She exited the car. Her embarrassment kept her from going back inside, so she trekked through the rain across the street to the diner on the corner. She wasn’t reminded that she hadn’t eaten until the smell of bacon caused her stomach to growl, as she stepped inside. She sat at the bar and motioned to the waitress, serving the early morning patrons.

“Is there a phone I can use? My car is stalled across the street. I need to call a tow,” she said.

“You got to buy something first,” the waitress replied.

“That’s fine,” Alani said. She looked up at the sign. $3.99 breakfast special.

She needed every, little dollar at this point. The four dollars she was about to spend on one breakfast could buy her a whole pack of bacon that she could eat on all week, but her stomach urged her to feed it. Four dollars ain’t gon’ make a difference, she thought. “I’ll take the special and a phone,” she said, her testy tone causing the woman to roll her eyes. She handed over the old-school phone, stretching the curly cord to the max, so that Alani could use it.

Bitch is going to spit in my food, Alani thought, as she took the receiver, wishing that she had been a bit nicer with her tone. A good breakfast would stop her stomach from touching her back and ease the sick feeling that had lived within her since finding out about the deaths of her loved ones. Or so she hoped.

She hooked up to Wi-Fi and searched for the closest company. The waitress sat down her food, as she ordered the tow.

Alani eyed the food, suspiciously, opting out of eating, as she placed exactly four dollars on the countertop before heading back out into the rain.

Ethic’s hands were covered in motor oil, as he installed the carburetor into an old-school Buick Regal. He had to focus on something, on anything, to stop himself from thinking about the little girl’s life he had taken. Albeit it had been a mistake, those types of slip-ups were ones that didn’t go without fault. Someone had to shoulder the blame for the loss of life. The world was filled with enough evil. He had taken one of the good ones and now his soul was unbalanced. His spirit was disturbed and nothing but busy work could keep him from losing it.