Chapter One: Bad Day. Bad, Bad Day.

The day started out dark and dreary and I should have known that it was a sign of things to come. I, Avery Bailey a twenty-year old perpetual student was driving to my part-time job at the local mall. Usually I loved days that were rainy and thunderstormy, but there was an odd sense in the air on the day in question and I could only hope that the small store that I worked in would be mercifully quiet.

Right at one-fifty PM I pulled into a parking spot and then made a mad dash for the doors before the heavens opened up once more. Once under the safety of the over hang I took a look at my beat-up convertible beetle and smiled. It had taken almost three years of saving my money religiously but I was finally able afford it.

Pulling out my watch I realized that I only had a couple minutes left before my shift and therefore I made my way to the escalator which would take me practically to my doors front entrance. I made a quick pit-stop at the lower level washrooms to fill up my water bottle and I entered the bookstore that I worked in at two p.m on the dot. Page Turner was a small old-world feeling bookstore in the mall. It had a fairly large footprint and had a large sitting/children’s area in the back. I loved working there, and my manager Amy loved having me.

As I walked in, Amy was at the front desk as usual and as I made my way to the back I waved at her. “Afternoon Ames,” I stated with a grin.

“Morning Aves,” she replied back. Amy was a thirty-two mother of thre and she glanced at the clock on the back wall before continuing speaking to me. “Before you punch in, Samantha at Surround Sound wants talk to you.”

“Oh?” I asked, stopping in my tracks. “What about?”

Amy shrugged. “I have no idea, something about scheduling?”

I nodded in understanding. “Maybe,” I then did a one-eighty degree turn and headed back out the store. “Be back in five Ames.”

“I’ll give you ten,” came the jovial reply. I smiled as I walked past the threshold. Even though I had only been working at Page Turner for a couple months, Amy and I already had a great rapport going and the ‘give you ten’ statement was part of our daily jokes. It came about the first time I went on a five minute break, it was a Saturday and the mall was absolutely full of people. Lines were so long that it took me ten minutes to get my drink instead of five. Amy thought it was amusing that I raced back so quickly that I ended up tripping over my own two feet and sent my ice-tea and a glass bottle flying to the ground in front of the store and ever since then she’s given me and everyone else a ten minute break instead of five just in case of such crowds.

As I walked into Surround Sound however it was a different story. I was comforted greatly by the familiar set up, with the speakers blasting the newest dance-mix cd with the best pop songs and the store on a whole was neat and tidy as usual. I smiled warmly as I approached the main desk and checkout where Emily Nielson was working. “Hey there Emily,” I stated warmly. “Is Sam around?’

Emily looked up in surprise and I could have sworn that she was having an MSN conversation or something on company time. She didn’t say anything about it and I certainly didn’t want to bring it up so I kept silent. Emily however glanced at the screen before replying to me. “She just stepped out for a quick drink,” she answered. “She should be back in a minute or so.”

“Great,” I said with a smile. “I’ll just check the scheduling.” And so for the next three or so minutes I went through the next two weeks of scheduling making sure that no dates conflicted with my new job. Thankfully there were none and true to Emily’s word, Samantha Jones the six foot tall, black-haired model thin, assistant manager of mine walked through the main doors. “Hey Sam,” I exclaimed with a smile. “You wanted to see me?”

Samantha nodded. “Yeah,” she stated in her usual quiet voice as she placed her drink behind the counter.

“Well there’s no problems with this weeks schedule,” I answered, jumping a head of myself a little. “Or the week after that so you don’t have to do any rescheduling.”

“That’s great,” Samantha replied as she came back from behind the front counter. “Can I talk to you in the back?”

I nodded and let Sam lead me into the backroom. “What’s up?” I asked not really knowing what was going on.

“It has been brought to my attention that you opened Merek’s mail.”

“What?” I exclaimed in shock.

“And I’m going to have to write you up,” Sam finished.

“What?” I exclaimed again, my heart thudding so loud. “Bit I didn’t…” I paused and tried to remember what Sam could possibly be talking about and then I remembered what had happened on the eighteenth. “Sam, I handed his pay-slip to Merek. That’s what happened. I handed it to him behind the counter and then I turned away and then the next thing I saw was the USB disc sitting beside the keyboard and the backup computer. I opened THAT up because it was so cute and small…but I didn’t open the actual letter.”

“Well,” Sam began quietly as usual. “Unfortunately I’m going to have to go with what I’ve been told and-”

“But I didn’t do it,” I protested. “I didn’t.”

“Well there’s nothing that I can do,” Sam replied. “In fact I shouldn’t even be having this conversation because opening someone’s mail is a crime and—”

“And I know that Sam,” I stated honestly. “Which is why I didn’t do it.”

Sam shook her head. “There’s nothing else I can say except that I have to go with what I’ve been told and write you up for this.” She paused and looked at me. “And you should know that if Merek wasn’t such a nice guy then you could get fired for something like this,”

“But I didn’t do it.”

“But I have to go with what I’ve been told and hopefully Merek won’t pursue this,” Sam stated firmly. “Alright?”

“Alright,” I agreed shaking inside. I didn’t know what else to say. What else could you say when being confronted with something like that? I didn’t say anything. Instead I stalked off as quick as I could and walked into Page Turner where Amy was waiting for me.

“Everything alright?” she asked me, obviously noticing the look on my face. I said nothing but nodded my head. I wasn’t about to get into it with her, not right away at the very least. And so, even though I was shaking inside I managed to get to work. It was later that night that I had a brainstorm. During a break I went back to Surround Sound and had Sam step outside into the mall.

“Have you checked the tape?” I asked watching her face carefully.

“No,” she responded as though that was the most normal thing in the world.

“Well could you check the tape?” I asked again, not believing what I was hearing.

“Do I really need to?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“Well yeah,” I stated, trying to keep my voice in check. . “I mean, I don’t want to be blamed for something that I didn’t do.”

“Do you know what time and where?” Sam asked, almost disinterested.

“It was between six-thirty and six-thirty-five-ish,” I answered. “Giver or take, maybe as late as six-forty or seven and it happened behind the main counter. I want to know either way what happened, I mean if I did do it without thinking then I’ll obviously accept the write up and I’ll apologize to Merek. But I know that I didn’t do it and this will prove it.”

Sam nodded. “I’ll get Brandon to check the tape in the morning,” she assured. “And if it shows that you didn’t do it then I’ll apologize.”

“Great,” I stated with a curt nod. “I’ll swing by tomorrow then.”