Call Me Hurt

Chapter 3 - Anxiety

Anxiety

There was a man who came to the restaurant that EJ worked in every Thursday. The first time his hand trailed from her legs to under her skirt was the day that any touch from another human felt wrong.
She told her boss, Jordy, after it happened, but she never got anything more than an eyeroll and an 'I'll look into it'. Of course, it was never looked into. The man returned the next Thursday and, even though she did everything to avoid serving his table, on his way out the door, he squeezed the skin under her skirt before he disappeared. She told Jordy a second time but, with another eyeroll, he asked in a huff "did you tell him to stop?"
EJ meekly shook her head.
"Then either open that mouth and ask him to stop, or shut your damn mouth and stop bitching."
Even after being groped by that same man for the third time and she told him to stop, he told Jordy that she was verbally harassing him, and, of course, Jordy believed the man's word over EJ's.

If EJ hated work before, she loathed it now. She wanted to quit, but she had lost count of how many jobs she had applied for and been rejected, and she didn't want to end up living in a cardboard box – for her, or her mother. She had no choice.

***

EJ was curled up on the bus seat with a book on her lap, reading the same line over and over again, unable to drink in the words on the page. It was Friday and she knew he wouldn't be there, but she still dreaded the day ahead. There was no doubt that Jordy would find a reason to scream at her at least ten times before her shift ended.

She couldn't see any of us today for some reason. When she woke up that morning, none of us were visible. Even though our absence made her anxious and triggered me to wake up, I couldn't get her attention.

"EJ," Jordy huffed the moment she opened the door to the restaurant, causing the bell at the entrance to jingle.

"I know, I'm fifteen seconds late." EJ said with a blank stare, tying her apron around her waist.

"That's not what I was going to say, but thanks for the attitude. You can stay back tonight and help the cleaners. What I was going to say is we have a new waiter and I need you to be their bitch for the day."

"Couldn't you have warned me about this yesterday?"

"Theresa was supposed to do it, but she called in sick. So, move your ass."

"Fine. Where are they?"

"In the kitchen. Get to it."

EJ wandered into the kitchen – already spotting four health code violations – to a thin, short black-haired stranger wearing large magnified glasses, bouncing on their heels.

"Hey, I'm Ellen, please call me EJ. I'll be training you today." EJ said, pulling a not-so convincing smile.

"Rikki," they responded along with a handshake. "You look like you'd rather be anywhere but here."

EJ quickly glanced behind her to make sure Jordy wasn't watching. "Careful, that's practically the 'f' word around here."

Rikki winced. "It's that bad here, huh?"

EJ put her finger to her lips as her and Rikki headed back to the tables. "Let's just stick to the training for today. I'm already on the thinnest of thin ice with Jordy, and if I fuck this up, I might have to start scrubbing urinals with my..."

EJ's voice trailed off as her eyes caught something. Her face went completely pale and her heartbeat started drumming twice as fast as it should.

I saw what she was looking at.

...no.

It was him. He was here. He was already here yesterday. What the hell was he doing here?