Every Little Thing

[Skykat]

Aw great chapter Penny nice one.

[Gypsy & Will Fan]

Chapter Five.

Irene closed the trailor door silently. The light above the sink blazed, blazing the kitchen and the living area in a soft glow. Her roommates knew better than to leave the trailor dark. One of them had left that light burning, and it wasn't enough. Irene snapped on the lamp on the end table and plopped herself down in the circle of light.

"I was getting worried."

Irene turned around to the soft voice and did her best to smile. Selina was just a kid, but she mothered Irene and Chloe as if they were her children. It had been a year since Selina had joined them. She worked the games on occassion, or the concessions when the money was tight and Josh didn't want to hire any locals.

Selina looked even younger than her nineteen years, with her baby face and pale brown hair that was usually pulled back into a ponytail high on her head. In fact that she was give to clothes that were much too large for her completed the picture; she usually looked as if she had dressed in her older sisters hand me downs, and she slept in a huge blue and good football jersey that hung to her knees.

Irene kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet beneath her, as Selina sat on the opposite end of the small sofa. "You should be asleep."

"I was worried." Selina reached out and patted Irene's knee.

"I met a..." Irene floundered. "He's just a nice guy, and I let him buy me coffee. That's it." It sounded good, so why was she still scared?

Selina smiled brightly. How many times had she adviced Irene to settle down and find a nice man? Settle down,what a joke. Rampant biological clock or not, Irene knew damn well that would never happen.

"Is he cute|" she asked, whispering so not to wake Chloe. That tattooed lady was a light sleeper.

Irene didn't mean to return Selina's smile, but she found herself doing just that. "Very." Cute didn't begin to describe Barry Hyde, but the word would do for the moment. Power wasn't cute, sexy wasn't cute and goodness knows there hadn't been anything cute about that kiss. But for Selina, cute covered a lot of ground.

"I was beginning to worry about you and your hostility towards men," Selina revealed.

"Beginning too?"

"You know what I mean."

Selina was so transparent, so unerringly optimistic. She still believed in love and happily ever after. She should know better. Irene didn't know how the young girl had ended up at the carnival, but it wasn't the ideal life for anyone. The road to this place was bumpy and hard, and they never talked about it. Never.

"It was just coffee," Irene said softly. "I'll probably never see him again."

"If he comes back tomorrow night, will you point him out too me? I'll ask Josh if I can work the balloon game - it's close to your tent. You can just, you know, give me the 'high' sign if you see him coming."

"He won't be back tomorrow night," Irene whispered. Tonight, she amended silently. For the most of the world the day had already begun.

"How can you be so sure?" Selina sounded more dissappointed than she should have.

"I told him not to come."

Selina sighed, a very young, very hopeful sigh. "What did you do that for?"

Irene shrugged, and the conversation was over. Selina rose from the couch, reached over and switched on another lamp.

"Thank you," Irene whispered.

Selina glanced over her shoulder as she walked down the hallway to the room they shared. "Good night."

Irene knew that when she finally rose and made her way to that room, to the narrowest bed nearest the window, there would be a light burning, a small bedside lamp that Selina switched on each night before she crawled into her own narrow bed and turned her face to the wall.

Sitting on the couch in a pool of light, Irene hugged her arms to her chest. To most of the world, she was Lady Roberta. In her wig and costume, she could smile and take charge and be someone else - someone strong and in control. Barry Hyde made her feel like Irene again. He slipped away the facade and bared her soul, and while that should scare her senseless... somehow it didn't. Lady Roberta was a role she played, a person who didn't exist. It was if Irene had been sleeping too long. How long had it been since she craved a kiss from a man, since she'd been bold enough and lean forward and take what she wanted?

Who was she kidding? She'd never been so bold - until tonight. Until not knowing what the kiss would be like became more horrible than the possible consequences. She laid back on the couch and stretched out, grabbing a pillow to hug to her chest. But the kiss had been too powerful. It had touched her too deeply. No matter how conncected she felt to Barry Hyde, she couldn't possibly get involved with him.

After five years of being cautious and distant, she felt vulnerable again, all because of a single kiss. She should hate Barry Hyde for that... but she didnt. Right now her thoughts of him were nothing but tender.

Not that it mattered. In a few days the carnival would pull up stakes and leave town, and Barry would be nothing but a memory. A good memory. Oh, she didn't have nearly enough good memories.

The next hour and so would drag, she knew. The last hour before the sun came up passed slowly, but she always waited. Surviving the last hour was like trying to swim to the surface of a deep dark lake, reaching toward the sun, stuggling towards the weights that tried to pull her down.

Her greatest fear, her worst nightmare, that there would come a night that wouldn't end.

[Skykat]

Wow great chapter. That was so intense, so gritty, I loved it. You really got into Irene's head, great writing Penny.

[Frankie]

Another superb chapter Penny. I really like how you get into the minds of your characters, and you are building up the suspense really well. I am hooked!

[buffygirl]

Penny what can i say, Great chapters well worth the wait

I do like the way you give insight into the characters minds too. good build up tosee if they'll meet up again .

[Gypsy & Will Fan]

Chapter six

It was too damn hot for him to be running, but that didn't stop Barry. Usually he ran in the morning when it was still cool, but then he usually got home before five a.m. He didn't usually toss and turn until the sun came up, wishing he wasn't alone in his big bed...

The afternoon sun beat down on him, and sweat poured down his back, soaking his T-shirt and shorts. His feet pounded against the concrete almost without him being consious of the act; he was on automatic. There were the moments where he came closest to forgetting the disasters of the past eight months. He heard the car behind him and moved to the curb, hugging the side of the road so the car could pass. It didn't. With a muttered curse he stopped and turned around.

The vehicle that came to a stop was a police car. Jack Holden sat behind the wheel, and when he's eyes hit on Barry he smiled wildly and put the car in park.

Maneuvering from the car always seemed an effort for Jack, even though he wasn't exactly fat. Yet. He was getting there, though, and he was definitely clumsy.

"Good afternoon, Hyde," Jack said in an overly friendly tone of voice.

"Jack," Barry said in a voice that wasn't quite so friendly. "What do you want?"

Jack leaned against the fender of his car. "Now, you aren't one of us anymore, and while I'm on the job I expect you to call me Deputy Holden. Show some respect for your betters, Hyde."

Jack Holden didn't deserve respect - Barry's or anyone else's. "What do you want?"

"I just want you to know I'm keeping an eye on you," Jack said. Maybe he thought his casual pose and his squinted eyes made him look tough. He was wrong.

"I wish I could say I'll sleep better at night knowing your on the job, Deputy Holden," Barry said with thinly veiled sarcasem.

"I'm surprised you can sleep at all," Jack countered.

Barry wasn't going to allow Jack to bait him into an arguement he couldn't win. The enept officer would be ecstatic if he could goad Barry into a fight and toss him into jail for assulting an officer.

"Will there be anything else, Deputy Holden?" Barry asked calmly.

"I reckon not." Jack made no move to return to his driver seat of his patrol car.

Barry turned his back to Jack and jogged away. The moment of peace he'd been enjoying earlier had eveporated. In spite of the heat, he would run a few extra miles today.

[Skykat]

I didn't even realise you'd updated! Another Jack, and one to hate. You must already know I'd love it!

[Frankie]

I really like the way that you are able to evoke the emotions of the characters...and how we get to feel what they are feeling. It is very effective and adds to the sense of foreboding...and the curiosity and the tension about what is to come.

And as for Jack..I really love this interpretation. A character who is more than just a pretty face is always interesting..and a nasty one is even better.

[buffygirl]

I liked the way you totally portraid Barrys feelings there, so realistic i think its so how a real person would feel.

As for Jack i know its a fic but the way you decribed him was so bloomin right he's slow and useless.

[Gypsy & Will Fan]

Chapter Seven

The overhead lights had been dimmed, and some of the flashing lights that had been marking the rides had been turned off completely. Irene walked briskly through the half light toward the trailor. She should have left the tent an hour ago, rather than sitting her table mooning over Barry Hyde, wondering if it was such a good idea to meet with him again.

No one else was in sight as she made the trek from the carnival rides and what she called home, her gazed focused unerringly straight ahead. Several beat up old trailors were parked close together, and dim yellow lights through frosted windows marked transient bay in the distance. Even in the dark it was clear to see that the trailers had seen better days, but this was the only home that Irene had known for years.

Her fear of the dark wasn't as overwhelming outdoors. Here she had a moon, the stars, city lights or street lamps. In fact, she rather liked the silent, cool air, and the wash of a full moon. Inside, trapped with a prison with four walls, complete darkness surrounded her. Worse, there was nowhere to run too.

Tonight a prickle of nervousness danced down her spine. She couldn't explain it, unless she wrote it off to antiception. Silly. She didn't know Barry well enough to antcipate anything from him. Still, most of the time she was an excellent judge of character, and she liked him, dammit. She liked him more than she should, more than she'd allowed to like a man for a very long time. That in itself was a reason to avoid him. What had possessed her to ask him to meet her again tonight? She'd known from the first glance that he wasn't like the others - the lost innocents she learned to play like a lost deck of cards.

Irene didn't think of herself as a con artist. All she did was provide entertainment, a story for her clients to tell their friends. Sometimes she provided hope for those that needed it. When she found before her a man she knew, from Kenny's reports, to be agressive and even abusive, she always did her best to scare the meanness out of them. When a man was told that what he gave come to him a hundred fold, and he believed it, there was always a chance he change his ways. Of course, Irene never stuck around long enough to see if her ploy worked.

She never felt so much as a twinge of gulit, not even when she saw a spark of true fear in a man's eyes. She she looked into their frightened faces, she saw Mug. She remembered how he had lied to her, and it made her own lies easier.

She hadn't been able to lie to Barry, hadn't been able to slip into the role of Lady Roberta. How long had it been since she mentioned her family to anyone? Her childhood? Last night she dabbled about long ago Saturday nights and her mother's dislike for horror movies. Maybe she was getting soft, growing too old for the game. Dammit, she didn't want to get away again, not even with Barry Hyde.

A dark figure shot out of nowhere. She caught a glipse of a shadow, heard the crunch of the brittle grass beaneath rushing feet, and then something - someone - crashed into her back. She hit the ground hard. Air left her lungs suddenly, driven from her chest in a explosive rush. The world started to close in on her, as if she might faint, and her panic grew. No! It wouldn't happen again. She wouldn't allow it to happen again.

She focused on the pain - or an ache in her lungs or slight twinge on her shoulder - and her mind cleared. A great weight pressed her into the ground, and she could barely breathe, much less scream. Dry grass bit into a tender cheek, rough and sharp. She lifted her head from the ground and inhaled deeply, readying a scream, but before she could make a sound, a gloved hand closed over her mouth. The assiliant tossed her roughly onto her back.

Blood run cold through her veins, the sight of her attacker stealing her breath away again. Illuminated in the moonlight, a creature - a monster - hovered above her. A monster mask, she corrected herself as the inital panic gave way to reality. A masked with spiked hair, plastic grimace, sharp pointed teeth, and eyes lost in deep, dark sockets. Her attacker's breath came hard and fast in the confines of the mask, and he crushed her against the hard ground with his massive body as he held his hand clamped over her mouth.

Suddenly a knife loomed, catching a flash of the carnival lights behind them. A broad blade and wickedly glittered tip pointed near her face. The man in the mask touched the tip of his knife to her throat, and she felt the bite of the sharp edge near her skin. The slightest movement would send the blade into her throat.

"Make a sound, and I'll slit your throat," he whispered, his breath echoing inside the mask.

The pressure at her mouth lifted away slowly, and the weight crushing around her body lessened. The hand that had silenced her slid slowly down her neck, gloved fingers slipping slowly down her skin, across her shoulder, down her arm - like a lovers touch as gentle as breeze washed over them.

Surely the knife in his hand would falter; she held on to that hope in silent desperation. The masked face turned to watch the gloved hand against her silky costume. Irene remained perfectly still.

The blade at the throat wavered with the tremble of the attackers hand, and the pain that followed came sharp and clear. A drop of warm blood trickled down Irene's neck.

"So beautiful," he whispered, his voice muffled behind the mask. The knife slipped again, away from her skin this time, and Irene took her chance. She grabbed the attacker's arm, pushed the knife away from her throat, and she screamed.

The knife returned to her throat instantly, and the grotesque monster grabbed her by the hair and cursed at her. The black wig came off in his grasping hands, reaveling her own pale hair. He stopped to stare at one hushed moment at the wig he held.

But the knife at her throat didn't weaver, not even when he tossed the wig aside and turned that hideous rubber face at her. Sunken eyes stared down at her as the knife bit into her neck, ever so slightly.

"It really doesn't matter," he whispered.

A trailer door flew open, spilling light onto the dark ground. A familer voice called Irene's name. Selina. Then someone, more than one someone, was running towards her and the man that was pinning her to the ground. Irene closed her eyes waiting for the knife to slice her skin.

With a final vow the attacker leapt up,and the sudden sensation of being free left Irene light headed. A beam of light flashed across her face, blinding her. One deep voice cryed out as a group of men - six or more carnival workers - rushed forward.

The monster in the mask vanished, disappearing in the darkness of the thick growth of trees that surrounded the carnival grounds.

A familier face bent over hers, and Irene looked up at an unkept beard, more gray than brown, and a pear of beady narrowed eyes stared into slits. "Irene? Are you alright?"

She grasped Josh's hand and held on tight, bfinding an unexpected comfort in the steady strengh her boss offered. She couldn't speak - not yet. But with Josh's hand in hers she managed to take a deep breath.

The rest of the men followed her attacker into the woods, but Irene was certain they wouldn't catch him. At least, she hoped they wouldn't, becuase the man that attacked her wouldn't hesitate to use that knife against them.

"I'm fine," she said shakily. Heaven above, she wasn't fine, she wasn't anywhere close to fine, but Josh looked at her so intently, with fear and concern, that she had to try and reassure him. "Call the police," she said, as he helped her to her feet. Her legs trembled, her arms shook, and she couldn't make them stop. "The last thing he said was... I'll be back for you."