Kat

Maybe she’d pushed too far?

Kat tied up the ends of a rather overstuffed garbage bag and heaved it out of the can in the back room.

They never got the dinner back in order. He confessed all that, and she couldn’t muster any genuine sympathy. All the excitement, all the attraction…it just kind of fell apart.

She’s been so happy to see him. When he picked her up in that little red sports car he’d been wearing an old leather jacket, and she could smell it, as she sat in the car beside him…trying to avoid his eyes.

All that excitement and you’re pushing him away.

Why couldn’t she get past it? Everyone was an asshole in high school. No one was perfect…but he was trying so hard…

But he’d hurt people…people like her.

No, not like you.

True, she’d been bullied…excluded, but it was for a completely different reason.

You’ve hurt people too…and they can never forgive you.

Kat rubbed her right arm…it was crazy that the cut still hadn’t healed. Maybe she was vitamin deficient or something.

She felt past it, to the old scar. She ran her thumb over the line running down her upper arm. The memory she would never shake.

It felt almost blasphemous that a fresh wound covered any of it. Like this new pain might eclipse the old one. Trying to hide her sin.

She couldn’t see a doctor…he’d have other questions.

Kat pulled her sleeve down, happy these lame polos had sleeves that hit the elbow.

No one was around to see it, but covering up her scar made her less self-conscious.

It had been an uneventful, small rush around 10 for the final fresh pizzas. A handful of campers on their way to catch the early season up the Island. That trucker, Jon, who once again not-so-subtly suggested a career change. But all that was normal. Barly enough to justify her being there, but the business wasn’t her concern.

All she had to do was make it till sunrise without spooking herself, and with Lucy safely gone for the evening, that should be fairly easy. Lucy, for her part, had been on her best behavior, but Kat wasn’t ready to forgive, and unsure if she’d ever trust Lucy again if she did.

No, at this point in the night, she was an hour away from seeing Bradley and a few hours from sleep. She just had to focus on that and make it through the night.

The customer bathroom was clean…cleanish. And all she had to do was throw out the garbage bag. The heavy bag of garbage…into the dumpster out back.

Come on, I can do this!

But self-affirmation was never her strong suit, and her feet weren’t moving.

Come on, you’ve got this. Besides, what if a customer shows up and you’re back here shaking in your shoes?

Still no movement.

I’m waiting for you.

Fuck, that wasn’t helping. And in her mother’s voice… she needed to go to therapy again.

Kat took a deep breath, nodded to herself. And finally pushed open the back door.

She looked around the corner, the gravel trail was lit and empty as she should have expected.

It was just a short walk and the hardest part of the shift would be done.

Kat kicked the wooden wedge into place, holding the door open for her, as she lifted the heavy bag and started down the trail.

Her feet crunched noisily towards the dumpster. Beyond that, the dark forest surrounding her was silent, save for the buzzing of the electric light overhead. She looked up to the yellow bulb lighting the gravel path, not bright by most standards, but luminous enough to consume the stars above. Instead, she had the fluttering moths to keep her company.

But she was stalling again. Kat sighed and continued down the path.

Maybe she’d made too much of it. Before she had time to creep herself out again, the stink of the dumpster surrounded her.

“Aeck,” she said, vomiting the syllables forth as if to avoid breathing more of the stench in.

She unlocked the lid, making sure to pocket the often-lost padlock, and then swung open the lid.

Nothing, just garbage inside. No raccoons, no ghosts, just trash.

She added her bag to the collective whole and closed it back up. The smell was weirdly familiar, which grossed her out even more as she trudged back down the trail.

The gravel crunched.

It was done now, just another task to check off and mention in the night log.

Wind rustled in the brush.

Nothing unusual to report for once…

She stopped. It didn’t feel right.

There was no wind…and the gravel crunched again.

Kat spun around…there was no one there. Just a dumpster at the end of the trail, surrounded by darkness.

She let her eyes adjust. If she could just spot a raccoon or something, she’d feel a hell of a lot better.

But no, like everyone else, she’d never seen a raccoon at the store, and that wasn’t changing.

Instead, she breathed the stink in again. And suddenly, the familiar aroma made sense.

It smelled of booze. It smelled like her mother.

Kat took a step back, her eyes locked on the darkness down the trail, and with enough time, finally, there in the shadows, she could see it.

The silhouette of a person.

She spun around and sprinted down the remaining trail.

As she reached the door, she grabbed the wedge before slamming it shut.

Without losing speed, she sprinted through the store and locked the front door before locking herself in the office.

But she would not let panic get the best of her; instead of breaking down, she opened the security system and checked all the cameras.

There was no one out there.

But she’d seen it…

This place was going to drive her insane… unless…

No, she couldn’t keep running to him. If she were going to call, she had to have a reason.

She dialed the number.

“Hello?”

“Hey Tom, we need to talk about the journal.”

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