Inferno

‘OK,’ she resolved, looking around. ‘I don’t even know where she’s gone.’

‘She’s by the windows over there. Don’t look now. She’s doing something on her phone.’

‘Right, well, just forget about it for now. I bet she’s just waiting for a date, or an adequate hairdresser.’

The couple in front of us moved off. We took our place at the counter. Millie ordered our food and we made our way to the screen, carrying obnoxiously large buckets of popcorn.

I waited for Purple Hair to follow us in, but she didn’t. I kept my other hand in my pocket, clenched around the closed switchblade. Calmness trickled over me. Deep down I knew I was just being paranoid, but outings like this would help it ease over time. I just had to push myself. After a while my heart rate settled to a steady pace. I popped a handful of popcorn into my mouth and revelled in the taste of butter on my tongue. The lights dimmed and the screen flickered to life.

Afterwards, we used the restroom because the movie had, against all odds, managed to emotionally obliterate Millie.

‘You don’t have to look so smug about it,’ she told my reflection, as she scrubbed the mascara tracks from her face.

‘You wept,’ I said, triumph stretching the smile on my face. ‘You wept like a baby.’

‘Oh, excuse me for caring about the love story. You didn’t tell me she was going to have to murder him in the end.’ She sniffed. ‘I mean, she dismantled him.’

‘Yeah, well, sometimes robots go bad. Besides, I thought you said you couldn’t connect with non-human love stories anyway, so why are you getting all weepy about it?’

‘You didn’t tell me he’d be a hot robot! I was picturing the gold guy from Star Wars.’

I laughed and the feeling was an airy tickle in my chest – something I hadn’t felt in a while. I wasn’t thinking about the switchblade or the warehouse or the paranoia. I was thinking about my best friend and how funny she was without even meaning it, and I might have kept laughing if we hadn’t run into the purple-haired girl the second we left the bathroom.

She was hovering in the foyer, like she had never left. Suspicion surged inside me – uncomfortable and suffocating. My throat went tight. She was standing by the windows, slumped casually against the wall, her phone in her hands, but her gaze was roving.

‘I see her,’ said Millie, under her breath. ‘So before you start freaking out, don’t. Her movie’s clearly just finished, and we’re going to the car anyway, so just ignore it.’

God, was I that obvious?

I side-glanced at her as we shuffled by. At closer range I noted that she wasn’t particularly scary. She was young and short – about my height – and she chewed on her lip with a self-consciousness that didn’t exactly terrify me. She was on the phone, and it looked like she was having an argument. Maybe she had been stood up. Maybe she had been waiting this whole time for a date or a friend. God, she was so young. I was suddenly highly embarrassed by my jumpiness. I could feel my skin flooding with patches of red. What the hell was wrong with me? It was worse than being afraid of my own shadow. She was probably more afraid of me at this point. I had been staring at her non-stop for most of the evening. And I was the one with a knife in my pocket.

‘I think I’m freaking her out,’ I whispered to Millie.

‘Oh, you definitely are.’

In the parking lot Millie had to dig through her purse to find her keys. ‘Why do they make them so easy to lose in there?’ she huffed. ‘I swear, if this isn’t the most annoying thing about driving I don’t know what is.’

‘Just put your key in a separate pocket or something.’

‘Great idea. If you could just mail that to two hours ago that would be great.’ She dropped her bag and crouched beside it as she rifled through it.

The lot was almost empty now. Our movie had been the last to finish and the remaining cars were thinning out, leaving open spaces lit up in circles from the street lamps.

Purple Hair was jogging towards her car. When she stopped, she turned in my direction. We stared at each other for a second before she looked away. She leant against her car, just like I was, and started examining her fingernails. I watched her in sulky silence. Her Mercedes had black rims. After a couple of seconds, she flicked her gaze up again and started walking towards me. I felt myself tense. Either she was going to yell at me for staring at her or admit to her stalkery.

Millie sprang up, key in hand. ‘Suck it, universe!’

Purple Hair, who was less than twenty feet away now, froze mid-step and swivelled abruptly, marching back towards her car. She flung the door open and jumped in.

What the hell? Was I going insane? Was I supposed to know her?

Was she a Falcone?

I shook myself out of my delusions before they took me over completely. Most of this was in my head. Focus. Breathe. We got in the car and Millie revved the engine, humming to herself as she adjusted the air conditioner. The black Mercedes was behind us as we made our way out of the lot, I decided not to say anything this time. We drove with the radio on and I almost bit through my fingers.

‘Weird,’ Millie said finally, when we were turning into Cedar Hill fifteen minutes later. ‘I swear that Mercedes has been behind us the whole way.’

‘I told you!’ I flooded with triumph. ‘She’s stalking us!’

‘What?’ she said, narrowing her eyes at the rear-view mirror. ‘Is that Lego-head?’