**Priscilla POV:**

I walked toward table 4 to take the orders of the new customers. I’d never seen them at the restaurant before. They seemed like a couple, an old couple. They looked so cute together; there was still so much affection in their eyes. I hoped I could find someone who would be with me till old age. I was seething before, but their sight calmed me a little.

It was a really busy night at the restaurant. It was almost 11 PM, and customers kept flooding in. Apparently, I’d have to go home quite late today again. I was home last week a quarter-hour after midnight. I hated it very much, but I had no choice. Their wages were relatively fair enough for a job I only worked after school hours, compared to others, and it was a walkable distance from home.

I started working there a few months ago, just to have a few bucks to myself.

Ever since Dad died, Mom has been overworking herself to fill the void he left behind—a mortgage. Dad took a loan with the house as collateral to start a company with his best friend, Mr. Ben. It was rough at the start, but the company started flourishing.

Shortly after, Dad died in an auto accident. Mom expected a bit of financial support from the company, which Mr. Ben strongly refuted. He declared himself the sole owner of the company. There was a litigation on the matter, which lasted for a relatively short period. Surprisingly, there was no evidence to prove it was joint ownership, absolutely no paperwork. It was unbelievable. All the papers Mom provided as evidence were proclaimed fake by the jury. The jury ended the case in favor of Mr. Ben.

Mom went into depression, so did I. I wasn’t conscious enough to understand fully what was happening, but seeing my mother depressed made me very sad. It was truly a dark moment in our life, one that will probably scar me forever.

Mom tried to make peace with the reality, or at least pretended she did. She picked herself up and started working her ass off to pay off the mortgage; well, she had no choice. She was a nurse at the General hospital. She worked overtime at every chance she had and often came home exhausted with nothing to monetarily show for it. It was then I got hit with the reality of how nurses are literally underpaid and overworked.

It saddens my heart to see her tired from overworking every time. I knew I had to find a way to relieve her of some of the burden.

She was happy and proud of me when I finally told her I was looking for a job. As expected, she stated it must not affect my academics, which I promised it wouldn’t.

She helped me find a babysitting job, which was quite thrilling until it wasn’t. I never had a younger sibling to myself, so I enjoyed being with kids and playing with them. My job was all fun and laughter until I was called for a babysitting job by a couple I’d never seen before. Most of the people I babysat for were my mom’s friends, but it was the first time I would babysit for a stranger.

The pay was quite fair, so I accepted. I babysat for them most of the night, and I enjoyed it. Their kid was lovable, and the mother treated me like her own daughter. She drove me home every night they came back, and, like I said earlier, their pay was really good.

It got complicated when her husband offered to drive me home one night. I didn’t want him to because he always seemed weird to me, but his wife was down with an illness. I couldn’t walk home alone or start looking for a cab this late, so I had no choice but to accept his offer.

Midway home, he started acting weird and spoke nonsense. He told me how much he really loved me and wanted to have sex with me. I was so scared; I was in the middle of nowhere, far from home, with a man who could have his way with me if he wanted to. I knew better than to insult him in anger, so instead, I cajoled him. I convinced him I felt the same and we could talk about it more the next day, which he gladly obliged.

I made him drop me at a wrong house, several blocks away from mine. I wanted to prevent him from knowing my house and stalking me later. I thanked him as sweetly as possible. He tried to hug me but I told him my mom could be watching from the window.

I watched his husband drive away. I ran home as fast as I could.

I placed a call to his wife as soon as I got home, I told her to never, ever call me again. I didn’t want to be around their family and his deranged husband again, and if any of them tried to approach me, I’m reporting them to the cops. She wanted to apologize, but I hung up before she could. I knew it would probably affect their marriage, but I didn’t care. She deserved to know the type of man she was married to, and I just wanted to be away from any of them.

I stopped babysitting after that night. The prospect of being in another situation like that scared the hell out of me.

For so long, my mom asked why I’d stopped, but I told her nothing. I knew better than to do so; she would rip them apart, and the last thing I needed was blowing this out of proportion. She gave up asking after a long while.

I finally found another job, which was working here after a few weeks. The pay also seemed good, and it was close to home.

My mom was quite scared when I finally told her about it and she got to know the working hours. She refused to allow me to work there. It took a whole lot of my persuasion power to convince her that I would be fine. I told her I would come straight home without making a detour; it was only a couple of blocks away from home, which I did. The closing hours were mostly after 10 PM, and I always tried to be home before 11 PM.

I took the couple’s order. They talked to me with so much calmness. The woman had quite a beautiful smile. I walked back to the kitchen after taking their order. All the activities continued for more hours until the customers reduced and I finally attended to the last customer.

I watched as the last customer ate and chewed his food slowly. I was boiling with rage at his sluggishness. I stared at the wall clock; it was almost midnight. My mom threw a fit last week when I was home after midnight; she was livid. She insisted I stopped working. The world is already dangerous enough for women; she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize my safety further by allowing me to crawl around at night, she had said. It took another session of persuasion, convincing, and a solemn promise for such not to repeat itself before she allowed me to continue working.

I took care of the customer’s dish when he was done. I was moving as fast as I could to take care of everything. It was after midnight already, and I was more worried about my mom’s rebuke session than getting home safely. I knew deep in my mind both were bound to happen: getting home safely and getting rebuked.

I was finally on my way home, the restaurant has already been locked.

I knew it was really late. This might be my last day at work if I don’t find a good enough excuse! I was already concocting lies in my head to sway her. I had barely walked 100 meters when I saw a silhouette of a man trying to blend with the shadows of the night.

I looked behind me; there was nobody in sight. I was really scared!. This was the shortcut home, and I couldn’t turn back.

I continued walking, though, my fear soon turned to irritation as I got closer and realized who it was.

“Are you stalking me now?” I asked angrily.

“Why aren’t you replying to my text?” he asked.

“Because I chose not to. You picked a bad time, David. I’m so tired and exhausted. It’s very late, and I have to get home. Maybe some other time,” I said, trying to walk away.

“No,” he said, blocking my path. “You keep giving me the same excuse. Some other time is now.”

“Why do you reject my calls and never reply to my texts?”

“I’m sorry, David. I can’t do this tonight. It’s very late, and I have to get home. I promise we’ll talk about it some other time,” I replied to him as calmly as I could. I was too tired to argue with him. I tried to walk away again, and he pulled me back, making me drop my bag in the process.

“No,” he said angrily. “Not until you answer me.”

I was getting really angry. I knew I couldn’t argue my way out of this. I had to try to reason with him.

“David, I’ve been busy recently. I’ve been torn between school and work. I barely have time for myself. I have a lot of things on my mind. I understand your frustration, and I will try to adjust and create time for you. You are pushing me further away with all these antics. I can’t be worried about my life and at the same time deal with schizophreniac”

I regretted the last part almost immediately; I shouldn’t have said that.

“Did you just call me a schizophrenic?”

“Is that all I am to you?” he asked calmly.

“No, David, I didn’t mean it that way. It’s probably the fatigue talking. I told you I’m so tired. Conversing is the last thing on my mind right now. Let’s do it another time, please.”

“No!!!” He screamed at me. I stepped back a bit, taken aback by his outburst. I could see his fist tightly clenched and shaking. Would he hit me?

“You’re not going anywhere until we finish this conversation,” he said.

I stared at his face; he looked dead serious. I knew I couldn’t try to run. He would easily outpace me. I was so tired.

“You know, you are ruining whatever is left between us.”

“There’s nothing more to discuss about, David. It’s over.”

“Is he harassing you?”

I heard a solemn voice; it wasn’t David’s. His mouth was tightly shut. The familiar yet strange voice came from behind me. I turned around to see Peter in all his glory, standing immaculately right behind me. I hadn’t heard his footsteps or noticed his presence over my loud arguments with David. I never thought I would be happier to see him. He was staring right at David with the familiar cold dead-eye he gave me earlier; he looked ready to take him on.