Chapter 7 Papacito

No, it didn't work. Mr Barry was there, pacing up and down, venting out his frustration on her. She didn't even get the chance to look him in the eye. She couldn't. He was like a bear cub that was abandoned by his family. Her ears could not believe all she was hearing. Her ears became itchy; literally itchy, so she had to put a finger inside. It was good that the finger she had put in there was a consolation to her in her own way. It blocked the sound waves from his lips from penetrating her eardrums.

She had to quickly remove it so that she wouldn't appear rude, since she still needed her job.

She was used to her boss nagging. She had always wondered if he stored his words in his protruding belly because the more viscious he got with his use of words, the bigger his tummy becane. He continued raising his voice, throwing down every book and paper he managed to get his hands on. It could serve as form of exercise, he needed it anyway. She had often believed he was too big to pass through the door.

"Do you understand?" He yelled.

"Yes sir" she said even though she had no idea what he was talking about.

"What's your deal with mad people?" He asked with his hands resting on his waist. The question sinked deep in her head.

"Really... I don't know". She replied as Mr Barry scoffed.

"You should know. This isn't the first time this is happening." He said.

He was right. This was not the first time that was happening. She was always getting into trouble with people and sometimes, she had a way of convincing customers to buy what she wanted them to.

"..You should know her Freya, you and that woman seemed to be pretty close. Is she your aunt? Neighbor?.. tell me...was she one of your teachers in high school?"

"I don't think she knew her before. It could be the restaurant. I hear people say the name attracts people with mental disorders." Trina, a tall chubby server blurted out curtly and everyone giggled. She was rude yeah, everyone knew that, but no one understood why Mr Barry had not fired her yet. Rumors had it that she was his ex.

"What?.." he exclaimed angrily. Licking his lips. "..I see what's going on here.. wow .. " he began to stutter. "..you may all leave... Now!" He yelled as they all scrurried out of the office.

* * * *

It was getting late already. Lucky for her, she was not on a night shift. She took off her apron and placed it on the chair. She sighed. Today was one crazy day, she thought. She had to get home in time before her Mother got too worried. She would have been expecting her by now and if she didn't see her soon, she might develop a complication. Her mother had a weak body as she would say often. She had a problem with most foods. Basically, she had an allergy to everything, one could say she was allergic to humans themselves. Ever since she grew up to know her, her mother had had to treat a number of skin disorders and now she was battling with chronic urticaria. It had stayed longer on her skin for over four years now, disfiguring her pale skin. It made her lose her job and denied her the opportunity to a good-paying one. No one wanted to employ someone with a red skin filled with hives for the fear that these things were contagious. Then her mum would have to do a lot of enlightenment that they weren't. This enlightenment still never secured her a job. Raising Two children was work and she knew that. When she finished high school, Vera was extremely sick and all she had left was her life savings. She had saved it up for years in an attempt to pay Freya's college fees. She had an option to get treatment at a standard hospital or pay her daughter's fees. Freya could not watch that happen. Having to deal with raising them alone was enough burden for her, she was not ready to add to it. So, she had promised her that she would work very hard and gather enough money to go to college.

Jeremy, her younger brother, who was only a year younger than her was another mouth to feed. At the age of 18, Freya had gotten several jobs so that she would have enough money to send her brother to college. If not her, someone in the family had to be a graduate and she had succeeded. If not totally, atleast, her brother managed to attain a half scholarship. She couldn't have been more proud. She would take care of the other half payment.

Freya wore her helmet and climbed her bicycle. She placed her hands on the handle bar and headed home.

While riding, there was an alley she passed every morning that was a shorter route. It was already nightfall and the alley had become dark. it wouldn't be sane to take that road but, the thought of her worried mum bothered her. It was creepy, she knew, but it would take her home faster. What could possibly happen, she thought. So, she decided to shift her gear towards that path and she peddled faster.

Soon enough, she hit her tyres against something hard. She quickly pulled the brakes. She felt the presence of a few people but was too scared to look up. She knew she had made a wrong decision. She bit her lower lip, looked up and saw some familiar faces. She had seen these faces before. While trying to remember where she had seen them, she got knocked off the bicycle. She groaned in pain.

Ah! She finally remembered. They were the group of weird looking men she saw earlier that morning. But the main question was why they were after her.

"Hello Sissy, remember me?" The tall ugly one responded, smiling. It was at that point she realized that he had a broken front tooth.

They were about five huge men she was surrounded with, including the one she had hit in the morning. She was on the floor, her bag was a few steps away from her. One of them walked towards the bag and picked it up. He rummaged through her bag, throwing out stuffs he thought was useless, until he came across her purse. He unzipped it and brought out the money he found.

Different thoughts went through Freya's mind but none seemed to be useful at that moment. What could she do? Then, it came to her knowledge; if she had succeeded in constraining the mind of the woman in the restaurant earlier, even if it was just luck, it might work this time too. All she needed was a way to gain eye contact with one of them. That might be her way out. She summoned all the courage she could and acted composed, adjusting her clothes and standing up.

The man proceeded to count it. "60 bucks..." He sounded displeased. "60 bucks?" He looked at her.

" You seem disappointed. Why?" Freya asked. The man snickered. ".. were you expecting to find some thousands there?.." she laughed. ".. I use a bicycle, remember?"

"Shut up!" One of them said. She moved closer and fixed her gaze on him. This should work, she thought. It had worked earlier and this was the time she needed it the most.

"Why are you staring?" He asked staring in return as the rest of them laughed.

She definitely knew it was not working when she heard him say; "We would have let you go back home safely, but you hit my friend in the ass earlier today. I don't think I can forgive that."

Now, Freya was really scared. Why exactly did she decide to take that route? One of them walked towards her and held her chin aggressively.

"She's quite pretty, what do you say?" He said to his other friends. Freya resisted him but she was no match for him. She was taught when she was younger that when she was defenseless, biting was the way out. So, with all the strength she had, she bit the arm of the one who was holding her chin. He cried out in pain. "Crazy girl!" He yelled. He moved closer to her and hit her on the face. She fell to the ground. She didn't know what to do now, if she pretended to be knocked out, would they leave her alone? She decided to give it a try but it didn't seem to yield much success. She heard their footsteps approaching, what was going to happen to her now? She still laid on the floor with her eyes closed. Then, abruptly, she heard loud thuds and cries. Before she could understand what was happening, everywhere had become dead silent. She opened her left eye first, tightly shutting the right. Everywhere was filled with darkness and then she saw a huge figure. She opened the second eye to get a clearer image of what she was seeing. It was a young man with a face that was very familiar. She sat up still staring at him, trying to remember where she had seen him. In a flash, she didn't see him again. Where had she seen that face before? Black curly hair, green eyes, deep green eyes that stood out in the dark, and the it suddenly hit her.

"Papacito!" She exclaimed, covering her mouth in shock.