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onaipwolf

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Hayley pulled her shirt on over her head, then grabbed her jacket and put that on as well.

“Oh, putting your clothes back on?” Brennan said as he walked up to her.

“Yes.” Hayley replied curtly.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll take off my coat and freeze?”

“Right now I can only hope.” Hayley didn’t even want to look at him. She began rummaging up and down the aisles looking for something good to eat.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brennan followed close behind her.

She grabbed a package of chocolate donuts then continued on to the drinks. She searched through the various displays until she found what she was looking for: a pint of milk. “Aha.” She took it out and walked back to the counter.

She turned to him and stared, silently regarding him for a few seconds. “Why don’t you go find something useful to do? Away from me.”

“I know of something very useful that we could do together.” Brennan said with a smirk plastered across his face.

“You’re disgusting.” Hayley replied then turned away, ignoring him.

Brennan opened his mouth to retort her comment, but then thought better of it. “Ok then. I’m gonna go see if I can get my truck started. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Hayley ate her food and continued to ignore him.

“Try to not miss me too much while I’m gone.” Brennan said, trying to illicit some sort of response from her. “Just don’t move around the store too much.”

“Why?” Hayley asked, breaking her silence.

“Because.” Brennan paused. “The less we move around, the less evidence we leave behind.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Because we broke in here, that’s why.”

“Actually, you broke in here, I just followed.”

“Minor details. Just don’t go around touching too much, alright.”

Hayley sighed in frustration. “Fine. Whatever.”

Brennan zipped up his coat, and headed out the door, a bottle of anti-freeze in his hand. A burst of wind rushed in through the open door, blowing Hayley’s hair around and sending a chill running through her. The door slammed shut, leaving her alone with her donuts and milk. She finished eating her food in silence then threw away the garbage in the trash can.

Hayley leaned against the counter, her elbows resting on the surface. With nothing to do but wait for Brennan’s return, she began to get listless. She checked the time on her wristwatch; the digital display read 10:40. She had been standing around waiting for half an hour and wasn’t about to stay here any longer. Despite Brennan’s warning, she decided to go exploring; he was just being ridiculous anyway.

She walked back down the hall, passing the women’s and men’s bathrooms on her left. The hall didn’t extend very far, and she soon reached the end of it. A thick wooden door, painted over in a dingy, off-white color with the words ‘Employees Only’ stenciled on in red paint stood before her. She gripped the round silver door knob, slowly turned it to the right, and pulled the heavy door open.

She walked into the room, leaving the door wide open behind her. As she flicked on the light switch, she was met with an equally dingy employee lounge. The room was oblong, rather small, and not much bigger than a typical bedroom, with the door dividing the room in half. A metal table covered with several old magazines and surrounded by several tan fold-down chairs was situated on the left side of the room. A puke green, plastic, time-worn couch sat on the right side facing an old television resting on the top of a two tiered metal garden cart which stood against the same wall as the door. Across from the door, a vending machine half filled with candy and snacks and an old coke machine stood side by side. Disappointment at the typical surroundings tugged at her, though she wasn’t sure exactly what she had been hoping for.

Still feeling a little thirsty after her improvised breakfast, she reached into her pocket, pulled out several quarters, and dropped them into the slot. She pressed the button with the Dr. Pepper icon, and heard the sound of the can of pop tumbling down through the inner workings of the machine until it popped into the tray at the bottom. She pulled it out and, after tapping the top several times with her middle finger, popped the tab. The amber liquid fizzed and bubbled for a few seconds. She took a long drink, the carbonation burning her throat on the way down.

She sat down on the green couch and continued to drink her pop. She thought she smelled something slightly nauseating in the air. She sniffed the opening to the can to see if that’s where it was coming from, but her nose was only met with the scent of the sweet-smelling drink. She moved back and forth, looking for the culprit to the foul smelling odor. She tried to identify the smell; it was almost like rancid meat, or an old moldy sandwich. The scent slowly began to grow in strength, and finally the smell began to get to her, and she felt her stomach clench. She swallowed and exhaled deeply to try stave off the sense of impending upheaval in her stomach.

Still looking around for the culprit to the nausea inducing smell, she glanced down and noticed a reddish brown substance coming from the space beneath the couch. She got off the couch and leaned down to gaze beneath it. The stench increased, and she covered her nose and mouth with her free hand.

Two eyes stared blankly at her in the semi-darkness beneath the furniture. It was an older man, a little overweight, blonde hair cut short. His face was contorted in a grimace of what must have been pain when breath still filled his lungs. The chest was covered in dark, sticky concentrations of half-dried blood. She looked back, not comprehending at first. Then realization struck her. Bile rose up in her throat and she vomited onto the floor. Her can dropped to the floor, a loud clang on the tile flooring. It rolled away; the fizzy liquid spilled out, mingling with the blood.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God.” She repeated the phrase over and over, a skipping record. She shoved herself up off the floor and backed out of the room, the dead eyes impossibly continuing to stare at her the whole way.

“Ooof!” In her desperate backwards retreat her back struck a hard object. In her panic she had struck one of the white and red square support beams just inside the front part of the store. She felt the breath knocked out of her, her head spinning. She leaned forward, her hands on her knees, coughing, trying to catch her breath.

“Are you ok?”

Hayley looked up to see Brennan walking quickly towards her, the flecks of snow a stark contrast on his hair and jacket. She clung to him, her life saver, her arms wrapped around his neck, her face buried in his chest. Brennan enveloped her in his arms, holding her tight. He rubbed her back comfortingly, as he whispered soothing words in her ear.

“It was so horrible, his eyes, so blank, staring back at me.” Hayley rested in his embrace, sobs wracking her body, tears streaming down her face.

 “I’m so sorry, Hayley. I didn’t mean for you to find the body.” Brennan spoke the words softly to her.

Hayley sniffed once and raised her head a little bit. The implications of his words hit her hard. “You didn’t mean for me to find it? What do you mean?”

“I just meant, I thought it would bother you.”

“How did you know about it?” Hayley lifted her head and looked him in the face.

“I-Well I found it earlier when you were in the bathroom.” Brennan explained quickly.

Hayley searched his face, her mind racing.

“I know what you’re thinking, and I didn’t do anything.” Brennan said, his voice rising.

“You sick, sick, thing. How could you do that?” Hayley broke from him, pushing his chest, causing him to stumble a few steps backwards. “What’s next? Are you gonna kill me?”

Brennan glared at her. “What the hell are you talking about? I found him here, he was dead already. There’s no way I could have killed him in the few minutes you were gone, alright.”

Hayley wiped the back of her hand over her eyes to dry her tears, the fear and shock giving away to anger and further panic.

He had her there. “Maybe you get some sort of sick pleasure out of disturbing people, I don’t know. Just get the hell away from me, you disgusting excuse for a human being.” She reached out her hands to strike his chest again, but he grabbed them just in time and twisted her arms down to her sides, their bodies pressed close together, with his face inches from her own.

“You call me whatever the hell you want, try hitting me, I don’t care. But you are going to have to trust me and what I tell you. We’re in this together and the only way we’re going to get out of here without ending up in jail is if we work together.” Brennan spat the words out, anger seething in his voice.

“No.” Hayley retorted filling the word with as much contempt as she could.

“You do realize it doesn’t matter at this point who exactly did what, your finger prints are all over the place, and you stole merchandise. I’m sure you want to be in your child’s life, not rotting away in some penitentiary.”

Brennan’s grip on her arms was growing tighter. She grimaced in pain, and he smiled briefly.

“Ok.” She breathed.

“What was that?” Brennan asked, his hold an iron clamp, and she felt her skin burning in pain.

“Ok.” She said a little louder. “Just let go of me.”

He paused, hesitating for a moment before he released her. “Good.”

The intense roller coaster of emotions was just too much and Hayley sank to the floor, her back against the wall, her knees pulled up next to her chest. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and she felt inescapably tired. “I hate you.” She said, not bothering to put forth the effort to raise her head and look at him.

“I’ll be back soon. You just sit there for a little bit alright.” Brennan said as he pulled off his coat and tossed it onto the counter. “And listen to me this time.”

Hayley watched Brennan shake the snow from his hair and walk down the hall. This wasn’t really happening, she wasn’t really here, she was just an outside observer, she would soon wake up and the nightmare would end. Blissful numbness crept into her brain. The lie soothed her, if only for a little while.