Today's Reading

SERPENT

I've never been in a club like this before. Clubs like this aren't meant for people like me. Nevertheless, it was ridiculously easy to get in.

Private function? Not if you know the world of hotels, bars, back streets and staff entrances like I do. A smelly alleyway. A steel door, a narrow corridor, past champagne crates, then a velvet curtain.

Peeling back the layers of an onion to enter the rotting heart.

As expected, the heart is dark, and I slip into the shadows. Points of light flit across the floor, but they don't get me. I look out for a hiding place, but it's hardly necessary. Nobody here sees me. Nobody wants to see me. I might just as well be invisible.

All eyes are on the little stage at the other end of the room. They're dancing on it.

Eve.

And the serpent.

Long legs, topless, a sparkly little thing round her hips, the reptile draped over her shoulders.

It should look obscene, but on her it seems strangely innocent. Childlike even. A scene from paradise.

Obviously, I don't buy the whole innocent act. She ought to know better. I'm not quite sure of all the things a bride has to do before her wedding, but definitely not this. Not this shameless making-a-show-of-yourself. She feels so safe. She's mistaken. Oh, she'll soon realise just how mistaken she is!

A champagne cork pops and Eve cheers. She hops off the stage and jumps into the lap of the man who opened the champagne. He passes her a glass and she laughs, throwing her head back, curls like a waterfall.

Everyone laughs.

If you think about it, they're laughing at me.

Eve shakes her hair, and it's like snow. She's so blond. Pale as a piece of wood that's been left in the sun. Suddenly I wish she weren't so blond. Does she think she's beautiful? Do other people think she's beautiful? I can't gauge it anymore. At home she wears flowing silk dresses in misty hues, and she moves gracefully, but now there is something akin to shattered glass in her voice.

Suddenly I'm struggling to suppress a laugh too.

Now I've got her, trapped forever more as if she were in a glittering snow globe. There is no escape for her, no matter how loud she laughs, no matter how much champagne she drinks. I raise my phone and quickly take two, three photos, almost surprised at how easy everything is all of a sudden.

How clear.

How cold.

As I'm taking photos, the pale snake frees itself from Eve's shoulders, lunges forward, with a swinging motion and flicks its rosy tongue at me.

A grin steals across my face.

I have to admit I'm looking forward to the honeymoon.


CHAPTER ONE
BELLS

Agnes Sharp opened the village quack's door and poked her nose outside. A cold wind blew in her face, tugged at her scarf and instantly seeped into her limbs. Ugh, yuck!

For a moment she toyed with the idea of calling a taxi. Then she cast another glance back to the waiting room, where a crowd of people seemed to be damn happy to finally see the back of her. At least as happy as she was to be able to give her back to those petty-minded fuddy-duddies. There had been some unpleasant scenes and even a bit of a tussle over a dog-eared magazine, and when the receptionist noticed Agnes looking, her brow furrowed with concern.

Back to the waiting room? No way!

Onwards!
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