The Office Worker and The Tramp

Chapter 1

"¿How much, Mrs.?" Nashira asked the other woman.

The middle-aged woman behind the cupboard looked at the girl with boredom. She didn't care that she looked like a hippie, as long as she paid her for those extra-long earrings.

"Four" She replied.

"¿Can't you lower it a little? Two, come on!".

"I leave it to three. Don't ask for more".

Nashira just shrugged her shoulders, resigning herself to paying a dollar more than she wanted. She took just three dollars out of her pocket and handed it to her. Now she gave her the earrings in a small bag; the kind that comes with medications.

"Farewell!" Nashira said goodbye.

"Same to you" replied the vendor.

The girl left that garage sale, packed with old clothes and second-hand electronic equipment. Almost all the buyers there must have been neighbors of the vendor, and Nashira was aware of the sale only through the aunt of a friend who lived nearby. Not in a million years she could live in a neighborhood as quiet and family friendly as that.

She had barely gotten on the bus when his phone started vibrating. She took the risk of taking it out, knowing that no one would bother to steal an ugly thing like that from her, and especially with the "tramp look" that its owner has. Or at least that's what the same friend's aunt once called her.

"Hey sister, where are you?" was the greeting from her friend Ellie.

"Well, on the bus, Lie. I bought some earrings from the skinny woman's neighbor".

It should be said that Ellie was not technically Nashira's sister, but their souls were so intertwined that they surpassed the blood barrier, so they were more connected than blood sisters. Or at least that's what they believed. Oh, and "the skinny woman" was a cute nickname they used for the aunt of her other friend, better known as "Knife", because his nose was sharp like a knife.

"Come to my house, Nashira. We are all here, only you are missing".

"I'm going, I'm going now!".

Nashira spent ten minutes on the bus, plus another five minutes to get to Ellie's house. It wasn't a big deal of a house: it was small, neglected with its receding walls and the terrace invaded by weeds, although Nashira thought it looked "phenomenal" because nature was part it (literally). It had a unique and gloomy appearance, standing out among the houses nowadays, all the same-looking, boring.

Nashira entered through the already opened door and immediately saw her friends sitting on the floor, on a plush mat, and in the middle of them was the magic bottle. Yes, a bottle that released a lot of gases and took you to a happy world once you sniffed it.

"Sister, you finally grace us with your presence!" Knife greeted her.

"Greetings, Greetings" Nashira replied.

Ellie waved her hands at herself in greeting before continuing to draw another sniff from the bottle, while Nashira's other two friends were too deep in their dreams to even glance at their incoming friend. The girl sat next to Knife and then she sniffed a little from the little bottle he had on hand, smiling happily.

"Ugh, this is the best. Being with you like this, my great friends, in our lair..." Ellie commented.

"Yes..." the others replied in chorus, smiling.

Everyone was in a state of extreme relaxation. Nashira felt a little sorry for those office workers she always saw when she passed by the cafeterias, dressed in gray costumes and with long faces, because they would never know what peace was. What it was like to be happy, despite being surrounded by a chaotic world.