As she stepped into the dark corridor leaving the cold night air behind her, Katy suddenly felt woozy, the effects of alcohol from the club catching up with her.
'You okay, luv?' her companion behind said with concern.
Katy heard the front door close behind her, deepening the gloom in the corridor. She felt a frisson of apprehension but it was gone in an instant and she chided herself for such childish reaction to the dark.
'My flat, second door on the left.'
Katy, straightened swayed slightly and felt her arm suddenly steadied by the girl she'd pulled at the club. A few steps, a moment as the key was turned, and she found herself inside the girl's place.
Katy blinked as a light in the hallway was switched on. She felt a wave of panic as she realised she'd forgotten the girl's name. Then it came to her - Marion. Just think Robin Hood, she reminded herself -- think of that crap Kevin Costner film.
'You okay?' Marion smiled, through a wavy curtain of sleek black hair. She eased her black suede jacket off revealing her trim curvaceous body in a figure hugging red dress. Katy found herself gobsmacked she'd pulled such a stunning girl. Marion was way out of her league. Thick raven hair, tall, slim, the curves in the right places, high cheek bones and emerald green eyes that reminded Katy of a cat she'd once owned. She wondered what on earth a girl like her Marion could possibly see could in her. Without her heels on Katy was only 5 foot four inches tall, heavy breasted and what some people called big boned.
Katy was suddenly aware of Marion's inquisitive eyes on her, one eyebrow raised, and she suddenly realised she'd been asked a question.
'Oh, yes. Yeah I'm fine. I guess I'm a bit tipsy,' she blustered.
'Just a bit,' Marion grinned. 'Come in and take the weight off your feet.'
Marion opened a door at the end of the hallway and Katy found herself in what looked like a bedsit. There was a queen-size double bed in the centre of the room, a dressing table that would not look out of place on the set of a TV drama set in Victorian times, and several candelabras with thick white candles. All were lit and the glow from the flames was dazzling. The room was heavy with the smell of incense, jasmine and something else Katy could not put her finger on.
'Very, em Gothic,' she commented.
'Gothic never goes out of fashion. Sit, relax,' Marion instructed taking Katy's leather jacket.
There were no chairs in the room, so Katy perched herself on the edge of the bed.
'I shouldn't really be here,' Katy began, suddenly feeling awkward. She was beginning to regret where the evenings excursions had led her. She'd only pulled Marion to make her ex, jealous. She'd been seeing Diane for almost a year, when Diane had broken things off. She'd said Katy was too clingy, and Katy had to admit she was partly right. It was Katy's clumsy attempt at an engagement proposal that had sparked the row that ended their relationship. Katy had tried to forget Diane, and after three months not seeing her, she almost had. Then tonight: there was Diane at the nightclub, her new girlfriend with her, flaunting her to the whole world. Katy, fortified by drink went for the best looking chick in the place determined to show her ex up, and to her surprise the girl she'd flirted with reciprocated. They'd danced then snogged, and Katy felt a surge of victorious joy when she'd seen the look in Diane's eyes across the dance floor. Only now here she was back in that best looking chick's flat, sitting on her bed. That hadn't been part of the plan. She hadn't thought that far ahead. To be honest with herself she'd not really thought much at all -- alcohol, rage, bitterness and jealousy had done the thinking for her.
'Why shouldn't you be here?' Marion asked, with a bemused smile.
Katy sighed, 'Because . . . because . . . ' she trailed off.
'Because of that redhead in the club. The one you were trying to make jealous?'
'Was it that obvious,' Katy said, feeling her cheeks redden. She cast her eyes downward, feeling acutely embarrassed.
Marion laughed, 'Don't beat yourself up about it. You can't fight your feelings.'
'I should go,' Katy insisted, the words sounding half-hearted even as she said them.
'You should stay,' Marion countered firmly. 'I'll get us a drink. Red wine or white?'
Katy opened her mouth to protest, insist she was going, but the thought of trudging into the bitter cold night to get a taxi back to her cold lonely flat was too desolate. 'Red,' she smiled back.
Marion disappeared into a small kitchen area that led off from one corner of the room. Katy heard her rummaging in a cupboard. She looked around the room, her eyes becoming accustomed to the candle light that sent flickering shadows around the walls. The room was sparsely furnished, surprisingly no computer, or TV. There was no wardrobe or chest of drawers, only the Victorian dresser with an old fashioned clock with roman numerals, both hands pointed to twelve. She could make out two bulky rectangular shapes of suitcases by the side of the dresser. Had Marion just moved in here perhaps? She spotted a painting on the wall, but it was too dim to make out its content clearly in the flickering light but it seemed to be portrait of a woman. Curious, Katy leant forward to see it better, and her foot brushed against something on the floor, partly under the bed. Automatically she reached down a picked up the item. It looked like some sort of photo album. It had a red leather-like cover, soft to the touch. Katy opened it and frowned at its contents.
They were not photos as she'd expected, but pages of plastic pouches filled with small cards around the same size as credit cards. All had a picture of their owner, there were driving licenses, student cards, id badges, passports. Dozens of faces stared out at Katy from the pages as she flicked through them. Most were young women but there was a sprinkling of young men too. Judging by the hairstyles on some of the pictures they covered quite a period of time. The faces were very diverse ethnically and a lot of the cards had foreign writing on them -- European, Indian, African, Arabic. Katy peered closely at one card, a student card with a black and white image of blonde English looking girl with a round face that somehow looked vaguely familiar. Katy peered closely to make out the name: Ruth Davis. The name seemed familiar too. Not like someone Katy knew, but rather a name that had once been well known, like an actress who used to be in a popular soap opera, or a celebrity from of those reality shows, a name that suddenly is on everyone's lips for short while, maybe a month or so, then slips back into obscurity. Katy trawled her memory to recall where she'd heard the name, had she been on the news? She scanned some of the other names and realised that a few of those were vaguely familiar too, as though they were related in some way as though they were all famous for some reason, something they had in common -- something newsworthy. 'Ah, you've found my collection,' Marion said, standing over Katy, a glass of wine in either hand.
Katy almost jumped at her voice, and felt as though she'd been caught snooping at something private.
'Your collection?' Katy echoed dumbly.
'What do you think?' Marion asked, hand Katy a glass.
'Well,' Katy began unsure what to say. She took a sip of wine. 'How did you get all these cards, I mean . . .'
