Gods and Monsters ~ Mad Maggie x reader

5

And so, for the next week or so, I was Maggie's little errand girl. I made extra copies of who bought what and Maggie came to collect them right before I closed. No doubt it looked suspicious to outsiders; I had a feeling my reputation was being soiled with her being near me so often. Though I never cared for my reputation; I had 2 babies at 14!

Our conversations varied each time she entered the shop. On good days, she would ask questions about me; what hobbies I have, what my favourite colour is... stuff I never thought she was interested in. However, on her bad days, she wouldn't speak to me at all. One time, she just snatched the papers right out of my hand and left without saying a word. I contemplated not helping her at all after that.

I learned that Maggie had... a variety of emotions and she was almost a completely different person each day.

By the end of week, she came to me explaining how she had a 'lead'. A man named Donnell had purchased a suspicious piece of hardware from Benzo. She told me that I wasn't on the till when he had bought it, meaning he had caught on to what was happening. I had to sift through Benzo's extremely messy filing system to find Donnell's small stack of documents.

He lived a two hour walk from Benzo's shop and was becoming somewhat of a frequent customer. He never bought more then one item at a time and never showed up two days in a row. I will admit that the stuff he was buying was sketchy to say the least, but that wasn't anything new around here. I didn't say this to Maggie, I didn't dare. She seemed extremely confident that this Donnell guy was what she was looking for. Before she left, she handed me another small piece of paper and told me to "burn it when I had memorised what it said."

Later that night, when I was in bed, I read the contents of the note. It was an address that had been scribbled down with a pencil. There was a time at the bottom of it. She wanted me to meet her somewhere. This no doubt had something to do with Donnell and I felt myself getting increasingly nervous.

'27 Anders Lane. 10;00AM – tomorrow x"

Anders Lane was a 20-minute walk, it was in a shady area of Needah, and I had never really been over there before. I wouldn't say anything to Benzo, just that I had somewhere to be, he shouldn't pry too hard. Liz on the other hand would be tough to shake. Liz didn't have a job, she mostly just followed Benzo around or kept herself busy in a brothel. But when she really had nothing to do (which was on most days) she would hang around with me. Wherever I went, she went. I groaned before pushing myself out of bed, Maggie's instructions bouncing around my head. I repeated the address one more time before holding the note over my candle. The flames attacked it quickly and I discarded it into the metal trash can before returning to bed.

The next morning, I decided that I would walk Johnny and Carl to school to steer clear of Liz. She hadn't arrived at the shop yet and I hoped she wouldn't be wandering the streets.

"Do you really have to come drop us off?" Carl asked as we walked. He walked ahead of us, turning around and almost moonwalking when he wanted to talk to me and his brother.

"I thought it'd be a nice change. When's the last time I did this, eh?" I asked, reaching to my side, and squeezing Johnny's shoulder. I wanted to hold his hand though I knew he was struggle with his crutch.

"I think its nice." Johnny said quietly. I grinned at him, and we continued to walk in silence. The boys went to one of the only Primary schools in Needah. It wasn't good nor was it bad. Carl wasn't very bright, he excelled in physical activities. Whereas Johnny was academically gifted. He loved to find loose pieces of metal and create something from it. Despite only being 9, he has designed and crafted several great machines. His proudest creation was a functioning toy boat, he told me that when Carl ran off and left him alone, he would find a small stream and let it run.

I dropped the boys off without a problem and I realised that I had to find something to do for the next hour. I stood by the gate of the school, weighing my options. It was (surprise) another very hot day and I wasn't too keen on standing around and waiting. I could go and see Joseph again... maybe not. I loved Joseph but I was too anxious to be around other people right now. I could just go back to Benzo... no, Liz has probably arrived by now. My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Ma- Liz?" I asked, quickly turning around.

"Whoa" She laughed, letting my shoulder go and putting her hand on her hip "Did you just almost call me Maggie?"

"What? No, don't be an idiot." I mumbled, crossing my arms over my chest "What are you doing here anyway? You don't have kids."

"Yeah, but I like to make sure YOURS get to school safely. So, what are you doing here? You never drop your kids off."

"Way to make me sound like a great mother."

"You are, I'm just saying."

"I felt like dropping them off today, yknow? You only get so many chances." God I was quick.

"Wow, this whole Maggie thing is still bugging you. Look I can go and deal with her if you want." I knew what she was implying, and it took everything I had no to have a big reaction to it.

"No, no. Its fine, I'm fine. Look Liz, I'm busy, like really busy so I need to get going- "

"I'll come with; I've got nothing to do today." Shit.

"Uhm actually, Benzo said he needed you today. I'm gonna be out all day so- "

"Pffft, nah. I've been helping him all bloody week, I'm more interested in what you're doing." Ok it feels like she's doing this on purpose now.

"Liz please I.... I never get trusted to do something important so i would like to do this by myself. It's easy, I won't get hurt or anything." She gave a deep breath.

"I see, Benzos told you to do something. I get it, you can go do your super important thing, but I want details from it." Thank God. I smiled at her.

"Thanks Liz. Ill see you later." And with that, I turned on my heel and walked away from her. I realised that that conversation had only killed about 5 minutes, and I still had so long to go... looks like I'm taking the 'scenic' route.