Hotline Bling

Chapter 23

"You total is $8.29. Enjoy your meal and please come again." Essence smiled at the elderly woman at the counter as she handed her, her meal.

The door chimed behind her as she walked out. Essence sighed to herself, wiping at her brow. Today had been a long day. The store had been hit hard around three o'clock and now that things were starting to wind down she stretched.

Tonya yawned beside her, "Is our shift almost up? I'm so ready to go right now, for real."

Essence glanced at the clock and nodded. Their shift would be up in a few minutes. "We just have to wait on our replacements."

"I'ma need them to hurry the hell up."

Essence laughed, the sound rolling off the empty restaurant walls. She grabbed the sponge from the back room and began to clean off the tables, wiping up the left over residue of food past. Tonya swept up crumbs. The radio blasted Xscape's 'Just Kickin' it' and Tonya froze before wiggling her hips.

"This is my song, yes! Every man wants a woman where him an her can just go hang! Just the two of them alone, kick back, doing their own thang! Come on, Essence! "

Essence began to dance, using the sponge in her hand as micro-phone, "And every man wants a woman that can always keep him in the mood. And I'm that kind of girl so this is what I tell my dude!"

"I tell him to: kick off your shoes and relax your feet, party on down to the Xscape beat, just kick it! Just kick it!" They sang in unison before bursting out into a round of laughter.

The door chimed just as they stopped laughing, their replacements walking in. Tonya frowned up, "Took ya'll long enough."

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"Bye girl. See you tomorrow." Essence mumbled as she hopped out of the car.

Tonya waved her off before driving away. Essence rolled her shoulders. She had been picking up more hours lately. She was trying to save up for when the day finally came that Mona realized that the checks Essence was supposed to receive were no longer coming. Coupling her working hours with the stress of trying to keep her grades up...it was all becoming a bit too much but still, she mussed, she had been through rougher periods of life. Besides, she smiled to herself. Despite the busy work day, today had been a good one. Good days were few and far between and so she relished in them when she happened upon them.

She walked up to the front door and opened it, closing the door behind her. It was quiet...eerily so. She walked further into the house, her eyes searching the surroundings, trying to find anything that seemed out of place. Everything looked the same. Nothing was moved or rearranged. And yet her heart was pounding in her chest, adrenaline coursing through her veins. Her breath hitching slightly in her throat.

"Mona?" She called out, feeling more and more ill at ease.

Suddenly the sound of uneasy footsteps welcomed her ears and she sighed in relief.

"What you callin' me for? Huh? If you ain't got no money to give me that don't be callin' me lil' girl!" Mona snapped at her, her eyes droopy and bloodshot and her clothes in disarray. "Hello?"

Essence blinked back her moment of relief and cleared her throat, "Nothing."

"Nothing? Girl get your fat ass out my face!" Mona snapped.

Essence moved passed her, heading for her bedroom.

"Don't call me for nothing else!" Mona screeched as she made it to the hallway. "With yo' dumb a-," the sound of metal scraping wood stopped Essence in her tracks. She turned around in time to see countless bullets shoot through the front side of the house. Her eyes widened and her heart began to pump almost uncontrollably. Her voice was caught in her throat as the bullets hit the walls, the furniture, metal, glass. Her eyes shot to Mona's just as a bullet broke through the skin of her shoulder and then her stomach. Mona screamed, her voice gurgling with blood rising up her throat. She took a step toward Essence just as another bullet flew through the back of her head and in what felt like slow motion, exploded out the front of her forehead. Her body continued to be bombarded with metal until she fell forward into Essence's arms.