Beginning

You close the locker and push the padlock metal into place. With a click the lock closes and you turn from the metal door, jumping as you meet your coworkers eyes.

"Erika!" You gasp, covering your chest with a hand. "Why do you keep sneaking up on me?"

Erika smiles, tilting her head to the side, her long, curled hair over one shoulder. "Sorry. I just wanted to invite you a party tonight."

You raise your eyebrows. "Party?"

Erikas tongue pokes out between her teeth a bit as her smile widdens. "An engagement party, actually."

You grin back at her, looking at the large shiny ring on her finger as she stretches a tattooed hand out toward you. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." She admires the ring herself as you begin walking out of the back of the restaurant. "She wants us to have a party tonight to announce it to all our friends and family."

You glance at the ring again from the side of your eye. "That is an incredibly expensive ring." You mention. "I didn't know Clarice had a job."

Erika blushes and shakes her head. "Clarice doesn't have a job. Her dad loaned her some money to buy it."

You sigh, pushing the large double glass doors of the restaurant open and heading outside. "Sure, I'll be there."

Erika beams at you. "Great! It'll be at my place at 8 o'clock."

You nod your head in acknowledgement as Erikas phone buzzes and she lifts it from her pocket, smiling a big, goofy smile at the screen. "I gotta go," she states, picking up speed and heading across the street to her car. "8 o'clock! Don't be late!" She calls, tugging the driverseat door open and slipping inside.

You stand at the edge of the sidewalk and watch her drive off, your eyes tracking the spinning wheels of the car as she makes her way down the street to an intersection and then turns left.

You don't particularly like Clarice, Erikas fiance. Theres always been something off about the woman, but you just couldn't pin it down.

For starters, Clarice was always buying Erika expensive things, despite not having a job. She never let Erika go to her house either. The two of them were always hanging out at Erikas house and you suspected Clarice was homeless.

Another thing Clarice did was take a lot of phone calls. In fact, you recall that the last time you saw her Clarice took 6 phone calls in 30 minutes. No one who's up to anything good takes that many phone calls.

You shake your head and begin walking toward your house. It didn't really matter what you thought of Clarice. She made your friend happy. What more could anyone ask?

An hour later you pushed your way into your apartment, glancing at the clock. 6:30. You have just enough time to eat dinner and get dressed and head to Erikas house.

You beeline for the kitchen, your stomach complaining loudly about being empty. Quickly, you heat up some mushroom soup, pouring it into a bowl and carrying it with you into your bedroom. You sip your soup directly from the bowl as you look through your closet for something to wear.

Once you've selected your fanciest clothing item, you sit on your bed and quickly finish your soup, glancing at the clock. 7:15.

You set the now empty bowl on your nightstand and head into the bathroom to freshen up.

When you leave the bathroom, dressed and ready to go, you pick up your bowl and carry it out into the kitchen, leaving it in the sink. You glance at the time. 7:45.

You sigh. It's a twenty minute walk to Erikas house.

You look at your phone. You could always uber?

Take the Uber go to chapter titled Take Uber

Walk go to chapter titled Walk