After the unexpected encounter with Gabs and Ryan, Ava took taxi back to the cafe in lethargic state. Her aunt's breakdown, her first time outburst and reunion with Gabs were too much to happen all in one day.
In the taxi, Ava leaned against the window, head titled and blankly stared at the scenary outside as she dazed out of her mind. East City was a bustling city with massive and incredible skyscrappers everywhere around the city and the road always crowded with vehicles and passerbys. Through the taxi window, Ava could see people were happily or unhappily living their own life. How ironic it was that in that very same space, there were people crossing the road cheerfully hand in hand with their loved ones and also there were people arguing intensely with each other. Humans' life were really uncertain and full of surprises and there were few people like Ava who just went through the motion of life.
Things hardly intrigued her interest but once it did, the excitement didn't last long. It came and went really fast. Only few interactions excited her nerves. Between Gabs and her, it was awkward and random. With Sophie, it was calm and brief moments. Also with Olivia, it was tight-lipped and as if she was walking on eggshells around her aunt. Lastly there was fierce battles with those tiny little evil voices inside her head. All these slightly enlivened her dull life.
"What's life without a purpose?" asked the DJ on the radio. It was the same question that Gabs fired at her earlier. But this time, Ava managed to put some thoughts into it while she continued looking through the window.
'Meaningless. Dull.' Ava thought to herself. How she wished that she also could experience what others had went through - the rollercoaster of emotions.
"Miss, we've arrived" informed the taxi driver as he interrupted Ava's train of thoughts. Ava then nodded her head at the driver and mumbled a thank you out of politeness. The trip was cashless so Ava quickly exited the taxi and went into the cafe.
Ding!
The cafe only had a few customers at this hour since it was a quarter to 4 in the evening. Office workers had left the cafe earlier and probably Sophie and her coworker also went back to their office. Ava then brewed a fresh mocha for herself and took a seat at one of the corners. She needed the coffee to awaken her senses and get through another few hours before she close the shop.
Ava still had Gabs's faded cream handkerchief wrapped around her knuckles and palm which covered the injuries. There were few spots of dried bloods and patches of spilled coffee on it. It would be a hassle to Ava clean it up so Ava thought of just buying a new one for Gabs to replace for this dirty handkerchief. Ava wondered to buy the exact same pattern and brand later so she made a mental note of which stores she would drop by on the way home as she took a few sips of the mocha.
As she became more clear-headed and energetic, it suddenly flashed into her mind that she had yet to finish the inventory counting of the new batch of coffee beans which just arrived this afternoon. It slipped up her mind since she had to make a quick trip to the nursing home. So once Ava emptied her coffee cup, she headed to the storage room at the back and casually threw the paper cup she had in her hand into the trash bin as she passed by it.
Inside the storage room, it was slightly messy with several unopened boxed dumped on the floor. The storage was only 50 square feet and most of the spaces were filled up with inventory racks arranged at one side of the room and on the racks were the shop's stocks for daily operation. They even had label on them so that the staff could find them easily. Now that Ava had yet to sort out these big boxes, the room became crowded and stuffy.
So she immediately got into the work and began the inventory checking with the old stocks first before she proceeded with the new batch. Once she finished counting the stocks on the racks, Ava decisively opened up one of the boxes and checked the items before she accurately recorded the amounts on the inventory bookkeeping. She then skillfully sort the new packages of coffee beans onto the shelves according to the label. After unloading one box, Ava continued slashing another box and did the same thing in repeatition until she completely cleared up all the boxes.
Every movement of hers was quick and swift but because of she was moving alot, the handkerchief became unloose and it fell off. Ava's injuries then were exposed so without she realised it, the wound slowly cracked open and few faint blood were dropping onto the floor while she was busy sorting the boxes. Ava hissed in pain when one of the packages sharply pierced onto her palm and only then she hastily wiped off the fresh blood with her blouse. Her mind was set on finishing the task fast so she just endured the stinging wounds and didn't wrap her hand again. Moreoever, the injuries weren't deep cuts anymore.
Ava ended up spending hours in the storage room until one of the staff alerted her the closing time. She also had to do the closing out of the cash register for today's sales so quickened her pace before finally settled down around 10pm. By the time she completed everything, her staff had gone off their work and only Ava was at the coffee shop. Hence Ava decided to chill out for half an hour before she did a final check and lock up the shop. However, she noticed one of the trash had yet to be taken out. Probably her staff forgot to bring it to the dumpster at the back of the coffee shop because they were too tired and rushing home. So Ava kindly took out the trash through the backdoor and dumped the trash beg onto the large bin at the dark alleyway behind the shop.
"AAAAAAAAAA SOMEONE'S DIED"
"HELP! HELP!"
Out of nowhere, a loud female voice screaming for help pierced into Ava's eardrums. Sensing the direction of that voice, Ava dashed into the cafe and searched for that voice.
"HELP HELP!"