No Midnight Mercy ☾ (gxg)

1-the market

It was always slow during those long night shifts.

People who lined into the local grocery store during the day usually had relatively calm, content faces. They would smile back at the cashiers and would pleasantly echo their "Have a great day!" But the few who wandered in anytime past nine seemed to have let the night sky imprint its blackness in half-circles beneath their eyes dulled by fatigue. Their lips were usually kept in tighter, pursed lines, and they usually rushed to get in and out of the store as quickly as possible.

These zombies and their irritated need to escape through the sliding glass door within at least half an hour after their arrival called for general grumpiness when dealing with cashiers. The grocery store was a local one, a little market cornered right in the heart of Chicago, equipped with a deli, bakery, and pharmacy. The nightwalkers were usually ones who worked late shifts and stopped by at the market on their way home to grab essential items, of course with a bustling aura of haste and aggravation.

Eden had to deal with one of those customers that late Wednesday night. She had been working the register since 4 that evening, but by around 7 the nine-to-fivers stopped lining in and allowed a very slow rest of the night. The only problem was that by 9:30, the late shifters came in, slowly but surely. And the blonde girl was lucky enough to have been working the particular register that a particular woman chose to be checked out at with a particularly thorny attitude.

"The coupon says right there that I can get a dollar off this item!" the woman exclaimed, the fabric of her long-sleeved shirt with light and dark yellow stripes sticking too tight on her stomach. Her platinum, over-bleached hair was in a frizzy low ponytail, and her blue eyes seemed sunken into her plump face.

"Ma'am," the young cash register said for about the fifth time, "The coupon says there at the bottom that you can only get a dollar off the family sized box." Eden pointed hesitantly to the colorful box of excessively sugary cereal sitting on the conveyer belt next to the shelf of gum and candy bars beside her. "That's just the regular size." She had dealt with these kinds of customers many times before, but each time she always felt her cheeks blush and her heart rate quicken with anxiety.

The woman sighed exasperatedly, as she had each time the girl had explained her wrongness to her. She let her hand that held the coupon drop down to her side, her shoulders slumping over even farther. "I want to speak to your manager, please."

Eden, unlike most customers would think, actually felt relieved whenever the usual Karen would demand for the manager. She would gladly let someone else deal with the situation than her, plus she was getting so anxious that her fingertips trembled against the keys of the cash register.

Turning slightly, Eden heard the material of her green, mesh uniform vest swoosh as she twisted her upper body to glance at her manager's door where the tall guy stood talking to one of the elderly employees, Martha, whom everyone loved because she brought homemade cookies to the break room every Monday. "Sean!" Eden weakly called.

The tall man with coffee skin turned towards her upon hearing his name called. His eyes shifted to the agitated woman and back to the girl employee whose light green eyes begged for help beneath her dark green uniform cap that had the words Freshly Foods across the front in white and held up her long, dusty blonde hair in a wavy ponytail.

Eden nearly cried from relief when Sean said a quick goodbye to Martha and began walking over towards the girl. His pale yellow shirt had slight stains at the pit, and his red tie had a few stray strings poking from it. Sean was an amazing manager, though, and to Eden he was like a superhero.

The shorter girl stepped away from the register as Sean stepped up to it, looking the customer directly in the eyes and speaking in a more clear tone, "Is there something I can help you with today, ma'am?"