Filthy Cloaks / H.S.

Chapter Five.

Today I work a long shift.

I had been in my car for a while now due to the uninvited apprehensive rush of nerves pulsating through my blood. It felt as if I had swallowed something uneasy in my stomach, forming uncomfortable and anxious knots from deep within. In other words, I felt undoubtedly nervous on the first day of my new job at the Hard Liquor Club.

I couldn't keep my mind still from spinning out with the many anxious thoughts I had. I wanted my new bosses to get the right impression of me, but I was starting to think that I didn't have the 'sex, drugs, and rock & roll' persona that they'd be expecting. On top of all of this restlessness, I remembered Glass' words clearly when she first gave me this job.

"You can only show up to work at your designated work schedule and hours. You can't even go as to show up 15 minutes early or 15 minutes later."

This not only stuck with me the whole night, but it also cost me a perfectly good night's sleep, given I had only about 2-4 hours of sleep last night.

I had been parked out in the lot for a while now, just grazing my finger over the smooth leather of the steering wheel and allowing my eyes to wander anywhere but the club I was parked at. I tried to
keep my eyes occupied with random frivolous objects I kept in my car like the cheap gas station coffee cup that had been sitting in the cupboard compartment for days, the gleaming Freddie Mercury necklace hung at my rear view mirror just barely swaying, or the grocery receipt on the passenger's seat floor that I forgot to throw out. It truly enlightened me about the dire need to deep clean my car.

But even with the attempt to distract my uneasy mind, I couldn't help but think about the club that was standing so intimidatingly in front of me. I didn't fully grasp why I was so nervous about my new job, but I put heavy blame on the fact that the owners, whose names I researched were Harry, Ace, and Niall, were infamous, which — not to mention — were all men allowing the thriving patriarchy to continue its hold on the workforce.

Yay.

In contrast, I hadn't held a job of my own for years after I fell out the deep end. I only managed to resurface myself with a little a bit of therapy and my so-called drug-like items — Books. Fortunately, I had stories to entertain myself when my mind went loose for a while.

Still feeling the nerves and anxiety pulsating through my blood, I couldn't stop my thigh from fidgeting up and down anxiously. I went to touch my father's bracelet to help me relax a bit, but instead, I felt the cold touch of my wrist. That was when I realized I still hadn't found the bracelet from yesterday.

Shit.

Frantically, I looked all over my seat, bowing my head down at the car floor to see if I had clumsily dropped it but no. Nothing was there and I was starting to truly panic. All of my past anxiety would have consumed me if it weren't for that bracelet. It almost acted as a protective guide by my father since I lost him at such a young age to even remember anything about him.

Losing both my parents, that car crash forever changed me, but because my father's bracelet was recovered, it felt there was still an ounce of hope for me. Losing it would mean losing him — them.

I just couldn't—

*Ring*

Just when things couldn't get worse, the piercing alarm from my phone went off, reminding me that now was the approximate time to enter the club. This strict schedule was already kicking me in the ass, but I knew that by the way Glass said it, it was more of a warning than a suggestion to be precisely on time.