*** (Sara's POV)***
I'm wandering around town for two hours before I finally sit down. I'm in the middle of some little suburb-supporting commercial district near Cory's neighborhood, sitting on a bench on the side of the road. I look at my arm and the thankfully still clean wrap around my wound. No one is going to hire me with this. I look up from the ground to see a store across the street with a sign in the window that says "Hiring". Guess there's no harm in trying.
I walk into the tiny little store selling a mixture of items and am instantly greeted with a pleasant "hello!" in the most chipper voice I've ever heard.
I gain all the courage I have to say, "Hi! I saw your sign that said you were hiring?"
The nice sounding woman looks at my arm, and the rest of my outfit. Before she can even tell me no, I decide to continue.
"Don't mind the arm, I fell the other day while taking a walk, but I'm fine really. I'm a hard worker and would love to work at such a wonderful shop." I put on my fakest smile hoping it would convince her. Somehow this felt more demeaning than McDonalds, or worse, stripping.
"I appreciate your compliments of the store and you reassuring me that you are well, however we have been meaning to take that sign down for a while now. We are no longer looking for new hires." I look around the store with a few customers and no other employees.
"Oh, are you sure? You don't even have to pay me above minimum wage, I'll do just about any job- even janitorial if that's what it takes."
She stares at me with a pitiful look when she says softly, "I'm sorry." She walks over to the window and takes the sign off the sill, bringing it behind the counter.
"Thank you for your time." I exit the store holding back any and all feelings I've had for the last 24-hours. I have tried so hard to keep it together. I go to sit on another bench when someone almost runs me over on a bike. When I finally sit down I start to cry, whether it's from the searing pain in my arm that has now appeared or the absolute wreck that is my life- I just start sobbing into my lap.
I have no idea how much time has passed but eventually I sense that someone has sat next to me on the bench but I don't have the power to look up and face whoever this stranger is so I just keep my head in my lap hoping they'll leave.
"Rough day?" the mystery person says.
"A little." I quietly respond, again hoping they'll leave.
"Tell me about it. I spent my morning cleaning up broken glass and calling a window company to fix the singular window I need fixed. Some idiot decided that they wanted to use my window as a punching bag last night." I hear a soft chuckle from the voice.
I finally look up at the body that has now moved closer to me so they're directly next to me. Cory. Of course he's here to see this. How long did he watch me cry? Did he follow me to town?
"Before you ask, I went into town to buy some things, I was not stalking you, but when I saw a mysterious blob on a bench, I had to check."
I laugh at the comment of me looking like a blob. He needs to stop making me laugh. "I promise I'm fine, just crying at the pain in my arm."
"Then why don't you just go to a hospital?"
"You know exactly why I can't do that."
"Do you want to know what I think?" He looks at me with an amused face.
YOU ARE READING
The Break-In
RomanceA girl in search of a job and a place to live finds herself doing something she never thought she'd do, and in the process meets a kind stranger. Along the road she learns more about herself than she thought was even there. But will she ruin it all...
