No Midnight Mercy ☾ (gxg)

23-someone i love

"We need to put a 'no children allowed' sign on the front door," Eden grumbled as she untied her green vest and shoved it into her locker.

It was the third time that week she was going home late because of some kids knocking down all the packages of toilet paper and paper towels off the shelves. Sean, who was cleaning out some of the lockers from old employees, chuckled with his deep voice. "I'm waiting for the day I can run fast enough to catch those little bastards."

"We know who it is." Eden took off her green cap and wrestled with the frizz of hair at the top of her ponytail that always occurred after wearing her hat for an entire shift. "It's the Jones' kids and their little middle school friends. We should just waltz up to their house."

"Ehhh," Sean sighed as he waved his hand in the air dismissively. "Grandma Jones brings us cookies every Sunday night, so I won't risk messing that up."

Eden rolled her eyes and laughed, taking her phone and backpack from the locker, putting them into her pocket and over her shoulder respectively.

Sean cleaned out the last locker and sighed, standing up straight and holding his lower back which was stiff from bending over. He looked over at Eden who was on the ground tying her shoes. He could tell something had been off with her the past week or so. She started asking for more hours, and had been up at the store every day nearly all day. He knew Eden needed the money, but not that badly.

"Whatchu got going on tonight?" he inquired as he unclipped his name tag from the pocket of his white shirt.

"Oh, nothing," Eden breathed as she began tying the other shoe. Her shoelaces always became loose after walking around the store all day, and she wouldn't dare bend down and tie them if they were to become untied on her walk home in the dark streets of Chicago. "Just take a shower and go to bed. Do some homework, maybe."

"How's them classes going?"

The blonde shrugged, her shoulders looking thinner than usual under the black tee she wore. "I'm doing alright in them. Just haven't felt like focusing on that, or anything, here lately." Her voice became quieter the farther along she got in her sentence, as if she wasn't supposed to be talking about it.

Sean crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. "Well, you know that me and my old lady can always fix you up a hot meal anytime you'd like."

Eden remembered when she had first gotten kicked out of her parents' house, and Sean and his wife had brought her dinner nearly every day for almost a month. She picked herself up from the floor and wiped her backside which was now dusty from it. "Thank you, Sean." She smiled and nodded, grabbing the straps of her backpack and lingering towards the door. "Have a good night, and clean that floor while you're at it." She pointed at the floor which was exceptionally dirty.

The manager laughed and saluted the girl humorously. "Yes, captain."

Eden chuckled and walked out of the break room and through the store which was now quiet and dim. Since Sean had already locked the front door, she made her way to the back, pushing open the heavy metal door that led to a damp alleyway between Freshly Foods and a little local Chinese restaurant right beside it. She sighed and tried to avoid inhaling the rotten scent of the overfilled dumpsters in the alley, stepping out of the dark shadows only to see someone leaning against the lamppost at the front of the store.

She froze, her grip on her backpack getting tighter. "W-What are you doing here?" she blurted out.

The woman flicked the cigarette she had been smoking down to the sidewalk and smudged it against the concrete with her boot. "I forgot you take the back way out when you close up." Blue eyes met hers, reflecting the fluorescent light from the lamp above the post she was leaning against.