Raqs Sharqi (Belly Dancer)

The cool breeze drifted across her skin, mingling with the heat that rose from her body. A bead of sweat trickled between her shoulder blades as she moved to the beat of the music. A light shown down on her tan skin as her arms swayed and her dark hair cascaded around her face. Her hips moved as if by nature to the beat of the drums, the sound of the flute, and the rhythm of her heritage. This was her connection to what she used to be, a way back to her former life. In the dark room filled with anonymous faces she wasn’t a lonely girl with broken dreams, but a Raqs Sharqi dancer, fierce and beautiful in the public’s eyes.

As the music softened and was not heard she ended her dance as the sounds of the restaurant returned to the normal hustle and bustle that went on there. Stepping off the small stage, she grabbed the towel she had set aside and headed back to the dressing room that had been given to her. As she entered a shadow emerged from the part of the room where no light seemed to reach. “You are even more beautiful than I remember, Kalila,” a voice said from where the shadow stood.

Kalila looked to the far side of the room, where the mysterious figure took a seat. “I have looked the same for over 400 years. Perhaps, Ambrosios, your memory has begun to elude you. For you are far older than I am.”

“Do not forget, child, that I was the one to bring you back from the brink of death when your sire left you to rot, with nothing to survive off of and no sense of your past or new life.” A sharp cracking sound echoed through out the room, as the man’s strong hands closed over Kalila’s throat, snapping her windpipe. “Your beauty may have grown, dear Kalila, but your insolence has perhaps even depleted since my return. You are a child, and it seems that is all that you will ever be; a lonely child, with no manners.”

Throwing her across the room, Ambrosios stood over her body. “ Good bye Kalila, perhaps when I return you will have found some manners.” As Kalila’s eyes closed in faint the dark figure disappeared into oblivion.

***
Slowly opening her eyes, Kalila heard the slight knocking on the door. Lifting herself off the floor, she made her way to the door. Any bruises she had received seemed to have healed, but her windpipe was still snapped and she was unable to talk. She would need to find a life source before that would fully heal. Before she could reach the door, the deep voice of the restaurant manager spoke. “We’re closing, you need to leave.” Under his breath she could here his murmuring, “no, good bitch should never have let dad hire her.” Smiling to herself Kalila grabbed her bag and left; maybe she had found her feast for the night.