After running for what felt like hours, the children finally made it back to the safety of their neighbourhood. Panting heavenly, they more or less collapsed onto the pavement. Joice's thoroughly acquired self-respect wasn't something that she could just turn off, and so she was the only one who made an effort to quiet down her breathing. She gracefully sat herself on the ground while Martin laid out flat on his back, his limbs stretched out, and panted loudly. Lisa was clutching her ribs and waited for the side stitches to pass, her eyes worriedly fixed on the road they had taken. It took her a moment before she could speak. "Do you think it followed us?", she anxiously asked her companions. "Just because it saw us doesn't mean, it's going to follow us.", David tried to reassure her to which Martin and Joice nodded briskly. They all very much wanted to believe that.
Sophie let out a sigh of relief. She couldn't even remember the last time she had written a single line for that story, but now she effortlessly added two chapters. She dared to have a look at the clock hanging on her wall and realized that she had spent almost 10 hours writing. Carefully, she stood up and flexed her back before making her way into the kitchen. She should definitely eat something.
It had been good to get all this down. After all, writing was her outlet and she had spent too much time stagnating. Maybe I finally got to the point where I am so close to going crazy that I would have exploded if I hadn't written anything, she mused.
She had yet to figure out a proper way to deal with everything that had happened in her coffee house and especially with the man who had more or less subtly threatened her.
While munching a hard slice of bread that she had unsuccessfully tried to soften with butter and jam, Sophie unfolded the newspaper. There was an article about the café which did not provide any new information.
With a sigh, she opened the page with the job ads and took the yellow marker that she had found in one of her drawers. She couldn't afford to stay unemployed
What was your last big realization?
Everybody is just pretending to have their shit together. Oh, and my ex is an asshole. (Shannon, age unknown)
The next morning, Sophie spent a couple of hours calling different potential employers and then decided to finally have a look at the texts she had received the day before and quickly set up a lunch date with Gina.
The address Gina had given her was definitely in the better area of town. Not that the coffeehouse of their former employer had been in a shady neighbourhood, but the streets that Sophie crossed were somewhat cleaner and the buildings appeared to be better maintained than what she was used to.
She hoped that the lunch she had agreed to have wouldn't be overprized. Gina didn't seem like the rich type. On the other hand, Sophie had never visited her colleague's apartment or inquired how she could afford whatever she rolled her cigarettes with. She wasn't even sure if the latter was particularly expensive.
Gina was standing in front of the restaurant with two steaming paper cups in her hands, and apparently fully immersed in a pleasant daydream. With a slight smile on her lips and her eyes fixed at nothing in particular, she only recognized Sophie when she stood right in front of her.
"You know, sometimes I wonder how you manage to not get run over by car when you zone out like that.", Sophie grinningly scolded her friend.
"How dare you? I am a very attentive person!", Gina replied, trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably.
"It's good to see you, Gina! I am so glad that none of us was in there. I feel terrible for the people that died in the fire…"
Gina's face sobered up. "I know, it's awful. When Arthur called me, I didn't believe it at first. I mean, I've worked there for years and the worst thing I've ever seen was a couple breaking up over some cheesecake. I cannot really imagine a murderer entering our café and ordering a cupcake."
Sophie supressed a hysterical chuckle. "Exactly! How is the boss holding up, anyway?" Gina shoved one of the cups into her hand. "Arthur is in a bit of a shock, but he says that the insurance is gonna cover the whole thing, so at least he can rebuild the place."
"That's good to hear! Do you want to get lunch at this restaurant?", Sophie gestured to the rather posh looking place to their right. Gina laughed. "Oh dear, no. This is my favour to you.". She grinned happily. Sophie raised an eyebrow. "I don't get it." – "You see, this is my aunt's place." Sophie looked at her expectantly for a couple of second before saying: "Okay?" – "They are hiring! I wouldn't wanna work at her place, because I couldn't keep her from giving me special treatment, but I told her about you when she offered me a job". She looked very pleased with herself.
"Oh wow, are you sure about this, Gina?" – "Yupp." – "Thank you so much! But this restaurant looks rather high-class, what if I don't - ", Gina interrupted her: "You'll be perfectly fine, Sophie. If you want to, you can start this evening. Can we grab lunch now? I know a real cute place just five minutes away from here…"