Gets Sick

"C'mon," Maria said, flicking her purple and red hair back. "Sal, cover for me okay?"

The other bartender, a slim young, androgynous thing with too much makeup and not enough style, nodded their head as Maria lifted up the bar and walked through. Lois took her slim, warm hand, letting Maria guide her onto the dance floor.

The buzz from the cocktails gave Lois a loose, flighty feeling. Then her stomach lurched, and the feel of bile rising. She stopped, raised a hand to her lips to hold back what she knew was about to come. The barmaid watched her for a moment, eyes confused, then widened as she figured it out. One arm draped around her, Maria frog-marched Lois through the crowd to the bathroom. The door slammed open to the barmaid's charge, and Lois pistoned through as fast as she could, bent almost double.

The first stall was empty, which Lois took for a blessing, and relatively clean, for which she gave thanks as she dropped to her knees before the bowl and spewed. Someone held her hair back, and Lois knew it must be Maria. Throat and stomach convulsed, emptied into the clean white porcelain. The sushi for lunch. The 5-hour energy in the afternoon. It came on and on, until Lois thought she was going to cry.

Finally, with a few aching dry heaves, it ended. Lois gasped, black rivers of mascara ran down her cheeks. She could still taste the bile. As she reached a shaky hand up to flush the filth away, the reporter became aware of Maria's voice, a murmured litany of quiet nothings. Lois got up from her knees, and Maria released her hair; the reporter lowered the seat, and sat down on the toilet.

She felt feverish, her skin too hot, eyes bright. The stall was clean, but graffiti'd. The reporter in her made note of the names, phone numbers, dates. Correlated them with what she knew of the missing girls. A few possible hits, but she'd have to double check for certain.

Lois' attention snapped back to Maria when she felt the bartender's hands on her pants.

"Hey baby, hey," the purple-and-red-haired woman said. Her hazel eyes, tinged with green, stared into Lois own blue orbs. "Trust me on this, okay? You're not feeling great right now, but mama's gonna make you feel all better..."