Green Heights Passages

Chapter 7

Monica takes one deep breath before opening the entrance door to the Green Heights Pharmacy. This is the last resort. She's been here for over five years with over twenty different jobs that she either quit or was relieved of her duties. She's exhausted all her options in the city and will have to return home to her parents in Knoxville if she can't find something.

"There's no shame in coming back," her mom would say on the phone every Sunday. Monica thought otherwise.

The aisles are empty. No one is behind the counter either. She looks up at the storefront window where the OPEN sign is indeed shining blue and red. But no one in sight. She found the pharmacy was hiring online yesterday and immediately put in her application. She slowly walks towards the counter.

"Hello," she says out loud with no answer.

She looked around at all the products out in the open that could easily be stolen. No wonder they are hiring, she thought. Then, she notices a camera and suspects someone must be watching. She waves at the camera, but still no response from anybody. Something in her is saying to just leave and come back later.

But she couldn't leave without this job.

She looks around one last time before walking around the counter and heading toward the door designated for "Employees Only". She turns the knob and pushes it open leading her down a narrow hallway.

"Um, hello," she softly says, suddenly realizing the audacity of trespassing on a business she hopes to be hired by.

"I've had enough!" she hears from the room down the hall with the door cracked open. The anger in the man's voice made her whole body stiffen.

"Just relax," another male voice, more relaxed, replies.

"Relax?! I'm being investigated! How am I supposed to relax?"

"Mannie, it's just a formality. Every pharmacy in the city has had to deal with this guy," a woman's voice says.

"And he never finds anything," the relaxed male voice confirms.

"You never said anything about a detective when we made this deal," the angry man says as Monica inches closer to the room.

"We said there was going to be risks from the very beginning. You knew what you were signing up for. Just because nothing happened these past few years didn't make this any less risky," the relaxed voice reveals, "now we've dealt with this Detective Landry before. As long as you and Leslie keep business as usual and continue to make the orders the same way you have been, Landry's bosses will force him to drop the case. Swear to God."

"Oh yeah? And what about the Troll? How do we deal with him?"

Monica peeks her head into the door where she sees one man pacing back and forth while the other man sits relaxed on top of a wooden desk and the woman sits next to him on the edge of the desk with her arms folded. The man and woman look at each other seemingly unsure of how to answer the pacer's question.

"Now, he's a wildcard," the relaxed man confirms, "but he's also just another reporter. Just let me do some digging."

recognizes the relaxed man atop the desk that she saw at all the local Green Heights events selling clothes, jewelry, and whatever else he could get his hands on. Scary guys with tattoos and brutish personalities would light up and shake hands with him like he was a member of their gang. She remembered him flashing a big smile that would disarm women of all ages to listen to his sales pitch. He was a hustler but beloved by everyone he interacted with. If she's not mistaken, his name is Jordan.

"That's the problem, the Troll isn't some reporter like Lorenz Foxx or Sabrina Sounds. He's a content creator. All he cares about is going viral," the woman replies to the pleasure of the angry man who points at her in support, "we're gonna have to approach him differently."