MERCY.

04 | PULL ME CLOSE

October 2012

"I'm tryna get outta here as soon as I can," Messiah said as he walked up to the register again, having completed his restocking task that his manager gave him. He wanted to be out of here the moment 5am hit and hoped that was the case because he often found himself getting off from anywhere between five minutes and an hour late. The overtime was only a tiny plus, but he had to be home to get sleep.

"I feel you, my nigga. 'Ion get off until nine, though," a coworker of Messiah's, Isaiah, said. "You're lucky as fuck you get off that early."

"I only get to go home for a few hours though. I got class at ten."

"Damn, dude." Isaiah jerked his head back, more than surprised to hear this.

He already knew Messiah was in school full-time—whenever somebody needed a shift taken during the day, he never could because of school—but he didn't know that he was doing them back-to-back damn near every day. Messiah was always at work, and he was always at school.

"Yeah. 'Ion be lying when I be telling you niggas that I'm busy."

Isaiah heard his name being called so he was only able to acknowledge Messiah's words with a chuckle and went into the back to handle his business. It was a slow night tonight and, as per usual, Messiah was on the register. He wasn't interacting with folks too much tonight.

The door rang as it opened and he looked up, preparing for someone to come straight up to the register. Instead, they looked around a bit, choosing whatever items they wanted to get, before making their way to him. He interacted with them as normal, not realizing it was a familiar face until he looked up at them.

It was Michel'le's mother. Messiah hadn't seen her since the funeral back in March of 2011, now over a year and a half ago. She was shocked to see him as well because, after her daughter died, it seemed like he disappeared off of the face of the earth. She tried to go to he and Michel'le's old apartment but saw that it was vacated.

"Messiah," she spoke in amazement. "Hi."

"Hi." He mustered up a smile and looked down. Messiah cleared his throat and glanced at the items in her hand, a few chocolate candies and a drink. She remembered why she was here and placed them on the counter so he could scan them.

"How are you?" Ashley questioned.

"I'm cool..." There was a moment of silence brewing between the two of them. "You?"

"I'm... I'm okay. Surviving."

He understood what she was getting at completely and nodded his head. Messiah quietly finished scanning her things, hoping she didn't continue their conversation. He wasn't trying to be rude or even dismissive, but having her standing in front of him wasn't bringing back the best memories, and he preferred to keep those suppressed.

"What have you been doing since..."

"Uh, went back to school. Living with my cousin right now, too."

Her brows perked in interest, and she probed his mind further with genuine curiosity, "Oh? What are you in school for?"

"Accounting. Nothing too crazy."

"That's good money though." She smiled, her eyes saddening a bit. "I'm proud of you. I'm glad you're doing okay. I think about you a lot, especially more since Michel'le died."

He swallowed nervously and nodded again, licking his lips. "Thanks. Same to you."

After paying for her items, he bagged everything up for her and she made her way out. Finally, he felt like he could breathe. He glanced at the clock hanging from the wall over the cigarettes behind him and saw that it was nearing 4:30, which meant he was almost done. When another coworker of his, Paul, came out from the back, Messiah asked him to take his spot for a little while he went to the bathroom.