Ruben or August

Chapter 2

'Maybe I can help, do you want to stay in the smelly cubicle or come out?' the boy said again. I slowly dried my tears and looked down at my feet. I tried to decide whether I should go and pretend I'm alright, or just stay here and hope he left. After another few minutes I decided I needed to go back and have my lunch. I slowly opened the door and quietly walked out. 'Hey. You're the prawn girl!' the boy suddenly exclaimed.

I shot my head up and realised he was the fishmonger. 'Oh.' I accidently said. And then without thinking I rushed out slamming the door behind me. That earnt me stares from the people eating in the café.

'Why... Why were you in the men's' Asked Danielle a bit surprised looking at me. 'I... I need to go.' I said grabbing my quiche and my tea and running out of the café towards the pet shop where I worked leaving two puzzled women and probably spilling half of my tea on the floor as I hurried out of the place.

'Hi Elie.' Said Kate my boss as I walked in making the doorbell jingle. 'You're early.' She added looking up at the clock on the wall. 'Long story. I'll have lunch and then start.' I said walking towards the back of the shop concentrating on not spilling anymore tea on the floor. I sat down on the little table which had clutter all over it and made myself some space, pushing away Kate's attempt at cutting out animal shaped decorations. I sat down and put my head in my arms, wanting to go home and be left alone. Unfortunately, my shift ended at 6pm and I knew the afternoon was going to be long.

After my rapid and disastrous lunch, I got changed and went to the front shop. It was rather calm and there weren't many people on this Friday afternoon. The busiest days of the week were unsurprisingly Wednesday's and Saturday's when the children came in with their parent's. I hated those days with all the customers and happy children making noise, but working with animals had a soothing side to it and that's why I had chosen to work in the pet shop. Kate knew my mother from when they were at school together, so I had seen Kate a lot and she came for dinner at our house sometimes. I had often been in the shop when I was younger, loving the contact with the animals and having fun stroking them. Kate never minded having me around sitting by the kittens or the rabbits, and that's why she knew that she could trust me with the job. She had seen me feed them, and talk to them and begging my mother to have some.

Kate had gone down to the supermarket to buy some lightbulbs leaving me alone in the shop. It did happen sometimes, and I usually prayed for there to be only a few people come in because of my disastrous communication skills and my struggles when it came to talking to strangers. I was alright when I had to talk to people I knew or people I felt were tolerant towards me but when strangers came invading my personal space, getting up close to me and talking to me and rushing me for answers, I felt the urge to go to the back of the shop to breathe a few times.

The bell rang pulling me out of my thoughts and indicating that someone had just walked in. I finished stacking up a shelf, neatly putting away the animal food before turning around to help the customer. In the meantime that left them some time to decide about what they needed or which pet they wanted.

'How may I help you?' I asked turning round to face them. But only a small child was standing in front of me. 'My brother's buying me a puppy.' He said in an excited voice. 'Oh, that's nice.' I answered. 'Where's your brother?' I added. 'Over there.' He answered pointing at the corner of the shop where a man was standing.

The tall figure turned around. And I nearly lost my breath, I could feel the panic rise after seeing the boy and I knew that there was no way out of this situation this time. It was just my luck that he hadn't decided to take his brother to another pet shop. I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself feeling embarrassed in front of him.