Come Into Darkness (4 page)

Mario squeezed his fists and pressed them against the wall. His muscles bulged and his buttocks clenched. His prostate pulsed, warning of its imminent squeeze.

“Not yet…” he moaned. “Oh please God, not yet.”

The mouth travelled further still.

Mario had received more blowjobs than most, but only a few had reached this calibre. He longed to see the person, male or female, that could deliver such pleasure in the simplest of ways.

A tongue lapped at the tip of his aching cock, and the lips pulled back, sliding over the shaft of flesh, leaving the skin wet, cold and tingling. The second the mouth reached the end, it shot straight back up to the hilt.

“Christ,” Mario screamed.

On command, the mouth pumped up and down. The lips tightened around him. The tongue worked into a frenzy.

Mario grasped the moulding with both hands. His knuckles blossomed white. He pounded his hips back and forth with his mystery player’s motion. Like hot mercury, he felt his heat climb higher and higher until-He cried out, his dick pulsating and spraying its seed in abundance.

His legs trembled and threatened to give way, but he held onto the moulding, leaning over it.

“Christ,” he said again. A warm fuzzy sensation spread through his balls. He felt one last miniscule spurt escape him. “Christ.”

He fell back. His penis, still hard and glistening, slid free.

Out of breath, Mario leaned forward and stared into the hole. Again, something moved on the other side of the wall, the darkness hiding it from view.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “Oh God, thank you.”

He straightened up and leaned against the side of the cubicle, head tilted upward. Breathing hard, he sucked in the cool, sweet air to the depths of his lungs. He moaned, content for the first time in years.

4

Mario opened the cubicle and walked back out into the corridor. Kerry, fully dressed, waited with Worth, and they quietly chatted. They both stopped and looked in his direction.

“Well, well,” said Kerry. “Looks like someone had a change of heart. Told you it was a highlight.”

Mario cleared his throat. “What makes you think…?”

“Come on,” said Kerry. “I think the whole building heard you.
Christ! Don’t stop!
It does kinda take your breath away on your first run.”

Mario looked over his shoulder at the open cubicle and the moulding inside. “Who’s in there? My agent might be interested in signing them…”

Worth coughed. “As mentioned previously, sir, all tastes have been catered for here.”

The image of the girl danced in Mario’s head once more.

Could she really have been in there?

“Now that we’re in a calmer state of mind, let us proceed. Miss Foster, as you are the old hand at this, may we begin with you?”

She beamed. “Definitely. I’m desperate to see what you have lined up after last time!”

Worth nodded and with military precision, turned on his heel and proceeded up the corridor, leaving a musty smell in his wake. Kerry followed behind, and Mario walked by her side.

“So you’re into all this then?” he said. “I can imagine. High pressure job, letting off steam and all that?”

She side-glanced at him. “Hardly. I love my job, relish it even. This here…this is just incredible. I’ve travelled the world you know, and nowhere offers anything like this…”

Mario held out an arm to block her way and slowed his steps. Kerry glared at his outstretched hand, but she also slowed to keep pace.

“And what exactly is this?” he asked, voice low. Worth, despite his shuffling gait, had walked on some way. “I mean, my agent arranged this for me. I didn’t know what to expect. I still don’t.”

“You should lighten up and thank your agent,” said Kerry with a smirk. “You think too much. Let me see. You have an agent and think too much. And you said you’re an actor. Interesting…”

“How so?”

“I’d have you down as a writer type, but you’re too young and have a dumb face. Ten years later and a pair of tiny spectacles and you’d suit one.”

Mario snorted and watched Worth’s shuffling progress for a second.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” he said. “I’ve met people with the same stupid opinions, but never anyone so damn sure of themselves.”

She flashed him a cold smile, like a cobra about to strike. “I didn’t get this far by not being sure. I’m a queen among maggots, Mario. Don’t forget that.”

He laughed. “There’s that high opinion again,
sweetheart
.”

He chose his words deliberately to watch her face sour. It worked. The girl in her mid-twenties transformed into a bitter old woman for a second.

“Don’t you think the same, dear Mario?” she asked after a moment. “Don’t you believe you’re a prince among men? An actor among the cleaners, rubbish collectors and burger slingers of this world? I’ve touched power, and you’ve tasted fame. Doesn’t that make us better?”

Mario thought back to downstairs: the party, the dancers.

Peasants.

“I suppose it does.”

“Then we’re more alike than you first thought. We were both drawn here. If this place can make me happy, it can do the same for you.” She quickened her strides, stilettos thumping the plush carpet.

Mario kept up. “But what comes next?”

He noticed that Worth had stopped at the end of the corridor. It branched out in a t-junction. Worth waited patiently in front of another door.

“He said it’s my turn first,” said Kerry. “Watch and learn. If you have any questions, just ask him. He’s not that bad a guy, you know. Very good at his job. Very professional. I’m sure he’ll answer all of your queries.”

“You’d think so,” said Mario, approaching the old man. “But all I seem to get is riddles.”

“All part of the fun.” Kerry stopped and gazed at the door behind Worth. “This it?”

Worth bowed, the gold key on its chain already dangling from his fist.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Kerry. She smiled. “Open it up!”

“Very well, Miss Foster.”

Worth turned and placed the key in the lock. He twisted the delicate metal, and the door creaked open.

“Oh my God,” said Kerry and stepped forward. A red light shone on her face, creating the illusion of deep sunburn. “This is incredible.”

She walked inside.

Mario stayed still and watched her vanish inside. “Worth?”

“After you, sir.”

Mario took a tentative step forward. “Are…are you sure?”

“Certainly,” said Worth. “You’re sharing your experiences tonight. Maybe you can understand a little more about each other as a result.”

In the red light, Worth’s moustache, bushy eyebrows and chaotic hair appeared as flames.

I’m talking to the Devil.

Worth edged back, out of the lava glow, and returned to a muddled, dusty old man. Chocolate-brown eyes surveyed Mario.

“Sir?”

“Okay.” Mario walked into the red light and over the threshold.

“Isn’t this just amazing?” said Kerry.

Mario stood in a girl’s bedroom. The walls were pale blue, mostly covered in posters of the Backstreet Boys. Various forms of makeup covered the top of a dresser, and the mirror above contained photographs of smiling teenagers poked under the frame.

Kerry sat on the purple sheets of the bed, clutching a stuffed bunny with floppy ears to her chest. A red-shaded lamp on the bedside table cast the angry scarlet light.

“They’ve created everything perfectly! Even Milo here.” She hugged the toy harder and breathed in deep through her nose. “Smell that? It brings back such memories! I used to burn lavender-scented candles in here.” Her smile faded. “Mum hated it though.”

Mario paced the room, taking it all in. He stepped around discarded shoes and clothes on the floor, even a dirty plate and a half-filled glass of Coke. A TV played in the corner, volume switched off, showing the highlights of a football game, the FA Cup final, Mario guessed. He’d watched the match that afternoon in a bar on Tottenham Court Road, and had barely paid any attention to the game, instead contemplating the coming evening. He approached the muted television and read the subtitles. Arsenal had beaten Newcastle by two goals.

Wait. They didn’t even play! What the hell?

“I can’t believe it,” said Kerry. “Look at all my old stuff! Last time was great, but this? Look at the detail!”

Mario faced the centre of the room. “Kerry? What is this?”

She cried out in glee. “It’s my room!”

He walked past the bed to examine a bookshelf. It contained row upon row of thick textbooks. “Looks like you’re a busy girl.”

Kerry flopped back on the bed. She closed her eyes and grinned.

“I still lived here while I was at university. Mum never…well, she was ill and there was no one else to look after her, so I stayed here. It helped. Really. No temptation of parties and hangovers. No. Just work. Work and my mum.”

“I see.”

Mario approached a pair of thick blue curtains that nearly reached to the floor. He paused and contemplated pulling them apart. He concentrated, filtering out the gasps of wonder from Kerry. He almost heard birds and traffic far away…

No. There can’t be a window! This place is like a hotel, and a window would look into the room next door.

He raised his hand and flexed his fingers, inching closer to the curtain.

No.

He turned away.

“All the things I left behind are here,” continued Kerry, enchanted. “Look!” She slid a hand under her pillow and removed a small, red book. “My diary! How did they get this?”

“The television,” said Mario and pointed. “There’s something up with the television. It’s showing the wrong game. Arsenal didn’t play Newcastle in the final. Is this on DVD or something?”

Kerry, flicking through her old diary, glanced up.

“Arsenal must have played Newcastle, Mario. Maybe just not
today
.”

Mario frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, this is 1998.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “1998? God.” He watched the TV for a moment. “They
have
gone into some detail.”

“It’s what we pay for,” said Kerry. “Authenticity.”

“I gotta say, this isn’t the kind of place I could see you living in.”

“I was twenty-one, I think. I was a different person back then. Kind of sheltered, you know? All because of my mum. I never…” She replaced the diary back under the pillow. “I never really got out much.”

A set of bookshelves drew Mario’s attention, and he walked over to them to study the titles. The thick volumes covered every aspect of business he knew and more.

“Looks like you worked hard, but didn’t play hard,” he said. “That explains a lot.”

“I said you’d understand me better after this. Now be quiet. I think things are about to begin.”

“Begin? What do you mean?”

“Look.”

Mario followed her pointed finger to a white door on the far side of the room. His heart stepped up a gear.

“Wait,” he said, walking towards it. “That…that wasn’t here!”

He held out a hand.

“Get away from it,” she snapped. “This is mine. I can’t have you interfering! I think I know what they have planned…”

Mario ignored her and grabbed the door handle.

“Get away,” cried Kerry and jumped off the bed. Her shoe collided with the plate and glass, which toppled and spilled Coke across the carpet. “Move!”

Mario touched the cold brass of the handle.

This door wasn’t here. Doors can’t just appear. Did they spike our drinks?

That’s what it is. Olly promised me no drugs, and I’ve been spiked!

I’ll kill him.

A blow thundered against the other side of the door. The handle shook in Mario’s hand.

He let go and jumped back. “What the hell was that?”

“I told you,” Kerry screamed. “I told you not to interfere. Get away!”

Mario staggered back into Worth, who had crept silently into the room.

“Sir, I recommend you do as Miss Foster says. You will have your turn, in time.”

Mario spun to face him. “What the fuck is going on here? Doors can’t just appear out of thin air!”

“Obviously,” said Worth. “Maybe you had failed to notice it, what with your obsession over the television. Now, please stand aside with me.”

The door trembled under another heavy knock.

Mario stared at it.

“Sir!” said Worth, firmer. “I must insist you come and stand aside with me. Allow Miss Foster to enjoy this moment…”

Worth tugged on Mario’s sleeve, and, still staring at the door, he walked backwards into the corner. The old man hung by his side in his stale cloud.

Kerry, her head bowed, approached the door, hand outstretched.

“No,” said Mario. “Don’t do it. There’s something on the other side…”

She glanced over her shoulder. “I know,” she said, and swung the door open.

5

A tall, wide figure stood in the doorway.

“Yes?” said Kerry. “Can I get you anything?”

Mario blinked and listened carefully. Kerry’s voice had changed, softened, with a slight tremble.

A hand shot out of the dark beyond the open door, a white envelope clutched between fingers the width of sausages.

“This came.”

The deep, rasping voice slithered into the room like a snake moving across dry leaves. Mario had trouble determining its gender.

That couldn’t be a woman. Sounds like a troll.

“Thank you,” said Kerry and gingerly reached for the letter. She plucked it from the large hand and tore along the seal.

“What’s it say?” the figure demanded.

Kerry swallowed and slid the letter free.

“Kerry-” said Mario.

Worth held out a hand. “Sir, please just watch.”

“But what’s going on? Who is that?”

“There’s no need to be alarmed. Miss Foster is in no danger. Just watch. It might shed some light on what you can expect. It’s your turn next, sir.”

Kerry’s voice quietened both men. “I…I can’t believe it.”

“What?” asked the dark shape. Something tapped the floor hard. “Tell me!”