Stockholm

A Late Night Shift

I looked around the convenience store. Not a soul to be seen. This is one of the upsides to working a late shift in a small town. I have lived here ever since I was born so I could probably could tell you all of the residents by name. I could probably walk through the town blindfolded and navigate just fine. I have always wondered what life would be like living in a huge city, like New York, a bright big busy city full of many interesting people, events and sounds. A place that would never be quite the same and that would always be changing. A place full of opportunity. Little did I know I would get to experience the world sooner than I had anticipated.

My thoughts stopped as the front door opened and slammed shut. After I heard a tight lock. I quickly glanced up from my magazine to see two men dressed in all black including ski masks. It was not winter time, it was early spring, so ski masks were not a good sign. The one man was tall and buff and the other was a bit shorter than him but still very strong looking. The tall man pulled out his gun and pointed it at me. I was too stunned to move.

"Give me all of the money!" shouted the tall and buff man "And be quick about it!"

His partner then spoke "No need to shout at her she is just a employee."

"Shut up! She will do as I say!" the tall man barked.

His partner stayed quiet but looked at me, he had kind looking brown eyes.

I have never had anything to really fight for and at the moment this job was all I had to occupy me. Its not like were a rich store but we have saved up over the many years it was open, even before I was born, before my parents were born, and had a lot of money in the hidden safe, around one hundred dollars in the cash register. Still that one hundred dollars was my duty to protect on my shift. I was the one who was thinking about a more exciting life, now was my time to shine.

"No. Get out of here." I barely whispered, wincing at how weak I sounded.

"Speak up!" yelled the tall guy

"This is a small town, let's hit elsewhere" his partner said with a hand on the tall man's shoulder.

The tall man shrugged it off "Then we will take what they have on the way out!"

"I..I..I said. No get out of here!" I said louder then the first time and reached towards the phone.

The tall guy smiled, reached over the counter and grabbed me by the neck before I could take the phone and dial. I could barely breath he had a strong grip. Fear struck me, these men were not bluffing they would and could kill me.

"Listen...I said give me the money now. You will give me all of the goddamn money in this store. Kalpesh?" he whispered in my ear. Every whisper gave me chills.

"Hey hey release her neck you'll kill her, then we will be in a fine mess won't we?" said his partner.

The tall man smiled before he roughly pushed me away face first into the cigarette containers. We hadn't upgraded much so the cigarettes were held behind glass. I smashed into the glass with my face. Luckily the only thing bleeding was my nose, from the impact, and my cheek, from the glass. Thank god for crappy quality glass.

"Jim don't hurt her anymore, you'll kill her!" his partner shouted then looked regretful for saying his partners name. I guess even the slightest hint of identity could be a problem as a criminal.

The man, Jim, looked angry "You fool now she knows my name! We would be better off if she were dead now!" he said as he pulled up his gun from his holster.

"No!" the man shouted

Both Jim and I looked at him like he was losing it, whose side was he on? He was supposed to nod in agreement, maybe even offer to shoot me himself but instead he is trying to defend me from taking a bullet to the skull.