The Fortune Cookies

Chapter 3

             Violet frowned at the mysterious note. It was typed, not written. She frowned and went inside. Olivia looked at her strangely.

          "What's wrong?" Olivia asked. "You have weird look on your face."                                                         "I found this note..." Violet said. She walked over to Olivia. Hey, the note didn't say not to show this to other people. Violet was determined to find all the chinks in this note. It was careless, not to include instructions or rules for Violet to follow. Olivia took the note. She read quietly to herself. 

        "What are you going to do?" Olivia stared at Violet closely. After all, her life was on the line. Possibly... Violet looked at the floor and sighed loudly. She looked at Olivia and frowned. Her friend had general concern on her face. Not for herself, but for Violet's decision. 

          "I don't know. This could just be a joke. But, they did shave a part of Luxe's back. What should I do?" Violet asked. Olivia frowned. Her face creased. Violet wondered if she should have brought Olivia into this.

       "It's up to you, Violet." Olivia turned away from her to turn on the radio. There they stood listening to the soft music. Violet started toward the breakroom door after a few minutes. She let Luxe sit in the corner of the kitchen while she worked. She would figure this out later. Right now, she had to get to work.

                                                                                        * * * * *

              Rick walked into the kitchen. He looked at Luxe. He turned toward Violet to shake his finger at her.

                "Violet," Rick said. "You know you can't have Luxe in the kitchen." Luxe glared at Rick. Rick sighed. "Fine," he said. "Just for today." Rick looked at Violet. "It's your shift for front counter." Violet looked at the clock briefly. "Can you keep an eye on Luxe, please? He's been having a bad day." Rick nodded slowly.

          Violet walked out of the kitchen to the counter. She looked back. For some reason, she was reluctant to leave Rick and Luxe together alone. She shook her head. Just because of that stupid note, Violet was nervous. Still, Luxe didn't seem very happy to be with Rick...

                                                                                      *****

 The man at the counter looked at Violet. He frowned.

          "Why have the prices of mocha gone up?" He said.

"Sorry, sir." Violet said. "I'm just a worker."

      "I suppose I will have a Strawberry infused coffee." The man said. The man left with his coffee leaving a note on the counter along with a tip. Violet was going to read it but the next customer looked at her impatiently. She stuffed it into her pocket. Violet was not a dumb girl. She had her suspicions. But, she didn't need to get fired just because she was ignoring a customer.

          Olivia came in from the kitchen. Violet looked at her gratefully. Her shift was finally over.               "Switch." Olivia said. Her mouth formed a straight line. She didn't seem very happy. 

                "Olivia," Violet said. "What's wrong? This isn't about that stupid is it? I think it was just a note. You look really worried." Olivia smiled a bit.

              "It's okay. Really."  Olivia said in a unsure way. Violet gave her a reassuring smile. She left to go check on Luxe. Luxe was lying on the floor with his head on his paws. He looked up at Violet and his lips turned up a bit. But there was one problem. Rick was no where to be found and Luxe had another shaved spot on his back.

                                                                                ******* 

                      Violet took out her keys and entered her house. Luxe rushed in and sat on his bed. Violet got out the purple knit sweater someone had sent Luxe a few months ago. She put it over his head and it covered the shaved spots. Before going to her room, Violet locked all the windows and double checked the doors. 

                           Violet sat down on the bed and took off her shoes. She went through the mail. After opening a few letters, she came across a blue letter. It had no return address. She sighed and opened the note. She knew what was going to happen. She opened the mail. It said, "Look at the note you got earlier, if you haven't already..." Violet reached into her pocket and looked at the note.

         "Get out of this town. Your safety is in danger. I know about the notes."

Violet walked to her closet to take out a suitcase. She was going to leave the town. She packed up her stuff and walked out the door with Luxe. Violet pulled out her cellphone and dialled. Her sister, Lily awnsered.

"Lily," Violet said. "I'm coming to visit."

                             ***************************************************************************

"Violet," Lily said. "There is nothing on these notes..." Violet frowned.

           "Violet," Lily said. "How did you escape the insane asylum?" Violet laughed, thinking it was a joke. Then she fainted.

                                                                         THE END

That is the end of that story but since I like short stories, I will be posting more soon. Untill then, eat cheese.