It Is Safer Not To Trust

The street was quiet. Not a soul to be seen, except her.

She was standing under an old, spider web-decorated lamp. Its light was tiredly keeping the last breaths of light above her. She looked around to see whether she was alone.

She was.

She started walking. Quickly the darkness hugged her skinny figure. Her long black coat was covering her wine-red, tight dress. She quickly pulled her hand out of her pocket and tucked her short black hair behind her ear. Even in that while the cold attacked her white hand and made it shiver.

She was passing different houses, family houses. They had gardens filled with colourful flowers and if you looked carefully, you could spot a toy peeking out of the bushes now and then. The light inside the houses was highlighting a kid’s laughter or a peaceful family dinner.

She signed. Wished as she might, that was not her life. She went on.

The only sound was her high-heels on the ground. And the sound of the silence of the night.

A few more minutes of walking and she found herself in front of a white building with many windows and glass walls. She signed and pulled out a cigarette which she secured in her blood-red lips. She checked her short black hair and fringe as she walked towards the building, this time her steps were slower and more elegant.

“Hey, honey,” the guard in front of the door smiled at her with a wide smile full of disgusting thoughts. She controlled her expression and smiled softly back.

“Hello, do you have a lighter, please, ” she said, following a script in her head.

“Everything for you, sweetheart,” the guard chuckled and pulled out a lighter with a skeleton on fire on it. His smile was showing a bunch of rotten teeth accompanied by a few shiny golden teeth. She fought not to jerk away when he placed his hand on her shoulder and the lighter touched the cigarette between her lips. “There you go, babe. And where you goin’ tonight, huh? You can’t walk alone in the dark like this, can you? “ His eyes were shining with excitement.

“No, actually, I am going inside. If you let me, of course,” again, she smiled at him softly and looked at him from behind her long eyelashes.

“Anything, for a pretty face like yours, cutie,” his smile was getting wider, “of course, if you promise, you’ll come back here later, so we could talk a bit, get to know each other.”

“I was not planning on leaving without that,” she answered, now fighting with the urge to hit him so hard he wouldn’t ever stand up again. But she had to get there and this was an expensive club. She was not going to humiliate herself and call him to help her get in. She was going to pay it herself, one day...

“Be waiting for ya,” the guard said as he was opening the door which caused a bright triangle of light expand on the pavement in front of the door. She left him with a gentle smile on her lips and walked through the door. The music immediately attacked her ears and a purple light ran its shadows on her dress. People were dancing all around her, pushing others around them, shoving them out of the way to get to the bar by the quickest way.

She looked around and found him, there he was, standing, the man she came here for.

His long, dirty hair was covering his face and his hands were tightly holding a small glass of some drink. He looked like he had stayed in the same clothes for days and had no intention of changing them or even washing them.

She walked slowly to him through the crowded bar and she coughed gently as she sat on a chair beside him. He looked up quickly as though distracted from a flow of thoughts.

“Hello,” she said, keeping her face neutral, “how are you?”

“Melanie,” he started in an exasperated voice, “please, we don’t have to go through this. It is so complicated, I-“

“Yes, we have to,” she interrupted him in a cool voice. His face fell back to his hands and he signed.

“So, what do you currently work on?” she asked, expecting not to be very impressed by the answer.

“Is this a hearing? Are we in a courtroom?” suddenly, he was angry.

“No, but you will need to say something in the courtroom on Monday and I will hear it too, so you might as well tell me now.”

“So you could tell your lawyer and prepare some kind of trap for me again, huh?”

“You wanted to meet with me, you called me. I didn’t come here just so you could yell at me. I was just trying to start a conversation somehow but whatever, you can just tell me why you called straight away,” this wasn’t going the way she planned.

“Okay, sorry. Listen, I thought we could just agree on something together ... alone, make a deal without all that craziness going-

“What are you drinking?” she asked him suddenly.

“What?” he looked confused about the direction of the conversation.

“What are you drinking?” she asked slowly and louder.

“Whiskey. But I don’t see ho-“

“Didn’t you say in the courtroom that you don’t drink anymore? That you quit?” you could feel a slight shade of triumph in her tone.

“I did quit, I just...this one time...I have been really stressed lately and I needed to...it is just this one time...” she saw him getting increasingly nervous.

“Well, that means you didn’t quit. What else have you lied about in the courtroom?”

“I didn’t lie! It was true at the time...just this one night...one time...” he was babbling quickly.

“That doesn’t change much, does it? You broke your word about not drinking anymore, either way. Do you still have an apartment, or that was “at the time”, too?” she was being sassy, she could sense victory in this argument and she could feel his misery.

“Yes, of course I have an apartment.”

“Lovely, because you do not have very far from a look of a homeless person. And how is your job going? Have another of your blockbuster films starting again? ” she said sarcastically.

“Please, can we just have a normal adult conversation? Without these traps all around?”

“It is not a trap. I am just curious how your soon-to-be-a-movie-star life is going.”

“No, I do not have much work now. But please can we...”

“No job and drinking again, nice,” she was standing up, she probably heard enough, “it was lovely meeting you, but I hope you don’t think that after what I have heard I would actually give you my child, even for that one day a week. So, I think it is time to say goodbye and I will see you in court. The judge will be very pleased to hear your news.” She touched a recorder in her pocket and switched it off. She had what she needed. Things he and his lawyer kept from the court were now safely in her pocket. This should be enough for the judge to realise she should get custody of their daughter. This recording will hopefully work for her benefit. She obviously couldn’t use in court, but at least now she and her lawyer knew where to look, where to dig deeper, and how to navigate the judge to see what kind of men he is.

“Wait,” he held her hand, “Listen, I have changed really. Please, let’s just stop this ridiculous fight. I want to see my daughter, I have to. I love her, she is my whole world, you can’t take her away from me for good.”

“As a matter of fact, I can. And I am going to as soon as the judge sees how incompetent you are to take care of a child.”

“Please, I am her father, she needs me,” he was begging now.

“She needs your money. And I need them too, to be honest so...yeah, I’ll see you on Monday,” and you’ll see me yelling I WON, she thought. It was gonna be much easier now.

She started walking away, heard him speaking, but didn’t turn. She passed other men sitting at the bar and left with the other entrance. She wasn’t going to talk with that moron outside again. As she stepped outside, a smile was decorating her red lips.

__________________________________________________________________________________

He was looking at her figure until she left the door. Then he straightened himself and ran a hand through his hair. He probably should wash it. He finished his glass of apple juice, which in the dimly lighted room looked exactly like he needed it to look, and turned to a man by his side who was, until now, looking at the other side of the room, his face covered with a hoodie.

“Got something we could use?” he asked him.

“Definitely! First of, she was not supposed to meet you here as she called you mentally unstable and dangerous and wanted protection from the state. This works for our benefit. Good they have cameras here. And also the thing she said about the money... well that is going to be interesting as well. If she has some bills and debts to pay and she wants to use your support money... I think we have something to work with.

He nodded and smiled, he smelled victory.

“Let’s get the alcohol tests done, so if she tries to pull something up, you’ll be able to show them your result from tonight. And also keep the bill from here,” his lawyer said as he was standing up. The man stood up as well and grabbed his coat. They left the bar. He just exchanged couple of words with Mike, the guard in the front. They walked through the cold night and he was happily appraising his acting skills. She looked like she really believed that desperate look he prepared for her. She should have known better, he thought as they stepped into the darkness.