The Punished

Chapter 1: Salems

"Hey, yea I'll get a half pound of fried shrimp with French fries, and can I get extra old bay on everything?"

The cashier nods and goes to call my order back to the kitchen. I turn to Lacey and see she's texting Jeremy again and he has still yet to respond. They went on a date last weekend and by her standards it went great, but he hasn't reached out yet to see her again.

"He's not worth it L, and honestly we should thank him for not reaching out cause that means more comfort food for the both of us, and you know how much I love my Salem's."

I finish it off with a belly rub and a feeling of satisfaction after the delicious food. It seems to work and Lace busts out laughing.

"See? Much better. I can't have you moping AFTER we get the goods."

"I just really liked him Mel."

"I know and I really hope he realizes what he's missing out on, but if he doesn't, then I stand by my statement and he's trash."

Shrugging my shoulders, I walk over to where our food was just placed and grab it while she finds a table. Salems has been a place of comfort and amazing food since 7th grade when we became friends, and got lost one night after a concert downtown. We stumbled upon this brightly lit fast food joint advertising seafood and it wasn't our first choice, but it was dark out, we were in a bad area, and we needed to charge our phones to call a ride. Once inside the smell told us everything and after trying it we've been coming ever since.

We sit in silence, too enwrapped in our food to engage in much conversation. I take the time to listen and observe my surroundings. There's 3 other people in the restaurant. A man who looks homeless with dirty clothes on and only a water cup at his table sits down across from us. He looks like he would be quite good looking if he cleaned up a bit, and even with the tattered, baggy clothing, you can see he has a nice body. I think I catch a glimpse of an iphone in his pocket, which I find a little weird but ignore and move on. The two others are sat a few tables behind us, so I can't see what they look like, but I can hear them clearly. A man and a woman, who by the looks of it, are getting frustrated with each other.

"Teresa, all I'm saying is don't leave him for me. I want to be with you, but at what cost? It's not worth losing your family." 

The woman who I'm assuming is Teresa stands out in a nice blouse over a pencil skirt and I see she has a designer watch on her wrist showing she's likely not from this area. She actually looks more like she's from Lacey and I's suburban neighborhood. She catches me staring, and I turn away embarrassed having been caught. Luckily her attention doesn't linger on me for too long and she turns back to the man and shakes her head. 

"Don't flatter yourself. I'm not leaving him for you. I'm leaving him, because it is the best thing for me and my children. I have spent too long buried in self-loathing for staying in an unhappy marriage and teaching my kids what love shouldn't be. James all you've done is show me how to give in to my own needs and take control of my life and I will always love you for that, but this is not a marriage proposal, it's me telling you that sometime soon we'll actually get to date like regular people and see where this goes."

The man who I'm assuming is James, looks pained, but doesn't say anything else. I take this moment to go back to my own table and talk to Lacey. After all, a conversation like that is none of my business.

Twenty minutes later, we're about done and reminiscing over how hard chemistry was and what our dorms will look like in the fall. Lace and I both got into the University of South Carolina and chose on campus housing for our freshman year. She always gets so animated when she talks about leaving, which for me is strange as I'm dreading leaving. I'm happy at the prospect of college, but so much will change and a lot of adjusting I'll need to do. The only thing that keeps my nerves at bay is the thought that she'll be there with me and I won't be experiencing it alone. Straying away from my own thoughts I take a few moments to observe my surroundings again, a.k.a. people watch, a.k.a be nosy. The man and woman seemed to have left and with them the possible homeless man too. With surprisingly no new customers coming in and the lack of people, the prospect of leaving seems more and more enticing.

Finishing up, we walk back to the car in silence both being in a food coma. That's until we hear a scream from not too far away. This is a bad neighborhood, and it's getting dark so i don't think it was a scream of joy. I look around and that's when I spot her.

She's slumped over on the sidewalk and a pool of blood is gathering around her. She's face down, and I catch the faint sight of someone running away. I look at Lacey only to see her already shaking her head.

"No, Amelia. Call an ambulance and leave it be. This? Is none of our business, lets keep it that way."

It's too late though. I'm already running to the woman. I turn her slowly on her side to see she's still alive, but her breathing is shallow. I then recognize her to be the woman, Teresa from Salems. She's choking on something I soon find out is her own blood as she spits it out on to my clothing. She herself is wearing a nice blouse over a pencil skirt and has a designer watch on her wrist showing she's likely not from this area. I can't find the source of the blood with it being everywhere, but I can tell she was stabbed more than once. I look back and see Lacey is on the phone with who I assume to be 911. The woman grabs for my hand and weakly squeezes it. I look at her face and catch her eyes just as the life leaves them. I check her pulse and confirm that the woman in my arms is now dead.