Lesson 13- Always look both ways before crossing the street.
“Oh seriously? Is it important? Because I kind of need to know this stuff if you want me to work here.” I point out. Laura elbows me in the ribs then turns to Torin, her back ramrod straight.
“Of course, what can I do for you?” She says politely. Uh, okay. Fine. I guess she isn’t willing to question Torin’s commands, but was the elbow really necessary? Torin watches the interaction with a blank face, but he DOES answer my question.
“It seems to me you worked just fine last night without training, you can manage a little longer.” He announces and I grin at the compliment. Hah, I knew he liked me. Now I just have to get him to trust me.
“What do you need?” Laura asks again.
“Figure out what Carina needs to stay here. Make a list with her then go get it. You can use cash from the bar. You should also go to her home and collect any personal items she might want. We can order things online later, so focus on what she needs short term and items that she is attached to.” He orders. I frown. I’m not sure I really want someone going through my stuff, but then again, I DO need clothes, and maybe a few other bits and pieces. Even if I only end up here for a little while (Which is totally the goal) I’m going to need the basics. Although more than I need stuff, I need access to a proper bathroom. I’m about to ask but Laura beats me to it, which is actually super sweet of her given how anxious she is around Torin. It’s like she’s a totally different person. On her own, she’s confident and loud, very in control. I can see how she can manage this place and run the bar. The moment he appears she’s quiet as a mouse and needs his approval for every little thing. It’s strange because he doesn’t actually seem like a particularly demanding boss to me. Is him being a demon really that scary? I wish there was a manual or guidebook. Supernatural 101? Demons for dummies? That would be so useful right now.
“Uh, Torin? I don’t want to cause trouble, but I wondered if you had considered the… Bathroom situation… For Rina?” She says timidly. I give her an encouraging and grateful smile.
“Rina…” He trails off, as if confused by the name. I quickly jump in.
“My nickname, you’re welcome to use it too.” I offer easily. I think I would actually prefer it. Having people use my proper name all the time makes me feel like I’m a kid in trouble for something. Most people just call me Rina.
“Okay, Rina then. Don’t worry about the bathroom situation. It’s being sorted.” Is all he answers before turning and abruptly walking away.
Laura and I spend the next half hour trying to figure out what I need. Mostly it’s just clothes and stuff, some jewellery I like, my favourite hair products, but also a few important things like my asthma medications, my passport and birth certificate, basically stuff that shouldn’t be abandoned in an empty home for too long. They’ll be safer here with me. Probably. Laura heads off with a huge wad of cash from the registers which terrifies me. No wonder they need magical books to keep track of it all. Does no one here keep actual receipts? With Laura gone, I’m left with nothing to do again. I wander back down the hall. Maybe I can find Kyle and tease him some more? I don’t make it far. I reach the room I stayed in last night and realise there is an awful lot of noise coming from in there. The door is partially open so I push it open the rest of the way and find Torin loading junk from the room into a large garbage bag. It’s only been maybe twenty minutes since I saw him last and already he’s covered in dust and smudges of black dirt. This room really is messy. Is he attempting to make it inhabitable?
“Oh, hey. Want a hand? How are you sorting all this?” I ask. Torin shrugs.
“None of it is important. I’m mostly just throwing it out. If you want any of it then keep it, if not, it goes.” He answers. Great. That’s easy enough to manage. We both get to work.
An hour or so later, we actually have the room mostly clear. Apparently cleaning goes a lot faster when you’re literally just throwing everything into bags and dumping it into the hall. We do keep a few things. The recliner for starters. I’m convinced that if I clean it up a little it won’t be a bad addition to the room, plus I still don’t have a bed. Also a random bookshelf that seems to be in decent condition. I might not have a lot of stuff here, but this room has no other storage so it’ll do for now. We also find a lamp that I figure is worth keeping. We tested it and it is working. I plug it in and set it up on one of the shelves since there isn’t anywhere else to put it. The room looks a lot bigger now, even if everything is still kind of grimy. It should all clean up well enough. Torin grabs a couple bags of junk from the hallway and I do the same. Okay, so he grabs like three bags and I grab one. It’s not my fault the guy is a giant. I follow him down the hall. He kicks open the back door and heads towards the dumpster. I take half a step outside to do the same before collapsing onto the floor, screaming in pain. My entire right foot feels like it’s burning, or been cut off. Like it’s being stabbed by a thousand needles. I drop the bag of junk, letting it spill all over the floor while I tear my shoe off. I’m expecting to find that it’s red or black or I don’t know, gone? On fire, something like that. Instead my foot looks totally normal. There is absolutely nothing visibly wrong with it. It is still in agony though and I can’t stop the tears running down my face. Torin rushes to my side.
“Shit. I wasn’t thinking. You can’t bring the rubbish out here. You can’t leave the bar.” He curses again. I’ve started clawing at my foot. I can’t help it. Somehow it feels like it might be less painful if I DID cut it off. Torin catches my hands before I can do too much damage.
“Shh, it’s alright. It’ll pass. Just try to breathe.” He soothes me. I try to focus on his warm hands squeezing my fingers. I focus on his words and try to match my breathing to his. It feels like it takes forever, but the pain does eventually start to fade until it’s just an echo of pain. I’m still shaking and I’m pretty sure I’m in shock. Ow, what the hell. They warned me it would be bad but that wasn’t just bad. I’m almost certain that if I went outside it would actually kill me. I don’t think the human body can handle that much pain. Surely my heart would give out or something.
“Get her something to eat.” Torin orders someone over my shoulder. Kyle probably. I’m sure he heard my screaming. Well, I wasn’t planning to run away, but now I KNOW it is definitely impossible. Even if I did go outside, I doubt I would be capable of crawling, much less running away.
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