Chapter Text
I hum happily as I lock my car, swinging my bag over my shoulder as I walk up to the shop I’ve worked at since college. It’s an art store, it’s not a lot of money, but it pays the bills. What I get for being an art major. I find myself pausing seeing the closed sign still hanging up. It’s noon, we should be open hours ago. Luckily the door is open and I slip in, the lights mostly off beside a few towards the back.
“Mr.Sam?” I call through the store, not wanting to get killed. It’s almost like the start of a horror film.
“Back here Bunny.” I hear him call for me, and I follow his voice back towards his office/break room. He is an older man, bags under his eyes but hands as steady as a surgeon. His beautiful paintings that used to hang on the walls are now laying in a pile on the floor. He looks sad, and I’m nervous as I sit in front of him. I can tell he had been crying earlier today, his face blotchy and his white hair unkempt unlike normal.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” I ask him as he sighs softly.
“No, not really.” He tells me, frowning more. “I have to shut down the store. I can’t afford rent anymore, we’re not getting enough business and the bank won’t give me a loan.” He tells me as I feel like I stop breathing.
“But… You can’t! You’re like the only store in town for this stuff.” I protest as he shrugs.
“Not enough people like doing art I guess.” He tells me as I frown, trying to hold back tears. “I have your check for the week and even included next week’s normal pay to try and help out some. I’m sorry Bunny.” He says as he slides me an envelope.
“Are you sure we can’t do anything?” I ask unable to even touch the paper. I feel sick. I feel like my life is being pulled away from me.
“I’m sure Bunny. I am going to retire, maybe go visit my grandkids. Maybe see if you can get that degree working out for you.” He says as I force a breath.
Soon enough I’m sitting in my car, unsure what to do. How am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to find a job? How am I going to do any of this?
The answer is, I don’t. Nowhere will hire me. I’m putting in tons of apps a day and nowhere, not even fast food will hire me.
Within a month I lose my apartment, only having my car and two bags of things. And soon I can’t afford my car, selling it for a few hundred dollars so I have a chance to relax a little in a motel for a night.
My eyes watch at night when I sit at bus stops, seeing girls in high heels walking along the streets. I’m unsure if I could let myself go that low, but once my stuff starts to get stolen while I sleep and I’m left with nothing, I have to do what I have to do.
So when a car pulls up, I take a breath smelling the alcohol on the man’s breath but woman up.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?”
“Bunny.”
“Come on in.”