New City New Me
Before leaving, my teacher gave me a list of night professions I could choose from. Most of them made me queasy so I chose to work in a bar (before I tasted my teacher's gross beer).
I chose to not think about the other steps in my teacher's plan for now. Even the bar which I thought seemed okay at first began giving me a gnawing feeling when I heard what sorts of reasons such a bar was successful. Still, it was preferable to more questions options my teacher gave me.
'I wonder if I'll miss my teacher.'
I pondered after a few hours of walking from my teacher's cabin.
'I don't even know my teacher's name though.'
Ilia stood under the rising sun, her knuckles covered in blood and her hand clasped around something squirming.
Smiling she stared at the sky,
"I suppose I no longer need to ask."
"MMNGHH"
"Hm do I no longer need to do this?"
The squirming intensified and then stopped.
"Hm the money is good though. A bit unsavory though."
"Shit you look awful."
Ilia turned her head to look a the one who made a distasteful remark.
"Good morning Jon"
Ilia spoke dryly with unfocused eyes.
"Why do you look like that?"
"You woke me up before I slept even 2 hours, Jon."
"No.. I mean… You look even more disinterested in the work than you normally do."
"Then should I cry? Laugh?"
"…is there a third option? Both of those are disturbing images with your current appearance."
"You're soaked too though"
"For someone who says you don't particularly hate them though, is there a reason to use your fists and take your time so much?"
"Are you going soft, Jon? The higher-ups may disapprove. And it's just a habit I suppose."
"That must be why they love you then. You and your disturbing habits"
"Ah but I may quit."
"You?? Quit!?"
Jon stared at me in disbelief.
'Why?'
I tilted my head.
'Because of the pay maybe? Or because I worked myself up the ranks in just 10 months? It's no big deal. I can just do something else. This wasn't hard to learn either. If I have no more questions… is it even worth the trouble?'
"I'm smart so I can do anything if I put my mind to it."
"You… it just pisses me off even more hearing it from you. Didn't you want to keep getting promoted? With how much you make here, its a waste to throw it away."
"Well… the money is nice… bit I came for the incentives rather than that."
Jon stared at her silver knuckle adorning hands and shuddered imagining what incentives she thought she was receiving.
After cleaning up, I crawled into bed a couple hours past the sunrise I had watched in a new light.
'I guess… this schedule will be convenient for now…"
I closed my eyes.
I woke early enough to still see the sun. After working all night I confirmed would have a couple days off. I told Jon to pass on I had independent research related to our field of expertise. It's true. In a way. I'll do research, but I don't have any intention of casually handing over everything I find. I'll sieve through my research for something I can sell to them.
I ran my finger over the rim of a glass.
I headed down the alleyway on my way to work in the bar. Once I arrived, I heard there was trouble last night from a regular who was tapping off before the night even began. To think that such scary stuff is happening in this city.
"Sky, look here"
I walked over to the cabinet where my coworker was standing.
"Do you think one is missing?"
She slanted her head against her index finger slightly as she scanned the cabinet with her eyes.
"They break often, people drop them when they're drunk or get into fights"
"None broke last night though."
"Maybe it was missing before that then?"
"I thought we had more last night… the men causing trouble the last few nights left early so I though we had the good fortune of none of them breaking. Then this happened…"
'I feel like I'm forgetting something'
"…When did they leave?"
"Hm around 2am?"
'Thats around when the girl called Ilia left… I was busy yesterday so I wasn't paying attention, but what if those guys went after her?'
Right when I was thinking about this, the door creaked open, revealing a somewhat familiar face.