Perlicue

The woman careens sideways, running headlong into the busy street, her long tan legs whipping back and forth, each foot landing flat and awkward on five inch stiletto heels. A yellow taxi cab jerks sideways, tires screeching, narrowly missing her.

"Get outta the way, lady! You tryin' to kill yourself!" he shouts, waving one arm wildly from the window.

Half a dozen cars behind him slam on their brakes too. A symphony of honking horns, curse words, and thick accents lace the air.

"Ah, New York," Sha sighs as she jogs through the mayhem.

They can't see her, only her quarry, the long legged blonde wearing a hot pink sequin mini skirt carrying a chihuahua in a matching purse.

Sha picks up her pace as the woman half jumps half falls down the stairs leading to the underground subway. At the bottom, the woman trips and falls, her purse bound chihuahua skidding along the dirty tile. Her eyes locked on Sha, she scuttles upright like a baby giraffe and runs again, leaving the shivering dog with one leg clamped to its chest.

It's gigantic bug eyes follow Sha as she hurries past. People can't see her, but animals can. If your dogs have ever gone bat shit crazy for no apparent reason, Sha or one of her coworkers is probably lurking nearby.

"Sorry, pup. Find someone better," she calls over her shoulder.

The woman scrabbles at the subway turnstile, fighting hard to get in without a ticket.

"Time to pay the piper," Sha yells at her back.

The woman turns, holding out her hands, her eyes wide and desperate. "Please," she begs. "Please."

A man wearing a crisp but thread worn business suit one turnstile over, eyes her carefully as he slides his subway pass through the scanner and slowly rotates through the turnstile. When the woman starts crying and pleading frantically, he looks once more, then hurries away with short clipped steps. To him, it just looks like the woman has completely lost her ever loving mind, screaming and crying at no one.

Sha saunters forward and reaches out a hand. "You can come with me or I can force you?"

The woman's lower lip trembles, her whole body vibrating. "I just wanted a chance," she whispers. "I just wanted one chance to be in a movie."

Sha nods. "You got it."

Sha knew this particular bounty was an A-list actress, the current IT girl of Hollywood. She's made dozens of movies and just won her first Oscar. She had a little help from Sha's boss along the way, though, and now there is an overdue debt that needs to be paid.

"You're a star," Sha adds.

The woman's lips pull back in a quivering smile.

"Yes, I am," she says confidently, gathering herself. She straightens her shoulders and shakes out her hair, holding her head high, as she loops an arm through Sha's elbow.

Sha closes her eyes and uses her left hand to pinch between her thumb and index finger of her right, activating the little metallic perlicue skewered there. There's a gut wrenching whoosh and an intense moment of sudden, blinding pain and then they're somewhere else.

The woman shakes out her hair again, her eyes wide as she surveys the long queue of misfits standing silent and stoic, waiting to be processed.

"Join the line," Sha says. "Welcome to Purgatory. They'll process you and you'll go somewhere else. Have a nice stay."

As Sha turns to leave, the woman grabs her arm. "Wait," she begs. Her cheeks flush red. "What happens to the me ... up there?" she asks, pointing to the ceiling.