Stole Your Heart

Family

From what I heard, my father left my mother when she was pregnant. I didn't really get to know my mother when I was young. I have vague memories of her smiling, but they're never enough to understand what type of woman she was. The only thing I knew was that she had handed me over to my aunt, who had promised to come back soon but never did. My aunt and her family searched everywhere but didn't find her.

"Call the police!" you may say, but no. My aunt's husband was a criminal at the time; he was a scammer, and we couldn't risk them arresting him, so we let it go. Crazy, right?

Well, it didn't bother me much anyway. Liar liar pants on fire

We weren't in the best financial position, but my aunt still took good care of me, and I love her as if she were my own mother. She kept it together even after Uncle Tom passed away.

***

I opened the front door and found my three cousins sitting on the sofa and figuring out how to split a burger and fries equally.

"Darling! You're home. This is for you."

She handed me a burger and fries of my own. I looked at my cousins, who were pouting at me.

"Don't worry about them. They ate breakfast in the morning," she said before giving them a deadly glare, which turned their heads right down.

"No, it's alright. I can share; just one burger for all of them won't be enough. They can divide that burger in two, and one of them can take half of mine."

My aunt smiles and shakes her head as she heads to the kitchen. My cousins excitedly take my burger.

Job Time

After finishing lunch, I leave at 2 in the afternoon to attend to my job at the convenience store. Sure, it isn't an exciting job apart from stealing, but I don't have to do anything great except billing and restocking. I get paid a good amount, too. I work with Annie most of the time, but we rarely talk.

There is one more employee; his name is Arnold. He's been there longer than I have, so he finds it convenient to boss me around, but I try not to let him get to my head.

Today, Arnold is taking the night shift, so he isn't there when I arrive at the store. I'm grateful, but I also find it tiresome to have to do everything on my own.

I manage to tend to all the customers and restock all the goods too. As my shift is reaching its end, the bell rings for the last customer I can help. I look and see the same man. The same man who helped at the bank this morning is wearing the same thing and still has his face hidden. He doesn't look in my direction and just picks up some coffee and a sandwich.

When he reaches the billing counter, I don't say anything, and neither does he. I hand him his stuff in a bag and once again say, "Thanks for today morning. I would've probably kind of died, I guess, if you hadn't helped me there."

He doesn't acknowledge my statement and turns to leave. I snap.

"Hey! Can you just acknowledge the statement? It's not like you're going to get charged for simply nodding your head or just saying 'your welcome', you know!"

The man stops in his tracks and looks at me. I feel that I've taken him by surprise since his face is partially shown. I can only see his eyes, which are a light gray, almost silver.

Still, he doesn't acknowledge me and walks away.

Ugh! The attitude of some people!

I finished up the last of my work before taking my backpack and heading out. When I see a figure heading towards me, it's Arnold, and he looks...drunk. He's slumping while he approaches me.

"Arnold? What in the world are you doing? You can't come to work drunk, man! Did someone tell you that they're fed up with your little attitude?"

He utters something I don't understand, and when he looks up at me, I see fury in his eyes, but I don't know if it's because of me or something else. What I do understand is that he's going to take it out on me.

Have I mentioned that Arnold hates me? Obviously, it goes both ways, but he especially hates me because the boss likes me more than him. It's nothing great to me, but for some reason, it means a lot to him. That's why he gives me a hard time.

Oh dear. This day cannot get any better.

Some people enter the store, and I don't want to cause a commotion. He's much stronger than me; he swings at me, and I dodge and push him down. He gets up faster and approaches me. I step back but trip on a silly soda can someone throw down. He takes the opportunity to try his swing, but he's blocked.

I look up to see...the man again.

He blocks the punch and pushes Arnold down. Arnold widens his eyes, the same way the robbers did, and struggles his way to his feet. He runs away as fast as he can.

I look up at the man, not sure whether to thank him or not, but before I get the chance to say anything, he disappears.