Demons

Chapter 33- Behind the Cover

Shelly's POV-

Smile pretty, put your makeup on, never let them see you cry, never get attached. Words I would go by. But not today I let someone see me cry, weakness... That's all it is... But today I just couldn't hold them back. The tears just threatened to overwhelm me, so I ran to bathroom.

The only reason I keep going is for Nichole. If I graduate and get a job, maybe, just maybe I could get her out of this hell-hole of a town.

Away from this is place is where I want to be.

I let out a deep sigh as I walked home. I still had to get groceries, luckily there was a small gas station near where I lived; I could just walk there quickly to get some food. My backpack weighed me down along with all other responsibilities like soaked cotton clothes on my shoulder; forever draping over me.

I crossed through to the shadier side of town, the buildings where slanted in some places, trash littered the streets and junkies hung out in the alleys looking for their next fix. Keeping my head down I found out home and stepped through the wooden gate that surrounded the small property.

Unlocking the door, I set my backpack near the front door before immediately closing the door along with the smell of alcohol again and heading back out. Weeds sprouted from spindling cracks in the sidewalk.

The night was already starting to fall by the time I arrived to the gas station .Guess it was farther away than I thought. Fortunately for me it was still open, most places wouldn't. A deep chill ran down my spine as I entered through the sliding glass doors. The side of my face pulsed with faint pain and I had to squint under the bright light of the store.

Besides the cash register was a teenager working, by the looks of it he was the only one in the whole store. An A.C vent blow freezing air from the ceiling caused goosebumps to erupt along my skin and racks of chips lined the walls as well as other products.

I grabbed a green basket near the entrance and began to turn to the boy at the register. Dyed half white and half black hair was held back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck and dark grey eyes glared out disinterested from under his bangs. He gave out a long loud sigh and settled his phone on the counter before stating in a monotone voice, "What do you want?"

I jutted out my hip and tried to look as intimidating as possible which was hard to do, the man in front of me was very, very tall and lanky.

Clearing my throat, I spoke up "Do you have anything like frozen meals here? I'm in kind of a hurry." I glanced out the window to see that it had gotten darker. The man let out an even longer breath of air before replying, "They're at the back of the store, you know with the frozen stuff..." He lifted an eyebrow condescendingly and I ducked my head in embarrassment. I didn't feel like putting up a façade today, not right now anyways. So I turned to go and headed to the back of the freezing cold store but not before hearing the worker mumble under his breath "Why do I get stuck with the late shifts?...." It was quickly followed by another sigh.

I walked around picking up more items and dropping them into my basket along with the frozen meal boxes. I approached the worker again to pay for everything. He was back on his phone, faint pinging and other game noises emanating from it.

He looked up from the phone before realizing with yet another sigh it was me, "Oh I thought you had just stolen everything you needed and left." I was about to chuckle at his joke when I noticed that he was being completely serious his face stoic and void of any emotion as the only worker in the store scanned my items and placed them in plastic bags.