Dealing with Loose Ends

Eli swiped right, accepting the call.

"Look who finally decided to take my call" came the obnoxious voice of Morgan Fisher, the manager of Glue, a popular local arcade centre, which also happens to be one of the places the previous host worked as a server.

"Where the hell have you been? Didn't I tell you two days ago that I needed you to work the night shift four days in a row this week? You better come in today or you can kiss your paycheck goodbye, let's see how you're going to treat that granny of yours you ungrateful--"

Beep, beep, beep.

The word 'brat' was swallowed back as Morgan paused to digest the fact that Eli hung the call on him. He pulled his mobile phone away from his face and stared at the screen. He blinked once, then twice. 'This little shit truly ended the call on me.'

"What did she say, honey?" Joe asked, blinking her poorly placed fake lashes at him.

Morgan looked away from his mobile phone to the girl on his lap who had the left side of her bosom plastered on him as she rested on his chest staring at him with seductive eyes.

He hissed in irritation. " That little shit hung up on me. Can you believe that?"

"What?!" Joe exclaimed, pulling away from his embrace. " I told you to be softer on her, if she doesn't come in, who is going to work the night shift for me this week? You know my cousin is coming into town and I need to take her around to have a good time." She complained, softly pounding on his chest.

"What's there to be worried about? You know how desperate that kid is he will surely turn up." Morgan said dismissively before pulling her back into his embrace. Joe was irritated by his body odour but did not reject his advances, or squirm away from his probing hands.

This was a little sacrifice she had to make to get less work and more pay so she could not complain. She wore back her flirtatious smile and allowed him to do as he pleased. Eli rubbed her temple softly. Too many people in this world were taking her too lightly. Standing up from the shelter stool, she flagged down a cab.

It was early evening when Eli arrived at Glue. After paying for her cab ride, she got down and stared at the two-story building in front of her. The sun was gradually setting and the darkness was gathering. The 3D billboard panel on top of the ground floor glowed a bright red colour at the entrance, reading GLUE.

The entrance area was packed with youngsters who came here to play after school. She pulled up the hoodie of her jacket as she walked in. She did not want a repeat of the incident at the salon.

The ground floor of the building housed the arcade section of Glue, while the upper floor housed the karaoke bar and the management spaces. She took the stairs and headed to the upper floor where the staff locker rooms were located and proceeded to empty her locker.

Apart from a change of clothes and an old set of sneakers, there was nothing else to take. The previous host had a habit of not leaving behind evidence of herself in spaces she found herself. It was an unconscious habit she had developed after being returned to the orphanage so often.

Eli stuffed them all into the small backpack she had come out with then proceeded to walk out of the locker room.

"Hey, you! Stop right there." came a female voice from behind her.

Eli turned her head to the side, only to come face to face with Joe. Joe was a typical case of 'you can take the girl out of the village but you can't take the Village out of the girl'. She was decked out in poorly chosen counterfeit brand names.

She had dyed beach blonde hair that needed some touch up as her dark roots were overgrown and had a botched nose job. She would have had a relatively pretty face if she had not gone for the nose job, lip fillers or the botox.

"I saw you walk out of the staff locker room, what did you steal? How did you even get in?"

Eli raised her staff ID and showed it to her. Joe squinted her eyes to read the name on the ID card. Her initial guarded expression faded in realisation.

"Oh, it's only you Eli. What's with the hoodie?" she shook her head as if disregarding any possible reply. "Whatever, it doesn't matter, Morgan's been waiting on you. Come with me" she commanded as she turned around, walking towards the management office.

When she noticed Eli was not following, she turned around. "Well hurry it up!" before continuing. "You had the guts to end the call on Morgan, you're in so much trouble kid" she scolded as she walked.

Eli had previously decided to get her things and leave, but after getting stopped by Joe, she decided to follow along and humour her.

"Look who I saw sneaking around the locker room Morgan" Joe announced as she stepped into Morgan's Office, walking over to Morgan, and propping herself at the edge of his table. Morgan Fisher was sitting at his desk with a cigarette between his fingers.

Eli took a look at Morgan as she walked in. Just as she had seen from the previous host's memories, he was an overweight greasy bald middle-aged man.

"You've got some balls strutting into work at this hour" he began in a stern voice.

"And?"

Eli's husky voice rang as she strode further into the room. Walking over to the sofa, she took a seat, crossed her legs and flung her backpack on the table before casually glancing at the two people in the room as though she was king.