Trigger Warning

Chapter Five: Clarissa's POV

My eyes skimmed over the message from Anastasia, and my mind began to race.

"Miss Clarissa, you are aware that phones are not allowed during your shift?" My boss, Daniel, said in an obnoxiously gruff voice.

"Daniel, you are aware that there is literally zero people here for me to help?" I replied, twice as annoying as he was. Daniel rolled his eyes and pointed to my phone.

"Put that away when someone walks in," his chapped lips were surrounded by a silver goatee, with just traces of what once was a full black beard that age had whitened. Daniel rubbed a callused hand over his bald head and trekked towards the back of the store.

Should I come now? I replied. My shift wasn't over for another three hours, and I didn't want her alone for that whole time.

It was four, so Emmett got off in about thirty minutes. I dialed his number.

"You busy?" I asked when I heard the familiar click of his answer. Emmett sighed from the other end of the call.

"I have thirty more minutes, you couldn't have waited? I'm taking my last break as we speak, and I have merely moments before I have--"

"Quite frankly, Em, I don't give a shit. Why aren't you talking to Ana?" I said, interrupting his sentence. Another frustrated sigh from his end of the line.

"She's the one not talking to me," a pause, "not the other way around." Emmett replied. This time, I was the one to sigh.

"Fix it, fuckface," this obscene word got me a disgusted glance from Nancy, the girl working the counter next to me. "and go see her after your shift. She needs someone."

A frail old lady, with hair so white it could be transparent, who had a black chihuahua in her dainty hands, walked into the front doors. "Can one of you help me find the perfect food for Chester?" she asked.

I clicked my phone off, ending the call, and raised my hand. "I can, ma'am,"