🎼 Reflection by Vicente Avella 🎼
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Soon, the bar was empty, and Davi's was closed for the night, well, the morning. It was two a.m, and the girls were almost finished cleaning up.
Cleaning in silence was typically, especially since Isla-Rose didn't talk much.
Usually, Selene and Brie would talk, but the young mother had been mute since what transpired with the rowdy table. Though she hadn't said anything, the tension radiating off her was evident.
Isla-Rose didn't pay much attention to it since her intention wasn't to be rude, but it was hard for Selene to ignore. She looked between the two, desperate for one of them to say something - anything.
But neither of them did.
It wasn't until Brie left early to tuck her daughters into bed that the tension left with her.
"Don't mind, Brie," Selene said, counting the money in the cash register. "Deep down, she's grateful. She's just used to men treating her however they want."
"Yeah, I know. I haven't gotten much sleep since I moved here. They get into it every night. I'm expecting Diego to be drunk and raging by the time I get home."
Selene paused in her counting. "Why don't you move?"
Isla-Rose shrugs, "I got used to it, I guess. I know what time things usually die down. I just sleep then."
Selene frowns, "so you can just lay there listening and not feel anything or say anything?"
With a slight scoff, Isla-Rose looks at her. She felt herself get offended until she saw the sincere look on her co-worker's face. She wasn't judging her, just curious.
"Honestly, I've thought about saying something a few times. Especially seeing her daughters have to run away from their own home in the middle of the night. But I'm not her friend, and it's really none of my business. It seems everyone else has gotten used to it. So, I've just fallen in line."
Selene shakes her head; guilt was apparent in her eyes.
"You shouldn't beat yourself up," Isla-Rose resumed sweeping. "Abuse can be addicting, especially when you're married to the person."
"Are you talking from experience?"
"No. I've never been married. But in all the towns I've stopped in, there's always a Brie and Diego."
"What happens to them?"
"I don't know," Isla-Rose shrugs. "I don't stay long enough to see the end. Though it could only be one or two things. One of them left, or one of them ended up -"
"Yeah, I know," Selene quickly stopped her. The thought of things ending deadly for Brie or her children scared her. "I've tried telling her, but she just ... makes excuses."
Selene tries to put her attention back on the money but lost her count. "Shit," she sighed in frustration.
"Hey, why don't you call it a night?" Isla-Rose offers. "I'll do count and finish up everything else."
"A-are you sure?"
"Yeah, get out of here."
Selene contemplated for a moment. After an eventful night and the growing worry she had for her best friend, all she wanted to do was go home and eat the rocky road ice cream in her freezer.
