Ding, ding, ding. The bell hanging above the door announced my entry into the café just as much as the burst of cold air blasting its way past me did. “Welcome, what can I get you?” The woman behind the counter asked. I took a second to look around at the small place. Taking in the five customers sitting near the windows facing the street. Their gazes locked into something in the distance.

While any customer here at this hour was not likely drugged out, I wouldn’t put it past some of the customers on this side of the town. In reality, every customer that visited this place was here because they needed coffee and didn’t want to be bothered by others trying to pester them about this, that, or the other thing.

My shoes squished as I walked up to the counter. “Is Lena around?” Her old schedule always had her here at this hour going over paperwork, I wouldn’t doubt my luck having her taking today of all days off.

“Yeah, let me go get her.” With that, the woman spun around on one heel and into the back room. Not even a moment later Lena poked her head out.

The second she saw me, her face morphed from its typical neutrality to one filled with scorn. “What do you want?”

I held my hands up to try and show that I was not here for anything more than to talk. It would have probably looked better if my clothes were not soaked and flinging water every time I moved. Swallowing my pride, I spoke. “I was wondering if there was a chance that I could get my job back.”

“You, want to work here again.” Her sneer deepened. “What was it you said again? Oh, that’s right. You insisted that you would never, under pain of death, work in such a dive again.” I winced at the reminder. That day had been pretty bad and I had had enough of this place. Did I mention that it had been mostly her fault what had happened that day. It was about time someone stood up to the bitch. Seeing as I had another job lined up, I didn’t care if I let my anger do what it wanted for once. “Why shouldn’t I just call the cops and have you trespassed?”

Taking a deep, calming breath, I tried to project calm and peace while internally fighting with my desire to yell at her for the events of that day. “What would it take for you to give me my job back?”

Her eyes glinted and the corners of her mouth lifted as she heard what I said. “Well, there is an opening but I doubt you will want it.”

She was going to make me drag it out of her, wasn’t she? “What opening?”

Her smile grew as she continued to poke. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I am fairly sure you wouldn’t want it anyway.”

“What is it?” Would she spit it out already?

“Since you left there has been no one to take on the filler role.” God damn it. That position was a glorified temp role. Anytime someone called out or when no one wanted a shift, they dumped it on the filler. A filler that had no right to say no or even demand more than an hour's notice. Suffice it to say, the hours were both inconsistent and too few in number.

Unfortunately, though, she was right. I did not want the position but we both knew I had no choice. Not if I wanted to pay my bills next month. If only my mother didn’t constantly drain my meager savings for her drinking. And yes, I had tried to get a separate account. Turns out she somehow gained power of attorney over me thus preventing me from doing anything financially without her permission.

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“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth while trying to force a smile onto my face. “I will take the position. All I ask is that I be given the first opening for full-time when it comes up.”

“Nope.” The scowl had morphed into a full-blown grin that looked predatory. “You will stay as a filler until I decide otherwise. That also means you cannot quit without permission.”

“You know that will never hold up in a court of law,” I stated, confused about what she was doing.

“Oh, so you don’t want the job?” Her pout was fake but her threat was genuine. If I didn’t accept then I would need to find yet another job. Something that even I couldn’t fuck up. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Not anytime soon.

Heaving a sigh, I agreed. “Fine. But can we at least add a time limit to how long I am required to work here?”

She looked like she was mulling the question over before simply shooting my suggestion down. “No.” With a wave of her hand, she gestured for me to follow her back. “Let us get some of the paperwork done shall we?”

She slapped a new contract onto the table. One that was filled out with everything we had discussed. It almost felt like she had known I would be back and had the contract ready. Honestly, though, it was more likely she just had a bunch of random contracts in a folder somewhere.

Reading it over, I found that she hadn’t added anything. It simply stated that I, Victoria Bishop, would work for her, Lena Marshall, until she released me. Yeah, no court would agree that I had to follow that, but I wasn’t going to argue the point any further. At least not until I had some other option.

Signing my name at the bottom, I passed the contract back. Her smile was wide and displayed all of her teeth. “I will give you a call when we need your services.” Effectively dismissed, I made my way out of the building and back to my tiny apartment. While I might have a job that no one wanted, at least I wasn’t living with my mother anymore.

Speaking of which, my phone went off. The name Eleanor Bishop displayed on the screen. “What do you need?” I asked, not caring that I was being rude.

“You got fired, again.” The voice on the other side slurred. She was drunk, again. It was impressive how often she was like this. I almost wondered if her livers were the best god ever made with how much she consumed. “Come back home where you belong.”

So you can beat me and belittle me for ruining your life, no thank you. Not that I would say that. Not if I valued what little freedom I had. Instead, I tried to placate her. “I already got another job.”

“But how long will it last this time?” She took a second to take a deep drink of something. Not even bothering to hide the fact that she was drinking even though it was barely past noon. “Just come home and take care of your mother.”

“You can take care of yourself,” I stated, my tone a bit crisper than it should have been. “Look, I got to go.”

Before I could hang up, she said something that sent a shiver down my spine. “By the way, your card was declined earlier when I went to the store. What have you been buying?” I hung up without answering. My rage building more as I suddenly felt the need to go beat my own mother up. It wasn’t the first time she had made me feel this way nor would it be the last. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I had managed to get some of my shopping done before she had managed to drain the last few dollars I had until my last check from the bank cleared. I didn’t even think I could buy a single cup of noodles right now.

Standing in place, I lifted my head up to the sky and closed my eyes. Letting the rain soak my face. The cold each drop brought with it helping to cool my rage until I was to the point where I wasn’t a danger to anyone around me.

Accepting that there was nothing I could do, I resumed my walk home. Hoping against all hope that I would get a call tomorrow to fill in. At least then I might be able to get a few tips. They were my only hope at this point.