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He was the type to e the shoulders of every female he encountered, "just to help with the strain" That wouldn’t have been so bad, she supposed, but he also liked to whisper, "Now, doesn’t this feel nice?" as he did it

"Sure," she said, and gulped

The instinct to run suddenly rose from deep within her To run frooing to fire her, wasn’t he?

Only six other cashiers had worked this shift, and all quickened their pace, gathering their belongings and leaving the store The front lights had already been turned off, but the parking lot was illuminated by several streetlamps, and she watched as the men and wolance in her direction

Yep Mr Ritter was planning to fire her, and they knew it, too

There had to be a way to change his , Nicola es and apples She needed this job just as desperately as she needed the other one One paid her house payment, utilities and car insurance, while the other paid for food and gas In this econo another job with late hours and wages above the minimum

Mr Ritter’s door was propped open, and she forced her feet to take her inside Run!

He was already behind his desk, reading a file She stayed

"Shut the door," he said

She reached back and tugged on the knob, and the thick ed automatically The room was small, filled with metal cabinets and an oversize desk There were two chairs His, which was cushioned by a pillow, and hers, which wasn’t

"Sit"

As she obeyed, she said, "I’m sorry about my performance today I’ll do better, I promise And I won’t make any excuses" How could she? I saw monsters no one else could see, Mr Ritter What could he possibly say to that? "I’ll just--"

"How’s your sister?" he interjected, at last looking up at her

A shudder nearly rocked her out of the seat A monkey had just appeared on his shoulder It was slared at her with the same hate-filled eyes And as she watched, ititcouldn’t be doing what she thought it was doing

But it was It was peeing

"It" was obviously a "he," and he was ai with its territory?

She scooted as far back in her chair as she could, successfully avoiding any splatter Mr Ritter and his papers weren’t so lucky

"I asked you a question, Miss Lane"

How could he not know his shirt was now soaked? How could he not see the sogginess of the papers? How could he not s aroood" His tone lowered, and so did his gaze, landing on her breasts and staying "That’s very good"

Nicola’s hands curled into fists "Was that all you wanted to see me about?"

A moment passed before he remembered she had a face He leaned back in his seat and folded his hands over his middle, his expression stern "Your perforered several custo up their items two or three times--"

"But I always fixed the mistakes"

"Nevertheless," he continued s me to take some time off to spend with your sister, and as you knoe don’t have anyone who can take your place I’ll need to hire someone new And if I hire someone nehy can’t that person just take all of your hours?"

A tide of dread washed over her, followed quickly by an intensified urge to run But why run? she wondered now The threat had already been issued, and this was her chance to offer a counter So, once again she stayed put

"I can promise that I’ll never have another day like today" Fronore the existence of the monkeys That’s what the therapists had told her to do as a child, and it had worked Right? "I won’t be asking for any days off, you have , and she had trouble distinguishing Mr Ritter’s next words "What if your sister gets sick again? What then? What if you get sick again?"

"It won’t matter I’ll work"