from behind and turned around. She saw that it was Piper walking slowly towards her.
"Are you alright?" Piper asked.
Astrid nodded, "Yeah." Then she stood up and began to walk again, heading towards the exit.
"Hey! Wait!" Piper called after her, grabbing hold of her shoulder, "Where are you going? Are you planning to walk home in the middle of the night in that weather? It's dangerous!"
For a moment she considered telling Piper the truth, but then she reminded herself that the older girl was just worried about her safety. Instead, she simply replied, "No worries. I'll take my chances. Anyway, you should hurry home before your dad gets worried. I bet he's already started looking for you."
"Yeah…" said Piper quietly, her brow furrowed. After a brief pause she added, "Okay. Well, call me later when you're done, alright?"
Astrid nodded silently as she turned around and began walking off into the distance, not sparing her a single glance.
"Astrid!" Piper shouted, running to catch up with her. When she reached the older girl and grabbed her by the arm to stop her, she noticed that she was trembling violently and tears had formed in her eyes. She shook her head vigorously and pulled away
. "Let's go." she said softly. Her voice sounded distant. She looked exhausted.
Before she could respond, a car came speeding down the road from behind and hit her full force. There was no way she would have been able to react fast enough if she wanted to. With a thud she fell backwards. There was silence for a few seconds after the car left and Piper rushed over to where Astrid lay on the floor unconscious.
As she knelt next to her, she felt something warm and wet roll down her face. It took a while for her to realize what had happened. She lifted up her shirt and discovered that she'd cut herself badly on some sharp pieces of broken glass. "Damn," she muttered, wiping away blood. As she continued to wipe it away, Astrid began to stir, slowly opening her eyes. She sat up, trying desperately to regain her balance. She looked at Piper in confusion.
"What happened?" she asked, sounding confused.
"You got hit by a car," replied Piper, standing up. She helped Astrid stand.
Astrid blinked a few times, shaking her head, "Why? How did that happen?"
Piper shrugged, "I don't know. You were just leaving so suddenly when we got here that I didn't get much time to ask you. What's the matter?"
"Nothing." Astrid replied, pushing passed her, making her way back into town.
Chapter 2
From the first time she entered his bar she knew that it would never be the same.
She watched him through her lashes as he moved around the room. It was clear to anyone watching that something was wrong. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, though. For one thing, she thought he had seemed unusually cheerful and lively all day. Perhaps even happier than usual; a rare occurrence indeed. And yet, there was also the fact that his friends seemed particularly happy. Even he was smiling a little too widely. But then again, most people probably wouldn't notice or care about that. They probably would have just chalked it up to his being in a good mood after finally being accepted back into his family unit, which was only possible after his successful application to a university halfway across the country. Or maybe they might have realized how much better he had gotten at controlling his emotions after his sister had found out about the affair and his inability to handle it well... Either way, she suspected that something else was different about him. Not that it mattered anyway. The job, his reputation, his happiness, none of that mattered any longer. All that mattered now was that she would continue to serve her purpose of keeping him company until he died.
After several long hours of waiting for him to finish a shift, Astrid began to suspect something was definitely off with him. The other waitresses kept casting glances at him and whispering among themselves. Their gazes never once lingered on her as they did so, as if afraid of drawing their boss' attention. This bothered her greatly. Was someone talking behind her back about her? If they were, it wasn't as if she needed to listen to them anymore. In the past, she would have felt bad for eavesdropping on others but in light of recent events, that was no longer an option. And besides, they were hardly likely to tell her anything anyway. After everything that had happened between the two of them, it seemed that everyone in the building knew who she was. Even now she heard snippets of conversation whenever she made her rounds. She heard that her employer had a wife somewhere on the other side of the world. That he hadn't seen her in years and was having trouble getting used to it. That she would return eventually, but when. That there weren't many other girls who worked for him, but that Astrid would fit in perfectly.
That was why Astrid didn't mind when Piper arrived at her station and told her that her father was waiting for her outside.
Chapter 3
Piper sat in a car in front of his house, nervously drumming her fingers against the steering wheel. She glanced sideways at her phone and scrolled through the news. It had taken nearly four minutes for Astrid to arrive. Piper knew that this was because she'd run into traffic on the way, but it still made her feel slightly disappointed. Maybe she shouldn't have waited so long. She sighed. Of course, her father was waiting for her. She wondered where they were meeting. Probably not his office. He'd never liked the place, and the idea of sitting in the same room with his coworkers was too depressing.
There was still a chance that her parents would come and find her. Or maybe they'd stay out late like they normally did. She hoped it was the former. Her dad would hate coming home and finding out that she was missing for three whole days. She doubted that she could explain to him what happened to her. No amount of explaining could ever be enough for what happened to her. Besides, if it did come down to that, she wouldn't want him to know what had happened. She was certain that he'd blame himself for not finding her sooner, and he wouldn't do that if he knew that it was his fault in the first place. He hated to lose control of situations like these.
The sound of screeching tires caught Piper's attention. She quickly lowered her window and turned her head in order to see which car it was that had caused such a commotion. It was dark, but she could make out a bright light moving rapidly towards her. It stopped in front of her vehicle. She gasped and immediately jumped out of the driver's seat. Just as she had stepped out of the car, the door was thrown open. Her mom stormed up to her, her face red with anger and fury. She looked furious.
Piper gulped. She knew that her mother would be upset. She had always known that her mother had always believed in her ability to look after herself. Yet that knowledge didn't seem to stop her from worrying about her daughter all the time. "Mom, I'm okay! Really," She pleaded.
Mrs. Gilmore stared intently at the younger girl.
"It's just a scratch." Piper assured her.
"Just a scratch? Is it really? It looks like you've been stabbed, Piper. You need to get it checked out right away!"
Piper rolled her eyes. She tried to avoid eye contact with her mother, but her mother persisted. She knew that she would never win against her mother's determination.
Finally, she sighed. "Fine… Just let me change into some clean clothes."
Her mother gave her a nod before returning to her car and driving away. Once she was alone inside her apartment, Piper took off her work uniform and slipped on a new one. She quickly brushed off her dress and ran a brush through her hair before heading into the bathroom and taking a quick shower. As she dried herself, she looked at herself in the mirror and decided that she looked fine. At least, as far as scratches went.
Once dressed and ready to leave for school, she exited her bedroom to find her mother sitting comfortably at the breakfast table, drinking coffee. As usual, her mother was wearing the most boring outfit imaginable: khaki colored pants with a light blue turtleneck sweater underneath it. Although it was winter, her mother wore an orange cardigan with a pair of tan slacks. However, today her mother seemed more interested in staring out of the window rather than eating anything. Piper walked up to her mother and placed a hand on her shoulder. When her mother turned around, she saw a slight expression of shock on her face.
Piper sighed, "Mom, I know you worry about me, but it's nothing serious." she insisted.
"It doesn't hurt to check, Piper," her mother responded firmly. "And don't you forget it."