Hollow World, Hollow Soul

Hollow World, Hollow Soul

The cobbled, worn streets of Prague were bitterly cold tonight. The glowing globe of the sun had set many hours ago and a biting chill had set in, working its way into the skin and bones of those who stalked the city. It was too cold, even for the delicate snowflakes that sometimes drifted from the blackened sky. The river was quiet and the city even more so when all the tourists had flocked indoors.

Grimy shadows lingered upon the corners where the prostitutes huddled together against the freeze, the need for income driving them outside. The Czech dialect was difficult to understand through the chattering of teeth and the prostitutes’ hot breath hung in the air as they tittered in the night air. Dorota pulled her coat tightly around her, a shiver sending her entire frame shuddering. How was she meant to make any money when her body was trembling so? Perhaps the customer would simply think she was enjoying herself. A grin stretched across her face briefly, settling for a moment before vanishing. Dorota did not enjoy her work, she felt dirtied by it but it was all she had. There was little she refused to do and after all, the more obscure customers were the ones who paid the best. If a strange fetish meant a couple hundred more Krona a night, how could she refuse? Dorota was beautiful and troubled; her mother had died when she was young and her father was a waste of space. It was for her two sisters that Dorota stalked the streets earning money from eager men and lusty women. It was for her two sisters that Dorota accepted the invitation from the little man that approached her at just after midnight. The cold had started to eat into her bones, spreading through her body, forcing thoughts and contemplation to give up and go home. If only she had listened when her instincts screamed out at her.

The tunnel that her client led her down was dirty and dank. A strange smell seemed to emanate from the walls themselves and appeared only to become stronger the further Dorota was led. Her heart began trembling a little as the tunnel became darker, more dingy and a little frightening. She attempted to soothe her fears with the knowledge that this was one of those bizarre customers she had laughed about earlier. No doubt he liked sex in dirty, dark tunnels; perhaps it was the only way he could climax. She would never ask him and she wondered only to still her mind of the fear. The girls knew who she was with; they would alert others if she did not return. Even though some of them had only been on the street for a number of weeks, their loyalty was fierce. To the rest of Prague they were the scum of the city, to each other, they were all they had; a surrogate family that defended and protected each other. Her thoughts were halted by the slowing of pace, so it begins, she sighed. Dropping to her knees in the clammy moss was the last thing she wished to do but, as in most businesses and none more so than this, the customer was always right. Thankfully, tonight she had to make no effort as the client merely turned her to face the wall and pushed her forcefully over.

Ripping her skirt a little, he pushed himself inside her. His sharp fingernails gripped her sides as he thrust and she cried out a little from the pain. The discomfort became worse the longer it went on until Dorota could not help the slight scream that escaped her lips. It felt as if he was tearing her soft shell from her and she sensed the blood trickling from her wounds. Fuck money. Not for this sort of violation. If he wanted to draw blood, he could find some of the vampiric prostitutes that bled for a living. Pulling herself away from the client, Dorota turned to find that she had become a spectacle for a manner of creatures. They blinked their unseeing eyes at her as they crouched upon the saturated floor. Their skin was as white as the innocent and unblemished snow that had begun to fall outside. Speechless, she looked from their blackened eyes to her client and a noise of shock sought to escape her throat. The same eyes stared back at her and he made a high pitched keening noise, a signal of some sorts to those that waited nearby. The last thing Dorota heard was the light chuckle of the creatures as they began to feed upon her flesh. The pain that overcame her was more than she could have ever imagined. It faded into the same blistering heat until she could no longer feel.