Part 21- ‘Mirror Messages…’
Logan stared up at the neon sign that blinked in the cool night, the red outline of a woman reclining on the letters spelled out the name of the bar, ‘The Three Stars’, the last word spelled with a ‘z’.
It had taken him almost two days to reach the place, alternating between hitchhiking and walking, only stopping off at the odd diner and bar to get something to eat. Getting to the Three Stars had been the uppermost thought in his mind, get to the bar, get to Marie and hopefully convince her to go back to the Academy.
The sense of paranoia had reached its height when he’d been on the open road; every car driving behind was met with suspicion, every driver that passed he viewed with narrow eyes, peering into their windows convinced the next truck or SUV would be driven by soldiers, Kevlar clad and aiming their guns at him.
But nothing had happened, no fucked up car rides, no truckers shooting at him and no black SUV’s following behind. Yet even that made things worse, filling him with the question, ‘had he really thrown them off the scent, or maybe they weren’t following him ‘cause they’d found and were following Marie…?’
Either way his need to make it to the Three Stars had grown into an itch under his claws, one he found impossible to scratch away.
Now as he stared up at the sign, the music pounding away inside, the sounds of laughter and drinking filling the air, the first few drops of a cold rain hit his grizzled unshaven cheeks. He growled, it had been a miserable winter, now it looked certain to be a miserable summer as well.
The few drops turned into a steady drizzle as he stood watching the door of the bar swing open and shut as it’s pissed up patrons left propped up by laughing, giggly peroxide blonde bar fly’s whose fish net stockings and short skirts promised a whole different kind of fun, the kind that could be bought by a coupla drinks and a few green dollar bills.
He stepped forward ready to step inside the bar and find Marie, expecting her to be working as a waitress, The Three Stars yet another shit hole she seemed to have drifted into.
‘Hey baby … ya lookin’ for some fun …?’ The soft voice drifted over to him and stopped him in his tracks, he peered into the darkness at the side of the bar, a young girl, probably no older than Marie sat on the metal stairwell that wound it’s way around the outside of the building.
She stood up and approached him slowly, under the dim streetlight; her smile was punctuated by her ruby red lipstick. Her sandy blonde hair was pulled into two pony tails either side of her head, eyes darkened by heavy sweeps of mascara.She wore a tight leather halter neck top; the material pulled taught against her breasts, a short red skirt finished the outfit, long bare legs that disappeared into a pair of knee length black inch high heel boots.
She bent forward at the waist, the little girl pout practised to perfection. He smiled at her appearance, as innocent and as sweet as she could manage, knowing that some guys got off on that sort of thing, the idea of fucking girls young enough to be their daughters, slap a school uniform on her and Logan reckoned this girl would have been some dirty old man’s wet dream.
He laughed slightly as he shook his head, ‘Not tonight darlin’ and not with you…’ He turned away but she was stood before him once more. Her hands on her hips she stuck a lollipop in her mouth and smiled even wider.
Sucking on her candy, the whole seduction scene doing nothing for Logan, she stepped closer to him. ‘Good answer, she’s a feisty little thing; I ain’t for getting my eyes scratched out…’
Logan looked at her closely, his breath catching in his throat at her words, ‘Ya talkin’ ‘bout Marie…?’ he asked her his voice insistent and sharp.
She nodded, ‘Yep, she’s awful territorial, and lookin’ at you I can see why…’ she licked her lips, smiling at him all the time, the moisture on her lips shining. ‘Round here we call her Stripes…’
Logan arched an eyebrow, she shrugged her shoulders, ‘I’m Candy by the way…’ she smiled popping the lollipop back into her mouth with a satisfied smack of the lips.
Logan laughed a little at that, ‘Of course you are darlin’…’
She was barely inches away from him. ‘You’re Logan right?’ She surveyed him up and down, her hand brushing up his arm; she tugged gently on his hair, ‘weird hair style, built like an ox and looks like Hugh Jackman on a good day, that’s what she said.’
She leaned up and whispered, ‘She was wrong you know…, you’re much better looking.’ Reaching inside her top she stepped back and fished out a set of keys. He caught them easily as she threw them in his direction. Pointing up the stairs, ‘room thirteen,’ she stated. She offered him one last smile before she disappeared into the darkness.
His boots clanged heavily on the metal stairwell as he made his way to the room Candy had pointed him toward. He could hear the false laughter and moaning of a girl behind some of the closed doors he passed.
The smell was pervasive; it clung to the night air like a cheap blanket, and mingling with the moisture from the rain. It was far from a pleasant smell, puke and piss, cheap beer and even cheaper perfume, this was where bar fly’s took their pay packets. Behind these closed doors, in these cheap rooms the whores made good use of their john’s.
And it was all so painfully familiar; he’d made use of these rooms, made use of the cheap fucks that could be found in a bar like the Three Stars. He hated the idea that Marie could now be familiar with a place like this. It was hard to think of her as just that nineteen year old girl anymore, she was tougher, bitter and seemingly used to finding herself at home in horror shows like this.
‘Stripes’…, that was what she was calling herself and Logan had to wonder if she was working the same gig Candy obviously was. Had she remade herself into some dirty old man’s wet dream? He gritted his teeth at the idea.
He found room thirteen at last, turning the key in the lock he had to give the door a few firm pushes before it would open. Stepping into the room he reached for the light switch, it clicked on and off but nothing happened, he stared up at the wire hanging from the centre of the room, no light bulb. Still it seemed the red glow from the sign outside was enough once his eyes adjusted.
Yeah
Run and kill
Destroy the will
A hero that doesn't exist
Yeah…
Smoking gun
Well I am the one
A bullet hole
In your fist
Yeah…
Logan looked around him at the source of the music; a small battery powered radio was tuned into the nearest heavy metal station. Aside from a shirt and a pair of black jeans littering the floor, a single sorry looking bed and a small bedside table, the only other furniture in the room was a full length mirrored wardrobe pushed to one side of the room.
He stood in front of it and read the message Marie had sprawled for him in lipstick over the glass surface. ‘Hey ‘bout time ya made it. Come down to the bar, dump any stuff ya have right here, leave the radio playin’, less likely to get broken into and robbed that way. M.’. She’d finished the short message off with a red x.
Hey, I'm breathing
Hey, I'm bleeding
Hey, I'm screaming
Scum of the earth
Come on…
Logan shook his head and sighed, yep she sure had a way of walkin’ into the worst sort of shit holes, not a lot unlike him.
Wake up dead
Bleeding red
A world that doesn't exist
Yeah…
Heaven waits
With the gates
Rusting in the mist
Yeah…
He left the radio playing, the last of the song thrashing out its chords, filling the near empty room with its thudding beats.
Logan sat down heavily at the bar, the place was heaving, sweaty bodies pressing up against each other, loud music thumping out over the sound of clinking glasses and laughter.
He ordered a Molson and drained half the bottle in one grateful gulp. Looking around the bar he had half expected to see Marie moving between the tables serving the drinks and flirting like hell just as she had been doing when he’d found her at Starkey’s.
But even his keen eyes couldn’t pick out the two tones of her hair, her familiar long legs amongst the crowd of girls, she wasn’t serving, maybe she had the night off, and if that was the case he was sure she’d be sat at a table, getting one of these assholes to pay for her drinks no doubt.
He turned his attention to the crowd dancing out on the floor, the strobe lights threw bodies into light and blue shadow, offering him glimpses of short skirts, wandering hands and jumping legs but nothing of Marie.
Instead he caught sight of Candy; she was leading a short fat, sweaty bald man through a doorway of pink beads at the far end of the bar. She caught his eye, the trademark candy stuck between her lips; she smiled and winked before she disappeared with her latest pay packet.
Suddenly the whole bar was thrown into darkness as every light in the bar was dimmed, the music stopped, and three spotlights were thrown onto the far end of the stage, they swept down along a makeshift runway, out into the middle of the tables where they ended, the sharp spotlight picking out the gleaming metal of poles.
The light then swept back upwards to the stage, where three shapes stood behind opaque screens. The music started up as the three girls took up provocative stance, their shadows moving provocatively, the girls sensually dropping slowly to the floor before the speed of the music changed and the screens were raised.
A loud roar went up around the bar as the girls finally came into view, Logan’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the main attraction of The Three Stars bar, the long legs, the familiar hair…
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Author's Chapter Notes:
She surveyed him up and down, her hand brushing up his arm; she tugged gently on his hair, ‘weird hair style, built like an ox and looks like Hugh Jackman on a good day, that’s what she said.’
A/N: Oh come on ya know I had to do it! :)
A/N: Oh come on ya know I had to do it! :)