Trust? Revisited *Part 11* ~~Distraught~~

The darkness outside engulfed the city. Though the night was cool and crisp, Katherine could hear the sound of thunder in the distance. It could have been a storm brewing, or the sound of her heart pounding from her chest.

She followed the stranger through the desolate hall, getting lost within the maze. Every now and then, she would hear a child's cry, a cats meow, a creak of the floor. Beads of sweat dripped off of her clammy skin. The scent of her fear filled the stale, musky air.

"This da place." He said with a wink.

"Apartment 702" she thought to herself. She hesitantly entered close behind the man.

"Girl, you better shut that door."

"Yes, of course, shut the door." She replied as her heart leaped up into her throat.

Katherine glanced around the apartment, looking for somewhere to hide. A small boarded window was to the right of her, a rotting door partially off of its hinges clung to her left. In front of her, all she was able to see was the old, yellow flowered wall paper peeling away from its wall. The kitchen was small and damaged, the cabinets warped from the seasons. His fridge leaked, and a sludge build up coated the linoleum floor beneath. "No where to hid!" she panicky spoke.

"Girl, you just gonna stand there all day? Follow me. You here for a reason." He demanded.

She followed him through the broken door and into a bedroom. There, the man leaned and opened the walk-in closet. "In here girly, come." She followed closely, hesitantly.

The room was completely dark. She was not able to see her hand in front of her, or what the stranger was doing. "Sit, sit." He said as he pushed her down onto a plush cushion. He turned on the light, she was greeted with a shock.

This small room was no bigger than a bathroom, yet it was quite cheery compared to the rest of the place. The walls were painted white, the floors blanketed with new beige carpet. A flat screen TV hung mounted onto the wall, with direct satellite feed to a news station. In the corner of the room, he had a computer server shelf set up with a burgundy chair in front. The man flung himself into the chair. "So girl, what brings you my way?" The man asked.

"Nothing. Well, something. I just want papers" she said looking down at the ground.

"Girl, papers? What papers? I ain't have all day to be toyed with!" he huffed.

"I need an identity. I need to become someone. I need to be someone."

"Girl, I aint got the time to be toyed with. Do I look like Maury or Oprah? Do I look like a talk show host? Whadd ya want?" "I need documents, identification, anything that would help me get a job." she responded.

The man stood from his chair and slowly approached her. "Stand girl. Get up. Lean against the wall!"

He proceeded to perform a thorough body check on her, ensuring she wasn't wired. "Good, I thought you were po. You clean. Now sit."

"Ok, can I get my papers?"

"Girl, you don't come down here and demand papers from me. Makes you look like po. Now, I can give you all for $500, upfront. No games, no pay later. You pay me today, got it. And you can't come back tomorrow askin' me for these papers. I don't play this way. Find another pawn, I won't play."

"I can give you all right now, sir. Please just give me the papers." She said desperately.

"Ok, ok. Everything is from an old woman who died years ago. This will work at any job, just don't get in deep with po. You gonna take a picture over there," he said as he pointed towards a wall, "and I'll apply it to a license. Everything will appear legit to the eye."

Katherine stood in front of the white wall, ready for her picture to be taken.

"Tonight, on News 3. We have an exclusive interview with Darren Warren. Does he know where his mentally unstable wife is? What led her to walk away front their fairy tale life? Was it an affair, or a delusion? Only on News 3, tonight at 10!" Stated the reporter as a pictures of Katherine flashed on the screen. The man looked at Katherine as she coward on the wall. "Should I run, or pretend this was just a coincidence?" Thoughts started to race through her mind. She was no longer at ease. Her story has made it to the national level. She was now discovered.

"Girl, that you!" Laughed the stranger from behind his camera. "We all run from something. We all running all the time. Now $500 upfront." She handed him the money and collected her identity. "You have a splendid day Ms. Charlotte Mae. Stay low." he wickedly laughed.

Without any more exchange of words, she ran from his apartment. Worried that the stranger would turn her in once he realized that there was a reward out for her safe return. Through the abandoned streets she ran, past the drunken homeless, away from the soul taking vehicles. Tonight, she became someone else. Tonight, Katherine died. She rushed into her dilapidated motel room and into the bathroom.

Looking upon her reflection in the cracked mirror, she spoke to herself. "I am Charlotte Mae. I am Charlotte Mae. I am, Charlotte."

"My name is Charlotte Mae. I'm from Phoenix. I'm 22 years old. I was born on December 15th. I have never been married, and just graduated from college...apparently From a community college. I am Charlotte Mae. I will forever be, Charlotte Mae. Charlotte...."

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