The Aberrant She-Wolf

Chapter 003 - Recommence

It is humid and hot, and there are a lot of people in the bus terminal where we get off. People are scurrying around the small station. There is a long queue at the reservation booth and bus conductors are shouting for the passengers of the departing buses. The rest are on the passenger seats--either eating, conversing or playing with their phones.

I place one of my bags in between my mother's and brother’s legs. I need to sell or pawn the watch that alpha Rico has given me, and then find a place to stay. And I can’t carry that many things with me. I observe my family. My mother is, as always, shrinking in her silence. My younger brother is not faring well as well. He’s just staring at the ground while tightly hugging the knapsack of clothes that he’s able to carry with him. I sigh. I hope they won’t be a victim of thieves.

I wipe the sweat on my face and look for any security on the terminal. One guard is barking orders at the baggage boy. The other is responding to a passenger’s query. I approach one of the guards as I try to fix my hair that keeps on sticking on my neck.

“Sir,” I call, and the guard looks at me. He’s middle-aged and as tall as I am. “May I ask for a favor?”

“Hmmm?” the guard mutters.

“My mom and brother,” I say, pointing at them. In the distance, they look as if they will break down any time soon. “Will you be able to keep an eye on them? You don’t need to watch them all the time. Just glance at them from time to time? I need to find a place to stay so, as you can see in their state, I can’t bring them.”

The guard nods and looks back and forth at me and my family. “For how long will you be gone? My shift will end in six hours.”

“Got it! I will be back before then. And thank you so much!”

I walk towards my family and say to my younger brother, “Stay here. I will find a place to stay.”

“Sis, I only have very few clothes,” Gerald says. “Can’t you return to our house and get more?”

“We can’t. Else alpha Rico will have a problem lying for us,” I answer. I wonder what kind of lies he came up with? “Don’t worry, once we settled down. We can buy a couple of clothes.”

“From the ukay?” he asks, referring to the store that sells second-hand clothes.

“For the meantime, yes.” His nose twitches but he never said a word of complaint. “Here,” I add, placing a couple of bills in his hand. “If you get hungry, buy something to eat.”

Gerald looks at me and then at the money. “Where did you get this?” he asks.

“Just something I saved up,” I answer. Before he asks more, I inform him, “I’ll be back. Take care of Ma.”

I stand up and leave the bus terminal. The instant I am out of sight, I lean on the side of one of the stores. I take a deep breath and massage my head. I said I will find a place to stay, but in reality, I don’t know where to start. I don’t know where to find a job too.

I look at the sky. It’s dusty and noisy. And the sun is shining so bright that it seems like it’s punishing the people outside. I sigh again. And walk along the length of the street, looking for a place to stay, or maybe some sign that says they’re looking for employees. I follow the flow of people. Hoping that I’ll see an establishment with too many customers but lacking employees.

It’s already afternoon when I see an advertisement hanging over a closed establishment.

‘Wanted: GRO’ it says.

Brimming with hope. I cross the street and hurriedly walk towards the building. It’s called ‘The Hurvitz’. Probably, a namesake of the owner. I examine the building. It’s a four floors building with glitz, or rather, shining banners that decorate the side of the door. There are banners that stands on both sides. It says ‘Opening’ and ‘Welcome’.

I push open the door and notice that there is a guard inside.

“Good afternoon,” I greet. “Do you have a job as a waitress or something?”

The guard looks at me and then points at a small room on the back of the building. “Ask there. You might find something,” he says.

A small room is on the back. Glass wall separates it from the rest of the building, probably to lessen the noise. I open and walk into the small glass room.

“Good afternoon,” I say again. This time to a middle-aged woman with glasses who seems busy poring over the documents. “May I ask if you have available jobs?”

The woman raises her head towards me. I glance at the nameplate on her table—Mrs. Flores. “There is, but I don’t think you’re a match for it. GRO, right? Your clothes don’t scream ‘sexy’. Do you dance? Pole dance maybe?”

I shake my head. “Ah, no. I am hoping for a server or cleaner job.”

“Figures,” she says and looks me over. “You can be a waitress. You have a nice figure. And once you’re all cleaned up, I think your face is passable too. But it’s nightshift and you will need to start tonight.”

“Nightshift later is fine with me.”

“The Hurvitz club is on the third and fourth floor. That’s where you will work. You will have a night differential on top of your basic salary and all the mandatory benefits. It is contractual though. Six months. Is that fine as well?”

I nod.

“How old are you?” she asks.

“Nineteen.”

“Your parents know?”

I nod again.

“If that is the case…” The woman opens a drawer and takes a pile of paper. “Read this. This is a sample contract while I work on yours. Here,” she adds and hands me a pen and paper. “Write down your information.”

“Thank you!” I say, trying to hide the gratefulness in my tone. I put in my name, age and permanent address, and some other information needed, then hands it back to her.

She waves her hand at me and points at the chairs outside. “Wait outside while I prepare the contract,” she says.

I am about to leave the room when I whirl around to face her again. “Will you know if there is an apartment close by?” I ask.

She c***s her head at me. “Yes, but most of the apartments need three months of advance payment.”

“That’s okay,” I say, my voice noticeably lower.

“We don’t give advance payment, okay?”

I nod. She takes a pen and writes something on paper. “This address is residential. You can walk around it to find any vacant place to stay. It’s quite close too.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Flores.”

I leave the room and sit on one of the provided chairs for job seekers. I look around. People are clamoring around the building–doing decorations and prepping the whole place. On the first floor are fast foods and small booths of quick bites. Since the center of the building is open, I can see different restaurants on the second floor.

I look at the address on paper. I’ve seen this street name before. I might have passed it when I was walking around the area. Now, all that is missing is finding a place to stay and pawning alpha Rico’s watch for our initial consumption.

I stand up and walk towards the reloading station. After paying, I reach to my pocket and take my phone, speed dialing for Nathan. I need to tell him where he can find me. We also need to talk about what happened at the Sierra Madre.

He answers at the first ring. “Rhian!” he exclaims.

“Shhh,” I whisper. I wonder where exactly is he right now? At his house? At the University? Or at his dormitory room? “Nathan, I am in Quezon city. I will be working on The Hurvitz.”

“Okay, I’ll visit you there. Are you renting?”

“I’m still looking. But Nathan?”

“Yes?”

“I need your help to file for LOA.”

There is silence on the other end. I wait. I don’t like asking him for favors, but I can’t just return to the Sierra Madre for it. Instead of properly filing for a Leave of Absence, I’ll get incarcerated in the pack together with my family. And who knows what they will do to Gerald? Having the primordial blood and all.

After a minute, he says, “Okay. I can do that. What’s your shift there?”

“No details yet, but I am on nightshift. I’ll start tonight.”

“Understood.” There is a pause on the line again. “I have a lot of questions, but I think it’s better to ask them personally. I will find a way to visit you there. I just hope my mother will allow me.”

Before he hangs up, I ask, “Nathan?”

“Hmmm?”

“Thank you for not changing your number,” I say and quickly end the call.