Awkward

2. Right from wrong

Zoe headed into the gas station to pay for the gas. As she walked towards the counter she could hear sounds as though someone was being kicked or punched the breath being beaten out of them with each punch. She walked right up to the counter, stood on her tiptoes and peered over, as she looked to the left she could see the door to the staff breakout area slightly ajar. She could see through the gap two men laying into another one on the floor. She walked over to the door and pushed it open wide. The men that were administering the beating stopped and looked at her.
Zoe looked at the man on the floor. "The police will probably be here any second, I saw when I looked over the desk that the alarm has already been raised so my guess is that you've got five minutes or less...so what's it gonna be?. Carry on beating this man or cut your losses and run?."

"The cops ain't coming sweetie, we know the alarm doesn't work, we work for the man that owns this place.. and this fraudster here has been ripping us off, so we've been sent here to ensure that he gets the message that it stops."

———-

"Cmon Zoe!." Dana said as she sat in the driver's seat waiting for her sister to come back to the car. "Oh shit!." She said as she saw an SUV with tinted windows pull up alongside the door of the gas station. She knew only too well who this was. She closed her eyes as the big men got out and headed inside. "Fuck!." She yelled, scared to get embroiled with this.

————

"I need to pay for the gas." Zoe said matter of factly.

The men that had given the beating looked past her to the other bigger men that had just walked in. "Yo, who the fuck is this?." One of them said his face screwed up

"she just walked in, she won't leave either." One of them replied.

"Girl you need to get outta here now." The biggest guy said.

She shook her head. "No, I need to pay for the gas. It would be wrong to walk away without paying for my gas." Again her words were so matter of fact.

"Damn, ok, let the girl pay for her gas." He replied and One of the men walked behind the counter and rang up her bill, though it felt as strange as hell to do so given the circumstances.

A tall guy that had come in with the bigger one  smiled at her from behind. "What's your name?."

"Zoe." She said looking at him.

"how old are you Zoe?." He asked her.

"I'm 21." She told him. " why? What's your name and how old are you?." She asked him straight faced.

"Marcel, and I'm 31...

"Mother fucker what are you doing?." The older guy said, frowning at Marcel. " You've paid for your gas, you can go now!" He then turned and said to her in a stern tone.

"I need to wait till the cops have arrived to make sure that this man gets the medical attention that he needs, that would be the right thing to do." She told him.

The biggest man was called Austin. He sniggered and looked at her. "Really, and what makes you think that the cops are coming here?" He said to her

"Because my sister would have called them, she's parked outside on the forecourt waiting for me." She added.

Austin looked at the two men that had already been in the gas station originally. "go and get her, the last thing we need is witnesses for fuck's sake!." They both left and headed across to Dana's ride.

Marcel studied Zoe. "You aren't scared are you?."

"Should I be?." She asked with her brow furrowed. " The way I see it, if you were going to do anything to me you would've done it by now, if you really didn't want witnesses then you would've walked in and killed me instantly." She told him. " I don't think that you will kill me, and I don't think that you will kill my sister either."

Austin raised his eyebrows. "You keep talking, you don't even know what the fuck I'm gonna do!."

Marcel sniggered as Austin walked towards the beaten man in the room. " take no notice of him he's often like a bear with a sore head."

She nodded. "I kind of got that." She turned away from him as her sister was led in, roughly.

"Ohh Zoe, i'm so glad that you're okay...

"You're just saying that, otherwise you would've come over here before they came to get you. But it's okay I understand, when the fear takes root inside of you it's hard and some people lose control, and that's okay." She told her with her matter of fact ness. "This is Marcel he's 31." She told her. "this guy" she said pointing towards Austin. "He is very grumpy, but I don't think he's more than a teddy bear...

This made Marcel laugh. If only Austin could hear what she was saying.
Dana looked at Marcel. " I'm sorry, you need to excuse my sister she... She's not well."

"I have OCD.. and bi polar other than that I feel fine. My sister likes to tell people that I'm sick, usually so that she can continue to fuck my doctor"

Marcel spat the contents of his bottle all over the place, as Dana held her head in shame. "Dammnnnn, she just fucked yo ass up and roasted you with that... you gotta have a good clap back for that, surely." He laughed.

Dana looked at Zoe and said nothing. She looked back at Marcel. " I swear that we won't say anything to anyone about you being here and whatever is happening here.. I'll just take my sister and we'll get out of your hair."

Austin came back from seeing the man on the floor. He closed the door so no one could see in. "Both of you need to leave now, if anyone comes knocking for me about this I will know exactly who I'm looking for."

Dana took her sister's hand to pull her out of the station and get out while they had a chance. Zoe pulled her hand away from her sister and stared at Austin, her face straight. "You've just killed him... The man in the other room, you just went in that room to kill him."

Austin looked at Marcel. Marcel shook his head. "Don't bro, she ain't gonna say anything." He said looking at Austin and standing in front of him. Marcel then looked at Dana. "We're not gonna be able to let you leave."

Dana had tears in her eyes while Zoe stood with her eyes firmly fixed on the door where the man was laying dead and Austin with a straight face.