Three Little Birds (part I)

Blue light ate away through the thick curtains spilling onto her heavy eyes.  It continued to nibble at her eyelids till she sat bolt upright.  She signed and wrapped the duvet around her and trudged to the bathroom and stared at the mess that reflected back at her.  She washed away the smudged mascara from the night before and then brushed her teeth.  

When she slid downstairs she remembered "Oh... I have work tonight." she passed a silver little package in the corner on her way for the coffee and attempted to ignore it. 

Lights flickered outside the window.  Reds, pinks and yellows entered her eyes via the trembling kettle.  Rosa ignored them.  Her Black hair kept the chill of her neck.  she reached for the vodka as the kettle boiled and poured some in before adding the hot water staring it.  

She pressed play on the CD player and "three Little Birds" by Bob Marley began to shake the frosted windows.  

She put on her work cloths underneath a pair of baggy jeans, a t-shirt and a jumper.  She couldn't stand going to work but it was just to fill in time until she could get something better.  It wouldn't be too bad if they didn't feel the need to incorporate the theme of Christmas into the costume, as though she didn't have enough of it with shops screeching it's music out of every orifice with out having them further cheapen a tacky job.  

It was only 3 in the afternoon, she had an hour before she had to set off.  She returned downstairs to the package.  She noticed it topped with the same blue as the lower layers of her hair. She shuddered.  The tag attached to it read "From your loving boyfriend Alex xxx".  She felt nauseous.  He didn't give up, she changed the locks and he still found ways to get into her house, her home, the one place she was supposed to feel safe.  Holding her head with one hand she slid for to the floor while grabbing the present with the other before shattering its contents on the adjacent wall.  

She curled up and sobbed.  He had to give up eventually and then she would be free. Reporting him did no good, she got laughed out of the police station I mean a man of high social standing such as him wanting to be anywhere near her.  He was a lawyer, knew the ins and outs of the law.  It made it very hard for her to find anything evidence of what he was doing to her.  

They first met at her workplace.  One of his "friends" apparently payed for a dance.  Out of everyone he had to know her boss of course, had words so he could get more intimate encounter.  She was payed double of course for that, she couldn't tern down the work.  Her brother disappeared months ago leaving her drowning in dept. desperate times called for desperate measures and there is more than one way to sell your body.  More than once she was tempted to give in and to go along with his fantasies he could more than afford to help her but he just stepped the line to quickly sure she was desperate but not quite there yet she was going to beat him if it was the last thing she did.  

She had set the track to repeat and the lyrics pierced her self pity "this is my message to you, don't worry about a thing because every little thing is gonna be alright" her lips mouthed in time with the lyrics as she picked her self up and dragged her self to get another coffee.  She felt the music made a perfect little paradise in her mind fighting off the nauseating claques of Christmas with the warm sunny sounds of reggae.

When the track replayed a sixth time she took it of repeat and let the rest of the album flow through the speakers.