Glimmer of Hope: A gripping psychological thriller novella with a nail-biting ending Read online

  ‘Meaning?’ Alecia asked. ‘Did her husband barge in and catch you both at it?’

  ‘No, it was much worse than that. Kerry had told me she liked to be on top, so as we started to get it on together with foreplay. I did notice that she kept looking behind her. My initial thoughts were that she liked watching herself in the mirror. Not once did I think she was performing for an audience.’

  Alecia gasped. Placed a hand to her mouth while still trying to appear sensitive to his issues. She couldn’t believe what he had said.

  ‘She was filming you?’ Alecia asked. ‘Was she using you for some porno flick?’

  ‘The whole time we were having sex, a group of people were watching us from the other side of those mirrors on the wall.’ Jake replied. ‘That bitch had purposely taken me there to use me for a show. I felt like I was a victim of a hunt, trapped and put out on display. I still can’t believe I was used like that. It gets me down.’

  Jake sat up, shook his head. Alecia was enthralled.

  ‘I couldn’t fucking believe it because I genuinely thought she was interested in me, and it made sense as to why they were all dressed up. I must have been the entertainment that evening.’ Jake said. ‘She obviously set the whole thing up. After we climaxed, within seconds, the door flew open. Kerry just stayed there on the bed, smiling. She couldn’t have looked any more pleased with herself. The guy I now know to be her husband, all suited to the hilts applauded us both. I was stunned. Great show, he had said, well-done wifey, best one in a while, superb catch!’

  ‘I’d have gone fucking mental at him.’ Alecia replied. ‘I would have gone total fucking insane at both of them.’

  ‘I was still sobering up by then. The door was left open and I could see groups of people walking away. I never got to see the other side of those mirrors, but then it got even more strange.’

  Alecia looked at Jake in surprise to how such an evening could get any worse if you hadn’t have planned it this way. What was originally a boring session had no perked up. She changed her mind and decided to stay.

  ‘Her husband was about six-foot-tall, looked ex-military and shut the door. He asked Kerry where the packet was.’ Said Jake.

  ‘What, a packet of condoms?’ asked Alecia.

  ‘No, not even close.’ Jake responded. ‘Kerry reached over to the bedside cabinet and took out a small packet of what I assumed to be cocaine. At this point, I was slowly starting to get dressed again. The whole night now felt surreal. I should have been angry, but the environment I was in had me outnumbered. As I was doing up my jeans, her husband sprinkled the cocaine over her and sniffed it all up from her naked body.’

  Alecia smirked.

  ‘You’re kidding me?’ She asked. ‘How did that make you feel?’

  ‘They both just started laughing at me. I felt as though I had been used and then just disgraced.’ Jake replied, lowering his head in shame. ‘As both Kerry and her husband started to get it on themselves now. I walked out of the room. I could feel my eyes welling up a little with the feeling of embarrassment, so I just ran. Then ran and ran and ran. Past the trees, down into the industrial estate and called a cab on my phone when I was far away.’

  ‘I’m speechless.’ Alecia replied. ‘That’s really fucking terrible. I don’t know what else to say.’

  Alecia wondered if Kerry earned more than she did in a night.

  ‘I did promise you a reduction on my fee. Are you sure you don’t even want me to give you a hand job?’ said Alecia.

  ‘Thanks for the discount. I don’t want a hand job, blow job or anything else.’ Jake replied. ‘I called you just because I wanted to chat. I’m lonely, and I know you prostitutes are non-judgmental. I needed to get a few things off my chest.’

  ‘I’m an escort, Jake. Let’s get that straight from the onset.’ Alecia responded with a tone in her voice. ‘I’m happy to listen because you’re the client, and I’ll do whatever you want if you’re paying for it. I feel a bit bad not doing anything sexual. Not that I am complaining of course.’

  Jake laughed, cheaper than a shrink, he thought to himself.

  ‘I like it when you play the part of a therapist. Although I know I’m paying, I like having the option to fuck you. I wouldn’t have that with a real therapist. But I know that if I wanted it, you’d be there for me.’

  ‘Well, I try to give good advice either way.’ Alecia nodded and replied. ‘If that’s all you need right now. From everything you’ve told me, and I know I don’t know you all that well. Fuck everything and do what’s right for you. That experience with Sordida is shocking. I’ve never been to a swingers club, but out of curiosity have you ever been back since?’

  ‘No, definitely not - no fucking chance.’ Jake replied. ‘That was my first and only encounter that evening. I don’t want to go back and put on a live show for those wealthy freaks.’

  Alecia couldn’t help her curiosity. All she kept thinking about was a potential earning opportunity. It must be some escorts dream palace in a place like that. She couldn’t believe she had never heard nor seen it anywhere before.

  ‘I don’t think we earn enough to be on the guestlist since from my vague encounter there I’d say that place was for the filthy rich.’ Jake continued. ‘It’s some millionaires playground. I’m not interested in swingers clubs any more.’

  ‘They took the piss out of you. Didn’t they?’ Alecia asked. ‘They watched you sleep with someone’s wife. I wonder what they were doing from behind those mirrors. All knowing that you couldn’t see them watching. Doesn’t that make you want to do something like go back and smash the place up or at least have your say?’

  ‘I never want to see that place again.’ Jake sharply replied. ‘I’ll leave the rich people to play with their rich toys. Come on, snorting cocaine from her naked body for fucks-sake, people watching from behind mirrors – it’s all too fucked up for me even to contemplate it. I can’t imagine what else goes on there. Freaks, the lot of them.’

  ‘I’m kind of curious about it now you’ve mentioned it. Do you know the address?’ Alecia asked. ‘Or even a rough location?’

  ‘No idea because I was drunk. The journey felt like forever. All I know is that it was near an industrial estate.’ Jake replied. ‘That’s all I know and nothing else.’

  Alecia didn’t believe him. She felt that he was hiding something that would now have to wait for another session together. At least she had a name to investigate further.

  ‘Sordida.’ Alecia said aloud. ‘I’ve got a name for now. I can start with that and look around for more information online. Someone somewhere must know more.’

  ‘Be careful,’ Jake responded with a hint of concern in his voice. ‘You don’t know what surprises lurk in there. There’s other weird shit I saw on the way out. I’ll save it for next time.’

  Alecia smiled, knowing that her curiosity would get the better of her. She couldn’t leave this without investigating further.

  She had to find Sordida.

  3

  The worry of always not being able to pay the rent on time was playing on Alecia’s mind. She looked at her outstanding bank balance that had mostly been swallowed up with her credit card debts. Direct debits for old catalogue bills, and standing orders for utilities all were waiting to clear. She had tried to find full-time work, but nothing came of it. With no children, or immediate housing issues, there was no help or support offered with the local authorities on getting out of her bedsit.

  ‘You’re not a priority.’ They said. ‘You are employed. You have accommodation, so there’s no urgent case to rehouse you anywhere better.’

  Money seemed the answer to all Alecia’s prayers. That or completely giving up and trying to move away out of area, but she’d already tried that once in her life. That’s how she ended up in this mess. There didn’t seem to be any escape from this poverty.

  Some of the sexually awkward information her new client, Jake Parker, had informed her was also creeping in her interests.
Sexual curiosity is one thing, yet chasing sexual adventures is another. At what point do you cross the boundaries, she wondered, is it self-indulgence or a general lack of self-control?

  Living in a bedsit surrounded by nothing more than a wardrobe of old, cheap clothing, a coffee table and a wine-stained carpet located in one of Westmouth’s most deprived streets; a poverty-stricken life was not what she had dreamed of for herself. Despite devoting three years of her life studying accountancy and finance back home, coupled with completing a short work trial in cost accounting for manufacturers in the past, life has never presented her with the greatest of opportunities. She was down on her luck and struggling to make ends meet. Alecia worked as a part-time shelf stacker for a local supermarket chain and a struggling online escort clambering for work where she could find it. Full-time jobs were hard to come by, but she wasn’t the kind of person who was able to devote her attention to a nine to five job. Alecia liked her freedom, her choices, but unfortunately, money was always an issue.

  Alecia had always wanted to strive for more out of life, but unfortunately, her family disowned her. Alecia, in the eyes of her parents, could never live up to the success of her brother. He followed in the footsteps of their mother and father in a legal profession. So many years has passed since they both spoke, it’s as though they are distant strangers now than family. Alecia had once or twice looked him up on social media only to look through the pictures of his happy family and big country house. Everything she thought she would once have herself.

  Once, a few months ago, she caved in while drunk and messaged her brother online. The message was ignored which sent her spiralling back to those old thoughts of not being good enough, unwanted, and ignored. Keep it that way from now on, she thought, it can stay that way forever. She never messaged again, and neither did he. All her online social media profiles are now on private. Her friends list mostly consists of work colleagues and friend of friends. Nobody that really knows her well enough. It was something to do to pass the time, flicking through random memes and clicking the odd like on posts.

  Having left the family home many years ago to fend for herself without much of a trace, Alecia knew her poverty status would have disgraced the family. Nothing stays the same forever, and when you hit rock bottom, the only way is up, a thought that often gave her hope that her life would change in a more positive direction. She was still waiting.

  Alecia slammed down her laptop with frustration at her internet connection. Just scraping by to make ends meet most days she could barely afford to eat. She would gladly sacrifice food right now for the sake of having faster internet access. Not one for having much patience, she had given up on checking her escort profile on a seedy adult site she had signed up to a few weeks ago.

  Today had been a long day and a struggle at that, she was not in the mood for searching out more clients online. Having to wade through those constant messages from men who assumed they were the best she was ever going to get. She had to be in the right mood to play them, to give them what they want in the hope of booking, but right now she was in no mood to do anything. She hated days like this. Days where she imagined that if life had been different, would she have had the perfect husband, the ideal job and a couple of kids. The life she dreamed of as a child slips further away each day that passes by.

  Alecia couldn’t stop thinking about Jake and his discovery of a swingers club. The more she wondered about it, the more it was unlike anything she had heard of or experienced before in her life. She desperately wanted to experience the club for herself to discover if there was any potential income or opportunities for an escort in the same location. It couldn’t be all that far away, and wealthy, horny men with money to burn sounded like a dream come true right now. Being spoilt would be like winning the lottery in comparison to the lifestyle she endured in recent times.

  Jake was one of the most unusual men she had met. Her expectations were that he would pay to sleep with her as an escort, nothing more, nothing less. A business transaction where she never intended to know anything about him: unusually, Jake never wanted to engage in anything sexual. Instead, he had strict rules she had to abide by with roleplaying requests she could fulfil for the money. Her attire always had to resemble that of a secretary with all contact as formal as possible, taking on the role of a mental health psychiatrist too. It wasn’t difficult and he paid well, but the challenge was to remain interested in him at all times, rather than daydream about what she would spend the money on. Sometimes an hour would feel like an afternoon. At first, taking his money made her feel guilty. Now, it’s just a chore to endure, but needs must.

  Jake had found her online advertisement from the escort website she signed up to and sent her a few messages in the first instance. She was aware that he had contacted other escorts from the online site, but he never said why he chose her. Alecia had assumed it was because of her profile picture in a tight black skirt and white button-up blouse showing a little cleavage. It might have just been the winning factor.

  From the interaction with online messaging before their first meet, Alecia assumed that Jake was a depressed loner with socially awkward tendencies. Although you can’t portray a perfect representation of personality in emails and messages, she had preconceived the idea he might have been sexually dominant with her needing to be very submissive. As much as she tried drawing conversations into a sexual nature, Jake always shifted her back into his need to talk about his past without even so much as touching her.

  Jake paid the going rate of sixty-pounds an hour. This was easy money in her pocket that she thought wasn’t much worth complaining over. Regardless of his reasons unbeknown to her fully to commit to fucking her, he wasn’t that displeasing on the eyes either which she considered a bonus. He came across as an oddball, but he seemed harmless enough.

  4

  From the corner of the room, Alecia could see the green light on the internet router flickering away like crazy. It at least indicated that a connection to the internet finally after some irritating downtime. She was sure that other people in these bedsits in the same block were all leaching from it somehow. There was no proof of this, but she had heard that others in the same block had shared connections to save money. Alecia opened her laptop to load up her web browser and hit the home button to go straight to Google Search.

  ‘Sordida, where are you?’ She muttered under her breath. ‘Why have I not heard of you before now?’

  Nothing was coming up under any search results except for a few pages of Latin and Spanish references to the meaning of the word. Why was no bastard talking about this exciting club of wealth and sex, she wondered, perhaps he was making the whole fucking thing up?

  Alecia thought more about her judgement and gut instinct. Jake did come across genuine. He must have been telling the truth, she was sure of it. Being more generic on the search engine she typed in Swingers Club Westmouth instead to return a mass of random adverts, forum pages and dogging sites. Scrolling through the curiosities of Westmouth locals who seemed to be requesting places of interest for hooking up for spontaneous sex, she spotted an online conversation about a secret club on the outskirts of the city. This searching around on the internet had wasted over an hour now of her time, but this small mention had to be a clue. It was the link she needed.

  Feeling a little bit excited by the prospect of gathering more information about Sordida, she clicked into the forums of an online golf site where two users seemed to refer to a swinging club trial. It could have easily been in a golfing sense of the terminology. Still, the online replies between the two users of the forum were too vague. It was like they were hiding something with hidden meaning. Reading further down the pages and in between the lines, they referred to a secret game that didn’t imply it was golf. Both users had Westmouth as their location, and although the forum pages were a few months old, it was a starting ground for her to investigate further. It was their references to a late-night hunt that gave some truth to the game Ja
ke found himself being involved in. Her only hope of a starting ground to see some truth in the matter was this forum. They were still active on the site, so she had nothing to lose.

  Signing up to the online forums took just a few minutes. A handful of false details, site username, memorable password, confirming an email address and then her online presence was visible. Alecia messaged both of the forum users directly from the website to ask if they were really discussing Sordida in their messaging history since all her data was personally unidentifiable.

  Alecia was quite direct in informing them that she was an escort who had once been taken to a secret club called Sordida to watch a hunt. Hoping to gain their trust eventually by implying she knows what goes on. All she could do now was wait for their replies and hope they took the bait.

  The next step in Alecia's plan to locate Sordida was from another clue that Jake had dropped in his wild ramblings from today. An industrial state filled with business units around thirty minutes away from the city couldn’t be that hard to locate using an online map and a search of business areas outside the city.

  Alecia went back to the online search engine since her connection was still consistent to search the term industrial estates near Westmouth. The results showed that only three different locations were most likely relevant, all being around twenty miles away in different directions. She had remembered that he implied the drive to the area included a wall of trees down a long road which couldn’t have been all that far from the business units if he was able to run back to call a taxi for the journey home.

  Looking at the locations on a map with a bird’s eye view combined with having to zoom in then out multiple times on each of the industrial estate locations, within fifteen minutes she was sure she had found it. Using the zoom function on the online map, she could see the trees, the industrial estate of business units and even the square white property at the end of a long winding road in what also appeared to have a suitable few acres of its grounds and woodland areas.