chapter 4: wanda waddle

Chapter 4: Wanda Waddle

“Mmm so you can play” Anya said to Heather. She smiled as her opponent pocketed the 8 ball finally.

“You bet” Heather replied, smirking.

“I must get you a drink.” Anya replied. Heather noticed a bottle of whiskey nearby, wondering how much she must’ve had. “And you must tell me about your stay here. I want to know more about my opponent.”

Heather had no illusions about what she was here for, she didn’t make friends on a job. But at the same time, Anya was a lodge resident and could be used to extract information. Heather smiled and responded. “Could we perhaps do this again tomorrow? I’m really tired and need a little shut-eye.”

“Of course.” Anya did a little bow before her. “We shall meet again.”

Heather walked back to her room, a little tipsy off the 3 glasses of wine she was served. When she got back, she didn’t notice her notebook was facing a different direction than she left it. She opened it and started to write some more notes.

“Met a girl named Anya. Can use her to find out more about Jezebel and her methods. Getting real dyke vibes, so play up the best friend angle.” Facebook was still open, and she elected to ignore Michael’s message. At least for now. The alarm clock on her desk read 12:07. She set an alarm for 6 AM and headed straight for bed.
~~~
At dawn Heather was up. Her notebook in hand she walked over to the coffee machine in her hotel room and turned it on. After rummaging around she found a filter in a drawer and some arabica coffee beans nearby. She checked Facebook while she waited for her coffee to brew. Michael hadn’t sent any messages since the other night, and his profile still listed his status as in a relationship. She didn’t know why she kept thinking about him. She dismissed the thought and chose to focus on her workout. After drinking her coffee, she set out. Heather used to workout every day at dawn with Michael but since the breakup she had been neglecting it. That was all to change today. Val had sent her on a vacation to the tropics, so she was going to make the most of it. The cool Florida breeze felt nice as she started to jog. She went down a trail that looped around the lodge’s hill. By the time she made it back she was pumped up and full of energy.

At 9 AM Heather received a phone call on the hotel phone line. She picked it up and was greeted by a male voice. “Hello, is this Heather?”

“Yes, this is she” Heather replied. She lifted the yellow landline phone and carried it over to the bed while she listened.

“The first day of your program has started. For your first activity please meet our staff member Melanie Delacroix in-front of the lobby.” Heather wrote the name down in her notebook.

“Sure alright”. Heather got dressed out of her gym clothes and took a shower. Before walking out of her room to the lobby, she made sure to bring her notebook along just in-case she wanted to make notes about the experience. Once she made it outside Heather spotted a mousy looking short girl with brown hair and large square trimmed glasses sitting next to a painting canvas setup on an easel.

“Hello Heather.” She said as she walked by. Heather looked over at the easel and then back at her.

“Hi, is your name Melanie? What’s this?” She asked pointing at it.

“This is the first step of your program. It’s customary of course.” She motioned to a stool that was hoisted on wheels. “We sketch a portrait of a guest.” Heather noticed a series of charcoal pencils on the easel right in-front of her.

"Definitely a cult." She thought. “Alrighty. Would you mind if I ask you questions while you work?”

“Of course not, ask away.” Melanie replied smiling broadly. As soon as Heather sat down, she wasted no time getting to work.

“How long have you worked for Miss Richards?” Heather asked, trying to avoid moving.

“About a year, she found me fresh out of art school. She told me about this new hotel she was setting up and asked me to draw portraits of guests.” Melanie was quite a pro Heather noticed, she was using a long metal ruler and making visual measurements as she was working.

"Play this up as stalking behavior." Heather wrote down in her notebook. “And you do this with everybody?”

Melanie was good at maintaining eye contact up until this point but for a brief second she looked away. “Uh-yeah everybody” She responded. Heather kept her facial expression relatively neutral but noted the discrepancy. Heather sat still for half an hour before Melanie finally announced. “Done”. She had a triumphant expression on her face. Heather stood up and walked over to see her handiwork.

Melanie had drawn an almost photo-realistic portrait of Heather using charcoal. It perfectly captured her face and how her hair fell by her shoulders. “Whoa you’re really good” Heather said in excitement. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

“You know what they say, you learn more out of school than while you’re still there.” Melanie giggled a little before putting her pencils away. “That’s all for now. The front desk will call when they have another program for you to do.” Heather watched as Melanie packed up her gear and walked away with the easel and canvas.

"This place is so bizarre." Heather thought to herself before turning around and seeing Anya watching her. She was wearing the black round sunglasses from the previous day. “Mmm she did a good job no?” Heather smiled. She did have the slightest pride in her appearance although she didn’t consider herself vain. “Would you like to visit the lake with me? I know of a place you may like.” Heather nodded, figuring she could get more information out of Anya about how her program was going and what it exactly entailed.
~~~
At approximately 3 pm the elevator doors of the hidden 6th floor opened and Lance stepped out. And he wasn’t alone. “This is it we’re almost there.” Lance said.

Lance was accompanied by a mountain of a woman. She was extremely fat, easily reaching the weight where a scale built for cows would be necessary to approximate just how much. She was ginger with bright red hair that went down well past her shoulders. With a freckled pale face. She was bottom heavy with tree trunk thighs and a rear end that stuck out a foot behind her. With a large ample belly that rested comfortably on top of her pelvis covering her privates. She waddled as she walked, every part of her bounced and jiggled as she moved. A loud creaking sound accompanied her every step in her flat toed shoes. Her feet had large thick cankles that looked fleshy and escaped from her massive XXXL capris pants.

“Where’s the first victim?” She had a loud voice, one that seemingly boomed out of her wide mouth. Her large face was accompanied by a thick fleshy neck with multiple chins that bobbed as she spoke. Her crooked teeth surrounded a large fleshy tongue.

“This way.” Lance said soothingly. He walked her past Theo’s desk over to a side room, where Jezebel Richards was standing. She was admiring the sketch portrait Melanie had produced earlier that morning.

“You have done beautifully dear.” She said to her. The room they were in was surrounded by other similar canvasses with charcoal drawings. “It’ll look so good put up in here with all of the others.” Melanie nodded as she started to mount the canvas on the wall. Just then Lance walked in with the woman.

“Here she is Miss Richards.” Lance said. Doing a slight bow before walking back out of the room. The woman laughed when she saw Jezebel. Her laugh was loud, coming straight from the belly. It also reverberated like a horse neighing as she finished laughing.

“Well it’s not every day I do a woman.” She looked around the room. “Wow. You do all of these?” Jezebel’s expression changed to one of utter contempt.

“No, she did” She motioned to Melanie as she mounted the picture of Heather.”

“Wow” She said dumbfounded as she looked. “Man, she’s talented, and such a young age.” Jezebel fixed her gaze on the woman.

“What’s your name again? Wendy? Wanda?” She asked, walking around the woman slowly. Her hand gripping the wooden amulet around her neck.

“Wanda. My stage name is Wanda Waddle of course.” She laughed her hoarse neighing laugh again. “This is a nice hotel too. You got a bed you want to do this at?”

“Mmm. What services do you provide?” Jezebel towered over the comparatively short Wanda, who only stood at around 5’2” tall.

“Well uh, the standard going rate for a face sitting is 200$. Of course, if you want to just cuddle that’s closer to 50$. Is it just you or are you going to throw the pretty one too?” She motioned to Melanie who looked absolutely disgusted at the obese woman.

“No thanks.” She said, returning to mounting the picture.

“Tell me a little about yourself Wanda. Did you graduate high school?” Jezebel asked coldly. Her hand gripping the amulet.

“What is this?” Wanda asked, a hint of anger in her voice. “What’s all of this about. I thought we were doing a cuddle session.” Jezebel’s expression turned stern. The green gemstone in her amulet began to glow. As soon as it did the irises of her eyes also began to glow as she fixed her gaze on Wanda.

A bright light flashed within Wanda's vision. Her expression turned completely blank as her gaze was fixed on Jezebel’s. She had stopped blinking and her mouth was left open. “Uh…” She mustered as she continued to look in her eyes.

“I said. Did you graduate high school?” Jezebel asked sternly. Melanie had never seen her boss use the ‘push before. She had only heard about it from Theo in the past, about why one shouldn’t get on the boss’s bad side.

“I didn’t”. Wanda responded. Her voice lacked the same jovial tone it did before, now it just sounded distant and out to lunch.

“Great…” Jezebel said smiling. “What does your diet consist of?” She asked, walking closer. Wanda’s gaze still trained directly on her.