The morning Sirena woke up, she let out a soft groan while thinking to herself ‘I don’t want to work today’. With a soft sigh, she swung her pale white legs off the bed and got up. Pulling out a pair of black skinny jeans, she put them on as well as her favorite neon pink corset with a pink and black lace overlay jacket which goes well with the store she worked in. After getting dressed, Sirena walked to the bathroom that she shared with the cat and brushed her teeth and styled her hair with spiral curls at the end of her silky blonde hair; that used to be brown before she had it professionally colored. When she looked into the mirror, blue-green eyes stared back at her. With a calculating look, she applied black eye liner to bring out her eyes more. Sirena wanted to look presentable even when she works in the evening. She hated to work in the evenings due to bratty teenagers and rude adults who sometimes come in.

Leaving her shoes off for the time being, the young woman walked out to the living room and decided to watch some television while reading a book called Blue Bloods which is about a teenager who was born a vampire. The vampires are also known as fallen angels. Schyler, the main character, had a purpose in her life which was to save the other vampires/angels. Sirena had read the book series at least twice. It always made her imagine the feelings the main character goes through in the whole series.

When Sirena looked at the clock, she realized it was lunch time so she got up off the couch and walked over towards the kitchen to make food since she could hear her stomach growl at her. The young woman grabbed something that would tie her over for a late dinner since she wouldn’t be able to eat at 5 PM. She made some chicken nuggets and stir fry vegetables. As she was eating her lunch, she thought to herself. ‘I have to get some Asian food later; I’m craving it like crazy right now.’ She pulled out her galaxy S5 which had a white case with pink cherry blossoms; she wanted to see if she had received any messages. When she saw the screen, she decided to send a text to her mother.

“Are you up for some Chinese tonight?” Sirena sent the text but had to wait a couple of minutes before she got a text back.

“Sure”

“Great! I’m paying eommani (mother).” She laughed to herself since part of her message was in Korean. Though it was Romanization instead of Hangul (Korean text) since her phone couldn’t text Hangul correctly.

“No, you are not going to pay.” Sirena laughed again at her mother’s reaction to her comment about paying. It was something her and her mother often fought over; the bill.

“Oh, yes I am.” She responded back before putting her phone away while smirking. Sirena and her mother really had a strange relationship for a mother and daughter; they were like best friends. When Sirena looked at the clock, she let out a little sigh and walked back to her bedroom to get her purse. She walked into her room and saw her cute little black platforms that didn’t make her too much taller. Though, getting a bit taller wouldn’t hurt her since she was 5’1. Sitting down on her bed, she grabbed her shoes and put them on her feet. She then got up off the bed; walked over to her black purse and looked inside it to make sure she had her keys and wallet. After checking her purse, she slung it onto her shoulder then walked out of her room, down the hallway and out into the living room again. She made her way to the front white door and opened it. Making sure the cat wasn’t around her feet or anywhere near her, she then opened the screen door as quietly as she could and walked out while closing the front door behind her. As soon as the door was shut, she turned around and locked it so no intruder could get in. Sirena walked over to the blue/purple van which she was forced to drive on a daily basis because she couldn’t afford to get another vehicle and she was also going to college. As soon as she was next to the vehicle, she unlocked it manually with the van key and opened the driver’s side door. In America, and other selective few countries, had the steering wheel on the left side of the vehicle which was where Sirena was sitting. She put the key in the ignition, turned the key which started the van and placed her left foot on the break so she could put the vehicle in reverse. After she had backed out of the driveway completely, she pressed her foot on the break again and changed the reverse to drive then drove off.

After driving a few blocks to get to the mall, Sirena parked her van in the mall parking lot outside of the J.C. Penny’s store. She leaned her head back against the head rest of the vehicle for a moment before getting out and going to the retail store she was currently working at. With a deep calming breath, she opened the door and hopped out and shut the door behind her. Finally walking to the big building filled with stores on the inside. When she made it to the J.C. Penny’s doors she noticed an elderly woman walking up towards the entrance so she opened a door and held it open for her.

“Thank you sweetie, we don’t see much kindness like this every day anymore.” Sirena bowed her head and smiled softly. She’s a shy type, but will also speak up for something that she thinks is right with a lot of cussing so, when a stranger speaks to her, she remains quiet unless she had to speak and, in this case, she didn’t have to. The young woman definitely wasn’t the type to hold back unless she was at work when she had to hold her tongue. Though, she did like to respond to people who thank her even if it is quiet.

“You’re welcome.” She said quietly while walking behind the little ol’ lady. The elderly woman then opened the door for Sirena with a smile. She had to chuckle softly.

“Thank you.” Sirena walked through the door way as the women held the door for her. She quickly walked through the store, to get to the main mall itself so she could get to her job quickly. The young woman hated feeling late, and always liked to arrive to her destination early even if she wanted to go or not; she had been like that since she was in middle school. If she felt like she was going to be late, she’d feel like she was going to go in panic mode. Striding through the mall, she headed towards the store Charlotte Russe in a hurry.

Finally walking into the retail store she works at, Sirena let herself relax just a tiny bit, but she always had her guard up. Sirena made her way to the back of the store where only employees were allowed to hang out in. She then put her expensive purse in a lock/cubby where it would be safe from people stealing contents from inside it. Before closing the locker though, she grabbed her phone and put it in her back pocket in case of an emergency. She then closed the door and put her own combination lock on the locker with a smirk as she thought ‘ha think I’m gonna trust you mother fuckers. Bah!’

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

With a little nod of her head, Sirena walked out of the back room and rushed over to the register to clock herself in so she can start working. The young woman mentally prepared herself for the rudeness she was about to encounter again which gave her a headache by the end of the day. Looking over at the other employee who was working with her at the time, she leaned against the counter that the register sat on as well as accessories, Sirena then asked the other employee a question.

“Got any words of advice to give me?”

“Not really, just be your friendly happy self” Kristina advised. Sirena nodded her head and put a smile on her face to make herself seem more approachable to customers. ‘Please let there be no rude people today’ she begged to some unknown higher power, knowing that mostly likely she will need to deal with more crap from random people who she will hope to never see again. As soon as she made her thought, three girls who looked to be in their teens strutted into the store laughing loudly like they wanted attention. Sirena waited for a few minutes before going to help them look for an outfit or something they might like. When she thought she gave them enough time to browse, the young fake blonde adult walked up to the trio. One of them gave her a sneering look as she looked at Sirena.

“Hello, are you finding everything okay?” She asked, doing her job like a good employee should do.

“Yeah, we’d be great if we were left alone until we ask for the help. You sales people are so annoying.” The leader of the high school clique said while the other two girls giggled uncontrollably. Turning her back to the trio, she rolled her eyes as she thought in her head ‘she fucking sassed me!’ while she continued to move onto another customer saying the same thing each time which got tiring after awhile. Accidentally going in the same area as the three girls, the stuck up brat threw a couple pair of jeans onto the floor.

“Oops, can you get those?” She said smirking at Sirena. Holding a sigh and an eye roll in, she picked up the jeans with her same “happy” fake smile and picked up the jeans. She folded the jeans back up and placed them back on the table where they belonged. Sirena quickly moved away from the girls so they couldn’t bother her anymore before she muttered under her breath so no one could hear her, “this is why I need something more meaningful in my life; like the Inquisitor in Dragon Age. Sadly, that’s a fantasy world not reality, though I wish it were real.” With a soft sigh, she went back to work organizing the clothes in the dressing rooms and getting the customers checked out. Sirena kept her eyes on the three girls due to not trusting them. From the way they acted, she thought they might steal from the store. When they walked out of the store, she let out a sigh of relief though she knew she would have to deal with more people like them since there were a lot of people who thought others were beneath them.

Later in the evening when her shift was almost over, Sirena over heard a conversation between a parent and a daughter. From what it sounded like, the daughter didn’t want to wear a top that was age appropriate for her. The young woman grabbed a strapless corset with a under shirt that she would think both the mother and daughter could agree on. She walked up to them and held it up.

“Sorry, I overheard your conversation and I thought that maybe I could help…” She said while still holding the corset up for them to examine. The mother smiled with approval and nodded her head.

“Yes, I do approve of that. What do you think hun?” The daughter nodded her head and smiled. The girl who looked like she was fifteen took the corset and under shirt and headed to the back where the dressing rooms were located. After the girl came out of the dressing room wearing the light blue corset and white top, her mother nodded her head in approval with much more enthusiasm than before. The young teenager beamed at her mother also loving the tops. The mother turned to Sirena who had helped them come to an agreement.

“Thank you for helping miss.”

“You’re very welcome. When she is ready, I can check you out at the register.” Sirena said before heading to the register. When she made it back to the checkout stand, she looked up from the counter and saw the mother and daughter walking towards the checkout line. In the mother’s arms, there was a pile of clothes and in the pile, she noticed the tops that she found for them. She smiled softly to herself feeling accomplished for once while working at the store as a sales associate. Sirena wrung up the clothes and folded them neatly in the Charlotte Russe bag.

“The total comes up to 37.75.” She said giving the total to the adult. The mother gave the total in cash and the associate typed it in the register which made the money drawer “ding” open. When it popped open, Sirena jumped back out of surprise every time. Since the money was exact, she didn’t have to give change back; all that needed to be done was give the receipt to the woman. After the thin smooth paper printed out, Sirena handed the woman her receipt then checked the clock and came to a realization that it was time for her to clock out from working. She quickly punched in her password and took her time slip which showed how many hours she had worked.

Happy to be finally off work, Sirena let her face completely relax and stopped smiling. It got to the point her cheeks were starting to feel the pain from the fake smile she had to wear all evening. Since the mall itself closed in an hour after she got off, she hurriedly walked through the mall again to get to the bigger store and through J.C. Penny’s again to get outside to the parking lot. She made her way to her van, unlocked it then jumped in on the driver’s side. Sirena drove home, going the speed limit that were posted every now and again by the streets. When she made it home, she saw her mom’s car parked in the driveway so she pulled her van next to her mother’s Malibu and put the vehicle in park. Sirena opened the van door and hopped out wanting to get out of the crappy vehicle. She closed the door behind her then walked to the house door. Entering her home, Sirena called out to her mom not feeling hungry at all but just really mentally exhausted.

“Hey mom I’m really sorry, but I don’t feel like going out to eat. I am super tired from work today.”

“It’s okay; we can go some other time when you’re feeling up to it.”

“Sounds good to me” she replied back before heading to her room. As soon as she saw her bed, she set her purse down and ran towards her bed and plopped down on it quickly. It was then she had an idea. She wanted her life to change for the better. Getting up off her bed, the young woman pulled out candles and set them on the floor in their holders in a pentagram fashion. She then pulled a book off her bookshelf and looked through the contents before flipping to the page she wanted to be on. Sirena sat in the middle of the candles with the book in front of her. Luckily, she didn’t have to reach far when she grabbed her lighter. She spoke an incantation as she lit the candles representing each element, before casting a spell.

After she had cast a spell, she blew out the candles and set them back to where she had them. The college student didn’t believe the spell she casted would do anything, but it was worth a try. At least to her it was. Sirena then plopped herself on her bed and immediately fell asleep. Little did she know, that the spell she cast did work, just not in the way she was expecting…