Standards

This is a story I just wrote for my AP Lit class. It is about a prostitute and is supposed to connect to the theme of an individual in conflict with the standards of society.

Frost lightly dusts the streets as the click of my heels resound against the sidewalk. I admire the sprinkling sheets of snow as it colors the floor pure white, the dim street lights illuminating diamonds clasped in a wintry setting. It falls slow and tentative at first, a mixture of white and gray, part and whole, eminently unique yet eminently kindred. It lands on my heavy eyelashes, the curve of my powdered nose, settling on the puffiness of my chapped lips stained an alluring blood red. 

I come up to the corner of Van Buren, the first designation of the night among many. My fingers trail the prickled skin of my arm, my nails scraping against the chilled surface. I watch as the skin transforms from polished porcelain to an angry, fleshy red. The serene silence of night is broken by the squeal of tires pulling up to the corner, as a husky voice breathes out “Roxanne” from a sleek, expensive black car (Matthew 5:28: But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart). My tinted lips upturn into a forced grin as I strut to the car with an air of false confidence, swaying my hips with each pointed step. I grip the door handle, and I watch my dainty white knuckles begin to change to the color red from pressure, the bones protruding in protest as my skin stretches over them.

 I get into the car, and am immediately overwhelmed by the foul smell of alcohol mixed with the primitive, musky scent of man. As we move forward to the next destination, we pass the church that I was sitting in only hours ago. My eyes glaze over as I clutch the golden cross hanging from my neck. 

We arrive, and I am led up the stairs to a door marked 666 (1 Corinthians 6:18: Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body). 

I shut my eyes. I walk in.