The Catch

Part 1

 At night, the city is quiet. All you can hear are the cars that pass every so often and the distant sirens. But the cops don't come down to this neighborhood. Not the good ones, anyways. And I never ever dared to let one come near me: dirty cops will rat you out faster than you can count the money they hand you. I took a drag from my cigarette and closed my eyes. When I first started smoking, I would try to hold it in for as long as I could before I exhaled. It was a euphoria that I miss having, because now I'm so used to it that I can't feel a thing. I tilted my head skyward and let the smoke escape my lips. Sometimes I tried to keep my eyes closed for as long as I possibly could, because maybe this time when I open them I'll be back in my cosy childhood bed, and my whole life would have turned out to be this long fever dream.

My eyes didn't stay closed for long this time. I could hear a car pull up and the window roll down. I puckered my lips and adjusted my fake fur coat. I let the butt drop to the ground before I stepped on it with the toe of my platform heels. I bent over to the car's level and I took a deep breath.

"Hey sugar, lookin' for a hot date?" I said, trying to prepare myself for what I knew I had to do.

I only heard a short laugh in response. The laugh was feminine and soft, but I couldn't see inside the car.

"Yeah, isn't everyone who comes down here?" Said the person, who I assumed to be a woman. I shrugged and gave a half nod.

"How much to have you for the whole night?" She asked. I stopped and thought about it. Nobody ever wanted me for more than an hour.

"Are you gonna hurt me? You gonna play rough?" The woman just laughed again. This time her laugh was full and kind.

"No." She didn't elaborate. I could do worse.

"$800. And I don't go down the back road," I said. I do, though. I'm just too weak to do it tonight.

"I can work with that," the woman chortled, "go ahead and get in."

And so that's what I did.

The woman drove down the parkway for some long time, out of the north side and into the east side. I hadn't been to the east side since highschool. I spent nights in this little cafe on 4th and Maple, and never once had I seen a whore on this side of town. I tried my best to keep my gaze on the passing scenery. I still had no clue what this woman looked like.

"What's your name, baby?" The woman asked in a deep, throaty voice. It was a question I heard every night, and it stuck a knife right into my gut.

"What do you want it to be?" I asked, trying to sound as composed and as sensual as I could. The woman only laughed. She kept driving for a few kilometres before she spoke again.

"Are you hungry, baby?" She asked. I was. I was so hungry. I hadn't eaten in days.

"Not unless you want me to be," I said. She sighed through her nose, but pressed.

"And if I do?"

"We eat. I won't pay for the meal," I said quietly.

"That's okay," she hummed. "Do you like burgers?"

"If you want me to."

She didn't say anything after that.

We pulled into a diner on the lower east side after driving for another half hour. The woman's car smelled of stale smoke and coffee. Inside the diner I could see maybe one or two customers, and a waitress who sat behind the counter on her cellphone. I went to open the door, but I was interrupted by the woman.