This Cat Has Claws

24: Piece of Shit Human Take Two

This feeling I got appeared right when Emrys walked through the door. I was able to mask my discomfort until she and Clara left, but Landon saw right through me once I was able to let my guard down. The more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that it had something to do with Clara. Clara herself seemed fine and I could see how genuinely she adored my sister. But still, there was something surrounding her that put me off, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

After living with myself for almost nineteen years now, I realized that this foreboding feeling I always get before something bad happens can be either strong or vague. And normally, you'd think that the stronger the feeling, the worse the outcome. But it was the opposite. When I had a really strong feeling, I knew something was going to happen to me within the next day or so, and it wouldn't be life threatening or anything. Like the time I got shot in the arm. That was non-life threatening and happened within a few hours after I got the feeling. But this feeling, it was the most unclear and fuzzy I had ever felt. And that worried me.

I pushed all these uncertain feelings from my mind and focused on working. It was just Bri and I on shift today. Our manager called in saying he'd be sick and said we should be fine by ourselves. I wondered if that was really okay to leave two newbies to run the store, but it was the late shift, so hardly anyone came and we never got shipments this late. Bri and I leaned on the counter and talked. It felt like it had been a long time since we'd been able to talk. Our shifts hadn't matched u much and when they did it was at our busiest time, so there was no room for idle chit chat.

"So, how are things? No assholes coming onto you anymore?" I asked. I said I wouldn't pry too much in her business, but what could I do? I was worried about my friend, and I'd make sure she stayed safe.

Bri looked at me with a hint of shame. "Things are good. I'm quitting, or in the process. I think word might have gone around about you beating that guy up for me, so no one has tried anything," Bri assured me.

"Good. I'm glad you're quitting. Isn't the first step admitting you have a problem?"

Bri gave me a shy smile. I knew it made her uncomfortable to talk about this stuff, but she needed to come to terms with it and hopefully that would push her even farther into quitting. I had seen it time and time again from people my parents have worked with. They always say they'll quit, since we don't deal in or with drugs we also don't like our partners or employees to, and they might, for like two seconds. Then they go right back to whichever drug it was they were addicted to. And it never went well for them. But they were also shady from the beginning, so outsider opinions meant nothing to them, like they do with Bri.

"I've seen a lot of people go back, and I don't want that for you" I said and placed a hand on her arm.

"Thanks," she smiled.

"Want some ice cream? Let's get away from all this serious stuff."

I went to the section of the freezer that had ice cream and picked out one for us to share. Bri went into the break area and found some spoons for us to use while I scanned the ice cream and paid for it. We leaned our backs against the counter and took spoonful after spoonful of ice cream until it was just about gone. I really wanted to close shop early since there were absolutely no customers that came in for the whole three hours I was on shift, but this convenience store was open 24/7 so I had to wait until the next person came to take my place.

"Marley," Bri called from the break area. "You're good to go. Daniel just got here."

I exhaled with relief and raised my fists in the air in triumph; finally I could go home. Daniel walked out into the store and gave me a nod, which I returned and went into the back to grab my bag and head home. It was just past eleven at night. Daniel had been two minutes late, but that didn't make much of a difference at this time of night. I walked out the back of the store and started to head home. All that raced through my mind was my bed and being able to see Landon tomorrow.

One minute I'm walking and the next I'm being pushed to the ground by someone. I try to catch myself, but whoever is pushing me has both my hands secured behind my back. Not cool. I faceplant into the ground and groan. That did not feel good at all. My head ricochets off the ground and I feel something drip down into my mouth. The metallic taste sent rage pouring through my veins. Not only had I been pushed to the ground, but they had made my nose bleed along the way. So help me God, if they had just broken my nose, I would leave them barely alive.

I maneuvered my head so that I could take a look at who my attacker was. It took a moment of me staring to place his stupid face. It was that piece of shit human that tried to rape Bri. He sat on top of me and lifted up my shirt. A shiver ran down my spine, both from the sudden exposure to the cold January air, and from his unwanted touch.

"You fucking bitch. Because of you I've been getting no business and all my pals laugh at me," POS said.

This was one of the main reasons why my parents didn't want to work with druggies. I mean, sure, other people in the business would kidnap us from time to time, but at least they weren't violent. Take the last two times I've been kidnapped for example. They grabbed me and I fought back, but they never hit me or tried any funny business. Well, except for that one guard of Jillian's, but it was not her intention to ever really harm us; just use us as leverage. More often than not, druggies were rash and violent and acted purely out of emotion, plus they were just plain stupid most of the time.

"You're the piece of shit you fucking bastard. Do you really want another beating? I'm gonna give you one, so no point in answering. Now take your mother fucking hands off me before I lose it and kill you," I said in a menacing tone.

POS flinched and stared into my eyes. I glared, hard, and made it perfectly clear I was on the verge of losing my rationality and painting the sidewalk red with his blood. And I would totally get away with it. Pass it off as manslaughter or self defense or something. It'd be so easy to plead to the jury that it all happened to fast and I just couldn't even remember how I somehow killed him because I was focused on not getting raped. It would just be too easy. As a creepy smile crept up on my lips, POS backed up a little, but still remained on top of my legs. He had unintentionally released my hands.

With my hands now free, I reached behind me and grabbed into POS's shirt flinging him to the side so he'd be completely off me. I jumped up and cracked my knuckles. POS sat there dazed on the ground as he awaited his fate.

"Oh, come one. Not even gonna try and run?" I taunted. "The chase is the best part."

POS burst into tears as my foot connected with his ribs. He fell and twisted onto his back and instinct took over and told him to get away from me. I watched as POS tried to crawl and cut him short with my foot on his back. I stomped down as hard as I could and relished in the sound of his body meeting the ground. POS cried out in pain.

"Oh no, you've gotta be quiet. Don't want to cause a scene do you?" I taunted some more.

I squatted down over POS and turned his head so he could look me in the eye. He looked absolutely terrified and I smirked. It had been a job well done for me, but I wasn't quite finished yet. All that trouble he had caused Bri, and then he had the audacity to bring me into it. I brought my fist back and swiftly let it fall into his face. There was a sickening crack as his nose broke. I grabbed his hair and lifted his head up as much as it would go in our positions, then shoved it toward the ground.

I got up and dusted off my hands and wiped my nose. With all the scuffle, it completely slipped my mind that my nose was even bleeding and may be broken. I touched it and it hurt, but didn't seem broken. POS was passed out on the ground. I was about to go wake him up so we could have some more fun when I turned my head and was met with eyes I didn't want to see; staring at me in a way I didn't want to know.

"Marley?" Landon asked with and emotion I didn't want to realize was aversion.