Sickly Sweet

CHAPTER 1

Everything about this place was irritating, the smiles, the charm, the care in the employees' words and actions trying to get on her good side. All that was reflected in their gaze was a hunger that made her sick but she had to be good and so she was. She had been working here only a couple of days and it was obvious things are a mess, understaffed, unclean, losing money, in complete and utter disarray – what had the previous manager been doing? But that wasn't any of her business and she didn't care enough to find out, especially because they left such a mess in their wake.

A knock on the manager's door causes Masaki to look up and utter a "come in," it was late, and the remainder of the staff was on clean up. "Excuse me, miss Konishi?" A young male says with an unpleasant amount of confidence. "Yes, is there something you need?" He walks into the office after closing the door behind him.

"I wanted to check up on you since you've only been here for a while. If you need any help or you have anything you need from me, I'm happy to help." "I'm fine. Thank you. It's comforting to know that I have someone looking after me," Masaki says with a charming smile, "You should get going, it's quite late." "Are you sure?" The young man asks with eagerness. With the smile still plastered on her face, she speaks calmly "Good night." The young man tries to move closer, but Masaki's gaze became cold. He becomes shocked at the change in her demeanor and even second-guesses the glare that he just saw. Masaki looks down at her paperwork and acts like he was never there before. The man walks a couple of steps to the door before looking back, he couldn't help a chill run down his spine for some reason, he bows and leaves the room.

How unpleasant it all was, some on staff needed replacement, some areas of the café were in disarray, and there were left-over piles of unfiled paperwork. After staying much later than she wanted to and finally organizing some of the paperwork she gets up from her desk more abruptly than she desired and hits the side of it. The sudden impact knocks over the last stack of unorganized papers and it litters the floor of the office. If her glare was any stronger the paper would for sure have turned to ash. Annoyed she picks up the files and takes them home with her to finish up her organization of the files.

Arriving back at her apartment around 2:00 am she puts away some of her belongings and takes down her hair in the bathroom. Going to the kitchen soon after, preparing a small dinner for herself. As she brings her food to the table she picks up the last unlooked-through files. As she ate, she thoroughly arranged the remaining files into piles. The information they held was primally reports of their stock and spending. That is till she reached the last two folders filled with information about the staff. This captured her attention and began to peruse the information. Some of the information was outdated and some lines were scribbled over. 

When she flipped over the paper she saw erratic pen markings and scribbled writing. Much of the words were profane and unclear. A grimace appeared on her face as she continued to look through the file. At first, it was more outdated reports done by the last manager but before long it turned into rambling writings of her personal desires. A manic diary of a pathetic and monstrous individual. The last few entries were the least comprehendible but one thing was for certain and that was her utter hatred for a girl named Satō Matsuzaka. As she flipped to the back of the folder her eyes fell upon three polaroids. 

She stopped functioning for a moment and then it hit her like a vile plague, everything was bitter and gross. She wanted something sweet something to soothe her but there was nothing and all she could do was want.  

Losing what little appetite she had left she closes the folder and picks up her plate. Hovering over the trash can she drops her remaining food in. Then walks over to the sink and closes her eyes and grits her teeth. She murmurs to herself at first but she can't help but grow in volume, disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting disgustingdisgustingdisgustingdisgustingdisgustingdisgustingdisgustingdisgusting!

Then she broke. With sheer ferocity, she slams the plate into the sink shattering it. Her grip only tightens around the pieces of glass as the blood began to pool from her hand. This is why she was hired by the investors. To clean up their mess. To clean up the mess that the investor's daughter had brought into the business. Gross. Pathetic. Disgusting. 

She stares at her hand in the sink in such a detached matter that she can't help but forget the amount of time she had stood there for. Then as if she flipped a switch, she was done with her outburst. This was her job. She fixed things for people who wanted things kept hidden. She kept their sickly bitterness a secret.