When The Fire Burns Cold

Chapter 1: Meet Rhiannon

    *Rhiannon's Point of View*

    "Rhiannon, get up here; we've got a line building up!" My co-worker shouted at me from across the store, that was just the beginning of yet another day in the shitty life of a clerk in a subpar fuel station.

   "Coming!" I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying what I was thinking. It's not like I hated my job because that was the furthest thing from the truth. I was just feeling tired and worn down like a pair of sneakers used to run a marathon after marathon. 

   Once we cleared down the line, I just saw a scowl on the face of the same co-worker, she never liked the fact that I did my job and raised standards to the point where the lazy fuckers started hating me. She didn't want me there from the word go, but that was no excuse for the way that she had treated me since the day that I got that job.

    "Why can't you just be like everyone else?" She asked, giving me that bitchy stare of hers.

    "Why can't you pull your weight and quit acting like a spoiled rich b***h?" I asked, returning the bitchy stare.

    We were trading mean spirited jabs at one another until the assistant manager came walking through the door. She always seemed to get even meaner once he arrived at work.

    "What's going on? Why does Rhiannon look like she wants to sacrifice you to satan Lindsay?" Bret asked, looking directly at Lindsay, and she was at a loss for words with the way he described what I wanted to do to her.

   "She's working too hard, and it's making me, and all the rest of us look bad," Lindsay complained.

    "Well, she's not getting in trouble for working hard. I wouldn't be a good boss if I said she was in trouble for doing her job." I laughed my ass off as Bret was putting her in her place. 

    He shook his head and walked into the back of the store, signaling for me to follow him. I did so, still laughing at how petulant and childish Lindsay sounded while being a tattletale.

    "Rhiannon, I know you work hard and do your job the right way, but why can't you get along with Lindsay?" Bret took a sip of his drink after speaking.

   "I try Bret, I do. Lindsay has had it out for me since day one." I sigh knowing that once again, I have to deal with the fact that no matter what I do or don't do, Lindsay will never like me.

    "Well, this stays between you and me, Lindsay is on her way out of here. Brad is getting real sick of her s**t. He's just waiting for her to mess up, and when she does, she's gone." The look on Bret's face told me he was serious.

    I put my hand over my face to keep from laughing like a trained hyena, Lindsay getting her just deserts amused me. She never was a lovely person to anyone; she assumed because her daddy had money that everyone was just going to bow down and kiss her ass. Nobody in that store gave one wet f**k about that because we all knew her daddy cut her off from the family money and made her work for her money just like a normal human being. 

    The rest of the day was pretty uneventful; it passed in a blur of cleaning and dealing with customers. I was never more glad in my life to reach quitting time for the day. Lindsay had managed to get on every last nerve that I had, and somehow the dumb b***h thought it was funny. Then again, nobody had ever mentioned that she was smart.