Sonya Electrified, Part 2/6

Gehena Vampire Clan

She didn’t like that place. It freaked her out, but she agreed to meet him. After all, he could be the love of her life.

Right before she got in the car, she decided to check her messages again, just in case. There were several more, complimenting her photo. But there was one from that same guy, the one she was about to meet. The message said “At your own risk.” That was it.

She just sat there, behind the wheel, for a long time, wondering what that meant. Was it a warning? Was it a way to discourage her? After much thought, she decided that it was a message sent to her by mistake. That message was meant to someone else. That was it.

The 15-minute drive seemed like it took an hour. She had the feeling that she shouldn’t be doing this. However, she was determined to find someone. She was determined to leave this terrifying loneliness behind.

Sonya had her faith. True. The church people had been so nurturing in her times of intense pain and depression. They called in on her to make sure she didn’t need any food or anything done for her. They dropped by and offered to clean the house a bit, do some laundry, and iron a few things. She had always refused. She was proud. She would make it. Alone.

What she really needed were not people to do her chores. What she needed was a man, a man to hold her, a man to hug her, to protect her, a man who would whisper in her ear how much he loved her. And, despite the fact that her gut-feeling told her to stay away from this blind date, her gut also told her that this was the one.

Sonya didn’t tell anyone she was going to the Electric Chair Café.

Although her family was supportive and her friends were constantly trying to get her to go out, they were also weary of her trustfulness. Behind that front of apparent toughness, there was a very fragile and insecure person. And let’s face it, the Electric Chair Café was not exactly the safest place to meet strangers. No place was, but this Café in particular had the reputation of being sleazy and dark. Many thought that a generous flow of drug trafficking and other illegal businesses were a constant there. Many of the women sitting at the bar were hookers and the men in the reserved tables at the back spent their nights playing poker with bets that amounted to the hundreds of thousands.

She didn’t care. She was on a quest to find love. She was on a quest to find the love of her life.

Many had been a part of that path. Some had left her behind, no second thoughts, no guilty conscience. Most of them didn’t stand the insistence and the uncomfortable feeling that a web was being woven around them, tighter and tighter so that, one day, it would be impossible to get free. In many ways, what had attracted them to her in the first place would become exactly what would drive them away. 

An ordinary mourning period ensued where she tried to empower herself, convincing herself that she didn’t really need anyone to be happy. After all, she was a strong woman, wasn’t she?

Then, something like this completely unexpected meeting would happen and there she was, open to any situation, to anyone, anywhere.

Part 3

Part 1