Closing Shift

Closing Shift
By E. M. Areson

Closing shift was always dangerous. Even for a normal college student working in a shoe store, life was always quickest to end between the hours of 12 to 5. For a young, female college student who had to leave alone and walk five blocks to a bus stop to take her to her dorm, it was near lethal. Jobs were scarce, so she had to make do. Without this job, she wouldn't have any dorm to go to.

Charlotte pulled her jacket around her closer. Even if you lived a hundred lifetime on the streets of the city it wouldn't make you feel safe, mainly because an average lifetime was about fifteen terrible years. Her long ponytail swished from side to side behind her, but she could have sworn she heard something, or more dangerously someone, behind her. She was glad to be in her running shoes, but she didn't dare stop or look behind her.

 This neighborhood was not a particularly bad one in the daytime; indeed, someone from out of town would never have guessed how dangerous it could be at night. The road, though cracked, was in better shape than most and the sidewalk was mostly usable. A can crunched behind her and Charlotte fought the urge to run. It could be nothing, and if it wasn’t she would need her energy.

 The shadows on the other side of the street shifted and her folly revealed.  She was surrounded in the night by a gang. If she was lucky it was her neighborhood’s gang. They would recognize her and the worst they would probably do was rob and threatened her. In the light of one of the few working street lamps, she saw the purple handkerchief tied around the head of a tall, burly man. She needed to run. They were a rival gang; if she was lucky they’d kill her, if not…

 She bolted down the street, catcalls and footsteps followed her. She turned left a block too soon and was in a dark alley. She looked around for a way out and saw a ladder to the roof of a shady fast food joint. Charlotte bolted to the ladder and saw the cage over the first ten steps. She grabbed on to it and tried to climb up. One of the men grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

 There were about seven of them, all big and with purple bandanas tied around their heads and necks. Charlotte clenched her fists and tried to pull away.

“Let go. I’m not involved in anything,” she tried to kick the thug in the crotch.

He grabbed her foot and laughed, “Don’t care about that baby. We just wanna have some fun and make a few Coppers mad.”

Charlotte pulled herself free falling back against the wall and quickly jumped, “I don’t have anything to do with Coppers.”

 They closed in and she knew her fate was sealed. Surrounding her they tried to pull away her jacket. A swoosh at the entrance made the man turn. She took the opportunity to sock on in the jaw. He turned back around and slapped her, but the others were focused on the figure.

“Let her go.”

 She saw around the thug, the figure wasn’t tall, or muscular. He was wearing all gray, he even had on a gray, expressionless mask. He was an idiot, no one challenged a gang and got away with it. Even some vigilante, thinking he’d be a hero.

“Who’re you? We’re the Aubergine.” The rest of the thugs laughed cruelly.

“Dude, you know that’s another word for eggplant right? I mean, you can call your selves whatever you want but the eggplants don’t sound very scary to me. I’d maybe go for the tigers or the cheats or even the yellow. But eggplant? No. Not right,” he stepped forward and crossed his arms.

Snarls came from the men, “Look buddy.” They had stepped away from Charlotte. “We going to do what we want to do with the doll; but first we're going to beat you to kingdom come and then, we going to kill you.”

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

 The Aubergine ran towards him and several of them pulled guns. They were no match for him. The masked vigilante was like Jackie Chan in one of his old movies. She pulled her jacket back on and tried climbing up the cage, it hurt her fingers but fear gave her strength. She held onto the sides of the cage with her legs and somehow managed to grab a ladder rug. She pulled herself up almost crying with the effort, but she did it. She got to the top of the ladder and looked down, the Aubergine were gone as well as the strange gray man. Charlotte turned around and screamed.

“It’s okay, I don’t want to hurt you.” The gray man said holding up his hands. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Charlotte instinctively hugged herself. “Who are you?”

“Gray, who are you?”

“Charlotte, what gang are you from?”

He made a movement that looked like he was rolling his eyes. “A gang? Really? I hate gangs, I just protect people. Need any help getting home?”

She thought for a moment, “So, Mr. Gray, you’re some kind of superhero? And you want to walk me home?”

“We’re called Freaks actually. And yeah, I don’t get to see people who aren't trying to kill me that often.” He offered her his arm.

She smiled and took it, “How will we get off the roof?”

“Good question. I think we’ll-” A gunshot interrupted him.

He shoved her to the ground so quickly she didn’t have time to think. “Stay still and they might not get you.”

 He got up and ran to the fight. She stayed hidden and until morning. Several other Freaks found her and told her Gray was dead. She had to leave with them or she would probably be next. That was how Charlotte joined the Free Freaks, Freaks fighting for acknowledgment and equality. That was the day, a good inner-city cop filed another missing person’s case that would never be solved… Not as long as the A.P.P.S. the Agency for Protecting Personal Security, had anything to say about it.

Photo By: Ozan Safak