Like Walking on Broken Glass

Keira stared blankly at the city lights. This was good; not thinking, not worrying, not counting the minutes until it was all over with. She was sitting on the floor of her hotel balcony, in only her underwear, a syringe still stuck in her groin. Now that she was high, she completely forgot about the needle and how cold it was. Keira just revelled in her blissful obliviousness.

That was why she didn't notice the dark figure standing behind her. It was nothing new. She'd been seeing it for weeks, and it was nice to be able to ignore it. Shooting up was the only way to forget about anything lately, especially after tonight. By now, Keira was numb to Joe's abuse, but it didn't disgust her any less.

The shrill sound of her cell ringing assaulted Keira's ears. She rolled her eyes. It was probably Saoirse again, and she was in no mood to deal with the needy little bitch tonight. Besides, if Saoirse wanted her so badly, she'd come here and risk being seen. Saoirse was probably just visited by Joe and wanted someone to cry to.

The call went to voicemail, but it began ringing again seconds later. Keira glared at the device on her nightstand and shouted, "Shut up!" She was already crashing. It didn't occur to her how much time passed until the heavy feeling in her chest registered to her again.

"Oh, shit..." Keira gasped. She struggled to her feet and pulled out the syringe, then stumbled to the bathroom. It was too late, though. She could already feel the leaking from her anus. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit."

By the time Keira reached the bathroom, her white, satin panties were stained with watery, orange-brown poop. Shaking her head in frustration she took them off and carelessly threw them in the trash bin. The diarrhea was still running down her legs. Keira just sat on the toilet and let the rest of it shoot out of her. A terrible end to a terrible day.

When Keira finished washing up, she was on her way to the bedroom when the clock on the wall caught her eye. "That can't be right," she thought.

5:17 am

It was already morning.

After some more smack, Keira reluctantly got dressed. It seemed pointless, but what good was hanging around here with no clothes on? Besides, she had an interview with Vogue UK later today. It was either prepare now, or show up late to the interview with her shirt on backwards and shivering the whole time. Keira didn't know about other addicts, but she certainly preferred putting out the illusion she was less of a mess than she actually was.

As Keira got ready, the dark figure, an inky black creature subhuman in appearance, like a living shadow, lurked in the corner and laughed at Keira's stupidity. The woman was so close to death, and she didn't even know it. It would be fun to watch her die, and all that would come with it afterwards. The shadow being knew how it would happen and how much further she'd fall in the weeks leading up to her death. The most delicious part was there was nothing Keira could do about it.

Keira went to fetch her phone and saw she had three voicemails. Saoirse called five more times. Of course. James called, too. The last one was a private number.

Saoirse's message was just incoherent crying. Keira didn't know what else she expected. At least the girl wasn't leaving sappy declarations of love in her inbox. Deleting the message, Keira went on to James'. Hearing her husband's voice was just what she needed.

"Keira, I... I'm actually glad I missed you." That was odd of him to say. James' tone was grave. Keira didn't like the feeling of this one bit. "Call me. We need to talk, but I think it should wait until you come home."

For a moment, Keira sat there on the couch, staring at the phone. She considered calling James back, but what could she say? Ask him what this thing they need to discuss face to face was? Fuck, why did he even call her then?

Trying to push away her confusion, Keira listened to the next message. All she heard was what sounded like a dial-up modem and distant laughter. The shadow creature was a few feet away from her. Rather than play ignorant, Keira did what she rarely did and looked directly at it. The thing was baring its razor sharp spikes for teeth at her. It couldn't even close its mouth because of them.

"I suppose you have something to do with this," Keira said, with a perplexed expression. The being gave no answer and just stood there. Keira was not high enough for this shit.