The Rouges

      I gave a courtesy giggle.  Another terrible date.  This man was very different from all the other men Taylee had tried to set me up with.  They were always the self obsessed football jocks in high school.  Now, five years later, they were either the exact same; preppy college football stars with an ego the size of the moon, or washed up druggies. This man was defiantly self obsessed, but he was not a football jock, far from it actually.  His arms were like twigs and his hands shook violently as he picked up his water glass, little splashes of water speckling his face.  His glasses had begun to slide down the bride of his nose, which he had taken notice to.  He sniffed, rather loudly at that, as he used his index finger to slide them back up by his eyes.  He wore a white collared dress shirt and black slacks, any normal person would, but accenting his white shirt was a red and was white polka dotted bow tie.  It frayed at the edges and light shines through the little holes.  His toupee was sliding to the left side of his head as he wiped the sweat away with his napkin.  He smelt of moth balls and moldy cheese, but he didn't look much better.

"And so then we decided to take the square root of 15 instead of19!"  He belted out a high-pitched scream of a laugh.  He howled as all the other people in Wendy's turned in their seat.  This was the worst date of my life.  At the moment I would take the cocky football jock over this self-absorbed power nerd any day.  Who take their date to Wendy's for a dinner date anyways?

"Well," I began getting up from the table, "It's getting late, and I should get going."  I gave him a phony smile as he checked his wrist watch.

"But it's only barely eight o'clock," he protested.

"I know," I continued with the fake smile, "But I have an early day of work tomorrow and Taylee is expecting me soon."  I was desperate to get out of there as fast as possible.

"Oh, well, would you like me to drive you home?"  He asked awkwardly, getting up from the table.

I quickly grabbed my coat and slung my purse over my shoulder, "No, I think I'll just call a cab, with us both being under the influence of frosties and all."  I was face palming myself on the inside as an awkward grimace crossed my face.  Arnold's eyebrows rose as he opened his mouth to speak, "I'm sorry, it was fun, but my cab is waiting."  I said over my shoulder as I seemed to flee from the most awkward dinner date of my life.  I got in the cab.

"Bam-bay Boulevard please," I mumbled dialing Taylee's cell, "More like Boulevard of broken dreams."  The cab driver ignored my snide comment about where I lived and continued to drive down the road.  3

"Hello gorgeous," she answered, her cheery voice making me grit my teeth.

"I hate you," I said bluntly.  "I hate you so much right now!"

"Was he really that bad?"  I could hear her stifling a giggle.

"Yes, guess where he took me!"  I was starting to giggle myself now.

"Where?"  You could hear her bracing herself for some expensive restaurant.

"Wendy's!"  A loud thud came from her end of the phone as she roared with laughter.  She laughed continuously for whole minutes.  The cab driver turned onto my street as I directed him to my apartment building.  Taylee was still laughing by the time I had paid the driver.  The building wasn't that spectacular, it was quite the opposite actually.  It was an ugly shade of faded yellow, with rusty stairways leading to the other levels.  The doorstops were a dark, forest green color with the occasion brown mold spot.  I walked up the steps towards my apartment, still trying to calm Taylee down.  I stuck my key in the key whole and froze as a loud shattering sound came from inside.

"Taylee, I'll have to call you back," I clicked the end button and slowly slid it into my pocket.  Another crash and a sickening wail came next.  My face paled as I opened the door, walking in slowly.  There were shards of glass all over the floor and the sounds were coming from the kitchen.  I could hear my heart thumping in my ears as I saw blood splatters on my wooden floor.  They trailed to the kitchen in steady paces.  My keys shook, tinkling in my hands. I rounded the corner, perfectly prepared to defend my life to the end.

    A sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I noticed it was only Jellybean, my cat.  She was a beautiful white cat, bread to perfection.  She had the bluest eyes I had ever seen and a large poufy tail that she held high.  She was indeed a beautiful cat, and she knew it as she pranced around the house, head held high.  Today, she didn't prance or hold her head high, she wasn't even white.  She was red with sticky blood and her crystal eyes didn't sparkle, instead they were dull with fear.

"Jellybean," I cooed, walking over to her frozen figure that sat atop the counter.

She let out a frightening hiss that made me jump as she leaped off the counter-top on ran off to my bedroom.  I furrowed my brows, confused at her strange behavior, the shattered glass, the hissing, the blood, how can one cat bleed that much?  I turned around, noticing the keys still in my hands, and went to hang them on my key hook.  As I turned, I caught a glimpse of a tall, slender shadow rushing along the wall, sending my heart into my throat, as I froze once more.  It wasn't Jellybean this time, and I lived alone; somebody was in this house with me.

    My breathing quickened, my heart sped up, again thumping in my ears, adding an intense effect to the air.  I felt my stomach churning, making me nearly sick and my hands grew clammy, causing my keys to slip and crash against the hard floor.  I winced; they now knew I was in the kitchen, listening for them.  My eyes scanned the room frantically, searching for a weapon to defend myself.  Suddenly, I heard the door open and shut just as quick, and then fleeing footsteps rushing down the rusty stairway.  I hadn't realized I was holding my breath until I relaxed and it all came rushing out.  I rolled my eyes stubbornly; I really needed a new security system.

    I'm not sure why I wasn't freaking out at the moment because normally I am the biggest baby in the world, but at the time I just branded it as being in shock.  I searched the front hallway, I had thought about calling this into the cops, but nothing seemed to be missing, but I couldn't be certain.  He did track an awful lot of dirt into my house though, which made me angry because I had just mopped my floor and the fact that he hurt my cat; I was furious!

I went to the closet door to grab a broom so I could clean up the shattered glass strewn along the floor which I noticed a little white piece of plastic.  It was a perfect rectangle and incredibly thin, it looked much like an ID card; in fact, I think that's what it was.  I bent down and picked it up, kneeling on the floor.  It said "SOAA Operative" in big bold letters at the top.  SOAA?  What in the world was SOAA?  Special octopuses and Ariel?  Saving Other Ants of America?  It could be anything.

My eyes traveled to the picture of a man.  He had the prettiest green eyes I had ever noticed before, I recognized them; but from where?  I recognized him, every bit of him, his high cheek bones, his funny ears, his long eyelashes and his incredibly dark hair.  Then I saw his name.

"Branson?"  I whispered, thinking back to a boy I once knew.

I suddenly felt a hand wrap around my mouth, stifling my scream that tried so desperately to escape out of my lungs, loud enough for my neighbors to hear, but it was no use.  I struggled as soon as I saw the large syringe and screamed, biting his hand as it broke the skin of my neck.  He pulled his hand back on reflex as I whirled around to see my attacker, recognizing his face.

"Arnold?" My jaw dropped, "How?  What are you do--"My vision went blurry as I tried to grab the wall to steady myself, but instead I missed and fell limply to the ground as my eyes closed against my will.