𝙎𝙄𝙏𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙊𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙃𝙀𝙇𝙁 | Marcus White

Sal's dead

The entire staff was gathered at the far end of the store near the customer restrooms, all looking up at the wall in horror at the hollowed face that peeked out of the drywall. Bad timing seemed to always be an issue in cloud 9, the store only an hour from opening with this whole new issue unveiled.

"We found him this morning. Looks like he used to work here." The construction worker announced from before the crowd, his co-worker still up on the ladder next to the head shaped hole in the wall. "We were opening up the drywall, and Gary saw the arm. I was like, "What? No way, Gary. That's not a dead body." Then Gary showed it to me. Turns out, it was a dead body." The man turned to Amy, eyeing up her sparkly, purple bodysuit with a confused look. "Who are you? Beyoncé?"

Amy winced, cringing as her gaze flickered between the worker and the body. "Selena."

"Who?"

"Selena." Amy sighed heavily, rolling her eyes as she had to explain her costume for the millionth time - before the store had even opened. "She was Beyoncé before Beyoncé."

Kelly leaned towards where you and Amy stood, speaking to you in a whisper. "I thought you were J. Lo."

"Mmm, no."

————————————————————————

After the construction workers had debriefed you on what to do regarding the body hanging in the wall, you all retreated to the break room, hoping to find some peace and quiet before the store opened and filled with customers.

Halloween was a strangely busy time of year for cloud 9; there was always a million Halloween themed things going on in the store which seemed to capture the attention of the people of St Louis. Like every year, there was candy being given out to trick or treaters on the door, but this year there were whole Halloween themed display areas - and Cheyenne was even doing face painting.

Glenn stood before the break room, a crestfallen Dina by his side, both holding tightly onto their clipboard and coffee respectively. "So, unfortunately, the body we found was one of our employees. Salvatore Kazlauskas."

Silence fell over the break room as no one could put a face to the name Glenn had just said - until Mateo slapped his hands against the table he was sat at with a gasp. "Wait, you mean Creepy Sal?"

Glenn gasped, a frown forming on his face at the accusatory title. "The man is dead! But yeah."

General thankfulness spread throughout the break room, words as praise and relief spread across each and every table. Creepy Sal had been... creepy to say the least, and while it felt rude to say you were thankful for his earthly departure, you wouldn't have been lying about it.

Dina sighed, appreciating sals departure as much as the next person, but maintaining her profession demeanour. "Police said he's been dead for at least a year."

Muffled sobs nearly reached your ears as Kelly tried to hide her crying behind her hands wiping away at the tears that threatened to continue to fall. Suddenly, the break rooms eyes were on her. "Are you crying?" Amy asked, confused as to why she had such a big reaction to the news.

Kelly sniffled gently, wiping at her tears once more before answering Amy's question. "Yeah, I just...poor guy."

Amy scoffed, leaning out of her seat in Kelly's direction. "But you didn't know him."

Kelly scoffed at Amy's cold heartedness, turning to her with a scowl. "But he was a human being."

"Was he?" You interjected turning to look at Kelly who sat across from you, Jonah being the only thing separating you. "Was he really?"