Chicago's Internet Café (Human Only)

[Rae-Star Berii]

Rae had been a captive for nearly three weeks. Everything had gone so horribly wrong, her Uncle (who was supposedly dead) was not, he had taken her out of a dangerous situation, rescued her but she was not grateful for his rescue she had not needed it. Rae had been having the adventure of her life, and now she was trapped in Chicago, she was alone here…well. Save for Eli. Her Uncle had granted her the company of the dog, he had allowed her to go out, but he had not been kind about it. In the back of Rae’s neck, duck in close to her spinal cord so that she dare not try to remove it, was a computer chip. Rae knew how it worked, she understood how to make and programme them because once upon a time her Uncle had shown her, and now he was using his skills against her.

She sat at the breakfast bar, a coffee mug beside her with piping hot black liquid inside. They didn’t have any milk, Taron had forgotten to go to the shop and Rae was refusing, out of teenage impertinence, to go for him. Dressed in soft black leggings and an oversize hoodie, her slippers were soft and fluffy boots and she chewed on a piece of toast as she logged into her computer.

Rae, to cure some of the boredom she had been enduring here, had been frequenting chat rooms; listening and watching the lives of the online world. She did not make friends, but she waited in the background of chat rooms, listening to the people she assumed to be teenagers as they talked about their lives. Eventually, she wondered if there was someone she could trust enough, someone she could talk to about her captive situation.

A message binged in an empty window and she looked to it for a moment. Rae’s lips tipped upwards into a smile and her dextrous fingers crawled over the keyboard, sending back a message.

Hello

[Rae-Star Berii]

These places sometimes are.

Rae replied almost immediately, pausing with her fingers above the keys for a moment as her eyes flickered down to her finger nails. They were short, she kept them short always, it was easier to fight that way, but today they were dirty, there was mud under them. When had she showered last? Rae didn’t know- it wasn’t because she was a dirty person, but she was testing a new theory- if she was disgusting maybe he would leave her alone.

She ran her fingers through her pale pink hair and typed a second quick message;

But then, I suppose, this is a Chicago based chat box and there is only so much you can say about this shit hole in the middle of the arse-crack of the world before you leave.

She smiled to herself; if he was a citizen then it would be an interesting conversation, if not, well, either way led to interest. Rae did not like Chicago, she had spent to long being tormented here, and she had no wish to be back. As soon as she got the damned chip out of her neck, she was going home. London. It was where she belonged!

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[Rae-Star Berii]

Rae rose, putting the plate she had been eating from back in the sink. She ran the water on it and watched the crumbs swirl away. She let the computer Bing in its graceful way once or twice and for a moment she ignored it. Rae might frequent chat rooms rather often but she was not desperate for outside communication, not yet, she did not trust easy and the secret needed the right person, the right answer to her quest. Thought, as she came back and looked at the screen his want for adventure struck her as interesting. She smiled to herself and sat at the breakfast bar once more, sipping from her coffee.

An Adventure?

She typed, clattering the keys with her fingertips gently, like spiders they crawled with the softest of touched.

Maria

This was not her name, but he was not to know that. It was not just online that Rae used Maria as her name; she had used it ever since a diner she was eating in went up in smoke. She had been eating, sat opposite someone she now considered a friend, someone who she had done very wrong by and had no way of helping him- not yet… at least. Since that day she had been using the pseudonym daily, it was part of her hunting routine.

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[Rae-Star Berii]

She wondered if he was hitting on her, this conversation was the most exciting thing in his life? Wow, that was far to awkward to consider really wasn’t it? If it was a line, it was a poor one, but Rae had heard worse in her life.

Too many video games.

She agreed, typing quickly as she lay it out in pretty pink font. Her eyes went to the screen and she wrote once more.

You don’t believe in that stuff then? Monsters?

She’d asked this question a lot, people told her she was nuts; which was probably true. She didn’t ever push the subject, it wasn’t her place to put the world to rights, it wasn’t her place to cause mass panic and fear.

Why don’t you like Chicago?

She did not dignify his question with an answer; and after placing two questions on him one at a time, she rose and put her empty mug in the sink. Her eyes turned to the door as Eli’s paws clacked on the tiles. “Hi boy,” she smiled, brightly, bending and stroking his nose and ears. “You hungry- I was going to make beacon.” She told him, kissing his furry head before she straightening once more, watching the happy glint in his eyes. The dog liked to eat.

[Rae-Star Berii]

Rae placed six slices of beacon under the grill and then when to check the chat window, her computer had ‘binged’ several times while she was preparing their breakfast and now it drew her attention once more. There were three messages there, all from the host of her conversation. Rae had already looked further into the computer, it was a loan, the location that she received for it after she hacked into the system was a internet café a couple of blocks away. This was evidence for his story that he was a traveller, and as she looked at the text on the screen now she smiled to herself, why would anyone travel to Chicago? Didn’t he have bigger ambitions? If you were foreign you travelled to America, looking for hope and glory, but Rae found it odd that Americans wanted to travel here also…of course, she realised she was making the assumption that he was an American.

Video games are for nerds

She wrote, wondering if she could anger him. So much had come to pass in the last eight months of her eighteen years, so much had come to pass that she could not explain, but she had learnt that deep inside her was a girl who liked to inflict pain, deep inside her was a person who killed and enjoyed it. That frightened her, massively, but she was no longer a helpless little girl and she did not believe that video games had any of the answers. As she read on, she found herself angered by him- and she read the last line of his text over and over several times before she found a logical answer in her mind.

Finally, she typed a quick response, again her messages were short and barely gave anything away;

Be careful what you wish for

Then Rae went to turn the beacon.

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[Rae-Star Berii]

Everyone has demons

She wrote back a few moments later, after she had made a sandwich for herself and had hand fed Eli his share of the breakfast meal. The dog had taken his prize and returned to his place under the kitchen table, where he liked to lay low and stay out of the way. Rae wished she could do that, she wished she could lay low and stay out of the way. Her eyes went to the screen for a moment, and then her eyes went to the door of the farside bedroom. It was still shut, her Uncle was still asleep. Maybe it was time for another escape?

She had escaped a few times before, once she had tried to run back to London, once she had run further headed for Australia, always he found her and had implanted her with the microchip to stop her running away anymore. He intended to keep her here and Rae did not intend on staying.

Have you been to the Art Institute? At Grand Park?

She typed, deciding to talk about safer things, this person was a complete stranger, it was no good testing the boundaries just yet.

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[Rae-Star Berii]

Demons don’t exsist. That sounds stupid. And even if they did exsist then they would see humans as the enemy, thus they should be destroyed. Go back to your computer games, little boy, I do not wish to talk to you anymore.

But it was not Rae who typed at that message but her Uncle. He had woken up to the smell of beacon and had come to see what was going on, he had read over Rae’s shoulder and when she had protested that it was nothing, just a distraction he had scooped her out of her chair with a bull-like arm and set her on her feet, then he had typed, slowly, one digit at a time until he sent that message. Rae had just watched, her eyes full of hatred as he turned to her, as he stroked her cheek and kissed her mouth before taking what remained of her breakfast and going to put the football channel on.

Rae wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, pausing for a moment to scrunch up her face in disgust then she typed an inbox message to her chat companion.

If you want an adventure meet me at the gallery at noon. Look for pink.

Then she shut down her computer, before her Uncle had to tell her twice. He complained that she was always on her laptop, it was true of course but she was escaping reality and her computer allowed her to do that. Letting it shut down she returned it to the spare room, locking it away in her rucksack and replacing the padlock on the bags zipper. It was the only thing she had to herself, the contents of her rucksack and she intended to keep it that way.

“We need milk and Eli needs a walk.” She said, coming back to the living room. “If you give me a couple of bucks I’ll get milk while I take him down to the park.” Rae was trying to appear neutral, without suspicion and for a moment she was not sure it would work, then he waved a twenty at her, demanding she get him a six pack and some cigarettes too.

Rae smiled, nodded, tugged on boots and dressed in no more than a hoodie, leggings and fingerless gloves she headed out onto the street, her dog running at her heels, her rainbow coloured hair caught in the wintery winds.

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[Rae-Star Berii]

Rae liked the African art; the collections in the Institute there were over 400 works that put her in the world of the Congo and Ghana. She really enjoyed the masks and sculptures, those were her favourites. In particular she loved the hunter’s headdresses and that is where Rae sat now, on a bench in the African section enjoying the ambiance of the gallery and imagining the women that would have warn the large wooden masks and skins.

She’d taken off her boots, leaving them on the ceramic floor and was sat on the clay bench, her feet folded under her, her eyes perusing the art around her. Rae took her sketch-book out of her satchel, placing it on her lap and began drawing the beautiful masks around her, her caricature skills as an artist allowing her to create manga drawings of perfectly curvy women with the hunter’s masks in place. One day, she wanted to design a video game- it would be the next step up from the graphic novels she sometimes sketched.

For just twenty minutes she would wait and no longer, Eli would get lonely if she left it much longer.

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[Rae-Star Berii]

The girl that took shape on the pad, under the artistry of her pencil, was a tall, slender warrior, with hieroglyph like symbols up her perfectly formed stomach and between the fur line of her shorts and bust top. Like all cartoons she was beautiful, she was perfect and was wonderfully hour-glass portioned. She was Rae’s impression of these fierce African warriors, in leopard print and furs and leathers. Then there was the mask, over her face, only her big, life-affirming eyes on show.

When the drawing was finished she folded the pad over, realising she had been sat just a little over her twenty minute limit. Rae sighed to herself, placing the pad back in her satchel and then put her boots back on. Standing, she brushed her fingers over her clothes, and smoothed her fingers through her gorgeous pink hair. She had hoped her cyber adventurer would approach her, but the person had not and there was no way for her to find her again. Oh well, back to her world…

She moved towards the entrance once more, smiling to the girl behind the reception desk and headed for the main door. Of course, on seeing her Eli started barking and yapping in his excitable way. She laughed, and bent to his side, stroking his little brown nose and ruffling his ears. Kissing the top of the dog’s head, Rae laughed with him. “Hello boy.” She talked to him lovingly; “Miss me?” And when he licked her cheek and her chin and her face, she laughed even more, freer and more childish than she felt most days.

“Well, puppy, my adventurer didn’t show- guess we get milk and go back to hell.”

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[Rae-Star Berii]

”Maria!”

She looked up from Eli to see the lad, her eyes ran over him curiously and she smiled to herself. He was not what she expected and then, on the other hand, he was exactly what she expected. She straightened from Eli’s side, the dog keeping close to her in his defensive manner, and smiled at him. Rae tugged on a strand of her own hair, “Pink right?” she asked him, gently, just testing to see if this really was the guy of the internet.

Of course she responded to the alibi so easily because she used it nearly every day, it was as good as her own name. Like a second skin, the name was associated with her work, it fitted her well but it also made her feel human, made her feel strong and brave and not this weak and somewhat pathetic person she had turned into.

Wetting her lips, she tucked the strand of hair back behind her heavily pierced ear and smiled still; “Alright?” The eighteen year old asked in her pretty little way.

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[Rae-Star Berii]

”If you say so.” Rae smiled when he suggested she asked him to be here, she had no intention of playing by the rules of social interaction, after all they’d met on a chat site and the only reason she wanted to meet him was because their conversation had annoyed her Uncle; it was as good a reason as any. With a smile, still, she hooked Eli’s leash around her wrist. “It’s nice to meet you, Ty.” She added; “my names Maria.” She expressed with no hint of a lie in her voice and nodded to him once more.

“I was going to get Milk and Cigs if you want to come with me?” She offered him. Maybe this wasn’t the adventure he was looking for, but ultimately she didn’t know him. If he tried to kill her she needed to be prepared, needed to keep them out in the open just until she got a better feel for his character.

[Rae-Star Berii]

Aware he was walking with her and expecting her to follow, she just smiled at him and with Eli close by she led him towards the corner store. It was a small store, a place run by a family where she could get smokes for Taron and milk for her cereal. “So- you said you came to Chicago on vacation?” She asked him, casually, striking up the conversation with him.

For a moment she paused and smiled further; it was difficult for her to decide how to approach this conversation. He wanted an adventure and she had plenty of adventure tips she could give him, but how did she break someone’s reality by telling them the monsters and creepy-crawlies from his dreams were real? It seemed delusional and unfair of her to do this.

“I mean, have you been anywhere else? Are you travelling?” She asked further.

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[Rae-Star Berii]

Rae always liked the smaller stores, she enjoyed the intimacy of it and it reminded her more of London, down every side street back home there was a little shop waiting to be found, with a friendly counter-guard who had the time of day to start a conversation with you.

That’s right…I always wanted to go to Chicago, at least once.

“It doesn’t sound silly.” She commented, softly, her eyes going to him for a single moment. “I think we all have our callings.”

Rae read tarot cards, never for anyone else, always for herself and she believed there were such things as fate and karma…her attention turned to Eli and she told the dog to sit, once more tying him to a lamppost outside the store. She didn’t need to tie him up, she knew the dog wouldn’t leave without her, but it seemed like the right thing to do, so he didn’t get picked up by a pound.

Ducking into the store she led him straight to the chilled isle, on the look for milk.

Not really, I’ve been to the states a few times…I was much younger.

“I like travelling.” She told him. “It always feels like an adventure.”

There it was. The magic word.

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[Rae-Star Berii]

Rae ran her fingers through her rainbow hair, her thumb touching on the bruise on the back of her neck and she winced, a momentarily flicker passing through her as she was reminded it was there. She should just get the milk and cigarettes and go home, she should not be temping her Uncle’s wrath. But she wanted too; she wanted him to hurt her, so that she felt hatred, so that she hated him enough that she could dispose of him. Her emotions were numb, her body felt numb, and she needed to be woken up once more. Was all of this just self-torture? For a moment she was trapped and frightened and alone and then once more she hid all of that beneath the surface and smiled, fixing it back into place on her plush cherry lips.

Do you want to leave this place?

“Yes, but it’s not something I can do alone.” She said simply, taking the milk off the shelf and taking it to the counter. She let him follow again, he seemed good at that. Unfortunately, a follower was not what Rae needed, she needed someone with a game plan, someone who could stand up for themselves, someone with a little bit of …hunger. But still, she smiled at him gently, and went to the counter; “And a pack of twenty-“ She told the young girl behind there, pointing to a packed ot smokes. She knew Taron’s brand well enough. Paying she accepted the change and took the little bag she was given, tucking it into her satchel on her shoulder.

Then she headed out into the street once more.

[Rae-Star Berii]

I will help you, but you have to tell me specifically what it is you want me to do.

She didn’t answer straight away, but bent to Eli and untied him, kissing his forehead as she always did and ruffled his fur behind the dogs little brown ears. The part spaniel was one of the cutest of companions and he, as always, we extremely pleased to see his mistress; jumping up to hug her and kiss her fingers as they stroked him. Once Rae had settled him she slid the leash back over her wrist and straightened, standing to her full height of five-foot-nothing once more.

Only then did she answer his request, once more walking down the street- casual like. “I want you to take me with you when you leave Chicago.” She told him, softly. “You said you were just visiting, thus you must be planning to leave. Do this and I will show you the monsters of the real world, not just the ones in your video games. I will show you some footage I have of a real Vampyre.”

For a moment she paused; “But you only get to see it once I, and my dog, are safely out of America.”

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