Be Your Everything

At 10 o’clock the next day, Alice was on her way to the café that Dani had suggested. She had her pulled up to the top of her head in a tight bun, and wore some clothes she had gone out and bought that morning (grudgingly with Harry’s money).
Feeling strangely confident, she pushed open the door and was greeted by a single tinkling bell. The store smelled like freshly baked sweets and coffee, which lifted her spirits a bit.
“How can I help you?” a plump young woman with smiling eyes asked when she made it to the counter. She had light brown hair pulled into a ponytail and donned a name badge that read Joanne.
She’d been over this a million times in her head. She’d rehearsed exactly what she would say – but the words seemed to get muddled up on the way from her brain to her mouth, and she ended up mumbling very quietly, “A job.”
“Pardon?” a tiny frown appeared on Joanne’s face, “I didn’t quite catch that.”
“Sorry,” Alice tried to laugh, “I was wondering if you had any jobs available?”
Success.
Joanne smiled kindly, “You’ve come to the right place! I’ll just pop behind and tell the manager you’re here.”
Less than a minute later a tall woman with a pointed face waved her through. She didn’t look very friendly, and Alice felt her heart sinking.
“My name is Margaret,” the pointed woman informed her as they moved from the shop to the back.
Harry had mentioned making a resume but Alice knew there was no point. She had absolutely nothing to put on it and there was nothing in it for anyone, handing an empty piece of paper over. But, in the end, he convinced her to at least print out something with her name, address, and mobile number on it. That was simple enough, but now as she walked behind the towering figure in front of her she felt as though it wouldn’t be nearly enough to get her a job.
“Through here,” Margaret gestured to a small office, undoubtedly her own, “Have a seat.”
Alice did as she was told.
“Now, first thing’s first, do you have a resume?”
The question Alice had been dreading.
“I originally thought of writing one up, but because I’ve never worked before, I made the decision not to.”
Margaret nodded stiffly, “Fair enough. I’m going to give you something to fill out – shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.”
Alice nodded, taking the single piece of paper she was given.
“I’ll leave you to it.”
Then she was alone. She looked at the form, and breathed out a sigh of relief. It was a page of questions. Most were multiple choices, and all involved common sense. When Alice reached the end she felt reasonably confident in her answers.
A few minutes after she finished Margaret swept back into the room, “All done?”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Alice politely, handing it over.
“Oh, please, none of that,” Margaret argued offhandedly. “So, I’ll get you to fill out this one last thing with contact details, birth date; all the standard things.”
Yet another paper was set in front of Alice, and she immediately set about filling it in. This one only took a couple of minutes.
Margaret gave her a small smile; it absolutely transformed her face and made her look much kinder, “I’ll give these a read through and give you a call within the next few days.”
Alice positively beamed, “Thank you so much! I look forward to hearing from you.”

Harry had gone out at 8 o’clock in the morning to see Zayn and Louis. The three of them had planned to get some songwriting done, and they had – but they had played video games a bit more.
Now it was almost 10.30 and he was lounging around the house as he waited for Alice to get home. His phone started ringing just as he sat down to turn the telly on, so he groaned loudly then got up to retrieve it, “Hello?”
“Harry,” Alice’s voice greeted him. She sounded different, less happy, “Something’s happened.”
“What? What happened?” he asked, beginning to panic already.
“You know how Michael came with me to GT’s Cake And Coffee?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Well, apparently while I was in there talking to the manager, he saw someone.”
“Who?”
“Rick walked right by him. Looked directly into the shop. Harry, he must know I’m here.”
“Look, where are you now? Are you still with Michael?”
“Of course I’m still with Michael,” she snapped.
Harry scolded himself. She wasn’t stupid.
“And I’m in the car coming home now. I’m only a few minutes away. Just thought I should tell you right away.”
“Well, you were right to,” he commented as he ran a hand through his hair. This was the worst thing that could have happened today.
“Right. Well, I’ll see you in a minute.”
“Okay. Bye…”
Harry couldn’t help but think - if Rick knew where she wanted to apply for a job, could he possibly know where they lived? Hell, could he be following Alice home right now? He couldn’t imagine what could be going through the man’s mind, because he obviously wasn’t sane. What could push a man so hard that he would kill his own wife?
Alice burst through the door red in the face and puffing. Apparently she had run up the stairs because Michael was nowhere in sight.
“Are you all right? Why were you running?”
It took her a few seconds to answer through her hurried breathing, “He’s here. F**k, Harry, he’s downstairs. Michael’s with him, he told me to run up here and lock the door.”
The colour drained from Harry’s face as he processed these words. Then, he sprang into action. He locked the door, and then pushed the couch in front of it. Then he took Alice by the arm and pulled her into his room.
She collapsed onto the bed and buried her face in her hands. Harry sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s going to be okay.”
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
He didn’t know what to say to that, but he knew one thing-
They were in big trouble.