Shattered
A Day on the Job
Hitomi stared at the assignment board, gulping. Cake decorator?! What? I don't decorate anything. Especially not cakes. Has the manager gone mad? Maybe it's a mistake. It has to be a huge, regular, everyday, enormously stupid mistake. There's no way they'd make me do something like that. Heh, yeah, mistake, that's all. That's got to be all. Nervously, Hitomi turned from the board and saw a dismal, tired looking girl she had spoken to once or twice in passing. Her name was something along the lines of Maria. Or Marie. Or maybe it was Marge. Ugh! This day is not going to be a good one, she thought to herself and forced a smile at the M-girl.
"Oh, hey, how are you?" she asked, hoping the sparkle of her teeth would blind the poor thing and she could make an escape. However, Hitomi had not remembered to brush her teeth that morning. A menacing shudder touched on the building as the storm continued to build up momentum outside the tiny break-room window.
"Miserable," the M-girl responded, sighing. Hitomi suddenly recalled why she tried not to talk to this girl. Ever. "But, it's no surprise. Nothing ever goes right for me." Insert the dramatic sigh and lift of the shoulders as M slumped uncomfortably against the back of her chair. It let out its own dramatic screech and rocked slightly. This only served to dampen the strange girl's mood.
"Well… um… some weather we're having, huh?" she said, lightly, inching towards the doorway.
"Oh, it matches me so perfectly. I love this weather. It's so raw. It's me. In a cloud," another huge sigh. "And you just go. Go and be free. And happy. I don't need you," she turned and gazed out the window at the irregular lightening flashes, probably imagining how the light was opposite of her, except for the anger. Lightening was angry, right? Hitomi took this moment to crane her neck and catch sight of M's nametag thrown on the table in front of her. Minnie! That was it. Huh. You'd think a Minnie would be happier… Or something. Hitomi shrugged and smiled as nicely as she could and proceeded to be slammed in the back of the head by the light aluminum door as the manager stomped in.
"You!" he pointed at Minnie. "Photos; go! Now!" Minnie oozed out of her chair, pinned her nametag on backwards, and slumped out the door, sighing every two and a half steps. "You!" Here the manager's meaty finger was leveled on Hitomi, who desperately tried to keep her non-sparkly smile pasted on her face. "Where are you supposed to be?"
"Bakery… But… Uh, you see, sir," she began, but the manager shook his head. Obviously, there were other employees out there to be pushed around and Minnie would need to be lectured on smiling and not throwing the plastic cameras onto the floor. Again.
"What? You don't like the bakery?" he asked, impatient, angry, ready to spread unpleasantness to the slackers wearing the Fast Mart insignia.
"No, it's just that… I'm not a bakery… um… type. I guess," she said, slowly. The manager raised his huge, bushy eyebrows as high as they could go without exposing too much of his piggy eyes.
"Didn't you take the employee training?" Hitomi nodded meekly. "No, don't say you did badly at it. There was nothing about that on your file, so you must be good enough at it. You decorate cakes. It's not hard. I could do it," here he snorted; as if the idea of icing cakes was so hilarious that he could hardly stand it. "Now, go, before you're late and I have to dock your pay," he finished, glancing at the clock with extra emphasis. With as much flourish as an angry pig in a tumbled uniform can have, he blew out of the break-room and down the short hallway. Hitomi stared at the tattered green carpet underneath her shoes.
Cake decorating. Cake decorating was not her forte. In fact, it was something she enjoyed the least. Why not Customer Services? Or… or… the Service Station? Or even Great Greeter!! Why cakes?! Why decorating?! Why me? She groaned. There wasn't exactly much that she could do about the whole situation, as the manager had made quite clear. She dragged her feet as much as she dared, but was soon assaulted with the cheery cakes and smiling cookies waiting for her to sell. The regular baker was already there, bustling around. She saw Hitomi and gave a quick wave to signal her over. Hitomi, arriving on said designated spot a second later was presented with several items and a speedy explanation.
"You Hitomi?" she pronounced her name with a strange accent, and her name came out mangled, sounding like 'hit-only". Hitomi nodded, a bit numb. "I'm Mado, but you can call me Ma. You'll be decoratin' cakes today and handlin' customers. An' it should be a busy day, even with this tiny storm thumping around, so I don' want ter see you taking and breaks or nothin' when you should be up and about, understand?" Another nod from Hitomi and 'Ma' shoved everything into her hands. "The classes you took will be enough, jus' follow the instructions I give you with each cake. Never screw up. Here's yer apron, put it on, don' take it off till the work is done and yer hairnet. If I find one bit of hair around here, it'll be yours, not mine, and you'll be in trouble." Trouble sounded much like treble. Hitomi shoved her hair underneath the hairnet and tied on the apron.
"Now, only come bother me if it's real important. I have to bake and all and I hate to be disturbed. Now, off you git, hurry up," and with the impromptu shove towards a sink, Ma was gone and Hitomi was bewildered.
She washed her hands and turned towards a pleasant looking cake. Next to it was a sticky note, scrawled with something that resembled "white icing, hearts (6), I love Jon, pink, ready at seven AM). Hitomi crumpled her nose in disgust, but grabbed the icing container from the shelf and shoved it into the microwave, desperately trying to recall everything about decorating from her employee training.
First, make sure icing is good, no holes in the cake… Get everything out that we need… here she paused and snatched out the two tubes of pink and red and settled them on the counter with a wince. And… Ugh, what else? I guess… Make it nice… Or something. She shrugged and grabbed the white icing and the small spatula used for spreading. She plopped the icing on and smeared it around, bored already. This job isn't as bad as I thought it would be, Hitomi thought. She yawned and perfected the edges. She smudged one of the hearts a tad, but with a little white icing as cover-up, it looked fine.
Ma bustled out at quarter to seven to inspect her work. She nodded and grunted something that sounded like an 'okay'. Then she dropped a supposed army of cookies to be iced in front of Hitomi and swept away. Hitomi attacked the cookies easily, feeling like she could just about take on the world. If her first cake was acceptable, she could only get better, right? And the cookies were easy. They just needed two colors and "Go" or "team" written on each. Hitomi couldn't have asked for better.
Close to 7:30, a harried, unhappy looking woman rushed to the bakery's front and leaned over the plastic counter. "You!! You girl, hurry over here! Hurry!" she shouted at Hitomi. Slipping on her now-ready smile, Hitomi rubbed her hands clean on a towel and trotted over to her.
"Yes, ma'am?" she asked, smiling for all she was worth and staying well beyond this (obviously insane) woman's grasp. "How may I help you?"
The woman was still gasping for air and seemed to be turning a bit red in the face. "Cake for Jon!" she half-snarled. Hitomi inched closer and slipped the box from beneath the glass protector and handed it to the woman. She immediately opened it up and stared down at it, hard.
"Made fresh today? Like I asked? I'm paying for it, you know. Fresher isn't cheaper," she said grumpily, obviously not finding anything immediately wrong with the decorations. Hitomi felt a bit better.
"Of course it is… Finished decorating just a little while ago… Price is on the box, please pay up front!" she chirped and smiled again. "Anything else, ma'am?" The woman snapped a rude 'no' and swept away from Hitomi, the box clutched to her chest as if a cake-starved burglar would leap from behind the cereal boxes at any moment.
The day ran smoothly for Hitomi until noon. By now, the storm outside had worked itself into quite a fury, screaming over them in rage. No rain had yet fallen, leaving Hitomi to pray that it wasn't waiting until she had to walk home.
Hitomi had just put the last touches on a layered chocolate cake, writing (without much enthusiasm) "Happy Birthday, Little Timmy!" She had to cram the last 'y' a bit tighter against the other letters, but otherwise she couldn't see anything else for the buyer to complain about. So far, there had only been one no-show, which Ma said was fantastic, and five new orders for the next week.
It was just about then that a pack of giggly girls (who looked decidedly American) wandered to the clear glass of the bakery and began to point and laugh at the Japanese writing on the cakes. Hitomi started over to them, but Ma beat her to it, grinning almost as widely as the girls. They began a slow, broken conversation in English. It ended with Ma selling off half the cookies that were so humorous to the foreigners.
Hitomi had just about given up on worrying about her day when a fly, a tiny little fly, fluttered across her line of sight. Hitomi couldn't stand flies. And in the bakery, of all places! What a terrible, impudent little creature! Hitomi peered around the counter, trying to find Ma and report the perpetrator. Ma was nowhere in sight as the fly landed on the cake Hitomi was just finished with and began slogging through the icing.
Hitomi could feel herself turning red in the face. How dare that fly touch her icing? She had spent a lot of time working on perfecting the confectionary good and not for a fly. Very slowly, she leaned down and jabbed at the fly, crushing it into the cake. It buzzed once, pathetically, and died. Hitomi straightened and realized she now had a very unsanitary cake, containing a very dead fly. She was about to toss it into the trash and face Ma when a young male poked his head around the edge of the counter.
"Um... Cake for Timmy? Now... I'm so very, very late..." he mumbled, staring at the ground. Hitomi swallowed and glanced towards the disgusting cake, then shrugged. She smeared more icing over the hole and tucked it into its little box with a smile.
"Yes, sir! Right here, sir! Please pay up front!" The words came easily to her and the man opened the box to check the cake.
"It's very nice. Yes, very, very nice. He'll like it. Timmy, I mean. Timmy likes cake," here the man paused, almost uncertain whether to go on. Hitomi tilted her head and put on her best I'm-totally-innocent! look.
"Sir?" she questioned. The man was staring down at the cake, almost as if it were about to leap from the box and chew on one of his eyebrows. His face was turning slightly green and his hands began to quake. Hitomi leaned slightly farther over the counter, looking concerned. "Sir? Sir, are you feeling okay?"
Releasing an earsplitting scream, the tiny, pale man hurled the cake onto the floor. Hitomi could only stand in utter astonishment as cake bits flew at her, mingling with her hair, greeting her clean uniform, and snuggling against her new shoes. She stared at the shrieking man before her as he ran in tiny circles, whimpering and crying. He held one arm outstretched, pointing at the destroyed confectionary on the floor as he ran in his path, a single finger pointing at a small, shifting mound of icing. Hitomi glared downward, covered in icing and a "T" across her chest.
She knew it was the fly.
Ma rushed out of the back room in time to see Hitomi lift her icing-drenched shoe and strike the cake. Bits of one of the M's splattered into her hair and the little man shrieked as blue icing struck him in the eye. He fell to the floor, writhing around as if in great pain. Hitomi was muttering, pounding her foot into the cake, again and again. She finally paused, lifted her shoe, and broke into a huge smile.
"It's dead! I knew it! Nothing can destroy my beautiful cakes! Aha!" She blinked, slowly returning to the chilly store atmosphere and met Ma's burning eyes. With a swallow, her own eyes turned to the pale man crying on the tiles, his face streaked with blue coloring. Icing clung tenaciously to his hair and he sobbed, hugging pieces of the broken cake to him.
"Oh no… Oh dear… Timmy… Timmy your cake!" he whimpered, petting the crumbling confectionary. Hitomi turned her eyes towards Ma, again, and noted she was standing an inch away from her face.
"I… And… a fly?" she tried. Ma snorted and pushed her towards the back room.
"You. Five minutes to clean up. Then we'll talk." Hitomi skittered away as quickly as she could. Behind her, Ma helped the small man up, promising him another cake, free, and ready in just ten minutes. The little man was consoled enough, for he stopped sobbing, and dropped the cake bits he had been clutching to him like a lifeline.
Hitomi scrubbed as much of the icing out of her hair and off her skin as she could. Running to the break room, she managed to "borrow" a uniform of her size and discard the destroyed one she was wearing. Returning to Ma in just under seven minutes, she was terrified. But the big woman did not seem angry.
"Now. I don' know what happen'd, and I don' very well care. Yer goin' to be wearin' this for the affernoon. Put 'er on and git yerself to the front of the store. And I'll jest overlook this incident," as she spoke, Ma tossed Hitomi a board shaped like a cake and a large candle hat.
Hitomi wanted to cry.
But she knew better than to refuse this way out of trouble. Swallowing her pride, she struggled into the cake, which read "Bakery in the back! Best sweets in Japan!" The hat made her wince, and was difficult to keep on her head. Even when she tied the string under her chin so tightly it cut into her skin, the candle would wave back and forth atop her head and unbalance her. Ma snorted and pushed her off through the aisles, making it clear she would hear no complaints.
Fast Mart was emptying quickly as the storm still threatened to break outside. People were rushing in for those last minute life-savers, in case they were stuck home for many days. Hitomi tried to ignore the incredulous looks many of the shoppers were giving her. She pulled on a pair of puffy yellow gloves that finished the costume, trying to force all her concentration on the coffee stains that dotted them. Unfortunately, coffee stains did not deafen her to all the half-concealed snickers of the shoppers around her.
Finally, she emerged from her waddling trip down the long aisles and found herself totally exposed. A few people turned from the checkout to stare and Hitomi couldn't help but grumble as she stepped in front of the door. A young boy, rushing to get into the store, collided with her, knocking the candle askew. Fearfully, his big, brown eyes focused on the candle now sprouting from her ear. He burst into tears and rushed to hide in his mother's skirts.
Hitomi squished a glove to her forehead, discovered the coffee stains were new, and shoved the candle back in its former position. To keep in balanced, she had to walk like a dancer, pointing her toes and tapping the floor lightly before she had enough confidence in the floor to step. She kept her head high and as level as possible, trying not to jostle the candle. But, it was a nearly impossible feat as it wiggled back and forth like a giant hand, waving to get the shopper's attention.
Hitomi decided she hated flies.
The hours passed by slowly, dragging their feet, melding into one another. Hitomi stood outside the store, waving goofily at all the shoppers that entered and gave her a wide berth. The sky outside was almost pitch black and the wind rushed into the store whenever the door slid open with difficulty. Like a snarling beast, it snatched at the people running inside, hissing back out into the dark, threatening streets.
Hitomi was asked to dance by several customers with small children. Apparently, a stupid costume meant she was to know a cake dance. Mostly she wiggled her hands and jumped from foot to foot, trying not to burst into humiliated tears. The children didn't seem pleased with her performances, anyway, preferring to rush away and into the store. The parents trailed after them, tiredly, and Hitomi was released from her routine.
Understandably, Ma came out to check on her during a quick break. She was witness to one of Hitomi's awkward dances and clapped her on the neck, as it was the only exposed bit of skin she could reach.
"Good, good. You only git a few hours of this. Make the mos' of it. Yep, havin' fun."
Hitomi almost begged to go back to decorating confectionaries. Anything but being a huge dancing cake with a lopsided candle.
Throughout the last few hours of her shift, the Great Greeter moved to her doorways. He was a giant smiley face that squished. Of course, the little children all ran up to the huge green smile for a hug. When he looked over at her, Hitomi could feel his challenge. Regrettably, Hitomi did not feel like engaging in a face-off with a giant green smiley face that walked. She gave up the door, much to Great Greeter's joy, and inched backwards until she could catch the costumers at the second door into the store, the less used one.
The rest of the day passed slowly, until a man, obviously sick, stumbled into the store. He was windblown and looked terrible. Hitomi, having a caring nature, rushed to help him. Apparently, a huge cake stumbling towards him was not the cure the man had been searching for. He expressed his dislike by puking on her candle.
Hitomi shrieked and jumped away, the candle falling onto the floor. She stepped on it, slipped, and crashed into the display of bread behind her. Biscuits, buns, and loafs scattered everywhere, many falling from their packages. She opened her eyes to her rather piggish manager staring down at her.
"So. You've ruined the costume, young lady. Why you've bothered to work for us, I don't know. Get up. We'll be taking all this damage from you paycheck."
Hitomi struggled to stand, wincing as the cardboard cake tore in half. The manager's eyes narrowed as she picked it and the candle up, handling the hat carefully, desperate to not touch the filth that coated it. The sick man was left on the floor as the manager roughly shoved her into the break room. Her shift would have been over in another ten minutes.
Emerging from the manager's office a full half hour later, Hitomi rubbed her ears, trying to get his reprimands out of her mind. It wasn't really her fault that man had chosen to destroy her costume. Everything was against her today. She sighed and glanced through the glass doors, into the foreboding darkness that awaited her. The wind still snarled, but there was no rain.
She checked her hair, making she it was up as well as she could get it. Pulling her thin jacket close around her, Hitomi leaned into the door to make her way home.
Or, at least, she tried.
The wind was so strong and vicious, the doors were all stuck closed. Staring, Hitomi felt the familiar welling of tears in her throat. Pressing her face to the cold glass, she stared out into the bleak darkness, searching for a shopper to trigger the door. But there was no one left in the raging storm. Everyone had intelligently headed home. And Hitomi was stuck inside a Fast Mart, of all places, until she could leave.
Standing rooted in her spot, she waited for the wind to break for one moment. But it was whipping itself into a more stunning and ferocious fury than anything she had ever witnessed. A stocky man finally walked over to her, frowning. He was attired in a security uniform.
"Young lady, soliciting is illegal. Now, I know it's not so pretty outside, but it ain't bad, and you need to go," with a grunt, he pushed open the door to the screaming world beyond and Hitomi, nodding meekly and thanking him, rushed out.
Immediately, she realized being trapped inside the Fast Mart was certainly better than being out here. The wind flattened her against the building and tore at her. Its claws ripped tears from her eyes and stung across her legs. Something flew by in the darkness and slashed open her jeans, hardly missing her skin.
Terrified, holding to the side of the building for support, she looked up. And wished she hadn't.
The clouds were so horrifying, they could have been a mirror to hell. The wind mangled them, swirling them into a rolling mixture of darkness. Red slashes of lightening licked their ways between the sheets of black. The clouds were swollen with rain and as Hitomi moaned her fear they broke.
Enormous, painful droplets of rain began to strike her shoulders and torso. The wind, picking up on its cue, captured the rain and sent it screaming into Hitomi's face. It stung her legs and chest and hissed as it struck the building.
For Hitomi, the painful rain was all it took. Her brain shrieked a signal to the feet and she was propelled out into the thick of the storm. For all her running, the wind buffeted her enough that she could hardly stagger along at a walking pace. Still, she ran.
Fighting through the slashing rain, Hitomi trusted her feet to bring her back home, unable to see more than a few feet in front of her. Thunder was screeching around her, clapping, popping her ears with its loud calls. Lightening torched the air, red as blood, its fingers snaking across the sky.
Hitomi couldn't tell if she was crying. She couldn't hear her feet splashing across the pavement. She was unsure if she was running up the road or on the sidewalk. Her whole being begged to be home, inside, away from the animalistic storm that plagued her.
The red lightening sizzled, popped, and struck somewhere near her. She dropped down into the rushing rivulets of water around her, her body humming with fear. Oh god, that strike was so close. It must have been within a few thousand yards. I have to get home. Home…
Her mind sang the sweet word over and over. Home, home, home. She forced her body up, told her feet to run. Bending into the wind, her body screamed in agony as the wind cut its icy fingers across her. The afternoon was plunged into the deepest dark Hitomi had ever witnessed. Lightening was her only light, her only guide, and her worst enemy. There was not a person on the streets now. She was the only creature beating her way home.
Her normal half-hour run had turned into a hellish battle against Nature's most fearsome monsters. Three and a half hours later, Hitomi collided with something and clung to it. Through the darkness she could almost make out a mailbox. Struggling to read the name on it, Hitomi recognized one of her neighbors and tried to force her tired lips into a smile. Six houses up. Six houses to go and she would be home.
Lunging back into the wind and rain, calling up every last reserve of strength in her body, Hitomi walked slowly, achingly slowly, up the street. A ball smashed into her side, stealing away her breath and doubling her over.
Almost done. Two houses. Trying to swallow her pain, she stood again and moved up.
One house.
Two houses.
Home.
Her hand was on the doorknob. The storm was screaming in its rage, trying to heave her away, back to its mercy. She jiggled the knob, frowned when it was locked. Lightening hissed nearby, thunder shuddered the foundation, making her jump. The animal storm growled as she fought for her key.
Rain sheeted down, a second, more furious clap of thunder, compounded with the slamming of the door, and Hitomi's doorstep was empty. A scream, unlike a human, but not of the storm, broke from the house.
The storm raged on.
**
Author's Notes: And, another chapter! And this time, no year-long wait! (Thank goodness, right?) Anyway, I'm starting a mailing list for this fanfiction. E-mail me at catwinner@earthlink.net and provide me with your e-mail address and the story title (in this case, "Shattered"). Also, you may leave a review with your e-mail address and ask to be put on my list, and I'll add you. Those on the mailing list will be notified the moment I upload a new chapter! Thanks for sticking around to read this chapter and please, if it strikes your fancy, leave me a review! I would appreciate it very much.
Also, the rating for this story will be raised to R, in ready for the next chapter. It will be very graphic and very violent. Please do not read if you are upset by these things. I'll summarize what went on in the author's notes if you wish to skip. Thank you.
Angel-wings-131: Yes, I have a very good idea as to how she'll get back to Gaea (if at all). Eheh. Van is her only way back, but how can she get him to save her? That's what you should be wondering now, I'll bet. Yes, Van is the only way she can return. Hope you'll stick around long enough to discover how that all works. ^^
ReddAlice: I have no set update schedule. However, when I start something, I always finish it. Thanks for choosing my fic! And, no, I've never worked at Wal-Mart or any store like that for money, really, just volunteering work. But, I'm a storyteller, so I steal friend's crazy days and mush them into this. Hehe.
Skittles1: Well, at least it wasn't a year, yes? The blood is revealed (or, I suppose, caused) in the next chapter. Hope you stick around for it!