Black-hoodie guy

[I’ve had this in my drafts for a while now. Time to publish it. I hope you like reading it as much as I liked writing it.]

A guy in a black hoodie waits in line to place his order at a fast-food restaurant.

It is a busy Friday night. The place is packed. The chattering of the customers opaques the employees in the kitchen who work as fast as little ants right before the raining season. Order after order is called. Due to the lack of empty sits in the dining area, most orders are placed to go.

It is a hot summer night in the bay area. Most customers come and go in the same fashionable way; boys can be seen wearing their fresh surfer-shorts, palm-tree printed tank-tops and open-toed footwear, while girls walk-in and out wearing their flip-flops and fresh-flower-printed summer dresses, a few ones with fresh solid colors. 

“Must be 90 degrees outside, and this guy’s wearing a hoodie” remarks a red-aproned employee.

Jogger-sweats and a matching hoodie, as dark as night, cover the customer from head to ankle. His feet comfortably protected by snickers matching his out-of-season outfit.

“This tourist!” another employee agrees with a shake of the head.

The fountain drink machine fills cup after cup with ice and the most refreshing lemonade in the state; The drink that put this small town in the map.

“Welcome to the Best Burger, how can I help you?” the cashier asks the hooded guy whose feet dragged along the floor like magnets traveling alone a freezer door. The enthusiasm of the cashier could not be hidden. She likes what she does. Good customer service is her priority. Beautiful blond hair and light-colored green eyes adorn her face, but her natural white smile, far more beautiful than her looks, gives a welcoming experience in-to the restaurant.

It’s been a thought week at school. For most students summer time means vacations. Time for the beach. Some students travel with their parents, some travel to their parents, some even travel away from their parents. But not her; “Lisa” reads her name tag placed so carefully and so professionally on the top left corner of her apron. With a business major in her Ed-Plan, she has decided to take some classes during the summer in order to obtain some credits faster and be able to go back home sooner. In the breakroom rests her backpack guarding two used business books she purchased on e-bay. A binder full of post-it’s here and there getting her ready for upcoming exams. A couple of make-up items; eye liner and lipstick primarily. And in her laptop, deep inside its memory where no physical human hand could possible touch, but more valuable than the laptop itself, are saved a few essays she has been working on for the last couple of weeks. Being an out of state student is not easy, but she knows that some few years of sacrifice will be worth for the rest of her life.

Working at the restaurant for the last 6 months has been a great experience. She enjoys the customer service plus she has been able to tag along with the managers here and there to get an idea of what it means to run a business, all the paperwork, handling employees, as well as customers, has been a good note-taking area which has definitely helped her at school as well. That’s why even thought the weekend awaits with nothing but homework, research, a lot of writing and plenty of coffee in the middle of the night, there isn’t a single thing that could possibly erased her beautiful smile from her face.

“You could start by putting the money in the bag and giving it to me”. The hooded guy says in a very settle voice, so calm it almost sounded like he could be joking.

“Eh-Excuse me?” Lisa asks, the enthusiasm vague on her face now, a tone of confusion. Worry takes over; a dropped of sweat down her left cheek from her forehead runs like an ice cube. Did she just hear that right? Did this guy just asked her for the money in the register, with no weapon and no serious threat other than his confusing-looking outfit? This guy’s got to be joking or high; maybe even both.

“GET THE MONEY AND PUT IT IN THE BAG!” his menacingly tone had some calmness in it, it was so weird to take him seriously, wouldn’t it be by the gun he had just pulled out of his right pocket, Lisa would not have opened the register and emptied it into a cloth sack that flew across the counter hitting her collar bone. He was fast. It was hard to recall where the weapon had been drawn from.

“I AM ROBBING THIS PLACE!” The coins inside the register cling as he slams the counter with his empty hand. He’s tone loud and finally seriously threatening. He wanted to be heard. He wanted to be noticed.

In a rush of hysteria and confusion, some customers rush out of the place while others dropped to the floor placing their crossed-finger hands on the back of their heads. The employees trapped in the kitchen hide wherever they can, some run to the nearest walk-in cooler and stay in there with the door open enough to see what’s happening by the register area. Lisa is the only one in the front area facing an armed robbery.

“I want all the money from the safe, be quite and do nothing stupid.” He tells Lisa, gun few hairs away from her ice-sweat forehead.

“Any one calling the cops yet?” His voice dry against the establishment. He scans the floor looking for any one holding a cellphone; no one. “Cowards!” he screams, his words accompanied by a chuckle.

“Where is the money from the safe girl?”

Lisa frozen in place. She can taste the desert in her mouth swallowing nothing but dry sand, so dry it is impossible to clear her throat to make any words come out. The robber takes another peek at the remaining threaten customers in the establishment. No one holding a cellphone yet.

“W-we do-do not ha-ave access to the-tthe safe, sir.” A male voice whispers from Lisa’s left shoulder.

The robber turns around in a very easy, calm way to face the manger, arm in-front of Lisa, chest level, indicating her to walk backwards.

“What did you just say, kid?” tasting the coper the last word had brought to his mouth.

The manager with a clean look, probably in his late 20s,  hardly believed that he would work at a fast food restaurant with such neat uniform, stayed calm. Lisa fell protected by his arm instructing her to fall back. He must have been at the drive-thru window waiting for the right moment to intervene.

With a clear and calm tone, he stated, “I am the manager in charge, and I can assure you that we do not have access to the safe. I can give you the money from all the registers, but please don’t do anything stupid.”

“STUPID!?” Veins popping on his forehead. Rage running thru his veins, his mouth sprayed what seemed like rabies on the counter.

“Are you calling me stupid, kid?” he replied as calm as the night outside.

Now the ice-cubed sweat run down the managers face. His lungs knocked out of air and his heart pounding in his head so fast and loud his eyes almost came out of their sockets.

“Let’s talk about stupidity, since you brought it up. Because if stupidity is what you want, I can just do this.” The robber stretched a foot back, both firm on the ground as his back strengthen out. His gun pointing at Lisa’s face. The world stopped except for his finger which slowly pulled the trigger back.

Before the gun cocked, a motorcycle shuttered the window by the front door and before any glass hit the floor, the gun was out of reach from the robber.

“I thought you would never show up. You took your sweet time. For once I thought you would really let some one die.” the black hooded man told Lisa’s statue self; as human as always, but motionless.

“I will never let that happened!” a calm masculine voice echoed within the four walls.

“I see you still like to play games. How sweet of you to fancy me some fun.” Left shoulder over-look and opposite, but no source for the calm masculine voice was spotted. The black hooded man stood there, hanged in the middle of a frozen scenario; soda spilled stood mid-air anticipating the spot, at some point, it will splash on. A girl’s teardrop hanging by her nose as the last inhale held there deep in her lungs, the memory of her parents frozen in her mind. And all of this was normal, that is just the sign a battle in between good and evil was about to take place.

The bike’s light shrunk into some one’s chest, not a motorcycle, but a being of light. Wings outspreading gloriously on both sides, so bright and warm it was almost impossible to look at him. The radiance he spelled would have burned down to ashes an ordinary human’s eyes, but since everything was frozen in time, the risk was minimal.

“I command you to show me your true form being of darkness!”

The robber’s crown discharge black smoke into the atmosphere exposing his true identity. The rubbered, skin-like suite he had been wearing a few human moments before, collapse to the floor.

“Disgusting!” the word escaped from the angel’s mouth repulsively.

“Alright Angel, let’s dance!” 

to be continued…