only cure for this madness was the truth. With that she walked to the curtains and crossed.

The entire space was like a very small corner room made out of ziploc bag. The same sheets stapled to the ceiling also coated the floor neatly and evenly, but it was barely big enough to fit the two of them. Laid out almost like a surgeons tools were several rings of duct tape, a ball gag, pliers, a straight razor, a hunting knife, and all other manner of equipment next to a duffel bag that was peeked open to show amongst other things, a gold heart locket.

Having had a hell of a night already, Molly simply looked up at Ezra confused. He smiled proudly and then delivered a devastating punch to her throat. Gasping and choking while her eyes welled with tears and the pain in her throat became a scream in her brain, Molly stumbled backward only to be grabbed by the shoulders and roughly thrown to the ground where he shoulder slammed hard and she rolled onto her back still gasping.

“See the muscle relaxants would usually keep you quiet, but I’m not opposed to doing things the old fashioned way, Dad said the first three were like that,” Ezra made his way over her hips and sat down hard, “I didn’t take over till number seven, and it’s not as easy as it looks. You’ll forgive me if I take my time, can’t make mistakes on lucky number thirteen.”

Blinded by her tears and choking from the muscles in her throat acting in full panic. She grabbed at the sides of his shirt, thrashing and kicking. His muscles underneath the fabric only added to her terror. While not the biggest, he clearly knew how to use his weight.

“Look at you getting handsy,” He clicked his teeth, examining his tools, “You were a lucky find, I usually don’t hunt this late in the game, there’s not much excavating left to be done. Maybe you’ll end up in the cement instead, and in a hundred years when this place gets torn down they’ll find you. They’ll find all of you, it’s a shame it’ll take that long, I always wanted a copy cat.”

Finally, running on pure instinct, Molly was able to get enough of a hold on Ezra’s hips. She sat up as best she could, bear hugged his waist and pulled him down on top of her. Shocked, Ezra was barely able to brace himself and awkwardly landed with his hands out. Molly popped her hips up to lift his lower half and then pitched her hips to side. With no balance to speak of he tumbled off her and she rolled in the opposite direction.

In the cramped space Ezra had no choice but to land on his gear, scattering the various pieces while Molly’s tumbling legs kicked through the farthest plastic barrier, revealing emptiness behind it. Rubbing away tears, she quickly pulled herself forward onto solid ground, throat rock hard. Be it the adrenaline or just the abject terror but her anxiety was gone. There was nothing but survival.

Pushing herself up halfway she turned too late to see Ezra rush behind her. In a blur he stood behind Molly and pulled some sort of cord tight across her neck, exacerbating the initial throat injury.

“Here I was thinking you were just some innocent nerd decked out in eyeshadow,” He hissed in her ear, “Turns out I went on a date with the karate kid.”

Molly heard none of this, instead she tugged on the cord getting nothing more than moments of breath. Sliding her hands back she found his hands and tried quickly to wriggle her fingers into his to no avail. Instead she clasped the balls of his hands and dug her nails in. They weren’t all that long and Ezra fought the pain while growling, but the line slackened just enough.

Molly’s next move was far from glorious, she wiggled her body like an epileptic Earthworm all while kicking anything she could land on. Her shoulders twisted clockwise and her body followed, space freeing up for her to pull her knees up. Ezra was not a willing participant in this, darting his feet to dodge her kicks causing them both to spin like a record on the plastic floor.

Once Molly was mostly face-up she pulled her knees back to her chest and kicked again and again her combat boots landing blow after blow on Ezra’s chest and groin. Finally he disengaged and began to back away, but Molly delivered one last two legged kick like a donkey to his chest and knocked him on his ass not far from the far wall of plastic.

“Whoah!” He chuckled to himself, “If I’d known tonight was gonna be a workout, I wouldn’t have hit the gym. What is this? Judo?”

“Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, asshole,” Molly rasped, “I told you I had a purple belt.”

“Yeah, and I assumed like everyone it was when you were ten,” He rubbed a razor thin cut on his forearm, “I knew you would be different. Maybe I’ll keep part of you, not the smartest way to keep above the law, but what’s life without risk?”

Taking a sandpaper like gulp Molly sucked in breaths, “So this is also something you inherited from your deadbeat dad?”

Ezra’s face dropped, like a mask of wax melting away to reveal the demon beneath. His handsome features contorted into a seething heat, “Don’t you ever–”

A gust of wind blew through the small space moving every curtain aside. The wall they initially entered from revealed the strangled woman once more. She stared directly at Ezra, not with rage but with a thousand unspoke words. The wind blew apart the sleeves hanging behind him, revealing a several story drop between pylons.

Ezra’s face returned to his normal handsome self, “Number seven, again? You’re being a bit clingy darling, had I known you were coming I would have cleaned up a bit.”

The wind picked up and two sheets from the ghost’s side ripped off and splattered onto Ezra clinging to him. Their slick surface resisted as he attempted to pull them off, just as he was getting free two more slapped onto him. From somewhere on his belt he pulled free a knife and began attempting to cut through them with little success.

Climbing to her feet, hands shaking fiercely, Molly clenched her fists and circled toward the ghost. As she approached the air grew cold and while the living girl was cautious the dead one didn’t seem to notice her. Taking one final glance at the spectre Molly rushed forward and slammed into Ezra, trying her best to plant after, but still she skid. His blade swung out and drew a cut just below her eye, but Molly didn’t feel a thing.

Ezra stumbled back, tearing down more sheets of plastic before one foot fell into the open air. His hands shot out and grabbed a pylon each, his knife fell abandoned down several stories. Even with white knuckles it seemed impossible to pull himself up.

His dark eyes were wide and his lips seemed to shake, “Molly. Please. I’m sorry, okay? I need help. You’re a good person.”

  Taking a moment’s breath Molly nodded, she may not be that kind of girl, but she knew now what she was. She planted a front kick in his lower stomach, shoving with all her might till he dislodged and dropped into the darkness. A sharp scream carried until it was silenced by a dull thud.

Breathing heavy and breathing hard Molly turned to the ghost woman who had returned to her normal nonpulsed state.

“Thank you,” Molly told her.

The woman shrugged, “I’m a girl’s girl.”

Perhaps it was all the horror movies, but Molly felt the urge to check to make sure Ezra was dead, especially after the blonde woman vanished. Instead, she stayed still, wondering if she was truly alone while also dreading the possibility.