Red Alert

Chapter 3: First Day

Ella's Pov

I started working at the store next and had also activated my phone. My boss, Mr. Rhodes, hadn't arrived yet but I had arrived early as I started to work. I first explored the store taking everything it and evaluating the material of clothes and seeing the styles. To work in a clothes shop, you should know what style suits your customer, so that they would be pleased. The shop had three sections: Women, Men, and Children. It was quite a big store and as it was famous, there were also a lot of customers.

The good thing was that there was no need for me to wear a specific uniform. I did use some money to buy myself a few new sets of clothes. I wanted to look nice and try different styles so instead of wearing uptight clothes, I wore black leggings with a bohemian styled shirt. I even styled my hair into one of the hairstyles I had learned from Lara.

I got to help and guide a bunch of customers on my first day. My first customers were a few teenage girls, one of who wanted to buy a dress. While she tried on different dresses and her friends waited, I offered them some juice and a few cookies. I thought it would help the store a bit as well as leave the customers energized. My second pair of customers were a husband and wife. The wife wanted to buy her husband a fancy suit for a party. I showed her a few suits until she found the one that she liked. There was also one very cute seven-year-old girl who reminded me a lot of April. She had wanted to buy a pink tutu skirt. Her parents disagreed but she knew her way as she threw a tantrum which caused them to end up buying her the tutu.

After that, I had a lot more customers consisting of children, teenagers, adults, and old couples. I helped each person as much as I could, feeling extra proud of myself. By the time the second shift started, all the morning shift workers left as the afternoon workers arrived. There were about five female workers each shift and three male workers each shift. I had made a few friends from the morning shift and even talked to them.

Halfway through the second shift, Mr. Rhodes arrived as he headed over to a couch near the counter, picking up the customer logbook. I couldn't help but notice the exhausted expression on his face. I headed to the small kitchen on the back, poured him a glass of juice and placed it on a tray before making my way over to him. I moved the tray towards him, offering him the drink as he looked at me with an expression of a surprise but took it.

"Who filled the logbook?" He asked with a stoic expression.

"I did," I replied.

"But that isn't your job, It's Taylors," Mr. Rhodes said as he looked at me with a confused expression.

"I did because Taylor told me to do it," I answered getting a scoff in return.

"And what else did you do today?" He questioned.

"I swept and mopped the floor, greeted the customers, made sure the store was tidy at all times, made sales, helped the customers, maintained the in-store stock and processed the customer's payments." I smiled as I listed everything I did today.

"Are you naturally that dense or are you pretending?" Mr. Rhodes asked but I didn't say anything, simply looking at him. I wasn't able to get what he meant by that exactly. "What I mean is, they've been using you." He said as I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion.

"Using me? Who?" I asked.

"Seriously...are you pretending to be like Karen Smith or what?" He laughed, leaving me more confused than I already was. I couldn't lie though, Mr. Rhodes had a nice laugh. Now I feel creepy. "Nevermind. What's with the juice?" He said as he handed me the empty glass having drunken its content.

"I made it for the other employees and customers so that they would be pleased," I spoke with a proud smile. I wanted the other employees to appreciate me and like me which was the main reason I made juice and brought cookies from home. Aunt Janice let me use her kitchen on the condition that I would make a delicious dinner for her.

"This...there is twice the number of customer than usual." Mr. Rhodes said as he read the customer logs I had filled in.

"Maybe it's because I'm pretty." I didn't mean to say that out loud but I did and when I realized it, I instantly covered my mouth. Mr. Rhodes paused for a moment as he looked at me with a serious expression before breaking out laughing. I could only stare with surprise as he finished laughing.

"Really? You think that's the reason?" He asked with a small smile.

"No, obviously not. I was just kidding." I quickly spoke up, not wanting to lose my job.

"Alright then. You can get back to work." He said as I nodded and walked away towards the kitchen. 

After I was done washing the few dishes, I headed out to help the customers, keeping a friendly smile plastered on my face. The good thing was that because of my experience in selling, I knew exactly how to tempt people into buying things without using too much force. I was going around helping people with stuff when I saw a woman walk in with a man, probably her husband. I went over to them to help them and started by greeting as I showed the woman some dresses that I think she liked. 

Unfortunately, her husband was less than cordial and in simple words, he was making me feel uncomfortable. He purposely stood on the other side of me and constantly kept touching my arm. I tried to be discreet and nice moving away but the guy was persistent with his actions. I finally had to say something.

"Excuse me!" I called out as he retreated his arm. I turned back to the woman with a smile, rushing her away towards a pile of clothes. I could tell by the way she was dressed and carrying many bags that her husband didn't spend much money on her. He seemed like a self-centered jerk to me but I couldn't say it to his face even though I wanted to. I was showing her a set of shirts when her husband returned and tried to sneak his arm around my waist. I couldn't take it as I yelled. "Get your hand away from me!" I was careful not to yell too loud because then a crowd would gather and I hate crowds. 

The guy's wife heard me and immediately snapped her head towards her husband while he tried to look like he was innocent. I turned to look around to see if anyone had seen or heard me but gladly there was no one in view yet.

"You!" I heard a rather enraged voice as I turned back to face the couple but my cheek was instantly met with a slap. My left cheek started to sting as I grabbed it and looked up at the guy who had just slapped me for calling him out. "Stop saying nonsense in front of my wife!" He yelled as I stared at him with an incriminating look. 

"It's not nonsense when it's true," I said as I stood upright, still holding my left cheek.

"How dare you!" The guy exclaimed as he grabbed my arm. I tried pulling it away but before I could I was thrown against the wall with jolting force. My left side and arm started to throb as well as my head. 

"Hank! Stop it!" The guy's wife was insisting as she pulled him back by the arm.

"Where is your manager?! Get me the manager!" The guy yelled as I stumbled up to my feet and looked down at my feet. I shouldn't have spoken back, it was a mistake, a mistake that could now cost me my job.

"I'm sorry, sir. I shouldn't have spoken out of place. Please accept my apology." I said as politely as I could but by the look of the guy, it didn't seem like he was going to simply walk away. A small crowd had started to form as I felt overwhelmed by the number of eyes fixated on me. 

"Apology?! I want to see your manager right now!" The guy yelled, this time pushing me backward as I fell on my back. I felt utterly humiliated right now, in front of all these people. Today was my first day here and it was going great until this. Right now I just wanted to run away and hide from all the eyes.

"What is going on here?" A familiar voice spoke as I had to blink back the tears threatening to spill. I was certainly going to get fired now that Mr. Rhodes was here. "Ms. Jamison, are you alright?" He asked as he approached me to which I simply nodded.

"Oh good, you're Mr. Rhodes, right? This employee of yours right here accused me of touching her when I did no such thing. What are you going to do about this?" The guy yelled pointing a glare in my direction as I sat pathetically on the ground, slowly getting myself on my feet.

"I think I will sue you for harassing my employee." Mr. Rhodes spoke as my head snapped upwards with great shock. The guy turned pale as he started to stammer while trying to find the right words. "Of course, we will only do what my employee sees fit since she was the one who was assaulted. Well, Ms. Jamison?" He said as he looked at me while I thought about my answer. As I looked at the guy, I wanted him to be punished but as I looked at his wife, I could see the scared and humiliating expression on her face.

"It's alright. It was just a small misunderstanding." I said as I put on a fake but convincing smile. I walked over to a stand that had shirts hung on it and took out a specific shirt as I folded it up. I walked over to the woman and outstretched my arm placing the folded shirt in her hands. "As an apology for the ruckus. Take this with you. Free of charge." I said as the woman looked at the shirt tears filling her eyes as she smiled. I had seen how her eyes glowed when she looked at that particular shirt. I knew that her husband wasn't going to buy it for her so it wouldn't matter if I gave it to her for free. 

"Thank you so much." The woman said as she pulled her husband by the arm and they walked away and out of the store.

"Okay, everybody back to your business. There's nothing to see here." The voice of my aunt called, the crowd around us starting to clear. "Sweetie are you alright?" Auntie asked as she walked over to me with a worried look. I nodded putting on a small smile and thought my aunt bought it until her expression changed to a concerned one. "Ella...your nose is bleeding." She said as my eyes widened and I touched my nose feeling the red liquid flowing out. I cupped my nose as I quickly made my way over to the ladies room.

I locked the door as I headed over to one sink and started cleaning myself. I splashed water on my face and looked straight in the mirror. My left cheek wasn't stinging anymore but instead, it was all red, making it obvious that I had been slapped. My side still hurt though and when I pulled my shirt up to see what damage had been caused, there was a huge blue bruise covering the left side of my stomach. I sighed as I continued to look in the mirror, a splitting headache evolving. I knew that I had to face the music after I would get out so to get it over with I exited the bathroom as I made my way over to where Mr. Rhodes stood.

"I'm sorry. I made a mistake and learned from it. I promise this sort of thing won't happen again." I apologized to Mr. Rhodes, keeping my head down.

"Your mistake is that you let that man go without taking any legal action." Mr. Rhodes said.

"It was no big deal," I mumbled.

"It was a big deal! That guy just..." Mr. Rhodes said an angry expression on his face. He was about to finish his sentence but then looked at me and stopped. "Are you really alright, Ms. Jamison?" He asked as I nodded.

"I'm alright." I smiled.

"In light of what happened, you can have the rest of the day off and if you like you could take tomorrow off and rest." Mr. Rhodes spoke.

"Could I just take the night shift tomorrow?" I asked since I didn't want to waste a whole day, doing nothing. Mr. Rhodes waited for a few seconds before giving a curt nod. I smiled as I walked away towards the employee room on the back. I opened my locker and took out my bag as I exited the store and started walking towards aunt Janice's house. It was only 9:00 p.m so I wasn't ready to go back just yet.

••••••••••

I decided to go and see the house my siblings were living it. I made my way there and stood on the opposite side of the street as I looked at the house. My siblings were living comfortably in that house. There were safe and alright, surviving by themselves. It felt so good to be able to see them. They were all grown up and older now. They weren't children anymore, so they didn't need me anymore besides as Hayden said, I abandoned them, they hated me.

"What are you doing here?" A voice asked as I turned to look at the face of my younger sister, Lara. I couldn't help but stare at her for a few minutes. She was grown up and she took care of everyone while I was away. I owed it all to her for keeping them safe. She was still as elegant as ever. Her hair was done in a high ponytail, wearing a casual set of clothes that she rocked.

"Hey..." I greeted hoping she would talk to me.

"I asked you what you're doing here?" Lara repeated her question.

"I was just passing by," I replied.

"How many times do I have to tell you, we don't need you," Lara exclaimed.

"I know I just missed you guys," I admitted

"It's not our fault that you missed us. You left us. You promised to send me to university. You promised that I would be able to fulfill my dream but you just had to go and abandon us. I had to give up all my dreams to take care of the twins and April. Do you know how hard it was? How painful it was to give up on my dreams? It was so..." Lara ranted but stopped as she forced herself to.

"Keep going. Let it all out. Say whatever you want to say to me." I said as I felt happy that at least she was telling me her thoughts. She must have been keeping that all inside her. It must have been painful for her. "I know that if my dad and I hadn't come into your life...then you would have been dancing and I'm sorry," I said feeling tears fill my eyes at my sister's despair.

"If you were sorry than you wouldn't have come to find us." She said as I started to fiddle my fingers and looked at my feet. "Let's end this right here, right now. I'm busy and I don't have the energy to always yell at you so let's get this over with now." Lara added as she glared at me her eyes filling with tears.

"Lara, every day I miss you guys so much," I said again. I just wanted her to accept me. I don't want to live with them, I don't want them to forgive me. I just want them to accept me and I don't know. I'm not sure what I exactly want them to do. I just want to be close to them, get to know them again, possibly be a family.

"So?" She said, a cold expression masking her true emotions. "I don't want you coming anywhere near me, the twins, or April. Stay away from us and live your own life." Lara said as she waited for my answer.

"Alright. Okay. I'll try. I'll stay away." I managed to get the words out but I couldn't help but feel like choking up. 

"I hope we don't see each other again," Lara spoke as she walked towards her house and opened the door disappearing from my view as soon as she got inside. I tried to stop the tears that were about to fall but they had already started to fall as I was left standing pathetically on the sidewalk. I wiped the tears away furiously but to no avail was I able to stop them as I started walking towards Aunt Janice's house. 

I could see people looking at me, staring at me in the streets but I didn't, couldn't stop crying. I missed them. I missed taking care of April. I missed Hayden and Jayden's playfulness. I even missed Lara's constant bickering. I missed them all so much. Not a single day passed by that I didn't think of them. They were my family, my life and my soul. I loved them and I blamed myself for letting go of their hands. 

Every day I spent in the wretched mansion, slaving for the man whose brother was accidentally killed by Hayden, I thought about them. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't taken the blame for Hayden. Would I be living with them peacefully? Would Hayden have been taken away by those people? Either way even though I regretted my decision, I was glad that I made that decision. I was happy that I had taken the blame because of that decision, my brother was now living a successful and happy life.

Even though Lara suffered, raising our siblings by herself, I think she's happy now. I think that she might have not fulfilled her dream but she was still pleased with life. I was the one who had to come looking for them and turned around the balance of everything. I was at fault once again.