4. Chapter Three
CHAPTER THREE
MARGERY
S everal days had passed since she felt eyes on her while walking to work. Margery figured the police officer was right. Maybe she was making up everything in her head. Well, not making it up but blowing it out of proportion. Maybe she was making herself paranoid and feeling like she was being watched, but in reality, she wasn’t. It was the only logical explanation. Or the only one she had thought of at this point.
She really was trying not to think about it because if she did, she was going to get anxious. What if she was making all of this up in her head? Making up feeling like a person was watching her. She didn’t want to overthink this or second-guess herself.
“Are you going home?” Adalisa asked at the end of her shift.
“Yeah, I’ll probably treat myself to some ice cream before I get there. But I am going home. My shift ended a few minutes ago,” Margery replied .
Sometimes, if neither of them were busy, they would stay with each other and chat. They never really had time to hang out outside of work. Not when it seemed like they always worked opposite shifts. Maybe it was intentional. Margery didn’t know, but they made do with what they had.
“I’m not going to stop you then. You have a good afternoon. Get lots of ice cream, sit on the sofa, and watch something. Just relax,” Adalisa said. “I’m so jealous, but you deserve it.”
“Do you want me to stay? We can talk. I know it’s a little dead, which isn’t normal. I’m fine staying if you want me to,” she replied.
Right now, Margery really didn’t want to stay, but if Adalisa wanted her to, then she would for a couple of minutes.
“No, it’s fine. You go enjoy your afternoon. You haven’t had an afternoon off in a while,” her coworker replied.
“No kidding. For a while, you were getting the morning shifts, and I was getting the afternoon shifts. Seems like it’s changed now.”
“What do you prefer? Do you want the morning shifts or the afternoon shifts? I thought about asking the scheduler if we could have a preference. Since we’ve been here so long, I figured they would. Maybe we could even get on the same shift and hang out outside of work.”
Margery started to laugh. “Are you forgetting that you’re the scheduler?”
They didn’t have many employees at the store, and it seemed like they weren’t going to get any more. Sometimes, Margery worked over forty hours a week because some other people needed off, and there was nobody else to fill in.
“I know. I’m trying to figure things out. It’s hard when we don’t have many people. I’m going to talk with the owner soon about hiring a couple more people. While I love the overtime and the money we get for it, it’s not worth it in the end. We’re in our thirties. We need to go out and have some fun— not work all the time,” Adalisa wiggled her eyebrows.
“I know. I was just thinking that. You aren’t the only one. If you need me to cover so you can go talk to the owner, I can.”
Adalisa waved her hand in the air. “No, no. Not happening. You go get your ice cream, kick your feet up, and enjoy your afternoon. I would say go out, but it’s clear you really don’t want to.”
“Thanks Addy. I owe you one.”
“Have fun!”
Margery quickly made her way out of the store and started to head home. While she had offered to stay, that was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to collapse and not have to think about anything. She didn’t want to have to be attentive, but if she stayed at work, she was going to have to be.
She walked past the stand-alone ice cream place. It was packed, and she didn’t want to wait in line for a long time. It was probably better for her to order and have it delivered so she had a little more time off her feet.
Which didn’t bug Margery at all. She honestly didn’t want to interact with a lot of people, and she knew if she walked into a place like that, she was going to have to .
She let out a sigh of contentment. It was another beautiful day as she walked home. Margery hoped there were more of these days because she needed them, wanted them.
“Such a gorgeous day,” she whispered as she got closer to home. “I can’t wait to snuggle into my blanket and watch cartoons.”
That was something she hadn’t done in a while, it was hard to be Little in the morning and go to work after. But she hadn’t had the afternoon off to be able to be Little in longer than she could remember.
Happiness and excitement filled her as she put a pep into her step. The sooner she got home, the sooner she was able to change and make that happen.
But as she started to walk up her street, she saw someone sitting on her porch, rocking in the chair. Margery slowed down, trying to get a good look at the man on her porch.
He was wearing all black, and she couldn’t see his face. Unease filled her, and she stopped walking. She was a lot closer than she wanted to be. All she had between them was the short walkway to her house.
Her eyes went wide when she looked at his hand. It looked like he was holding a gun, no doubt a loaded gun. Her breath was stuck in her lungs as she stared at him. The man was slowly rocking in the rocking chair, watching her.
Margery flinched when he lifted his hand and beckoned her forward. But instead of moving forward, she took a step back. That was when he stood to his full height, showing her the gun clearly.
The man motioned for her to come forward once again, and automatically, she took a step toward him. There was no cover for her to run to and hide. She had to assume the gun was loaded, and that he was going to shoot at her if she tried to run.
How was she going to get out of this situation? How was this going to play out? What did the man want? Was he her stalker?
So many questions ran through her as she took another step forward. Margery didn’t want to take another step, but she didn’t know what else to do. She had never been in a situation like this. The only thing she had was a knife to protect herself.
A knife that was in her handbag. There was no way she was going to be able to get the knife without him knowing. There was no way she was going to be able to do any damage to him while he had a gun. He was in a better predicament. He could be anywhere and have used the gun, whereas she had to be close to him to use her knife.
“Come up the stairs slowly. Don’t think about doing anything but following what I say,” the man said.
Everything in her was telling her not to go toward him, but she didn’t have a choice. What else was she going to do? Maybe if she followed his orders she would make it out alive. If she didn’t, he would no doubt shoot her.
Once she got to the top of the stairs, she could see just how tall he was. He was at least a head taller than her, and from the little she could see, he was pure muscle.
Before she could do or say anything, he wrapped his arms around her body, holding the gun to her head.
“I’m going to have so much fun with you,” he whispered.