Same Family, New Place

At last, Grace was done with her work for the day. Bolting the door to their shared room shut, she finally allowed herself to relax. Caution had become her middle name after a week of dealing with the unsavory customers Shady View Motel seemed to attract. Deciding she was too tired to change, Grace collapsed on her bed, still in her maid outfit. Even though the uniform was not suggestive by any means, Grace still hated wearing it. Formality was one thing, but a 'maid' outfit implied that she was inferior to the 'guests.' Grace, of course, disagreed with this.

"He accused me of stealing his toothbrush," Grace said aloud to her sister. "I'm poor, but I'm not that poor, and I certainly have no use for a used toothbrush. Just buy a new toothbrush, idiot."

Kicking the customer in the teeth had been Grace's first reaction, and she still partially regretted not doing it. Losing their jobs, however, was not an option at this point. Money was tight, even with the cash the assassin had gifted them. Nobody else was going to hire two teen girls with no work experience and no address. One angry customer was all it would take to get fired, so Grace would make sure to appease every idiot who stayed at this motel, no matter how much she hated it.

"People always assume you're not going to murder them later."

Questions might arise if too many people staying in the same motel wound up dead. Right now, fear of social justice was the only thing stopping Grace from actually killing somebody. Sooner or later, though, she would become smart enough to get away with murder. Then she would be able to vent her frustrations on people who deserved it, at least in her mind.

Urged by her growling stomach, Grace rolled off the bed and limped to the mini-fridge. Various packs of old hot dogs and some moldy fruit greeted her, leaving Grace disappointed. "We should go get some real food." X-Rays would probably reveal a large lump of processed food in Grace's stomach after this week. "You want to get some carrots, or celery? Zucchini?"

Grace gave Christal an odd look. Her sister's speech pattern was...off. She must have been reading poetry or something like that again. She had finished changing, and was now wearing an outfit of all black. A trench coat, a long skirt, and heavy boots weren't quite called for on this summer day, but it was what Grace wanted to wear. She wanted to show as little skin as possible.

"Of course he's been eying me, and he's been eying you, too. He's a man, it's what they do." Christal was saying that life would be better on the streets. Grace clenched her jaw, trying to decide if this life was really any better or safer than fending for themselves. As questionable as the owner and guests were at Shady View, the gangs and crime in Steel City was infamous. "We wouldn't survive on the streets. We'd be nothing but fresh meat. That's out of the question." She sighed. "But we don't have to stay here. We need a job, but it doesn't have to be this job."

Grace collapsed on a chair, closed her eyes, and rubbed her forehead. A jazz song started to play. Grace hated jazz. Christal seemed to be enjoying it, so Grace didn't say anything.

Opening her eyes again, she actually started watching Entering Evil. The protagonist was willing to break the law, and perform moral atrocities, in order to protect his family and his pride. At first, Grace didn't like the show. It reminded her too much of Dad. She had placed a heavy amount of blame on her late father. Had he not entered the drug industry, then Grace's life would have turned out very differently. She wouldn't have been imprisoned and tormented...

Or would she? Life was dangerous. Even if her father had lived a perfectly innocent life, there was still a chance that Grace could have been kidnapped off the street at random. Things like that happened far too often, as this television drama was making plain. The world was filled with 2 kinds of people, those who abused people, and their victims. That fact made Grace angry.

Grace pulled out her wallet and checked out much cash they had left. It should be enough for what she had in mind. She wasn't going to be a victim ever again. She would take what she wanted, but she would be smart about it. "Let's go get some food, then we're going to get a raise. A big one." Grace was thinking back to the house. She had burned it down, and they had gotten away with it. It hadn't made her feel any better, but perhaps that was because the family hadn't deserved it. The boss of Shady View definitely deserved what was coming.

They headed out to the supermarket.

Grace added some items to their cart, but stopped to look at the bottles of lighter fluid that were on sale. Christal said that she'd do all the cooking for the upcoming week, to which Grace smiled slightly. "Actually, I thought I'd try grilling." She put the lighter fluid in the cart.

That simple gesture made Grace's stomach feel cold. Despite his obvious immorality, the boss hadn't actually done anything to the Morgan sisters. And even if he had...it was one thing to talk about killing someone. People joked about it all the time. But it was another thing entirely to actually do it.

But Christal's concerns were valid. If nothing changed, then it was only a matter of time before the boss preyed upon his young, attractive, defenseless female employees. That was something that Grace could not allow to happen. Never again would she be at the mercy of anyone, nor allow her sister to be in such a situation.

"I've never liked grilling before, but I think with time...I could come to enjoy it." Maybe this time it would actually make her feel something. Anything. Grace wondered if she needed to become a monster to become human again.

Grace made sure that nobody else was nearby, then whispered to her sister. "Christal, would you hate me if I killed somebody? Somebody other than you, of course."

Well, Christal was surprisingly supportive of Grace's plans. It seemed that everything Christal did was surprising these days. The sisters just weren't on the same wavelength. But that was fine. If Christal had that much confidence in her, and obviously wasn't objecting to it, then Grace would do as she pleased.

Did Christal actually think this was right? Grace didn't. The right thing to do would be to move without telling anybody. She wasn't going to do this because she felt the boss deserved it, or even because he might someday. She was doing it because she wanted to, and for no other reason. That realization made Grace feel better. She was an arsonist at heart. She wanted to burn the world to the ground until there was nothing left but ash.

"I told you before, we're getting a raise. We'll get that before the barbeque. So tell me, when would be the best time?"

Grace raised her eyebrow. "You said you had a time, not an intricate plan." Grace grabbed the last food item that they would need and proceeded to the register.

Later, on the walk back home, Grace stayed aware of her surroundings, making sure they weren't being followed. "I'm glad you realize how serious this is. So tell me, what was your idea?"

So, there was a two hour span of time in which the boss was alone in his office. He was probably smoking during that time. That would have to be the cover. Fortunately, Grace knew, the office itself did not have any cameras in it.

"We'll make it look like he accidentally set the fire off himself. If the lighter fluid is sitting next to his ash tray, it will look like a stray cigarette landed near it. Maybe we could put a small leak in the bottle. Just remember, if anyone asks about this, we'll say he was planning to grill some steaks."

Grace tried to think of all the things they would need to accomplish in a short amount of time. They needed to get the boss out of his office for a short time. Then they needed to grab the money out of the office. Finally, they had to plant the bottle of lighter fluid. And all of this had to be done without the boss growing suspicious.

Grace sighed. This was getting too complicated. Who was she fooling? They weren't masters of stealth or anything. Maybe they needed to take a more direct approach.

"Okay, we're both going in to the room. I'll blackmail the boss into opening the safe. Dumping some lighting fluid on his head and holding a lighter to it should frighten him, I'd think. You collect the money, and then I'll fry the place. All you have to do is carry the money in a bag and look innocent after we leave. Unless you had a better idea."

Grace opened the door to the office. The boss looked up, surprised, and set down his cigarette. "You're up late." He balled up a greasy burger wrapper and threw it in the garbage. He laughed. "You need something?"

Grace grinned. "We were just wondering if we could use the grill out back. Christal wanted to do a cookout." She pulled out the lighter fluid and made sure he saw it.

"Sure, do whatever you want."

"Nobody's using it, are they?" She walked behind him, presumably to look out the back window.

The boss didn't turn around. He just laughed. "There's never anyone back there. You two could drink back there and be fine." The man who thought himself clever smirked. "I've got some beer in the..." Grace dumped the lighter fluid over the boss' head. He was too shocked to move for a moment, but then he spun around, furious. "What do you think you're doing?"

A small flame appeared, coming from the lighter in Grace's hand. "I wouldn't move if I were you. If you catch fire, you won't stop burning." The boss' natural fear of burning alive kept him at bay. Grace narrowed her eyes. "Not until long after you're dead."

The boss sat back and crossed his arms. "What do you want?"

"Tell Christal the combination to the safe." Grace glanced at her sister. "She'll take the cash, and then we'll leave you alone."

The boss laughed. "If I refuse, you'll never get a cent of that money. There's no way you'll get away with this either. All the cash goes missing, and you two show up with a small fortune. Didn't think this through, did you?" He crossed his arms, thinking he had won.

"You're right," Grace said. "It would be more convincing as an accident if the money was still in there." Grace threw the lighter at the boss, and he instantly caught fire. The boss screamed in pain. He hadn't realized just how unbearable the agony would be. He fell over, trying to crawl towards the fire extinguisher. Grace didn't bother to stop him. The extinguisher was ten years out of date. No matter how he tried to get it to work, he never managed to smother the flames.

Grace walked out of the office as the building itself began to catch fire. "Sorry, Christal. We'll have to get some money from somewhere else. Some people just don't listen." Of course, Grace wouldn't have let him live even had he given them the money, but that was beside the point.

This time, Grace was sure that her victim deserved what he got. Sadly, though, she still didn't feel anything. She frowned. Her emotions seemed forever frozen. Life...was misery.