It was just another day for Claire Driscoll.
She would wake up, take a shower, get dressed and then drive a few miles out of town to the outer desert area of Vegas, until she finally came to the compound. She'd park, she'd walk inside and she'd eat breakfast that had been lovingly made for her. She would go over her speech while she ate, sometimes even rewriting sections minutes before reciting it, and once breakfast was done, Claire would slip into her black robe and put the wooden crown on her head. She'd walk slowly, cautiously, out to the stage and look out over the large group of people she had standing, waiting for her, who cheered upon her arrival. Claire shut her eyes and smiled, basking in the adoration from her followers, and then would hold up her hands to silence them, before clearing her throat and speaking. "Hello and good morning to you all," she said, "This is a day we will not forget soon, for it is the day the last required death will be attained. I will do this with my own hands, like all the others, so you all remain pure. Once they have been killed, we shall we be protected, just as I have promised." The crowd murmured, some light applause scattering throughout. "As you all know," Claire continued, pacing across the stage, "It will take a while for the world to understand, and accept, what we do here. But in the end, we will be vindicated, and you will be saved, that much I can guarantee." Suddenly her head throbbed and she reached up, touching her forehead before suddenly exiting the stage, leaving one of her higher ups to speak in her place. Claire leaned against the wall and groaned as another higher up of hers, a young woman named Annie, approached. "Have we heard from him yet?" Claire asked, and Annie shook her head. "He's still not answering his phone," she said. "Ugh," Claire groaned again, pulling her crown off and running her hands through her large matte of red hair; she continued, "this is unacceptable, I need that medication. I needed it months ago. Find out where he is, okay? Do whatever it takes." "Yes ma'am," Annie said, leaving with her cell phone again. Claire Driscoll hadn't wanted to lead these people in this sort of ritual, but her poor mental health had overwhelmed her. In the beginning, she'd merely been a leader of a group of people who'd wanted something more out of life, but ever since her dealers disappearance - thus losing her access to her antipsychotics - she'd slipped further and further into her delusions, eventually leading her group to follow her as she began to kill people and store their remains in the walls of an abandoned apartment complex she'd purchased. Eventually, when her crimes were discovered and Claire was finally arrested, she swore up and down that it wasn't her fault, that if she'd just had her medication, none of this would've happened. She told them to find her dealer, to find the man who had been selling her pills since she couldn't attain healthcare, but they didn't listen to her. To them, it was just a flimsy excuse for her actions, but Claire swore she'd somehow discover what had happened to the man who'd been keeping her in line with his access to pills. She'd discover what had happened to Sunny Sykes, the drug dealer Allie Meers had killed and buried. *** Allie rolled over onto her side and opened one eye, her focus blurry, as she saw Nick lying in the bed beside her. She smiled and reached over, rubbing her hand down his arm, making him wake up a little and smile at her. After a moment, he scooted closer to her and climbed on top of her, kissing her neck, making her moan. After fucking, Allie and Nick showered, got dressed and went to get breakfast at a nearby pastry place that Zoe had been going to and raving about lately. Zoe was already there, standing in line, with Molly by her side, waiting to order. It had been about half a year since the opening of The Card Shark, and things had only gotten better for them all. Every morning the four of them got together for breakfast at a different place, and Zoe had recommended this place the previous night because she'd been here with Effie time and time again. Waiting to order, Zoe folded her arms and sighed, tapping her foot. "Do you want coffee?" she asked, glancing at Molly, who shook her head. "No thanks," she replied, "No, I'm in a constant state of anxiety without the help of caffeine, thank you very much. I've been trying to drink less coffee for a few months now." "How's that working out for you?" Zoe asked. "Well, let's put it this way," Molly replied, "I was hired to make a suite of offices a month ago and I haven't started conceptualizing because I'm too tired all the time. That answer your question?" "It answers my question about whether or not you're a grouch in the morning," Zoe muttered, the both of them chuckling. Zoe suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to her side to see Allie standing there, smiling, as Nick went and got them all a table. Allie's hair was braided and she was wearing jeans and an orange v-neck with a green windbreaker. Molly was in a blouse with jeans, while Zoe was in a striped shirt with slacks. The three women stood their place in line, almost at the counter. "What about you, you're still drinking coffee, right?" Zoe asked, glancing at Allie. "Me? Yeah, duh. Why, who isn't drinking coffee?" "Heyo," Molly said, raising her hand. "You're not drinking coffee? What do you drink in the morning?" Allie asked, sounding concerned. "Oh, usually I just lift up the toilet seat and take a few laps out of the bowl," Molly said, staring at her sternly, "I drink tea, I drink water, what the hell do you think I drink? At least I'm not out here drinking half a flask of scotch before noon." "Don't knock it til you've tried it," Allie said, making them all chuckle. Yes, things had been great for the girls in the six months since the Card Shark had opened, and each woman had never been better. Zoe was becoming more and more proficient in her magic skills - to the point where she was, at times, outright opening for Allie instead of just assisting her - while Molly had gained more attention for her work on the new casino and had since been offered multiple jobs by high profile clients. And Allie? Well, Allie was as Allie always is. Astounding. *** Zoe awoke in a flash, sweating, breathing hard. She'd been having these nightmares for a few weeks now, and she was beginning to get tired of them. She rolled over and looked at the clock on her bedside table, which informed her it was only 3am. She sighed and sat up, running her hands through her bushy hair. She got out of bed and headed down the hall, to the kitchen, where she made herself a sandwich and got a soda from the fridge before seating herself at the table. She hadn't thought about Sunny in months now, so why all of a sudden was his death invading her dreams? She just tried to shake it off, best she could, and focus on her sandwich. She wondered if Allie ever had dreams like this. If Allie ever had nightmares about Sunny...about what they'd done to him. She shook that off as well, trying to outright ignore anything Sunny related now. Sandwich. All that mattered was the sandwich. She heard footsteps approaching, and glanced to the doorway to see her sister Thea coming in, yawning. "Bad dreams again?" she asked, stretching as she took a seat. "Yeah, why are you up?" Zoe asked. "Period cramps," Thea replied, making Zoe nod in understanding; Thea took a sip of Zoe's soda, smacked her lips then said, "so, uh...mom called me last night while you were at work." "Really?" Zoe asked, genuinely surprised, "Why would she ever do that?" "Heh, I guess she just was feeling melancholy. She asked how you were doing. I told her you were doing great, and that you had a good job and a good circle of friends. She sounded actually happy for you. She said she'd like to talk to you." "Yeah, well, that would require me wanting to talk to her, and I don't see that happening," Zoe said. "Fair 'nuff, just thought I'd tell you," Thea said, shrugging, "Well, if you're having trouble sleeping, or are afraid you might have more bad dreams, try listening to some white noise. That always seems to relax me. But who knows, might not work for you. You might not find the soothing sounds of ocean calmness as soothing as they claim to be." Thea stood up, kissed her little sister on the head and then headed back to bed. Zoe stayed seated and continued eating her sandwich. Once she was done, she washed her plate, crushed her soda can and tossed it in the recycling can, and then headed back to her bedroom. God. Mom...mom wanted to talk to her after all this time? Ugh. As if she didn't already have enough people she was trying not to think about without adding her parents to the mix. *** Allie was seated at the bar, eating pretzel sticks out of the bowl on the counter while watching the television that was hung up overhead for patrons. The bartender, a 30sish woman by the name of Portia, walked up and started wiping the counter near Allie. "Not working today?" she asked. "Not til tonight," Allie replied, "these pretzel sticks are stale." "I didn't know nor do I care. I am not the one who keeps these snack bowls filled. You wanna lodge a formal complaint, take it up with whoever that guy is," Portia said. "Who is the guy who fills these bowls?" "I don't know, his name's probably Greg or something, I've never met him. I just show up and they're filled, as if by some magical unseen snack loving force." "Sounds like something a guy named Greg would do," Allie replied, the both of them smirking as Effie climbed onto the stool beside Allie and pulled a granola bar from her pocket, ripping it open with her teeth and biting into it. Allie slowly looked over at her, one eyebrow raised. "I didn't have breakfast," she said mouth half full of granola bar. "You're also not having breakfast now," Allie said, laughing. "It's the closest thing I could get!" Effie said, as Allie turned Effie's wrist and looked at the wrapper. "Honey, marshmellow and chocolate granola," Allie read, "Yeah, sounds like a real part of a balanced breakfast." "So," Effie said, swallowing her mouthful of granola, "Zoe's not here yet?" "I haven't seen her, no," Allie said, "She didn't spend the night with you?" "Nah, I had to work late and then I had to do some press junkets for a TV special, so," Effie said, "I didn't want her waiting around for me. She's been doing good in her magic, I've stopped by to see her open for you and boy she's really coming along." "Yeah, she's a very talented young lady," Allie said. "That make you nervous? Like she could usurp you?" "Usurp me? I'm not a king." "You know what I mean," Effie said, laughing. "I mean," Allie replied, shrugging half heartedly, "Sort of I guess but I also know she respects me and that we're friends. I trust that she wouldn't do that sort of thing. She has admiration for me, and frankly I've gotten used to having her around, so it wouldn't be the same without her. Besides, now we're known as a team basically, despite not being billed as such, so that sort of change would confuse showgoers. You know how the public is, they need everything to stay simple and stay the same. One little move to the left and you've got them all worked up." "It's true," Effie said, "Once, instead of doing a set of comedy, I came on stage and performed open heart surgery. They just didn't get it." Allie threw her head back, laughing heavily, as Effie smirked. Allie knew she should find Zoe at some point, preferably before the show that night, but until that happened she didn't mind just sitting here with Effie and having fun. Life hadn't been fun for so long, she was having a good time getting used to it again. *** The door opened, and a man and a woman entered the room. The man, younger, the woman, older, both in suits. They sat down at the table, looking across at the young woman sitting opposite them, who wouldn't bring her eyes to their level. After a moment, the woman in the suit sighed and slid a file across the table towards the other woman. "It's pretty bad," she said, "You're looking at a life sentence. Anything you wanna inform us about before the justice system makes some kind of assumption?" "...I needed medication," Claire finally said, "...I don't think I would've done what I did had I been properly medicated. The health system is a joke, so I turned to outside sources, primarily drug dealers, and primarily one drug dealer in particular. But when he stopped returning my calls...that's when I got bad again. That's when I started spouting all that stuff about rebirth." "So you don't believe any of it?" the man asked. "I do, because it's all I have to believe in," Claire said, "but this is just as much his fault as it is mine, for letting me down." The man and woman exchanged a look, then stood up and started to exit. As the woman started to pull the door shut behind her, Claire turned her head and spoke again. "His name was Sunny Sykes," she said, "and if I'd gotten the chance, I would've killed him too for what he did to me." With that, the door shut. The man and woman found themselves standing in the hall now, staring at one another. "Well that's an admittance of sorts," Agent Tropper said, shaking his head, "I mean...she flat out admitted she'd have killed her own drug dealer. Then again, trying to rope him into the blame for her actions...I mean, on some level she's not wrong, cause yeah, he stopped providing her and let her slip into unreality, but he wasn't the one who carried out these acts." "This is pretty clear cut," the woman, Agent Siskel, replied, adding, "she committed the crimes, drug dealer or not, and now she's the one who'll be facing the penalty for it. I don't think we have to work too hard to convince any judge or jury of her crimes." "You wanna get lunch?" Agent Tropper asked. "Yeah, sure," Agent Siskel said, the two of them heading down the hall. Suddenly, Agent Siskel stopped, her eyes glued to a board on the wall. Agent Tropper walked back to her and watched her momentarily, snapping his fingers. "Everything alright?" he asked. "Look," she said quietly, pointing. There, on the board, was a "Missing" poster for a man named Sunny Sykes...and below it, a statement which read: "Help find the Governors Son! Any information welcome!" "...shit," Agent Tropper whispered.
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ABOUT
Allie Meers is what she dreamed of being since she was a little girl...a successful Vegas magician. The only problem now is she can't make all her problems disappear; Allie grapples with her strained relationship, crippling addictions and FBI agents on her tail, all while trying to stay at the top of her career. Archives
December 2023
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