The sun arose into the morning sky, painting it with the colors of daylight across the horizon.

Jerking awake, Amber sat up in her bed and shielded her eyes from the beaming light of day that seeped through the green curtains of the window facing her. She got to her feet and slipped into a pair of black, fuzzy slippers. Another day in the life of Amber the bored, She thought on the way to the bathroom. As she shut the bathroom door, she turned to the mirror that hung over the plain, white, porcelain sink. She studied her face deeply; her emerald green eyes mirrored themselves like an echo, their reflection within their reflection. She turned her head from side to side and stuck her chin in and out. Maybe I lost some weight, She shrugged and advanced to her toothbrush.

Amber pushed in a CD and a mellow song began to play, "I'll never be your beast of burden… my back is broad but it's a hurting…" She turned up the volume and shifted the car into drive. "All I want is for you to make love to me." Mick Jagger sang, his voice blaring from the stereo speakers of Amber's red Mustang convertible. She pulled into The Work Bench parking lot and into a spot closest to the front entrance.

"Alright, here goes nothing." She parked and turned off the engine. She got out and held down a button on her keys that made the hard top go up. She locked it and then smoothed down her plain black T-shirt.

"Ok." She sighed and then made her way up to the doors.

"Hi, I'm Amber." Amber shook the manager's hand and sat down in sync with him.

"Amber, welcome to The Work Bench. I'm Ted." He locked his fingers together, resting his elbows on the desk.

"Hi Ted." Amber laughed nervously.

"So, Amber… what makes you think you've got what it takes to become an employee here?" Ted asked, not blinking once.

"Oh well, I'm good with people and I am very persuasive, so I'd probably be good at selling stuff." She picked at her cuticles.

Ted sat back in his chair and contemplated for a minute… "Welcome to the Bench." He stood up and held out his hand for her to shake it.

"Really? Sweet!" Amber smiled and shook his hand once again.

"When do I start?" She got up and fixed her blue jeans.

"You can start later tonight, how's 7:00 for you?" Ted made his way around the desk to walk Amber out.

"7:00 is great." She smiled again as Ted handed her an apron, "You'll be needing this."

As Amber got back to her car, she noticed that the top was down. Didn't I put the top up? She thought, whilst getting in.

"Whatever." Nothing was missing and everything seemed to be in place. She turned the key and started the car, now on her way back home. As she got onto the road, she had the feeling of being watched…

"I've always loved convertibles." A man's voice said, coming from the back seat.

Amber jolted in shock and quickly looked up into the driver's mirror. No one was there.

"But they always seem to mess up your hair." The voice said, now coming from beside her.

Amber slowly turned her head to the passenger's seat to find an older man sitting there. She screamed and slammed her foot on the breaks; the car skidded and swerved, coming to a full stop.

"Who are you? Get out of my car; I've got… pepper spray!" (She really didn't have pepper spray, but lying was her only defense for the moment.) She cried, clenching her black leather purse and facing him. The man smiled a wide toothy grin, "No you don't. The only thing in that purse threatening to me is that horrible shade of pink nail polish." He calmly pulled down the visor (which had a small mirror attached to it), and fixed the collar of his black suit. Amber ogled at him, speechless. How did he know that? She thought, setting the purse down. Nevertheless, she was still wondering how the hell he got into her car without her even noticing. The man straightened his crimson red tie and pushed the visor back into place. "Who the hell are you?" She fixated her stare on him, ignoring the silly suspicions that went through her mind. "Oh, I think you know who I am." He turned to face her, his smile faded into a straight, dead on stare. Amber gasped and searched for the car door handle with her hand from behind. She opened the door and stumbled out backwards, not taking her eyes off the man for even a split second. "You've got to be kidding me. Who are you?" She repeated herself, starting to believe that she did know who he was.

"You've got to be kidding me! Is that little brain of yours still trying to figure out who I am?" The man said as he stepped out of the car. He ran his hand over the hood as he slowly walked towards her. Amber backed up; she couldn't find the words to express her awe. "Hey, don't insult my little brain!" She blurted, trying to lighten up the situation. Humor was her backup; she'd fall in a game of trust without it. The man snickered, his smile returning. "What do you want?" Amber said, crossing her arms. "You're shift." The man chuckled, "My shift? What the… what are you talking about?" "You work for me now, and I suggest you clock in because time's a-wasting!" He clapped his hands and suddenly disappeared, leaving behind a small rectangular box. It was wooden and had two iron locks on the front that appeared to be demon heads. Amber blinked and looked around her, where did he go? She thought then taking her attention to the wooden box on the ground. She picked it up and got back into her car.