"Seems someone is here to see you."
She stepped into the room and walked towards me.
"Scram!" She said while looking at me that one would think she was referring to me, but every other person in the room ran out.
Her gaze was still pinned on me. "What's your name?" Was the first question she asked.
"Michelle." I answered.
I don't know if she's trying to make me scared, but her transfixed gaze on me was getting even more intense by the second.
"And what do you do here?" She asked.
"A cleaner." I replied.
She burst into laughter, her palm was covering her mouth.
"Ewww, that's what you do here, yet you think you have the right to as much as be in the same room with my own Vincent?" She laughed once more.
"I think he should be the one who decides that, not you." Throwing words back to her.
She was taken aback at my clap back, her brows drawn together in confusion.
She looked around the room as though she was looking for another person in particular. "Did you just…. Did you just talk back to me?"
"Aren't we the only ones here?" I asked back.
I know how risky it is for me to talk back at people here because of my desperation for a job, but I wasn't going to allow anyone to just walk over me as they like.
"Do you have an idea of who you're talking to, trash?"
Her phone ringing halted all conversations between us, she glared at me then swiped on the phone's screen to accept the call.
She moved away from me and from the office's room, but not before giving me another hard glare.
"Yes, I just got out of there, he was so rude." My eyes widened at how her voice turned from normal to a fake teary one.
~
"Where's that wh*re?!" I was driven out of sleep with how loud the voice was.
I jumped down from my bed as realization hit me that it was my father's voice and he sounded really angry.
"Sh*t! I forgot to leave some cash in the drawer before I went to sleep!"
My room's door doesn't have any lock behind it. I stopped repairing it after he kept spoiling it for a matter of days.
It was pushed open from behind, I pressed my back against the wall as he came into the room. He didn't see me at first, he kept looking at the bed.
When he eventually saw my form pressed to the wall, he came at me with full force but I dodged him, making him hit the wall instead.
"What did I tell you about making sure there's always some cash in the room?!" He roared, his dark eyes shining in anger.
"I used the remaining money in the house to get groceries." I answered, still moving so he wouldn't catch me unaware.
"I don't give a flying f*ck about groceries! Your responsibility is to provide money for this house since the day you caused your mother and I to lose our jobs!" He yelled.
Water welled up in my eyes as the genesis of all my problems was said but I pushed it back, I wasn't going to cry over that ever again.
"No. It is your responsibility as MY parents to make sure I have the basic necessities of life and not the other way round. I started with a tone of finality.
The dimly lit room didn't make me see his face clearly but I was so certain he was glaring at me.
"Did you just talk back to me again?" Before I could even say jack, his fist had met my face. He just slapped me, I didn't even see his hand move.
I held my face in my hand, the stinging feeling even more painful as each second passed.
"I hate you!" I yelled, running out of the room.
I ran out of the house with nowhere in particular in mind.
I started walking alone on the sidewalk with a few cars zooming past me.
I probably look like a mentally deranged woman with how I was displaying to myself without saying anything. That was when I looked around to see that I was alone.
I was so lost in walking and thoughts that I did not take note of where I was going. I looked around to see that the neighborhood I was in was very unfamiliar and creepy. It looked to be a really lonely alleyway.
I shuddered slightly in fear, there was no sight of any other person around, the only thing I could see were the streetlights and the creepy chirping of crickets.
I fished out my phone to dial anyone but there was no signal and silly me did not put my phone on charge at all throughout today so it's currently on five percent.
I tucked my hands more into my hoodie subconsciously as though to embrace myself.
I tried retracting back to at least start going straight down like I might have come but was shocked out of my morrows to feel someone's breath behind my neck. It smelt like a lot of alcohol and cigarettes.
"What's a beautiful lady like you doing in the slums? You smell like a rich woman. Must be a huge package. The voice was so raspy and the breath smelly that I felt bile rush up my throat.
"Can't you talk?" I couldn't move anymore, I felt something hard that looked to be a gun press against my stomach.
My shoulder tensed up as he turned around to look at me properly.
He sucked on his teeth, "Very clean and beautiful, just like I love them."
"Please let me go, I promise not to inform the police or anyone. I wouldn't say a word to anyone." I stuttered.
He laughed sardonically, his yellow teeth on full display. I'd rather die than let him touch you.
"You think the cops have anything on me? Girl, I've been to prison three times already, it's nothing for me anymore. So it's either you follow me yourself or I use force on you."
Is this how I die? Because I know d*mn well I'm not following him. Only heaven knows what he'll do to me when he gets to wherever he intends on taking me.
"Leave her alone or you'll have me to deal with." A familiar voice met my ears. I almost smiled in relief but the tension was still in me.
The man before me inhaled deeply in fear, even though I couldn't see his face properly, I could see fear all over his face.
The familiar figure behind me moved closer and the man took to his heels.
I swiveled around to see who I had assumed it was, Vincent.
"What are you doing out here alone?" Was the first thing he asked me.
I couldn't find the right words to reply to him with, his appearance shocked me.
He has blood stains on his clothes, his hair was so ruffled that you'd have thought he hadn't combed it for months.
"Forget it, I was doing something in this neighborhood and it's energy consuming and stressful one, hence the appearance."
Why do I still feel like he wasn't saying the truth at all? I let it slide by, it's not like I'm someone significant to him.
"I was taking a walk, wasn't watching and lost my way." I told him.