𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃

11

HER PREDATOR

"Hey, Casei!" I immediately waved her down as soon as she came into work. She always arrived bright and early, so it took a little extra out of me to even get here before she did.

A little bit of surprise flared up in her pretty shaped eyes for a moment as she saw me, before they slumped back into exhaustion. "Good morning, Lowen."

"Bright and early?" Andrew asked, coming from the back and shooting Casei a smile. "I'm gonna go and run out. Coffee run, if Brian asks," he added.

I curiously watched Andrew go, hoping that for his benefit he wasn't hiding anything. Was it just me...or did that seem suspicious? I focused my attention back on Casei, giving her another warm smile.

"How was your mornin'?" I asked her curiously, forking through a frozen breakfast platter I had warmed up here.

"What has you so pumped up?" she asked me tiredly, coming over to her seat and practically falling into it.

"I'm not one for...I guess you could consider this gossip, but; did you hear about the accident in south Quercitron? Everybody's talkin' about that shit."

"Yes, Lowen," she answered tightly. "I did."

Ignoring her reaction, I pressed on. "Did you hear about what happened though? Major accidents and shit almost never happen out here. One of my friends- uh, Arah, told me that this is supposed to be one of the safest cities to drive in, as far as the South."

"Yes, I did, Lowen. Because I was in the accident."

I stopped, really staring at her. "Well fuck? You for real? Do Brian and Andrew know? Yuun een need to be at work today, Casei. C'mon," I stood up, sitting down my food, "I'll take you home."

"No, no. It's alright. Truly," she assured me, still sounding just as tired. "I tried to stay home but since the hospital ruled me out to be fine, and they gave me some pain medicine, my mom said I was fine enough to go to work. Oh- and probably never getting the chance to go out ever again because one of my friends fuckin' had liquor on her."

"Shit, really?" I grimaced.

"Yes. Naryna's ass just had to," she only shook her head, not even bothering to finish the sentence. "I just hope she recovers well along with Channin. They got fucked up way more than I did," she explained.

"I'm sorry for bringin' it up...I-I didn't know, Casei," I awkwardly apologized. That's what you do. You apologize when you make mistakes, even if you don't feel like it.

"Who hit y'all and how did it happen? On the news they wouldn't reveal too much," I asked her curiously.

"Naryna braked on time and the car in front of us was already sitting. It was the vehicle behind me and my friend's that fucked up and caused the three car pile up," she explained, rubbing her eyes. "Friday was wild, I'm sorry, I'd rather not revisit it."

"Yeah, yeah, I understand," I told her quickly.

It got quiet between us and I didn't know what else to say. "The person behind y'all was at fault, right? I guess that means that everyone harmed will have their shit paid for. I mean, they hit y'all from behind and everything." Maybe that'd get her to cheer up a bit.

"Respectfully, ima hit you from behind if we keep talkin' about this," Casei told me calmly, then she went on a little rant, "This topic was all my parents could talk about last night. How they don't want people lookin' at them funny since I was involved in the accident and they think I was drunk and shit when all the tests I had to take at the hospital and at the scene shows that only fuckin' Naryna was!"