One by one Harper scanned the items moving along the conveyer, she stared blankly across the store as she repeatedly scanned the groceries and dropped them into the bag. The old lady in front of her stared impatiently, tapping her wooden stick on the floor she glared at Harper who seemed almost oblivious to her presence. Harper scanned the final item then remained still, the old lady edged closer to her before bellowing, "we done here?"
Harper looked her in the face and mumbled, "$40.43."
"What!" The elder woman roared, "robbery!"
"Not my store not my problem!" Harper screeched furiously, "now pay up and get outta here!"
The little old lady's eyes, magnified under her thick spectacles, widening in fear. She pulled a wad of cash out of her brown purse and lashed it at Harper before grabbing her belongings and shuffling out of the store.
"Any need?" Asked Sal as she sauntered over to Harper's register and rested herself on the edge.
Sal was pretty much Harper's only friend since she moved out of the Russo's home, if you could call her a friend. Harper wasn't even sure if she knew her name. Sal was the typical 'bad girl,' she drank underage, smoked weed, had a nose stud and bleached her thin lifeless hair to a sickly yellow. However, it was imminent she could no longer afford to maintain this chosen colour as the black roots had protruded through the bleach and had now reach almost half the length of her hair. Harper watched Sal's chiselled jaw as she chewed her gum, she cringed as the squelches erupted from Sal's mouth along with small squirts of saliva.
"Sorry, one of those days," Harper mumbled.
"It's been one of those days since you got here," Sal remarked, "come on Red what's the deal? Did little Francis deserved to get her head bit off because Al put the store prices up again?"
"I'll apologize to her when she's next in, okay?"
"Good girl," she smirked, "now cheer up! The long face is bad for business, maybe I don't know, act like you want to be here…"
"But I don't," Harper sighed dramatically, "this isn't who I was supposed to be…"
Sal bellowed laughing, "yeah and I should be having tea at Buckingham Palace!"
"No seriously! I had all these big ideas, I knew who I wanted to be but instead I'm stuck here." Harper looked down in disgust at her uniform, her boring black trousers trailed slightly on the floor and she uncomfortably tugged on her grey sweater before adjusting her bright green and orange waistcoat. "I was going to fashion school, I had a family, I was happy then-"
"Listen Red, none of us are meant to be here but this is the card life dealt us, so, we got to make the most of it!"
"I guess…"
"How long's it been?" Sal asked whilst adjusting her silver hoop earring.
"What?"
"Since that chick, your friend, god! What's her name?"
"Alex?"
"Yeah her! When did she… you know?"
"Nearly three months."
"See it's early days, that's why you're feeling so down! You've got to give yourself time to grieve."
"I guess…"
"I know what'll cheer you up!" Sal smirked leaning closer to Harper, "come to Ray's party tomorrow night. Take your mind off the dead best friend thing."
"Thanks, but I'm not really a party person anymore."
"Oh, come on! Stop moping around! Anyway, I think Ray has a thing for you, you know. And I know he can certainly help you take your mind off stuff."
"That's sweet, but I'm pretty much avoiding any human interaction for the foreseeable, so dating is definitely off my to do list."
"He is cute though, I would."
"Sal, from my two months working here I've heard you'd pretty much do anyone," Harper slightly smiled before shaking her head and sniggered to herself as Sal burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.
"You got me there Red!"
"Hey girls!" A bulky towering male figure shouted from the back. He stomped over, swaying his dense arms as his heavy footsteps collapsed repeatedly on to the shiny tile floor. Sal and Harper cowered under Al's furious stare, his small dark eyes burned into them as his large physique shadowed the girls. He rubbed his rough hands over his shaved head before he pointed his chunky finger in their faces, "get to work! I don't pay you to gossip."
"Yes Al," they both grumbled as he stormed off.
"God, I hate that guy," Sal spat. "Boy would I love to teach him a lesson," she punched one palm with her fist and gurned at her boss as he vanished up one of the aisles.
"I just need to get out of here," Harper sighed, "I don't know how long I can deal with this, deal with him…"
"Well Red, you've got to help yourself if you want to change things and you can start by coming to Ray's party!"
"If I do, will you stop bugging me about it?"
"Yes, a million times yes! Cross my heart and all that jazz," Sal laughed earning another snicker from Harper. "See, I'm not that bad am I Red?"
"Maybe not." Harper glanced at Sal who was admiring herself in the reflection of the register, "you remind me a little of her you know."
"Who? Dead girl?"
Harper rolled her eyes, "yes dead girl. You just have the same spirit as her, nothing ever bothered her either. Well, not until near the end…"
"How did it happen?"
"What?"
"Dead girl's demise!" Sal exclaimed dramatically, "what happened to her?"
"Just an accident, just a really unfortunate, tragic accident…"
"Wow, way to build it up! Was you there?"
"Yeah…"
"So how did it happen? Car crash? Fire? Electrocution?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Harper whispered.
"Fine!" Sal groaned, "but I'll get it out of you once I get you drunk enough."
"Oh, I won't be drinking."
"What's the point of going to a party Red if you're not going to drink? Don't be that girl! Come on, have some fun for once! It's what dead girl would have wanted."
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Great! I'll see you there!" Sal squealed as she ran to her station.
Harper smiled and quietly greeted her next customer as they approached the checkout. As she took their item's she caught a glance of a dark feminine figure waiting in the middle of the opposite aisle. Harper pounced forward to get a closer look, but before she knew it the figure had vanished.
"Mam?" Asked the customer, "is everything alright?"
Harper continued to stare, but there was no sign of the figure returning. "Yeah," she lied, "everything's fine."
