Gus's Possession

Chapter 6: Thirty-Thousand

She walked back through the bar ignoring the glares from the brute man from earlier. She only wished that Beth was here. It would've been nice to have at least one person that she could rely on or talk to. Her entire world had flipped upside down in the matter of a day.

She still hadn't seemed to be able to take a second to calm down. Walking out onto the busy street feeling that familiar heat hit her like a ton of bricks. Her auburn hair glistening in the sunlight.

She walked back home to her tiny apartment that was now all hers. Once she arrived, she collapsed down onto her twin bed. She was mentally exhausted but knew she had a lot of work to do.

How could she possibly come up with thirty thousand dollars in a month, she wondered.

The next few days were spent working back to back doubles at the diner. She kept quiet, even avoiding Vincent as much as possible. For some reason his face reminded her more of that night than the spot where she watched a man die.

She was lucky to be so focused on her goal. It distracted her from the empty pit in her chest. Anytime she started to get sad or overwhelmed, she would just remind herself that this was for Sammy. Her loyalty driving her to extents that she didn't realize she was capable of.

She had stopped brushing her hair, stopped putting on make up and even dropped a few pounds in a matter of days. She would go home and sleep for a few hours before returning the next day to the diner.

Though her efforts were not amounting to much. She knew she had a few thousand in an emergency fund that she had been saving since high school but it wasn't enough to even make a dent in the thirty thousand she now owed.

She thought of different side hustles that she could start. Though each idea seemed to amount to nothing. No small job could give her such a large amount of money but she remained determined.

She wiped down the stained table creating large circles with a wet rag. The diner had passed their busiest hours and the day had turned to night long ago.

"Close up when you leave" Vincent ordered, throwing her the keys.

He hadn't asked her anything about Gustavo or Sammy or even Beth and she was grateful. She didn't want to have to discuss the situation anymore than she already had.

Vincent exited out of the kitchen in the back. The cooks had went home already, leaving just her to sweep and mop the floors. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She remembered a time when Sammy, Beth and her would all be laughing and blasting music as they closed.

A single tear fell from her crystal blue eyes. She quickly wiped it away.

As she finished mopping up the floor, she heard the back door open and close.

"Hello?" she called out but no one answered.

She could feel the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. A terrible feeling sinking into her stomach. Flashbacks of the night she was almost forcefully taken popped into her head without warning.

"Vincent?" she shouted but again no answer.

She slowly backed up, heading to the front door of the diner. She waited for any sound or movement but heard nothing.

"Is someone there...?" she knew it was foolish to ask an intruder anything but the sound of her voice soothed her more than the silence.

She felt two hands grab onto the back of her arms. She screamed, turning around and punching out as hard as she could.

"Jesus fucking christ" the man shouted, lightly shoving her back.

She immediately recognized the brown haired man, it was Manny. She let out a deep sigh of relief.