Honesty Matters

Her silky wine dress, much too old for a child her age, would lovingly encompass every curve...had she had any. In her mind, her strident auburn lipstick was smeared on her lips to perfection, helping to showcase her billion dollar smile. The smudges making her look like McDonald’s mascot would say otherwise. Contrary to the stereotype, she did not wear heels, she loved her legs too much to make them go through such torture.

Her current attire was, in fact, the result of last night’s conversation.

“Annalise, can we trust you to take care of yourself for two days and to stay in the house?” her esteemed mother asked.

“Mother dear, why must you let fear creep up into your heart? Wasn’t I trustworthy last time?” the girl asked innocuously enough.

“You burned down the kitchen” the older woman responded dryly.

“The fire alerted the firefighters and that is how you met my stepfather, isn’t it?... You should thank me instead!” the girl answered her with cheek.

Seeing her mother unamused with the situation she began promising a most sacred oath “I solemnly swear I will not step foot outside the house, mama”

Normally she would have kept her promise, like a most quintessential bind, she would not deny, but today it was, ironically, a thing of honor.

Her best friend, Jeanie the chocolate girl, has been invited to the party. Why did she have such a strange appellative, well, she simply loved to devour large amounts of chocolate, liqueur chocolate that is. And one time, her quint friend had explained her addiction “It is like reaching nirvana, yet only temporarily. Each gram of cocoa beaned deliciousness tasting a second on the tongue, makes me want to have more. Makes me need more. What is existence without it?”

And then, after getting slightly philosophical, Jeanie would ask in a hallow voice, like a broken record “What came first, the addiction, or the addict?”. After repeating that for about three hours, for Jeanie was a strange sort, she would start laughing maniacally. Annalise adored her sense of humor.

Therefore, in order to protect Jeanie from intoxicating herself, she simply must go to the party and lie to her mother and stepfather.

The party was fool of drunk, half-naked, fools. While the majority of them were lip-locking, interlocked like two rosy flamingoes, there was the odd, hopeless star who claimed he had been abducted by aliens and knows all the secrets of the earth. Yet when you asked him what his name was he would get awfully quiet even, hostile.

She had successfully managed to help Jeanie stay ‘clean’ so to say. It was way past midnight. She rounded a corner, hoping to get faster to her house through the wide shortcut. That was the moment when she was met by a strange man, dressed in black. He kept his hold onto a steel gun and pointed it at Annalise.

“Give me the cheddar, or sleep with the fishes, kid”

“I have some money and jewelry, will that suffice?” she asked in a trembling voice.

“We’ll see” the thug answered, ominously.