Chapter 22 - Staff Checkups?

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Something was off

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Something was off.

Aurora couldn't put her finger on it. At all.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was strange to her today,  everything was normal and people were as lively as ever. There were no staff stirrups or outbursts and Tom was still joking with her throughout their shift however she felt trapped, claustrophobic even.

Her heart was pounding out of her chest, so much so that she excused herself and made her way to the back alley to get some fresh air; which was where she was now.

She inhaled and exhaled as she looked at the dirty floor. This was almost nostalgic for her since Oliver saw her here and told her to be careful, however even though being outside provided some relief she still felt trapped. It almost felt as if her body had gone into fight or flight mode, like there were eyes on her.

Her body jumped when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. She yelped and turned to see Charlie, standing behind her with a weird grin on his face.

"Oh uh, is there a problem sir?" Aurora asked, she wanted to avoid eye contact but that might give a different message. She wasn't terrified of this man.

"I just wanted to check on my staff, make sure everything is okay." He smiled, but the eyes gave nothing.

"Oh well I just wanted some fresh air," she lightly laughed and looked to the side. He was looking right at her, it felt like lasers were piercing into her forehead.

"That's understandable. be careful out here, wouldn't want anything to happen to such a valuable employee." He laughed as he walked away.

He didn't say that in a nice reassuring way, but a weird almost menacing way. Like he was warning her; she didn't want to read it that way at all but what if?

The worst part about their interaction ending was the fact that the strong claustrophobia she was getting disappeared as she watched Charlie retreat back to where the offices are. All of this was getting to her mentally and her gut was telling her something wasn't right, she made a mental note to tell Oliver everything later.

"I just saw Charlie come over to you, what did he even say?" Tom asked me as he walked towards me. He was just as shocked as she was because they barely spoke to that man.

"He said I should be careful in the alley, that's creepy right? Like I'm not going crazy right?" Aurora rushed out but she knew she wasn't going crazy and Tom was probably going to confirm what she was thinking.

"Hun, that's weird as shit. He's disappeared too. Let's hope he doesn't pop up again during our shift like a puppet." Tom sighed as he placed a dirty rag on the table.

𝕊𝔸𝕐 𝕐𝕆𝕌 𝕎𝔸ℕ𝕋 𝕄𝔼 𝕋𝕆𝕆  (BWWM +18)Where stories live. Discover now