A Rose With Teeth and Claws

Work?

     Talia opened the door to work at exactly 8a.m. that morning. Exactly on time for her shift, but late by Mary's watch.
    "Talia! What have I told you?" The old lady squawked at her as soon as she closed the door. "Early is on time, and on time is late." Talia reciting every word alongside her sullenly.
     "Yes ma'am. I'm sorry I was late but I couldn't find my left shoe this morning, very bad luck. And my other pair of shoes are just so atrocious that I would be embarrassed to wear them here."
     She just loved joking with Mary. Though the little, old lady didn't laugh at then much, she often muttered to herself about something called "maturity" and "sanity".
     In response to her joke, Mary muttered comically to herself about lazy, good-for-nothing teenagers but Talia saw her smiling and gestured for her to vet to work so they could open the doors.
     In all seriousness, Talia rather liked the older woman. She was like her grandmother but didn't constantly nag it ask a lot of questions. She seemed quite experienced with handling teenagers like Talia; teenagers who have secrets and burdens too dark and heavy to trust anyone easily, most likely from being a mother herself she suspected, (or that she knew about her "condition") but she didn't know if Old Mary even had children of her own. She had never asked.
     Getting her apron, pens, and pad, Talia unlocked the front doors for customers to enter. She quickly went back and told the cooks that it was time for opening and to get off their lazy asses. They all nodded and laughed with her as she went to the front desk to await the first customer.
     She waited for an hour before the first family finally joined them. A man, woman, and three kids: two boys, one girl.
     "How many?" She only asked because it wasn't polite to assume, and they could have more on the way.
     "Five." Rude. She said it as if she just expected her to magically know.
     There were many things that bothered Talia, but rudeness was not one of them. So she tried not to think about it too kuchen as she led them to their table. The three children were all looking as bored as possible and as if they would rather be anywhere but there.
     Honestly, same. She couldn't wait to leave and not have to deal with people for a while.
     They all sat at a round table by a large window.
     "I want sprite!" The two boys yelled in unison before she could even ask what they wanted.
     "Tea please." The little girl was much more polite. She was absolutely adorable with brown eyes and golden hair.
     Both parents just mumbled "coffee" before turning to their menus.
     As she walked to get their beverages, she hear the mother say, "ugh, this chair is so uncomfortable and the tables are disgusting." As if just looking at the cushioned chairs and spotless tables, which Talia relentlessly scrubbed, was offensive.
     At this, Talia git a little upset, which was strange considering it was just something stupid. She had heard worse and it hadn't bothered her this much.
     She dug her nails into the palm of her hand to stop herself from turning around and biting the woman's head off and proceeded to the kitchen to do her job.
     "Here you are." Her voice was sickeningly sweet poison as she said it to the table, setting down their drinks.
     "Finally." The woman did not seem to care if Talia heard her comment of not.
     Wow... Some people have no manners. And the way she talks about this place is just downright ugly.
     But that's just how some people are. Ugly, rude and disrespectful.
     After taking the orders and delivering it to their table, she found herself getting more and more agitated. Again, the lady at the tablets talking about the food and quality of the restaurant and  the people that had come in were beginning to look.
     "The door here is just terrible, the service is poor and people are just rude!"
     Talia just snorted at her comment. Oh the irony.
     "This place should be shot down!" This was the last straw for Talia, who was taking another table's order a few paces away. She turned around and stalked those few paces and plastered on an acidic smile.
     "Is there something wrong with the food ma'am?" She was trying to be nice, but her anger was making it difficult.
     The lady whipped around in her direction and all but spat, "yes! And you can bet that we will never come back!"
     Talia just laughed lowly. "Oh, really now?"
     She could feel her heart racing as she got in the woman's face and growled. "Good. Because if I ever hear you taking shut about this place again, you can bet you won't be walking for a while. I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour as long as I am here. Understand?!"
     She was so upset, she screamed the last word, showing off her canines unknowingly. The lady's face turned ash white, as had her husband's, who had been watching for the last bit.
     All the other customers turned to stare and, as she straightened, every person staring quickly found more interesting things to look at.
     The older woman was shaking and close to tears and if Talia hadn't been so pissed, she might've felt a little bad.
     What Talia hadn't noticed was the color of her eyes had changed briefly, her teeth sharpened to razors, and her nails had grown and punctured her hands, which were now bleeding onto the floor and the lady's lap.
    She seemed lost for words at the moment, but quickly remained herself.
     "What are you?!" Her voice was a high pitched squeak and frankly, it was making Talia want to decapitate her even more.
     She got quickly out of her chair, gathered her children and backed away from Talia. Just the, Old Mary came rushing out of the kitchen as fast as her hobbly legs could carry her, brandishing a large, metal ladle.
     "What's the ruckus about?! I heard a scream."
     Then her eyes met Talia's.
     Fuck.
     They trailed from her face, to her hands; which were bloody, but not damaged anymore, her nails having gone back to normal; to the mother, with her horrified expression, holding her kids close, Talia's blood staining her jeans.
     Mary quickly took Talia by the arm, roughly, and drug her in the direction she had just come from.
     Oh, she was in for it now. She was definitely going to get fired for this, but the this was, Talia found she didn't care. She had stood up for her friend and didn't feel any remorse at all.
     Reaching their destination, Old Mary let go of her and spun around quickly.
     "What did you do?" She asked hotly.
     Leave it to Mary to be an intimidating eighty-year-old. She started to tap her foot after a few moments of silence from Talia.
     "What do you have to say for yourself? Do you want people to know about you?"
     She looked at the old lady, no regret on her face. "No. Of course I don't want them to find out. I-I heard that bitch talking about the restraint and putting us all down. I snapped and told her to stop or she would find that a fist is fairly bad for your dental health."
     Mary sighed. It was a pained sound but halfhearted.
     "You're usually so good with rude customers, even when you're in a mood." She paused for a moment making sure Talia was still listening. Of course, she was.
     "I should fire you, you know?"
     Talia hung her head. That's what she had thought. Suddenly Mary caught her off guard by asking a question.
     "What day is it?"
     "I don't see w-"
     Getting irritated, Mary cut her off. "Just answer the question, geez."
     "OK, Wednesday?"
     The old lady laughed at her. "No stupid, what's the date?"
    "Rude." They exchanged eye rolls before Talia finally said, "July 14.
     "So what does it have to do with my situation?"
     Another sigh, another irritated explanation. "It's the full moon, you dolt! What do you think that means for you?"
     Her eyes widened. "Oh."
     She was scared. She was absolutely terrified of that part of herself.
     "I'll give you until Monday to get better. I know how these things get." Before Talia could interrupt, she continued. "I have a nice young lad who visits every few weeks to help me out. He will take your position until Monday. Now. Go home."
     And with that, Mary pushed Talia to the door and out into the snow, throwing her coat after her and a cheery "get well soon!"
     She thought about going home, but put on her coat and headed to the bridge instead.

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A/N: hey guys! So this is an original story, written by me. I hope you like it and give me some feedback. I'm hoping to actually publish this as a book some day, so I may stop at this chapter, and I may do one more. But the next chapter is the important one so I'm not sure I will.
     Anyways! Keep in touch because you may hear of my story in the future in book stores or on e-book.

-peace 😜