Past Life Crisis

Part Two - The Inevitable

  I reluctantly knocked on the door before opening it and entering my boss's office. "You wanted to talk about something?"

Mr. Sims turned his rolling chair around to face me. "Hello, Miss Berry."

I blushed, still not fond of my last name. "Good morning."

"Animal clinics are expected to have a certain amount of integrity and morals," Mr. Sims began. "And here at Sumter Animal Clinic, we like to raise the bar even higher."

"Alright, look. If this is about the time I put the dog poop in the trashcan, it was an honest mistake-"

Mr. Sims held up a hand to silence me. "You're fifteen years old. I get that, I do. But when I hired you I expected you to act like you're older than that." He stood. "It's not just the dog poop, Anna. Your job is to clean this place up for a little bit after school, that's all. It doesn't involve messing with the animals or smart-mouthing the customers."

"Maybe we need to get nicer customers," I muttered. "Okay, let me guess. You're trying to fire me?"

"Well that was easier than I thought." Mr. Sims nodded.

I smiled pleasantly. "Why don't I give you a good reason not to fire me? For one, I need this job. My mom is barely making ends meet and my dad's been holding off on the alamony checks for a while. And I really-"

"Want to go to Europe for the summer to see other cultures. You've told me this before. I wish I could help, but I have to look out for the business. Surely you understand."

"Oh, I completely understand. Thank you for your time." I sounded unnaturally calm. "Can I have my paycheck for last week before I go?"

Once I was paid and officially fired, I stormed outside muttering all sorts of profanities under my breath. I hopped on my bike, not having a car only adding to my shame. Well, at least it was a dependable bike, I reasoned.

I rode my bike to the corner store in my neighborhood to grab an energy drink. I liked how unpredictable they made me. Parking out back so nobody would steal my ride home, I circled around the gas station on foot until I reached the front.

By the entrance there was a lanky teenager who I identified as a skinhead by his haircut and tattos. I could hear his obnoxious music from where I stood, even though he had headphones. 

I tried to walk past unnoticed. Epic fail.

"Is your hair color natural?" he asked; I wasn't surprised to hear that, considering the gold color of my hair was usually copied and was in fact natural on me.

"Yeah... your point?"

He chuckled a little. "Cool."

You've got to be kidding me, I fumed as I realized I was dealing with a neo-Nazi. I didn't like them at all- for one thing, they had no style.

"Hey, wait up!" The rail-thin boy followed me inside the store. "Some friends of mine are having a party tonight. Wanna come?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Come back when you've inherited some style. Or better yet, some credibility."

He didn't know what to say to that, so I sauntered off and went about my business. I was still angry about getting fired. I'd been saving up since the fourth grade to go to Europe and "experience the culture" - in other words, I wanted to find Rolf.

Even though he'd changed his last name, through some research I was able to find his current name and occupation, though I wasn't exactly sure where he lived.

 I bought the biggest Red Bull I could find and chugged it down before getting back on my bike. I was shaking uncontrollably, and I didn't care.

One of the positives of my decision to buy an energy drink was that I reached my house in half the time. And as I walked through the front door, there was Mamma, lounging on the couch.