W/C 12/8

Prompt ▼

Write a short story of no more than 1000 words incorporating the lines "Terrified of the sun", "Encompassed in a star", "Inside an ever widening circle", and "Behind a wall of moons".

Grand Opening! We Want You!
Midnight Temptations opening September 3^rd, various positions available
Trial period, salary by negotiation, Call...

Callie dropped the paper, she'd scoured through the job listings again and, misgivings aside, it still looked like the best option. OK, it was nights, but she could live with that for now.

It'd been embarrassing coming back to live with her folks again at her age. They hadn't said anything, of course. They wouldn't. But she could see it in their eyes. Failure - their unspoken condemnation rang loud in her ears when she'd told them that Owen had left her, how she'd tried, and watched her grades go downhill faster than an Olympic skier.

But she hadn't had a choice, not really. Not once that self-centred bastard had shown his true colours. "Take care of it!" he'd yelled through the closed door, but she couldn't... she'd do anything, but not that. And then she'd seen him with her, not a week later, already forgotten, moved on.

A winter of her discontent indeed. She picked up the phone.

***

She stepped through the second door and into a stygian morass. Looking around desperately for the person she'd come to meet, she could barely make out the large gothic windows, so obvious from the outside of the converted church, limned by midday sun trying to force its way through the miniscule cracks around the shuttering. Were these people terrified of the sun or something?

The sound of clinking glasses dragged her attention back to the room and the two floating hazy-green circles that seemed to be getting closer to her, bobbing to their own gentle rhythm, closer and closer.

She stepped back, already regretting making the call - she could get a different job surely, something in a nice, bright office. Take night classes, or drop out and start over when... yeah...

She stumbled, a short whoosh of air slipped past her lips as something cold and clammy clamped around her wrist. "Easy there girl," a smooth, foreign-sounding voice rose from near those orbs, "you'll get used to the dark and," something slipped over her eyes, the voice continuing so calmly against her rising panic, "these will help."

She was drawing in a breath, ready to scream like she'd never done before when the room suddenly grew bright. Too bright. She was stood inside an ever widening circle of receding blackness, familiar shapes emerging from the gloom tinged in various shades of violet.

"UV," her voice said, "harmless, but something to pull the punters in, I hope... so," she continued, seemingly oblivious to her discomfort, "when can you start? You can start right away, yes? There's the paperwork, training, your uniform..."

Her voice trailed off, perhaps finally noticing Callie's wide-eyed silence.

"Oh," she coughed, loosening her grip, "didn't want you to fall on your bum now did we. Call me Selene... you're?"

***

Selene hadn't been so bad once she'd got to know her a little, hell the woman hadn't even blinked when she named her price - could have probably gone higher, but there was no need to be greedy.

She'd spent the last couple of days behind the bar, trying to memorise a dozen different recipes, sweating the little white lie she'd told... but how was she supposed to know the training was going to be cancelled?

And now? Looking at the huge crowd waiting to get in she wondered how long it'd be until she was discovered.

***

A couple of hours into her first shift and things were going surprisingly well. That might have been because most of her customers had only wanted beer, and any idiot could open a bottle or pull a tap.

But then he came in. With her. Of course he'd be here, Midnight Temptations was the latest and the hottest place in town right now, where else would the self-important prick be?

He sauntered right up to the bar like he owned the place, pushing through the line of leather clad giants who'd initially terrified her—though their gentle voices and oddly formal smiles soon put her at ease.

"Interloper!"

He hadn't looked at her yet, thank the stars, and it didn't look like he would be any time soon—things were started to get heated out there. Words had already escalated to pushing and shoving, all she knew was she didn't want to get stuck in the crossfire.

She turned, and was slipping through the back door when the first fist flew. A smile blossomed, and quickly faded, he deserved that, and more, for the way he'd treated her, but...

Tears streaming she was soon lost in the maze of passages behind the public areas, door after barred door preventing her escape.

Finally, she thought, bursting through into the noise of the club, I'm... The thought died a death as she was blinded by a dozen separate spotlights, encompassed her in a star of harsh white light. Her breath hitched as she realised where she was.

She stumbled backwards, blushing crimson as she bumped into the bethonged dancers, eyes going wide as she looked out over the audience from behind a wall off moons.

The closest dancer took her in his arms, waltzing her across the stage with tears in his eyes as the first notes of Lauren Hill's "Everything is Everythin" escaped her lips, raw and wounded. "After winter, spring must come," she sang, each word a knife-edge of emotion. The world stood frozen, transfixed, even the shadows leaning closer as her voice reached forgotten depths. Ancient faces in the crowd bore expressions of wonder, the earlier fight forgotten.

Selene appeared at the side of the stage, her expression unreadable.

As the final notes faded, silence hung heavy.

"You were a terrible bartender," she called out. "You're fired..."

A beat.

"See you tomorrow, headliner."