Commanded

"Lve U Mum!"

   "Katria! If I don't see your butt down here right now I'll..." 

I groan as my personal alarm clock awakes me from my slumber. He got my name wrong. Again. I tell him everyday that my name is Katerina. No one calls me that though. Most people call me Tilly. Rolling over I look at the clock. 6:30 A.M. Why is he waking me up so early? There's no light coming through the window. I throw the covers off me revealing last nights outfit. I don't really remember coming home last night, but Jerry's screams must be because of something last night. Flipping on the light, I am blinded by the super white light. As my eyes adjust I walk over to my dresser to get some clothes to wear. I lay them on my bed then go down stairs to see what Jerry wants. He's on the couch, already drinking, but his bottle looks empty right now.

"Finally, girl, took you long enough," he holds out his bottle. "Be a doll like your mother used to and get me another beer." He gives a slight, drunk smile, showing yellow teeth.

"Jerry, don't you think it's a little early?" I ask hoping he won't scream again.

"No, you stupid girl, it's only 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday. You're lucky that I didn't drag you out of your bed when I started drinking." A frown comes on his face. "You're excused." He dismisses me with a wave of his hand.

I go back up to my room and look around. Two more years and I'm out of this purple disaster of a room. My walls are three different shades of purple. The bed spread is a weird purple humming bird surrounded with whiteness. Quickly I make my bed and go to the bathroom to start getting ready.

Like my room, my bathroom is horrible too. It's millions of different shades of yellow and pink. I sigh, and turn on the water to take my shower. I strip my clothes and get into the freezing water (Jerry doesn't pay for hot water). A few minutes later, banging starts on the bathroom door. Damn it, Jerry! I just need a few more minutes. I haven't even been in here more than ten minutes. 

I quickly rinse off and turn off the water. After drying off, I run over, in my towel, back to my room. The clothes that I had picked out to wear don't match one bit. I put them away and grab something else. Instead of wearing green khakis and a orange blouse, now I'm going to wear blue jeans and a black tight fitting top. Ten minutes later, after I have brushed my hair and put make up on I'm ready.

I go down stairs to make some breakfast. Jerry is already passed out on the couch; I shake my head. When I get to the kitchen, I think about how my mother used to wake me up fresh omelets with tomatoes. Tears come to my cheeks as I get a box of cereal out of the fridge. After breakfast I get my keys and head to work. 

I pull in to the Barnes&Noble parking lot at 8:30am. I love it here, but I can't leave Jerry's horrible grasp without money, real money. Sighing, I walk in the front doors. The back room for employees is the only place that doesn't smell like books. It smells like old coffee beans and stale muffins.

Once I have my sales woman book apron on, I go out to the cash register. Liken and Beth are next to me, talking about something they did yesterday. When I take my post behind the register, Liken turns to me.

"Tilly!! What up?" Liken moves towards me with Beth on his heels.

It's pretty obvious that Beth likes him, but Liken is just so clueless that he only sees her as a friend. Liken and me have been friends since before my mother was alive. Sometimes I feel like Beth is jealous of me, but she knows that he's just my friend. At least she should know. He's not my type anyway.

After six long hours of selling books and other knickknacks, I hang up my apron and go to my car. I start looking in my purse for my keys.

"Kat? Is that you, baby?" I hear someone walking over from the other side of the parking lot. I know who it is. He's the only person that ever called me Kat.