David sat in his hometown’s super department store, smiling as people came and went. Most people would think his line of work was dead-end, worthless, something to stay at just long enough until he could get a ‘real job’. But David looked at it at a different way. First off, he loved meeting people, so this was indeed a good avenue. Secondly, and, he deemed, most importantly, he believed being cheerful in all circumstances was a much better way to live. Many people couldn’t even get a job, and, while his may be thankless and the pay was lousy, David kept a smile on his face as people came and went. Even if he didn’t make a good pay check for the day, he got to at least interact with people and have some fun.
David looked up at the clock. 5:15. “Aww man, just got into the groove.” David whistled as he shut down his toy department room and clocked out. He bid farewell to his fellow co-workers and walked outside, the snow crunching beneath his shoes. David took a moment to look at the falling snow. He truly loved it when it snowed. Everything looked brushed over with a streak of beauty.
A clanking a few yards from David drew his attention to a nearby blood red four seat car. A young woman, who looked about David’s age, was trying to load some bags into the car’s back seats. David went up to help, keeping the same smile on his face. “Hi there. Need any help?” The girl whirled around, and David noticed she was quite beautiful. Long straight blond hair, blue eyes, placid, delicate face, and was wearing a green cloak over her shirt and jeans.
The girl quickly looked down, turning back to her bags. “No, I’m fine, thank you.” David moved in front of the girl, stooping over to grab some of the bags. “You sure?” He asked cheerily, about to pick a bag up, but the girl grabbed his hands and squeezed them tightly, then looked over to her right with a flicker of fear in her face. David looked up, not phased by the decline, though was a little confused at the hand grabbing, and noticed a bald older gentlemen was nearing the car.
“Hello sir. How are you today?” David asked the man who neared the car, looking at the girl with a gruff facial expression.
“You want do ged deeze bags in the car? Pft.” The man appeared to be German, which David guessed the girl was as well based on the little bit of her accent he picked up. The man seemed quite against David having anything to do with the premises, even though he worked at the store.
“Stuped American boyz. All there for themselves.” The man said gruffly and climbed in the car, not giving David another look, and the girl hastily rushed around to the back passenger seat, the bags on the other side of the car, and the car pulled away.
David wondered what that was all about, and shrugged, undaunted. “Must have had a bad day.”

The next day, David sat with anticipation behind his counter in the mall store. People passed by, whom David greeted with a smile and nod. Some of the kids who came by actually got interested in some of the newer toys David had on display, and David had a ball dazzling the kids with what the gizmos could do.
Then he noticed the girl from the day before walking briskly up to his counter, smiling, but based on the circles under her eyes, hadn’t gotten much sleep. “Hello again, ma’am.”
The girl smiled brightly and replied, “hello.” Yep, definitely German.
“How are you today, Ma’am?”
“Good.” The girl said, nodding.
“What’s your name?” David asked, keeping his smile.
“Samantha.” Samantha said. David nodded.
“Well, Samantha, it was nice to meet you, what can I do for you today?”
Samantha’s perky expression faltered for a second, but she brought it back up and shrugged. “What do you do?” Samantha said, answering the question with another one. Apparently her English was a little poor too.
David pondered that for a moment, but didn’t think much of it as he replied, “well, I am the guy who sells toys in this store.” David reached for a newer yo-yo, one that had no slipknot to slide your finger into. Instead, this yo-yo had a little plastic piece at the end so you could release your grasp on the string quickly. The enabled one to direct the yo-yo more directly using the string itself instead of just the yo-yo’s momentum.
David demonstrated how the device worked, all to the amazement of Samantha.
“…and that’s just one of the things I have to sell here.”
“Samantha!” Came a gruff voice. David looked over to see the bald man from yesterday come up to the stand, again not even looking at him.
“Father?” I asked.
“Yes.” Samantha said with a nod, her expression indicating she was troubled.
“Rough guy?” David asked.
Samantha nodded largely. “Hmm.” David said.
“I have to go.” Samantha said, leaving.
“Have a nice day Samantha.” David said, smiling at the two.
David’s expression changed. There was something odd about Samantha’s father. Samantha looked quite pale today, despite that being part of her normal skin tone. And her lack of sleep troubled him too. David was far from considering a relationship with this girl, he just cared about her wellbeing. The same was true of anyone he met. It was the right thing to do.
David pondered these things as the day went on, and, as he drove on home, he said a prayer for strength for the two. It must have been a rough family life, no mother as far as David could tell, much less the two being in a distant country, their native land being far away.

The next day, David was checking in and walking towards his home-away-from-home, the toy counter. He raised the metal gate and clicked on the lights, then noticed someone was behind him via the back mirror.
David turned around and saw Samantha was there already. David turned to say ‘hi’ but stopped dead. Samantha didn’t look so good. Her right eye was puffy and a large cut ran from the top of her nose to the middle of her right facial cheek. David’s brow knit. “What happened to you, Samantha?”
Samantha didn’t say anything, looking either ashamed or just broken, too broken to speak. Then David’s eyes widened. The cut along her face looked perfectly impacted, like a brick or something hit her face. David drew closer slowly, and noted the middle of her forehead had a nick in it as well. So it was a brick, from all looks of things.
“Who did this to you?” David asked, looking towards the market doors, which were within walking distance of him. Instantly, the man presumably Samantha’s father came to mind. Without even thinking, David took Samantha’s arm. “Come on. We need to get you safe.” Samantha didn’t say anything, but followed.
David kept watching the doors, filing past people left and right, all shopping for this or that. Samantha looked dazed, her pained facial expression the same. David passed by a fellow worked named Mikey, a brown-skinned afro-ed man carrying a box to storage. “Hey hey, Mikey.” Mikey stopped, then looked in shock at Samantha.
“What happened to her?”
“Someone hurt her.” David said, stony faced. “I need you to call the police, I need the manager to lock down the market. I think I know who this guy is, and he may come here.”
Mikey didn’t say anything but ran for the nearest phone. David didn’t even look back as he ran down another isle, asking the people to make way. Jonathan Gumfrey, the store manager, was walking leisurely down one of the food courts, and David called out to him. “Mr. Gumfrey! Mr. Gumfrey!” Jonathan stopped, looking at David.
“David, what’s going on?” Then he saw Samantha and stopped. “Ooh, did she fall?”
David shook his head. “No, she was hurt by someone. I think the man who did this to her will be coming here, we need to lock this place down and get the police here.”
Jonathan instantly took a serious expression like David. “Who’s contacting the police?”
“Mikey” David said with an affirming nod.
Jonathan nodded. “Alright, you take her to the back room, get her some ice. I’ll call the front and have them lock down the building.” With that, Jonathan ran for the nearest shop phone, which should notify the front desk.
David didn’t even look at Samantha but ran to the door in the back of the food court, feeling Samantha grab his arm. They went past the chiefs, which David notified as quickly as he could as he ran that the building was going into lock down. Once they made it in the back, the pair found a quiet corner.
David stopped for the first time since he saw Samantha this morning, and slowly turned to Samantha, who looked exactly the same as when he first saw her. David slowly embraced Samantha, who clung to him like a koala, crying brokenly.

David sat holding one of Samantha’s hands in one of his, the other hand holding a bag of ice over Samantha’s right eye, her other eye red with crying. The two didn’t say anything, until Jonathan came in. Samantha looked slowly over at him, fearful for a moment that it was her father.
Jonathan was calm and soothing as he suggested, “we could bring you two up to the surveillance room, it’ll be safer there. The building is locked down, and I have the police on the phone who are right outside. We can have you talk to me through another line, and identify the man.” I nodded, clarifying that we’d do that. It would seem better for Samantha to not be near the front doors when her father would come around. Jonathan turned his attention to Samantha. “Do you suppose when your father will be here?” Samantha shook her head violently.
Jonathan offered a hand to Samantha, who stood slowly. David held Samantha’s hand still, the other hand around her shoulders, and the two walked through the store, all the shoppers sitting on the floor facing the front door. Samantha looked over, but David turned her head away. “Shh, don’t look. Let’s just get to the surveillance room.”
“Whud is dat?” Samantha asked.
“It has cameras, cameras everywhere so we can see who’s in and outside the store.” David explained, condensing the definition to something Samantha could understand easily. Jonathan broke from the pair, departing, quickly saying “I’m on line two”, then went to ready himself by the phone.
David pushed a door open on the far left back of the store, and climbed slowly the metal stairway to the surveillance room at the top. David quickly surveyed the room as they sat, noticing the eight tv monitors. David pulled up a rolling chair for Samantha and carefully sat her down in it. David picked up the phone, hit the 2 button and said “Yeah, Jon, we’re here.”
Good, he heard on the other end. The police is escorting everyone away from the building. When this guy shows up, you give us the green light and we’ll lock him up.
“Will do, sir.” Jonathan said.
Oh, and David?
“Hmm?”
You’re a good man.
“Thank you sir.” David said, then set the phone down so it was ready. Samantha’s countenance looked a little brighter, she looked calm at collected at this time.
“I’m gonna’ see if I can get you some water, I won’t leave this room. Just holler if your dad shows up on any,” David pointed to the tvs, “of these tv scenes.”
Samantha’s visible eye darted around, looking worried, but then settled, and she nodded.
David nodded. “Alright.” David turned and surveyed the room. It wasn’t as packed as he normally expected surveillance rooms to be. In the far right corner there was a water cooler. David picked up one of the cups on top of the cooler and filled it with water, sipping it to see if it was cold. It was.
David returned and handed the water to Samantha, who sipped at it moderately. David took a seat next to Samantha and allowed himself to relax. He looked over at Samantha and asked, “are you doing ok?”
Samantha turned and smiled, nodding. David smiled back. “Good. It’ll be ok, alright?”
Another nod.
David supposed Samantha was from a very domineering home, so much so that she normally never spoke. How sad. David leaned forward and looked at the screens. At least something could be done to bring this monster down.
A few minutes from then, the red four passenger car pulled into the market. Police were already there, directing the crowds away from the store. Samantha, at this point, had set aside her ice, half of which was melted – her face wasn’t getting any puffier – and pointed at one of the tv screens. “Dat’s duh car! Dat one!”
“Which one, where?” David asked, rolling his chair so he got closer, then noticed the view out the front door, with Samantha’s father getting out, looking grumpy as usual and staring at the ground. “Ok, we got him.”
David picked up the phone and said “Jonathan, the man coming to the front is the father. That’s our man.”
Copy that David. Jonathan said. There was a quick buzz, an indication that Jonathan was calling the police. One of the officers had just stepped forward to approach Samantha’s father.
Miss? Jonathan asked over the phone, talking to Samantha. He didn’t wait for a reply and continued with, You don’t have to worry about your father hurting you anymore. Your safe now.
Samantha’s face didn’t change. There wasn’t any joy, and neither was their sorrow. David reached out and took Samantha’s closest hand, giving it a tender squeeze. Now, he was sure what his feelings were, and where they fell.

“Beat er? Noh, she, she fell last night, on the patio.” The man almost mumbled his alibi. David sat there nervously.
“Sir, you’re going to have to come with us.”
David breathed a sigh. They led the man away.
Samantha’s eyes got watery, then she started to cry. David scooted closer to Samantha and hugged her, letting her cry.
“Dis man, dis orrible man! E’s my fathuh!” David nodded, understanding the shock of it all, watching the police squad cars pull away, reopen the store, and a tow truck pull off with the red car.

David took the day off by request of Jonathan, and spent the day getting a hold of his roommate, Justin. Samantha stood pensively, quietly, nearby for the whole process. David needed some place for Samantha to stay, and his apartment seemed the best option.
Justin was happy to accommodate, and suggested getting his sleeping bags out, ones they had used in a camping trip together during their summer out of college. David thought that was a perfect idea, and let Samantha have the bed or couch, whichever she preferred. David also requested for Justin to wash the sheets on the said bed, which was Justin’s (David always slept on the couch).
David put down the phone with a click, turning to Samantha, who smiled. The two hugged quickly then David sat Samantha down inside the store. “Is there anything I can get for you? Anything?”
Samantha looked at David in the eye (something David figured she didn’t do much of at home), shaking her head. “No thank you David.”
David nodded in acknowledgement.

David left a few minutes later, driving Samantha home to his apartment.
The two met Justin, a large black gentleman. Upon meeting Samantha, Justin spoke calmly and held out his hand to her after saying hello.
“I was just about to get your bed ready. You have it all to yourself.” Samantha nodded.
“Well, might as well fix dinner. I’m sure you two have had-” A look from David made Justin stop.
“Like I said, I’ll fix dinner.” Justin said, turning to the kitchen.

No one spoke during dinner, and afterwards, Justin got out a red and green sleeping bag and two pillows from the couch for the two of them.
“Where will you be?” Samantha asked, looking worriedly at David.
“The both of us will be right here outside. If you need anything, just ask.” Samantha nodded, not giving much facial recognition to what was being said.
Samantha shut the door, and was silent.
Justin looked at David. “So what the heck happened, bro?”
David sighed. “This wasn’t the first day I’d seen Samantha. She was coming on a regular basis, my guess was her father was living by his daily pay check. It was two days of seeing her before today. Her father had hit her with a brick, and Samantha had come for help. They arrested him before we got here.”
“Gosh man, that’s tough. Are they from around here?”
“My guess is no. Both sound German. Dad was probably looking for opportunity here in the states…”
The two men were silent for a long time. “So what now?”
“I don’t know, man. It’ll be awhile before the trial, and even then, I don’t know what’s best.”…


WHAT NOW, IF ANYTHING!! CAST YOUR VOTES PEOPLE, YOU DECIDE!!