A Funny Thing Happened On The Way Home From The Gym...

Eka, through blurry eyes, saw that this woman's legs were moving back. She did not know what the intent was, but she was sure that it was going to be dreadful. Just as she had predicted, a hard kick slammed into her face. Immediately she gave up any pretenses of saving her dignity so that she could save her face. Eka was in survival mode now, and though it had really never been tested she felt that the best thing to protect was her head. So when this crazed woman kicked her head, she found nothing but Eka's arms. But everything else was totally up for grabs. She grunted as each blow slammed home, praying to god that nothing was broken. This woman, whoever she was, did not taunt her or ask more questions, which unnerved Eka greatly. She was doing this simply because she liked causing pain, and Eka was in no position to fight back.

Eka was rolled a little bit. The Georgian girl was facing up, but she did not see the sunlight. What she could only assume was a knee slammed into her stomach, causing Eka to wretch violently. It was only through the grace of something deep within her that she did not throw up. But her hands were still protecting her face. It was a childlike move, but Eka honestly was at a total loss for what to do and how to do it.

She coughed. Eka didn't look for blood. She would not have known what to do if she found it.

This was fun. So much fun.

Eka would disagree, but her opinion was temporarily demoted to a lesser degree of importance for the time being. The spider crawling along the wall, watching the violent display take place through several of its roving eyes, would have warranted a more valid opinion at this point. In Sophia’s mind, the Georgian had had her chance. If she didn’t want to answer her questions, fine. There were ways she could entertain herself until Eka was more in the mood to do so.

Of course, Sophia was always a forward thinker. As she kicked the bound brunette this way and that, finding an unending source of amusement in watching her spin about on the spot, her mind was already wandering on ways to make this night a little more engaging. Long before she’d formally brought Eka into her custody, she’d taken the time to scan the features of her body with a sixth sense known only to hunters of prey. She took in the fine musculature of her trained body, the normalities and the quirks in her physique. What stayed the same and what was different. Those calloused, yet delicate fingers had certainly caught her attention. If she hadn’t known any better, she would have suspected this woman to be some sort of rock climber. A mountaineer, perhaps. These were hands that knew wilderness and rough terrain.

What a tragic loss...

Sophia stepped back as Eka reeled, keeping clear of any bile that may have threatened to stain her boots. She knelt down and forced a hand away from the Georgian’s mouth, pressing it flat against the floor.

“Wonderful news, Ekaterina Guramishvili. I have been watching them for some time now, but I have finally decided which I want to take.” She twirled the knife in the midpoint between their faces, catching their reflections along its gleaming, honed edge. Suddenly, Sophia brought it down and touched the end to the center of her digit, pressuring the tendon sheath beneath the surface. “Marriage is...not for women like us. Da?”

The metal edge caught a glint of light as Sophia adjusted it over Eka’s knuckle. Her smile grew wide and shaky. The compact muscles in her forearm accentuated as her fingers clenched around the handle. Pressing down against the exposure, Sophia started-

RIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGG!

Her head shot upright and her hand retracted along with it. A cell phone? She’d thrown away her last disposable a few weeks ago. Did she imagine it?

RIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGG!

Light from the corner of her eye caught her attention, a fight hue from underneath the desk. The Russian woman stared at the anomaly for a moment, then stood up and walked over to the glimmer in the dark. Reaching underneath, she pulled out what she immediately recognized as Eka’s phone. Cracked heavily on the surface, chipped at the sides, and barely being held together by loose bits of plastic. As it should be.  She’d thought she’d broken it beneath her boot already. Not only was it operable, but functioning as well. Through the shattered glass, she could make out the screen warning of an incoming call. There was still reception down here?

Sophia pondered simply breaking it then and there. Hardly worth the risk of being tracked. But that was how the young, impressionable grunt in herself would have thought. She held all the cards and just been given a lifeline. What was there to fear? As she turned to face Eka, watching the Georgian’s face closely as she continued, Sophia answered the call and brought the phone to her ear.

[“Hello?’] Sophia paused for a moment and quirked an eyebrow. Russian. That was what set her off immediately, even if what they were speaking of made little to no sense. A code? She opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself. No...no this could work.

[“No, no. You have the right number.”] Sophia reached out and grabbed the metal chair from her desk, slamming it down beside Eka’s head before she plopped down on the seat. [“Mind filling me in on who you are though?”] Her eye grew visibly larger as her brow furrowed in a moment of confusion. A rare sight from the ex-interrogator. Just as quickly as it came, however, a pleasing smile did away with the bewilderment. The Russian woman possessed an expression as if welcoming guests at the front door. Humble and warm despite facing a literal stone wall.

[“Ahhh, yes. She warned me you were about to call. Don’t worry. Eka had a family emergency. There wasn’t much time to explain and, frankly, I’m as in the dark as you are. Maybe if you call...hm. Actually, she made sure to leave a note before she took off. Let me look for it real quick.”]

Sophia quickly leaned forward off her chair, nearly pushing herself off of it entirely as she hunched down and brought the knife close to Eka’s jugular. The pupil of her sole eye was wide and erratic, neglecting the calm and serene composure she’d shone a moment ago, switched off like a button. Her attention was on Eka. Her knife was on Eka. Everything was to Eka.

[“Who the fuck is Dmitri?”]

Eka was watching through one blue eye as this woman lowered her knife towards her ring finger. Eventually, Eka did want to get married, if that was worth anything. And that prospect was going to be all the more difficult if she were missing a finger. Which said little of the fact that the next time she would step it to the ring, it would be without one of her digits. If Eka made it through the night, that was. Her body was trembling so much that she felt the sharp blade of the knife as her fingers occasionally chattered against it. She had very little doubt that this woman could take the finger off entirely if she really wanted to.

The Georgian girl jumped when the phone rang. She honestly did not know what was happening, but her first thought was that it was a missile strike or something against wherever they were. This crazed Russian lady picked it up, and Eka realized that it was the tattered remains of her own phone. She did not know who was calling her at this hour, and she did not really know how she felt about it. The Georgian girl was happy that someone was checking in on her, but thought that there would be reprisals. She was uneasy as she watched the woman take the call, and became even more uneasy when she responded in Russian.

Then the knife went back to her throat. Dmitri. Dmitri. Dmitri. That particular name was recognizable, but through her turbid mind, almost nothing could become clear. The knife made her reconsider until she got the answer right. Then it came to her, and Eka could hardly believe it. ["Dmitri?"] Eka started, not quite sure she could believe what she was hearing. ["Dmitri is a student of mine. I was supposed to meet him tonight, yes?"] Eka sniffled a little bit, and coughed. ["I am a TA and he is in one of my classes."] Eka's words were coming out quickly now, emotionally as well. As if her life depended on it.

TA? Classes?

...was she still sticking to this student facade?

Dimitri. Dimitri. Dimitri. Dimitri. Dimitri. Dimitri.

She lost herself in her own thoughts for a moment, channeling back through the infinite recesses of her subconscious. Every little encounter by the bus stop, every passing glance at the mess hall, every stroke of the pen at the recruiting table to find them. Liars. Liars everywhere.

The next moment, however, was when her gaze met Eka’s. Their pupils mirrored in every slight twitch and dilation. The fear was palpable. Genuine. In any other circumstance, she would have taken the time to revel in the fruits of her labor. She would have laughed, cried, maybe even gotten a little hot and bothered between the legs if the face was just right. Scared and helpless. This would have been the ultimate high for her.

But this time it was nothing more than a point against her. Here lay a woman that would say anything to survive, yet she continued to fashion lie after lie. Sophia laid flat on her stomach to the ground, inching toward Eka’s face. A snake through the thin blades of green, flicking its tongue as it came nose to nose with the rodent cowering between its tail. The closer perspective afforded her eye a greater truth. Fear, cowardice, pity...but she found no deceit. A bubbling heat flashed across the Russian’s neck. A warm itch trickled over the woman’s skin.

No...no. That was impossible.

Really?

Yes.

No?

The itch grew worse.

Scritch, scratch, scritchy scratch...:

A spider crawled along the ceiling and came to a sudden stop at the corner. As it weaved its web, its eyes seemed to cast away from its duties to the pair on the ground. The hostility was palpable, the killing intent that permeated the air stung and wafted past the noses and receptors of every scrap of life that turned to huddle in fear. Sophia’s eye has not blinked once since the call was made and turned red with irritation, the inflamed blood vessels surging around her pupil with pulsing, wrathful disdain to Eka’s serene blue. Her teeth gnashed and snarled. The grip on her blade shook in the palm of her hand.

Then she blinked. Her eye became lazy and she stood back up, bringing the phone to her ear. Sophia threw the phone over her shoulder, not caring to watch it splinter and crack against the wall. She turned and went to reach underneath her table, sliding out a small PDA from its hidden compartment. The Russian turned back to her captive, eyeing the screen and sifting through the stream of information with idle swipes of her finger.

Tokyo University.

Student body.

Graduate program?

No, too many subjects. Narrow the list.

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences?

Perhaps.

She pulled that dossier earlier. Where was it?

Ah. Secondary staff.

Assistants...assistants...

…

The room was quiet for a moment. Dust settled on the screen and the Russian’s gaze no longer moved. The truth of the matter slowly settled on her mind with the evening’s revelations finally laid bare. All at once, Sophia fell back into her chair, stomping her foot and laughing her head off. She crossed her arms over her stomach, doing anything in her power to keep her acids inside.

“Why - hahahahaha! - why did you not say something, Ekaterina?!” With one swipe, her knife cut the rope, letting Eka’s legs free and watching her back hit the floor like a burlap sack. Throwing her head back with one more belly laugh, Sophia rounded her way to Eka’s feet, kneeling down to undo the bindings around her feet.

“I do admire your sense of adventure, but do not let it cloud your better judgment next time, yes? What is the saying?” The Russian asked as she undid the last knot, leaning over and tapping the Georgian on her nose.

“Curiosity kills.”

Well, this was it. This crazed Russian woman was getting closer and closer. She was not sure what cruel hand of Fate had led her here to this particular moment, which thread of Fortune she had plucked to wind up in such an unenviable position. But here she would shuffle off the mortal coil, scared and alone. Her eyes stayed on the woman, even as she turned her head. She didn't want to look, but she could not turn away. The eternally curious Eka wanted to know what would happen, even now, even here. Despite the fact that she would have no one to share her findings with, no one to be amazed or horrified at what happened.

And then this woman stopped. She scratched her chin. The Georgian girl was still braced for it still, sure that that was some sort of devious ploy to get Eka to drop her guard. Not that her guard was going to do a whole lot. Then after what felt like an eternity and a half, this woman pulled out a small phone. Time stopped. There was proof online that Eka was who she said she was, and the Georgian girl prayed to that cruel hand of Fate that led her to here that she would be released. The ravenhaired girl couldn't breathe. So much hinged on what was happening in the next few seconds here. This could be her salvation, or this woman could be looking up some even more fucked up way to assault Eka.

Then she laughed. Eka let out an audible gasp, halfway between astonishment and doubt. This woman started laughing, and laughing uproariously. Eka sincerely hoped that she had not found some horrid new method, and tensed a little bit as the woman approached her. The tension was relieved when the rope was cut and Eka hit the floor with a loud "Oof!" Her body was in too much pain to pick herself up, but she could roll over and face the ceiling. There was a spider there that paused for a second, before scurrying on its way. It had escaped the notice of anything that could kill it, and would be on its way.

Eka was hearing the words. They didn't make a whole lot of sense to her at first, but they came to her. It took a second for the meaning to percolate, and then that particular dawn broke. Eka was not going to be hurt anymore. It was all over. And not in the way that she had expected it to. The woman even came over to her and booped the Georgian girl on the nose. Eka could not help but shy away a little bit.

"I, uh, okay." That was all that the bewildered Georgian was able to produce, before she rubbed the parts of her body that were really hurting. Which was more or less her entire body. What had just happened to her was overwhelming.

God almighty. Wouldn’t kill her to crack a smile.

It’s understandable. Sophia knew nothing more exhausting than a long, passionate evening with a steel chair beneath a drab light. Physically, yes. Sweat dripped from every pore, muscles ached and burned as they pronounced and settled beneath the skin. Mentally, however, was where all the excitement and glamour worked its magic. The screams, the echoes. It could take quite a while to come down from that high and even still she could feel impressions from the tools and flesh from years gone. Eka should feel proud to be a part of that history...amongst other things.

“Fantastic. We understand each other, yes?” The Russian slapped her hands to her knees and pushed herself up to two feet, inviting Eka to join her with a wag of her finger. Her beaming smile disappeared in the blink of an eye as she turned her back to Eka and walked to the steel door. She turned the lock and threw the barrier open with a heavy creak. Beyond laid the darkness of a long, empty stone staircase. At the top of the black and silence, one could make out the strays of city light from around the next corner.

“Now, as much as I’ve enjoyed your company and kindness, I think you have overstayed your welcome.” The woman’s amethyst hair flowed lightly against the sudden breeze that filled the room. Her head turned with the wind, casting her cold gaze from the entrance back to her unwelcome guest. Sophia restrained herself, however. She approached Eka’s side as slowly and surely as she would a startled animal. One step. Two steps. Three steps until her chest graced the woman’s shoulder.

Quick as a viper, her arm snaked around Eka’s neck in a brusque, sisterly embrace, holding the Georgian close against her. With her other hand at her hip, Sophia walked with the younger girl towards the door and out of the room. As they walked down the hallway, the sound of honking cars and tires whizzing over wet asphalt trailed in from the other end. Heels against concrete, murmurs into phones, windows opening and bells ringing. The life of the modern world called out from on high to their returning daughter.

The ex-specialist hardly blinked. Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled out one of her cartons. She popped a cigarette out with a quick slap against her solid thigh.

“Tch. Someone’s actually leaving this place alive. Now I have to relocate.” Sophia slipped the carton back into her pocket then reached around to the rear to pull out a lighter. A flame ignited against the flick of her thumb, holding it close to the end of the butt. “You make my life difficult, Ekaterina.”

The Russian woman slipped the lighter back away and pulled the cigarettes back out. She held the pack out close to Eka, offering a stick without so much as a word or glance the Georgian’s way. Her composure seemed a bit more distant and detached from the moments they shared prior. Her focus was drifting, her interest wavered. The lone eye that looked to the ground as she took another drag showed more enthusiasm for the gray bricks and weathered cement lining the walls. The last steps at the end of the road were always the most boring.

Eka was not really sure if she understood this woman, and she was not really sure if such a thing were even possible. The world that this woman inhabited was far different from anything Eka had ever known. She had her moments of darkness, but this, this was something else. Eka felt as if she had no choice but to stand up, as the crazed Russian woman summoned her from the cold hard floor. She bristled a bit when it was stated that she had lingered a little bit longer than she was expected to. The Georgian girl did not exactly know what that would imply, but she was not dying to find out. Or maybe she was. It really wasn't in her hands anymore.

They walked together. Eka squinted ahead, hoping that this was not some sort of elaborate psychological ploy to see if she would have hope before it was crushed again. The lights and sounds of Tokyo were coming back now, which she took as a good sign. There was a reason that the room she was in was so far off the beaten path. It occurred to her that this woman was one who lived in the shadows, and doing anything out in the light may have been anathema to this woman's existence. She looked at the woman when she said that someone was leaving alive, and gulped. Eka had seen her sense of 'humor' mere moments ago, but she doubted that this was a joke. And the fact that she sprinkled in that Eka had made her life difficult did not foretell of anything too great for the ravenhaired girl.

She told herself the further she got in the direction of the light, the better off she was. The Georgian girl's body had been drained considerably thanks to the love session they had, but some energy was coming back to her now. Every step was slow and grinding, but they were coming slightly faster now. She breathed in, and out. The Georgian girl was almost free. The nightmare was almost over.

Once they were on the precipice, she turned once more to the Russian woman who was more or less propelling her along. "I understand that I would never like to see you ever again, yes?" It wasn't a threat. It wasn't even really that firm. Eka was a scared girl, and that was obvious in the way she spoke. She shuddered a bit as she said it.

The Russian’s hideout was surprisingly close to civilization. One step out from the underground and the pair would find themselves only a few steps removed from a bustling side street. The alley walls dripping around them were covered in darkness, allowing the pair to observe the foot traffic at a close enough distance to recognize faces without being recognized themselves. Hiding in plain sight. The easiest way to disappear at will.

Or reappear, in Eka’s case. The Georgian seemed quite pleased to feel fresh air in her lungs again, but for Sophia it just made her feel exposed. Open. There were too many eyes and lights out here. The rain that met her skin was lukewarm in these summer months, like acid. She was eager to simply turn around and head inside.

Something the little urchin said though kept her muscles still. Her eyes cast to the side and caught the raven-haired woman’s eyes. She could almost hear a hint of defiance in those words until she caught her gaze. The fear in them spoke for itself. A poorly worded desire, but one that manifested from a heart exposed to the horrible truth of this world.

“Again? Have we met somewhere before? I cannot recall.” Sophia took another puff of her cigarette, breathing its vile contents into the damp air. She turned to the Georgian and stepped closer, invading the girl's personal space. Enough to taste the nicotine on her breath. Her heat against hers in the cool of the Tokyo evening. “Speak of this night again, however, to anyone, even yourself, and I have the strangest feel that it all might just start coming back to me. Your screams. Your voice. Your face. Yes, I believe so.”

The purple vixen suddenly pulled away and turned on a dime, descending back down the steps. The darkness slowly enveloped her from front to back, to the last strand of her flowing amethyst mane until the embers at the end of her cigarette were the only sight of her left. The side of her face lit against the dimming fire as she walked and took one last puff from between her fingers.

“Get home safe, Ekaterina Guramishvilil. Dobroy nochi.”

With a flick of her fingers, the light scattered into ash and embers turned cold. Darkness enveloped the tunnel once more, Sophia's silhouette morphed with the pitch black and disappeared all at once. The eerie silence that overtook the dilapidated staircase lingered for a moment longer before a passing truck honked madly through the night, dispelling all undesirable things as it sped away down the rain-slicked pavement.