Haunted

Chapter 2 §

I woke up in my bed the next morning, under the covers. There was no sign of Zach. He must've put me in bed and left after I fell asleep.

And then I remembered. With a smile, I lifted my left hand up to examine the ring.

Zach was raised by his grandparents, as his parents died in a car crash when he was young. His family wasn't that rich, and the ring wasn't too fancy. Which I was more than happy with.

It was beautiful. The ring was silver with a small crystal embedded in the center. I smiled, knowing he probably spent days just searching for the perfect ring.

Then I came back to reality. I realized I had slept through my alarm. It was already seven!

I quickly got in my uniform for the diner;a short, baby blue dress with a white lacy apron. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and put on my slip-on shoes as I ran down the stairs. When I got down there, Carson was dressed and eating breakfast. I was going to have to skip breakfast, despite being really hungry.

"Get your bag!" I called, grabbing my own purse. He did, and followed me out the door. "Where's mom?" I asked as we ran side by side. "Asleep," he replied. I sighed as we ran. We finally reached my neighbors' house, out of breath. I knocked on the door of Mrs. Donovan's place. When it opened, the older woman was standing there, her grandchildren peeking at us from either side of her. Mrs. Donovan smiled sweetly, and the twins behind her waved at us. There was a boy and a girl, both around my brother's age.

After waving bye, Carson slipped past Mrs. Donovan and into the house as if it was his own home. The twins, Casey and Grayson, disappeared along with Carson. With a pang of sadness, I realized Carson probably enjoyed this place more than his own home.

"I'll take care of him, dear." Mrs. Donovan told me. I started to say thank you but she interrupted. "It's the least I can do. Don't worry about it." I smiled and turned to walk away, but she stopped me. "Don't work to hard." She instructed. I simply nodded my head and ran off. Carson had been staying at Mrs. Donovan's house with his friends every day while I worked at the diner full-time. I hadn't been able to pay her but she watches him anyways, and for that I owe her dearly.

I ran as fast as I could to the diner; I was really running late. I came crashing through the doors; catching myself before I fell. I was breathing hard from running so fast for so long when my boss came up to me, saying I had to work overtime for being late. I wanted to object, but knew it would only make my situation worse. I groaned when he walked away and began taking orders. I was taking the order of a man who looked in his mid-forties. He was a complete jerk.

Nothing really bothered me about him when I was talking to him, but as I walked away I felt a hand slap my butt. I whipped around to face my invader, but restrained myself. I was making the money in the family. I couldn't lose this job. I couldn't.

I don't know why I did it, but I just happened to look up. I made eye contact with a boy a little older than me. Zach.

He stood up quickly and made his way over to me, staring down the man the whole time. The man had his back turned to him, so he didn't notice. I ran up to Zach, put my hands on his chest, and pushed him back, preventing him from causing a scene. The man turned to look at us, as did a few other people. We were drawing attention to ourselves. "Relax," I whispered to Zach. "I got this."

I marched up to the man, who was chuckling. "Excuse you, sir, but if you are going to remain in this diner, you can either keep your hands off of other people, or you can talk to my boss." He turned around, still laughing.

I huffed and leaned down until we were face-to-face. "I suggest you show me a little respect." I said, so quietly only he could hear me. It looked like something in my tone scared the crap out of him because his eyes went wide and he whispered back some unkind words before he got up and stormed out the door.