Sun Stories: Aishah – The Wages of Fear – Chapter 4

I’m working at the salon as usual. The phone rings. It’s Aishah.

“Hey Aishah! To whom do I owe this honor?”

“You’re funny. What time are you open until today?”

“Until eight tonight.”

“Alright I’ll be in. I may have come up with a solution to my tanning dilemma.”

“That’s wonderful. Because I’ve thought long and hard about it and sadly haven’t come up with anything.”

“No worries. I’ll see you later.”

The night rolls along. Clients come and go. I drink my water. Eat my dinner. Wash the towels. Sweep. Mop.

It was 7:45 when Aishah appeared. Normally we don’t like clients rolling in too close to closing time, but of course Aishah is a beautiful baby so I’ll make the exception. Beauty is always forgiving.

“Am I too late?”

“No. You’re fine. (So fine!) I still have people in here.”

She seems nervous but maybe I’m just more aware of her demeanor because of her disorder.

“So what are we doing today? What did you come up with? I did some research so I understand more about it, but sorry I came up empty-handed on this one, dear.”

She takes a deep breath. “Okay. So I start getting panicky a few minutes into my session. I have to open the bed, but then I have to get out because I’m still locked in that little room.”

“Right. I get that. What do you have in mind to get through your session? Just do less time on the bed?”

“No. Aren’t you about to close?”

“Yea. Like in 10 minutes. Don’t worry, I’ll be here for a while. This pile of towels isn’t going to fold itself.”

“So I was thinking. If the salon is closed then there’ll be nobody here but me.”

“Okay…”

“Well then I could go tanning. If I get scared I can open the bed, but I can also open the locked doors to the room.

“Okay… We’ll do whatever’s necessary to accommodate your needs as a client.”

“Okay, but there’s a huge favor I need to ask you. I’m a little embarrassed but I think it can work.”

“Like I said, Aishah. Whatever it takes. I didn’t get Four 5 star Yelp reviews not giving it all for our clients here.”

“Well, I’ve worked as a model…”

“Oh. That’s interesting. I had no idea.” (Bold faced lie. Totally stalked her social media after first meeting this lovely woman.)

“I’m really comfortable with my body from doing so many different shows and you have to get changed super fast when you’re doing runway. Everybody’s running around half-naked backstage.”

Okay… I’ve heard that from my former girlfriend, Michelle. She was a model at Reinhardt here in the city.” (See: Michelle – 2007 to Present – A Brand New Day)

“Oh, okay. Thank you. You always put me at ease. Well… If I get a panic attack and feel trapped and like I can’t breathe, I’ll open the bed. Then if it’s not getting better, I’ll push open the doors. But like I said, Now I’ll feel I’m alone in a locked salon after hours and can’t get out.”

“But you won’t be alone. I’ll be up at the front counter folding forty towels.”

“I know but I won’t see or hear anything. Just the rush of the fans in the bed. I won’t be able to see because the lights are so bright and I need to keep my eyes closed.”

“So what do you do?”

“It’s what you do.”

“Me? I fold the towels up front. You tan.”

“No. When the doors open, I get back in the bed and you come down and sit on the bench outside of the room and talk to me so I can hear your voice.”

“The bench right across from the open doors to the room you’ll be in?”

“I’m fine with it. Please. If I call out to you, please come down. It should get me through the session.”

 

(Am I going to see something any guy in this city would kill to see?)

 

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9 Signs That Show You’re Dealing With a Psychopath

According to the data that psychologists provide, 1% to 4% of the entire population of Earth are psychopaths. And psychopathic tendencies in a person can be hidden and it can be hard to discover them.

Psychopathy is a syndrome which is demonstrated by heartlessness toward other people, the inability to sympathize, to feel sincere remorse for hurting other people, lying, egocentricity, and unrealistic emotional reactions.

1. They don’t have any emotions.

According to the doctor of psychology Scott Bonn, psychopaths are unable to detect sadness in people’s faces but they can imitate an emotional response. So, when they realize that someone is sad, they can say something good, tap them on the back, or hug. But none of these actions will be seen on a psychopath’s face.

Many studies show that psychopaths have no idea what people feel when they are scared. This is what one woman murderer said when she was studied by doctors, “I don’t know what this facial expression means, but I know that this is a face that people have when I look at them.”

To discover a psychopath, all you have to do is look at their reaction to other people’s problems. Do you have negative emotions when other people feel bad?

2. They sleep very little.

Some studies show that most psychopaths sleep less than regular people. Usually, they sleep from 4 to 6 hours a night. This is because psychopaths are constantly excited, so it’s hard for them to calm down and sleep well.

The difference from usual people is that psychopaths don’t feel like they are emotionally exhausted when they don’t sleep enough.

3. They love making other people feel guilty.

Psychopaths never admit their fault. They twist other people’s words and present the situation so that other people are guilty.

For example, they can say that you are too jealous even if they obviously flirted with your partner. Or they can encourage you to break the rules and then they will judge you for doing so.

They provoke you to have some reaction to show your worst sides to other people. Why? Just because they enjoy it.

4. They are charismatic and love the spotlight.

Psychopaths are extremely charming and they love to be in the spotlight. Like actors, they wear a mask which makes them look friendly, so they can make anyone trust them. When they meet new people, they make them believe that they have a lot in common with each other, they tell them compliments, and show interest in their personal lives.

But actually, psychopaths want you to like them just to make it easier to manipulate you in the future.

5. They can be very narcissistic.

Psychopaths always step on people’s toes and walk all over people. In any situation, they will do what is good for them. The can show off with their achievements and remember other people’s failures. This lets them look better than they really are and attract more attention.

6. They lie all the time.

Psychopaths lie to manipulate other people and get what they need. They always have an excuse in every situation. They often blame other people and never themselves.

It is also known that psychopaths are proud when they lie successfully and they are not worried if someone realizes that it was a lie. It’s because they can come up with with a new lie explaining the situation before you ask questions.

7. They are irresponsible.

Psychopaths never notice anything bad about their behavior. They always deny the responsibility for their actions and their consequences.

They can quickly find a person they can blame or they can say that this was the only possible solution in that situation and there was nothing they could do.

8. They constantly break rules.

This is one of the most common traits of psychopathy. Psychopaths are very narcissistic and they don’t obey the laws because they think that they are better than any law. Psychopaths break rules and they encourage their victims to do the same to get the responsibility off their shoulders.

 

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