by Tara Brown
Ari smiled, she loved how Lydia made her feel something new Ari had never felt, acceptance. She loved the older woman like a mother.
"Well here we are." Lydia pulled into the driveway of a modern apartment building.
She glanced up at it thinking ski resort condominium maybe but house where creepy old witch lived, maybe not.
"Just because she practices voodoo and hoodoo doesn’t mean she has to live in a swamp Ari."
Ari laughed, "Hey if I don’t say it out loud you're not allowed to criticize."
They walked up to the fancy front door where a video screen was with buttons. Lydia pushed the buttons and spoke softly to the screen. Ari could barely make out the face of a woman.
The large wooden door made a soft noise and Lydia opened it.
Ari followed behind Lydia to the elevator. She was nervous, what if the lady couldn’t help her and she was stuck as a duel personality?
The doors to the condos were spaced slightly larger than a hotel. She had stayed at one once with her uncle in Phoenix when he took her there to do prom dress shopping. Lydia walked up to a door and knocked.
The door opened to a woman with black hair cut very short and styled very modern and funky. She raised an eyebrow at Ari and then smiled revealing the whitest teeth and brightest smile. She was stunning, her bright blue eyes contrasted with her black hair and sun kissed skin amazingly. She was tall and fit with classy rings and necklaces.
"Elsie this is Ari." Lydia pointed to the door. Ari walked into the apartment seeing the desert everywhere. She had a very adobe New Mexico theme throughout her home. The walls looked like a desert sunset with a soft burnt orange, the couches were a cactus green and the kitchen was a sandy yellow. Cacti were the only plants in the house and pictures of desert scenes.
Ari walked through like she was home, many of her friends had houses decorated this way.
"Your home is beautiful." Ari spoke softly mesmerized, she could feel the heat of the gas fireplace pumping out heat making the apartment hot like the desert.
"Thank you Ari, I just love the desert. I usually don’t come back to Washington for the winters, I love Arizona and New Mexico this time of year."
"Thanks for coming back." Lydia hugged the other woman. They were a contrast and a half. Lydia looked like an old woman who practiced magic where as Elsie looked like she'd married a millionaire and enjoyed a jet setting life style.
"How could I resist. I've never seen one of her before."
Lydia laughed, "It's fairly interesting watching her in action." Ari felt funny listening to them. She started to doubt their intentions. She reminded herself how much she trusted Lydia.
Elsie walked toward Ari and smiled softly, "I brought someone I think you can help, he needs to have some redirection I think that you're exactly the solution to the problem."
Ari looked at Lydia who smiled and nodded.
"Will you try for me? It will give me a better understanding."
"Okay."
Elsie smiled brightly and walked from the room. She brought a man into the room in a wheelchair. He looked old and wrinkled but something about him made Ari think he wasn’t nearly as old as he looked. She felt her hands heating up as she let the guards down and let her instincts take over. She rubbed her fingers together making sparks between her fingertips.
He was asleep in the chair but Ari didn’t mind. She just wanted to let her hands have him, she wanted to push the heat from herself. She held on to the control she'd been working on. She never let the heat leave her fingers. She felt her legs stepping toward him, her body wanted to touch him. She reached with her fingers feeling his warm skin brush against hers. Like a lover she caressed him softly trying not to push it too fast. She wanted control. Her body struggled with her, it wanted to push as fast as it could but she held it back. Slowly her energy licked at his thin arm. She shivered with delight as she pushed into him. She saw the picture form for her as they shook like always.
He was walking down a street looking at his watch but there was a homeless man beside him. He dropped some money in the mans tin and smiled at him. He looked at his watch again. He was late for something. He started to run worried. It was a bus, he ran after a bus but it was too late. He dropped the briefcase he carried and instead went into a building where he saw a woman sitting at a bar. He ordered a drink. He and the woman exchanged glances and then they were having sex in a room. Ari watched as they finished and she left him there alone. He got sicker and sicker and soon he was in the wheelchair. Ari felt the push burst through her and he was back on his way to the bus stop. He didn’t stop and give the homeless man money, he ran from the start instead of walking thinking he had plenty of time. He caught the bus.
Suddenly he was in a very nice suit, he was talking on the phone. A sexy woman came into his office. She tried to kiss him as she ripped open her soft silk blouse but he pushed her back. Her high heel slipped on the floor as she flew back. She lost her footing and smashed her head on the desk. A red pool spread on the black tiles making a puddle under her perfectly still face. He knelt over her sobbing when they came and took him in handcuffs. He vanished from the wheelchair reappearing in a cell and Ari collapsed onto the floor sobbing. His life hadn’t improved. He was in jail for something that wasn’t his fault, it was Ari's.
Chapter Twelve- Yo Momma
Ari
She looked at the horrified faces both staring at her as they realized the mans life never improved. New Ari panicked, she stood from the floor and ran. Her muscles felt better running. Ari felt herself falling backwards into the black behind the curtain letting New Ari take over, she looked for a fire escape and ran down the flights of stairs fast. She was a sprinter, escape was her strength. She might not be able to do the distance but no one ever caught her.
She could hear them calling her name but she was out of the front door and running down the road and behind a business long before they even got out of the building.
She ran hard until her lungs felt like they would explode. She ducked in between two dumpsters and waited. She barely noticed the smell, she hardly saw the mold and rot around her and she didn’t even pay an ounce of attention to the other people in the alley.
Alleys were her jam. She would never have an issue in an alley, she was used to the turning of tricks, the wads of cash, the snorting of drugs and the beating of hookers and junkies. Nothing fazed her anymore, except Lucas. He seemed to bother her in ways she couldn’t explain, his brother was a hottie though. She might not like men but she could like him enough for an hour. She smirked. Old Ari was gone, New Ari took control with swagger and attitude.
She waited ten minutes to ensure the coast was clear. She hated that bitch Elsie. That had been a bad idea from the start. She should be with the orphans helping them. She shouldn’t be helping some dude who got HIV from a chick in a bar, he was an adult, he made his bed. She cringed thinking about that woman's head hitting the desk and the blood splatter.
"What we got here?" She looked up to a scummy looking man with a cheesy mustache and greasy black hair. He smelled like the dumpster beside her.
He reached down grabbing her and pulled up her sleeves. He looked for marks, "Holy shit you a virgin?"
She spat at him smiling, "Fuck you."
He pushed her to the dirty ground falling with her ripping at her shirt, "You wannna fuck, yeah we can do that I think."
She let him grope her, she let him kiss her neck. She knew to wait, she knew to let him do enough to get him to a place he wasn’t paying attention. Then she would strike. She didn’t have to wait though, regardless of just having done her pusher thing she was ready again. Her hands tingled heating up. He undid her pants groping her breast and caught the smile on her face, "You like that do ya?"
She nodded, "Yup." She reached out and grabbed both sides of his face.
He stopped as they shook. She saw it instantly. The air in between the two dumpsters froze and the sounds of the alley were lost in the small m
oments playing out in the air in front of her.
He was a kid, he got beat a lot by his old man. That’s what he called him, old man. One day his old man was beating his mom and he stepped in. He stabbed his own father. His mother cried, she called him names, she called nine one one. She tried to save his dad all the while shouting at him to leave her house and never come back. Suddenly he was on the streets, he was doing drugs, he was turning tricks and then he started to mule for a big dealer down town. Then the air cleared again and he was back in the house, he heard his dad beating his mom and instead of going into the kitchen he left. He ran away. He moved to another city where it was sunny. He got a job as a garbage man and married a lady with red hair and a chubby face. They kissed a lot. He was lying on a couch holding his son reading him a story when he vanished from the alley.
She sighed doing her pants back up. He was better, his life was better. She panted standing up feeling an ache in her back. She brushed the dirt off herself. She looked around the alley feeling nervous for the first time ever. She slipped along the building nearest to her trying to hurry to the street.
She hated her new life, she hated the new her. She used to be strong and cut off. She hated that she felt sorry for a man who held her down trying to hurt her because she got to see his back story, like she gave a shit.
She made it back to her old neighborhood within a few hours exhausted and feeling lost. She'd grown soft living with Lydia who had Annabelle doing everything for them all. Her heart hurt when she thought about the house and everyone in it but she knew it was for the best if she got her life back and saving the kids she'd left behind.
"Ari, wtf dude where have you been? Why do you have hair, you can't even see the tat on the back of your head anymore."
She looked behind to see her bestie Mila and smirked, "Hey, yeah I've been busy growing it out." Ari realized the other Ari never knew about the tat and smiled harder.
"Where you been?" Mila looked pissed, she was tall with long dark hair she always kept in a ponytail. Her face would have been pretty if she didn’t have such bad skin from living on the streets. Her dark blue eyes suddenly reminded Ari of her mother. She'd never seen her before the other Ari came.
"Jail."
Mila grimaced, "Oh shit you're eighteen now."
Ari nodded, "Almost nineteen."
"Wow ghey, anyway I'm heading to meet up with some peeps at Wind wanna come?"
Ari shrugged, "Sure." She didn’t have anywhere else to go.
"Guess you got no money huh?"
She laughed, "Hells no, dude I'm lucky I still have clothes on."
"Ouu lotta lesbians this time."
Mila was so crass Ari thought realizing she never had used the word crass before.
She shook her head, "Nope just a mix up with clothes, these aren’t mine obviously but whatevs, I took em anyway."
Mila laughed, "OMG Ari I was going to say something, those are scary norm. Too low key, especially for Wind. Oh well I got some in my bag. We'll have you fixed in no time."
Ari wanted to smile but she was sad, she didn’t want to go clubbing. She wanted to go home, she had a home and it had felt awesome being there. She wondered if Lucas could track her?
Ari remembered Lydia making her push the man and where he ended up and shook her head, there would be no going back, the streets might be safer than Lydia's. She didn’t know how mad Lydia would be for her running or for letting an innocent man go to jail.
Wind was packed, but Ari followed Mila to the bathroom to change into proper attire.
Ari tugged at her black tank top realizing how much she had filled out living at Lydia's.
"Damn Ari, you got boobs? Did you pay for those?"
She glared at Mila's friend Selena next to her in the crowded bathroom mirror, "Hells no, I was in prison and the food was better than what we usually eat okay."
Selena held her hands up raising her eyebrows, "Whatevs. Someone got touchy and boobies while she was away, you got a girlfriend in the pen you missing?"
Ari felt her rage filling her, she wanted to turn choking Selena against the wall but she couldn’t do it. She smiled bitterly and finished applying makeup to her eyes, "Ya, your mom."
"Oh snap Selena she got you there."
"Yeah well she musta forgot I got no mom."
Mila winked at Ari who was laughing, "Yeah well none of us got moms Selena so play the orphan card somewhere else."
Selena gave her a shitty face and stormed from the bathroom.
"Ha that was mean Ari."
Ari shrugged feeling bad but not wanting to look weak. She looked at herself and sighed, "God this hair is making me all girlie looking and shit."
"Yeah its sexy girl."
Ari examined herself, her dark healthy hair was shiny and lustrous. It was just the way her moms looked in other Ari's memories. Her dark eyes looked sexy with the shiny hair with the black eye makeup she was used to. Her lips looked plump and soft, she blushed remembering the feeling of Lucas kissing them. Her skin crawled blocking out the memories it brought back.
"You look really pretty Ari, I might try to get into prison just to get looking so healthy. What did you do anyway?"
Ari stopped and looked at herself, "B and E." She turned and smiled at her friend, "Don’t try to get into jail Mila, try to go straight. I am from now on. It was scary in there."
Mila raised an eyebrow at her, "Straight, how the hell will we eat going straight?"
"We could get jobs."
"With what address?"
"Shelter or just make one up."
"Ari I tried this before, you need a bank account, and for a bank account you need an address. People don’t pay in cash dude, its direct deposit."
Ari sighed, "God being homeless was easier in the nineties. Joe told me they used to just hang around and people brought them shit. Everyone was so scared of AIDS they didn’t want them in shelters so they helped them on the streets."
They walked out of the bathroom into the nightclub. The DJ was a favorite who had done the under ground raves when they had been too young to sneak into clubs. He mixed incredibly smoothly making every songs ending seamless. No one in the crowd ever had pause to stop dancing.
Ari felt self-conscious like everyone could see the fraud she was. She hadn’t gone to jail, she'd been in a sweet old ladies house eating pumpkin muffins and letting Aimee braid her hair and help her finish high school. She missed them all but knew she couldn’t go back, not after running off after making that man go to jail for a crime he hadn’t committed. She had no idea he would have gone there but she knew the whole scene would have played out in front of Elsie and Lydia, they would have seen it all through the window in the air she had made. Elsie would tell Lydia that Ari was too dangerous. Ron would come back and lock her up or worse put her to sleep like a violent dog.
She pushed it to the back of her mind and slid out on the dance floor with her friends, her real friends. The ones who she ran with, hid with, cried with and even some she had nearly died with. She cringed thinking about the rainy night they'd been caught. She looked at Mila thinking about how she'd acted so tough until the men who'd found them left, then she'd cried for days. Ari couldn’t make herself cry, she had no tears left. She hadn't cried since her uncle left her in the orphanage for the last time until she got to Lydia's, then she made up for lost years crying every day almost.
"Here."
She looked at the tab Selena was holding. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Mila who stuck her tongue out revealing the small white tab on her tongue. Ari took it, "Thanks."
Selena shrugged, "Its ok."
"I'm sorry I played the mom card, I know its off limits. That wasn’t cool."
Selena smiled looking sad, "One day Ari we'll have a real life and we'll have houses and we'll have husbands and none of the shit that’s happened here will matter any more."
Ari hugged her. Selena seemed shocked by it but hugged her back.
"Look girl no offe
nse but I'm here to find me a dude and this is cock blocking my shit."
Ari laughed, "You are nasty."
She let go of Selena and let the music take her. She let it all go. The past and the future didn’t matter as the E hit her.
She let it all go.
She felt like her old self again as her hips started to move to the music. She felt someone grind up against her, dancing behind her. It was hard to get pissed about someone touching her as she had let the ecstasy remove her inhibitions.
She looked up behind her to see a cute guy. He looked about twenty-five. She smiled until his hands started to roam freely. She pulled away shaking her head.
"Come on, just one dance."
She studied him for a split second and knew from the wicked look on his face he was a baddy, "One dance no groping."
He nodded sliding up against her again.
She stayed as alert as the drugs would let her, which wasn't a lot. Eventually his hands were on her again. She tried to push him off but his hands were everywhere all at once. His grip was stronger than hers.
She closed her eyes wishing she hadn’t taken the drugs. The room wasn’t spinning yet but she was fairly certain she wouldn't be able to hold him off and if she ran and he followed her she wouldn’t stand a chance at getting away. Her stomach started to feel sick as she pushed on his chest, "Please I don’t like this." She hadn’t ever begged for her life before. She had always been stronger than that but she was weak now.
"You like it."
Ari felt her hands heating up. She knew that if she pushed him back in time everyone would see the window she made. It wasn’t big but it was big enough that everyone around her would notice.
"Let her go."
She looked up to see Lucas. He growled menacingly at the man, "Now.'
"Fuck off buddy, she's mine for the night dude. Find your own slut."
Ari winced hearing him call her that, she deserved the title but she never would have wanted Lucas to see her in that light.
