Menacingly✔️

Chapter Two

Angela had attempt and was failing miserable at getting herself up and ready to leave her tiny apartment for the past two hours. She pulled her dark brown hair into a ponytail with shaky hands, wiping away the tears of anxiety that filled her eyes before they managed to escape and roll down her puffy face.

She was scared, terrified of everything around her. She didn't want to leave again; she didn't want  to keep running away from all of the things that got thrown at her in life. They chased her mercilessly, never giving her a break. To make things even worse for herself, she had walked in on something that was none of her business and had been caught.

Angela knew it was only a matter of time before whoever those men were, came and found her. God knows what they would do to her, but for some strange reason- she thought it might be better than staying in this life on the run. She was desperate and gave little value to her life anymore. She felt like she was better off dead than living like this- the only reason she had not tried to run yet.

She thought about calling the police, but she knew it would only make things worse. She hoped Luigi was alright. Even though he wasn't the nicest person she'd ever come across, he was harmless and was the only one out of what felt like hundreds of people to actually give her a job in her time of need.

After she had put on her shoes and walked down her hallway to the living room to grab her purse, she stopped herself and held a breath. Her anxiety was kicking in again, tumbling down on her and weighing her down. She tugged at her hair frustratedly and paced around the bare coffee table in the middle of the room, the unvarnished floorboards creaking loudly as she did so.

This wasn't the first time this series of events had happened. For the past few days that's all she seemed to be doing: Getting up from a restless night of tossing and turning, showering, getting ready to go out into civilization again and then pacing around her apartment for hours before going back to bed and repeating the process. The viscous cycle continued. She hadn't eaten a proper meal in about a week and ate very little after that day at the diner. She cursed herself for being so nosey and foolish.

The rent on the apartment was up in three days and she needed to get out fast, she knew staying any longer was a bad idea but where was she to go? She had no friends or family to contact. Angela had been looking around for places to stay around Canada that were not too far away from there but had failed to find anywhere in her small and scary price range. She was broke, she was almost homeless and she was alone. She knew this was coming, it did every two months or so and then she would be forced to move on.

Looking at the clock ticking away, Angela knew today was the day: the day she would have to go outside for even just a couple of minutes. She put on her hoodie and grabbed the keys to her car, dropping them a few times on the way down the stairs of her apartment block from her quivering hands. It was a Wednesday, and so she decided it might help to go to the soup kitchen like she usually did. She thought it may free her mind for even a few minutes that day. Because it was getting closer to the holidays, the kitchen was always busy.

Angela liked how she could keep a low profile and help at the same time. Sure, she knew she wasn't a saint but even doing something small like what she was doing made a difference, however tiny it may be. She would nod and smile at the other volunteers but no one asked too many questions and most of the conversations were steered towards doing good and whether the potatoes were ready for the broth yet. The occasional kind-of familiar face would ask her about her life outside of serving soup but she would quickly brush it off.She was right about the kitchen, it made her mind wander off for a while along with her anxiety and her frightening memories. But when she left the smothering-but-nice warmth of the soup kitchen and went into the bitter coldness of her car, everything creeped back into her mind, toying with her as she drove the short distance back to her apartment.