Home.
Getting home was my number one goal. After train rides and tolerating what I like to call 'the zombies', I was completely ready to get home and be unhappy for the rest of the day – in peace. I like to look at it this way: I have strikes, there are three, and once all those strikes are, well, struck, I get to eat all the ice cream I want and binge watch Sherlock or Criminal Minds or Tom & Jerry! Whatever TV show I want.
Strike 1: My day started off well enough. Mostly it was same old same old. Get up, eat, work, take lunch break, work, grab dinner after work, and go home. Though, the costumer I dealt with today at my tiny waitressing job was the monster of all monster costumers. I like to pride myself in having my horrible temper under control and being mostly genuine with my chipper, “Hi! How are you? I'm Tristesse, you can call me Trist. I'll be your server today!” But nooo, this costumer deadpanned me the whole way through lunch. I kept telling myself he was having a bad day but boy it is hard to care about other people's feelings when they are ruining your day. He even hushed the two kids in the family that was sitting behind him and okay, I'm sorry, but you just don't mess with kids! Then he proceeded to take 20 minutes to figure out what to eat. I couldn't leave the table because it was supposed to “only be a minute.” Then as the cook was preparing his food, he kept calling me over to ask if it was done yet. After the fifth time, I just pretended I had to many tables to attend to. Man, let me tell you, he did not like that. This whole thing boils down to what really made it a strike: this guy took so long that he cut 15 minutes into my already short lunch break.
Strike 2: My boss then proceeded to cut it even shorter (to the minimum time allowed for a break without him getting in trouble with the higher ups that is, trust me I checked) because the scheduling was so screwed up that they had a bunch of newbies working the floor at the same time. This is never good considering they are so slow and need direction. Though the lunch rush is usually over there are still people catching a late lunch.
“The others need your help out there. Come on, be a team!” He had said.
My coworker Gina wasn't having any of it. “A team works together by splitting off to work better. We aren't all one piece, we are multiple pieces in 'well-oiled machine' therefore by all of us having different jobs and strict schedules, we can work efficiently. You want us to save the newbies out there, not 'be a team'.” I'm sure I've seen Gina attend the poetry slams centered around human rights, feminism, and every other topic covered by activists. My being impressed by her words didn't stop this from being my second strike though.
Strike 3: After that first costumer, the strikes came easier I guess. Around dinner when I went to the same Chinese restaurant that I always go to the-food-was-COLD. And that is strike three.
All I could hope right now was that the almighty man upstairs didn't hate me so much so that my hot water will still be working and my cable still fully functional.
I hear a sound, snapping me out of my thoughts. I shake it off, as it must be my feet crunching the leaves. Stuffing my hands into my coat pockets, head down, I picked up on the things that were the usual around here. The smell of leaves and the crisp air, the crunch, crunch, crunch of nature under my boots, and the slightly shaky bushes to my left and leaf-and-trash mini cyclones in the street. I started to regret not grabbing that pumpkin spice coffee from the 7/11 I passed with the refreshing chill of the day turning into the chilly cold that makes my nose freeze up. It was too late now and I could always make myself a cup of coffee and cut into my pumpkin pie a little early -you can always buy a new one before Thanksgiving, right?
I started walking a bit faster when I heard more rustling. I tried passing it off as the cold – maybe it was freaking me out since it seems to have made a home in my bones now. Though, I couldn't keep letting it go when it got faster as I got faster. Maybe walking home alone and thinking about zombies wasn't best in the eventide.
I know where this is from.
Maybe it was my bad mood. It's now sent a killer after me. Maybe because I'm not more appreciative. Is that how it works?
This is why I don't watch scary movies. Scary movies? Bad idea always. I can't remember the last time I watched a movie let alone a horror movie but this is usually what happens right?
All I hear is the...the thing following me, my panicking scuffle that is supposed to be a power-walk, and the whoosh, whoosh in my ears that funnily enough does not sound like my heart but I'm sure it is.
In my adrenaline fulled hysteria that has left me kind of terrifyingly giddy, I hear the thing pick up pace and get closer. I break out into a run. The whoosh, whoosh deafening me as it seemed to now team up with my panting. I almost stop to cry in relief when I see my neighborhood and goal: my house.
I keep running, very nimbly opening and shutting the gate behind me and running up the steps to my porch before I finally turn around.
Coming out of the shadows of the hedges I was running against was Sam, my neighbor's Schnoodle pup who had a habit of hanging out outside a lot.
I was just about to hit myself for being so stupid when the screen door of my neighbor Diana's house opened. “Sammy, there you are! Where have you been?”
“Hey there, Diana!”
“Oh, hi, Trist! How are you, darling?”
“It seems Sam got a block or two away from home. Walked with me for quite a bit.”
“Well, as long as she is alright, I'm alright. She was probably watching out for you. How was work?”
“Eh, let's not go there.”
We both laughed before giving our goodbyes and returning to our homes. As I shut the door and set my bag on the kitchen table, I laughed so hard it was practically neurotic. My bad day was gone.
Fun Fact: Schnoodles tend to be protective and loving.
Turns out my killer was one of my favorite dogs in the world actually protecting and accompanying me home.
Author's Note: This is a story I wrote for an assignment that I figured I'd just put up. It was a very loose assignment, not many requirements, hence why so short and bland. I hope you enjoyed though!
