Page 9 of Encircled in Darkness
“How are you handling it tonight? Do you need a break?” Allie asked as she poured the first pitcher and reached for the second.
“It’s going good. I haven’t dropped a tray and so far, no wrong orders.” I smiled back at her, feeling happiness deep inside.
The other waitress, Teresa, walked up and nudged me with her hip. She smiled at me as I looked and nudged her back. Teresa was at least ten years older than me, but she could hustle around the floor better than I could. She said it came with practice. Allie sat my order down and I quickly delivered them to the table, the noisiest inside the tavern tonight. They weren’t obnoxious, yet, but something about their demeanor reminded me of the drunks from the Flats and I feared how rowdy they could become.
As I was bringing another round to a table of older ladies out on the town, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I had been getting the same feeling, sometimes when I was outside, sometimes when I was safely inside my house, of someone watching me. I could feel their eyes on me, but when I tried to find them, no one was there.
Half of the time, I convinced myself it was the loneliness - pushing against the darkness - that was threatening to overtake me. It had been five weeks since I was left on the doorstep like a wayward child, and if it weren’t for this job and my weekly trips to see Natalia, I would probably be insane by now. I didn’t miss Victor or any of his perverted friends, but I missed the human interaction, the physical touch of another person. Good or bad, it was a connection.
Shifting my eyes as I placed the drinks around the table, I couldn’t see anything or anyone that stood out in the darkened bar and I swallowed down the fear that was creeping up. Walking their empty glasses back to the bar, I nodded for Hayden. He kissed Allie on the cheek as she poured a tumbler of whiskey and he met me at the end of the bar.
“Can I take my break? All my tables have fresh drinks and should be okay for a bit.”
Leaning over, he asked quietly, “Are you okay?” his eyes appraising me as I tried not to fidget.
“I’m fine. I just need to get some fresh air.”
“My office is open if you need some quiet, but Teresa has a nice spot outback that she goes to smoke. You’re safe out there.” His boyish good looks and gentle charm were another reason I enjoyed working here. He was kind and I was grateful to have a male friend who didn’t want to fuck me.
I nodded and ducked under the counter to grab my small backpack. Lifting it over one shoulder, I cut through the underutilized kitchen and out the back door, the noise from the happy customers drinking and playing pool muted as the door closed. It was dark behind the building and there was a small fence enclosing the area. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the small joint I rolled from the bag I indulged in and sparked the lighter.
Inhaling deeply, I held the cough in as the smoke filled my lungs, smoothing the rough edges of my sudden fear and instilling calm. I felt bad about spending money on weed when there were other things I could use the money for, but I used my tips from the first day and it lessened the guilt. I never did anything for myself, and while forty bucks on weed wasn’t exactly a luxury purchase, it was what I needed at the time. Besides, Hayden gave me a great deal.
Taking another draw off the joint, I sat down in the chair Teresa had pulled outside and rested my head against the brick wall, letting my eyes focus on the stars shining brightly in the inky black sky. Looking up at the stars seemed like a waste of time when Natalia wasn’t there to appreciate them, and I wiped an errant tear from my eye.
Snubbing the joint out, I slipped it back into my purse and crossed my arms, a cool breeze chilling my skin. The guilt over what happened to her had been eating me alive since the moment I found her clinging to life. I was flirting with a guy from my math class after study group and that’s why I was late getting home. If I had been there, she wouldn’t have gotten hurt.
Together, we could have fought them off...maybe.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I pushed back the bloody images of Natalia and remembered she was better, even if she would never be awake again. The cuts and broken bones mended, but her brain never would. The doctors said she could live years like this or one day, she could be gone suddenly. I had signed the do not resuscitate order for her, knowing she would want that.
At least I hoped that’s what she would want. I still felt like I signed the order to kill her, even if my rational mind knew better.
I went back in a few minutes later, the weed had relaxed me enough to finish the night out without the creepy feeling of being watched making me paranoid. After asking Hayden to walk me to my car, I spent the next three hours serving drinks, laughing with the patrons, and feeling alive for the first time.
James
I had been monitoring Amaya for over six months and tonight was the first time I saw her have an actual smile on her face. She swayed her hips slightly as she set another round of drinks at the table of assholes and quickly checked on another table. I was wearing a ball cap and had taken the back booth in Teresa’s section, hoping Amaya didn’t recognize me. When I sat down, I ordered a whiskey neat and handed her fifty bucks for use of the table.
I had been in and out of Falcon’s Tavern since my sister-in-law Elise worked here a few years ago, and Teresa knew my pattern. She would refill my glass when it was empty, but other than that, she let me sit in the corner and watch. Hayden was a good guy, but my brother Devlin didn’t trust anyone where his lamb was concerned. I never understood his obsession and driving need to protect her until I laid eyes on Amaya.
She was sitting by the lake, her long brown hair blowing in the breeze and her arms wrapped around her legs. I was taking a stroll through the park from meeting with a member of the Pierce family when I saw her. Her beautiful brown eyes twinkled with unshed tears as she sat and watched the sun set over the lake. Her haunting pain resonated outward and I felt the monster deep inside me stir.
I wanted to sit next to her and pull her into my arms, to push away the demons that were obviously chasing her. I didn’t know what it was, but her soul called to mine and on instinct, I followed her. Her crappy car was parked at the public entrance to the lake, so as she walked slowly to the lot, I ran to the underground garage for my building across the street and jumped on my new motorcycle.
Following behind her in traffic, I called Skid- an associate of my shared company with Devlin - Callahan Cyber Security and had him run her tag through our system. He chuckled and did as I asked before sending the information to my phone. He was trustworthy to a fault, but Devlin and I knew his time with us would come to an end sooner than either of us would want.
I parked up the street from her and got a good visual of her house. Slowly cruising by and turning around at the dead end past her house, I noticed through her open blinds that she was alone. I took off and headed back to my building, needing to find out who she was. Parking my bike, I took the elevator to the third floor, which housed our private servers and all the records from our old boss Marco.
Devlin and Elise lived on the top floor and I moved into the fourth floor, Elise’s old apartment, a year ago when the renovations were finished. Devlin had moved the other six tenants out to another building and fortified this one to withstand an attack, not that our lives were that exciting anymore.
I missed the days where we were feared, but only when the monster got restless. On a normal day, I was happy with the boring life I led, away from the pain and abuse heaped on Devlin and me from an age too young to be considered early. Shaking off the raging thoughts of my years with Marco playing his sick, twisted games, remembering the monster being born from necessity and circumstance, I focused on learning what I could about Amaya Cordera. The monster growled deeply, rattling the bars of its cage and demanding to be set free, the more I read about her.
It took little time for me to find out her story and I forced myself to calm down. Father unknown, abandoned at age ten by her mother, group home until she was adopted out by her older sister at sixteen. Everything was in her state file about where she came from, but nothing about who she was. She was one of the unfortunate kids who got lost in the poverty and despair of the Flats.
Kids like me and Devlin. Kids like Elise.
Digging deeper, I discovered large payments out of the ordinary for someone like her. Cash in and out of her account twice, maybe three times a month for the past year, and she appeared to have no actual job. With a few keystrokes, I had her financial records on one monitor and a moment later, a camera shot from the hallway where her sister was being treated on another.
