Heavy Bakery - Chapter 3
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Chapter 3 - The Back Alley
“And then I said to my shortie fella: “Giiirl I don’t believe you did absolutely NOTHING with a jock that size!” And then he said “I tried, but I couldn’t even reach his stomach!”
All the adults in the bakery kitchen bursted laughing. Tomori was already squealing like an albatroz, trying to catch air with her poor lungs.
“Hiro, stooop, I’m gonna piss myself”, she cried.
As Tomoyo departed to attend school that afternoon, and now with the bakery closed and clean, all the staff were reunited. Two beer bottles and one of sake were already empty, and another round was being distributed by Paikon, who, by far, was the most sober. He always was the last one to fall, no exceptions.
“Then what, Hiro? What happened?” Kanami had way less than everybody but already had red cheeks from alcohol.
“He lost the bet, of course. I was disappointed with him for a time, but he was a nice guy. Then college arrived and we split up, sometimes I miss that bitch”, he takes another sip “oh no, I'm getting sentimental, I think it's good to stop here.”
“Come on, Hiro, come on... just one go, that's the nightcap”, Tomori insists, “then we'll close everything and fix the table tomorrow.”
“Yes, speaking of which, one thing I never got to ask”, he looks at Kanami, “how is the training there at the gym? Do they still train to fight? I'm tired of having to hide behind you, Kanny…”
“It’s been a while that I couldn’t go, but as far as I know It's going well, man, and there's still room”, Kana raises an eyebrow at the sudden question, “but you've never been interested in it, can you take it now?”
“I don't know, I'll only know if I try…” Hiro shrugs, “and if I find someone worth going there, even better…”
“Is that all you think about, bitch? Go take a cold shower, to see if this fire in your pants goes out…”
“Impossible!”, he raises an arm and starts gyrating his hips, “I was baptized in the fire of Daddy Satan, this fire never runs out and never will be!”
Another round of laughter. Hiro was always the funniest, but far from looking like a clown, he was just the one with the most sense of humor.
“Oh, right, I almost forgot… Tomori, honey”, he looks at his friend, “are you still going downtown shopping? I need to run errands there and I don't want to go alone…”
“At this time of night, babe?”, she puts her hands on her hips, “These shops are already closed…”
“Not now, Tomo, on the weekend. Today I'm gonna crash on the floor at home and only resuscitate in the morning.”
Tomori smiled and relaxed, “Oh, yes, I’m still going.”
“Good, It's a date… Hey Kanny. You’re so quiet…”
“Hmm?”, she glances at everybody, “Ah, It’s nothing, I’m just vibing…”
“Vibing to the booze? Or to today’s hunk of the day?”
“Shut up”, she snarks, “Actually It has to do with today, yes. One of the bad guys ran out because of him scaring him off. This delinquent will come back for more with more people–”
"Naah, today? I really doubt”, Hiro shrugs, “They know we are waiting for them. But you’re right, we have to be careful…”
“Yea, I just… can’t take it anymore. It’s been five years since we opened this bakery, but these maggots have found a way to appear and make me anxious again.”
“Funny thing is… Here is not a place to have gangsters, y’know”, Paikon says while looking to his beer “Miss Oomori has a strong magnet for this kind of people-”
His comment is interrupted by Kana's mini-punch to his shoulder, which squeaks “Ouch! Come on, I was joking!”
“Don't say such a thing, Paikon” , she was frowning, “that attracts even more”
“Okay, I won't say more, but you know it's true. You have this one flaw-”
“I don't do anything, these guys see me and think I can be bothered. The part that eases the situation is that I at least don't stand still…and they get a hell of a punch.”
“Do you know why you attract them?” begins Hiro, “Because you're so bright hot… the flies just come over”
“I just don't hit you, Hiro, because you are not into girls…”
“There you have it, Kanny the brawling drunk…”, Paikon laughs.
“Aw, man, to make things worse, I'm not into fighting too. I have more to do to keep looking for a fight. The fight that finds me. I just defend myself.”
“And what do you do for a living besides being found by a fight, by any chance?” Paikon still teases, but Kanami had the answer on the tip of his tongue:
“I like working in the bakery, I like taking care of my cat, I like walking long strolls in the park, taking pictures… I'm a person too…”
“Oohhh…”, Tomori hugs her friend, pouting her red face, “I love you, did you know? Gentle giant…”
“I'm not giant, you're the short one”, she hugs back, “but I accept the Gentle part.”
“Okaay, this is getting too cute for my taste”, Paikon snorts, laughing, “I'm sorry but I'm going to leave. It's already eight o'clock and I still want to get home today.”
“That's right, I have to go.too”, Tomori yawns, “Let’s go, Hiro?”
“Yea. Besides, I have to replant some new seedlings in my garden, think I'm going to bed early to do that in the morning…” he gets up and stretches “will everything be ok there, Kanny-boo?
“Yes, I will, buddy. I'll just throw the bottles in the trash, clean up our mess and leave home.”
“Okay, just don't be so late, I still like to see you arriving earlier than us…”, Tomori smiles at her.
“I’ll do my best. See you tomorrow folks.”
Kanami watches his employee-friends walk out the back door. And sighs. She had never been the type of person to punch before asking, but she suddenly got a weird shiver at the feel of that guy, and when the gangster showed up, she couldn't take it and soon became aggressive and protective of her "territory".
What was her, an animal? She had always had these sensations, coming from somewhere from a past she should have forgotten. Neither Kanami nor his parents lived on that edge of hell anymore. After they spent time in the States, she and her parents were able to buy a decent house somewhere else in the city, much quieter, and now her oldies are in their suburban neighborhood, taking care of their four dogs, and herself, in her cute house in a more commercial area. She shouldn't have that fear anymore.
Everything was safe. Everyone was safe…
But, it's like they say. You can come out of the “Inside”, but the “Inside” does not come out of you.
She runs her hands over her own face, trying to get out of the alcohol stupor. That could have been what brought her into this semi-paranoid state.
“That's enough, Kana”, she thinks. "Time to clean up, close this joint and go home, today is Thursday, there's still work tomorrow and so on."
A few minutes later, the garbage bag is thrown into the back bin and she locks the door, sighing again. She stretched her arms as she walked out of the alley behind the bakery, and felt a twinge in the temple… ugh, she is going to have a headache when she gets home.
But that strange feeling was still in the back of her mind.
She was being watched. She decided to keep her guard up as she walked. Her normal belongings were safely tucked inside her coat pockets, exceptions aside, she didn't like to use carry-on bags, or anything of greater value than a cell phone for any emergency calls. Her credit cards, physical money? In her combat boots. Reviewing her belongings, she became calmer, and began to walk through the somewhat empty streets, towards the bus stop that would take her home.
“Over there! It's that girl!”, a guy pointed across the street, making her jump in fright. It was exactly like she expected, It was the same gangster who had run away “After her, boys!”
Kanami shivered from head to toe. There were at least five of them, and they were armed with bats and whatnot. When they started to run across the street, she didn't think twice, she also ran away. The bus was almost there, but she wasn't going to make it in time to get her out of the situation, so… screw the bus.
She was a pretty good runner, but damn alcohol, it had taken half of her strength, and it was already attacking her stomach. Ugh, she had to get rid of those guys fast.
“Damn, she's fast!” - She heard one of the guys talking behind her.
“She beat Kisame’s ass off, she won’t take that lightly!”, another guy said.
The chase didn't last long, she was losing her breath fast, she had to build an advantage. It turned out that the most suitable place was a piece of land she knew, which was just the alley behind the bakery. The problem was, it was kind of a dead end place, once you turned the corner, so she had to be quick. He turned to face the men when he reached his destination. They stopped.
“Cowards! Why to chase after a woman in a pack?”, she tries to say, half out of breath. After that, she was going to make a promise not to drink again, even if it was to celebrate.
“After what I saw you doing with Kisame and my brothers, I’ll never come alone. I'm a man but I'm not stupid”, look at the guys, “do what you want with her.”
“Man, now that I can look better… Did this hottie really hit Kisame down? The guy was strong!”
“No, he wasn't,” Kanami corrects, muttering, but she couldn't afford to relax. The alley was narrow, so they couldn't all come at her, but still, she could get hurt.
“Make no mistake, this one would fool the devil”, he spits, “get her!”
And that's it, there they were attacking with bats in hand. She just waited for the first one to arrive, and dodged the baseball bat with her arm, landing a right hook in the same second, then grabbed the baseball bat and slammed it into the second's face with all the force she had. The others came to a halt when they saw her kicking the third one in the groin and then in his face, knocking him down.
She looked at the guys, her vision was getting blurry. Dammit, she was starting to weaken, she couldn't afford to lose.
“Come on, second round!”, she got in the boxing pose, and when she was about to hit the third one, she felt a twinge in her temple that made her hesitate for a second. It was the opportunity the gangster had and he took advantage of it, punching her in the stomach, leaving her breathless.
“Now! Get her!” they held her in their arms, pulling her to the wall “now you'll see that you don't mess with us, bitch!”
She tried to kick the man, but his movement was pathetic, so he dodged.
“Hahaa, it's not that strong now, right?”
“Coward…”, she managed to say, “You’re only with your friends because you can’t take me yourself, weakling”
This seemed to arouse a strange fury in the man, she just had to tease him a little more.
“And there you go, breaking into the business of an honest woman, extorting her money, then come get her down in the alley. Bravo to you…glass balls.”
She feels a hard slap on her face. That hurt. He held her jaw.
“I'll show you the glass balls…”, he lets go. He signals to the others. When they took it off the wall for who-knows-what, Kanami took the opportunity and slammed her forehead on the man's nose. A satisfying sound of something breaking gave her the strength to continue.
“AAAARGH! You wench, you broke my nose!” and as soon as he gave the chance, cringing in pain, she managed to knee the man in the face.
“You're not going to be the one to fuck with me today, weasel face!”, she releases the men's arms with an elbow and knocks the other down with a grappling maneuver, throwing the passerby to the ground. A flurry of punches to the chin and another to the chest box and he was free of those two.
But something happened that she didn't expect: one of the fallen ones grabbed her leg, and taking advantage of her loss of balance, another brought a knife. She just had time to swerve to the side that didn't have vital points, because soon she was nearly falling to the ground with a bloodstain on her left flank. She let out a cry of pain, but took advantage of the last second to kick the fallen man in the face and put him out once more. Another kick went to the knife guy, and she scrambled to her feet, gasping.
‘“Shiiiit” She squeaked a little, holding the wound as she leaned against the wall. Not with a million dollars she would take the knife out of there, it could be that it would make things worse “I knew this shit was going to happen… I knew it…”
“For a moment I thought you wouldn’t make it.” A familiar voice at the entrance to the alley caught her attention, and Kanami instinctively took the fighting stance again. Her eyes widened as she saw the silhouette of the broad man with wavy hair.
“You!” she tries to straighten her back, but squeals with the wound, “What are you doing here…?”, she still raises her fists, though “Do you want to fight too?”
He widens his eyes, eyes so normally nonchalant, and then sighs, shaking his head, “Not this time. I was passing by, then I heard the fight. I thought I was going to have fun, but it was just a lynching… and well, you’ve already finished them all…”
“What kind of psychopath are you, to look for a fight?” She spits out some saliva that tasted like iron, feeling the slap the man had given start to burn now.
“I don't look for fights like these in the streets anymore, but you never know when one is going to start”, he shrugs, then looks at her flank “Uh… you're hurt.”
“Marvelous eyes, Mr. Ohma”, she remembered his name, “top scores for ya.”
“Uh… Don’t you need to deal with that?”
“Yeah, I do,” she admits.
A few seconds passed, she was breathing hard from the pain sapping her strength, and he was staring at her with no recognizable expression.
“Are you going to deal with that or not?”, he finally says, raising an eyebrow.
She blinks in disbelief. Was he dumb or what?
She sighs. She didn't have time to chit-chat with that guy.
“I thought you were going to, I don't know, help me or something… but okay, honey, thanks for the morale.” - Kanami pats him on the shoulder and staggers a little towards the entrance.
That's when things got weird. She felt extremely heavy and, failing strength, felt herself falling. Everything got out before she hit the floor, and all went silent.
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Tortured Chapter 1
**Trigger warning**
It does have an R rating but only due to sexual violence and abuse, violence and abusive behavior, also drug and alcohol abuse.
* Carter's POV *
You could say my Mother and Father are evil. I would just use the word pathetic. Marie didn't have a good childhood,her Mama, my Granma abused her. I would assume that's why she does it to me. Most nights I just wished they both would die. I know that's messed up, but I do.
Our front door rushes open. I already know who it is. I turn over in my bed closing my eyes pretending to sleep. My door opens as I cursed everything. Please let him go away, please. Damn it! He comes in shutting the door behind him quietly.
"Baby giiirl ?" he slurs his words like venom.
He stumbles over towards me holding onto my bed frame. No God, please no, not tonight. I mumble like I don't know what's going on. I have to try to make him feel bad or he won't leave me alone. He smells of cheap liquor which causes me to have to suppress the urge to gag. He pushes a hair strand behind my ear as I try to move out of his reach.
"H-Honey ?"
I roll over trying to seem annoyed by being woken up. He just nudges me again. I turn my head and flutter my eyes open still holding onto the hope he will leave me alone.
"Daddy? Is everything okay? " whispering so mama doesn't hear me.
He could use a nap and a damn shave. I squirm away from his touch as it warms my cheek. I plead with the God's, any God that will listen to me at this point. Lord knows I don't deserve it. Please don't let this happen tonight. I just want to rest. I managed to stay away from Mama today. I guess one good day is too much to ask. He adjusts himself so he can see me better from the dim light the moon gives off.
"Yes, Baby it is. Are you okay?" the concern in his voice gives me hope. Maybe today is my lucky day.
I force my eyebrows to scrunch in confusion. It's all an act. His concern, my confusion, his love! it's all an act but, What is he talking about? Me in general or right now? I don't want too deep of a conversation so let's go with right now.
"I am fine Daddy. Just tired I have school tomorrow."
Maybe he will leave now. Leave and never come back. He doesn't just sits there playing with the strands of my hair. After a few minutes of him saying nothing, I roll over. Might as well sleep he hasn't tried anything yet. I hear him sigh such a sad sigh.
"Goodnight sweetheart" He pauses "I- I love you."
He said it as if he is trying to make himself believe it or maybe even trying to convince me, but we both know the truth. I roll my eyes knowing he can't see me in the dark because if he could my lucky day would be over.
"love you." I mumble into my pillow trying to keep the peace.
I hear him shuffle behind me as again fear prickles at my skin. I feel the weight of his pressure on my bed he leans down kissing my cheek. Innocent enough, if I didn't know his intentions. I don't move still silently sending prayers to the heavens. He stands and the weight lifts off the bed as well as my chest. I feel like I can breathe since the door opened. Have I really gone one day without so much as a smack? I would call that a win for me. I hear the door shut I can't help but breathe a sigh of relief. I lay there thinking about what tomorrow might hold and if I will pay for skipping out on everything today. As I lay there a little longer I can hear the muffled sound of their yells through my door then them making up. Disgusting! I get up out of bed getting my out of date MP3 player I got three Christmas's ago from my Uncle. He called it a teenage privilege fitting at the time since my thirteenth birthday was just five days before it. That was before the accident. I put the headphones in my ear-blasting the first song I come to. Ah, Evanescence Going Under what can I say I am a sucker for older music. I relax back into bed focusing on the lyrics.
Now I will tell you what I've done for you -
50 thousand tears I've cried.
Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you -
And you still won't hear me (going under)
Don't want your hand this time - I'll save myself.
Maybe I'll wake up for once (wake up for once)
Not tormented daily defeated by you
Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom
How ironic these lyrics are to my daily life with them Amy Lee always gets me. She is my idol. I want to sing one day with her although I can't sing so much as yodel. I momentarily stop the ramble in my head my favorite parts are coming. As I quietly sing along I really let the words sink in.
"Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies. So I don't know what's real”
"So I don't know what's real and what's not, don't know what's real and what's not. Always confusing the thoughts in my head. So I can't trust myself anymore"
"So go on and scream. Scream at me I'm so far away, so far away. I won't be broken again, again I've got to breathe. I can't keep going under."
I wonder when and if I will break as song after song comes on not really paying attention to it. I finally fall into a blissful sleep.
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