“Don’t judge me, I was six-years old and I’ve always been a nerd at heart. The brain needs exercise too.” If it hadn’t been for current circumstances, I’d have dropped my panties right there and thrown them at him. The heat-filled side glance Garrett’s gives him tells me he feels the same, a mental image of Garrett in a matching pink thong to mine making me laugh out loud. A stitch pulls at my side from the strange tug of happiness, I can’t pull back now it’s been set loose. The pair eye me curiously, huge grins stretching across their faces as the laughter brings tears to my eyes. Damn, I really needed that.
Slinking across the room, Axel tugs me beneath his free arm, and we move into the living room. Garrett slowly places him down on the white sofa before sitting with a cushion on his lap and guides Axel’s head down onto it. I take the end with his feet, carefully lifting them to slide underneath. The mansion is like a show house, everything pristine and beautiful, yet without a single trace of character. White sideboards hug the edges of the room, a shaggy rug fills the centre to take the cold edge off the marbled flooring. Opposite the sofa is a huge plasma TV and every console anyone could wish for, but the lack of cables in the back shows they’ve never been touched. I wonder if young Axel was even allowed in here or if he was kept locked in his room.
“Have you seen your mother yet?” I finally ask, filling the silence as we all spiral into our own dark thoughts. Garrett’s jaw is clenched hard enough to crack a tooth, his usual relaxed demeanour seeming worlds away.
“I’d rather my eyeballs were removed than to see that woman again, although it is inevitable. For now, Garrett is doing a fantastic job at being my guard dog.” Axel reaches up to scratch Garrett’s jaw who begins to pant with his tongue hanging out in return. The pair share a sweet smile which I turn away from, feeling like an imposter in their moment and longing for a similar one myself. I must be seriously lonely to crave affection since I usually prefer my own company. Axel’s foot nudges my stomach to bring my attention back to his amber eyes. “So, what happens now?”
“Now, you recover.” I reply evenly. “That’s all you need to focus on. I’ll worry about getting Meg back.”
“And how do you plan on doing that?” Axel’s eyebrow quirks and Garrett turns to face me, his tired eyes laced with worry.
“I don’t know yet,” I grumble, looking away from the pair staring at me. “Meg knows I’ll find a way, she’s just gotta hold on. She’s tougher than she looks.” A sad smile graces my lips, knowing Meg will be giving anyone who dares come near her absolute hell. I’m just not sure what lengths her captors will go to in order to keep her in line.
Meg
“Okay, just one more...perfect!” Avery’s blue doe eyes are twinkling from the fairy lights around her bed as she makes the final brush stroke across my cheek. Dipping the brush into a cup of water, she closes the lids on the face paints and turns me by the shoulders to face the mirror. I can’t help but smile at her artistry as she gets straight to work on my hair, braiding it down the length of my back. Half of my face is a mask of colourful flowers ranging in all sizes from a large rose across my temple to delicate hidden daisies amongst the blossoms on my cheek and chin. The other side of my face is a decorative skeleton, jewels lining my whitened forehead with a hollow eye and invisible nose. Tying the two sides together is a toothy smile painted across my lips. She places a floral crown onto my head and claps excitedly. “This is going to be the best Halloween ever!”
“Only if you are ready, stop worrying about me and go get dressed,” I giggle, although eternally thankful for all the effort she’s made on my behalf. Skipping across the room to her walk-in wardrobe, she flicks her blonde hair over her shoulder to smirk at me.
“We both know your crush is going, and you need all the help you can get,” she winks and disappears in time to avoid the cushion I throw at her. She’s right though, he said he’ll be at tonight’s Halloscream frat party and I wouldn’t have been able to replicate Avery’s vision for me. Standing in the skin-tight jumpsuit, the polyester glued to my curves like it was also hand painted on, I push my feet into a pair of skinny black heels. The costume features a skeleton across the front and back, roses nestled into the bones with a raw, bleeding heart in the chest cavity. Hot and dark, perfect.
Avery returns a moment later, effortlessly looking incredible. A PVC cat-suit covers her body except for the unzipped V flaunting her cleavage. There’s a cute pair of cat ears upon her head, her golden length of her hair hanging across one shoulder to her waist where a coiled whip has been attached. Slinking over to the vanity in full feline mode, she paints three lines on each of her cheeks and turns to me with a grin. I now notice the yellow slits covering her irises which must be contacts and release an appreciative whistle. “Well aren’t you the cat that got the cream?”
“Ugh, you sound like my mum when you say shit like that.” Pushing her feet into leather biker boots in true Avery style, we leave the mansion arm in arm and hop into the waiting Rolls Royce. Jenson regards us in the rear-view mirror before easing the car down the driveway. A shiver
