Project Crimson: Prologue

Celeste twists the lipstick between her manicured fingers. She raises it to her mouth and traces her plump lips with an almost predatory precision. Yves st Laurent rouge pur, her signature color. 

She looks at herself in silent approval and puckers her now deep red lips as if to blow herself a kiss. Reaching for her eyeliner she draws a sharp black cat eye to complete her look. The candle light is no problem for her as she’s done this thousands, if not millions of times before. Putting everything back in its place she runs her burgundy nails through her dark wavy long hair and stands up making her way across the dimly lit bedroom. She sighs and flings open the armoire moving through the fabrics, velvets, laces, leathers, furs and yes the occasional rayon or polyester until her hand rests on a sleek black velvet minidress. “Perfect” she says to herself as she slips out of her elaborate sheer white lace robe and into the dress, taking her time to smooth it out over her red lingerie clad hourglass figure before she again makes her way across the room to the golden gilded floor length mirror in the corner. She smiles as she glances from her pleasing reflection to the out of place sticky note fluttering on the mirror's surface.

Eric 7pm Giobbis 

She didn’t know Eric, just met him on a whim while out having a cocktail at her favorite bar down by the bay. She wasn’t busy since she didn’t work and always enjoyed company and a meal so she took the cute stranger up on his offer and had him write his number on her napkin with a pen borrowed from the bartender. She didn’t give out her number or her address and she had been the one to call him to set the date. Those were the rules and she followed them religiously. This wasn’t out of fear of course, merely a safety precaution. She kept a low profile, that is as low of a profile you can when you look the way she did. And dressed how she did.

Satisfied with her choice in dress, Celeste makes her way back across the room and picks out a pair of black pumps and a red leather jacket that will tie everything together and also add a little edge. 

Red had always been her favorite color, it was the color of so many of her favorite things, juicy cherries, Christmas bows, rubies, pomegranates, and blood.