After dropping Zia Scott off her apartment and sending her to the door, Gray Stewart went back to her car parked right in front. However, as soon as she grabbed the door's handle, her gut grumbled. "I'm hungry." She looked around with her hand on her stomach. Walking a few steps on the right, she found a convenience store.
She entered the store and grabbed a bottle of water and a tuna-flavored sandwich. As she made her way to the counter, a five feet blonde woman in a red fitting dress cut past her in a hurry. The woman placed her hand cart on the counter. Inside it were a few boxes of band-aids, elastic bandages, adhesive tapes, gauze pads and rubbing alcohol. When the woman handed her card for payment, the cashier swiped the card on the payment terminal; however, the machine made a beeping sound.
"I'm sorry ma'am, your card was declined," the cashier said to her.
"W-what? Why?" Contrary to the woman's bold clothing, her voice was surprisingly soft and a little bit high-pitched.
"I think you've reached the limit, Ma'am," the cashier explained.
"Oh, uhmm." She groped her body as if searching for another card or cash when obviously her dress didn't have any pockets.
Meanwhile, Gray was just patiently waiting behind her; however, quite a few had queued behind her and some of them were complaining about the long wait in whispers.
As her gut grumbled again, she stepped up the counter. "I'll pay for her," she said as she slid from behind her and thrusted out her card. "And this too." She handed her items over to the cashier.
The cashier, who was also worried about the long queue that formed behind them, accepted her card and swiped it on the payment terminal right away. When Gray glanced down at the blonde woman, the woman's golden eyes were staring at hers with her jaw dropped in a daze.
"You're holding the line," Gray said and gestured her eyes behind them.
The woman glanced behind then turned back to her. "S-sorry." She lowered her head looking embarrassed. As the cashier handed the woman's plastic bag, she looked at Gray and curved up a smile. "Thank you." Then she walked away.
Gray just followed her with her eyes until she walked out the glass door and disappeared into the crowd.
"Here's your card, sir." The cashier brought back her attention, putting down her card on the counter.
"Sir?" Her brows furrowed. "I'm a woman." She picked up her card and put it back in her black leather jacket's inner pocket.
"S-sorry, ma'am," the cashier stuttered in embarrassment. "Your voice was low so I thought--"
"It's fine, I'm not bothered. "Gray grabbed her plastic bag and walked out the store.
As she went back in front of Zia's apartment, her jaw dropped when she saw that the side of the road where she parked her car was now empty. She stood right where she parked her car and looked around but to no avail, the familiar black sedan car was nowhere in sight. Glancing around, she noticed teenage girls loitering by the entrance of the apartment. She approached them.
"Hi, have you noticed a black sedan car there?" She pointed her finger to where she had parked the car.
"Oh, I think I saw it," one girl replied. "There were these big dudes just a few secs ago in a truck and some kinda hook lifted the car into the truck then they drove off."
"Thank you," Gray shortly replied then walked away. She stood by the side of the road then stared at the vehicles passing on the road with dead fish eyes. "Ah," she sighed. "My car got towed." She turned the water bottle's cap open and gulped all the water down hastily, and threw the empty bottle on a trash bin a meter away from her. Then, she started walking on the sidewalk.
As she passed by a narrow alleyway, her peripheral view took a glimpse at two street children caved in in the dark. After walking a few steps away, she went back to the alleyway and crouched down to place the sandwich in front of the two kids then she sprung up and swiftly left before they could react or even look up to her face.
Pacing her way home, she passed by the school where Edward worked at which was just half a mile away from Zia's apartment. Students could be seen playing outside the building since it was already lunch hours.
"Ugh, kids." She frowned and immediately looked away. As she walked past the campus, a group of students were loitering on a small corner right beside it. She just minded her own business and walked past them in silence.
"Come on, give me your money, punk!"
She looked back and saw that one boy in glasses was pushed to the wall with blood on the corner of his mouth and three boys who were twice his size were surrounding him.
"Damn it," she sighed. She tied up her nordic white hair in a ponytail with a tie from her black pant's back pocket then approached the boys. "I see, so they're the kids you're referring to, young master," she uttered in a deep tone and stood behind the big kids with her arms crossed.
The boys looked back and were flustered at the six footer behind them. "W-who are you? Mind your own business, stupid adult!" one boy shouted.
"You look like a pig, yes, you're about seventy pounds, hmm, delicious, if it's four dollars per pound then I'll get two hundred eighty dollars out of you. There are three of you, so that'll be eight hundred forty dollars. Yes, seems profitable," she mumbled to herself as she cackled maniacally.
"W-what nonsense are you talking about?! Get lost!" the boy shouted with trembling hands.
She slightly bent over to level his eyes and looked at him with a menacing glare. "We're gonna sell you off to the slaughterhouse," she whispered to his face then projected a wide disturbing grin.
"Y-you lunatic!" The boy stumbled down on the ground, then he abruptly crawled to the wall and helped himself up. "You're not supposed to bring an adult!" he shouted as he sprinted away, and the two boys with him also ran away in a hurry.
She stared at the little boy in glasses. The boy's legs were violently shaking with his hands clasped together. "Hey," she called out to him.
The boy eventually dropped to the ground with his legs giving in. "Y-yes," he stuttered with his quivering eyes on her black monk shoes.
Gray reached for her back pocket and pulled out a box of band-aids. She threw it on the ground, right beneath the boy. "You can put it, yourself, right?" she said in her normal low-pitched voice.
The boy reached his pale hand for the box and looked up to her. "Y-yes..."
"If they come at you again just start mumbling the word 'pigs' and just say some random numbers as if you're calculating," she said as she stared down at him. "The strong prey on the weak, but using your brain will elude a few." Then she went on her way, leaving the boy on the ground.
"T-thank you!" She could hear the boy's voice from a distance.
"Didn't expect I'd use that box so soon," she thought to herself. "The cashier must have put it in the wrong bag."
Walking down the road at a gradual pace, she eventually passed by Edward's apartment which was two kilometers away from Zia's. A few blocks away from Edward's apartment, she passed by a park with a small playground. It was almost empty with only two little kids playing by the swing; a little boy was pushing the little girl on the swing. They're about the same age as Zia's current body.
"Tsk," she clicked her tongue at the sight of them. "Little kids and their carefree attitude." She walked past them.
As she was already a few steps away, a bawling could be heard behind her and when she looked back, one little girl was lying on the ground just underneath the swing while the little boy was also crying beside her.
She rushed towards them as she dialed 911 on her phone. When she arrived before the kids, the other line also picked up.
"Yes, hello, I'm at the park near the ***** apartment. One girl, about five years old, fell down the swing on her back."
The little boy beside her tugged on her jacket as he sobbed. "M-my...s-sister..."
She gently rubbed the little boy's back to comfort him as she listened to the dispatcher on the other line. "No, I didn't touch her… Yes, I called right away… No, she's not bleeding but she seems to be in pain."
The little girl lying on the ground grimaced as she continued to wail in pain while the little boy beside her continued to sob in silence.
"It's fine, an ambulance will come any second." Gray reassured the little boy beside her as she hung up the call.
A few seconds later, an ambulance screeched to a halt near the park and paramedics came to their aid. The children's parents were also contacted and went to the hospital with them in the ambulance.
Gray sat on the swing as she was left alone in the park after the commotion ended. She stared unfocused on the ground with her phone in her hand. And her momentary time of solitude was disrupted as her gut protested once again.
"I'm hungry..."
Thank you for reading! What do you think of Gray? Does she really hate children? Share your thoughts in the comments!
"Take care on your way home, kids," Edward Bartlett said as he waved the students goodbye by the gates. Then, he walked back inside the building. As he went back to his classroom, Belinda Cogzell was sitting on his chair behind the table. "Oh, hey, Ms. Cogzell," he called to her as he approached her. "Hi, Sir Bartlett," she replied with a smile. He grabbed a spare chair and sat by the table, minding a safe distance from her. "Can I help you with anything?" "Yeah, you see…" She leaned on the chair with her legs crossed, exposing her perfectly tanned thighs under her bright red pencil skirt. "I've already been working here for a week but I'm still confused on some stuff." "Oh, sure, what is it?" He genuinely asked as he looked into her eyes. "I'm still vague on what we, teachers, do aside from teaching." "Hmm." He leaned back on his chair as if he was thinking. "In a nutshell, as primary teachers, we are responsible for teaching them the national curriculum subjects. We're here t
"But I still owe you a proper apology," Belinda Cogzell uttered as Edward Bartlett headed for the door. "Yeah, why don't I treat you for dinner, how does that sound?" "Dinner?" he replied. "Yes, please, I really feel bad about what I said about your fiancee." She slowly approached him. "Just a light dinner between co-workers, what do you say?" "I'd love to but I already made plans, Ms. Cogzell, maybe some other time." Her face contorted. All her life, no man had ever resisted her advances. She would make even the toughest man with the highest pride beg on all fours just to make her stay. She had taken pride in her beauty and irresistable bombing hourglass body. With that weapon she was able to sabotage relationships and families. Men were at her mercy. And she merely thinks of them as her source of money and fun, mere tools for her entertainment. She is like a viper that captivates men and wraps them around her little scheme before inflicting her veno
"W-hat the---" Zia Scott uttered and ran off in panic. She sprinted out of the campus as she painfully sobbed. And as she trudged along the sidewalk all the while sniffing the snot running down her nose and wiping the overflowing tears in her eyes, horrible thoughts were haunting her mind. Who was that girl? What were they doing? What is she to Edward? What were they doing? What is their relationship? What were they doing? Does she know that he's engaged? What were they doing? Where did they meet? What were they doing? When did they meet? What were they doing? What were they doing?! "JUST WHAT WERE THEY DOING?!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, then a new set of tears had flooded her already dried-up eyes again. "Seriously," she uttered in between
"Likewise." Sarah Lewis curved a smile as she heard Gray Stewart's response. "It's really funny how you always catch me when I'm in trouble," she said as it went silent again. "Yeah," Gray shortly replied while keeping her eyes on the road. "You're like my personal saviour," Sarah said. "Always to the rescue!" She thrusted her arm out as if imitating a superhero's typical flying pose, then she laughed softly as she put her arm down in embarrassment. "Yeah." She briefly glanced at Gray then on her hands resting on her lap. "I'm sorry, I must be annoying you, I'll just keep quie---" "It's fine, keep talking," Gray said while she b
As soon as Gray Stewart and Zia Scott heard about the dreadful accident, they rushed over to the hospital. As they arrived, they saw Edward's mother pacing back and forth near the reception area, awaiting their arrival. "Martha!" Gray called out her attention. "Where's Edward." "Come with me," Martha said as she walked away, and the two followed behind her. "What happened?" Gray asked as they were walking. "I--I don't know," Martha's voice was breaking. "I...I heard he got hit by...by a car just across the school. T-the driver was speeding a-and...and noticed him too late. He was hit pretty hard," she explained. "Here," she added as she stopped on her tracks. "He's still inside." Gray and Zia looked at the room she was referring to. "The operating room?" Zia asked. "I-it's been an hour, I'm so worried," Martha answered as she brought a hand up to brush up her hair in exasperation. "W-wait," she added. "Who's this?" she asked as she pointed at Zia. Gray glanced at Zia beside h
"Hi, I'm Belinda, Belinda Cogzell. Edward's friend from work." Gray Stewart briefly stared at her then she continued reading her magazine. "Are we in hell right now?" "Excuse me?" Belinda said with one eyebrow raised. "What?" Gray glared daggers in her with her dead fish eyes. "Oh, I was reading a line in the magazine." "Ah, I see," Belinda responded. "Look, I just came here to visit Edward. I wanna see how he's doing," she said as she gestured her hand towards his bed. "Well, he's lying unconscious with that massive choker on his neck and a few stitches and little metals replacing his crushed bones inside. So I guess we can all agree that he's definitely fine," Zia mumbled to herself as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"...it's my fault." "What?" Gray Stewart looked at her over her shoulder. "It's...It's," Zia's voice was breaking. "It's my fault," she muttered as she looked at Gray and a teardrop unbiddenly escaped her eyes. "What--you really believe whatever that reptile said?" Gray gestured her hand to the door where Belinda was dragged. "B-but, w-what if it's...what if it's true?" "What if it's true?" Gray approached her and leaned on the foot of Edward's bed, crossed arms. "So what? Are you just gonna let that kid die?" "W-what?" Zia's brows furrowed. "Look, let's say you didn't run away, let's say he was able to catch up with you while y
"Oh, God...please," Gray Stewart prayed, holding Sasha Neuman's bloodied hand tightly in between her shaking hands. "Please," she whispered underneath her breath, gazing down with her well up eyes at an unconscious redhead woman wearing a non-rebreather oxygen mask with a pulse oximeter attached to her finger that was connected to a monitor. The equipment inside the ambulance slightly sways with the high-speed driving. The two paramedics smeared with blood sat quietly across from Gray with the female paramedic studying the electrocardiogram monitor and the man beside her monitoring the patient. Only the soft sobbing and whispers of Gray could be heard amidst the reverberating noises from the siren and vehicle horns. And the faint beeping of the ECG monitor. "...please..." Gray leaned her forehead on their clasped hands, and her eyes, closed. "...please..."