Whispers in the Gallery

Chapter 2

Those pair of eyes remain trained on Maya, watching and observing as she trudged home, lost in her thoughts.

He had no idea why he followed her. He had definitely insulted and called her trash, so what was the reason? She was definitely beautiful, but he was a man who had no shortage of beautiful women at all so why would he be attracted to someone who obviously did not even know her own worth? These questions plagued Sebastian as he kept his eyes on the figure walking down the streets of Asheville, completely oblivious to the leering gazes of the men around her. He had forbidden his guards from following him, he was going to just chalk it down to curiosity.

Sebastian knew he stood out. He was a business mogul and well known art collector so being out in public meant sunglasses and nose masks were essentials, so he could only imagine what the locals had in mind seeing a covered up suit clad man following closely behind an unsuspecting woman. He cursed his curiosity once again.

“This is ridiculous” he mutters, beginning to turn back. At that moment though, he sees Maya turn into a dark alleyway and that definitely irks him. For some reason he was getting worried over a stranger, quickening his steps to catch up with her.

Is she stupid? Does she not know what happens in alleys, especially to women with as much s*x appeal as she does? Or is she a crackwhore? Is her timidity just a sham?

His steps quicken as he hears a scream. “f**k it” and this suit clad man begins to run.

Maya strolls into the alley, staring extensively at her phone. She looked around for a bit, searching for the familiar lone figure she was scheduled to be meeting with. He had called her the day before, pleading and begging for money again as he knew she could not possibly turn him down.

She waited for a while, resolving to simply return home after five minutes. Suddenly she feels someone come up behind her swiftly, pressing their body up against hers causing her to scream as what ifs fill her mind.

“Shhh! It's me”, a familiar voice whispers out.

Before she can collect herself though, her visitor is thrown off her and onto the floor, being pummeled by the stranger she met at the gallery.

Maya rushes forward, trying to peel the stranger off her brother. “Stop it!”, she eventually yells out, effectively halting the stranger.

“Who are you? Why are you hitting my brother?” She questions trembling.

Her use of that adjective has Sebastian dumbfounded. Her brother? He took a look at the shabbily dressed tattered man underneath him, he was obviously a drug user, so was she really a crackhead? Is the shy act really a facade?

Maya stood shakily anticipating a reply. All she got was a cold glare that had her blood turning cold. She made a move to speak but was silenced by how he looked at her. Dusting himself off, Sebastian simply walked away.

“Who is that crazy human being?” Cole groaned out roughly from the ground.

A shaky Maya simply whispered “I don't know” and pulled out her purse. As she tried to count as our notes to give him, Cole hurriedly rose up, snatched her purse and ran off.

Maya stood dumbfounded, that was definitely the worst day of her week yet, and it was just a Monday. She thought of how stupid she had been, trusting him once again after all his failed promises to her, maybe she should have let him get beaten up.

Walking home, she remained lost in thoughts, ruminating and mourning all the plans she had for her stolen money. Her bank account was empty, her rent was looming close and she had a ton of art supplies to get. She had also planned on taking up a masters program online, now all of that was impossible to achieve.

Once home, Maya sat down and wept, she cried and cursed her life. No one wanted her and she was never taken seriously. In between her pity party though, a knock sounded at her door. Gathering her strength, she wiped her tears and walked to the door, hoping whoever it was would overlook her puffy eyes. It was her landlord.

He was a round balding man with a pudgy stomach. He had always made her uncomfortable as he did now. Eyeing her figure, he stretched out his sweaty hands and took hers in his.

“How are you darling? I'm here to remind you of the upcoming rent. Uh… I know things have been difficult for you so I am here to proffer a solution” He beamed confidently through missing teeth, “one you would surely enjoy”

She smiled nervously to encourage him to continue, slowly pulling her hands away from his. “Well, I would like us to reach an agreement” he drawled, eyes moving shamelessly over her form.

“Call it a you scratch my back and I'd scratch yours situation eh? You could live here for free, no rent at all required, for a small fee of lending me some of your time, if you know what I mean?” Maya did know what he meant and at that moment all she wanted to do was hurl, and that she did. She watched in horror as her vomit splayed all over the little white man.

Equally disgusted, the landlord glared, “at this point you have no choice. Pay my rent by next week or get out!”. With that he turned and walked down the hall angrily, muttering bitterly about how girls only pretend to be innocent.

Maya did not even get the chance to protest. She could not even get food for herself, and now she would have to pay rent early. She was definitely not going to sleep with that old man though.

She thought of what to do as she cleaned up her mess, an idea forming in her mind.