Roxanne

Roxanne watched from her war room. The bank of screens covered every part of the house in glorious HD. She folded her hands underneath her chin. This was a new one. Skyler had missed the initial tripwire and was just sitting in her living room doing… nothing.

None of this could work if the babysitter stayed in the same place and refused to move. Plus, she had nothing positioned around the sofa that could make her move.

Damn it, I’m going to have to go down there myself.

Throwing her chair aside, she checked her pockets to ensure that she had everything she needed to kickstart this game before Skyler bored her to **** and left without giving up any material.

Marching through the secret passages and re-emerging into the main house, she negotiated the various tricks and traps she’d established in case Skyler decided to come upstairs. In her mind, she had an entire architect’s map of her home, with each point marked with her contraptions.

Roxanne stomped down the stairs. It definitely didn’t have the intimidating effect it did when she wore her boots. She wondered whether she should have made more of an effort as she stepped over the tripwire and into the living room to meet Skyler face-to-face.

“Hey there.” Skyler got to her feet. “You must be Roxanne.”

“I guess.”

An awkward silence passed between them. Socializing and small talk weren’t exactly her forte. But she had to try to get Skyler to move.

“So… you’re a business lady?”

Skyler blinked. “Oh… sure. Yeah, I work downtown at an ad agency.”

Roxanne clicked her tongue. “Cool. Well, I guess I’ll be upstairs.”

She turned to leave but was pulled back by Skyler grabbing her hand. Roxanne’s jaw clenched. She didn’t like being touched by strangers.

“Oh, wait, don’t go.” Skyler let her hand go. “We should talk.”

“Talk…?

“Sure. I really like your hair and your outfit.”

Roxanne looked down at herself and involuntarily ran a hand through her hair. She didn’t really know what to say to that. The outfit was about as lazy and as far away from her true self as anything other than everything happened to be in dark colors.

Roxanne backed away. ‘Thanks, I guess.”

“You’re quiet, huh?”

Roxanne fidgeted with her fingers. This was about as uncomfortable as anything she’d experienced in a while. But her brilliant mind overcame any normal human feelings of embarrassment. A few more inches was all that was needed.

“Don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Roxanne continued backing away little by little. Naturally, Skyler inched toward her as if she were being pulled along by an invisible string.

“Come on, sit down and let’s talk.”

Skyler moved toward her and grabbed her hand again. Roxanne let her hold it, but now she was in the firing zone.