The Story Collection: Volume One

by Matt Shaw

  Kirk picked up the near-empty bowl of tomato soup, “Can we talk about something else?”

  “Did you really not know it was me that you were booking earlier? You really did just want someone for company?” Kim didn’t need to ask and she didn’t know why she did. She knew what the answer was going to be. From the time he had picked her up from the hospital to the time now – she knew that he really was as lonely as he said he was during their appointment. What she couldn’t understand was ‘why’. He seemed like a genuine, caring soul. He seemed as though he was torturing himself. As expected, Kirk didn’t answer her. He just looked at her and smiled.

  Kim steered the conversation away, “I can’t believe you still have the watch.”

  Kirk looked down at the watch, which was still on his wrist, “I like it. It reminds me that not everyone in this world is horrible. Some people are still nice.”

  Kim smiled. She liked that Kirk thought of her mum in such a positive light. She liked that Jackie’s memory lived on in someone else too. Kirk looked back to Kim and smiled back. All these years later it looked as though a conversation about a watch was going to help them achieve a friendship between them.

  Kim laughed, “I just can’t believe that, with all the adverts out there, you managed to find one that brought us back into each others lives.” She cringed when she thought about what she had just said – she made it sound as though they were now an item and she knew that could never happen.

  Kirk replied, “I’m glad I found your advert.” He mentally told himself off for sounding like he was flirting again before he took a deep breath in and said, “You know I like you and won’t judge you…”

  Kim didn’t like where this was going.

  “What happened to you today?” he asked hoping that they had bonded enough that she wouldn’t clam up again – hoping that she would trust him enough to give a truthful answer.

  She paused for a moment, not sure whether to share her secrets with him. He was, after all, still a practical stranger. A kind stranger who had taken her in and looked after her – even after the way she stormed out of his life previously. She could trust him. At least, she thought, she could trust him with some answers.

  6

  KIRK HAD OFFERED TO CALL KIM A TAXI but she didn’t wait around long enough to take advantage of his offer. Instead she had thrown the money back in his face and left his home as fast as she could. Even though she felt it was a set up she had wanted to break down and cry on his shoulder but she knew she couldn’t afford to. Just because he knew her all those years ago she knew he wouldn’t understand what she had become and the situation she found herself to be in. When she left the house she tried as hard as she could to put the encounter and memories that were awoken, to the back of her mind – give her a chance to concentrate on the unpleasant tasks at hand; to earn more money and run away from it all.

  She had been walking for less than ten minutes when her phone buzzed, in her jacket pocket, with a series of strong vibrations as another call had rung in. Kim hadn’t taken any money from Kirk. She didn’t feel that it would have been right and, because of this, she knew she was behind in achieving her financial target for the day. With no hesitation she had answered the telephone and been invited to another appointment – this time in a posh hotel not too far from the city centre. The client, a well-spoken man, who called himself ‘John’, wanted to see her later in the evening the hour and money weren’t an object. Kim didn’t need asking twice.

  By the time Kim had left ‘John’ she had seen four clients in total; three of them had been paying customers. With three hundred and sixty pounds in her purse and the clock only just having struck midnight – she knew, as she left the hotel, there would still be enough time to get the necessary finances behind her to run from everything. She’d have enough money to run from what she’d done and become. As she walked towards the city’s Red Light District, to join the other street girls, she knew that it would all be over in just a few more hours and she knew she had the drugs needed to get her through it.

  Kim’s heart raced as she approached the Red Light District. She had never been there and didn’t know what to expect from it. Although it was close to the night’s popular hotspots and fancy restaurants it was far enough away from the beaten track that she never had the need to go there. Even working as a working-girl she had never had the need to go there – until now – as Leon had made all of her appointments for her; not that she had ever thanked him.

  Kim’s imagination had told her what to expect; girls standing around on every available street corner with an endless supply of cars slowly passing them - the occupants carefully making their selection for the night’s entertainment. Other girls, her mind told her, would be sat in alleys with semen trickling from various orifices and syringes hanging from their recently punctured veins. The reality was completely different and she thanked God that it was. Even so she knew that appearances could be deceptive and kept her guard up.

  The roads were empty of traffic and, although one or two girls were milling around somewhat aimlessly, there was no mass-fucking going on in the alleys or gutters. There were no obvious signs of drugs. There were no obvious signs of anything underhand. A little, tiny piece of Kim felt disappointed as though her mind had cheated her from the truth for all this time. She stepped back into the shadows to observe how the ladies of the night got their business so she could see what to expect; so she could see what she would have to do.

  For half an hour she waited, and watched, with nothing happening hoping that her phone would go off to offer her a better source of client. For half an hour she couldn’t help but think that she couldn’t spare the time to be standing around, waiting for business to approach her. The clock was ticking and she knew time was running out – slowly but surely. She kept having to reassure herself that she was doing the right thing by being there – waiting. She had to reassure herself that she wasn’t wasting her precious time.

  She shook a thought from her head, ‘If I don’t get any more money, time is all I will have.’

  Part of her wanted to leave but she knew it was the only way to pro-actively get any more punters that may pay her the money she needed. Kim overheard one of the other ladies as she turned to her ‘colleague’ and moaned about what a quiet night it was.

  ‘Typical,’ thought Kim just as a stranger approached her from behind.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Shit! You scared me!” said Kim as she span around, to face the stranger, with a look of horror on her tired face.

  He smiled at her reaction but didn’t apologise. Instead he just looked her up and down and licked his lips, “Are you working?”

  Kim spotted the potential to make more money, “If you’re looking. Sure. Did you want to go somewhere quieter?” Kim hadn’t seen the other girls’ tactics. She didn’t know about the procedure outside of the hotel rooms that she normally frequented. She hoped the stranger did know what he was doing. She hoped that he knew where to go.

  “My car’s around the corner,” he said, as he turned and started to walk. He knew she’d follow. He knew they always followed.

  True to his word, the stranger’s car was parked up in an adjacent road – the hazard lights flashing away. Unknown to Kim, he had obviously been watching her from afar before deciding that she would be a good ‘visit’. He had left his car long enough to fetch Kim from where she stood. He suddenly walked ahead of Kim and opened the passenger door for her. He didn’t wait for her to climb in so he could close it for her – instead he went around to the driver’s side and let himself in. Kim closed her own door.

  “What’s your name?” asked the stranger as he turned on the interior light.

  Kim tried her best to sound confident and cast her mind back to the only experience of street-girls that she had – the film ‘Pretty Woman’. “You can call me whatever you want,” she purred as she turned, to sit at an angle, to face him.

  The stranger snapped back, “I
asked for your name, not a fucking cliché.”

  Every bone in her body told Kim to get out of the car there and then but she knew there was very little choice – even if the car door hadn’t been locked; there was little choice. Money was money – no matter where it came from.

  “Stacey,” Kim lied as she tried to act as cool as possible given the circumstances.

  “You can call me Roger,” replied the stranger.

  Kim smiled trying to make amends for upsetting him, “Pleased to meet you.”

  Roger fired up the car’s engine and slowly pulled away from the kerb. Kim didn’t ask where they were going – she just presumed he knew what he was doing.

  Minutes of silent driving followed before Kim made a move, hoping to hurry Roger into stopping so she could get what had to done finished with quickly. She didn’t want to be taken too far from the Red Light District as she knew she’d only have to walk back after he had left her. “So how did you want to fuck me?” she purred.

  Roger took his eyes off the road long enough to follow Kim’s hand; to begin with it was placed over her left breast before sliding down her body and resting between her legs where the sensation caused her to let out a little sigh of pleasure. Roger knew it was a fake sigh and turned his attention back to the road.

  “Don’t keep me waiting,” teased Kim as she squirmed around on her hand. She was hiding the fact that she was getting concerned as to why he wasn’t pulling over. Looking past him, out of the window, whenever she felt she could get away with it – she had seen a number of ‘safe’ spots they could have pulled into.

  “I want to fuck your arse,” said Roger abruptly and in a very ‘matter of fact’ tone. He took his eyes off the road, again momentarily, to gauge Kim’s reaction. Kim was desperate for the cash; but not that desperate.

  She tried to change his mind, “Wouldn’t you rather fuck my tight wet pussy?” Years earlier when an early boyfriend had asked Kim to talk dirty to him she couldn’t do it with a straight face. She always used to stifle laughter between the sentences and the ex-boyfriend would always get angry or lose his erection – or both. As her hand carried on gently rubbing herself she tried her best at keeping ‘sexy’ for the customer, not wishing to put him off and certainly not wishing to lose out on the cash. She knew the words that came from her mouth were ridiculous but she couldn’t lose focus of her goal.

  “I told you what I want.” Roger looked back to the road, ignoring the sight of Kim’s vagina as she pulled her panties to one side so he could steal a glimpse. She turned the ‘sexiness’ off and sat up realising that it was a lost cause.

  “Look, I’m sorry, I don’t offer that. I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” she said with her heart beginning to beat a little faster as she realised it wasn’t the best situation to be in. With appointments made for her, previously, she had sometimes come face to face with some men that weren’t quite as polite, or nice, as they had first appeared but Leon was always close by if things ever turned particularly nasty. This time Leon was nowhere near her. She hated Leon more than she had ever hated anyone before, despite loving him once, but now she would have given anything to have him back in her life. She looked at Roger who seemed to have not heard anything she had said; or ignored everything she had said. “Why don’t you pull over and let me out?” she said hoping that’s exactly what he was going to do, “I’m sure one of the other ladies is still available. We could go back there, together, and I could talk to them for you. Tell them what a great lay you are and how I wasn’t enough for you,” she stroked his ego hoping that it would be enough for him to crack a smile to her and ease off the accelerator that seemed to have been pressed down harder. “Please slow down.”

  “How much is it going to cost me to fuck your arse?” asked Roger as he continued to drive through areas that Kim no longer recognised or knew.

  “I told you, I don’t offer that. Please just let me out now,” she begged again but it fell on deaf ears.

  “You should have told me that you didn’t offer it before you got into the car. Getting into the car is the same as signing a contract. You agreed to this.”

  “I’ve never done this before!” shouted Kim as she began to cry – fearing for her safety. “I’m sorry. Please just let me out! You’re scaring me!” She tried opening the door handle, preferring to jump that continue her car ride into the unknown. The door didn’t budge.

  “What?” said Roger as though he had suddenly just come out of a trance. He let off the accelerator and the car instantly slowed to a more sensible speed.

  Kim turned to him, still scared, “I’ve never met anyone on the streets like this before. I’m sorry. I didn’t know there were rules to follow. I’ll do anything else you want. I just can’t do that.”

  “You’ve never done this before?” repeated Roger trying to make sense of who he had picked up.

  “No. I’ve made a mistake, please let me out.”

  The car slowed down to a stop and Roger flicked a switch that took the lock off the doors.

  He smiled at her, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “That’s it?” asked Kim bemused at the sudden change of mood. Roger nodded. “Thank you,” she said as she climbed from the car, taking full advantage of the mood change.

  “My pleasure,” smiled Roger with a glint in his eye.

  * * * * *

  Kim screamed out loud as she came round. A scream brought on by the fact that she didn’t know where she was. She didn’t know how she got there. A scream brought on by the pain she found herself in. A scream that let the doctors and nurses know that she was awake now.

  She sat upright in the hospital bed and surveyed the cubicle surrounding her; various machines – some plugged in and doing things and some left to the side obviously not needed – an intravenous drip hanging to the right of her and feeding fluids into her system via a newly punctured hole in her arm, a plastic container on a trolley with some bloodied swabs floating in a bowl of unknown liquid.

  She closed her eyes tight and pulled the drip from her arm. With her eyes closed she remembered; the revving engine, the screech of tyres and the sudden pain caused by the heavy impact. She started to weep as she remembered the stranger standing above her, as she lay on the floor. She recalled when he had picked her up and slammed her face first onto the bonnet of his car.

  Kim held her hand up to her face and felt where her cheek had connected with the cold metal of the automobile. She could feel the bruise there. She could feel the intense ache.

  Kim jumped when the curtain of the cubicle was pulled to one side by what turned out to be the duty nurse.

  “You’ve pulled your drip out,” said the nurse, “we’ll have to get that back in you for a little while longer yet, I’m afraid – you’re very dehydrated.”

  Although the nurse wasn’t particularly pleasant – she wasn’t unpleasant either. If anything, she was indifferent.

  “Have you taken anything or on any medication?” asked the nurse hoping for a truthful answer that would avoid causing a mixed-reaction with any medication she could give Kim. “Do you remember what happened?” continued the nurse, not really giving Kim a chance to answer – not that Kim even tried to answer. The nurse took hold of Kim’s wrist and checked her pulse against the small silver time-piece that hung on her uniform.

  “Do you know what time it is?” asked Kim.

  “Ten to two,” said the nurse as she rested Kim’s arm back onto the mattress. “When you are feeling up to it, the officers who found you would like to talk to you.”

  Kim’s heart skipped a beat as she wondered as to whether or not they had found him yet, “I don’t want to talk to them.” She tried to buy herself some time. Even if the police just wanted to talk about what had happened – she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to become known to them. If she was known, she’d be easier to find later on.

  The nurse tidied random objects away and pushed the trolley to the edge of the cubicle, by the open
ing in the curtain, before she turned to Kim and said, “The doctor will be along to check on you again soon. Try to rest.” With that, she walked from the cubicle and pulled the curtain to. Kim didn’t know whether she had heard her. She knew she couldn’t wait around to find out either. A quick glance to the left of her revealed her bag resting on a plastic chair. She hoped that her phone was still in there and that Roger hadn’t taken her belongings too.