"Table Six!!
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Trying to hold back the stress and tears of her eventful night with Joe, she hurries up to the window. Seeing him just laying there in her palm, so tiny, lifeless, soaked in her saliva…. it broke her. The tears that flowed instantly out of her eyes had nearly washed him right off of her hand. Eternity and a half went by before she saw some kind of movement. Her massive fingertip gently placed on his body, she could feel the rise and fall of his breathing. Out cold, but alive. She was so grateful that Shay was staying over last night for our weekly family dinner. He brought Joe into his house and stayed with him. The cook's gruff voice snaps her out of her memories.
“Take the fucking food Princess!!!”
The pudgy cook stares daggers into her eyes as he waits to put another finished plate in the window. Quickly grabbing it and turning around, Karen quickly walks away and into the heart of the restaurant Muttering some bullshit under his breath the cook continues to crank out orders, his pockmarked face dripping with sweat. The sounds of the bustling restaurant fill the air. Diners all voraciously shoveling mountains of food into their faces. Snippets of conversations enter her ears as she passes, the plates starting to singe her arms a little.
Pretty typical diner talk. The businessmen discussing facts and figures, families planning for their afternoons, groups of elderly women acting a fool like they were still their rambunctious teenage selfs. It was a very popular place in town. Plus the food was amazing.
Karen arrived at table six, the heat of the plates making her fingertips start to feel numb. Sitting there were two well dressed women. They seemed to be some sort of executive types. Sharp pant suits, perfectly polished fingernails, deep red lipstick painted onto their sinister looking lips. A chilly breeze of unease creeps up Karen’s spine.
“Ok, here we have the…
Waving her hand rudely in front of Karen’s face, the younger of the two women didn’t even try to pause their conversation. Standing there awkwardly, the plates starting to burn her hands, she tries her hardest to make a noise to get their attention, but also not to be rude. She had to live on her tips, ever since the fallout of everything with Joe. After an agonizing few seconds, the younger ones quickly faces her and with an annoyed grunt, she growls out.
"Can we fucking help you?"
Taken back by the question, Karen meekly answers.
“You….your food is ready”
The older woman finally acknowledges her existence with a slight squint of her eyes, still facing forward.
“Put. Them. Down.” The emotionless voice forged from a solid foundation of arrogance and entitlement pierces Karen’s soul.
“Yeah, put them down! Fucking do your job you dumb bitch!!” The younger one desperately trying to impress her older counterpart, obviously fitting into her role as the subservient lap dog.
“I..” She stops herself, knowing these women don’t care about anything but the money in their pockets and the darkness in their souls. She places the plates down in front of them and stands back. Holding back her emotion, Karen struggles to face the pair.
“Is there, cough, anything else I can…..” Her voice trails off as she notices a strange movement coming from the older’s earring. The stress of the lunch rush had kept her from paying too close attention. There is barely time to think, let alone notice small details.
Time seems to slow as her attention zooms into the small earring. Having seen better days, its golden color has faded from years of use. It hangs from an inch long silver chain, slowly swaying at the slightest movement of its owner. Karen focuses her eyes and notices that it’s a tiny cage, similar to a pet bird cage, no bigger than a half of an inch or so. It wasn’t a bird inside this cold, confining space though. Leaning with its back against the bars, a miniscule Lilly sits with its arms wrapped around its knees. The cold bars press into its back, its flesh pushing through slightly. Karen’s eyes fixate on the tiny being. She can see that its back is covered in bruises and scars. Slowly its head turns back and their eyes connect. She gasps as her brain puts Joe inside that cage, looking up at her from a helpless position, desperation seeping through the tears in his eyes. The younger one gives a rude “ah hum”, snapping Karen back into her body.
"D….do..do you want anything else ladies?" She asked, her eyes still fixed on the little lilly trapped in the cold cage, being used as a mer fashion accessory to this woman.
The cold older woman looked at her subordinate and shook her head back and forth, still not acknowledging Karen’s existence. This slight action causes the dangling prison to swing back and forth violently. Karen watches in horror as the broken lilly violently slam into the sides of his prison, again and again. An evil smile appears on the otherwise emotionless face of the older diner as she feels the earring hitting the side of her neck. Without any compassion for the wellbeing of her prisoner, she shakes her head back and forth violently. Faint screams float into the heartless ears above him as his body turns into a weightless rag doll. Her puppy dog companion starts to laugh uncontrollably.
Karen is hit with an overwhelming feeling of despair as she watches the scene, frozen in disbelief of the cruelty this woman has towards the tiny being. Every fiber of her being desperately wants to tear that earring out of that heartless bitches ear, saving the poor lilly from her evil. Just as she was about to say something the older woman turns her head quickly and locks eyes with her, again swinging the cage violently around. The black, soulless eyes stare deeply into Karen’s soul, causing her to gasp in fear.
“Problem?”
The cage settles as the woman stares at Karen, no emotion, no blinking, just pure evil. Inside of the cage, the lilly has collapsed in the center, body broken and bruised beyond repair.
Karen can’t handle it anymore and she quickly rushes away from the table. Laughter from the younger diner is heard as she quickly hurries through the kitchen and into the employee bathroom. She sits on the toilet seat and tries her hardest to hold back her tears.
The cruelty, the torture, the utter disregard of the value of the lilies lives. She hadn’t seen it in person for a very long time. She took deep breaths, closing her eyes. She wished Joe was here to comfort her. He always knows what to say, even if it’s through the dance language he came up with. Taking a deep breath, she heavily sighs and gets up, leaving the bathroom stall.
She kept an eye on the woman and her prisoner as she continued to bring other brods their plates of food. How could she be so callus, so evil. The lillys aren't seen as sentient beings by most, but still, he did nothing wrong. He was so helpless in that cage. It made Karen furious.
The pair finished their lunch and got up to leave. As they walk towards the cash register, their path crosses with Karen’s while she is on her way to deliver more hot food. The heartless bitch shoots a smirk at Karen, opening her hand and letting something roll off of it and plummet towards the carpeted floor. Karen stops dead in her tracks and sees the small cage falling in slow motion to the floor. Her eyes widen as she hears the dull thud of the small metal colliding with the carpet. In a panic Karen crouches down, balancing the plate in her hand and reaching to grab the cage, hoping to save the helpless lilly inside. Just as she does this she hears a maniacal, familiar laughter coming from above.
“Die!!” yelled out the younger diner.
The sound of the fancy leather shoes adorning her feet slamming into the floor sends a shockwave of despair through Karen. The cage now completely gone, flattened under the sole of a soulless woman. Looking up she sees an evil smile looking down at her. With a turn of her ankle, she grinds the ball of her foot into the carpet and laughs some more.
“Clean up, aisle two!!” She says as she raises her gaze from Karen back to her older counterpart. A slow blink tells her to cut her shit and get going. She looks back at Karen and with a heartless chuckle she whispers.
“Lillys belong in cages, or the caves”
Karen loses it as she collapses to the floor, bawling as the pair leaves the restaurant without a care in the world.