Ch4 The Straw that Broke the Crocodiles Back

Welcome to Ch4 everyone. This one is gonna hit hard in some places so be warned. Also thanks for sticking with me this far and as always R and R pretty please. All thanks to Fuzzinator23 for grammar fixes thanks again. Chaio.

Loneliness doesn't mean being alone it means feeling alone.

The day had barely begun, the store was open, the workers off doing their assignments, and Mae had shown up on time for the second day in a row. All in all Bea was pleased with how fast they were catching up on the back orders, but still, she could barely keep her eyes open past noon. She kept waking up in the middle of the night from freakish nightmares. Even Mae was starting to notice her eyes glazed over and bags underneath. She dodged every question thrown at her though, there was work to be done. That day she had Mae help her stock the store and take inventory. Mae was slow with the stocking, but when it came to numbers and counting she was actually faster than Bea at it. It was a smooth day with hardly any customers again and the workers came back early from their jobs. Even the weather was kind to everyone since the sun had finally shown its face again. A smooth day indeed.

It was about the closing time when Gregg burst through the door screaming "Heeeeeyyyyy everyone. Holy crap, Mae, are you working?" He laughed as he saw Mae putting tools and other stuff on the shelves.

"Yeah, I'm helping Bea," she says "Whats up man?"

"Hey, Gregg," Bea says

"Band practice that's what," he exclaims waving his arms "Angus and I have been working on a cool song, you'll love it!"

"Whoa, a new song," Mae says "great, I won't be the only one sucking at it!" She waves her arms with Gregg.

"Cool Mae and I'll be there in an hour or so, we have got to close the store and I need to grab my laptop."

Gregg smiles "woohoo yeah I'll go round up Angus, we're gonna rock!" With that the orange fox dashes out the door.

"Well I guess we can start closing up," Bea says as she opens the register and pulls the cash out and walking into the back. Mae picks up all the stuff she didn't put on the shelf and carries it to the back as well. Once the cash is in the money safe and the extra tools and stuff is back on the shelf the two friends put on their coats and leave. "You can head over to the Party Barn if you want I'll be there in a bit," Bea says as she pulls the keys out of the lock.

"Yeah, I guess I'll catch up with Gregg. See you there." Mae runs off to find Gregg and Angus.

Bea chuckles and begins the short trek home to pick up her stuff. The day was cold, but the sun made the snow sparkles and it gave the town an even more beautiful shine. She stepped into the apartment building and pushed the elevator button. Once off and to the door she unlocked it and walked in hanging her coat on the hook beside it. Her father was sitting in his usual spot on the couch watching T.V, though he never seemed to be paying attention to it unless the game was on. He looked off in his own little world and only responded to the door closing. He turned and looked at her. "So, how's the store?"

Bea stopped herself from groaning. That same question was what she was asked every single day she walked through the front door, and the answer was always the same "It's doing fine, Dad, just like yesterday." She grits her teeth so as not to say anything else, it was grating, though.

"Don't give me that tone," he says "it's..."

"Your store and your name is on the deed and your money pays the bills. I know." She didn't mean to sound as snarky as she did, but her father took it hard.

He narrowed his eyes at her "don't talk to me that way, Beatrice," he said in a low and harsh voice "I did not raise you to act like that."

Bea couldn't stop her response as she rolled her eyes "Yeah like you're the picture of how someone should treat others." She closed her mouth and bit her tongue, her eyes immediately found her father's and she saw the dangerous look in them.

He didn't break his gaze with her as he stood up and slowly approached "I have no idea who told you that you could talk to your father with such a disrespectful tone," he says as he stops in front of her and glares into her eyes "but, I am not a man to be trifled with."

Something inside of her bent a bit and she spoke up again "you...you aren't someone who can get by without someone there looking after you," she said her voice barely a whisper "someone...like mom..." She saw stars for a moment and hit the floor hard. Her father had hit her, he had never hit her before, she was scared now

"Don't you dare insult me like that!" her father shouted, "I will not accept that!" He looked down at her and his eyes were lit with rage and fury. She didn't move and just laid there not knowing what to do. She didn't notice her father walk back to the couch and sit down again until she heard the TV volume turn up and she stood up slowly. Her head was pounding and she was still seeing double, but she needed to leave, now. Quietly, she walked, or more like stumbled, into her room and grabbed her laptop and then made her way for the door. Her father was quiet as he sat there and she walked past without incident. Grabbing her coat she walked out the door and shut it, quietly.

...

Mae was standing in the party barn, chatting up with Gregg while Angus was doing some voice warm-ups on stage, and Germ was...well...being Germ off to the side. She saw Bea walk in and instantly knew something was up. Gregg looked too and smiled "Bea!" he said, but even he could tell that something wasn't right. "Uh, Bea?"

Bea sets her laptop down on the stage and sits down, she was still shaken and her head was throbbing, but she felt safe here at least. "Hey, guys," she said.

"Yo, dude, like what's wrong? You look like you fell."

Bea didn't realize she had bruised that quickly and she chuckled. "Yeah...uh, I slipped and fell outside before I came in." she lied. She didn't know what stopped her from telling them the truth, but she stuck with that story.

"Saved your computer but wrecked your face dude," Gregg said, "well, hope you feel up to playing."

Bea nods "Yeah, I'll just run some basic drums if that's ok. I'll try to splice something together tonight when I have the song recorded."

Gregg beams and nods "hell yeah man," he hops up on stage and runs over to Angus.

Mae takes the time to talk to Bea "you look like you took a pretty hard fall, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm alright, Mae, think you can play this song?"

Mae laughs "no!"

Everyone is in their places, Bea has her laptop set up and ready to record the song and play the drums, Mae is standing there tuning her bass, Gregg is doing rock star poses, and Angus is clearing his throat. Germ? He is just standing there and watching. The song is great, but their performance is like a train derailed into a landslide that was falling into a volcano that was blowing up. In short words, it sucked, but once it was over Gregg let out a whooping shout and praised everyone for trying. Then their time-honored tradition of getting dinner was celebrated afterward, Germ, sadly, had to go home.

"TACOS! TACOS! TACOS!," Gregg and Mae chanted in unison as they sat at their table in the coolest place to ever come to Possum Springs: Taco Buck. Bea was sitting across the table from Mae and was quiet. Angus walked back with a tray full of tacos, setting it down in front of the chanting buffoons. Gregg and Mae instantly start trying to toss tacos into each other mouths while Angus and Bea ate in silence.

Angus glances over at Bea who is toying with her taco and he clears his throat. "Hey, Bea," he says. Gregg begins shouting at Mae for tossing a taco into his eye, they aren't paying attention to anything.

Bea looks over at Angus. "Huh, what?"

"You look pretty stressed, is something wrong?"

"Just tired, long day." She takes a bite out of her taco.

"Yeah, I understand that feeling," he says "Mae never told me, what was wrong the other day?"

"I had the flu pretty bad," she says "Mae made me go to the doctor."

"Wow, are you alright?"

"Yeah, the stuff they gave me was pretty good."

"I'm glad you're ok then," he smiles.

She smiles back and then jumps in her seat when Mae slams her fist on the table.

"Gregg my mouth is here," she yells pointing at her mouth. Her face is covered with lettuce and cheese.

"Sorry dude I was aiming for it, but I guess I suck at this," Gregg laughs and it's infectious causing the small group of friends to join in.

They finish their meals and leave the staff to clean up Gregg and Mae's mess. Outside the clouds have joined together again and the snow was falling lightly. They decide to just take a walk through town enjoying each others presence. They stop at the center of town and watch as the day turns to night and the street lamps come on. The orange glow of the lights makes the snow glow casting light orange light across the buildings making the entire town look like a sunset. It was peaceful and quiet since everyone was inside in their cozy warm homes. Time passed and the friends decided to head their separate ways. Mae walks beside Bea as they make their way back towards their houses.

"Hey, Bea," Mae says. "Even though that song was a train wreck, you did pretty good on the...drums...it's still a computer."

Bea chuckles. "Thanks, Mae, you did well too, considering." They stop in front of Bea's apartment building. "Well," Bea says, "Guess this is it, good night?"

"Why does that sound like a question?" Mae asked confused.

"It's not...goodnight Mae," she walks into the building, leaving Mae on the sidewalk confused.

The cat shrugs and walks home stepping into the warm house and sighing. "I'm hooOOoMme!" she shouts.

"Welcome home kitten," her father says. Mae joins her father on the couch sitting down to watch T.V.

...

Bea stands in front of the door leading into the apartment. She doesn't really want to go in, but she has no other choice so she unlocks the door and opens it quietly. Stepping inside she finds the lights off and the apartment quiet. She quietly she makes her way to her room and sets her laptop back on her desk and takes her boots and coat off. She sits down on her bed and pulls out her pack of cigarettes. She's been saving the last one since she promised Mae she wouldn't smoke in front of her anymore. She pulls it out and lights it up letting the nicotine into her body. It has no effect and she groans and buries her face in her hands. She sits there thinking on everything that happened today. It was insane, she didn't know what to do. She was hiding her emotions behind a thin veil of nihilism but it was crumbling. She wanted to cry, but it wasn't coming.

She stood up not wanting to be in the apartment anymore. She looked around at all the boxes in her room and felt angry and scared all of a sudden. This small room was suffocating her and she just wanted to run, but where would she go? She didn't want to be anyone else's problem. She could take care of herself, just like she took care of her father for the past two years, but right now she felt like the world crashed down on her. She put her boots back on and grabbed her coat and left the apartment as quietly as she came. Her father must have been asleep or maybe he was drunk and passed out, at this moment she didn't care she just needed to leave. She finds herself walking through town again not really knowing where she was headed. She feels broken inside and she can't fix it just like she couldn't fix her dad. She tried so hard to do everything she could to make her father's life easier, but in return, it made her life a living hell. She just wanted to escape it all now, but how? What would let her escape this horrible town, this life she was stuck in? She didn't know or she didn't want to know either way the option was hers to find.

She stops right before getting to the Snack Falcon and looks around. This town was so small, too small. She looks up at the building she stopped beside. It was one of the tallest in town, you could probably see the highway from up there. She saw a fire escape on the side and a thought crossed her mind, an escape. It shook her down to her core to think it, but she couldn't shake it. It dogged her until she found herself walking down the side alley and climbing up on a bin to grab the escapes ladder. It was rusty and made a grating noise as it slid down, but it held her weight and so she climbed it. The entire metal structure was groaning under her, but at that moment she paid it no mind. She reached the top to find the ladder leading up was broken and had fallen off a long time ago so she tried the window and it slid open. She found herself standing in a large room that had empty rows of benches and a large stage. It was dark and gave off an air of sadness and time passing into oblivion. It added more fuel to her current emotions and she looked around in the darkness until she found the door leading to the stairs and opened it finding a roof access. She walked up the stairs and pushed the door open stepping out onto the roof.

The wind was blowing softly up here and it carried the snow with it. She looked around, the roof was small and covered in a few feet of snow. She shoved her way through it and to the ledge. Why was she here? Not just on the roof, but why was she born into this world. She asked herself that every time she thought about her mother. What was the point of it all? She thought it had a point back when she was planning to go to college, to move further on into life. Maybe find someone special, settle down, start a family, and make the world better for whatever kids she had. No, that wasn't true anymore, now she was trying to make life easier for a father who didn't care enough to try to fix himself. Now, she was running a store she didn't even own with workers who hardly even cared to be ordered around by her. She had nothing and was nothing, at least to herself she was. No, she knew why she was here on this roof tonight. She knew in the darkest part of her mind why she had chosen to climb up here. It was a quiet voice in the back of her head the told her the truth. "You? You mean nothing to this world. Your father stopped caring about you when your mother died. Your friends will move on and forget you even exist. This is the only way. I mean look at how you were treated today when you do all the work and you still get thrown to the ground. This is all you'll ever amount to. So just do it." She didn't even realize she climbed up on the ledge until she was looking down at the snow-covered ground below. It didn't faze her though it just enticed her in a sick way. She closed her eyes, maybe this was the way...maybe this was her way to a better day.