The Tale of Two Sisters

CHAPTER TWO

Lisa drove as fast as she can, but still followed the speed that stated in the road to avoid the accident that might occur. She was late to her work, but she did not want to complain it to Penelope, as she was sure that Penelope would feel down later. 

"Oh sh-! I'm going to be late!"

Lisa looked at the car's watch, and she was right.

She is going to be late.

It was already eight passes ten minutes, and she was still not there in her workplace. She worked as a waitress in the retro cafe, near their house. Since Lisa is older than Penelope, which only 7 years apart, she took the responsibility as the breadwinner in the house.

She did that so that Penelope can continue her studies for college. Lisa did not care much about her education, although she wanted to study abroad when she was a little girl once upon a time.

But she knew it too, that it was only a dream.

A dream that she can never achieve it ever again.

Make your choice.

"Huh?"

Lisa, who was sitting idly in her car after she managed to park to the designated parking for the workers, suddenly heard a voice. She looked around to make sure that she was alone.

Sometimes, being alone is much safer than been surrounded by strangers, with their hidden intentions.

"That's weird. I swear, I heard something. Oh, well, better get moving."

Lisa quickly grabbed her purse and locked her car. She wanted to get into the restroom for workers inside the cafe, as she did not want her boss to notice that she was late for today. She silently opened the backdoor of the cafe, entered the kitchen quietly and straight to the restroom, to wear her work's outfit.

"Well, it kinda works smoothly...for now."

Lisa thought that it will be just fine, but deep down, she knew that something, or someone, will try to expose her later. 

She just knew about it.

"Oh, Lisa~ Early for today, aren't you?"

Busted!

Lisa awkwardly turned around to the voice while having a half-smile written on her face. 

Karen Smith.

Her manager.

Lisa gave her manager her smile, though her fist was gripped tightly. 

"Im sorry, Karen. I was stuck in the traffic this morning."

Lisa tried to plead with her manager, but she knew, it will never work against her.

Karen stared at Lisa, from her head to her shoes, and then, she smirked. 

Almost like she sympathized, or just wanted to mock her, but she did not want to speak it out loud. 

Karen tapped her watch rapidly, while looking at Lisa, to be exact, leered at her.

"Miss Lisa, this is the third time that you're late for work. I can't tolerate such behaviour."

Lisa looked surprised. 

She did late for today, but this is her first!

"Im sorry, Karen, but this is my first time. How told you that this was my third?"

Lisa tried to squeeze the answer out from Karen, though she already knew who was the person behind this. 

She always knew it was her, but she kept quiet.

"You don't need to know who, but I had to deduct your pay for the month. Bear that in mind later if you keep messing up."

"But...!"

Lisa wanted to press for more, but her manager has already left the scene. She stood there, while other workers around, especially girls, were already giggled and one of them eventually walked past the other to stand in front of the Lisa.

"Oh, poor little Lisa. Having a rough day?"

Quinn.

Lisa gave her a deadly look, but Quinn did not flinch, in fact, she smirked even broader when she saw Lisa in despair.

"What do you want, Quinn? Im trying to get to work?"

Lisa wanted to get away from her as soon as possible because whenever Quinn was around, it spelt danger. Quinn then approached Lisa slowly, with a cup, filled with hot coffee on her right hand. Her face showed that she was scheming something to embarrass Lisa even more.

"Lisa, where are you going? You forget your coffee."

Lisa turned around to reply.

"I didn't drink coffee, you know that-"

But before Lisa could finish her sentence, Quinn had already spilt her coffee on Lisa's plain white t-shirt, which she always used before she wore her work's outfit.

"Ouch!! What the-"

Quinn giggled, and sooner, more girls joined her to laugh at Lisa's new summer look.

Stained, white shirt, 

with coffee's smug.

"Oh, fresh look! Thank me later, okay, Lisa. Love you!"

"Why you-"

Before Lisa can slap Quinn in her face, Karen came back to the kitchen to inspect her workers again. This time, Quinn swiftly dropped the cup exactly on Lisa's feet, to make it looks like it hers.

"What's going on here?!"

Karen shouted, but she made sure her voice was not heard to the customers. Most of the workers were already on their post, leaving only Lisa, Quinn and several Quinn's underlings. Quinn quickly shifted the blame to Lisa as she pointed to the cup and Lisa's stain t-shirt.

"Oh, Miss Karen, Lisa is making a mess in here! She purposely dropped her coffee on the floor, making the floor even dirty!"

"No! I didn't-"

Lisa tried to reason with her manager, but it failed miserably, as the manager favoured Quinn more.

"Enough! Lisa, you will work double shift for today, and you will be the one who closes this cafe! And clean up the mess! Start by picking up the mop and clean the floor immediately!"

Karen was totally on rage when she told Lisa to start her work. She left while stomping and returned to her post. Lisa stood there in silence, holding back her tears by watching the floor. Quinn wickedly took the chance teased her even more by kicking the remaining coffee in the cup around, which made the liquid spread even more.

"Oh, Lisa~ Clean this up."

Quinn left the kitchen with her girls to the front area, leaving Lisa in the kitchen, with the busy cooks around.

While she was in her stained t-shirt.

She quickly grabbed her purse and went to the restroom to change her outfit and put her stuff in her locker. Lisa threw her things inside the closet, and slammed the locker's door, causing a loud metallic bang. Though with the loud sound, no one came around to look onto what happened. Tears started to fall on Lisa's cheek.

"I hate this...but I have to do this. For Penelope."

She wiped her tears, changing her uniform and went to the mirror to check her makeup. As she walked to the mirror, she felt some uneasy feelings around her, as someone is stalking her.

Choose.

"Huh?"

Lisa quickly turned around, to see if anyone was nearby, but sadly, no one was in the restroom.

No one around, 

except her.

Choose,

Or lose.

"Hello?"

Lisa now was feeling paranoid, as she really can hear someone is in there with her.

"Quinn, stop it! You win, okay! Enough! I want to start my work."

Lis could not stand it anymore. 

She had enough with everyone who always looked down on her.

She is tired of people who kept thinking that she is a doll without emotion.

Somehow, deep inside her, a rage is building up and was waiting to explode at any moments. 

Like someone is asking her to let it all out.

Choose,

and be free.

"Who are you?! Show yourself!"

Lisa is getting irritated by the voice, but she did not know where the call was.

Is it around her?

Or

Is it inside her?

She kept spun around to seek for the voice, but she did not found any lead to it.

Suddenly, all the lockers' door started to make loud noises, by opening and closing rapidly, making bang sounds even more. Lisa closed her ears while cowered in fear on the floor. 

She felt scared but somehow, the voice that called her made her felt furious.

Choose,

and lead.

"Who are you?! Go away!! Stop! Please..."

After a few minutes, after a few screams from Lisa, the banging started to wear off and finally, all silent. Lisa, who was still in fear, tried to stand up, although her knees are shaking. She tried to look around, to see if someone, or something, is trying to mess up with her.

"Wh-who are you..."

But as soon as Lisa turned around, she noticed that she was already stood in front of the mirror.

And, the next thing she saw in the mirror, freaked her out.

In the mirror, the scene was not as same as she thought she might see.

No more rows of lockers, or anything that looked like her usual restroom in the cafe, 

or anything that she can remember about this cafe.

Instead, the image she saw, 

was not the image in her world,

nothing like anything in reality,

the reality that she knew.

What she saw was...

Herself, in a black gown,

with a shiny black tiara, made with black, polished alloy,

standing in the middle of the black forest,

with all the black trees aligned behind her,

and she alone, holding a black sceptre. 

Lisa's knees were growing weak as the images alone were moving, as it was a real thing happened inside the mirror.

"Wh-what is this..."

Choose,

and be the queen.

"Stop, stop..."

Choose,

Or lose it all.

"Stop!"

Suddenly, the mirror cracked.

"Huh...it stops...?"

After Lisa said that, the cracked mirror suddenly broke and the glasses flew around, as something exploded the mirror.

"Ahh!"

Lisa dodged, to avoid the glass fragments that flew around in the restroom, and her head hit the wooden bench around, which caused an impact to her head.

Slowly, Lisa lost her consciousness, and at the same time, she heard footsteps rushed through the restroom.

"What's going on in here- Omg! Lisa!"

She heard someone is calling for her, but she can no longer open her eyes, as her mind is gradually drifted away. 

And at the moment, she did not hear anything else, nor feeling anything,

 as some of her colleagues were trying to help her.

She did not know what happened at that moment, as she totally shut her eyes.

But one thing she can hear,

is that voice, calling for her, again.

Now, choose.