Her Coffee Hearts and Angel Wings

Chapter 5

I’m not exactly sure how I got here, shivering in a grimy parking lot and clutching an envelope. 

    “It’s easy,” Tiff had said. “Just give it to the man in green.”

    “Easy,” I scoff now, stomping my foot in a vain attempt to warm it up. My toes are icy, pushing against the tip of my ankle boots.

    Just when I think it’s time for me to go home and face Tiff’s wrath, a man slinks out of the shadows just in front of me. I have to clap a hand over my mouth to stifle my own scream. 

    “Were you there the whole time?” I gasp, heartbeat racing. The man is dressed completely in green and he ignores my question. I start to back up as he steps closer to me, each of his steps heavy like the footfalls of an elephant. 

    “Give it to me,” he grunts, voice low, eyes dangerous, and I throw the envelope at his chest and run. 

    Once I’m far enough away-- two blocks, maybe more-- I turn and rest my hands on my knees, breathing heavily. A flash of movement above me makes me jump and focus on the skyline. What would I do if Green Dude was following me? I didn’t know any self defense. I didn’t have any weapons. And even if I did, I probably couldn’t bring myself to use them.  Tiff be damned if she got me killed. But a glint of red settles my fears that it’s Green Dude, and then I’m running again, back to my apartment. And you might wonder why, if I knew it wasn’t Tiff’s scary Green Dude, would I still run away? Well, pull your head together, this is Gotham.

    And if one thing is true about Gotham, it’s that thing about the devil you know, I guess. 

    I live in the land of deranged psychopaths and cold-hearted murderers. You can never be too careful here.

    I’m angry at Tiff when I finally get home, and angry at myself for agreeing to run her stupid errand.

    “I won’t do it again, Tiff,” I snap angrily when she asks if I got the envelope delivered.

    “Whoa there, angel,” she says in a sickly sweet voice, straightening to her full height and cracking her spine, baring her teeth in a demonic grin, “you like this apartment, don’t you?”
    My blood runs cold and I choose to slam my room door extra hard.

    Then, I pace.

    This is officially the first time Tiff has threatened to kick me out on a serious note. She’s joked about it before, but I always ignored it and told myself that she didn’t have the power to do that-- I wasn’t subletting from her or anything, I paid rent on my half of the apartment and she paid rent on hers. 

    But Tiff’s power was rapidly expanding, and I didn’t doubt her ability to kick me out anymore. What Tiff wanted, Tiff got. 

    That’s part of the reason why I took her stupid envelope in the first place. I need to be on Tiff’s good side. People on Tiff’s bad side, I had begun to notice, didn’t often stay there. And not because they made the nice list, either.

 She got rid of them. 

I leave early the next morning in a last-ditch effort to avoid Tiff. 

    Shockingly enough, I recognise a familiar face when I get on the train.

    “Not late this time,” he says jokingly with a little smile. “Gabriella, it was?”
    “Yeah,” I say shyly, and smile up at him. “Good to see you again, Tim.” He looks just as tired, if not more, than he did before. “You, uh, you look tired today,” I comment, flushing when I realise that it could be interpreted rudely. “I mean-- sorry.”