The Cunning (18+)

1

The monotonous beeping at Madison's till was nearly enough to lull her to sleep. Her body moved mechanically, sliding items from left to right.

Lozenges. Butter. Squash. Hairspray.

"That's £8.05," she said, her eyes falling on the frail old lady pulling her purse from her battered handbag.

"Sorry dear, you'll have to help me. My eyes aren't what they used to be." The lady smiled. In the palm of her paper hand were six pound coins, one fifty pence, and two twenties.
Madison took the money, smiling. Enough people told her to 'keep the change' to make up the difference in the till. "That's all done. Have a nice day."

The lady wished her the same, shuffling towards the door as a group of dishevelled youngsters with untucked shirts and loose ties filtered in, eager for their post-school sugar rush. There wasn't another customer after the kids until the last fifteen minutes of her shift. The bell chimed above the door, breaking the silence between the loaves of bread and cartons of milk.

Madison looked up from the stock list she was checking. She watched the curly hair float above the aisles towards the drinks fridge. Shoes peeled off the freshly mopped floor like velcro with each step. She returned to her place behind the checkout and waited.

"Twenty Marlborough, please," the customer ordered when he circled back, placing a can of Coke on the counter. His attention didn't leave the phone in his hand, the kind of phone you could throw at the wall and have more chance chipping the plaster than cracking the screen. Madison slid the cigarettes over, not bothering with ID.

"That's £13.95," she said, her voice higher than usual.

The stranger looked at Madison through his lashes, giving her a once over with mossy green eyes. They settled for a second on the name badge pinned to her red polo. It wasn't her own, rather a spare she found in the staff room that read 'Tara'. Her boss could be quite anal about the uniform. After a brief silence, he handed her a twenty and pocketed the change, leaving without another word.

Madison clocked out shortly after, grateful for the late afternoon finish before her day off. She was working nights the following week and would need to adjust her sleeping schedule. She didn't live too far from the shop, a thirty-minute walk if she hurried, or seven to ten songs, depending on what she was listening to. The neighbour's cat jumped out of the hedge lining the path to her front door and brushed against her shins.

"You hungry?" Madison asked, scooping the black cat into her arms and kissing his sleek head. The gentle vibration of his purr rattled against her hand resting under his chin. The two of them had fallen into a routine of spending evenings together when her mum went on business trips, something she had been doing more frequently these past few months. She suspected there was a man involved but never asked. Their relationship had withered years ago after the incident with her brother. They were strangers living under the same roof, leading completely separate lives.

The cat leapt down from her arms, tracking damp prints over the white envelope on the welcome mat. Another over-due bill. She folded her jacket over the bannister at the bottom of the stairs and shooed the cat off the letter, adding it to the pile of growing passive-aggressive threats from whomever it concerned.

In the kitchen, her phone buzzed as she placed a bowl of cat food down. A text from her boss flashed up on the screen requesting she cover tomorrow's night shift, the new guy had called in sick. Deciding she could do with the extra money, Madison reluctantly agreed. It was only six hours, nine to three, nothing she hadn't done before. But it wasn't the hours that irked her, it was knowing her creepy boss was watching her every move on the CCTV in the back. She shivered at the thought of his eyes lingering on her chest in the grainy footage, the way they did in person. Pushing her discomfort aside, Madison set about making dinner before settling in front of the television for the night.