Eleanor

02 | deux

I sighed, after hours of being groped and hit on it was that time of night when the crowd slowly died down. The rundown jukebox in the corner of the room playing the greatest hits of the 1980's and the scent of stale beer had grown to comfort me the months I worked at Henry's.

Henry's has been around for years. It was once a family owned diner but as the family dropped like flies no one was willing to put in the effort to run it anymore, except Sal. The only immediate family left of the Henry clan. He was an old, but bitter man. I didn't blame him though, it wasn't his fault.

Sal stopped by almost every other day from four to nine drowning himself in beer and ramblings about wolves and death. It would have been sad, if what he said wasn't true.

This particular night, he hit the bullseye.

"You wanna know what the fuck is wrong with our world Ellie?"

I continued wiping the bar down but rose my eyes in attentiveness. It hadn't been the first night Sal had enlightened me with his philosophies and conspiracies but I always found myself enjoying them.

The thing about me and Sal was the fact that we were both bitter. The world had done us both wrong but in different ways.

I guess that's we had an unspoken tolerance for one another because once a long time ago I guess we were both happy. Now we were just aimlessly wandering, waiting for death.

We had nothing else to live for.

"I know you're gon' think imma a nut job but you listen here girly, I'm not crazy." He slurred, downing half of his beer. I rolled my eyes at his behavior but kept my ears open for his newest theory.

"The other day I was out fishin in that there lake," he said, pointing out the window to the small lake hidden behind the trees. "and y'know I was just doin' what I do best and mindin' my own business when I start hearin' the growlin' and I'm thinkin' to myself that this is it. My time has come."

"Oh shut up ol' man. Ya don't know what yer talkin' about."

I watched as Sal threw a glare at the man who'd spoken.

Shaw, last name unknown. He was a regular customer who'd had no problem groping any waitresses that happened to be working the night. He was a vile, repulsive man, although he didn't look the part. With a boyish charm, he'd gotten many women to leave the bar with him, including the waitresses. His wispy brown hair smelled of coconuts and his pearly white smile dropped panties many of times, but with improper grammar and crooked intentions he was nothing but scum.

"You shuddup over there, ya hear me? I'm talkin'."

"Now where was I darlin'? Oh yes, the growlin'. I was thinkin' I was gon' die Ellie, I swear on this mug of beer I was gon' die. Then I sawl it. I saw glowin' amber eyes but they weren't human eyes, no, they were wolf eyes."

I stopped cleaning the counter as I gave Sal my undivided attention now.

"And Ellie, my god, Ellie darlin' what I'm about to tell you, you won't believe but I swear I'm tellin' ya the truth girly.

I watched this thing change. I heard bone cracklin' and this wild thing turns into a fuckin' man. I swear on my dead wife, Margaret's, grave I sawl it with my own two eyes right 'ere." He pointed to his eyes that were slightly glazed over. My heart was beating at an abnormally fast pace and my palms grew sweaty as I clenched onto the rag in my palms.