Empty Graves And Shallow Hearts

Empty. Silent. Dark.
That’s all the house was.
I turned on the lights and flicked off my heels. They landed behind the sofa where I threw my jacket.

‘It’s way too quiet.’

I dropped my purse on the table by the door and walked over to the stereo system.
“Time for something good.”

A radio host’s voice trickled through the speakers.
“Uh, no. Sorry mister. I don’t care about your opinion on coffee.”
I turned a knob in search of a good station.
‘Nothing.’
I flipped off the system. I turned to see a blinking on the table by the couch. I crossed over and hit the button, and headed into my bedroom to change.

The automated voice said there were 3 new messages.

‘Hmm, who from?’

The first message started to play.
“Rain, it’s Brandon. Remember me? My goodness lady, you need to call me. We haven’t talked in days. You need to learn how to pick up the phone! I miss you! Call me!”

It beeped. ‘I miss you too, Brandon.’

Next message.
“Raina, darling, it’s your mother.”

‘Dear God have mercy.’

“We need to talk honey. You haven’t returned any of my calls. I have a few things to tell you. Call me as soon as you get this. I love you.”

I scoffed. ‘Liar.’

The last message began to play.
“RAIN!” There was a loud screaming… “CALL ME BACK!”
The message ended.

Laughing I ran and grabbed the phone from my bedside. I dialed Kylie’s number and waited for it to ring. There was only silence. I dialed again.

Kylie has been my best friend since forever. We have so much in common, it gets scary sometimes. Like really scary. We not only finish each other’s sentences, we think things for each other. It’s probably safe to say she knows me better than I do. And I know her better than she does, that’s for sure. I met her when I moved from the states, all on my own. She befriended me just like that, and even helped me find a place to live and a job.

My job.

Now that was another story.

My job… is nothing I’m really proud of. It’s something though. I get to walk around on stage and… dance for… patrons. I get to dress up too! My costumes are… nice. My co-workers are fun to work with to say the least. Hah. My job title: Exotic dancer. Or in more common terms, stripper. I hate that title, name, what ever you want to call it.

People think that because I am a stripper, I act a certain way. There are too many assumptions and clichés to go into. I know most everyone has some negative opinion on my profession. And every time somebody tries to make it known to me I have to ignore it. What really sucks is when a guy leaves you and uses it to insult you. I can’t do much about it though.

There are few true plus sides. Only two actually. One is that I make enough to support myself and have a bit left over. Two, I met my other best friend, Brandon, through it. He’s the little brother of the club’s owner and became friends with Kylie first, when she was working there. I met him one night when Kylie was giving both of us a ride home, and we just clicked. Simple as that.

Finally, after three tries, Kylie’s phone started ringing. She answered before the first one could finish.

“Oh my gosh, finally!” I screamed at her.

There was a gasp and some music being turned down.

“Raina! What the hell woman?! Where have you been?”

“At work smart one. What’s so wrong?”

“I thought you weren’t working tonight!”

“I know, I know. Everyone else was at work today though. I wanted to be a real person today, and you know, work.”

”What the hell is that supposed to mean? You’re weird. Normal people take days off.”

I sighed. Kylie didn’t like my job so much anymore. She had left the club and for a while wouldn’t stop telling me to do the same. I wouldn’t have anywhere to work if I did, but she on the other hand, does. She was living her dream; painting portraits and landscapes, and selling them at galleries that are around. She wasn’t super famous or anything, but locally she was. Everybody knows her name, and I bet you everybody has one of her paintings somewhere in their houses. She’s good at what she does.

“Well normal people go somewhere for work, not just sit at home!”

”Whatever woman. You wish you had my job!”

“Yeah right!”

”Yes, I am right!”

Her sense of humor always got to me.

“Okay, whatever.” I flipped over onto my back and kicked my bed’s sheets around. “So what’s up?”

”We’re supposed to go get pedicures this weekend… remember?”

“Oh yeah, of course!”

I had completely forgotten.

”I just wanted to make sure we still were.”

“Definitely!”

”Alrighty good. And I’m checking on you too. Brandon is worried sick.”

“Tell the man to stop! I’m fine!”

”Okay, are you sure? You’ve been acting really different lately. Honestly, you’re worrying me a bit too.”

I sighed heavily. These people, my friends, really did know me all too well.

“I’m fine hon. Don’t worry so much. I’m just… a bit lonely lately. That’s all.”

”Well you won’t be so lonely Saturday! Okay? Don’t sound so depressive! Where’s Alexis? Still on vacation?”

“Yep.”

Alexis was quite simply, my roomie. We’re good friends, and she’s friends with my friends. We all got along pretty well.

”Well let me know when she gets back ok? We all need to chill.” There was some yelling in the background. ”Alright woman, I gotta go. My brother is freaking out. Call me ok?”

“You have a brother?!”

”Yes smarty pants. He’s my older brother. I swear I’ve told you about him!”

“Uh, no. I don’t think so.”

There was a crash from her end, and some girl-like screaming. I couldn’t help but laugh.

”Sorry I really gotta go. Call me tomorrow!”

“Alright. Later girly.”

”Later.”

She hung up.

‘Finally.’

That woman could talk for hours. I loved her, but it got to a point.

I laughed and rolled around on my bed.
It felt so nice to be off my feet.
I missed Kylie too.
And Brandon.
I even missed my mom.
Well, to an extent.
I didn’t need to hear her rants about my job and all, but I missed our normal talks.

I guess I had been fading away from everyone. I didn’t really like the way things were going, so I had been putting more energy into work. It was working out for me. I was making more money. I knew I should’ve been thinking of my friends too, but they, they… I don’t even know. I just didn’t really mind being alone. And at the same time I did.

With those thoughts, I climbed to the top of my bed and pulled up the blankets. I laid down, and reached over and hit the lights. As I was falling into sleep, I couldn’t help but wonder about Kylie’s brother.

‘Knowing her, she’ll probably force him to get pedicures with us.’

I laughed myself to sleep.