As I worked on the image, my mind drifted, somehow thinking of the old days as easier times. Deep down, I knew the reality... the loneliness, misery, existential dread. But right now, the dark pieces were boxed up neatly as I thought of the late night chats with Sage. The lavish hotel penthouses. The detached relationships. The adrenaline rush of ending said relationships with blackmail. That was the life.
It was just so simple back then. There were rules. A structure. All set up by Sage, who gave me the instructions and risks then let me proceed. I had a clear mission. My job was to just make people fall for me, which is easy.
Winters loved me from the beginning. Well, as capable of love as that psychopath can be. He admired my beauty. Enjoyed feeling like a big and powerful MAN. Got so wrapped up in the power trip that it was easy to learn shit about him.
What an easier time. No Izaak with his confusing mixed signals (is he into me or Violet or both or neither??). No Toby with his confusing non-mixed signals (does he actually like me or will he hurt me too like basically everyone else). No Violet with her knowing too much information (fuck... I have to get this memory card done like now!!!).
I finished shading in the image and then flipped to the next photo, letting the nostalgia hit me again, reminding me that life isn't as simple as I want to delude myself into believing...
x-x-x-x
~flashback to 2013~
"What if I get caught?" I wondered aloud, visibly trembling my lower lip as if I had never been caught shoplifting before. As if my dad hadn't literally trained me for this moment!
"You won't get caught by security," Winters responded with a smirk, turning towards me to briefly scan my body as if I were a piece of meat he wanted to devour, "you'll just get caught by me afterwards. And you know what happens to naughty little girls who steal.."
I gave him the playful pout he wanted. The little girl voice and "daddyyy nooo!"
He ate this shit up.
And honestly, I kind of enjoyed this fantasy myself. Winters didn't want me to actually get caught by security, too risky. Nevermind we were in a small town in Florida where the two of us blended in almost perfectly (even my blue hair didn't make me stand out that much). But I wanted to get caught. I wanted to do the exact scene, but with the spanking ending.
We were anonymous here! Winters easily persuaded people to do what he wanted. Or if that didn't work, he could just pay them off.
I mean, understood why he didn't want anyone to see us like this... after all, he thought i was 16.
But they didn't know that he wasn't my actual dad. And he could act the role well enough. I wanted to have the power to make him go into that role in public. I wanted him to scold me in front of the security guard. Secretly, I also wanted to even be spanked right there in the store, everyone knowing what was happening. But in real life that'd never work. So I'd have to settle.
It was a little souvenir shop on the beach. A moderate amount of tourists present. He roleplayed the perfect dad and I the perfect sulky teen. This was our little game... go someplace anonymous, pretend the roleplay is real.
He looked through shelves of trinkets as I wandered to the clothing section. T-shirts with cheesy sayings, hoodies, baseball caps. All equipped with a little security tag. The hats was most hidden, blending in almost perfectly to the tag. An easy mistake for a novice thief. Not a mistake I'd ever make. But Winters didn't know that.
Peering around, I waited until all eyes were off me and stuffed the hat into my bag. My heart thumped against my ribcage as I continued scanning the store, finding the perfect gift for myself and begging him to buy it for me. Of course he did, I knew he'd never say no.
The butterflies fluttered in my tummy as he checked out, then we walked towards the exit and BEEP! The alarm went off, asking that we step back.
There was a flicker of something on Winters's face as the manager approached us. He was performing confusion, mirroring the manager's expressions.
"The cashier probably forgot to remove a tag," the manager assured us.
Winters eyed me, so piercing that my stomach sank. A voice in my head said — he knows!
The manager took the souvenir bag and waved it through the security scanner, not triggering the alarm, which perplexed him. "Hmm, must be nothing." He just couldn't fathom that I would have been the one with the tag.
With my stomach still completely dropped, I decided to "outsmart the system" by walking around the sensors, knowing full well that it wouldn't work, but since he was onto me, I didn't want him to realize how deep my abilities actually were. When the alarm was triggered again, the manager raised an eyebrow at me. So did Winters. Then he gave me his best Dad-look.
"Patricia Marie, did you steal something?"
I gulped, letting all of the feelings come out, letting myself believe it was real. "I... um... I..." Nothing actually came out as I hung my head.
"Answer me, young lady."
I peeked up through my blue hair, noticing how uncomfortable the manager looked at my patheticness, and Winters... well, I couldn't fully read him. He may have been actually pissed at me. Covering it up a little too well.
"I'm sorry daddy!" I burst out into tears and handed over my bag. Winters ripped it open and dug out the hat, flashing it in front of us all.
"Is this the only thing you stole?"
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