The Obsession
Fiction written for "ENGLISH 223: CREATIVE WRITING" in the fall of 2014
She’s dancing tonight. The lights bounce off her golden tresses as her lithe body starts to dip and sway to the saxophone. Other men watch her with their sexed over eyes, desire emanating from every pore. They disgust me, but I pity them for what they don’t yet realize. She is mine.
...
Hazel made her way off stage abandoning the deafening applause for the chaotic frenzy backstage. Scantily clad dancers swarmed like bees to makeup counters and wardrobe changes, pushing and shoving their way to the front.
“Nice job out there Hazel, you’re lookin’ better every time.” Hazel cringed at hearing her boss’s voice and turned her lips up in a slight smile hoping she wouldn’t have to bear his presence for too long tonight. She was exhausted from her performance and had no left over energy to deal with his creepiness.
“Thanks Jim,” Hazel offered begrudgingly, all the while keeping tabs on his hands, which had a tendency to seek young and innocent flesh. Probably to purify his own putrid soul she thought with a smirk. She took a second to take in his appearance while his beady eyes looked her up and down. His portly gut hung over his grease stained pants in an entirely unflattering manner and his face was overdue for a shave.
He leaned in close enough that she could smell the Jameson on his breath and whispered in her ear. “Why don’t you come to my office for a little while and we can discuss your progress with the company eh?”
Hazel took a disgusted step back looking for the quickest escape route.
“Hey beautiful I got a package delivered today for ya!” Hazel whirled around in relief at hearing the bartender’s voice and quickly retreated to his side.
“Tony you rascally devil. Where’d you put it?”
“In your dressing room.” He said as he handed her a glass of water.
“Thanks Tony, you’re a saint.” She squeezed his hand in appreciation and turned towards Jim. “I should probably go check on that.” Hazel gave Tony one last grateful look and took off at a fast pace. She didn’t chance a look behind her, knowing she would find a very irritated Jim. He wasn’t the worst boss one could find in Detroit. He didn’t pimp out his dancers and paid them reasonable fees and that was really all she could hope for in her current situation.
Luckily she had Tony. He had been her friend and confidant since she started working at the Bourbon Room. If it weren’t for him, she didn’t think she could have made it in such a place. Unfortunately she had little choice in the matter. Her parents had been out of the picture for years so she did what so many girls before her had done and dropped out of school to work. The Bourbon Room was a small-scale jazz club that she had stumbled upon one day in a sheer bout of luck. There was no application process. Jim took one look at her and she was hired. That should have been red flag number one.
Finally coming to a stop in front of her door, she shook herself out of her recollection and stepped inside. She flipped the light switch on and made her way over to the vanity where a smallish brown package was settled on top of the counter. She grabbed her nail file and went to work on the tape until she was able to get a finger under the lip and pull the two flaps apart. She opened the box and froze at what she saw. Her fingers relaxed around the glass of water she had been holding and liquid splashed in every direction as it slipped from her limp hand and coated the floor in a million crystal shards. This isn’t happening she thought to herself. With trembling hands she reached into the box and pulled out a heart shaped locket. Her heart shaped locket. A locket she had been missing for some time. Someone had been inside her apartment…someone had stolen it. But who would do that and why return it now? A horrible feeling of trepidation washed over her as she threw the locket back into the box and stepped away.
What kind of creep snuck into a girl’s home and stole something so personal? Clearly whoever it was wanted her to know they had the power to invade her private life without her knowing or being able to do anything about it. They had definitely accomplished their goal Hazel thought seeing as she now felt completely helpless. What did she do now? Where was she supposed to go from here? She looked around the room seeking the answers to her internal inquiries. Tony! Someone had to have given him the package. With a new sense of determination Hazel ran out of the room and made her way to the front of the club where the bar was located.
Hazel pushed her way through the crowd and caught a glimpse of Tony pouring a shot for a pretty redhead who was clearly eating up his attention. She kept on pushing until she was left panting in front of Tony who quickly turned his ministrations away from the redhead.
“What’s wrong?” Tony asked, alarm clear in his voice.
“The package Tony, who gave it to you?” Hazel demanded.
“Um, I don’t know Hazel it was just left at the bar with your name written on it.” Tony looked at Hazel like she was a delicate bird that needed fixing.
“Tony this is important! I really need you to think. Was there anyone around at that time that looked suspicious?”
“Hazel calm down I don’t remember anyone weird lurking about. Why? What was in the package?”
Hazel glanced around nervously before turning back to the bartender, “I can’t talk about it here.” With one last look over her shoulder she grabbed his hand and pulled him around the bar. “Follow me.”
The redhead completely forgotten, they made their way outside and into the back alley. Hazel dragged him behind her until they reached a dumpster about a hundred feet from the club’s exit.
“Someone’s following me.” Hazel stated with certainty.
“Following you? What makes you think that?”
“The package…it had something of mine inside.”
“What?”
“My locket Tony! Why does it matter? The point is that it was from my apartment that only I have a key to. They could have broken in when I was sleeping! They could have been there watching me and I didn’t even know.” Hazel broke down into tears and fell into Tony’s outstretched arms.
“Shh baby it’s okay. It’s all gonna be okay. We’ll find whoever did this and the police will deal with the rest.” He rocked her back and forth until her sobs quieted and her breathing started to return to normal. “Let’s get you home.” He took her hand in his and led her down the street toward her apartment on Milford.
It was a peaceful walk. In spite of everything that had happened, the night was clear and the stars were out on full display. Hazel squeezed Tony’s hand and took the time to appraise his tall lean frame and chiseled jaw line. His handsomeness had never escaped her; she had just never had the time to focus on her own wants and needs. But now, walking with him, she started to feel the blossoming of hope that something good could come from such an awful night. She quickly looked away when he caught her staring. After a minute had passed and she still felt his gaze boring into the side of her face she turned her face up to meet his only to find his lips were a mere inch from hers. With a startled gasp, Hazel took a step back, but stopped when she ran into the oak tree that stood in her front yard.
“Don’t run away scared now Hazel,” Tony said with a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. Her initial alarm quickly dissipated and she felt herself leaning into his embrace. The feel of his lips was soft on hers and she melted into the kiss. His hands gripped her slim waist and pulled her firmly against him so that there was no space between them. She opened her mouth to let in his tongue when she realized they were standing in her front yard. Tony had never been here before. She used both hands to shove him off of her and took two steps away from his strong grip.
Tony looked at her in confusion, “What’s wrong Hazel? Why’d you stop?”
“How did you know where I lived?”
“Excuse me?” She couldn’t tell if Tony sounded irked or nervous.
“I said, how did you know where I lived?”
“Whaddya mean how did I know where you lived? I’ve walked you home before.” Tony tried brushing off her inquiries with an apparent level of nonchalance, but it wasn’t convincing enough.
“No. You haven’t.” With that statement, Hazel turned and made it three steps towards her apartment building before she felt Tony’s hand on her shoulder.
“Hazel wait! Let’s talk about this, you’re overacting.”
Hazel whirled around and shoved his hand off. “It was you wasn’t it Tony. You broke into my apartment and sent me that package.” She didn’t have to wait for his answer she knew she was right. “I swear to God Tony I’ll call the police if you touch me again.” Something dark seemed to pass over Tony’s eyes and she had little time to react before Tony tackled her to the ground. She tried to use her legs to kick Tony any place she could and thrashed around wildly in an attempt to escape.
“Dammit Hazel stay still! I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t stop.”
Hazel froze at the feel of cool metal against her cheek. This was not the time to panic she thought. She took two deep breaths and threw her elbow back into his gut. He cried out in pain and relaxed his grip enough for Hazel to knock the knife out of his hand and crawl out from under him. She registered a trickle of blood running down her face from where the knife had nicked her. Her eyes darted around the yard looking for the shiny blade. She spotted it a couple feet from a hunched over Tony and lunged for it before he recovered. She grabbed the blade and turned once again toward her apartment when his hand reached out and grasped her ankle pulling her down on top of him. Before she could think she stuck the blade in his chest. Tony met her eyes with a look of pure heartbreak as he started to lose focus and his vision turned to black.