Skyborn The Divine

3: Monster

Look, all I want is your name," the man suggested. "I'm trying to give you a big, generous tip, and all I want is your name." He tried again to grab the girl's hand, and again she pulled it away from him.

"I don't need a tip from you. I need to get back to work. So please move," she demanded.

He didn't move from where he blocked her way to the door. He shook his head at her and said, "I don't know why you're acting so stuck up. All I did was pay you a complement and ask for your name." He tried to rest his hand on her arm, but she shook him off and took a step back.

Alice watched on from beneath the shade of a tree, unsure of what to do.

She had walked there from her apartment in search of a job. She'd seen an online posting for a "prep cook/server" position at a local, family-owned caterer, filled out a digital application, and scheduled an interview. And now, here she was, hiding behind a tree, watching as one of the employees of that same caterer was harassed by a creepy client.

She had seen the exchange from afar. She'd seen a girl about her age come out of the building holding several bags of food. She'd carried the food out to a man who'd stopped his car in the middle of the parking area in front of the business, his convertible top down. The girl had tried to simply give him the food and leave, but he'd jumped out of his car, followed her up the path to the doors of the business, and blocked her way in. He'd reached out and touched her several times, something she was clearly not comfortable with, each time showing more and more aggression. Her clear distaste for his advances had not discouraged him, but made him more determined and angry.

But this girl was no shy violet. She'd stood her ground against him, told him boldly and in no uncertain terms that she wanted nothing to do with him, but Alice was afraid it would take more than words to convince this man to leave the girl alone.

Before she knew it, she was crossing the parking lot towards the argument.

"I told you before," the girl warned him, "I don't want to talk to you." She raised a finger to his face, an expression of fury on hers. "I don't want you to touch me. My family is in here, and they won't like you treating me like this."

Alice stopped walking. She was beside his car now, and her hands were twisting together as she tried to think of what to do. She watched the girl, and suddenly realized that she was far more confident about all this than Alice was. She was the one being confronted with a persistent, malicious creep-o, and yet it was Alice, with powers that made her sound like a comic book character, that was nervous about all this.

Should I just do nothing? Maybe she has more control over this situation than I would.

It was then that the man reached out a hand and snatched the girl's wrist, refusing to let go this time.

"You were really rude to me," he hissed at her. "And I was trying to be really nice. I think you should apologize and make it up to me."

Alice could see the hint of a smile on his lips hidden beneath a thin mask of offended hurt. She could see a sudden look of terror on this girl's face, as she realized her confidence wasn't enough to keep her safe. Finally, Alice could feel the rising urge to do something, anything, to help. It was fast, uncalculated, and as consuming as if someone had lit her clothes on fire.

She looked down and noticed she was still standing beside his car. And it was a nice car. A very nice car. It was fire-engine red and immaculately cared for, and probably very new.

Alice thrust out her hip, which connected hard with the driver's side headlight. The light shattered, and the metal buckled in, shoving the car two feet sideways across the pavement, the tires emitting a short, shrill squeak. Then she ran right at the two of them, waving her arms and doing her best to call out in an appropriately concerned voice. The lie came to her more naturally than she thought it would.