Debts to Pay

"Vilma, get up" A crab whispers to me on a soft sandy beach with a bright blue sky and a big comfy beach chair for me to sit in. Perfect weather to listen to a blue crab, the best sea animal. 

She's a beautiful crab with short walnut wavy hair that always perfectly covers her crabby ears and parts along the side of her head. Her shell is an artistic mixture of turquoise and sky blue. Her dark, almost dead eyes suck me in and give me comfort when she looks at me. Of course, she's perfect, all crabs are. I imagine her name would be Melanie. That name sounds perfect too. 

"Wake up." She's so tiny but her voice was so commanding. It traps my attention in its cute little claws. 

"Get up Vilma!" 

Woah! That's weird, the beach is gone. My weighted eyelids open to the back of a limousine with long black seats that stop where the two rear doors are. Outside the windows, a bunch of identical houses pass by us while we drive up and down hills lined with withering trees. I think I fell asleep in this mystery car. And next to me is… 

"You're real! I knew you were real!" 

The crab from the beach came with me! Except she's not a crab now, she's even better! Her red shell is white skin, and the black lifeless eyes have some color now, one being entirely blood red and the other brown. But they must not work very well, because they're behind a pair of scarlet glasses. And her lips! They're so pink and look so smooth like they're made of butter! And that dangly bright red earing hanging off her right ear! Man I'd met her sooner, she's so cute!

Oh, and she wears clothes unlike a crab would! A dark brown puffy bomber jacket sticks to her back, a blood-red short sleeve undershirt hides under it, and jeans that share their color poof around her ankles. And her boots are red too! But only on the bottom, they're caramel brown everywhere else. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

I wrap my arms around her and hug her tightly. I'll never get to hug something this beautiful ever again! She feels like home!

"I don't know who you are, but just looking at you makes me feel like I've known you for a long time." 

"That's because you've known me for years. I'm Melanie, your boss. You were dreaming, again. Let go." 

"You even have the same name as the crab! I wish I could stay like this forever." 

"Vilma!" She shouts. 

Oh! I remember that furious scream anywhere! It's Miss Melanie I'm gripping right now! "Sorry Miss Melanie. It's just that every time I see you it feels like I'm meeting you for the first time again!" 

"I've gathered that. This is the fourth time you've done this in a week. The day you break my glasses on your rocky chest is the day I get rid of you." 

That cold, demanding attitude is giving me goosebumps. Even when she's scolding me, ugh! I love her! 

But now I'm starting to remember, she doesn't love me as much... 

How could anyone love someone like me? I'm six foot four, the muscles on my arms and back are like bricks, my hands are gigantic, and my thighs and boobs are bigger than most people's heads. My dark skin is rough and kinda dry compared to Miss Melanie's smooth, faultless outline. Even though I'm a woman this hulking body is the opposite of feminine! 

I tried copying her perfect wavy hair years ago, but when I tried to cut it myself it looked so bad that I had to cut it all off! And now I'm too scared to cut it again so it's just grown into an out-of-control black mess. She's so stylish, and I'm forced to wear baggy gray sweatpants and a baggy blue t-shirt meant for men since they don't make much women's clothes that suit my body type. 

But Miss Melanie says she values my strength, so I just have to convince her to love something else about me too! Anything else! Then we'll get married, build a house together, have kids, one boy and one girl, we'd have to adopt but that's... 

"Vilma. You're daydreaming again." Oh, I was. Miss Melanie is so considerate to wake me up. "If your mind isn't fully here, I'll have to send you home. I have no use for a bodyguard that can't guard me." 

"I'm sorry! I'll be sure to do better! I won't fail you, Miss Melanie!" 

"That's better. Now, we're almost at our destination, so just follow me and don't do anything unless I explicitly tell you to do so." 

"Yes Ma'am." I'll do everything she wants me to do and do it without failing. Then she'll have to love me! 

I feel the car stop and my body shift forward a little bit. Miss Melanie scooches to the right rear door and grabs the door handle to the outside. 

"Miss Melanie don't!" I get up so quickly that I bang the top of my head into the limo's roof. But that doesn't matter as much as keeping her safe! 

"What Vilma?" 

"What if snipers or assassins are waiting on the other side of the door? Let me go out first to make sure it's safe." 

"Are you insinuating that I'd be oblivious enough to walk out of the car if someone was trying to kill me? Do you think I'm an idiot?" 

"No! No... I'm sorry. You would never make a mistake like that." How could I say something so disrespectful to her!

"Exactly. Your job is to worry about the dangers seen. I'll worry about the ones unseen. I'll think for you, all you have to do is follow orders." 

"Yes ma'am" I duck down and creep towards the exit door right after her. Before I leave, however, the person in the driver's seat catches my eye. 

Oh, I remember him! I think his name was Darren... Derrik... No, it was Darrion! Darrion Adams, that's the name! He's a 17-year-old black kid Miss Melanie randomly brought with her a year ago and said he'd be driving us around from now on. Miss Melanie seems to trust him, so I do too. But every time I try to ask him what he does to make her trust him so much, he never responds. 

"Darrion!!" Birds startled by my shout fly from their perches, but Darrion doesn't react. 

Again, he just ignores me... It must be because of those old headphones he's wearing. 

 They have black foam on the part you put over your ears, and they have a wire that connects to some device in his pocket. He always seems so carefree, blocking out the world with whatever is playing on them. Kinda like a starfish sitting on the ocean floor. And today is no different, dancing and bobbing his head in his blue jeans and orange button-up shirt like no one else Is watching. 

I just wish he would talk to me so I can figure out what he does to make Miss Melanie trust him so much! If learning how to drive a car is why she likes him so much, I can do that! I bet I can drive a car better than he ever has! I'll even get a license! Can't be that hard. But that can wait, I have to keep up with Miss Melanie before she gets assassinated! 

I go outside and she's already halfway up the stairs of a two-story brick townhome covered from head to toe in moss. One of the bottom two windows has a plank of wood covering the opening and a metal railing that stands alongside the stairs is rusted and would probably fall over if I touched it. This is probably the best building on the block. 

Most of the other houses have broken windows or signs that say KEEP OUT stuck on the front door. The sidewalks are cracked and riddled with holes in them, and the little grass that grows in the front yard is tan. The few people outside look at us with squinted eyes or raised eyebrows. Some have their eyes fixated on our limo. It must be their way of welcoming us to the neighborhood!

Miss Melanie is always talking about how much she hates loud obnoxious noise, and this neighborhood doesn't look like it has too many people! She also likes brown more than green! This is the perfect place to raise a life together!

Strong winds push leaves and stray paper in the street past me. Gray clouds cover the sky and mask the shining sun above us. Or maybe it's the moon? I don't know I've been asleep for a while I don't know what time it is.

Whether it's night or day, I jog up to catch Miss Melanie who's standing at the front door waiting for me. 

"Glad you could finally join me." She says with her loving sarcasm as she knocks on the aged door to the house. 

Nothing happens.

She knocks again, and this time a feminine voice yells behind the door. "One minute I'm busy!" 

Busy!? Who do you think you are trying to make Miss Melanie wait!? 

I approach the door ready to knock it down before she holds her hand up, signaling me to wait. "She says she needs a minute, let's give it to her. Remember Vilma, don't do anything I don't tell you to do." 

She's right! Why'd I even think of doing something so dumb like thinking!?

So, we wait at the front door, my hands glued together. Until, the clicking of a lock opens the door to a lady with messy black hair, a stained white t-shirt, and some blue baggy sweatpants. A metal piercing hangs off her nose and a pile of folded clothes sit in a basket she holds with both hands. 

"Melanie!" Her eyes open wide, and the basket slips from her hands seeing us. 

I want to scream at her to add the Miss when talking to Miss Melanie, but she told me not to do anything she doesn't tell me to do, so I have to be quiet. 

"What are you doing here?" She has the biggest smile on her face when she asked this. A natural reaction to seeing the most beautiful and most smartest woman in the world. 

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop in to see how you're doing. May we come in?" Oh, they're friends. Then if Miss Melanie likes this lady, I like her too! 

"Of coouurse." Her voice drags through her gritted teeth as she steps to the side of the doorway and motions for us to come in. 

Miss Melanie takes her offer and walks through the doorway. Wherever she goes I'll go, so I follow her lead. 

The inside looks even better than the outside! 

A slow drip of water leaks through a crack in the partially white, partially gray ceiling. A staircase with gaping holes in every other step leads to a dark upstairs to our right. One of the few lights in the ceiling is missing a bulb and every time someone moves along the wooden floor it creaks loudly in pain. 

But instead of focusing on those things, Miss Melanie being the genius that she is, ignores everything unnecessary and walks over a floorboard that sticks up from the others, past the stairs to what I think is the living room, and sits on the left side of a shiny black couch. 

"Aren't you going to sit down Paula?" Miss Melanie says as she looks to an armchair with a pink flower design that faces Miss Melanie. 

If Miss Melanie chooses to sit on the couch, that must mean she wants me to sit next to her! 

I walk over to where she is but when I reach the right arm of the couch, she gives me a look that says, "Right there is far enough." 

She's right! A bodyguard should never sit down, that way I'll be ready if any danger comes for us! 

"So what brings you to Pennsylvania? Aren't you usually on the West Coast?" Paula says, sitting down right where Miss Melanie suggested her to. 

"Paula, have I ever done anything bad to you?" 

"No ma'am." 

"No need to add on the ma'am. We're friends, right?" 

"Alright." Lucky. I want to be friends with Miss Melanie.

"So as I was saying, you could say I treated you very well?" 

"Yes." 

"Remember how I got you away from your awful husband?" 

"Yes."

"And when you had nowhere to go after you ran away, who bought you this house?" 

"...you did." 

"And did I ask for much in return?" 

"No..." She says as she looks anywhere but at Miss Melanie. 

"Then why are you behind schedule in paying me what I'm owed?" 

"Um..." Her face is drenched in sweat now! Serves her right for trying to cheat Miss Melanie! 

"Before you answer that, I want to tell you a little bit about a woman in a similar situation as you by the name of Bianca Solaine." Why does that name sound familiar? "She owns several semi-successful bars around the country." She continued, "Her main role however is as the leader of a criminal organization called the Dreaming Stars that specializes in drug trafficking. Do you think that sounds anything like you?" 

"Uhm… no not really." Her voice cracks with every other word. 

"You're right, the way I described her is quite different than who you are isn't it? But where you two start getting similar is that about a year ago, her gang was losing its influence. Bianca is a known spendthrift and just couldn't control her impulses. So, before she drove her and her organization into the ground, she asked me for enough money to stabilize herself, which I gracefully gave to her under the condition that she pay me back with a small interest fee. Do you think that sounds like a fair deal Vilma?" 

"Of course Miss Melanie." She's always so kind to people in need. 

"The only problem is that Bianca has grown complacent. She started missing payments even though over the past year the Dreaming Stars have had wild success thanks to a new drug they developed in-house. I know for a fact she has enough money to pay me back in full, she just doesn't feel like it." 

"If this is about the one thousand dollars I still owe, I can get it paid by next week I promise!" 

"Don't worry about the money, I have something else in mind that you can do to pay it all off right now! Doesn't that sound nice Vilma?" 

"That sounds amazing Miss Melanie!" She never stops being so caring to others when they don't deserve it. And I love when she smiles at me. And her skin looks so soft and... 

"Yeah, I thought so too Vilma. You should consider yourself lucky. Bianca owes me so much money it would make the debt you owe look like it came from a child's piggy bank. And unlike you, she doesn't have an out anymore, which is why I'll get rid of your debt if she's killed. 

"You want me to kill a gang leader? But I can't do that… I'll die." 

"Oh don't worry, I wouldn't make you risk your life over a measly one-thousand dollars. I'll have him do it." She points up the stairs we'd passed into the darkness that waited up there. "You can come down!" 

It looks like all there was blackness up there, but the steps cry louder and louder as something approaches us from upstairs. I can't believe I missed them! They must be skilled at stealthy stuff if they got by me! 

The figure that hits the bottom step and turns to meet us is a tiny boy about a fifth of my size with bright blond hair and a green dinosaur shirt nervously peeking their head from behind the bottom staircase. 

"He'll be the one to kill Bianca." Miss Melanie ordered. 

"Wha... Please…" I think she's tearing up a bit from Miss Melanie's gracious offer! She looks so stunned she's choking on her words! 

"I'm not asking much, just that he kills Solaine and takes her Antique!" 

"Please don't! I'll do it just not him!" The boy instinctively starts crying along with his mother and runs towards her. 

"Vilma, grab him." 

Before he can make it to his mom, I snatch the boy by the back of his shirt and hold him up as he kicks and screams. 

"Let go of him!" She screams, leaping off the chair towards me. 

"Vilma, stop her but be gentle." Gentle, got it. 

I lift my free arm and bring my fist slowly onto Paula's head. The second I touch her, she falls over and stops moving. 

"I said gently, Vilma. That was not gentle." 

"Sorry." I can't believe I failed her again. This just keeps happening!

"Mommy!" The kid squeals. 

"Calm down child, you'll be safe. Because Vilma will be guarding you the entire way." 

"What?!" 

"You'll go with the boy to find Bianca Solaine and kill her." 

"But... what about you?" 

"I'll be fine. Without her son here, Paula might get lonely, so I'll stay with her until the job is done." 

"But... but..." Leaving Miss Melanie? I can't do that! 

"Vilma. This is an order. I'm putting my complete trust in you. Don't fail me." 

Complete trust? "I won't let you down Miss Melanie," I salute.

This is it. The moment I've been waiting for! If I can do this perfectly, I can show how dependable I am to Miss Melanie. Then she'll have to love me! Plus, caring for this boy will show I can be a good mother to our future kids! I'll get right on it! I turn around and tuck the kid under my right armpit, ready to go out and find Solaine! 

"Wait Vilma, a few more things." 

"Yes?" 

"First off, you'll need this." She holds out a small rectangular black device with a speaker, a bunch of black buttons, and one red one too. A wire attached to it also leads to another black device she's giving me as well. 

"What is this?" I say, grabbing it in my free hand.

"It's a cassette recorder. You'll need it to communicate with Darrion since he's deaf and the headphones he wears are an Antique that let him hear whatever is playing through the Walkman he has in his pocket. I'll send him Bianca's address. 

He's deaf? Now I feel a little bad for yelling at him when he ignores me. 

"And Vilma, I want him to kill Solaine. Not you or anyone else. You're just there to protect the boy and kill anyone who tries to get in your way." 

"Yes Ma'am!" 

"Please..." Oh, Paula is still awake! She's bleeding and crawling on the ground, but she's awake! I was gentle! 

"You're free to go Vilma." 

I run out the door while the little boy keeps screaming something about his mother, leap over the cracks and holes in the sidewalk, and slide into the back of the limo with the boy. 

I'll make sure this child kills Bianca, and after everything is all done, maybe Miss Melanie will kiss me as a reward! Plus, the faster I get it done, the less time I have to be away from her! Now all I need to do is use this cassette recorder to tell Darrion to go to where Bianca is! 

… 

Wait, how do I use a cassette recorder?