Chapter Two: I Am Pinocchio

Chapter Two: I Am Pinocchio

      Although this morning was a bit awkward, everything was handled as usual. I wasn’t sure if Emi saw the mark on my neck so I made sure to pound the make-up on and keep my hair down. It didn’t look puffy or swollen, but more like a light blue dancing in a swirling motion with a little bit of pink. It was noticeable yet not really. As we rode in the car on the way to work, I kept thinking of touching it; there was a strange urge to caress it.

          “Hey, your face is red, are you okay?”

          “Huh? Wh-What, oh yeah, I’m fine. Maybe a little hot?” Am I blushing? I wondered to myself.

          “Then take off the jacket, you dork.”

          I laughed to keep up the act. “Thanks, Mom.”

          She shook her head while rolling her eyes and turned into the parking spot. We walked in to see Kat standing by the register reading some papers. Upon hearing the door open, she turned and gave a welcoming smile. A tense but light shiver ran down my spine, reminding me of the nightmare from last night. “Emi, Amari, good morning.”

          Emi waved and wished her a good morning while she went to punch into the time clock. I realized I hadn’t replied but the weird physical response my body was having before this woman was a bit distracting. There was a look in her eyes that felt as if she actually knew the effect she was having on me. I wondered if she did know; did that make her a witch?

          “Excuse me?” Kat suddenly asked me. She looked confused with an eyebrow slightly arched up.

          “What?” was my intelligent response.

          “You said something about a witch…?”

          Dear God, did I say that out loud?! In front of her of all people?!?! “No!” I realized that I had just shouted in her face and lowered my voice. “Sorry, I meant, um, no, it was…I was just talking to myself. There was a show on last night and…so yeah.”

          She hadn’t said anything at first and that worried me a bit. She probably thought that only weirdoes worked in this store and that was why Hector was the king. But then she giggled.  “How amusing you’ve turned out to be,” she said.  

          How amusing you’ve turned out to be… Just like from the nightmare, those very same words. “Ah, really? Ha-ha,” I sputtered. I was slightly trembling from the terrible anxiety I felt. I wanted to turn away from her; something just didn’t feel right with her around.

          “Well, I have some paper work to finish, I promise not to hinder the system that you guys have around here.”

          I nodded and quickly raced away to find Emi. Emi was already sorting some of the returns when I joined her. I could tell that she knew something was wrong but I guess she decided to let it go for now. The rest of that day had passed by smoothly with the usual rush of people and then the period of boredom that lasted for about an hour. I did my best to joke around with the other employees talking about how they couldn’t wait to meet the new manager and how they are so glad Hector was gone etc, etc. Emi prayed that it was a handsome man so she could flirt with him while another co-worker named Julia prayed that it was a boss that allowed employee discounts. Kat did as she promised and stayed out of the way; she walked around and observed, did some paper work and mingled with the customers that entered. She ate lunch with some of the employees and told some stories about her past embarrassing moments. Everyone seemed to love her but there was a gut-wrenching feeling inside me, like Emi had predicted, telling me that she was hiding something. Thankfully, it was very easy to ignore my suspicions when she wasn’t talking to me.

          When work finally ended, Emi and I left to go eat some fast food since neither one of us felt like cooking. We chatted away and joked as usual as if this morning had never happened and neither one of us brought it up in the slightest. She drove me to the front of my apartment and as I was about to go through the whole ‘ritual’ of saying good bye to a friend, she grabbed my wrist.

          “Wait.”

          “What’s wrong?”

          “Do you need me to pick you up or do you think you can make it on your own tomorrow?”

           “I can make it on my own. Why, what’s up?”

          “Nothing, my mom has a doctor appointment in the morning and she needs me to take her.”

          “Oh, is she alright?”

          “Yeah, just the usual check-up; do you think you’ll be alright?”

          “Yeah, I’ll be fine, no worries. Tell her I said hi, okay?”

          “Okay, night.”

          I closed the door to her car and watched her drive off and take the first right. The day’s exhaustion suddenly hit me, so I turned to drag my feet into the apartment to take a shower. I had felt a little reluctant about being by myself and having that nightmare again, but after taking a deep breath, I resolved that maybe it was all in my head and that I just needed to relax. So I grabbed my mail from the slot and entered my apartment. It was warm and eerily quiet when I stumbled into the kitchen to read the mail. There was nothing much but a few bills and junk. Keeping my mind occupied on the text I was reading calmed me down and kept the anxiety to a minimum. The only sound that resounded around the apartment was the light ticking from the wall clock.

          Tossing the mail aside, I went to walk into the bedroom to shower when a thud echoed somewhere behind me. I gulped hard, feeling the nervous blood inside me flinch in anticipation for anything. I froze still to wait for any other sound but when nothing happened, I exhaled loudly and went to resume walking to my bedroom. However, the thud echoed again. This time, I spun around, wanting to catch the source of the sound, only to find nothing behind me. Am I going crazy? I wondered. As I stood there waiting for any other sound to terrify me, the phone suddenly blared, making me scream out loud. “JESUS!”

          The phone kept screaming away waiting to be answered while I wanted nothing more than to throw the stupid thing out the window. Reluctantly, I walk towards the phone and growled a greeting.

          “How long does it take you to answer your phone?!”

          “Dad? What the hell, you gave me a heart attack!”

          “Why’re you blaming me for?! Maybe if you answered your phone…”

          “What do you want, Dad?”

          “Don’t make it sound like I’m prying something off ya; I just called to say hi. You being all busy and all, don’t even have time for your old man.”

          I groaned; here we go… “C’mon, Dad, don’t go there.”

          “I’m serious! Every time I want to hang out, you gotta do something else or help Emi or sleep cause you’re some kind of half-twit insomniac. When are you gonna drop by?”

          I growled again but figured that his usually drinking buddies must have abandoned him and he’s just trying to find a way to vent and whine. “Okay, I get it. I’m sorry, I promise I’ll drop by this weekend and do everything it is you want to do.”

          “All inclusive?”

          “All inclusive,” I agreed.

          “Good, because there’s this new grill model that just came out, I mean it can practically move and cook the meat for you. It’s so beautiful, Amari, we just have to go check it out!”

          “Okay, okay, I said we’ll go, okay? Now, I’m going to go shower and head to bed. Behave until this weekend, got it?”

          I could practically hear his head slamming against the phone as he nodded and agreed. We wished each other good night and hung up the phone. My father was a child at heart and always wanted a new toy to occupy himself. He was a single father since day one; apparently my mother had some kind of situation and ultimately didn’t want me, resulting in my father having to take the responsibility. Despite the odds, he made sure I had everything I ever needed and that was enough for me to grow up and return the favor whenever he asked. We were an odd group, the two of us, seeing as we saw ourselves more as best friends or insulting buddies than father and daughter. Talking to him had me calm better than anything else. After I took my shower, I took a little of some liquid sleep-aid and plopped down on my bed to let my own weight crush me against the sheets. I didn’t remember much after that.

          *The Next Morning

          I woke up feeling a bit drowsy, but otherwise…good. I didn’t feel as tired or paranoid as I had been feeling the past week or so. Was it because I took a sleeping-aid before I went to bed? I honestly hope that wasn’t the case because I wasn’t entirely comfortable with having to have to take it every night; that just leads to addiction. At least for now, I was able to sleep and not feel so crazy. The clock had read the it was 7:01AM so I had to put a pep in my step if I didn’t want to miss the bus. I raced all around the house fixing this and trying on that until I was finally ready. Sadly, I didn’t have enough time to eat breakfast so my best option was to go to the deli right next to the store.

          Obviously, with my questionable luck, I made it to the deli only to freeze in my tracks after noticing Kat standing there by the chip display. I didn’t feel like talking to her and experiencing that weird pressure she happens to place on me. But it was too late; she must have seen me from the corner of her eyes because she turned and gave me one of those large smiles that lightened up her whole face. Why the heck was she so fond of me?

          “Good morning, Amari, how are you?”

          “Me? Oh, I’m good, just getting some breakfast,” I rambled out in a breath.

          “Oh? What’re you getting?”

          I was so nervous that the urge was going to happen that I gulped. “U-Um, probably a bagel with cream-cheese.”

          “Good, it’s my treat!” she said excitedly.

          “What? No, no, thank you but its okay.”

          “Please, Amari, we’re going to be working together so we should be able to do such kind gestures, yes?”

          When I tried to refuse, the sudden pressure hit me. This time, it wasn’t the usual gravity trying to pull my body towards her, but this immense weight trying to push my body back. It was practically paralyzing and mind numbing. The pressure hit me the moment she said my name! No, now I know I wasn’t losing it, there was something going on here. “Amari?”

          Until she said my name again, the pressure disappeared and there was nothing that could have been said or done to prevent the disastrous glare I threw her way. Her eyes widened but then they slightly calmed into piercing orbs. “Never mind,” I growled. “Lost my appetite.”

          “Pity,” she voiced darkly, completely changing her tone. “Perhaps next time?”

          But I didn’t care enough to reply as I turned on my heel and exited the shop to storm into our store. Emi was already there chatting with another one of the women we worked with but when she saw me, her laughing lines went away. She said something to the woman and walked over to me.

          “Hey, what’s wrong?”

          I grabbed her wrist and lead her to the back of the store where we stored a lot of the extra materials. “That woman is up to something!” I rumbled lowly.

          Emi had looked confused for a bit as if she were pondering on what I was talking about. “You mean Kat? Why, what happened?”

          I huffed loudly, disappointed that despite waking up feeling great, it had to be instantly ruined like this. “She…She’s…I don’t know how to say it but she’s not normal.”

          “Did she do something to you?”

          How was I to explain that I felt as if I had no control of my body whenever I was around her and she gave me the chills and creeps every time she looked at me or said my name? I mean, today was proof enough that she’s some kind of witch because there is no way that I would randomly feel such a reaction from a person saying my name! Unless I’m going crazy, which I’m not, but how do I say that in English?

          “I’m not sure,” I concluded because for one thing, I wasn’t and another thing, I didn’t have enough IQ points to try and figure out a scientific method for an explanation.

          “Well….that helps. Do I need to beat her up?”

          I cracked a smile but immediately frowned realizing how complicated I sounded. “No, but I don’t like her. She really is weird.”

          “Okay okay, just calm down and take a deep breath. I don’t want you panicking; remember the last time you exploded from stress?”

          A large shiver passed through my bones from the memory. I was hoping I could forget it, but that wasn’t likely. It had happened in high school with the nightmares scaring me and having me feel terrified of the dark. I literally had to have little lights placed in the closet and under my bed since I was so paranoid. On top of that, it was time for exams and SATs so studying had to become the only priority. I tried to manage my time as professionally as I could with enough time to eat, study, and sleep but the nightmares kept throwing me off course. I wasn’t getting enough sleep and I started feeling really paranoid. Then I kept forcing myself to study past my limits to make up for the lost time and ended up suffering from a stress overload, especially when I kept forgetting to eat my three square meals a day.

          I was sent to the hospital where the doctor said I had no choice but to cool it otherwise I was going to injure myself. Dad made sure I obeyed the doctor’s orders and after that, for some reason, the nightmares ended. The incident had scared Emi enough to promise me that she would always keep me calm enough for it to never happen again. Looking back at it now, I never had the courage to pursue why I was always hindered by these dreams. I never had the guts to come forward and tell Dad or Emi about these nightmares and the weird figure that always stood there waiting for me in the dark. It wasn’t like the truth wasn’t on the tip of my tongue ready to spill forward, but whenever the desire to tell became a thought, it felt as if a little spark would go off in my head telling me not to do so. Even now, as I wanted to tell Emi that those same insecurities and fears were haunting me, the words just wouldn’t come out.

          I took a deep breath and looked at Emi with what I was sure was the most awkward and pathetic expression, but she smiled and patted my shoulder as if to bring me back down to earth. We were silent for a bit more and then she dragged me back to the front so I could punch in and start helping her with the usual. With her being so close and talking to me, it was a halcyon hours of peace. Even when Kat entered the store and greeted everyone, I remained cool and stood out of her way to avoid any unnecessary confrontations. The two of us left earlier than everyone else and Emi cooked dinner while chatting away about her mom and her siblings. By the way, it should be noted that Emi is the fifth child out of eight and she only has one other sister who is the baby of the family. It’s no wonder that she’s sarcastic, a bit rough, extremely knowledgeable about sports, and an anti-Valentine’s Day fan.

          After we finished dinner and watched some TV, she got up from the couch and stretched, cracking all sorts of bones in different places. “Welp!” she shouted. “I should go, I’m freakin’ tired.”

          “Okay, thanks for earlier and for cooking.”

          “S’alright, it was my turn to cook anyway. Just don’t let her get to you too much.”

          “ I won’t, good night.”

          “Night!” and she left.

I got up from the couch, stretched, and headed for the kitchen to grab some of the sleeping-aid. Earlier this morning I vowed that I wouldn’t be dependent on it but considering how Kat messed me up and I didn’t feel like having another one of those nightmares again, I decided to take the risk and invest. The bed had never felt any better.

          *The Next Morning

          It felt as if I teleported into the future because the next thing I knew, the alarm was screaming and it was morning. No nightmare. That thought alone was enough to make me crack a smile, but I soon regretted it when my lips had been so dry that now some of the cracks split open. “Ow!” I moaned.

          My front door could be heard opening and then the clacking of Emi’s heels heading towards my room. When she peeked in, she looked confused at seeing me awake. “You’re up?”

          “Yeah…”

          “Ah, well then go wash up.”

          I groaned and threw the covers off of me to walk into the bathroom. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth and the usual while Emi made a small breakfast. She was singing some kind of tune that sounded peculiar but sweet. When I entered the kitchen, she already had the meal done and was chomping on an apple.

          “That’s all you’re having?”

          “Yeah, I’m not that hungry.”

          “And then you complain how I’m not healthy.”

          “Shut up, anyway,” she began. “I had an idea but for the life of me I can’t remember.”

          “Did you fart?”

          “What?!”

          “Did you fart?” I repeated. “They say that ideas are just held in farts.”

          “Who in the Hell says that?!”

          I shrugged, trying to keep myself from laughing. “Well, ‘they’ was just an exaggeration, I’m actually the one who says it, but I matter don’t I?”

          “God, you’re such an idiot,” she said as she aggressively bit into the apple again.

          I smiled in retaliation to her scowl and diverted my attention to the newspaper in front of me. There wasn’t anything too exciting except the war going on which always bothered me to read since it was depressing. Each black word lead to another black word that ultimately emphasized that someone died. More like, a lot of ‘someones’ died. I flipped the page to find at least something in higher spirits. My eyes scanned around until a little surprise caught my attention.

          “Whoa, Emi, look,” I said as I turned the paper in her direction. She leaned forward and looked to where my finger pointed. Her eyes immediately widened. It was Kat standing next to a tall man with huge smiles on and a huge headline on top: Top Investor Sha-Del Buys Out Clothing Chain!

          “She’s an investor?” Emi asked.

          “Looks like it, and this looks to be the guy who’s our new boss now. Kio Sha-Del…never heard of him.” This man was extremely handsome with wild shoulder-length, slick-back black hair, toned and tanned skin, a smooth jaw-line, and dark, dark eyes (inspiration: Will Yun Lee).

          “Nah, me neither, but he’s hot AND Asian, double points for me! Anyway, didn’t Hector’s brother own the chain? Wonder why they went through the trouble of buying out some small hack chain.”

          “I don’t know…”

          Hector and his brother, Jared, were two people, especially Jared, who worshipped money more than anything, and although this isn’t unheard of, it was a little bit suspicious that some big time investors bought out a small town clothing chain.

          “Hey, hurry up or we’ll be late,” Emi uttered.

          With a bit of rushing, we managed to get to the store on time and punch in. Everything had seemed normal and the two of us were about to start with the sorting when Kat’s voice suddenly rang through the intercom.

          “Amari Bigara, please come into the back office. Amari Bigara.” Oh geez.

          Emi pushed my shoulder and wished me luck, non-verbally telling me that everything was going to be fine. The thought of Kat brought unwanted churns deep within my stomach, but I ignored it and took my direction towards the back office. I didn’t even have to knock; it was as if she already knew I was by the door when she ordered me to come in. Kat was sitting behind a desk, reading some papers in a folder, not even looking up to see me come in.

          When I sat down in one of the chairs, she finally looked up at me. “Amari, how are you today?”

          She spoke as if nothing was out of the ordinary and yesterday didn’t even occur. I wasn’t sure if she noticed, but I was already trembling, afraid that that demonic pressure was going to consume me again. “I’m fine,” I gurgled out.

          She sighed in what sounded like relief. “Good, I was afraid that I had upset you yesterday somehow.”

 She knew for a FACT that she had done some kind of witch voodoo on me, making me seem and feel insane when I know darn well I’m not! This time, I trembled, not from fear, but from anger.

          “M-Miss Mon’strail”�"I prayed I said her name right and she didn’t notice my nervousness�"“I’m a…I’m a playful person. I don’t mind joking around and stuff, but I dislike games. I-I don’t know how to explain this, but…I’m not going crazy. What is it that you want from me?”

          The whole time, Kat had her eyes wide open, totally taken off guard from my near-nervous breakdown. But then an eyebrow shifted up and her fingers curled together. She placed her chin on her laced fingers and gave me a hard look from head to toe. “A bit conceited, don’t you think? What do you have to offer that I would want?”

          I gulped, scared of the slight dark tone skating on the edges of her words. “I-I don’t know, but then, why would a person of the bourgeois class come to work here?”

          “You think it has anything to do with you?”

          “I don’t know,” I kept repeating. “But…I don’t feel wrong in my assumptions.”

          There was a pause as she processed my answer, and slowly, which frightened me, she arose from her seat to stand before me. She hadn’t changed her expression and just kept staring at me, looking for something but I hadn’t a clue what. The whole time, she kept her eyes on me but her hands went to grab something from her blazer pocket�"it was a cigarette�"and without a care in the world, she lit it up. I wanted to dare ask if she was allowed to smoke in the building, let alone the office, but my throat felt closed up.

          “Hmm,” she moaned. Although the sound was nothing but a slight note, it was enough to startle me rigid. “Honestly, the headaches you produce from me. You were always such a being.”

          “I-I’m sorry?”

          She blew the smoke towards my direction which was insulting but strangely, not obnoxious. A small inhalation of the smoke left me feeling calmer, if only by a bit, and clearer minded. I hadn’t noticed it, probably because she used the smoke as a distraction, but the ‘pressure’ was there all around me. My body wanted to move towards her and obey whatever sick demand she had in mind and the thought of that had my mind reeling in disgust. I question if this was simply attraction, but something told me that that wasn’t it either.

          “I’ll tell you what,” she finally said. “I’ll leave you alone and give you one week to come forward. If not, then we’re going to have to do this the hard way.”

          The Hell? “Wait, I’m sorry, but what? Come forward about what?”

          Her eyes narrowed and her teeth bit into the butt of the cigarette. “If I have to tell you then what’s the point? One week, treasure it well. Now, you’re dismissed.”

          “Wait, wha�"!” But she didn’t let me finish and just pointed towards the door with a stare that penetrated any ounce of courage I would have thought to have. She was one hell of an actress to be able to fool everyone into thinking that she was some kind of saint when in actuality, she was a monster in disguise.

          As I walked back to the front of the store where Emi was waiting, nothing but confusion crossed my mind.

          “Hey, what did she want?”

          “She wanted to apologize for yesterday,” I prevaricated.

          Emi looked at me quizzically before speaking again. “So you’re…okay now?”

          “Yeah, I’m sorry, and I acted like such a weirdo yesterday.”

          “Yup, but that’s usual. It’s alright, as long as you’re cool with it,” she said with a shrug. I wasn’t sure if she bought any of it but she was willing to overlook it if she didn’t. I mentally sighed in relief and got straight to work.

          Far as I knew, anything was far from settled and nothing at this point even made sense. What the heck was it that she wanted me to come forward about? Plus, did this mean that I actually wasn’t imagining the whole ‘pressure’ thing and she’s using that awful magic on me to force me to come forward about whatever the heck it is I need to come forward about? But then how is she able to cast that magic? Was she magical?

          “What the heck are you saying?!” Emi snarled.

          “What?”

          “You’re whispering crap over there about magic! The heck?”

          My cheeks pinked a bit and I smacked my hand against my forehead in shame. This was the second time that I’ve spoken my thoughts out loud. “A song; I’m singing a song.”

          “Really? What song?” she challenged.

          “Um…”�"crap! Think, Amari, think�" “…from B.oB. Google it.”

          Emi ‘tsk-ed’ and turned her face away from me, meaning she had no retort and I won this round. I was just content that I could pull through in the last second like that; gun-to-the-head, fast-paced lying like that feels like it takes years off your life, but that’s more so from the guilt than anything else. For now, however, that was all I could do to keep some level of sanity and lie.