Nightfall

Chapter 6

Miss Wanda knew something was wrong the minute her newly-hired employee walked through the door.

First, Thea nearly tumbled in after tripping over her feet clumsily. Then, when a customer asked if they had a certain book in stock, she barely restrained herself from flipping him off and instead said, "I don't even know what's back there. So don't ask." After that little stunt, she rubbed her forehead massage-like for a good twenty minutes before she finally took her break early and fell asleep in the back room in the corner on the floor with her bunched up jacket as a pillow.

And without a sigh of complaint, Miss Wanda had taken over Thea's shift herself and let her sleep. She didn't complain, and, to her own disbelief, she didn't even seem to really mind.

It was just...Thea. For some unknown reason, she felt obligated, no. Compelled to help this one girl. It was the damnedest thing. Miss Wanda had never been kind to one of her workers before. She stayed out of their personal lives respectively and treated them like the gum on the bottom of her shoe to make sure that she kept her distance.

And Miss Wanda really needed to keep her distance.

At that moment, Miss Wanda saw Thea step out of the hallway that led to the break room. Thea seemed better to her. More herself and less aggravated. Like she was coming over from a...hangover?

At that, something in Miss Wanda ignited and before she knew what was happening, she was storming over to Thea with a snarl on her face.

"Thea Blakemore!" Miss Wanda scowled. She had stopped in front of Thea, who was now looking down at her shoes. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Thea desperately tried to snatch a good enough excuse from deep in her brain but Miss Wanda drove on through and didn't give a chance to respond.

"You're lucky I don't fire your ass right now," she seethed. A moment passed and Thea was left scrambling for something to say but her mind, of all times, went blank. Miss Wanda visibly smoothed her face so it gave nothing away. And it sadly reminded Thea of the mask she put on every time she walked through her front door.

Now calmed down, Miss Wanda looked at Thea squarely in the eye and said, "Finish your shift, and then you be here extra early tomorrow to stack all of those books that you left lying around."

With that, Miss Wanda whirled and hobbled her way to the back room herself, and Thea let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Whether she liked it or not though, Thea needed this job. Not only to get out of the house and away from her parents - and that was a big part - but she needed the gas and spending money. She was saving up enough so when she turned 18 in the next month, she was prepared to go out and get an apartment of her own.

No matter what, she was getting out if that house.

With a deep sigh, Thea made her way behind the counter to finish what was left of her shift. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and she didn't get off until 5. Luckily for her, that was also the time that the library closed. So at this time, only a few wanderers were there and they seemed to be doing just fine on their own.

So Thea lied her head down on the cool countertop and closed her eyes. But it wasn't long before she heard the little bell beside her ring once with finality. Suppressing a moan, she lifted her head sloppily, rolling her neck around before looking at the person in front of her.

Expecting someone old and irritated to be standing there, Thea nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized who it was.

"Hello, Thea."

Thea's mouth slackened some but then she got a hold of herself and narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you want?"

He smirked and Thea couldn't stop the thought that suddenly appeared in her head. Of how well he made that smirk look.

She mentally slapped herself.

When he didn't answer she said, "Look, I don't even know your name. Let alone give permission to random strangers who wanna stare at me all day like I'm lunchmeat."

He held back a sly grin and arched a brow questionably. "Is that why you're so rude to me? Or everyone who walks through that door shares the same fate."

Thea mockingly perked up and announced, "Nope." Making the P pop. "Just you."

"Hmm..." he inquired to himself. "In that case, I believe retribution is in order."

Thea scoffed. "And how exactly are you to punish me for being rude to you?"

He chuckled low in his throat. "Easy. Just tell me where you live and I'll be there by 8 tonight."

It was Thea's turn to be baffled. She shook her head no. "Absolutely not," she exclaimed. "I don't go on dates with people who don't give me their name."

He shrugged, unperturbed. "I never said it was a date. And," he looked Thea up and down, making her feel insecure. "by the looks of it, you could use a guy like me to take you out somewhere besides your shitty little home right?"

Thea frowned. "How did you - "

"Know about your shitty little home?" he finished. "I didn't. But who the hell would work here just for the kicks of never getting a late fee?"

Thea might've believed this idiot better if he didn't add an almost invisible mischievous grin after everything he says. Like everything that came out of his mouth had another meaning than just literal. And it only made Thea get thrown over the edge even more.

Finally Thea said, "Sorry. But I'm not interested in going anywhere with a sadistic sociopath like you. So I'm gonna have to pass tonight."

He tilted his head at that but reluctantly nodded in agreement. He turned to leave but Thea had already seen the small smile quirking its way up at the corner of his mouth.

Damn.