Cherry Pie

DROP ONE Cherry pulled her travel bag behind her and stood across the street of her new home. It said ‘HPP’ and it was just a storefront, with an attached apartment on top. She scrunched up her nose, thought about if for a second, then sat on her travel bag. She pulled out her drawing tablet and started sketching up the view. The armour store was in the middle, flanked by another business that custom-fitted armoured cars. On the right side it was a boot store. Nothing else, just boots. Kinky boots, leather boots, pleather boots in vibrant colours. Cherry drew it all: The customers walking past, chatting amongst themselves or with someone on the veil, checking out the stores’ windows. The owners’ silhouettes inside, barely visible from the glaring sun. The cars parked on the street, the streetlamps, the graffiti on the walls. This wasn’t a nice part of town. Just a couple of streets over Syggrou Avenue, the dead-end street where dreams go to die. Still, it felt nice for Cherry. Anything would feel nice compared to what she had before. Done with the establishing shot, she saved it and swiped the tablet clean, starting again on a detail. Hector was on his storefront, putting on armour on one of his mannequins. He hadn’t noticed her, and he was focused on his work, adept hands putting the various bits on the inanimate person and tightening them as they should be. Cherry drew it all. His focused expression, his dark hair, his eyes. Somebody called him from the back and he yelled something in reply. Cherry swiftly copied the sketch and switched to another panel, drawing his annoyed expression as he tilted his head back, his eyes still on his task. Patty appeared, and Cherry copied and switched to a new panel to include her in a double-shot. She drew her quickly from memory, strong, augmented, bossy. Hector waved his hand away, seeming annoyed. She corrected him about something, leaning in to fix the armour so that it would get more light. He said something back, she raised her eyebrows. He nodded, apparently agreeing with her, begrudgingly so. Patty walked away, saying something Cherry couldn’t hear. Hector scowled and went on to dress his other mannequins. Cherry captured the entire exchange in an impromptu comic. She went through the entire thing, fixing a couple of rough edges, putting in slight finishing touches here and there, adding a bit of detail in the hands where it was needed. The hands were the most difficult things to draw, she had practised a lot, but it seemed it would never be enough. Satisfied with her comic, she took a look one more time. She imagined what the speech bubbles would say and added them in. She knew Patty, but she hardly knew Hector, so she put her imagination to use. Rubbing her head and thinking about it for a minute, she took a mental step back. Well, their exchange was that of a long-time married couple. So, she had them speak as such. “Didn’t I tell you to place them under the light? How will the customers see them? Buy them?” “Don’t tell me what to do with my shop!” “I wouldn’t, if anybody ever came in here to buy anything.” “Grumble, grumble.” “What did you say?” “Nothing, Patty.” “Good. Well, now it looks okay. I’ll be doing the carpets upstairs.” Giggling all alone by herself, Cherry looked up. Hector was at the far back and she couldn’t see him anymore, not from this angle. How was she supposed to just walk in there? “Hi, I’m Cherry, I live here now, I guess?” And then she’d drop her bag in a corner? So stupid. This whole thing was stupid. This passerby was stupid. Yes, you, leave her alone. She thought she’d be out there fulfilling her dream by now, sketching along with the greats. Or, at least she’d have her own webcomic. But the training schedule for Cyberpink was insane, and injuries didn’t let her draw as much as she wanted to. Sure, she was quick, but blocking with your forearms meant your hands could barely function afterwards, let alone sketch. She pulled up the veil data for HPP. It was the same sort of business, renamed when Hector took over from his father. The same thing for like fifty years. Fifty years. Cherry couldn’t even imagine a length of time that long. Might as well be a century. Hector walked around the shop, searching for something in the various shelves. Hector, her new owner. The man who for all intents and purposes had power of life and death over her. He could track her, he could tase her, he could dip into her salary, he could sell her off. But, he didn’t seem too keen to do any of that. Any other owner would have tracked her the minute after he purchased her, probably tasing her once just to get her to hurry up. Hector just called ahead and invited her over. Invited. Politely. Who, the f**k, was this guy? And Patty? She adored him. She’d never, ever, not ever admit it to him, but it was sooo obvious. She wouldn’t shut up about him when they talked with her. Hector does this, and Hector does that. Cherry stood up and huffed inside her hand, checking her breath. She needed a mint or something. Why was she nervous like this? It wasn’t like she hadn’t met the guy already, and she also had a friend there. No, it wasn’t worry. She just didn’t want to get her hopes up. She was certain that as soon as she got behind those doors, they would lock up behind her and the monster would emerge. The beast creeping inside every person that holds power over others. She knew it. It would happen. She was certain of it. It might be okay for a few days, heck, even for a few months. But, the beast would emerge. Patty was wrong. No man was immune to it. Bracing herself for the worst, he pulled her travel bag behind her and walked towards her new home. Then she chickened out, stopped, and turned away.