Chapter Twenty

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The clock read five. My shift ended at 6:30.
It was slow, and there weren't many customers throughout the entire day. The shop was cleaned and swept. Flowers were watered and ready for delivery. I deep cleaned the store because for hours at a time, I had nothing to do.

I didn't mind it, though. The quiet serenity of the shop was calming. I didn't have to talk or interact with anyone, and getting to deep clean the store was fun.

Sometimes, I looked around on my shifts when Marley or Mary-Lee was there and saw dust or grim in corners or in deep crevices. My fingers itched to clean it, to wipe away every single fiber of dirt laying around.

I liked cleaning. It was a sort of distraction.

Marley would be here soon. Her shift started at six.

I started wiping down the countertops one last time, when the door rang. I looked up, and there was that man.

I backed away slightly. "Can I get you anything?" I asked, trying to appear confident.

He stood on the other side of the counter. He was of average height, with brown hair and blond tips, a tattoo on his hand of a rose.

He didn't say anything, just suddenly he was walking around the counter and trying to grab me. I used my arms to try and hit him as he pinned me to the ground. I kicked, trying to get him off of me.

He was touching my waist and legs, sliding my pants down, his hand slipping towards the spot in the middle-

The door rang, and Marley was untop of him in an instant, pulling him away from me. He loosened from Marley's grip and then he was sprinting out the door.

"Vi- are you okay? What happened?" Her eyes were wide in terror as she helped me up.

I was breathing hard as I tried to explain, "he... touched..."

"Okay, it's okay, alright. Let's call the police, okay?" Marley took her phone out and started dialing.

She came closer and hugged me. I flinched, but she didn't seem to mind. "It's okay," she kept saying over and over, trying to calm me down.

She started talking into the phone, explaining everything she saw.

It only took ten minutes for the police to arrive. Clara showed up twenty minutes later, still in her uniform. Everyone asked me questions. What he looked like, what he did, I couldn't answer.

Clara took me home once the police were done with their questioning. She squeezed my hand, never letting go.

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