The Harkins Haunting

The Start of Something New

Everyone stared, wide-eyed. Ava rested her hand on my shoulder,

"Are you sure Chanel..?" She asked, worry in her eyes. "That's a big risk your taking with getting a part time job your junior year. Remember that day you wore your Nikes with causal attire?"

"I'm a player, Ava. Not a watcher. The only problem I'm facing is not knowing where to apply!"

Lily grinned and began to speak up.

"I know just the place."

All heads turned and looked over at Lily. I gulped down my saliva, afraid with excitement at her response.

"Apply to Harkins."

Everyone gasped! I had to take a few steps back. Part of me knew it was coming. Lily was what you could call an "old timer" at her work place. It was natural for her to suggest Harkins. But yet, hearing her mutter such words left me astonished.

I decided I should do it however. I needed a job. No. I needed this job.

The Next Day

There I was. Standing right at the front door entrances. I peaked inside; the first thing I noticed was the uniforms worn by the workers.  I cringed at the sight, but, I continued onward. I eventually made it inside, right in front of a big sign labeled "Guest Services."

A really tall man in a suit walked up to me, introducing himself as the General Manager of Harkins.

"Hello, pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am Mr. Brayes. I'm in charge of this joint."

I almost walked away not knowing what to respond. I thought maybe this job wasn't for me. I looked down but suddenly remembered the money. I had to do it for the money.

"Nice to meet you too," I forced myself to say. "I'm here for an application."

"Luckily for you, I had one out already prepared for you."  I thanked Mr. Brayes and grabbed the application. I took out my handy dandy pen I got from CVS for $2.99 and starting walking outside to fill it out.

I sat outside in the hot Arizona heat struggling to fill out the paper. Many of the questions required logical and arithmetic thinking. After finally filling out the form, I returned inside to turn it in. Mr Brayes bowed and thanked me so I proceeded to my car.

A few days later, I just finished my last class of the day and met up with Ava for operation parachute. Everything was going smoothly until I got a mysterious phone call.

"Who's that?!" Ava asked. Me and Ava weren't used to getting any sort of messages or phone calls from people. It was certainly a rare occurrence. I held my finger over the decline button but suddenly thought of the possibility it could be Harkins. And so, I did the only logical thing.

I declined the phone call and searched on my google engine the phone number for the Harkins nearest me, until I realized it was the number that had called me and decided to call them back.

"Thank you for calling Harkins Norterra 14, home of the play center and inn lobby child care facility.."

I pressed one.

I waited patiently, eager to hear who would answer the phone. Maybe I would get lucky and have Mr. Brayes answer, however it was this odd sounding guy with a hint of sarcasm in his vocal chords.

"Harkins Norterra 14, this is Aaron, how may I help you."

"Hello..My name is, uh, I mean Chanel. I just got a call for an application I put in place at your theater."

"Uhh, okay? Let me hand you over to a manager."

"Hello Chanel, this is Mr. Runner, I see you're calling back about the application. I was just looking over it and see that you applied to Harkins because although you like AMC better, Harkins is a few minutes closer. I also noticed you are only available 1-2 days a week after 3 pm and to top it off, you have no job experience what so ever..Well Chanel, I'm not sure how to tell you this but..You're perfect! I'll see you Tuesday at 4!

beeeeppppp

And just like that. I, Chanel Henen, had my first job.

Harkins Theaters.