Menacingly

It was the coldest October Angela had seen in her twenty-three years on the planet, she shivered under her thin, thread-bear hoodie. Why do I have to wear this dress that is terribly short in such cold weather like this? She asked herself in her head as a shiver flew down her spine. She hated the uniform but it was the only job she could possibly find since she had moved here from New York. Moved was probably not the best word to describe her circumstances, ran away was more appropriate0 but she did not want to think about that right then. Angela tried desperately not to think about it because she was on her way to work then and she simply couldn't get upset. She tried to put all thoughts of her mother, father and little sister that she hadn't seen in almost five years out of her head. She tried not to think about the reasons she foolishly moved from her home in Miami to New York when she turned eighteen. She tried not to think about what had led her to where she was at that moment in time too- her second move, to this quiet town near Toronto. Most of all, Angela tried not to focus on how alone she felt constantly through all of this. She tried but she failed. Waving her hands in front of her eyes to stop herself from crying was doing her no good. But she needed to compose herself before getting out of her beat-up old car. Angela finally put herself back together temporarily, getting out of the car and closing the door behind her. She was freezing and the diner she worked in was no better than outside. The noise of the bell dinging on the door at her arrival and the sound of Boys- The Beatles coming from the old jukebox filled her ears. She saw Kristen making coffee and walked up to her. "Hey girl." She called. Angela shuddered from the freezing temperature in the diner but took off her hoodie anyways, because she knew her boss would complain about it if she didn't. "Hello Kris." She smiled weakly back at the other woman, calling her by her nickname like she wanted. Angela got ready to work then. Kristen was a bubbly redhead who welcomed her ever since she started there at the diner; she thought Kristen was probably just delighted to finally see someone else work waiting tables alongside her. Angela would almost bet the work days were even more boring when you were on your own. Kristen was feisty and 'Didn't take s**t from no one'- but those were her own words. She was tall and slim, but when Angela thought about it she figured everyone was tall when she stood beside them, being just a little over five feet. "Hello girls." The pair heard their boss, Luigi, call from inside the kitchen behind them. Luigi was a short and stout man who was a little too touchy-feely with them. He made Angela very uncomfortable but she really needed her job so said nothing about it. Kris on the other hand, was definitely not afraid to voice her opinion about their boss, loud and clear. "What do you want perv?" she chewed loudly on her chewing gum and blew a bubble. "I told you already I dock your pay check if you call me that again Kristen. No?" He laughed, not taking it too seriously, he never seemed to take her seriously when she talked about him that way. Kristen smiled falsely, her bright red lipstick stood out from the dull work uniform she was wearing which was a sickening off-yellow and mustard color. "Sorry." she rolled her eyes, and tried her best to make sure that Luigi knew she was far from sorry. Angela forced a laugh and began to clean around the diner and wipe the tables. She didn't want to make any friends while she was there so never conversed with the Luigi nor Kristen for too long. She couldn't get too attached to anyone because this situation she was in right then was not permanent; it was only until Angela was forced to move again. The bell on the door rang again, she flinched and looked up. She let out a sigh of relief when she discovered it wasn't him. C'mon Angela, there is no way he could know where you are, he won't be able to find you yet. 'Yet' was the word that scared her the most in that sentence, because although she was miles away from New York, she knew eventually he would catch up with her and take her back. That was the only thing Angela thought about sometimes, it kept her up at night wondering would that day be her last of freedom or would he wait just another. His evil presence still lingered although she had not seen him for quite some time, in her mind, her thoughts, her body and soul. Even if he hadn't found her yet, she was always afraid that the next person to walk in that door would be him; she lived in total fear every day that he would come back. But Angela had to get used to it, it was hard to live your life looking over your shoulder but it was how she learned to survive. Three men in suits walked in and sat down in a booth at the end of the deserted restaurant. Kristen called Luigi as she looked quizzically at the three men. When Luigi walked out of the kitchen, his smiling face turned to a look of panic. He gulped loudly and bean walking slowly over to them. When he got to their table the door opened again, the bell rang along with it also. Angela shut her eyes tightly and held her breath before looking behind her and realizing it wasn't him, but another man in a dark and expensive looking pinstripe suit. She let out a sigh of relief and walked to one of the counters to wipe it down. Kristen called her over quietly. "Hey, Angela?"she called in a hushed tone, the look on her face was like no other Angela had seen from Kristen before. "Will you bring this coffee over to them, I need to do something." She even looked a little scared then too. Which meant a lot. "Um, sure. Okay." she grabbed the coffee and walked hesitantly towards the four men sitting at the booth,not knowing what she was getting herself into. They were talking in English and some other language she could not detect yet. Luigi walked past her with a pale face and wide eyes. What was going on? she stood in front of their table and looked down at them, trying not to sound shaky as she spoke. "Would you like some coffee?" Angela didn't even try to fake a smile like she usually did. The fear had taken over complete, almost paralysing her, refusing to allow her to smile. "Sì." The man that walked in last said huskily while nodding, speaking for all the men at the table. He glared dangerously at the young girl with dark, haunting eyes. He furrowed his strong brows at her, taking in every detail of her appearance he could in one viewing. His jet-black hair was slicked back and he had a massive gold ring on his right hand. He didn't look particularly older than the rest of the men sitting at the table but you could tell he was the one in charge. He then waved his hand snobbishly and turned his head to look out the window next to him. Angela noticed then the large scar that tormented the skin on his cheek, she tried her best not to drop the coffee at the first sight of it. Who were these people? They continued to talk as if she was not there, pouring their coffee in front of them. She decided it was time to take their orders and took out her notepad before asking if they had decided what they wanted yet. She went around the table, the man with the scar ordering first until she reached the last man sitting down. He seemed to be the youngest in the group of four, his light blonde hair and bright blue eyes made him stand out from the other three who were dark and dangerous looking. She noticed his bright white teeth as he looked up at her with a flirtatious smile. "I'll have you." He joked in a thick New York accent and winked at her, causing all the men to laugh around the table except for the one with the scar. He looked blankly at the blonde-haired man. Angela only laughed along with them nervously as to not cause a fuss then took his order. She turned around and began walking off when one of them smacked her gently on the behind. She flinched again as she heard the three men burst into laughter right after the blonde said "Get cooking shortcake. Don't make me wait." She shut her eyes tightly and trembled, walking back to the kitchen to hang up the order. Luigi was in a daze when she waved a hand in front of his face. "Yes Angela?" he snapped out of it and stood up straight. "Are you ready to make their food? They told me not to be long." she said quietly, dreading already when had to bring them back out their orders. "Yes, I get straight to it." He clapped his hands and began to make their food. Angela brought out their orders and continued to receive comments and looks from the three men. The one with the scar who looked as if he was in charge would just give her or the men an occasional glare but did not open his mouth. Kristen took her break and walked down to the town for something to eat. She never ate anything from the diner, she said she didn't want to catch food poisoning so that left Luigi and Angela with the group of men. She went outside around the back of the diner to put the trash out when she heard hushed voices and quiet yelping from inside the door to Luigi's office. The door was ajar so she snook up to find the source of the noises. Angela held a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming in horror at the sight she met right before her eyes. The group of men had filled the office with one was holding a battered Luigi by the collar. Another of the other men had their back to Angela and held him at gun point. "Now listen here Luigi, if you don't have Adriano's money by tomorrow, your life will be a lot worse than it is now." He pointed his gun at him and then motioned over to the serious man with the scar, who seemed to be Adriano. He was standing tall with his arms crossed, his position screaming sheer confidence, so intimidating with little effort. He did not speak, only shot an even scarier glare at Luigi, his eyes burning with absolute rage that made her shiver in disgust. Poor Luigi, she thought. "But I told you already, I cannot get money until Tuesday-" "Didn't you hear him old man?" The man that held Luigi by the collar shook him closer and was inches away from his face. Just then, the door creaked slightly and all the men froze. Adriano looked up from Luigi and straight at Angela through the crack in the door. He tensed in anger and his eye twitched. She held back a gasp and the whole room was silent for a second. Adriano smiled menacingly at her, causing her to gulp. "Get her." Angela jumped up in shock and ran. She kept running and running like her life depended on it, hell, it did. That was all she seemed to be doing at this point in her life, although it definitely was not the time to reflect then. Over the past few months, all she seemed to be doing was running away from her problems, she was hiding, living in fear, she was running from him and finally she was running from these three dangerous looking men in suits and brogues. It had become a vicious cycle. They would kill her if they caught up with her and she knew it. Angela had to lose them and get back home as quick as possible to collect her things. She guessed running again was her only option... Again.