There was a shadow competition in place to see which rang the loudest in a single night. There is a wide distinction between people arguing up the sound barrier, and over a dozen police sirens playing their timeless tune. To the most experienced lifer, the sound of red and blue flashers can still raise a back hair whereas one can simply walk in the opposite direction for peace and quiet. On June 23rd 2015, the heatwave that struck the entire week took its business elsewhere when Target became the test bed of gas exposure. They arrived at 9:10 at night to a once beloved Team Member lying in a pool of orange liquid still steaming off the floor.
The Manalapan Unit took their usual precautions by evacuating everyone else out of the store. Josh and Matt being the head supervisors lead the questioning brigade as to what happened. Five minutes later, the Paramedics came and turned the store parking lot into a chilling rainbow of red and blue. Whether it sat well with a former employee was up in the air at this point; Mickey Henderson kept to the outside as his family's nightmare emerged from within. He sat in a washed out Toyota Camry smoking a cigarette when he received a phone call coming from his glove compartment. Fast food wrappers and a poorly made origami crane fell out and the vibration sent his heart on edge.
For a second, he forgot he even had his phone on with only 15% power left. He picked it up and out came a reality he didn't expect to listen to, and apart from being good at making up stories, he didn't have single tall tale to pitch to.
"What's good, boss man? I take it you're impressed with this shit show?"
It took a total twelve seconds to hear a response, but to Mickey all he felt was a rush of relief flowing through his veins, knowing he got his message out to the store and revamp the Henderson Legacy as his own. Soon after, the voice replied, "You seem pleased with yourself. Do you see your guinea pig?"
Mickey got out of the car and observed who the police brought out. With only a quick glimpse to grant, who he saw was not who he intended to possess. S.K. was one of the most respected Team Members in the store; made business connections and renaissance his way to be everyone's friend. He was no fool though. He knew which buttons to press and kept a level head while doing it. Mickey shut his eyes in shame and said, "No, no, no, no, no… boss, I swear to God I didn't expect this to happen. Fuck! It was supposed to be someone else."
"Is that your pitch? You told me Soul Leaping pinpoints a specific range of people your family despises. This is an egregious error, Mickey. You said you've gotten the oxy levels right."
"That's what I did." He expressed. "I gave you the description of the guy. Chad from Backroom was supposed to take the bait, not S.K."
"This is not looking good. You just put an innocent man on a one way trip to prison, and three other Team Members in the hospital. One may lose the feeling in her legs thanks to you. I should have known; this night was not in the cards."
"Marianne." He spoke with subtle regret in his voice. "So what happens to our arrangement, you ain't thinking of shutting me down, are you? My family's recipe can help in the grand scheme of things. You showed me-
"What I present and represent will have to wait a little longer. I will make other arrangements to clear Mr. Kahn of this night. Close up your gas hub. And get it 'right' this time."
"Wait, hold on a sec. Who the hell is S.K. to you anyway?"
The click and consistent dial tone on the other end didn't come as a surprise to Mickey. When they first met, he was half cut from beer cans and a tidal wave of regret weighing on his shoulders. As for his gas hub recently established in Newark, he had a tough drive ahead of him. It was a good thing he didn't see the outcome of that night; the thought of Cayla being hurt would have done him in the worst way. Forty-eight hours cement footed by with a wall of questioning to Target Management and providing a tale of caution about the Henderson Family business.
According to the Chief of the Manalapan Unit, Julien Adamo, he urged one of the store's LODs, Jim to adhere to the quarantine protocols and not to worry about the Hendersons altogether. Josh on the other hand was inclined to look into it further. In only two days' time, Target was turned into an offsite lab for the Center for Disease Control, searching every corner and crevice from Guest Service to the dusty rafters of the Backroom. The staff came in the form of a skeleton crew, performing their routinely duties around Hazmat personnel. Those who called out took the time to look for other avenues that could benefit them more in the future.
Guest Service's very own Alyse had a lucky break being a college graduate and looking into the field of Physical Education. Between two jobs and her career choice, she was well on her way out of the retail life; timing could not be more prudent than this. The two single moms who survived the incident, all Daniela and Marianne cared about was getting better, nothing that ice cream and their families couldn't fix. Luckily, living in a small world was great for Scotty, too. Although he couldn't breathe properly with a few broken ribs, Daniela and two of his younger brothers came to visit him. They were all grateful to be alive, but what about S.K.'s fate some wondered?
As Josh used his free time to look further into the Henderson bloodline, Nick found his back turned from the source. The smell of Mickey turned his knuckles white and a neck vein pulsed when he heard his voice for the first time in two years. Nick wanted to act fast and away from the hospital. It could be his only chance.
"I assume you heard what happened the other night?" Nick asked, keeping his composure.
"… We should really talk outside, Nicky. What I'm about to tell you will raise Mary's blood pressure."
"You crossed the line…"
"I've crossed many; blame my genetics." Mickey replied walking to the door. "Come or don't come. Either way, I have to make this right. S.K. wasn't supposed to inhale that stuff. I'll be outside lighting a cigarette. You're welcome to join."
Nick stood up and followed Mickey out of the hospital room without the security guards giving a second thought to who he was. It caught him by surprise, compelled him to the point of exposing Mickey and avoiding life in prison. However, the natural instinct of sending Mickey's face to the pavement crept over his way of reason. He continued following him out onto the Raritan Memorial parking lot. It had a lot of cars and too many curious eyes that could whistle for authority at a moment's notice. Nowadays, people would do anything for their version of "justice". Nick kept his distance with his arms crossed as the summer winds blew around them.
"Soul Leaping is a four decade old experiment my grandfather Lyle Henderson created. It created a lot of stir in South Jersey and into Staten Island."
"Why man, why the fuck would you do something like this?" Nick asked.
He let out a smoke puff before inquiring, "Have you seen Cayla lately?"
"ANSWER THE GODDAMN QUESTION, MICKEY!" He shouted over the entire parking lot.
"If you wanna kick my ass, might as well do it here. It won't change what happens to this planet."
"Do you hear yourself? The only thing that'll happen to this planet is it'll spin on without your perverted ass in it."
"You'll have to forgive my lack of enthusiasm." He said, flicking his cigarette. "I've been hard at work reversing the gas's effects. Look, S.K. is gonna live. He'll be back to his old, charmin' self in no time. If I wanted to kill him, I'd have dug deeper into my family's secrets."
"What secrets?"
"Ever watched Child's Play, Chucky the Killer Doll? Soul Leaping was originally designed to drive someone to the brink of suicide, but it'd be our will to guide them there. Puppet strings." He explained, wiggling his fingers. "Target hurt me, Cayla never saw me as someone she would be with."
"Oh, she was never yours to begin with." Nick made clear. "You're lucky I'm not a bitter jerk like you, 'cause it's taking every fiber in me not to beat your ass into the ground."
"As I've said, the world is going to change. It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. You know, it's too bad you've never shown how much you cared about her. You never made a move. No matter how meticulously I 've prepared my approach, no matter how much of an old romantic I was, it's taken me a year to realize… I never did stand a chance. Hendersons are cursed with loving deep, hating deeper."
"Your gas injured Cayla and Marianne. Blue Bulls-Eye is slowly becoming a security fun house and people are quitting left and right."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Mickey asked.
"You crossed the line."
Growing tired of the back and forth banter of hollow threats, "You said that already! Grow an actual pair and tell me what a scrawny, Corleone reject like you is gonna do about it!"
They say appearances can deceive a non-believer. It worked for Bruce Lee in his prime, but Nick was more of a thinker than a fighter. He could stand in front of Mickey and picture the worst ways of having his promises show weight; Nick simply walked away and back in his car to figure out his next move. It took him two right turns and onto the parkway to understand, but he knew he made the right decision not punching him in the mouth. Although he never the met the Hendersons personally, the remaining five brothers and three sisters had way more subtlety than Mickey ever did, making them even more dangerous.
One of the older sisters, Rylie, did a learning stint at Georgian Court University before dropping out her Junior Year and off the face of the Earth. For what reason Nick didn't know, but all the same he considered it a tale of caution that if the Hendersons cared for Mickey at all, then for the sake of keeping their gene pool pure, anyone associated to the Target store was in deep water. It took the rest of the week for the store to become an air traveler's worst nightmare. Security guards were checking both guests and Team Members at the entrance; the Backroom was closed off for remodeling new state-of-the-art cameras that can sense all kinds of gases in the air, both natural and unnatural. As for the rest of the place, to the naked eye it would seem routine with guests going through the motions of buying stuff.
Everyone on staff, including the LODs was on edge from the hired guards watching them. LOD Jim thought he could reason with some of them due to them being former Manalapan cops. However, reaching his old friend in the Precinct, Julien was like getting a good picture with actress Cate Blanchett. While he, Lisa, and Mary endured the new changes, Josh somehow became more intrigued with the Henderson family history than what was happening out on the sales floor. He couldn't explain his newfound behavior; could have been a new spin on the old saying "an eye for an eye".
Sitting in his office while leaving everything exactly the way it was when S.K. was there, he laid out a web of intrigue cut out from the copied police files and the mugshots, and pasted them on his wall. Everything from Lyle being raised in a New York refinery to first born Bentley Main Henderson in manufacturing the gas, the whole time he wondered how Mickey was related to these people. They were invested to a fault, and that kind of investment led to 126 unsolved murders but the question was why. Why close a 40 year old case when the culprits are still at large and in secret? Josh took a step back and downed his third cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee, feeling like he hasn't slept since the incident.
It was four hours since he came in for his shift at the store. It was mandatory for a Team Member to keep their walkie on at all times, but these days the chatter consisted of cries for help and guards switching frequencies to bark orders at the LODs. Two hours of it could drive any person over the edge of a cliff; turning it off sounded like a good idea at the time. Mary, Jim and Lisa held their own the floor so why not he wondered before. That was until he heard four knocks on his office door by none other than a frustrated Jim.
"Damn, you don't look so good." Josh said feeling concerned.
Jim appeared before him frustrated and thirsty for something stronger than black coffee. As a matter of fact, he asked out of the blue, "Got any whiskey?"
"Come in, man." He replied looking both sides of TSC before shutting the door. "Corporate's really batting down the hatches on us. How's everyone out there?"
"How do you think? Guests are pissed off, the guards aren't helping to calm the situation, and the Flow Team in the Backroom is thinking about striking… all this over a goddamn gas canister."
"Ugh, I still can't explain what happened that night myself." Josh said, pouring another cup. "Drink up."
Putting on a long face he half joked, "This doesn't look like whiskey."
"Well, this office doesn't look like a cruise ship heading to the Carribean." Both chuckled. "The wife and I were planning on going on the Fourth of July… can't afford to do that now."
"Why not, Jim asked when suddenly his walkie went off, go ahead Mary."
"Have you seen Josh?!" She asked in a panic.
"What's up, Mary?" Josh quickly took over.
"Oh, Jesus, there's this one security guard manhandling a guest near Check Lane 9. Matt's assesin' the situation, but the guard is looking to swing at him."
"This is getting ridiculous." Jim pointed out.
"I'm coming out now!" Josh replied, getting up and leaving Jim to compose himself.
A frenzy was breaking out near the registers. Seeing what was happening around the ninth register was like a repeat of the incident, albeit a watered down version with Target Corporate Security. It couldn't have been any more than twenty-six guests surrounding the hostile occurrence with a few spectators hiding out in the café area; to the teens that fed on hot pretzels it was the best entertainment they ever had in a retail place. Josh shimmied through the crowd and got in-between Matt and one of the guards trying to bad mouth a pissed off looking dock worker cussing him off. Chatter erupted about the dock worker defending his pregnant wife, claiming the guard shoved her away.
Unlike Josh, Matt had a tendency to be a hothead when provoked. Little did the guard know he was reaching the end of his journey of earning a black belt in tae kwon do. If it was anywhere else he thought, the guard would be crying "insurance claims" instead of pushing around pregnant women. Josh jumped in and pushed him half a foot away from Matt and shouted, "That's enough! Stand down! What the hell's the matter with you? You really want to cause a second incident after what happened to one of our own?!"
The dock worker interjected, "Are you fuckin' kidding me right now?! My wife was trying to get to the bathroom when this fuckin' retard pushes her for "cutting lines"!"
"I was escorting her." The guard claimed. "Then she took a swing at me!"
"Bullshit!" Matt shouted at him. "I saw what happened. You pushed her. Now, you owe her an apology."
Six other guards moved up from containing the rowdy guests and joined the "retarded" one with nightsticks in their hands. For glorified looking Mall Cops, Corporate cut a few financial corners when their upgraded stun guns had a Smith and Wesson style to them. Either way, the provoking guard who went by the name "Thaddeus" tooled up with his own nightstick, swagger-less stature and said, "You two seem to forget. The Manalapan Target Store is under new supervision thanks to your Team Member's stage performance. Any demands and regulations come from Corporate now." He pointed to Josh and continued, "And since this LOD was in charge that night, any lip from Target personnel will be treated with due prejudice. That means: suspension, termination, docking wages, anything we got to do to ensure another gas hazard does not break out again. So I suggest you be mindful in how you address us."
Corporate's new red spotted lap dogs have been singing the same "dominion" tune since they were transferred to the store. As was stated in the past, they have been looking to shut the store down for having a little too much freedom amongst the staff. Unbeknownst to the higher-ups, the contrary couldn't be any more evident. Lisa and Mary ran towards the pregnant wife and helped her on her swollen feet, taking almost all of the upper body strength they had. She looked like she could pop at any moment, but the heavy Jersey accented lady put her hormones to work after quietly praising the two LODs for assisting. She then walked up to Thaddeus with a right hook that could make Mike Tyson step up his game.
The man with a big stick and bigger mouth wasn't intimidating to begin with, but Corporate took pride in keeping up appearances when it came to their Martial Law with one of the top stores in New Jersey. While Thaddeus was on the floor picking up two of his teeth, the other six guards took a few steps back as Josh bent down and warned him, "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to apologize to… ma'am what's your name?"
"Jolene." The husband said.
"That was a sweet right hook by the way." Matt acknowledged to her.
"Nice to meet you Jolene; on behalf of the Bulls-Eye, we give you our sincerest apologies for our new security department. It obviously has a few dings that need mending." Josh said before turning to Thaddeus. "You and I will pay Corporate a visit to get this new arrangement of ours sorted out. This is the second time you've bullied a guest because you didn't like how they looked. Not everyone's a psycho."
"That's rich, Joshua." He spat out blood. "Believe it or not, I'm on your side. I lost a cousin to the same orange gas your Team Member got infected with. When I escorted Jolene, she looked suspicious so I had to instigate."
Suddenly, the husband wanted to go a third round when Mary and Lisa held him back. Mary took his left arm and stressed, "Sir, you don't want to do that."
"Anything you purchased is one the house." Lisa promised. "We'll handle things from here."
Jim stood outside TSC's main door and witnessed the whole ordeal as Josh handled it. He gave a slight grin thinking it was the first time in the past week the store was retaking control from Corporate's new security regiment. It was a brief victory though he thought, and noticing some of the guards they were most likely going to settle the score in some other way. Before Thaddeus became involved with "keeping the peace" amongst retailers, he was a regular guest who had been shopping at the store since its grand opening fourteen years ago. He never liked making a big deal about it, but when he heard they hired a Henderson boy without knowing who he really was from the start his emotional attachment to the store began clouding his judgment. After half an hour, the sales floor went back to the new version of normal where guests were having their receipts checked at the exit door and moving at an assembly line's pace.
By the time mid-day came, Josh and Matt just about had it dealing a dozen headaches while medicating their own over by the Pharmacy. Being manager or Digital Advisor, sometimes there was never enough aspirin to get through the day. Alcohol was out of the question and there wasn't a built-in gym to alleviate their stress, but that was the contract they signed when first joining up. There are no good or bad days working in Target, just surviving one headache after another until the rewind kicks in the next day. For Josh's sake, he was counting down the minutes walking towards Appliances before he could go home at 6 PM.
Beer and Point Pleasant Beach couldn't come soon enough he thought. After spending all afternoon hanging out with Cayla and figuring out his next move, Nick drove into work with one positive to fall back on. Although the store was like an airport terminal, at least the parking lot was still the same with people cutting others off and making sharp turns getting on the South 18 route. All day, Nick was making a game plan on how to deal with Mickey's family. The police were pulling back due to the history of the gas, and the only other lead he had to go on was the Old Henderson boarding house somewhere in Staten Island. He had an idea he wanted to run by Josh; whether he was going to hear him out or not was the big question.
Walking into the store after getting searched, he managed to run into an exhausted Lisa going into TSC. It didn't look it at first sight, but the store had this ran down feeling. The other Team Members slogged around different aisles packing out items while the four cashiers Nick saw were under an invasive eye from security. He slipped past their field of vision with a family of four walking towards the exit and through the Center's main hallway.
"What's up, Lisa?" He asked.
"Hopefully my apartment ceiling, been pinching myself all day on the notion I may be dreaming all this."
"It was that bad today?"
"Bad? Try "we may have to go to war with Target Corporate" bad. After today, they'll probably send additional workers to push the Flow Team out, causing another catastrophe altogether." She said, dropping into her office chair. "It's only been a week, but it feels like forever."
"This new setup we have, it can't be permanent, right?"
"It could be short term or long term." She replied rubbing her eyes. "Either way, if you have a second or third job, request more hours from them so you can spend less time here. What time is it?"
"A quarter to six, he replied looking at his watch, hey have you seen Josh anywhere? I need to talk to him."
"Last I saw him, he was stocking in Market."
"Thanks, hang in there." He assured her. "We're gonna pull through this crapshoot."
At least the cosmetic and school supply aisles were empty. The guests caught wind of the store's new standards, and have been flying in and out with items carried in red baskets. Nick could still see the faded orange spots on the floor where "S.K." took Daniela against her will; he couldn't imagine what took place that night. At the time, he was on his day off, but he heard things and after an unexpected visit from Mickey himself he felt he had an obligation to protect his fellow Team Members. Cayla especially, Nick always admired her heart and kindness to others.
Mickey took advantage of that one too many times he thought, and seeing Josh heading towards the Backroom he caught up with him bringing a red cart full of back stock. If bags under one's eyes could talk, it could tell an engaging trilogy filled with suspense and severe exhaustion among the main characters. Nick didn't have the complete former yet, but Josh brought the latter in spades.
"Yo, Josh!" He said running up to him inside the Backroom.
"What's going on Nick?" He yawned. "Oh, don't forget. You need a pass to bring items in and out of the Backroom."
"You're kidding me. That wasn't part of the new contracts we got!"
"They updated 'em yesterday. Hey, have you spoken to either Cayla or Marianne at all since-
"Cayla's doing alright." He assured him. "Raritan Memorial won't let Marianne out 'till tomorrow morning. She can still walk thank God."
"Oh, that's good to hear!" Josh said feeling relieved. "That's really good to hear. Mickey Henderson… of all the crazy shit he pulled."
"I ran into the shithead himself. He said he knew about the gas hitting S.K. I'm not gonna lie… it took everything in me not to kick his ass."
Josh shushed him all of a sudden and replied, "Keep it down. I uh… sorta talked to him as well."
"When did you…?"
"Two days after it happened. S.K. was freaking out. When I looked over the police files, there was a trigger the Hendersons used to snap themselves out of that Soul Leaping gas. They would bang their heads on a hard surface." Josh said walking with him, avoiding contact with the cameras in the 100s section. "Let's just say I'll have to requisition a new office desk."
"Holy shit…" Nick spoke as his eyes widened. "Any updates on him?"
"Corporate has been cutting off phone calls from the Manalapan Unit. Jim's been moving heaven and Earth to get a word out to them, but his contact inside isn't receiving anything. I've been looking into Henderson Family Tree, too."
"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Now, I'm not saying it won't happen. I'm just letting you know I'll be conducting my own investigation on Mickey, and how deep this orange gas goes."
"Nick, he sighed and stretched his back, think about what you're saying. Everything is on the fucked up side right now. Taking action with corporate looking over our neck hairs is career suicide."
"I know." Nick understood. "That's why I'm taking some time off to get whatever Intel I can on where the gas's origins come from. Josh, Mickey sealed his fate when he harmed Cayla, and I wasn't there to stop it. I'll be careful."
Before the gas outbreak, Nick was the energetic one of all the Team Members. Motivated and a people person, he had the ability to lift everyone's spirits to get them through the grueling routines of guest appraisal and running all over the place to meet the demands of the day. Even with his motivation intact, a part of him didn't care if Corporate found out about his little investigation. He knew the risks if gotten caught, but from what Cayla told him of what happened to S.K. it drove him further to bring down the Hendersons by any means necessary. He didn't have the physical prowess, but that was an advantage on his side.
He was quick, able to slip in and out of places without anyone noticing. Well, if Hitman taught him anything is to never leave a trail of telegraphed steps. The whole twenty minutes talking to Josh, he still wasn't sold on Nick going out and getting hurt. Staten Island was only a Sunday Drive for him. All it took was a measure of wit… and a second person with more experience. Lucky for him however, he recalled a certain "con" man he'd be willing to sway to tag along.
Swollen chrome domes, cuts and bruises, and a sore back could bench most people. When Marianne got the news she wasn't paralyzed from the waist down, her relief was indescribable. She had nothing personal against disabled people, but the thought of no feeling in her legs left her enjoying stale grape jell-0, and her disdain for the taste of grape was well-known. The night before she was to be released from Raritan Memorial, she pulled out all the stops on social media after being out of commission for an entire week. Facebook, Facetime, Instagram, you name it she owed it to herself to remind everyone she was on the mend although Cayla was on top of it.
She visited Marianne four times, talking about other subjects other than what happened at the store. They spent their time taking hospital selfies and sneaking in brownies that didn't taste like drywall. Throughout these visits Marianne had one rant she couldn't seem to get herself off of. Netflix can do that to a person, but the online rumors of a continuation of a 90's family show Full House drove her to the temptation of ordering the entire series on DVD off Amazon. When Cayla walked in on the fourth night with a blue bag in hand, her eyes lit up the same way a little kid opens his first gift on Christmas morning.
"You didn't have to do that! I fucking love you so much, girl." Marianne hugged her. "Full House is the greatest invention along with Nutella."
"Ha, don't I know it." Cayla smiled. "You don't suppose-
"I wouldn't." She replied with dread. "I've heard stories of a patient pranking another patient by putting a laxative in a Nutella jar. Before that, they were going to replace chocolate pudding with Nutella spread. It's processed stuff they serve now; eugh!"
"I tried it once."
"The cheap stuff, my dear dimply child you have much to learn about the appreciation of quality cocoa stuffs!"
"I did have the name brand, silly!" She chuckled as Marianne looked over the DVDs. "$40 for the entire set at FYE. Sorry they didn't have a John Stamos poster in there; the one when he had hair back then."
"Mary forgives. He ages like fine wine so I'm content." She replied before rolling her eyes. "Fuuuuck, can't wait to get outta here."
"I know hon, just one more day. Lauren misses you like crazy. Then there's Josh, Kevin, Kyle, Alyse and Nick waiting for you, too. But… it's safe to say our days at the store are numbered."
Marianne subdued her excitement for the moment as she sat up in bed and spoke, "What Mickey did to us, to S.K."
"S.K. is innocent, we all know that. Don't do that to yourself." Cayla insisted. "Besides, pretty soon I'll be going to school full time and start building up a career for myself. Plus, Nick wants to look into the Henderson operation."
"He wants to do what now?!" She flabbergasted.
"I know right? I tried talking him out of it, but I've never seen him like this. I'm worried about him."
"Girl, you gotta reel him in before he gets hurt, or worse. If not, I'll go over to whatever bunghole Mickey's livin' in and straighten his bitch ass out myself!"
Cayla placed both hands on Marianne's shoulders and stressed, "Okay, breathe in, breathe out, you don't think I want the same thing? This gas outbreak rattled all of us, especially Nick. We need a new tactic."
"That's why I'm telling you, sister to sister, to be careful if and when those Henderson douches hit us again." She replied holding Cayla's hand tight. "I can't afford to lose you, babe. Be safe out there."
In Blue Bulls-Eye or out in the world's harsh reality, as hollow as it may be to some, close friends can be paramount to surviving one day to the next. The concept of friendship is never always clear; working with the right people helps too. However, in this day and age who are the right people? Marianne has been working at the store for the past four years as Cayla clocked in two, same as Mickey Henderson. Once you're hired, you're released into the retail jungle looking for a safe zone.
For Cayla, she has had some close calls in overwhelming situations with guests and adapting to store policy. That was when Marianne came in and offered a helping hand. She tried her hand in a number of areas: Cashier, Guest Service, the Photo Lab, it couldn't have been a more perfect time to train a new generation into the fold. At the time when she started, Marianne wanted to groom her into a clone version of herself. Cayla was her first trainee and naturally became nervous on whether she'll pick up the skills quickly, but working with her felt like they have known each other for years.
Whenever their schedules permitted, they would switch hours and have each other's backs if a guest became hostile over a trivial matter. One of the trivial matters somehow became a huge problem when Mickey entered the picture. As he would make abundantly clear to his fellow Team Members, he was a sucker for a pretty face. The mystery behind his family would soon be discovered if Nick had anything to say about it. Knowing what S.K. went through for no reason, although apprehensive of what she would be walking into, she owed it to her friend to find out why he was chosen to be "possessed" by the gas. And with Marianne backing her, the tough road ahead would be worth it.
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