After the ridiculous crap I went through yesterday, I’d like it if I could spend all day today inside my apartment. Unfortunately, I have work today, so that can’t happen. But I can at least spend most of the day inside. I’ve been in kind of a porno mood, so I decided to watch more of those this morning. The first one I watched was a real stand out, Phimosis Jones. It was a half-animated, half-live action story about a sperm cell trying to find a way to defeat a nasty STD contracted by the incredibly promiscuous man he resides in. The reception is a bit mixed, with some not liking it for its gross out humor involving STDS, but eh, I loved it personally. The script was witty, the animation was impressively done for something so low budget, and I felt invested in what is admittedly a rather shallow story.
Outside of that masterpiece, I also watched a film about Satan possessing the bodies of various students and teachers at a Catholic school. The concept was neat, but the orgy scenes went on for too long. The last eroticism centered film I put on before getting bored featured a black guy with a small penis and an Asian guy with a big penis. It was supposed to be a “comedy”, but since it was just the same “joke” over and over again, I turned it off about 40 minutes in. I then headed to my room and played a random restaurant business simulator game on my computer before it was time for me to go to work. When I reached the halfway point on my route to Mildred’s store, I started to hear footsteps behind me. Looking behind me, I can see that once again, an annoying ginger kid is stalking me.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I ask her a simple question.
“Following you.”
Her response is just as simple.
“…And why are you doing that? I’m pretty sure I made my desire to not be around you abundantly clear yesterday.”
She gives me a bitter grin and points towards me.
“…Cause I’m not gonna let you win, that’s why! I’m gonna get back at you for what you did to me yesterday!”
You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. This girl is the human personification of burs. I guess I have to put up with her once again.
“All I did was figure out a way to get away from you after you handcuffed me because I didn’t want you following me around. In the old world, I could easily get you arrested for multiple crimes.”
“I only did that because you didn’t want me to hang out with you!”
“Yeah, that’s life. There’s going to be people who don’t want to hang out with you. Rational human beings understand that and don’t try to force companionship on those who don’t want it. Look, I don’t have time for this nonsense, I have to get to work.”
I continue to walk to work, with the knowledge that Ariel is right behind me. I wonder, has she been looking for me all day? It’s not like she knows my work schedule or where I live. She may have all the qualities of an insane stalker, but surely this has to be coincidence, right? I refuse to get paranoid about a girl as small as her. If anything, she’s probably the type who craves attention and the best course of action would be to ignore her from this point on. I can see Mildred’s motorbike parked out front, meaning I’m having my shift with her today. Perhaps she can help me out with my stalker problem.
Walking into the store, I see that Liam is also on shift. He looks at me with a mildly disgusted look on his face, I can’t tell if it’s because he’s still mad about the prank I pulled a few nights ago, he’s getting the wrong idea from seeing a young girl trailing me, or both. Mildred walks up to greet me. There’s something about her that seems “off”, but I can’t tell what specifically.
“Well, hey there Gray! I wasn’t aware you had a daughter!”
She speaks in a joking manner. At the very least, Mildred knows me well enough to not immediately assume ill intent about the situation.
“Nice joke, but no, she’s not my daughter. Just a random pipsqueak stalker who tried to hold me hostage yesterday.”
I suppose I could also count the bit where she tried to goad me into groping her chest as sexual harassment, but seeing as she didn’t push it, I won’t mention it.
“I wasn’t holding you hostage!”
The pipsqueak stalker pipes up.
“Well, you had me forcefully handcuffed to you, what else would you call that?”
She starts stamping her feet and getting more heated.
“I just wanted to hang out with you. Yes, you were handcuffed, but I let you lead the way and go wherever you wanted to go! I even unlocked the cuffs when you lied about having to go to the bathroom!”
“Fine, I’ll concede that you didn’t hold me hostage. But you’re still a stalker. Look Mildred, can you help me? I’ve had to deal with this brat since yesterday and I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”
Mildred examines the young girl and puts her hand to her chin, assessing the situation. After what feels like a minute or so, she turns to me.
“Well, there’s not a whole lot I can do. True, the whole ‘following you around’ thing is concerning, but I don’t kick people out of the store unless they’re actively causing trouble. Given that she has school tomorrow, it’s doubtful she’s going to stay here the whole shift anyways. She’ll probably forget about you by the end of the week.”
That’s not very reassuring.
“So, you’re telling me I gotta deal with it.”
“Sure, but only for a little while longer. If it turns out I’m wrong and she’s still following you around after today, I’ll start figuring something out.”
She smiles at me, but something is also “off” about that smile. Ariel starts exploring the store and I go to start my shift. Nothing too interesting happens for the first hour or so. Some people come in, but their purchases aren’t anything interesting. Surprisingly enough, Ariel isn’t being too much of a pain in the ass to anyone and has just been minding her own business. I can even see her talking to Mildred.
“…So, you go around collecting this stuff?”
I guess she’s curious about the store.
“Yes somedays. I have a place for storage where I keep my findings. I also like to upload digital copies of rarer items I find online and occasionally visit a guy who helps out with bypassing old copyright restrictions in some products. Some older video games really suffer from this.”
Mildred’s dusting off some shelves as she talks with the young girl.
“How come you started all this?”
The question makes Mildred think for a little before answering.
“…Well, it’s not like it was a lifelong dream of mine or anything like that. I just had a fascination with old media and decided I wanted to profit from it.”
She goes back to dusting and more people come into the store for me to attend to. A few more hours pass, and the sun starts to set. Ariel stomps up to me and slams her hands on the counter.
“Listen up! …I have to go home now, ‘cause it’s getting near the curfew that my parents have set for me. But don’t think this is the last you’ve seen of me! I’ll see you again…Your name’s Gray, right? Yeah, that’s what she called you…Anyway, I’ll see you again Gray!”
She marches out of the store with conviction. You know, for as much of a hassle she was yesterday, Ariel ended up being pretty tolerable today. I guess because there were other people around.
A few more hours later, after the sun has set and there are significantly fewer customers coming in, I see Mildred take Liam into the backroom. I guess she has inventory management she wants him to help her out with. A few minutes later, only Mildred comes back with a box and heads towards me.
“Hey Gray, you mind helping me sort out these CDs?”
She’s back to seeming “off” again. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s like she’s been badly suppressing the urge to give me “the look” for whatever reason. Which is weird, she’s really not one to hide things when she’s upset with me.
“Uh, sure. Alright.”
I have a bad feeling about this, but I obviously can’t reject a request from my boss either, so I follow her to the CD section of the store. There doesn’t seem to be any real theme in this box, but judging by some of the rather odd album covers and names such as “StomaCunt” and “The Shivs”, I assume that this is a collection of various obscure indie alternative bands from back in the day. After a few minutes of putting CDs on shelves, Mildred leaves me.
“I’ll be right back.”
She walks back to the backroom, and I continue to focus on my current task at hand. The only sound that can be heard in the store is the soft jazz music playing from the vinyl player near the front. It’s not uncommon for the store’s atmosphere to be like this during later hours…well, the music is different depending on whatever Mildred threw in. I can’t tell if she has a system for it, or if it’s completely random. It might just be a mix of both. All I know is that I once had to work a shift where the majority of the time crunkcore was being played, and I honestly believe that shift gave me a taste of what being in Hell is like.
I hear the door to the backroom open up again after a few minutes. I guess Mildred got whatever she needed from there. I keep focusing on putting the CDs on the shelf without shifting my attention to anywhere else. While doing so, my hand touches something soft. Looking at it I see…a tarantula.
“Fuck!!”
I instinctively drop the CDs in my hand, jump back, and hit my back on another shelf, causing some merchandise to fall off. The shelf I jumped away from also has some merchandise falling off…including the tarantula…which bounced on the ground for a bit.
“…”
I crouch down by the “tarantula” and while grimacing, reach my hand out to it…it’s a plush stuffed toy. I hear Mildred’s voice to the left side of me soon enough.
“Well now, doesn’t feel so good to be picked on, doesn’t it?”
Looking to my left, I see Mildred and Liam approaching me. Liam is as blank faced as usual, but Mildred has “the look”. I knew she was acting weirder than usual. My heart’s still beating a mile a minute, but I at least have enough composure to hold a conversation.
“…What are you talking about?”
“The look” is no longer on her face and Mildred’s displeasure is now much more obvious. She makes her way towards me and picks up the toy.
“Liam told me what you did to him a few nights ago. I thought this was already obvious to you, but I’m trying to run this store in such a way that all my employees get along easily and trust each other when need be. Actions like that prank of yours do not help with that whatsoever.”
I see. This whole thing with the fake tarantula was just some dumb retribution for the prank I did. Despite that, Mildred doesn’t seem satisfied. I get up from the floor and respond to her.
“I don’t know why you’re so mad, it was just a dumb prank. Yeah, it’s not the most professional thing to do on shift, but no one else was around and it’s not like you’re one for professionalism.”
I might’ve gotten too mouthy because she’s even more mad at me now.
“It’s important to understand what may be appropriate for one person, isn’t necessarily appropriate for another one. Liam’s sensitive you know!”
“…I didn’t know that. Maybe I could’ve known that if he actually talked more.”
“So, he’s a little on the quiet side, so what!? If he doesn’t want to talk much, then he doesn’t have too!”
There’s more I want to say, but honestly there’s really no way to make myself look like the good guy here. I played a prank on a co-worker whose evidently on the softer side of things. If Liam had a different personality, he most likely wouldn’t give a shit and this situation wouldn’t be happening right now. It would be best for me to relent.
“…Alright, I’m sorry. I went too far. I won’t do it again.”
I speak in the sincerest tone of voice I can muster. I still have my personal misgivings on the matter, but I’m already on thin ice, so it’d be best to not push things further.
“Sigh…It’s good of you to apologize Gray, but this is concerning. I need everyone working here to get along, I can’t have a calming atmosphere in the store if my employees are having problems with each other.”
I’ve noticed that Liam hasn’t said a single word during this entire discussion. I suppose that’s just Liam being Liam, but it’s more annoying than usual given the current circumstance. The fact that he still has the same emotionless expression on his face is driving me nuts. You’d think he’d show some signs of giving a shit considering this conversation is all about him. I decide to try and bring him into the conversation.
“Hey, Liam. Do you accept my apology? It’s fine if you don’t.”
He’s startled by me calling out to him. I don’t get it, did he really think no one was going to talk to him during this entire conversation all about him? He ends up stammering a bit before replying back to me.
“Uh…Um…Y-Yeah, sure…Just don’t do it again.”
With that, Mildred was able to calm down and the rest of the shift went on as normal. I guess it’s good that things ended nicely, but how did Mildred learn about my…”thing” with spiders? I’ve put in as much effort as possible to make sure no one ever learned of that. Given that Mildred’s not the kind of person who picks up on subtle hints, there must’ve been a time when I fucked up and she noticed. I want to ask her, but thinking about my spider problem does nothing but fill me with shame. While she’s locking up the store I figure it’s as good of a time as any to ask her.
“Hey uh…How, how did you know that I…don’t like spiders?”
Her response to that question is to look at me as if I’m joking around.
“…That was something you were hiding? I’ll never forget the first shift you worked here, and you had trouble dusting the backroom due to a spider’s web that was there. Honestly, that’s why I never have you dust there, because I know how stressful it can be for you…Hey, are you alright?”
“…I-I’m fine.”
I’m not fine. At all.
Author’s Note: I’d apologize for the long time between the release of this chapter and the last one but…Do I even have anyone who likes my actual writing outside of my AI bots? I’m not sure. But anyways, this is another chapter with not a whole lot to talk about. I do hope that I’m developing the characters in a way that works for people.
