1987 – Santa Carla/California

Once again I looked into the mirror. I hated the new uniform the diner wanted us to wear now. The salmon coloured waitress dress matched so well with my black hair with the red tips and my pale skin. I looked as convincing as if you'd put Morticia Addams into a tooth fairy costume.

"Well… That's a new one." Shelly poked her head into my room and tried hard not to laugh. I gave her an annoyed glance before slipping out of the uniform.

"Seriously, what was wrong with the old waitress outfit? You looked much better in that." She continued and I agreed. Before today we were serving in a plane withe blouse and a mid-length black skirt. It looked good on everyone and now we were having that, thanks to Audrey.

"If we have to wear this for long I fear I need a new job." I stated overdramatically and put the awful piece of cloth neatly folded into my bag for tomorrow. My cousin let out a snort. We both knew I wouldn't do that. Working in the diner was maybe not the best of jobs, but it paid the bills and we were able to actually save some money for hard times.

"Is Devin coming over later?" Shelly asked while walking towards the kitchen in front of me.

"No. Actually I told him we were having a girls' night since… Happy Birthday!" She looked at me taken aback for a second and then started smiling when I produced a little gift from behind the potato basket.

"Oh Amy! You shouldn't have!", she exclaimed while hugging me.

"You haven't even opened it, Shell." I grinned at her. I was very content with myself for she hadn't suspected anything. I watched as she ripped the wrapping paper from the small box in excitement.

"Oh… Thank you so much!" She hugged me again with tears welling up in her eyes. The box contained a pair of earrings. I made them myself, it was a little hobby of mine and she nearly caught me one evening.

"It was Devins' idea. He saw you looking at similar ones and I remembered us sharing a pair that looked almost like it when we were like five years old." Shelly's smile grew even wider.

"I love them. They look almost like they did on the old pictures. Oh, Amy they must have cost you a small fortune." I shook my head and continued smiling.

"Don't worry about it. I made them myself, so they really weren't that expensive." Her eyes grew wide while she tired putting them in.

"I knew you were making small pieces of jewellery but I didn't know you could pull up something like that. You're amazing, cousin!"

o-0-o

"Hey honey. You're ready?" Devin stood in front of me and gave me a small kiss. I smiled lovingly and looked towards my cousin over my shoulder.

"I'm leaving for work now. Want me to go get the groceries afterwards?" Shelly looked up from her breakfast and nodded.

"That would be great. I don't know how long I will be out since it is Carol's' last day before retirement. Hey there, Devin. Thank you for offering her a ride." He nodded at her and I grabbed my bag so we could leave for the boardwalk.

It was a short drive down to the beach and traffic was low since it was still early morning. I looked out the window and zoned out for a moment. I've been here now for about a year. When somebody would have seen me then and was looking at me now, they wouldn't necessarily recognize me anymore. Sure my appearance hadn't changed that much, I still wore a lot of black but my whole mental state had changed.

A year ago I was hardly ever smiling and mostly kept to myself. Sure I now was still different from the person I had been but I was actually happy. Moving to California was the right decision. It had helped to deal with the loss of my family. Around Christmas I even found someone I could open up to again.

Devin had been very persistent as to getting to know me. He would come by the diner almost every day, sitting down in my section. First I brushed him off, time after time. I assumed it was just the same with him as with everybody else. Trying to get to know the new girl. An act of pity in a way. It was always the same with people when they learned why I was here. And I had hated the looks they gave me and whispered 'poor girl' when they thought I didn't listen.

But Devin had been different. He listened, really listened. He didn't give me those 'I am so sorry you poor thing' eyes. I came to realize that he really wanted to know how I was feeling when he asked how I was doing. I was still in therapy when I was not working and it helped me a lot that he gave me time, tried to make me comfortable around him. We became friends and over time we grew pretty close. When I realized I had fallen for him, Shelly was happy for me.

Of course there were days I would feel like staying in bed and ignoring the entire world, but even on those days Devin came through for me. And I was much better today. I smiled again. I laughed and joked around. I even made some friends here and I loved my colleagues.

"You're doing it again." I hadn't realized Devin pulling into the parking lot and was now looking at him.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to space out on you." He smiled and gave me a small wink before releasing me with another kiss.

"Take care, honey. I'll be missing you." I looked back at him and gave him my brightest smile.

"You will only be gone for a week. It will be over in no time. Besides I still got Shelly and the girls." He was leaving for Santa Monica this afternoon to help his grandparents repair the roof of their house.

I got off the truck and made my way from the parking lot to the far end of the boardwalk. At the 'VideoMax' I stopped and took a look who's shift it was. After seeing who was standing behind the counter I quickly got in.

"Hey Maria. How are you doing?" The young woman looked up and smiled at me.

"Hey there, Amy. The usual. What do you need, girl?" I put down the videos Devin had rented for the weekend.

"I just wanted to drop by and give those back before going to work." She winked at me and after some smalltalk I was on my way again. I really liked Maria, she was kind hearted and I had taken an instant liking to the girl. If it hadn't been for Max, her boss, she probably wouldn't be alive anymore, she once told me without wanting to go into detail.

I entered the diner through the entrance in the back, the front doors would be locked for another hour. I quickly changed into my uniform which I was still not comfortable with but there was nothing to do about it.

"Hey Tina." I greeted my colleague when I went to the front to help set the tables for the day and refill the paper towels.

The older woman looked up. She had been standing at the counter brooding over something.

"Thank god you are here!" I looked at her in confusion and asked what had happened.

"Oh honey, you don't know yet? Clare quit yesterday. Damn bitch decided she was being too good for wiping tables. Gave us quite the attitude before she finally left. The problem is I need somebody to take over her shifts. We would have someone applying for the daytime shift but who to move from day to nightshift? Do you have any idea who would be willing to switch and that on short notice as well?"

I had listened to her and was thinking for a moment. There was only one solution I could come up with.

"Let me make a quick phone call. I'll tell Shelly that I have to fill in. And then you give the new girl a call and tell her to come over as soon as possible so I can show her everything around here." Tina looked at me with relief.

"Oh, what would I do without you? I don't remember how we managed around here before you came along. You're such an angel." She gave me a hug and I laughed softly.

"Don't mention it. We both know the others would never fill in and you are already working overtime."

o-0-o

After giving Shelly the heads up about me working a double shift today I was in for a long day. Before her shift ended Tina asked me to take a quick break, because she wanted to talk to me for a second. So I asked Brittney to cover my tables for five minutes.

"What is it Tina?" I asked, sitting down next to her.

"I know you can take care of yourself, kid. But I also know that you hardly ever were here at the boardwalk after dark. Just promise me to be careful. There are some people that are best avoided. And ask one of the boys from the kitchen to give you a ride home until Devin is back from Santa Monica. There are already too many people missing in this town and I don't want to see you being one of them." I took her hand in mine and gave it a short squeeze.

"I will be careful I promise. I already know to best avoid those Surf Nazis and the drug addicts." She looked at me with intent.

"It is not only them you should keep an eye out for. There is this biker gang. They call themselves the Lost Boys. Please stay away from them, they are nothing but trouble." I felt a shiver run down my spine and promised her to be careful.

After getting back to my tables I didn't think much about her words. It was quite busy this evening and neither of us girls was able to get much of a break.

Nearing closing time it finally started to clear out around the diner and I started wiping some of my tables clean and put the chairs up. Upon hearing the bell I quickly made my way to the kitchen to pick up my last order. When I walked back to the front I noticed Alice standing at the counter with a slightly pale face. I put down the plates in front of the guest occupying one of my tables and walked back to her.

"Are you alright? You look a bit pale." She looked at me and nodded.

"Yeah. I just hate it when they come in here. They make me uncomfortable." She nodded towards one of her tables over at the window site. Sitting there were a bunch of teenagers, probably not much older than myself.

Among them was a girl with wavy dark curls and a gipsy like appearance and a little boy around eight years old. More striking were the two boys sitting opposite of them. Two blondes. One with wavy long hair and the other with curls that reached down over his back, but were cut short in the front.

I didn't know why but something inside me screamed to just stay clear of them. Even if they were laughing at some joke the little boy had made I couldn't shake the feeling that they were as far from innocent as one could be.

"Who are they? I have never seen them before?" I asked looking back at Alice.

"They belong to this local motorcycle gang, calling themselves the Lost Boys. I rarely speak to them when they come here, they give me the creeps. They are in constant conflict with the Surf Nazis. Never have seen them during the day and they often have the girl and the boy with them. I don't know why, I wouldn't allow my kids to hang around those guys. Can I ask you a favour Amy? Would you care to clean out some of my tables? I'm afraid I will be busy with those troublemakers up until we close."

"Sure, let me take care of that. Just don't let them get to you." I gave her a reassuring smile before grabbing a crockery tub and making my way over to her abandoned tables to pick up the plates and glasses.

When coming near the booth occupied by the biker gang I felt uneasy. My stomach seemed to tighten even though they weren't paying any attention to me cleaning up. I took a deep breath and tried telling myself that they were probably just a bunch of rebel kids with a bad reputation.

I was almost done picking up the last used dishes when I lost my grip on the plates. They fell to the ground and burst with a loud resonating noise.

"Shit!" I huffed and closed my eyes for a second. I went down to my knees feeling totally embarrassed as all remaining customers had been looking at me. I heard footsteps coming my way while I started picking up the larger pieces.

"Are you okay? You didn't cut yourself, did you Amy?" Alice looked down at me with a concerned expression.

"Other than my pride nothing got hurt." I told her and she went to get a broom for the smaller fragments. Before looking back down I noticed two sets of eyes, one baby blue and one blue-green, still fixed on me. Letting my eyes dart to the floor I could hear them chuckle, to which I felt my cheeks heat up.

After having picked up all the pieces I quickly retreated to the kitchen and was glad to see them gone when I returned. I kind of got what Alice had been talking about earlier, they made me feel on edge by just being there.

I was totally exhausted when I finally got dropped off at our apartment. I took a quick shower and slumped down on the couch. I didn't even manage to stay awake until Shelly came back home five minutes later.