Happy Haunting

CHAPTER 3: First Day on the Job

In 7 minutes, I was downstairs with a rucksack on my shoulder and a trail of purple water droplets following me out he door. "See you guys later!" I called over my shoulder. I leapt out the doorway, pushing it closed behind me, and landing with a thud on the ground. I groaned and pushed myself up, wiping the spot of dirt on my arm away and running down the driveway, just in time to see the bus drive away. I looked around and remembered my bike. "Gluttony, I need a favour."
"Sure. What is it?" She looked where I was looking, towards the shed in the backyard.
"Could you possess my bicycle..?" I looked at the trail of water drops hopefully. "Please? I gotta get to work fast!"
"... Yeah, alright. But not for long, I'll be exhausted. You're still gonna have to put in some pedal-work too!" I smiled and nodded. "Thanks."                             
   By 9:40, we had hit the road, speeding through town at the beaten-up bicycle's top speed. We had reached Main Street, and we skidded to a stop. The bike flashed purple for a moment, then returned to normal. "I'll pedal from here, you just follow and take a break." The trail of water drops followed the bike as I raced down the road towards Harbour Street. Turning down the short road that lead to the harbour, I pedalled fast and hard, standing up and the pedals and letting the bicycle coast down the sloping road, until I slammed on the breaks and skidded to a stop, falling off of the bike and onto the parking lot of Grant's Convenience and Restaurant.
   After placing my bike on the bike rack, I wiped some of the blood off of my cheek and quickly stepped into the kitchen before anyone saw me. "First day on the job, gotta be presentable." I muttered under my breath, taking a paper towel from the roll and a bandage from the cabinet above the counter in front of me. Gluttony flashed in, immediately interested in the refrigerator. I began wiping my face with the paper towel, removing the blood and proceeding to apply the bandage. It was, surprisingly, enough to cover the whole scrape. My knees had been injured quite badly during the accident as well, so I applied to same protocol to my knees as my face, except that I had found some medical gauze to tape around them. I had just finished wrapping them when Grant, my supervisor and boss, walked into the room. Gluttony panicked and hid under the counter behind me and to my right.
   "Hello, Lee! Welcome to your first day on the job! I expect you know what to do, but I'm here to help with other things anyway, just in case." He looked down at my knees, and as he looked back up noticed the bandage on my right cheek. "Are you okay? What happened?"
   "I fell of off my bike on the way here." I admitted, embarrassed. Grant frowned.
   "Do you need anything?" I shook my head, signifying no. "Alright, but try to be more careful, okay?" And he left the room. Gluttony crawled out, trying to flatten the wrinkles in the purple bandana she wore around her neck. She straightened the buttons on her shirt and stood up. "Alright, where do we start?"
   "I need have four orders done in about an hour. Easy."
   "I'll start writing ideas for the specials down." Gluttony grabbed a napkin and a pen that was on the counter, writing some combo meals from the menu onto the tissue and deciding which sounded more appetizing. I got some lettuce from the refrigerator and got some bread buns from the cabinet directly above me. "Hey, Glut? Did you see any burger patties in the fridge when you looked?" She shook her head. I looked again, but to no avail. "Great, now I've gotta ask Grant." Gluttony looked at me strangely. "Why is it so bad to have to talk to him?"
   "I don't know, I just don't want to interrupt him, that's all."
   "Alright, I'm gonna call... someone."
   "Glut, the only people you know are the other-" I looked out the window and realized there was a person sitting at the counter. He didn't seem to hear me, luckily. "-the others." I muttered.
   "Well, it's kind of lonely with just us, and we'll stay in our spirit form, I promise. We can help you, too!" I looked away to the man at the counter before sighing. "Okay." Gluttony smiled and took her invisible spirit form, the trail of purple water drops was the only way to tell where she was. She quickly flew out of the store and up the road. I walked out to the counter, noticing the man was getting somewhat impatient. "Hi sir, welcome to Grant's! May I take your order?"
   "Yes, what's the special for today?" I panicked. "One moment please, sir." I walked back into the kitchen and looked at the napkin Gluttony had written on. I wasn't shocked to see that the entire menu was written on the napkin. I was taken aback, however to see Grant standing there. I had no idea how he had entered without me noticing his arrival, until I looked to the far wall. A door to his office was in plain sight. How had I not noticed that? I supposed the fridge had blocked my view from where I originally stood. Grant smiled. "You forgot your uniform!" He held out a folded pair of olive green overalls and a pastel yellow button up shirt. The same thing that he and the cashier in the convenience store section of the building were wearing. "Oh, sorry sir." I took them and walked into the bathroom to change. When I walked out, Grant was eyeing the napkin suspiciously. I pretended not to notice. Suddenly, the atmosphere turned purple. "Thanks sir! I'll serve that customer." I gestured for the door as I opened it and held it open so that he could exit before me. "Okay, make sure to get his order spot-on!" He walked back into his office. A flash revealed Gluttony, followed by Pride and Lust. "Hey guys, gimme a second, I have to take this guy's order." They nodded and sat down in the centre of the small, tiled-floor kitchen. Looking back, I noticed Lust peeking out the window that looked into the kitchen, giving me a thumbs up. I sighed and looked at the man. "Sir, our special today is the fish and chips combo." He nodded thoughtfully and smiled. "One fish and chips combo please." I took out a notepad and wrote it down. "For the drink?"
   "Do you have cola?"
   "Yes sir."
   "I think you can take a wild guess as to what my drink'll be." I laughed, and wrote down 'Drink - Cola'.
   "Lastly, for here or to go?" He paused. "Well, since you've got such nice staff, I'll take that for here."
   "O-okay." I wrote 'For here' and closed the notebook. "I'll be back shortly with your meal!"
   "Take your time, it's okay." He fiddled with his parka's hood as I walked back to the kitchen, to be greeted by a loud "OOOOOO" from Lust. Before I could say anything, he came up to my face. "Lee and- that guy sitting in a tree-" Pride cut him off. "Must you? What kind of person makes such childish jokes? Don't you have an image to uphold?!" Me and Gluttony laughed as Lust sat back down. I walked to the stove and muttered, "Well, I mean, he's kinda good looking and he's funny and I maybe like him-" Lust got up again. "Confirmed crush! Confirmed, I tell you!" Gluttony laughed again and Pride just scoffed. "Hey, excuse me?" It was the man at the counter.