Unexpected Support

Chapter 1

It was Friday night, and The Devil's Pub was busy as it always was. In order to catch a break from the shit storm that was happening on the floor I told my manager, Carly, that I needed to take a bathroom break.  She gave me a look and hesitantly allowed me to go but, in her eyes, she said "Do not be longer than five minutes."  I sped walked to the bathroom and hurriedly closed and locked the door behind me to be alone.  

I stood in front of the mirror, leaning forward, allowing my hands to firmly grip the sides of the sink and took an anxious breath in and out to collect myself with my eyes closed. I cautiously opened my eyes to see what was in front of me.  I saw a girl whose most notable feature was the deep, dark circles that clung below her light blue eyes that were half-closed due to exhaustion.  Her light, curly brown hair was not worth saving with it being in a messy ponytail with many strains of hair that had fallen to the sides of her face.  Her cheeks were flush from the constant fast movement from table to table serving numerous customers.  Her body was still in good shape with somewhat skinny arms at her sides, but it was all hidden under the oversized, half- tucked navy button up shirt that was supposed to be a uniform.  Her jeans were covered in white fuzzies from napkins and somewhat damp from either sweat or water, which at this point, I do not even know or care to find out.

I looked like hell. 

I took a breath and let my mind wonder.

Growing up, I always knew I was different than other kids my age.  I was always super aware of what was happening around me with people or events.  Kids would play with their toys; I would sit and watch everyone in the room to see what they were doing.  My parents noticed this, and they thought it was just a phase I was going through, but I never grew out of it.  Once I got older, I started to have these nightmares that would cause me to wake up screaming and crying.  When I was seven, I had a string of nightmares that were so bad, my parents took me to the ER because I was suffering from a panic attack, and I could not breathe for a long period of time.  I was put on sleeping medication until they could figure out what was wrong with me.  The doctors told my parents to come back tomorrow but....

A banging on the door shook me out of my thoughts.  

"Nicole! Your bathroom break is up! Time to get back out there now!" 

I collected myself and responded, "Ok, Carly I will be right out."

I sighed and gave myself one last look.

 I need to figure out what is wrong with me.

I walked over to the door and unlocked it.  I was greeted by Carly with her arms crossed in annoyance.  

"Table 15 is yours," she said with an attitude and then she walked away, probably heading to the back to smoke a cigarette. 

I rolled my eyes and walked in the direction of my table. 

The smell of alcohol and greasy food made my stomach turn every single time without fail.  The music was so loud I could feel my teeth raddle to the beat of "Have a Nice Day" by Bon Jovi. I saw the table consist of four older men looking in their 30's.  They all wore suits with the top button undone with the tie loosened on top with smiles on their faces. They were just getting off of work on a Friday night to have a good time, why not come here?  

I started walking over to the table and I froze.  Something was not right.  I felt as though someone was sitting on my chest and my hair on my arms stood up on its end. I took a look around and saw what causing me to feel this way.  There was a small, dark-haired man who sat at the table of four guys, looking on edge, or he felt on edge. I look around him and froze even more.  Time seemed to slow down when I saw what he was holding in his hands under the table.

It was a gun.