Paintshark (8 page)

“I know, but they’ll get to us eventually, I’m sure they will, they’re just busy.”

Cassandra had sung her heart out to at least a dozen tables, but she had forgotten her original table five. Her arms were itching beyond belief and she scratched and sung repeatedly, she was growing more tired as each song passed and was feeling hot too.

Muskrat stuck his tongue out to his younger brother as he waited for his dinner, his mother sighed loudly and clicked her fingers.

“EXCUSE ME, EXCUSE ME, YOUNG LADY.” Cassandra carried on singing to another table, putting her hands on her shoulders, mirroring the lyrics to the birthday song. Grabbing a fork the mother started banging it hard onto the table. “I SAID EXCUSE ME, YOUNG LADY, I’M TALKING TO YOU.”

Cassandra started to sweat and was feeling faint, but still persisted in scratching with her song. The mother fidgeted uneasily in her seat. “WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR AGES.”

Another waitress came to the table to find out why this particular diner had raised her voice but the mother shooed her away and grunted loudly, “I WANT HER, SHE SHOULD BE THE ONE SERVING US.”

A strange energy pulsed though Cassandra’s body and it shook her, she stopped singing and wiped her brow cased in sweat, her eyes were as wide as saucers and she turned her attention to table five. Her voice trembled. “I’m sorry, what is it?”

The mother’s voice boomed, “IT’S MY SON’S BIRTHDAY, AND THIS SILLY WOMAN HASN’T DONE ANYTHING.”

Cassandra swayed as she meandered over, her stomach turning cartwheels and her eyes glazed over.

The husband patted his wife’s arm to try and calm her down, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“NO, I WILL NOT LEAVE IT, THIS WAITRESS IS USELESS.”

All of a sudden the powerful energy in Cassandra pulled her quickly to table five, in a few quick steps she was at the table, she flicked her head round and roared, “WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?”

The restaurant dropped into silence instantly, swiftly followed by the sounds of screams and chairs hastily being scraped along the wooden restaurant floor, tables were overturned as diners scrambled through the exits.

Only table five remained as all the family sat rooted to the spot staring up at Cassandra, one side of her face had changed, on her right-hand side her eye was no longer brown but a metallic green, half her mouth had grown razor-sharp teeth, her head resembled a now crimson reptile which looked rough and leathery, a forked-tongue slithered out, which she was oblivious to.

“WHAT YOU LOOKING AT? HAVE I GOT SOMETHING IN MY TEETH?”

The mum nervously pointed to a mirror opposite them hanging on the wall. Cassandra looked around and let out a shriek of terror as she saw her terrifying reflection, the young girl, still screaming, fled out of the chicken shop. Muskrat and his brother beamed with excitement.

“DAD, THAT WAS WAY COOL, CAN WE COME BACK TOMORROW?” The father stared at his wife shaking in her chair, slightly dribbling with fear, he then looked his son squarely in the eye and smiled. “Did you get that on your phone?” Muskrat nodded. “SHIT YEAH!”

Cassandra ran down the street feeling her face as she went, her fingers ran all over her head to see if the traces of the creature she saw in the chicken shack were still there. Pausing briefly she checked her reflection in a shop window, her tear-stained face had reverted back to its white self.

She smeared her tears and continued running through the restaurant district, the people leaving and entering various eateries were apparently unaware of her transformation in the shop a few blocks down.

Cassandra turned into an alleyway and collapsed into a heap, rolling on the ground she crawled on all fours and pushed her back up against the brick wall and cradled her head in her hands. Moments passed that seemed like an eternity with her thoughts all over the place. Still sniffling and trembling she stood up and threw up behind some bins.

Remembering she was meeting Kimberley and fighting to maintain her composure, Cassandra ran around the corner…bumping straight into her friend. Kimberley threw her hands around Cassandra and held her tight, resting her head on her shoulder. Cassandra cried into her friend and the two between sobs recalled their respective incidents.

Kimberley’s voice rose in alarm. “SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW, WHAT’S HAPPENING TO US?” Cassandra wiped the remnants of snot dribbling from her nose and shook her head.

“I haven’t got a clue, I don’t know what’s going on but I don’t like it.” She looked around at the people heading to various restaurants and suddenly felt vulnerable.

“Come on, let’s go back to my house and work out what the hell’s going on.” Kimberley nodded in haste and fumbled with her phone.

“Shall we call our parents?”

“No, we’ll keep them out of this until we know what’s going on, I don’t even know who to tell, THIS THING IS CRAZY!”

Kimberley wiped her eyes still red from crying.

“Ok, let’s go to yours.”

The two locked hands and started to run to the direction of Cassandra’s house, as they raced around restaurants with their heart pounding, they managed to keep their heads up until they both ran headlong into Felcey.

All three of the classmates lay sprawled out on the ground, Cassandra pulled Kimberley to her and looked at the guy who literary swept them off their feet.

“FELCY!” Cassandra yelled. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

The scruffy comic collector rubbed his arm, for once not because of the itching but because he had fallen awkwardly on to it. “I came out to get some fresh air and to get some dinner from the ‘Chicken Shack’, my stepdad ate mine.”

“You should look where you’re going, Felcey,” Cassandra glared.

“My arm hurts,” was his reply.

Kimberley got to her feet and pulled the sleeves down from her top, since she boiled the water in the swimming baths her itching had stopped, she rubbed her aching back and smiled for the first time that evening.

“Hey Felcey, are you hurt?”

“Hi Kimberley.” He muttered under his breath about his arm being broken. “I’m fine.”

Cassandra slapped her forehead a couple of times. “BUGGER! I forgot my library book.”

Kimberley threw her hands in the air. “Is this really the time to be worrying about a library book?”

Before Cassandra could answer, armed police following proper procedures swarmed around the alleyway. Kimberley whirled around to see loads of men in uniform aiming guns at the three of them, her face dazed with confusion at the oncoming officers. The first line of policemen moved closer to the teenagers with their weapons aimed high, the officer at the front barked an order.

“ARMED POLICE, STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR.”

Terrified and confused, all three of them did so. The people who were about to dine out for the evening ran away or were shepherded away by police.

Felcey stood absolutely still but managed a glare at Cassandra. “So this library book…how late is it?”

The door on the cubicle rattled again. “Are you ok in there?” Sabrina knocked once more. “Aphrodite are you coming out?”

A few people in the ladies’ toilets laughed at something, which made Sabrina turn her head for a moment. Realising that they weren’t basing their merriment on her, she focused on the locked door again. “Are you feeling sick?”

From inside the cubicle Aphrodite pulled the sleeve from her wrist and looked at the redness on her arm, it had been scratched red raw from the early hours of that morning right through till now.

Shuffling footsteps, the young girls giggling and the revolving door of the bar toilets made Aphrodite stay in the cubicle longer than she would have wanted, she was always very self-conscious, but it was the appearance of the hideous rash on her arms that was the reason she was wearing sleeves in the still hot evening.

Sabrina’s knocking continued. “Aphrodite, open the door.”

She finally answered. “ALRIGHT, I’M COMING.”

The latch on the door clicked and Aphrodite, wriggling her nose, emerged. “I’m fine, just a bit tired that’s all.”

Sabrina moved aside and let her friend pass, as she did so it gave her a chance to scratch her own arm which like Aphrodite’s was itching, but unlike hers it wasn’t red but green. Sabrina walked behind her friend still feeling her arm, it wasn’t just turning green but small scales had started to appear, Sabrina gave them another rub before pulling down her sleeve and walking beside Aphrodite.

She couldn’t take the itching and pulled Aphrodite to a corner in the bar. “Listen, I have something to show you, I should have told you earlier but I didn’t know what to do.”

Aphrodite raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Sabrina rolled up her sleeve to reveal her arm; it had started turning green. Aphrodite hid her shock and craned her eyes. “Are they scales?” Sabrina nodded and wiped away a tear.

“It’s been itching ever since we were knocked out in that nightclub.”

Aphrodite gave her a quizzical look but she knew exactly what her friend was talking about.

“All day my arms have been itching and now their turning green, WHAT SHOULD I DO?”

Aphrodite looked to see if anyone had taken notice to her friend’s raised tone –they hadn’t. She then simply continued to stare at her friend’s arm.

“Oh Sabrina,” she whispered. “I don’t know what to say.” Aphrodite hugged her friend and took a step back. “Wait, maybe my dad can help, he knows stuff and knows people who know people.”

Sabrina bit her lip, her turn to look puzzled. “Shouldn’t I go and see a doctor?”

“NO, just leave it to me, let my dad speak to you…he’ll take care of it.”

Sabrina nodded nervously and only just noticed Aphrodite wearing sleeves. “Have you been affected?” Aphrodite shook her head, keeping her eyes in line with Sabrina’s.

“So why are you wearing sleeves?”

“I got this in a sale,” said a confident Aphrodite. “End of season it was.”

Aphrodite kept her arms covered keeping the fact that she had large brown hairs forming on her arms as Sabrina had scales. She took Sabrina by the hand. “Come on, let’s get a drink and get out of this dump.”

The bar was buzzing. Some had just gone for a quick drink after work, while for others it was just a stop-gap before hitting the serious nightclubs, this was the case for Aphrodite and Sabrina who were dressed to kill, even with sleeves covering their arms and skyscraper killer heels. They sat at the bar, twisting the stools to see what available talent was on offer. They didn’t have to wait for long. A smartly dressed man sat on the stool next to Aphrodite, he was in his early twenties and his nerves were getting the best of him, he turned around to his table of friends who egged him on and gave him the ‘thumbs-up’ sign.

He fiddled with his tie and breathed out hard, rubbing the butterflies he could feel in his stomach, he tapped Aphrodite on the shoulder.

Aphrodite knew what was coming, she was a beautiful young lady and she knew it, there wasn’t a time when she went out to a bar or nightclub where someone hadn’t tried to chat her up, this bar was no exception, usually if she didn’t fancy them she would engage in small talk and let them buy her a drink before she shooed them away.

But tonight was different.

“Hello there, can I buy you a drink?” he asked. Aphrodite had already checked him out long before he had taken his seat at the bar and she didn’t like what she saw, her brow furrowed and she swung her chair around to talk.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” The man shook his head.

“Do I know you?”

“No.”

“You’ve never seen me before?”

He nervously smiled. “No.”

“Then why do you think I’ll be remotely interested in you, did I show you any attention since you’ve been here? Did I smile at you? Wink at you? Or flirt with you?”

The man was taken aback and his face was confused. “No, you didn’t.”

Aphrodite kept on. “Are you famous? Are you on the small screen or big screen? Or maybe you’re a footballer? Are you rich at all? Do you have loads of money? What do you do for a living?”

The man answered while focusing on the drinks selection on the bar shelf in front of him.

“I’m a school teacher.”

Aphrodite had a wide-eyed gaze. “Do I look like someone who would go out with a teacher?”

“You tell me.”

She sipped her drink. “I just did, it sounds like a very boring job…would you want me to be bored if we were dating?”

“Dating? But you said–”

Aphrodite cut him off. “I was talking…hypothetically?”

She looked to Sabrina to see if she was using the right word in context, Sabrina nodded.

“What is your name?”

The man was totally dejected. “Linus,” he answered.

“Well Linus, you can run along now.”

He slowly got up to leave and it was his turn to be sarcastic. “Have a nice life then.”

Aphrodite pulled a sad face. “Are you mad at me? I’m only saying these things for your own good, so you don’t make the same mistake with another girl.”

Linus shifted on his stool uncomfortably as Aphrodite continued. “I mean look at me and look at you. There is no way we’re suited…look at your clothes, they look so cheap and your shoes are horrid, that is the first thing a girl looks at, obviously the way you dress isn’t an issue to you but clothes are very important to me, I love expensive clothes, I love new shoes, I’ve got a beautiful car, what car do you drive?”

“I can’t drive.”

Aphrodite sneaked a look to Sabrina who had her smile back. “I’m not surprised.”

This time Linus did leave his chair. “Well I’m sorry for wasting your time, I’ll let you get on with your night so you can find somebody…somebody who isn’t a teacher.”

Aphrodite reached for his arm. “Wait, don’t go yet, I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, listen, my friend and I are leaving soon because this place sucks.”

The barman overheard and scowled as he poured his next drink, Aphrodite noticed. “I’m sorry but it does.” She still had Linus’s arm. “We’re going to a nightclub soon, you can come with us and dance with me, dance close with me… if you could answer me just one question.”

Linus just listened.

“Who is the designer of my bag?” He shook his head. “Go on. Have a guess.”