The Girl in Manhattan

•Phone Call•

Although she could hear the rain, Kayla could hear a loud, continuous, crashing sound from downstairs. Her hoodie latched onto her as she walked down the creaky, crumbling stairs to the liquor store, noticing the door, she was supposed to lock, was hitting, and hitting the glass door frame with every gust of wind. Sighing, she went to close the door, whilst noticing the streets were in fact flooding, yet she ignored it and beckoned the door, locking it and switching off the lights, as she walked back up the, advanced in years, staircase.

Waking up the next morning, the world was still, still loud, but... still. Kayla made a coffee and sat on her sofa, her days off work were the best days for Kay. Yet, this one felt different. Moments later, a phone call from Kayla's mother came in. A little bit of back story on Kay's mother, Lorraine Fletcher. Now, don't get me wrong here, Lorraine is a lovely woman, very understanding and she has a great bond with dear old Kayla. But, she wasn't very supportive of the idea of Kayla being a Publishing Director. Apparently, this type of career is 'A little too far fetched.' So for now, Lorraine was happy with Kayla working at the store below. Answering the call, Kayla said 'Oh, hey mom' replying Louise said 'Hey Kay... a little bit of bad news. Samantha is in hospital again.' 'Oh, she had a seizure again? Is she okay?' Kayla replied in a worried tone. 'yeah, a pretty bad one actually, she should be fine, but they are keeping a close eye on her.' Lorraine stated, sounding unsure, which didn't make Kayla feel any better. 'Right, let me know how she is... Bye mom.' Kayla answered. Lorraine said softly 'Bye sweetie' As a dial tone sounded.

You are all probably wondering who Samantha is, and why she had a seizure. Well, Samantha, also known as Sammy to Kayla, is Kay's older sister. Sammy is 2 years older than Kayla, Although, you never seen two sisters closer. Unfortunately, Sammy has a disease called Encephalitis, which if you didn't know, is where the brain becomes inflamed. Because of this, Sammy suffers with extreme seizures, effecting her speech, mobility and everyday life. The last time Kayla seen Sammy was just over a month ago, when she had a life threatening episode.

Kay worried. She worried for her sisters life, she worried for how bad the seizure was. To take her mind off it, She asked Marco if she could work a shift, he said 'yeah of course, but, you don't want paying right?' Kayla shook her head and sat at the chair behind the counter. Tears fulfilled her eyes, but she fought back and let out two deep breaths. In... and out. In... and out. She served the customers she needed to serve, and even she was out of mindset like the customers she was serving the alcohol too. She got a text, it read 'She's doing okay. Although her speech is worse.'from her mom. Kay thought to herself 'She will be okay. I can teach her again like i always do after a seizure. She'll be fine.' A man walked in; the mans name was James Samuels. Let me elaborate on James. He came in for the same bottle of vodka at the same time every day. 8:32am. Like all the customers Kayla served in a day, he never asked how she was but, he would always tell Kayla about his old cat, Toby. He died about 7 years ago, but James never lets it go, and now Kayla can't because she has to hear about it every. single. day.