Nero(7)

She entered the diner and hung her coat up on the rack. It was an old diner in need of a serious upgrade. The downtown buildings were all old, although some had kept the same flare they had possessed many years ago. Like this dress I’m forced to wear.

Elle didn’t mind work. She got to meet people she would have never met under regular circumstances, especially with the casino hotel next door. The tips were never bad, either. She did make enough to pay the rest of her tuition at school.

Once she’d clocked in, Elle started waiting her tables. Monday was always a slow night because everyone was mostly too tired from the weekend. This made work pass slowly for her, forcing her to hear her own thoughts. Yet, after today, she didn’t want to think.

She was one of the two employees on the schedule to close tonight; consequently, she hoped it would pick up soon, since otherwise she would lose her mind.

As the time passed on, Elle was never freed from her thoughts, though. The diner only ever had a few people in and out the whole night. Thirty minutes before closing, she started to clean up to get ready for the morning. In no time, she was done and only had the trash left to take out. Therefore, she went to put on her coat and grab her purse.

Afterward, picking up the trash bag, she went into the kitchen and called out, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Steve. Have a good night.” Steve was the diner’s cook.

“Later, Elle.” He kept at cleaning his stove.

Elle went out the back door to throw away the trash, planning on leaving from the alley between the diner and the Casino Hotel. She locked the back door and threw the trash into the dumpster. Elle had turned around to start her walk to the bus stop when she heard voices entering the alleyway.

“Please, please, don’t kill me.”

“Shut him the fuck up before I blow his brains out right here.”

Elle ran to hide behind the dumpster. She knew she did not want to come face to face with that voice.

She could hear some footsteps come closer. “All clear, boss.”

As they all entered the area behind the diner, Elle couldn’t help peeping from behind the dumpster. It was pitch black from where she was, yet she was able to see four men thanks to the light from the diner. One was dressed in an expensive suit, his dark hair combed back. He was an older man. Under normal circumstances, she believed he would be super-sexy and handsome, but right now, he scared the piss out of her. He was definitely the one in charge.

Before I blow his brains out. Yep, that was him.

She noticed the man being held with his mouth shut was the crazed guy from earlier, who had been standing outside the casino hotel. A younger man was holding him, looking almost as scary as the one in charge. She believed him to be twenty years old, though he could possibly be scarier than the boss.

“Go get the car, Sal, and be quick about it.” Elle could feel nothing other than chills when she heard his voice. Damn, that man is scary.

“Sure thing, boss.” The third man wasn’t as frightening as the others. He might have been if the two Hannibal Lecters weren’t standing there, however.

The man ran out of the alley as fast as he could.

A minute passed, and Elle could tell the poor man knew his fate. He possibly looked more scared than Elle was at the moment. His instincts started kicking in and he tried to fight off the one holding him, biting the hand covering his mouth. The man dropped his hand before he thought he would lose it, giving the man free reign to scream.

Before he could let a cry for help escape, the one called Boss pulled a gun from the inside of his suit jacket. With that, Elle couldn’t look anymore. She knew what was going to come next.

Bang.

One was all it took.

Elle started to hyperventilate, covering her mouth before they could hear. She knew if she didn’t stay quiet, she would be next.

A car skidded up, and she heard the doors open and bodies being shuffled in. Before the doors were even shut, the car skidded right back out.

Elle kept her mouth covered as tears started to well in her eyes. She needed to get out of there in case anyone came back to clean up the mess. You can do this.

When she peeked out from behind the dumpster once more, no one was in sight. At that point, Elle couldn’t let herself think anymore; she needed to let her body take over. She jumped out from behind the dumpster and did the only thing she could do—run the hell away.

* * *

Sal stopped the car outside of his boss’s home. Thank fucking God I’m home. The piss smell of the dead body was getting to him.

“Sal, go back to the Casino and get rid of the tapes and make sure his piss is cleaned out of my car.” It hadn’t been the smartest thing to kill that dumb-fuck in the alley right where he worked, knowing people would hear the gunshot and they didn’t have time to clean up the blood, but he told himself, he hadn’t had a choice.