The night was dark , couple of police cars wondering the streets of California..
Inside of a cold apartment he was lying in bed , struggling through yet another nightmare.
~
It was a short man getting off his car , two men walked towards him pulling him into a small alley as he struggled to get away from them .
- let go of me , what are you doing?
One of the men pressed on the short man's mouth and said with a low tone : keep your voice down .
A third tall man came out of the shadow as he mumbled something about a deal, the short man begged and begged for more time to pay the money but to no use.
As he pronounced his last words, he was shot , straight to the head by the tall man who whispered as he started to walk away: let's get out of here, leave him.
The corps dropped on the ground as his blood filled the cracks of the floor slowly.
~
He woke up in shock , sitting in his bed, trying to catch his breath as his blue eyes looked around his dark room, realizing it was just another nightmare and that he was safe .
He wiped his face with his hand in tiredness as he sighed..
- Jesus Christ..
He got up , walking toward the bathroom , stripped down his clothes as he drowned himself in the cold water of the bathtub.
He lit up his cigar, breathing it's reek as if it was the cure for what he has , and after he was done he threw it across the bathroom and sighed as he closed his eyes and let himself slide down, entirely under water as he tried to shut his mind off the nightmares .
________
He woke up early anyway so he might as well wait for couple of hours and then go to work since there was no point in sleeping apparently.
He picked up a small note and stuck it on the window of his room, which he wrote in
' short man , three men , alley , gunshot death '
As the hours passed by, he left to work, walking across the street with his hands tightly shoved into his pockets as the cold wind made him shiver.
He held the cigar between his lips tightly and pulled out a key from his pocket and bent down to open the lock of the restaurant.
A blonde man walked towards him and said cheerfully: hey good morning killian , you're here early !
Killian talked through the cigar and said with his usual quite tone : good morning roman .
Roman : you need a hand?
Killian said as he lifted the metal door up and opened the glass door : no , I'm good.
Roman walked around the kitchen and yelled from across the room: so what are you doing here so early? Can't sleep again?
Killian turned the sign to " open" and said: well, you know me, can't control this thing .
Roman walked in the room again as he handed killian his name tag and gloves: I think you should see a therapist, he might give you a Prescription that can help you sleep better.
Killian: thanks but I don't have time for a therapist.
Roman walked toward the kitchen again and said: alright, but you better throw the cigar out before the boss gets here .
Killian whispered as he threw it outside: damnit.
__________
The restaurant slowly became filled with people, as they ordered different types of breakfast.
Roman stuck his head out of the small window as he rang the small bell and exclaimed: two plates of waffles, table 4 !
Killian moved smoothly between the tables as he delivered the food .
One man at the back yelled: excuse me, waiter!
Killian grabbed his small notebook and pen and said: how can I help you sir ?
- more coffee please, black one .
Killian nodded: one cup of black coffee coming right up .
He walked to the kitchen and hung a small piece of paper on the thin robe extending on the wall: one cup of coffee !
The waitress yelled back: you got it!
Everyone was working as planned, everything was going smoothly until killian felt that gun shot from his nightmare, whistling in his ears, he let out a moan dropping the cups accidentally and grabbing his head as he bent over.
Roman took off his gloves and ran toward his friend in worry as he grabbed him: killian! Are you okay?!
The blue eyed man nodded in pain as roman lead him outside through the back door.
They sat down on a bench as roman said in a reassuring tone : hey , take it easy, what happened?
Killian took a deep breath as he felt the pain fading away: I don't know, I think I have a terrible headache or something.
He lied , roman doesn't know the truth.
Roman rubbed his friend's shoulder and said: it's okay just relax, we've got people covering for us , you want something to eat?
Killian shook his head and pulled out a cigar, he handed the pack to roman who snorted in sarcasm and said: no man , i don't smoke .
Killian whispered as he lit up his cigar: suit yourself.
...
At the end of the shift, the boss " mr.ronald" asked to see killian in his office.
The blue eyed man knocked the door and entered as he said quietly: you wanted to see me boss ?
Mr.ronald looked at him with his angry eyes and thick mustache and grumbled: yeah get in and close the door .
Killian did as he was told , knowing with all senses what's about to happen.
- now, I understand that people sometimes make mistakes at work because, you know, we're not perfect but you've messed up so many times killian ! This is unaccaptable !!
Killian looked down and said quietly: I'm sorry sir .
Mr.ronald slammed his hands on the desk and said: no you're not! This isn't the first time you mess up ! Two months ago you spilled juice on a costumer and once you burnt the food cuz you weren't paying attention.
Killian remind quite, he couldn't tell his boss that he was having PTSD from his nightmares .
Mr.ronald lied back in his chair and said: finish working here this week so I could pay you your full salary, after that I don't want you working in my restaurant anymore, do you understand?
Killian nodded and left .
_____
The shift was over, roman walked with killian through the back door.
Roman took a look at Killian's pale face and said: hey man , you sure you're okay?
Killian nodded.
Roman sighed and said: you should take tomorrow off, you seem tired.
Killian took a deep breath and said: I won't be working in the restaurant starting from next month roman .
Roman exclaimed in both shock and confusion: why did the boss fire you?
Killian nodded as he looked down.
Roman stretched his arms in frustration and said: but you've been working there for five years! What are you gonna do?
Killian shook his shoulders carelessly and said in a tired tone : I'm sure I'll find something don't worry.
A few steps ahead they came across a crossroad and roman said: alright I gotta go now , rest well okay?
Killian: thank you roman, see you tomorrow.
Roman: alright.
They sperated...
The night was quite, the sounds of police cars wondering the streets fainted slowly...
Killian was walking down the street alone until he froze completely when he heard that gunshot sound, he pressed on his ears , looking around in case someone was indeed firing a gun , but there was nobody else in the street.
He walked in his apartment, with troubled breath , changed his clothes and lied on the couch shutting his eyes roughly.
After an entire hour he sat up , turning the television on , he scanned the channels without even paying attention to what's on .. until he hit the news channel..
" ...And now we've got jhon reporting from the crime scene, John could you please describe what's going on?"
The other man pressed on the earphone in his ear as he said through the noise behind him: uh yes .. Jeffrey I'm on Sixth Street Avenue in the west side of California, where a crime took a place, a 45 years old man ' Nolan Gould ' was killed by a single headshot in this alley about an hour ago , police are still running tests on the corps hoping to catch the DNA of his killer as the corps will be taken straight to the mortuary ..
Jeffrey nodded and said: yes well thank you John, may his soul rest in peace, please people of California be careful these couple of days at night and we will do whatever it takes to get to the truth, thank you and good night.
Killian looked at the screen.. silence filled the room, the tv sound was blocked in his mind.
as he whispered: f*ck .
To be continued..
