Emily Northam brushes a strand of auburn hair off her cheek as she pushes the door open. A familiar electronic chime rings.
She doesn’t see the owner Ray in his usual perch behind the counter, and so calls out, “Ray? Want me to flip the sign?”
Ray responds from the back, his deep voice calling from somewhere in the long hall of plywood booths, affectionately called the Arcade, hidden behind a thin black curtain.
“Yeah, let’s open ‘er up. Almost done back here.”
Emily turns back to the door and flips the small hanging sign from “Closed” to “Open”. Outside, no one is there to see it yet. The sun is still hovering above the horizon. But Emily knows as well as anyone that as the sun disappears, the perverts come with the dark. And in the town of Viselle, they come here. They come for Emily.
Ray emerges from behind the curtain, whipping greasy hands on a blue towel.
Emily drops the duffel bag with her make-up and change of clothes behind the counter. “You taking care of yourself back there? You know I’d throw you a free one if you asked politely.”