Her Broken Bad Guy Angel

Night Shift / Schizophreniac

Priscilla:

I walked towards table 4 to take the orders of the new customers, I've never seen them at the restaurant before. They seemed like a couple, an old couple. They look so cute together, they still had so much affection for each other in their eyes. I hoped I could find someone who would be with me till old age. I was seething before but their sight calmed my me a little.

It was a really busy night at the restaurant, it was almost 11PM and customers kept flooding in. Apparently I will have to go home quite late today again, I was home last week a quarter hour after midnight.

I hated it very much but I had no choice, their wages was relatively fair enough for a job I only worked after school hours compared to others and a walkable distance away from home.

I started working there a few months ago, I worked there to have a couple of bucks to myself.

Ever since Dad died, Mom has been overworking herself to the bone to fill the void he left behind; A Mortgage. Dad took a loan with the house as collateral to start a company with his best Friend, Mr Ben. It was rough at the start but the company started flourishing shortly after which Dad died in an auto accident. Mom expected a bit of financial support from the company since Dad partially owned the company which Mr Ben refuted strongly. He declared himself the sole owner of the company. There was a litigation on the matter which lasted for relatively just a short period of time. Suprisingly, there was no evidence to prove it was a Joint Ownership, absolutely no paperwork. It was unbelievable, all the papers mom provided as evidence were proclaimed fake by the jury. The jury ended the case in the favor of Mr Ben. Mom went into depression, so did I, I wasn't conscious enough to understand what was happening fully but seeing my mother deressed made me very sad. It was truly a dark moment in our life, one that will probably scar me forever.

Mom tried to make peace with the reality, at least pretended she did. She picked herself up and started working her ass to pay off the mortgage, well she had no choice.

She was a nurse at the General hospital, She worked overtime at every chance she had and often came home exhausted with nothing to monetarily show for it. It was then I got hit with the reality of how Nurses are literally underpaid and overworked. It saddens my heart to see her tired from overworking everytime, I knew I had to find a way to relieve her of some of the burden.

She was happy and proud of me when I finally told her I was looking for a job. As expected, She stated it must not affect my academics which I promised it won't.

She helped me find a babysitting job which was quite thrilling till it wasn't. I never had a younger sibling to myself so I enjoyed being with kids and playing with them. My job was all fun and laughter till I was called for a babysitting job by a couple I've never seen before. Most of the people I babysit their kids were my mom friends, it was the first time I would babysit for a stranger.

The pay was quite fair so I accepted. I babysit for them most of the night and I enjoyed it. Their kid was lovable and the mother treated me like her own daughter. She drove me everynight they came back and like I said earlier, their pay was really good.

It got complicated when the her husband offered to drive me home one night, I didn't want him to because he always seemed wierd to me but his wife was down with an illness. I could not walk home alone or start looking for a cab this late, I had no choice but to accept his offer.

Midway home he started acting wierd and spoke nonsense. He told me how much he really loved me and wanted to have s*x with me. I was so scared, I was in middle of nowhere so far from home with a man who could have his way with me if he wanted to.

I knew better than to insult him in anger, instead I cajoled him. I convinced him I felt the same and we could talk about it more the next day which he gladly obliged.

I made him drop me at a wrong house, several blocks away from mine. I wanted to prevent him from knowing my house and stalking me later. I thanked him as sweetly as I could. He tried to hug but told him my mom could be watching from the window.

I watched him enter his car and waved him like a longing lover as he drove away.

I raced towards home in the dark as soon as his car dissapeared out of view. I was so happy when I got home, I've never felt more happier to be in the four corners of my room.

I called his wife immediately sure he won't be home yet. I hollered at her, I told her what her husband did and how my sense of security has been violated. she should never ever call me again. I don't ever want to be around their family and her deranged husband again and if any of them tried to approach me I'm reporting them to the cops. She wanted to apologize but I hung up before she could. I knew it would probably affect their marriage but I don't care, she deserved to know the type of man she was married to and I just wanted to be away from any of them.

I stopped babysitting after that night. The prospect of being in another type of that situation scares the hell out of me.

For so long my mom asked why I'd stopped but told her nothing, I knew better than to do so, she would rip them apart and the last thing I needed was blowing this out of proportion. She gave up asking after a long while.

I finally found another job which was working here after a few weeks. The pay also seem good and it was close to home.

My mom was quite scared when I finally told her about and she got to know of the working hours. She refused to allow me to work there, It took a whole lot of my perssuasion power to convince her I would be fine. I told her I would come home straight without making a detour, it was only a couple of blocks away from home which I did. The closing hours was mostly after 10PM, I always tried to be home before 11PM.

I took the couple's order. They talked to me with so much calmness,. The woman had quite a beautiful smile. I walked back to the kitchen after taking their order. All the activities continued for more hours till the customers reduced and finally attended to the last customers. I watched as the last customer ate and chewed his food slowly. I was boiling with rage at his sluggishness. I stared at the wall clock, it was almost midnight. My mom threw a fit last week I was home after midnight, she was livid. She insisted I stopped working. The world is already dangerous enough for women, she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize my safety further by allowing me to crawl around at night, she had said. It took another session of persuasion, convincing and a solemn promise for such not to repeat itself before she allowed me to continue working.

I took care of the Customer dish when he was done. I was moving as fast as I could to take care of everything. It was after midnight already, I was more worried of mom's rebuke session than getting home safely, I knew deep in my mind both were bound to happen; getting home safely and getting rebuked.

I am on my way home, the restaurant has already been locked. I knew it was really late, This may probably be my last day at work, I was already cooking up lies in my head to sway her with. I've barely walked a 100m when I saw a silhouette of a man trying to blend with the shadows of the night.

I looked behind me there was nobody in sight, I was really scared. This was the shortcut home, I couldn't turn back. I continued walking regardless with so much but the fear soon turned too irritation on getting closer and realization of who it was.

"Are you stalking me now" I asked angrily

"Why aren't you replying my text" he asked

"Because I chose to"

"You picked a bad timing David, I'm so tired and exhausted. It's very late I have to get home, maybe some other time" I said trying to walk away.

"No" He said, blocking my path.

"You keep giving me the same excuse, some other time is now"

"Why do You reject my calls and never reply my text"

"I'm sorry,David. I can't do this tonight, it's very late, I have to get home. I promise we'll talk about it some other time" I replied him as calmly as I could. I was too tired to argue with him. I tried to walk away again, he pulled me back, falling my bag in the process.

"No" he said angrily

"Not until you answer me"

I was getting really angry. I knew I can't argue my way out of this. I had to try to reason with him.

"David, I've been busy recently. I've been torn between school and work. I barely have time for myself. I have a lot of things on my mind. I understand your frustration, I will try to adjust and create time for you. You are pushing pushing me further away with all these sort of antics. I can't be worried about my life and at the same time a schizophreniac stalking me"

I regretted the last part almost immediately, I shouldn't have said that.

"Did you just call a schizophreniac"

"Is that all I am to you? He asked calmly

"No David, I didn't mean it that way. It's probably the fatigue talking. I told you I'm so tired. Conversing is the last thing on my mind right now. Let's do it another time please.

"No!!!" He screamed at me

I stepped back a bit, I was taken aback by his outburst. I could see his fist tightly clenched and shaking. He wouldn't hit me, will he?

"You are not going anywhere till we are done with this conversation"

I stared at his face, he looked dead serious. I knew I can't try to run. He will outpace me quite easily. I was so tired.

"You know, you are ruining whatever left between us"

"There's nothing more to discuss about David, it's over"

"Is he harrasing you "

I heard a solemn voice, it wasn't David's; his mouth was tight shut. The familiar yet strange voice came from behind me. I turned around to see Peter in all his glory standing immaculately right behind me. I didn't hear his footsteps nor notice his presence over my loud arguments with David. I never thought I would be more happy to see him. He was staring right at David with the familiar cold deadeye he gave me earlier, he looked ready to take him on.

"Is he harassing you " he asked again

"Nope"

"We were just done with the conversation, he's about to leave " I said looking at him

His eyes went from David to me then to David again. What he said next was something I had never tought he would say to me in a million years.

"Why don't I walk you home"

"Me?" I asked

"Yes you, or perhaps I shouldn't bother "

"No.... I mean yes " I blurted

"Please walk me Home"