22
CHAPTER 1
It was a hot muggy day in June, as over a dozen people waited for a 1991 Blue Bird school bus to pull up in the parking lot downtown across the street from EverFresh Market. People stood in groups chatting excitedly about going to work in a factory in a town that was forty-five minutes away. Most of the people were fairly young, although there were a few older people. Who had work experience, but had a hard time getting employed because of their age.
Two young adults stood at the side of a building laughing and drinking bottles of soda to keep themselves hydrated. It seemed as if the sun beamed directly down on the people who awaited anxiously in the parking lot. Sebastian was sipping on his Ohauna punch juice while listening to his best friend talk about her worries of working at her first job.
" I never worked anywhere before you think they might change their mind and turn me around?" Emoni-Winters asked her best friend. Her best friend just couldn't keep still because he had ADHD and whenever he listened to music he just had to bust out dancing. " Are you listening to me Sebastian!" Emoni-Winters snapped at her friend.
Sebastian had a kool-aid smile plastered on his face as he did the dougie while listening to Lady Gaga on his phone. Sebastian was mixed with African American and European which gave him a beautiful bronze complexion. He had his hair cut into a mohawk with designs cut on the side like stars bursting. It matched his bubbly out-going personality.
Emoni-Winters was so irritated by her friend not listening to her that she snatched the earbuds out of his ears. " Hey, you don't take my earbuds out of my ears. I could stop breathing if I don't hear music playing in my head," Sebastian said dramatically. " The damn bus was about to run you over," Emoni-Winters pointed out. Behind Sebastian the bus had pulled up and came to a halt. The bus was sputtering like it was a clunker from the junkyard which it probably was.
Everybody rushed in line and the bus driver sat there for a minute looking at a clip board before he opened the doors. The bus driver was an older white guy who had white hair and wore glasses on his face. He kind of put you in the mind of . " That guy looks like !" Sebastian exclaimed hugging Emoni-Winters. " You're crazy, but he does look an awful lot like ," Emoni-Winters agreed. " I can tell ya'll still in school," a girl named Cree scoffed.
" Who asked for her opinion anyways?" Sebastian mumbled to his friend. Creeyondra was a beautiful African-American female with dreaded hair that reached her shoulders. Her hair was so good she had baby smooth edges. She was a light-brown skinned female about a shade lighter than Emoni-Winters. She bore a dimple in her chin whenever she spoke or smile which was rare. Creeyondra had a attitude problem that followed her from her teenage years into adulthood.
Creeyondra dressed in all black most days and always had a skull Jansport backpack securely on her. No one knows what is in her backpack and people knew better than to ask her questions. She really wasn't the friendly kind of person like how Sebastian was.
As they board the bus the bus driver took the time to introduce himself before scanning their work badges. " Hi my name is Stanely Rogers, but you can call me ," he said to each person. especially took the time to compliment Emoni-Winters. " I like your glasses the color brings out your beautiful features," said complimenting her. She blushed and her cheeks became a rosy red.
Sebastian pushed her out of the way so he could get his work badge scanned already. He wanted to be able to pick his seat on the bus next to a window. " Hey, no pushing little guy," warned Sebastian. A couple of people laughed at Sebastian expense, but he continued to ignore them. As he navigated his way through the aisle trying to find a seat. The perfect seat at least to him would be in the very back of the bus. Where the bus seat happened to be a couple of inches longer and he could be able to stretch out to sleep.
He claimed his seat and propped up his feet on the bus seat so no one else could seat by him. Emoni tried to seat infront of him, but he insisted she seat directly across from him. " I need to make sure your ass really goes to work this time," Sebastian said jokingly. The last time Emoni-Winters was supposed to work at Burger King with Sebastian she ended up not showing up at the job. She said she couldn't do schoolwork and work at the same time. Now she was rethinking her options once she saw that she would be a couple thousands dollars short on tuition.
A woman that looked like a goblin with her mouth poking out boarded the bus. The bus driver didn't judge her like everyone else did instead he scanned her badge like he did everyone else. The woman was white and had mousy brown hair that was cut into a mullet. Most of the people on the bus didn't know if she was a man or a woman. No one dared to ask her because her looks were so frightening. The woman dressed in a man's blue collard shirt with a dingy stained white t-shirt underneath and baggy light blue jeans.
She sat in a seat by herself because she knew she smelled putrid. The woman hadn't bathed in a week and anyone with a working nose could smell her. She wasn't afraid to ask anyone who boarded the bus for a cigerette. No one was willing to give her one.
" Ew, what the fuck is that smell, Emoni?" Sebastian asked with his face frowned up. " That woman up there smells bad," Emoni-Winters told him, nodding her head in her direction. " Oh my God does she know what soap and water is?" Sebastian said. " Maybe she doesn't have running water where she lives at," a female named Nichelle offered. " Right, Sebastian you shouldn't make fun of that lady," Emoni-Winters warned him. Sebastian didn't say anything he just laughed and put his earbuds back in his ears. He laid back his head on the seat and closed his eyes letting the music take him to a different world.
A short African-American male boarded the bus he was as short as Sebastian was. He stood at least 5 foot and 2 inches tall. He also had pretty hazel eyes a goatee and singles in his hair. He didn't know where to sit and most people was saving the seat for someone they knew. He got to the very back and looked at Emoni-Winters and smiled. When Sebastian put his foot on Emoni-Winters lap that made Egypt think they were a couple. His smile faded from his face as he turned around to try to find another available seat.
" You can sit here this seat isn't taken," Emoni-Winters said to him. He turned around to her and smiled as he squeezed through and sat beside her. " My name is Egypt what's yours?" Egypt asked introducing himself. He offered his hand out to Emoni-Winters who shook it. " My name is Emoni-Winters and it is a pleasure to meet you," she said smiling. " Emoni-Winters is that your whole first name?" he asked her. " Yeah, like Bobby-Christina Whitney Houston's daughter," Sebastian called out with his eyes still closed.
Emoni-Winters dropped Sebastian's leg from her lap because she felt slighted for him referencing her name to that girl. " Hey, what did you do that for?" Sebastian asked, popping up in his seat. " You're trying to be funny and make fun of my name," Emoni-Winters replied. " No, I wasn't I was just making a point that you have two first names," Sebastian pointed out. " Oh my God, do you two ever shut the fuck up!" Cree barked two seats ahead of them.
" Damn, someone sounds grumpy," Egypt mumbled to Emoni-Winters. Emoni-Winters laughed at her new acquaintance joke. " I'm glad I could make you laugh you have a beautiful smile," Egypt said complimenting her. Emoni-Winters knew when someone was trying to run game on her, but she did think he was kind of cute.
" What did you bring for lunch?" he asked her. Emoni-Winters held up her bag of McDonalds. " You can't go wrong with snack wrap," Egypt replied. " How did you know I liked snack wraps?"Emoni-Winters asked. Sebastian began to laugh in the seat next to them. " What's so funny, Sebastian?" she asked him. " You don't know what snack wraps mean do you?" he asked. " What does it mean?" she demanded to know. She looked at Egypt and pinched him. " One of ya'll going to tell me what snack wraps mean," she said authoritively. " Snack wraps from McDonalds is another word for sex," Nichelle informed her.
" That's not what I meant by that," Egypt said throwing up his hands in defense. She looked at him with a nigga please look. It seemed as if ever since Emoni-Winters turned eighteen everyone was trying to have sex with her. If she didn't know any better she would have thought she had call-girl posted on her forehead. She wasn't a hoe by any means and only had sex with two guys in her whole life. She had came to the early conclusion that she really didn't like it. She only used sex to play with the minds of guys that she liked. She wanted to give them a reason to chase after her and blow up her phone. She also found she had the same results if she didn't give a guy sex. Most of her peers pressured her into thinking sex was cool when she thought the exact opposite. That was why so many people around her age already had children or a family.
Her and Sebastian weren't in a rush to grow up. They were fine taking life slowly. The only thing they wanted to hurry up and do was graduate from college. Both of them attended Bowling Green State University which was a hour drive from their hometown in Fallen Timbers, Michigan. A kind of quiet city that didn't have much to offer anyone. That's why Sebastian and Emoni-Winters made a pact to move to California. They both had big dreams that were bigger than their city that had a population of 20,000 people.
Sebastian wanted to be a veterianarian while Emoni-Winters had dreams of being a clinical psychologist. Their families had called them dreamers and secretly dispied them for wanting better than they grew up with. Sometimes that was just how families were not everyone had a support system.
Nichelle Williams knew first hand how it was not to have a support system she had been living on the streets since the age of fifteen years old. Using her witts to survive the mean streets of Detroit, Michigan she found a sancutary in Fallen Timbers, Michigan. It was rather peaceful compared to her hometown which was well-known for breeding killers.
Everything Nichelle did was for her two year old daughter she loved to death even if she regreted her no good father. Nichelle had seen the help wanted job oppurtunity in the newspaper and thought it was too good to be true. A job that provides you transportation to work and pays a little over minimum wage. What more could a girl ask for? She told the manager at McDonald's she quit and hadn't looked back since.
Vivica Desmond was a mother of three children, two of whom were grown, but they all they still stayed with her. After the divorce of her husband of fifteen long years. She ended up scrambling around trying to find a way to support her household. Her ex-husband had been the bread winner of the couple and without him she began to struggle. She was trying to figure out how many times she had to donate at the Plasma center to be able to accomdate to her blood for money and baby sitting wasn't enough money to cover everything. She needed a real full-time job and she found relief when she saw the help wanted job oppurtunity in the newspaper. After filling out a application she was called back by the end of the week for a interview. That was the fastest she ever got called back about a job.
Hailey Yates was excited about going to work so much so that she had forgotten to pack her lunch. Now she was worried about what she was going to eat and her stomach began to growl. She shushed it and the person seating next to her looked at her like she was crazy. Hailey wasn't crazy, but she was mentally delayed. Although she was mentally delayed she still was capable of living on her own and working. She didn't have to live in a group home that many other mentally challenged people had to. There were different levels of mentally delayed people and she happened to be the functional she had her outburst, but that wasn't all the time. Mostly she was okay on her own although she did live with her aunt.
Emoni-Winters looked out the window dreamily as the bus began to lurch forward and leave the parking lot. The butterflys in her stomach did somersaults and threatened to fly out of her mouth. That's how nervous she was about going to work at her very first job. She couldn't wait to get her first paycheck. In her mind she already had an idea of what she wanted to spend her money on. The first thing would to be to put aside money for her fees that she owed to her school. Another thing she would use her money to do was to buy herself some new clothes.
This year she was thinking about dressing more like a white girl. She was going to wear bright funky colors and graphic t-shirts. She was going to dress more like how Sebastian did. Sebastian dressed like he was a cast of high school musical. Which he happened to hate that movie and it's music. People would tell him all the time that he looked like Corbin Bleu. He would curse that person out and never talk to them again.
Unlike Sebastian who planned to stay at the cookie factory. Emoni-Winters was thinking about saving up enough money and quiting. Once she got her school check she wouldn't need that job anymore.
CHAPTER 2
Once the bus got on the highway it started to pick up speed and soon the bus was going fast like a nascar. Emoni-Winters was praying in her head that God let them make a safe trip, because she never liked to travel. She had a fear of dying everytime she got into a car, on a bus, or even any kind of transportation for that matter. " Are you scared?" Egypt asked her. " Why do you think I'm scared. I've rode the bus before it's nothing scary about it," she said bravely. " I ask you that because you keep squeezing my hand," he pointed out. She felt embarrased and dropped his hand that she didn't even realize she was holding.
As the bus damn neared swiped a semi-truck causing the passengers to gasp and hold on to their seats, Emoni-Winters held Egypt hand again. She squeezed his hand with all her might and kept her eyes closed. If she was going to die she didn't want to see it coming. " Ouch! Girl, you got a grip on you," Egypt said , wiggling his hand free. " I'm so sorry I thought we were going to die!" she exclaimed. " We aren't going to die so chill out. If anything we will get paid for getting injured if the bus got into a accident," he said matter-of-factly.
Sebastian popped up his head again. " What happened? What did I miss?" Sebastian asked, taking his earbuds out his ears. " Sebastian, we damn near ran into a semi-truck. We could have died in an explosion," Emoni-Winters said dramatically. Sebastian just began laughing at her overly active imaginary mind. " Sebastian is never going to die, so as long as I'm on this bus nothing is going to happen," he said talking in third-person. " Oh, we all going to die one day." Nichelle spoke.
Nichelle couldn't wait for the day that her baby daddy Royce died. She hated him with a passion and she was brought up to never hate a soul. It was something about Royce that made it easy to feel that way about him. He was a dead beat father who happened to live with her. How could anyone look at their child in the face everyday and not do nothing for them? Well, it was easy for a guy like Royce. Nichelle knew she was too pretty and smart for him. There was somebody better out there for her.
Once the bus drove past the farm and the over powerful smell of manure flooded everyone's nose, Karen began to relax some. Karen Betts knew she smelled awful, but she couldn't help it. She was a homeless drug-addict who was looking for a quick scheme to get money for drugs. The plan was to work there long enough to get high in between the time she waited for her state checks. She had claimed insanity at the welfare office so she could receive a check every month. It was easy to believe she was insane because she was homeless, dirty, and on drugs bad. Her appearance alone made her come off as crazy.
She had found some change in the seat she was sitting in, so far it had been a good day for her. She had enough change to buy something out of the snack machine at work. That would be her only meal for the day. Most days she didn't even realize she was hungry because she rather get high. Her drug of choice was meth and she occassionally smoked weed or drank alcohol. She would sleep in the church and sometimes at her friends apartment. They only allowed her to spend the night when she had drugs for them.
If she didn't have anything to offer her druggie friends she would spend the night at St. Pilgrim's church that housed the homeless. She didn't like to sleep in the church because of the simple fact is that they want you to attend church service before you could spend the night. She didn't like to hear about religion or about a God that she had felt abandoned her. Her only friend and savior in this world was her trusty bong pipe in the shape of a Skull.
Karen may have been hideous to look at, but she was beautiful as a young adult. She used to be married a long time ago to man who had money. He was the one who introduced her to drugs and kept her pregnant with kids. Karen had five kids that she hadn't seen since they were little kids and taken away from her by their father. She chose drugs over a family life with her husband and kids. She didn't regret the life she chose either because her demons in her life were so vivid that she needed drugs to cope.
When Karen was a teenager she was raped by her mom's husband who was her stepfather. Karen kept that secret to herself for a couple of years and when she confessed to her mother. She slapped her in the face and told her to quit lying on her stepfather. Karen would never forgive that bitch ass mother of hers named Kathleen. Kathleen was now in her early eighties and everyday Karen prayed for her death. She prayed that she would die of a horrible and painful death so she could feel some of her pain. As for her stepfather Louis he was a senile bastard who was in the early stages of dementia. He still lived with her mother, but had a nurse to take care of him. That's why she avoided her mother like the plague. Except for the couple of calls from her mother around the holidays. Her mother would invite her over to celebrate the holidays together. She would always give Karen money, clothes, and food.
The Fourth of July was coming up soon and Karen was expecting a call from her estranged mother. Sometimes Karen would be embarrassed to go around her family looking the way she did. Her brother and sister looked down on her because she was a drug addict. They were accomplished professional people in the world. Her sister Katelynn was a academic advisor at the University of Fallen Timbers. While her brother Kevin was a addiction counselor who helped people like Karen get off drugs and stay off the streets. Kevin was always trying to get Karen to enroll in his program, but she always refused. Meth was a drug that haunted her and was attached to her like a second skin.
Karen had been on drugs for the last twenty years. Karen was a forty-four year old woman who looked like she was in her sixties. She didn't give a damn what people thought of her. The world would have judged her wheter she was on drugs or not. She chose to do drugs the drug dealers didn't hold a gun up to her head. She gladly scraped together her hard earned money and gave it to them. She would be empty-handed in the financial sense, but she was wealthy in happiness. She found comfort in smoking meth like how fat people found comfort in eating.
Kreeyondra looked out the window of the bus boredly as she usually did. She was a machine operator at The Cookie Cutter factory. She had been working there for a whole year and was making twelve dollars an hour. The bus took out fifty dollars a week and they taxed twice because she wasn't a resident there. At the end of the day she still brung home a three hundred and fifty dollar check. If she worked a little over time she could bring home five hundred dollars. Only if she knew she would be short on her rent or other expenses did she opt to work overtime.
Kreeyondra was a young independent woman and had been since the age of seventeen years old. She always had a job, place to live, and a car. Nobody helped her get any of the things she had. Her mother didn't ask her to move out she decided she didn't want to stay there. Kreeyondra knew she was gay and her father wouldn't approve of that lifestyle. Instead of arguing with her father to accept her she decided to live on her own.
It felt damned good to be independent at such a young age. Kreeyondra was only twenty-two years old and was almost done paying off her three-bedroom house. Not a lot of people in her peer group could say that . Most of them had families and lived in low-income apartments. Nothing wrong with having a family or living in an apartment, but she didn't want to be a dependent on the government. She wanted to get it on her own. She wasn't looking for a handout like most young females her age. She damn sure wasn't running behing some nappy-headed, pants sagging, and riddle talking ass nigga.
When she was younger she dated boys like most girls in high school. She just didn't like having sex with them. She didn't understand what her girlfriends were hooping and hollering about. She had sex with plenty of guys to understand that they weren't for her. She never received pleasure for them instead she felt disgust after the deed. Men and boys were crazy about her because she was very pretty and had lady swagger. Her lady swagger was like how TLC was back in the day. They may have dressed tom-boyish, but it was a turn on the way they carried themselves. She had carried herself in the same way.
Kreeyondra was also bi-polar and had been since she was a pre-teen. Her doctor had prescribed her medicine to take, but she refused to take it. She felt like most black people were bi-polar anyways so she thought she was normal. She looked at the big vacant looking houses that they continously passed by as they drove down the main street of Alburn Mills. She had never noticed before how the town looked so odd and creepy. Like how a deserted town in the Wild-West would look like.
There was only one of everything in Alburn Mills which was considered a village. There was only one gas station, hospital, school, bank, and grocery store. Any other kind of business they didn't have they had to drive to the next town or city to get what they needed. It was maybe about five hundred people who lived there.
The bus driver pulled the bus into a gas station because he was hungry. He needed a coffee to wake himself up and a donut to keep the hunger pains away. " Alright, you guys I'm making a stop at the gas station. If any of you guys want to get something you can if not stay on the bus," he announced. He parked the bus and turned it off. Some people groaned because he was making a pitstop at the gas station. They had wanted to get to work early so they could smoke or take a nap before working.
Kreeyondra was one of the people who always had to smoke a cigarette before working. It helped to calm her nerves and not lash out at people. Most people seemed to annoy her and she had low tolerance for childish people. That was part of the reason why she was constantly making smart remarks to Emoni-Winters and Sebastian. They said some of the stupidest shit that she ever heard of in her life. They reminded her of Spongebob and Patrick Star off the TV show. They were both goofballs who seemed unaware of the real world living in their own fantasy.
Kreeyondra constantly look with disgust back at Emoni-Winters and Sebastian as they listened to music together. Kreeyondra could tell Sebastian had a little sugar in his tank by his demanor and girly high-pitched voice. On the otherhand, Kreeyondra couldn't figure out Emoni-Winters sexuality. She seemed as if she could be straight or neutral. She did think Emoni-Winters was pretty with her funny looking Chinese slanted eyes. She just didn't like people who wore glasses and she didn't like her style of dress. Maybe if Emoni-Winters dressed a certain way than she would find her more attractive. When Emoni-Winters laughed her obnoxious squeel of a laugh she quickly shook those thoughts out of her head.
Emoni-Winters was laughing at Sebastian because he had some Asian music on his phone. " You don't even know what the hell their saying. What's the point of having this song on here if you don't know what their saying?" Emoni-Winters asked Sebastian. " I happen to take Japense language classes and I understand a few words. It's really not about understanding what their saying. The way their voice sound and the techno beat is catchy," Sebastian reasoned. " Ya'll is weird why do you want to listen to Japenses music?" Egypt asked. Sebastian shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. " Not only does Sebastian listen to Japense music he likes Pokemon!" Emoni-Winters exclaimed. " Aren't you a little too old for Pokemon?" Egypt asked Sebastian. Sebastian gave him a nigga please look. " First off Pokemon is the best cartoon on earth. Lastly I think Charmander is me in reincarnation form," he said dramatically. " Sebastian it's something wrong with you," Emoni-Winters said changing the song.
Sebastian was about to protest until a Aaliyah song started playing. " Oh my god that's our song!" Sebastian said excitedly. Emoni-Winters like that Sebastian like the late-singer as much as she did. They were listening to Aaliyah " One in a Million". They were bopping their heads to the music with each others face close like they were lovers. Matter of fact that was a part of a game they played. They wanted people who didn't know them well to think they were in a relationship. They wanted two things to happen either the person leave them alone because their taken or want them so they could break them up. If the person was ugly to them they wanted them to back off without being mean and saying it. So they would hold each others hands and call each other baby. If they wanted someone to like them. They would look at the person they liked making sure eye contact was made before flirting with each other to try to make them jealous. It usually always worked in their favor.
" I'm hungry as hell!" Sebastian said, standing up. Emoni-Winters stood up with him because she wasn't done listening to the song playing." I wonder if they got a Subway in there let's go and see," he said taking her hand. They walked off the bus casually holding hands. Kreeyondra sneered at them as they walked past her. " I don't know what her problem is with her bull-dog face," Sebastian joked. Emoni-Winters nudged him in his rib cage. " Hey, she isn't ugly she just has a messed up attitude problem."
" Which makes her even more ugly," Sebastian laughed. Sebastian was looking down at his phone trying to determine what song to listen to next. He wasn't watching where he was going and walked into a old white couple coming out of the gas station. " Watch it there, sonny," the old white man warned. " My bad I didn't mean to walk into you," Sebastain apologized. " What does your bad mean?" the old white man asked clueless. " John that's how the young people talk now a days it's means he's sorry," his wife Joyce explained. " I'll never understand these kids and their lingo," he said shaking his head sadly. " What are you guys doing in this small town anyways?" Joyce asked curiously. " We work up at the The Cookie Cutter factory," Sebastian explained. Both of the old people had a odd look on their face.
Emoni-Winers caught on to the odd look that the couple exchanged. " Why what's wrong with working there?" she asked, digging her hands into her pants pockets. " Oh, it's nothing wrong with working there. I mean I'm sure they fixed the problem there that they used to have," Joyce said vaguely. " What kind of problem did the factory have?" she asked Joyce. " Don't worry about it I'm sure the problem is fixed by now. Don't worry your pretty little head about what my wife said."
The old man and woman walked off to their car which was a brown station wagon. " I haven't seen one of those since I was a little kid," Sebastain said refering to the station wagon. Emoni-Winters couldn't do anything, but laugh at her silly ass friend. They walked into the gas station together and it was barely any people in there. No one except for and the gas station clerk. There was no Subway in the gas station, but they did have mini subs in the back freezer. They both grabbed a ham and turkey six-inch sub and purchased it. The gas station clerk was white and looked like she was from a trailer park. She looked like she was prejudice and act like she didn't want to accept their money. She snatched the money out of Emoni-Winters hand and kept a scowl on her put the change on the counter not bothering to properly hand it to her.
" Bitch,"Emoni-Winters mumbled. Only Sebastian could hear Emoni-Winters comment and he was tickled pink. " You should have said it louder so she could hear you," Sebastian suggested. " Why so she could call the police on me."
They exited the gas station smiling and ran to the bus when they realized had started up the bus and was about to pull off. " Wait for us!" Sebastian exclaimed. They knocked on the bus door and looked at them and opened the doors. " I didn't see you guys you almost got left back there," he said frowning. " I'm glad you didn't leave us. I would hate to walk to the factory," Sebastian said as he climbed on the bus. " Oh, you wouldn't have made it to the factory," said oddly. " What do you mean by that?" Sebastian asked. " Huh, what are you talking about I didn't say nothing." said feigning ignorance. Emoni-Winters shook her head as they sat back in their seats.
As the bus driver drove the bus sputtered and started smoking before it abruptly stopped only two blocks away from the gas station. " Oh sugar foots!" Mr. Rogers shouted angrily. The people on the bus began to get worried that they wouldn't make it to work on time and not be able to work. The bus made sounds like it didn't want to start back up. "This isn't good at all. You guys I don't want you to panic!" he called out. " Hey, why don't we just go back to the gas station? We can chill out there and call the factory to let them know the bus broke down," Egypt suggested. " No, don't try to get off the bus," warned him. " Why not…" he started to ask, he was interrupted by something hitting the bus window.
" What the hell was that?" he asked. Egypt looked at some man who stood outside thrashing a broom against the the bus window. " Hey, you stop that!" ordered the man. The man didn't respond nor did he stop hitting the bus window with a blue broom. Some more people came out of nowhere and began to beat on the bus with various items like brooms, crowbars, and branches. " Oh my God, their going to kill us!" Emoni-Winters said frighetenedly. She grabbed a hold of Sebastian who didn't seem the least bit worried. Other people on the bus began to panic also. tried to start the bus up again as the townies tried to use a crowbar to get the bus door open. He was almost successful at getting the bus door open when the bus engine miracously started working again. The bus driver drove off and the townies chased the bus for a block and they were yelling out profanties. Someone even threw a rock that cracked the back bus window. They got away safely from the crazy townies.
It was something odd about this job and this town. Emoni-Winters couldn't put her finger on it now, but eventually she would find out. They got to the factory within twenty minutes. The bus driver claimed he had got lost and that's why it took them so long to arrive. That was kind of odd because it seemed as if he should have a map on where the factory is. Apparently Alburn Mills wasn't on a map or on a gps for that matter. Emoni-Winters phone said that the town didn't exist and she was in an unknown area.
Emoni-Winters frowned as they walked into the long baby blue building with a white tin roof. It was bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside of the factory. The security guard desk was the first thing that you saw. As someone tried to open the door it wouldn't budge. Then the security guard announced through the speaker that they would need to use their badge. If their badge didn't work it meant they weren't needed that day.
" So they pick and choose who works or not? Why not just call us on the phone and tell us?" Emoni-Winters asked outloud. " It's so they can make their bus fare money off you." Kreeyondra answered behind her. " Oh, they running a scam," Sebastian laughed. Both Sebastian and Emoni-Winters badge work so they were allowed inside of the building.
Before they got too far a man in a white shirt on told them to stand against the wall. All the new people at the factory had to stand against the wall. They had to take pictures to go on their badges so they could be identified. There were way too many workers there to know if someone really worked there or not. They made them stand against the wall for thirty minutes and lied to them about almost being ready to speak with them.
Emoni-Winters legs were growing tired as she stood against the wall slowly falling down. Others had sat on the floor, but she was wearing her favorite black skinny jeans. She didn't want to get dust or dirt on them. " You guys have to stand up!" the guy in the white shirt ordered. It seemed as if he only stepped out his cubicle office to bark orders. He still wasn't ready to speak with them about the rules and taking their picture.
Another fifteen minutes had went by and Emoni-Winters watched as the workers from second shift left work to get on the bus. " What the fuck is taking so long," she mumbled to herself. Sebastian was still smiling and bopping to his music. It was obvious he was listening to Katy Perry because only she could make him smile like that. Sebastian claimed he was bi-sexual, but he had a thing for Katy Perry. That was his hollywood crush and he was a die-hard fan. One day he planned to either stalk her or marry her. He wasn't taking no as answer either.
Finally the man with the white shirt came out for them. " Okay, you guys let's see how many of you are new here," he said looking at his clipboard. " It should be fifteen of you new workers," he said and mentally counted all of them. " It seems as if your all here so lets get started."
The workers followed him into the an empty room that looked like it was for business meetings. They all sat down in office chairs and felt like they were important. The guy in the white shirt who was bald and barely five foot and five inches tall looked at all them. He was looking down at a sheet of paper. " Okay, welcome to the Cookie Cutter factory! We are glad to have you here and were happy you chose us as your employer. We hope you are ready to work. This job is very important because your dealing with food that the public eats so that means you have to dress in the proper attire. White t-shirts and company shirts are allowed to be worn. Also we only want you to wear either blue jeans or black jeans. You can also wear khakis or black dickies if you so choose to and make sure you wear a belt. Any questions so far?" he asked. He looked at each one of their bored faces.
One woman raised her hand. " Yes young lady?" he asked referring to Vivica. Vivica smiled because he called her a young lady and she was probably his age or older. " Can we wear jewlery?" she asked. " No, I don't want to see any jewlery of any kind. I don't want to see earrings, necklace, rings, or a watch. You also can't have your phones on the factory floor because you could take pictures of products not on the market yet. We don't want our secrets to be viewed by the general public. What we create here is confidential."he said.
" Were are going to take a tour of The Cookie Cutter Factory and I'm going to explain the rules to you." he said. " By the way my name is Mike and I'm your tour guide," he said finally introducing himself. They all followed him on the tour of the factory.
Chapter 3