The Killer's Poison (on Hiatus)

Chapter Two

Mireya

     I wouldn't say my family is poor but what I will say is that we need money, immediately. I'm not saying this in the sense that 'we need to pay the rent' or 'we don't have enough to feed everyone in the house'. I'm saying this in the sense that we are buried in debt.

     Not only do we need to pay rent and buy groceries for an adult family of five, but we also have to pay off rent from three months ago until now. I mean, who knew being an adult was so expensive?

     And to top it all off, my mother's medical bills came in the mail today.

     Bills on top of bills on top of bills, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. I lost one of my jobs if that's even remotely surprising. It's like my life doesn't want to be easy. Losing one minimum-wage job makes a big difference when you have lots of things to pay for. Instead of having about seven thousand dollars a month, you'd only have about four. Yup, big difference.

     Try that to start off your morning and let's see how motivated you'd still be.

     Job searching is fun and all, it makes life more exciting, people say. But what's the fun of looking for something you don't want to have?

      I honestly believe that I was not cut out for this kind of life, but then again, who is? What I mean is, I don't think I was meant to work full days and nights without a break just so that my family won't be kicked out of the apartment and starving. Truly, life can be so unfair sometimes.

     I spent my entire morning scouring for jobs and there wasn't one that would accept me. So on my way to the second job I had, I was looking at every shop window to hopefully see a 'we're hiring' sign but none of the ones I passed had what I was looking for.

      I don't even know how my life ended up like this, for all I know, I went from going to school and exploring New York City in my free time, taking pictures of everything the city had to offer, to working my time away only to have enough left to sleep. I don't have any time or energy to do the things I actually like to do and I wish I did, because being stuck in one endless loop of a routine is not fun at all.

     "Girl, you are daydreaming big time," my coworker says, snapping his fingers in front of my face. I stopped in front of the entrance and now people were staring at me.

     He handed me a coffee pot. "Table two is asking for a refill," he told me.

     "On my way," I grinned and he just rolled his eyes. He was used to me being the way that I am.

     I quickly went to the table and refilled their mugs with black coffee, with my backpack still on and on my way back to the kitchen, I took my uniform cap from my bag and my name tag. As I looked up from my current task, it was the exact moment my boss was walking out with a tray full of pastries.

     "Shit, Mireya!" She yelled, when every single pastry dropped to the ground.

     Damn, fucking, it.

     "You and I are going to have a very brief discussion after your shift," she glowered, snapping her fingers at the janitor and motioning to clean it up quickly.

      Was I going to get fired? I was obviously praying no, but I already knew the answer to that.

     In the duration of my shift, as I did my usual order of tasks, coffee refill, cashier, and sandwich maker, restaurants that I would potentially apply to, whether they were hiring or not, were already running through my mind.

༻✦༺

     Remember that brief discussion with my super temperamental pastry chef boss? It was not so brief after all. In fact, it was still going on and I was undeniably late to my one and only job left.

     I would like for someone to explain to me how I became a failure of an employee, who couldn't do their job right, to her unpaid therapist listening to her rant about how her husband was going to divorce her.

     She was uncontrollably sobbing now, and her face held her hands. "Just go, Mireya, please just go."

     I did not have the time or the patience to even look into the tone of her voice, but if I did, I would say it sounded like she was blaming me for her disaster of a love life. Sorry for the inconvenience of your personal events but it is not right to take your anger out on me. 

     That conversation took an entire hour. An hour of pure female rage about all she's ever done for him and how he didn't do a single thing for her. It doesn't really matter what she was talking about though, because I was late and it really wasn't any of my business.

     When she finally let me go, merely two seconds after I nearly broke an ankle running up and down subway station stairs, after I almost busted my ass sprinting from street to street to get to the one final job I still had, I got a text from the hotel manager to not even bother coming in.

     Yes, what a wonderful day. Why do days as bad as this even exist?

     It's days like these that make me wish I was one of those rich people buying cars just because I could. I'd probably hate myself but then again, might as well be rich while doing it.

     Defeated, I had no choice but to go home with empty pockets and a tired, tired soul.

     Until I was stopped, of course, by a man with a cast on one leg and a woman who looked like she could buy my entire life by selling her outfit in a pawnshop. I'm talking vintage Chanel, Louis Vuitton heels and Dior make up, this woman looked like the definition of rich.

     "Hello there, little thief," the woman grinned.

     Thief? It's not easy to admit that you steal from people, that's true, but sometimes, it's even harder to see everyone in your family struggle, so it caught me by surprise that she was calling me that but no matter what I even thought to say, it wouldn't change the fact that it was true.

     "Don't worry, we mean no harm, we just want to give you a job to do," the man said, whom I recognized as one of the people I stole a watch from. The one he was wearing now looked even more expensive than the one that I already stole.

     "Listen, if you're here because you're mad that I stole your watch, I'm really sorry, but I don't think I can't accept it,"

     "Not even if you get paid ten grand if you complete it?"

      Ten grand? Would it even be sensible to say no to that after I just lost all of my jobs?

     I took a deep breath then thought of a small prayer asking to keep me safe. "What job would I need to do?"

     They exchanged a look of triumph then turned back to me.

     "All you need to do is steal from this man and you've got your money,"

     "What do I need to steal?"

     "Anything of value, as long as you can steal something,"

     "It sound kind of weird though,"

     "We'll double the pay, give you five grand before the job and the rest when you accomplish it,"

     That was a deal I couldn't resist.

     "Okay, deal."