𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗟𝗘𝗥 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟𝗦: 𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗦

chapter two

It wasn't often that new or unrecognized customers would enter Light Waves. Because of the minuscule population of Landler, almost always, at least one employee recognized everyone that came through the store's doors. 

On the off chance that no one did recognize the customer, everyone grew increasingly intrigued. Were they from out of town? Were they moving to Landler? Had they been locked away in prision for four years and were now out on parole? Well, that last one was more specific to Sawyer Klein, but nevertheless, everyone was curious. 

So when a ginger woman looking to be around 40 walked in, pushing a stroller where two napping children lay, everyone's eyes were trained on her. Watching her walk throughout the store, throwing clothes back onto piles as if she hadn't just torn them apart. 

"You're joking, right?" Alyssa scoffed, watching her successfully destroy every pile of shorts sprawled out on the table. "We just finished fixing those!"

"Oh, no, she's going for the jean wall," Sawyer gasped, watching her pull out a pair. 

"Go!" Alyssa ushered her out of the fitting room and over to the woman, who eyed Sawyer up and down as she approached. 

"Hello, do you need help finding anything? Maybe a specific size or--"

"If I need help, I'll ask for it," The woman walked past Sawyer, slamming the jeans down into her arms. 

She walked into the fitting room with a pile of clothes, Alyssa leading her into an open fitting room while she left her children in their stroller just outside of the door, taking up half of the walk-way through the room. Once her door was shut, Alyssa left the fitting room and walked over to Justin, their manager on staff. 

"Did you see that woman just throw the jeans at Sawyer?" She pointed over to her friend, whose mouth was still agape from the action of the woman. 

"What?" Justin walked over, Alyssa following. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, jeans don't pack that much of a punch," Sawyer shrugged. "She was just a bitch."

"Okay, well... you two just go fix the shorts she destroyed," Justin sighed, motioning over to the table. "I'll... deal with her."

"I've never actually dealt with a rude customer," Sawyer sighed as she and Alyssa began to fix the shorts. 

"No, I know," Alyssa nodded. "I've only seen someone yell at Andy, but never, like... an associate."

"I didn't even do anything," Sawyer couldn't help but laugh, rolling her eyes. "I asked if she needed help--"

"Your store sucks!" A voice bellowed from the fitting room, snapping Sawyer and Alyssa's attention. "Never in my life have I seen a store with such rude and disrespectful employees!"

"If you don't like our store, then leave," Justin shrugged walking out of the room and over to the register. "Can one of you guys--"

"And don't even get me started on these two!" The woman stormed towards Alyssa and Sawyer, the two quickly backing up to move away from her. "You interrupted my peaceful shopping and you left my children alone in the fitting room!"

"She's not a babysitter," Justin retorted. "Just leave--"

"No, I won't leave! You're infringing upon my--my rights!" She shook her head. 

"Yeah, and what right is that?" Sawyer retorted. 

"My first amendment right, my freedom of speech!" She shouted. 

"Freedom of speech is only applicable to words that aren't considered harassment. Yelling at two teenage girls and a guy half your age because, what, you don't like our store which you destroyed, counts as verbal harassment. So get out, or we'll call the cops."

Sawyer let out a shaky breath, watching the woman wheel her stroller out of the store, the door shutting behind her. She closed her eyes, trying to level out her breath. While focusing on breathing had never been a very successful technique in calming Sawyer, she couldn't do anything else at the moment, not in front of Justin and Alyssa. 

"I--I don't think I can work anymore today," Sawyer looked over to Justin, who was gripping the counter. 

"Yeah, you're good," He nodded. "Riely's coming in at three, so... you're good."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," Sawyer waved to Justin and Alyssa before quickly walking out of the door, rounding the corner before grasping onto her knees as she tried to catch her breath. 

Obviously, getting yelled at by a customer would be a terrifying situation for anyone. Alyssa was quite startled from the woman, but unlike Justin and Sawyer, there was no physical response for her. Her breathing wasn't reduced to short and shaky breaths, and her hands weren't shaking, trying to grasp onto anything for support... the way Justin and Sawyer's were. 

Justin had always struggled from anxiety, ever since he was 15. That was when the bullying started for him, when people would make fun of his interests, which mainly consisted of vans and skateboarding. It hadn't gotten bad until he was 19, though. When every day he'd be scared to come into work, frightened that one of his childhood bullies would come in and start throwing punches, the way they had for all of his high school career. 

His anxiety got so bad, that most days he had to call into work, on the verge of a panic attack, and explain how he wasn't feeling well and couldn't come in. No one at work knew, which is why this bad habit eventually led to him getting fired, but after getting hired at Light Waves, Andy, the head manager, understood so Justin was able to manage a bit better. 

Sawyer, on the other hand, suffered from PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She was seven when the inciting event occured; a car accident. Long story short, her parents got into an argument over her, which was traumatizing, to say the least. Because of this argument, her father took her little brother, Andrew, and left. It wasn't until the next morning that her mother explained to her that they got into a car accident, and wouldn't be coming home for a while. 

Years later, Sawyer began to learn the truth. Her dad had been drinking that night, so much so that he was twice over the legal limit. A girl the same age as her had died; she was in the other car. Her brother had to spend his birthday being airlifted to another hospital, her five year old brother. And her dad went to prison for vehicular manslaughter and wouldn't be coming back until she was in seventh grade, at least. 

Sawyer's biggest trigger for her PTSD is yelling, which is why the woman screaming at Justin was so frightening for her. However, because of her almost 10-year history with her PTSD, Sawyer also knew the best way for her to calm herself down; reciting the 10 amendments. She didn't really know why this calmed her down, maybe it was the recital of the patterns or the movement of her mind onto a different topic, but whatever it was, it worked. That's why she was so easily able to yell back at the woman about her 1st amendment right; she knew all of them by heart. 

All in all, the experience of dealing with a customer as rude as the one Light Waves had just been faced with affected the employees far more than any of them would have ever let the others know. 

Sawyer refused to talk with any of her friends, even those who she's known for a long time, about her PTSD. 

Justin could only tell his girlfriend about his anxiety, even though he wouldn't see her until late at night. 

And Alyssa had to stay strong, to not let anyone else know that she too was quite terrified, because in her mind that'd be unfair, to make a situation about her when there were others who were affected much more. 

Because no matter how many times her friends reiterate it, Alyssa always thought she had to keep her guard up.