Sunshine and Serpents (Abandoned)

I Am A Child Of

Sang

"Honey! Can we have another coffee over here, please?" a voice called across the room, and I grimaced down at my notepad, my scribbled handwriting almost illegible. I stared down at my notepad, trying to remember why  I chose to get a job at a dinner if I hated people. Oh, right- five months ago, my abusive stepmother kicked out of the house after I saw her life in a flash. "Darlin'!" they called again, a hint of anger in their voice, and I sighed, before plastering a fake smile on my face.

"Coming!" I called, grabbing a mug of coffee, scurrying out from behind the counter. Darlene, my coworker, flashed me a sympathetic smile as I walked by, before turning her attention back to her own customers. I got to my waiting table in a heartbeat, but the scowls on their faces were directed towards me. 

Took that lazy whore long enough, the older woman whispered, her dark brown eyes following me as I set the mug down carefully in front of her husband. What are they paying her for? Standing around and doing nothing? 

I ignored the woman's hateful thoughts, keeping the smile on my face. "Anything else I can get for you?" I asked through gritted teeth, trying to keep my voice chirpy and innocent. 

A nice serving of you, darlin'... the man trailed off, and I fought off a shiver at both his thoughts, and the way he was looking at me. I had already had a couple close calls here at Buba Gump Diner. The owner, Bill (an avid Forest Gump fan), often had to walk me home at night, one hand on his phone, the other on a gun. His wife, Paula, always chased off any creeps if Bill wasn't around- often with a frying pan in one hand, and a receipt in the other. 

"We're good, thank you, sweet thang," the man drawled, his eyes sweeping me over again. I'd sure ask for a lot more if this bitch wasn't here, the man thought to himself, and I suppressed a giggle as his wife glared at me. 

"Well, just holler if you need me!" I replied brightly, before bolting off to the counter and sliding onto the ground behind it, the smile dropping off my face. 

Being a mutant and having the ability to read minds wasn't everything it was cut off to be. It made you feel like you were going insane, with a thousand different voices going off in your head at the same time and you couldn't make out anything they were saying. When my gift, if you could call it that, first appeared, my mother had been in the middle of beating me, and the third time she had struck me with her cold, wrinkly hands, I had been pulled into her head, and I saw her whole life. I still shudder when I remember it; the feeling of being in my mother's head could only be likened to crawling through a sewer at night, everything murky and disgusting and dark. Every man who had looked at me the way that man had, who had somehow touched me in some way, added to that dark and murky feeling that took a while to wash away. But, I guess I had to be thankful for my gift. It got me out of a horrible situation, and led me to my new family at Buba Gump's.

"Sang," someone said, a hand pressing onto my shoulder. I flinched and jumped up to see Paula looking down at me with sympathy in her eyes. "I didn't mean to scare you, honey," she said kindly, her voice thick with the now similar New Orleans accent. 

"No problem," I breathed, smoothing out my blue skirt, and pulling on my black gloves. "Sorry, I just zoned out and-"

"No need to apologize, honey," she interrupted me, her voice kind but firm. "Just wanted to let you know you got a new table."