Widow

Good seats. They booked early. An enormous stage could be seen. The tent pitched on a large grassy field in the outskirts of Paris. Xiao Mei with chip crumbs on her cheeks. Nadia, watching in anticipation. She couldn’t fight the feeling that maybe coming was a bad idea.

Xiao Mei in a fluffy white coat covering her black mesh crop top. Nadia in a black dress with long sleeves. Both wearing matching dark plum lipstick.

“Can we get cheesecake on the way home?” Xiao Mei said.

Nadia nodded, “Of course - but would you rather have something like pasta for dinner?”

“Cheesecake is dinner…” Xiao Mei said.

Suddenly the lights dimmed. A spider the size of a car sprung from the ceiling onto the stage. An ornate robot. But it looked so real. Scuttling limbs. A woman sat on the spider. She was near nude with a lace of webs covering her sexy curves. She had acid yellow eyes and spikey black hair.

“I AM MADAM WIDOW! WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS!” She announced. The dome cheered. Fire blazed from the periphery.

Xiao Mei hooted and stood up, “Yeah!”

Everyone was going bonkers. Nadia felt a prickle in her heart. Everyone was paying attention to Madam Widow – but Nadia felt eyes on her. She looked over her shoulder and saw a stocky man walking away…

Greg?