"I totally need a car, like right away," I groaned in protest as I dragged my feet to the bus stop.

I started working at Robby's Warehouse for a week now. If I wasn't so desperate to find a job, I would have probably in all honesty gotten a way better job than at Robby's. I needed the job more than ever especially because my so caring mother, Emma, would be telling me "when, when are you getting a job, you're eighteen already?!" I honestly always delayed that as much as possible since I was in the age of getting a job, I made excuses of 'oh I need time to study' or 'I don't want to work as a minor getting minimal wage!' though it paid off, but I was finally eighteen, she had me there.

Being new in town, I just took the first thing that was available just so I could tell Emma, "I have a job!" At first I thought they were desperate to find more people because to be completely honest, not many people worked there.

"To secure that no intruder comes in and -" I interrupted Michael, the only assistant at Robby's. "Oh yeah, because an intruder is going to be thrilled stealing packaged boxes of meat and bottles of salt water." He seemed to ignored my remark and continued by saying "- and takes anything, even if it sounds silly, in this town we never know." Yeah this town, I bet it screams out Secrets, Secrets, I laughed lightly at my inside joke; Michael just smiled.

"Iris, don't underestimate this town. It might be shabby, but at night it's dangerous roaming the streets. You never know what kind of people you might come across" Michael said in a serious tone.

"Yeah, I know" I noted lightly.

"So, how long have you been working here?" I asked as he showed me the things I had to make sure were locked before I left.

"Since I was sixteen, back in the day when this side of town was considered the wealthy side of Beardstown. Now, this is the bad side of town. Everything has gone out of business, buildings have been demolished and all that is left are dried up fields that no one seems to care about" he sighed.

"I noticed" I mumbled.

"I was surprised when you came in looking for a job here. No one seems to want to work here and the people who do work here are just looking for something to do or just have no real purpose to their lives. I am not saying you don't it's just -" I interrupted him.

"I'm new to Beardstown, to this type of environment. I was really desperate to just get a job so my mom would get off my back about getting one" I confessed.

"Oh" he noted.

"Yeah, I just came across a flyer and thought I should just go for it I mean it read easy all over it. Packaging meat for nine dollars an hour, I don't really know about that whole wage thing, but I know that is something compared to minimum wage which I know it like seven fifty or something. I know that much, so I came and well I am here now I guess, employed."

He chuckled lightly, "Yeah I can see that, but that flyer you brought in was from a year ago, when the warehouse was in real need of employees. Now, it's just running slowly, but some days are better than others."

"Then if the business wasn't in real need for employees than why did Mr. Cole hire me?"

"In truth, I encouraged him to employ you because to be completely honest, I really needed someone to talk to in here. I mean you've notice that most of the people here can be my grandparents or my own parents" he blushed.

"There have been young people, but they just leave, they - they quit. No one can stay here more than a week. The smell and just standing for a long time gets to the young people these days" he concluded as he ran his fingers through his bright brown hair.

I bet it does, it's even getting to me sometimes now. The smell is unbearable sometimes.

"So, I guess I am supposed to thank you?"

"For what?" he asked innocently with a laugh.

"For getting a caring mother off my back" I mused.

"No problem, thank you for giving this place some life" he said under his breath.

"Yeah" I said softly.

I made my way down the street to the bus stop as I kept complaining under my breath about my feet. I was making my way down the street like any other day since I started the job, but this time it was different. I wasn't visibly alone this time; there was a guy on the corner of the other street. All he did was just stare at me as I walked. I just walked a little faster and as I did, I couldn't resist looking back every now and then to see the guy that looked to be slightly young, he was fairly tall he wore a long black cloak with his hood on. The cloak made him look like the 'Grim Reaper'. As I reached the corner, I couldn't resist looking back and was startled to see that the man was no longer there.

The whole bus ride home, I thought of that peculiar guy. I must have zoned out in thought that when I came back to reality, I noticed a girl, she must have been at least five, was just staring at me. She had bright green eyes with honey color hair and was wearing a little pink dress. I felt awkward, so all I did was sent her a small smile. Once I got off the bus, I saw how the honey haired girl turned to face the window and waved and smiled back at me, and I waved goodbye as the bus made its way down the street. "People here are friendly at least" I said out loud. As I walked the whole block until I got to Crest Drive, I noticed that in deed everyone was in their homes. Not a soul was roaming the streets. I made it to Crest Drive and made my way down the street until I reached the edge of Octobive Avenue where my new home stood.

Once I entered my new house I noticed that Emma had finally finished unpacking all the living room and kitchen items. Everything seemed to be there, the limited things she had sent from California were on time for our arrival. Things were just getting together to shape the new home of the start of a new beginning in Emma's life.

The only reason we moved so spontaneously in the middle of my senior year was because she needed some distance, which I guess moving to Illinois from California was going to great lengths. She divorced a great guy named Joe, he was my step father. Even though Joe wasn't my biological father, I was going to miss him. He had been my step-father for three years, the only father figure I've had my whole entire life. I liked him because he made Emma happy and if she was happy, I was happy. Joe meant the world to her, so I didn't really know what the deal was when they suddenly called it quits. In any case, I was stuck in Beardstown for the time being until I moved back hopefully for college.

As soon as Emma heard my keys dangle and probably my dragging feet she greeted me at the kitchen door.

"Iris, I have everything set for you!"

"Huh?" I replied. "I already registered you at Parker High School and you start school next week." I just nodded. Great, school; Kill me now!

"I also got a job already, so I can start saving for the rent. I got a job at the local newspaper and it pays well." She got to do something she enjoyed; writing, back home she was a writer for The O.C. Coast. All I could say was "Nice…"

"Are you hungry? I made pasta" she asked me.

"Sure, a little though I just want to go crash" I sighed as I sat at the table.

"Did you hear what happened to our neighbor's dog?" she asked as she placed the plate of pasta in front of me.

"You mean the annoying mutt that was barking and hissing all night the first day we stayed here?" I asked as I started eating the pasta.

"Yeah, seems like some type of animal attacked him. He was mutilated."

"…Thanks mom! I just love to hear that kind of stuff when I'm eating" I noted as I take my final bite of pasta.

"Poor thing" she sighed.

"Hey it's gross"

"I was talking about the dog. The animal ripped the dog to shreds" she said as she took my plate to the sink.

I said good night and I went upstairs to be greeted with a room full of boxes. I unlike Emma hadn't started to unpack. I didn't really care; I would start tomorrow on Saturday, my day-off. I went to get ready for bed and washed my face. The smell of meat was starting to get on my nerves. I went to put my alarm clock, so I would wake up bright and early to finally unpack. It was almost midnight, Friday had been torture. Honestly, my feet were starting to hurt from standing the majority of the time and well the smell of processed meat in a daily basis.

At first I just was staring at the ceiling, missing the glow in the dark stars that I had plastered on my ceiling back home; missing the rough ceiling surface. In this room, the ceiling was smooth, probably painted over or something. I slowly closed my eyes and the first thing I remember seeing was the guy I saw on my way to the bus stop. Though he wasn't stone face like before, but he was smiling. He had the whitest teeth I had ever seen. He was just inches away from me, smiling. I noticed that he had milky marble white skin, and deep black eyes. I stared at him astonished at his extreme beauty and I seem to just stare at him. The man just looked at me with a puzzled face and raised one eyebrow and said "What brings you here, tonight?" At that moment, I thought I had died in my sleep. His voice was so angelic, velvet and it made me shiver, but not out of fear out of something I couldn't explain. As I looked down so I wouldn't stare at him and forget what to say. He was gone, yet again. I looked up to see nothing. He was gone. I looked around, but it was useless, he was nowhere in sight.

His voice was ringing in my head repeating his question. I didn't know the answer to it.

As I stood there, I felt a cold breeze whoosh past me. I saw something in the distance, but before I could concentrate I was awakened by the ringing alarm clock. That was signally the start of a new, hopefully bright, Saturday morning.

The start of my third Saturday in Beardstown; Third one's the charm.