Laura woke up with startled by the noise coming from her bedroom door, she stretched and yawned taking in the morning sun streaming in from the window and then got up from her bed to see who was banging at her bedroom door, but before she could reach for the door knob to open the door she heard her Uncle Greg's voice hurling profanities at her '' Laura you sheep, come downstairs at once'' he yelled, Laura breathed in the morning air to calm herself before finally opening the door, she stood face to face with her uncle who looked so rugged like a ruffian, " good morning Uncle Greg" Laura greeted him but she could tell from his looks that there was going to be trouble, what could she have done wrong this time? her uncle glared at her angrily, his face puffing and chest heaving like he was going to pounce on her, "Get downstairs now, he yelled at her and bounded down the stairs making a loud noise as he did. Uncle Greg was a large man with menacing features and always frightened Laura when she was a child and even now as an adult.
Laura hurriedly washed her face, brushed her hair and teeth and hurried downstairs to answer her uncles call, she knew there will be trouble this morning but why, she did not know the answer to that. As she got to the Living room, she saw her uncle and his wife seating on the couch whispering to each other, Laura stood by the doorway looking at the pair suspiciously as they continued whispering not noticing her presence, she cleared her throat and this startled the both of them, " there you are, her uncle said gesturing to her to take s seat. Laura sat down facing her brute of an uncle and his graceless wife waiting for the sledge of the hammer, she could tell they had plotted a Coup against her. "Laura, let me get straight to the point her uncle Greg began, I have been your guardian ever since your parents passed and believe me when I say it has not been an easy decision, you have been such a great burden to me you ungrateful twerp, you consume so much in this house and contributor so little. I want to inform you from now on you will have to pay more rent and increase the monthly allowance you give me for food, it's no longer enough to cater to our.. em ..em .. I mean YOUR need. Laura was not surprised at this development, her uncle was in the habit of squandering the money she gave for upkeep and then increasing the amount she had to pay every month, she just had to get away from this place she thought, life for her here has become painfully unbearable, the constant bullying from her uncle and his family after wastefully spending her trust fund money kept by her late parents for her college education, he constantly reminds her of how alone she is in the world and this load of crap he was giving her about the money for rent and food not being sufficient was just a load of crap to extort more money from her to fund his drinking and gambling habits. Laura snapped out of her thoughts back to reality hearing her uncle tell her there was not room for discussion, his decision was final, he stood up and left the sitting room living room without giving her room to say a word of protest to his decision. Laura was left in a web of emotions sitting on the living room sofa thinking to herself on what to do next, she did not earn a lot from her Cahier job at the O'Connor's grocery store, also giving her uncle more money from her income meant lesser or no savings at all which might affect her plans to leave her uncle's home to get her own apartment, she sat gloomingly thinking about what next to do but just then she heard the chiming of the clock on the wall, the time was 9:30 am already and she was late for work, she quickly ran upstairs, grabbed her purse and flew back down the stairs as she made for the door she glanced quickly at her uncle's wife who stared back at her with bloodied eyes blocking the entrance to the kitchen to deprive her of blocking a quick breakfast, this was always their tactics whenever they needed to extort money from her ( deprived her of food, turned off the water in the house) generally depriving her of the basics of living to get her to bend to their whims . Laura did not bother taking breakfast, she walked out the door that morning to work feeling conquered and alone, she misses her parents dearly, her hope and dream of getting her own apartment seem now like a dream she could never live.
Laura always walked to work with a feeling of happiness and freedom from her worries but this morning was different, unlike her cheerful self she looked very sad and Mr O'Connor could tell the moment she walked through the door. " Laura my dear are you okay, Mr O'Connor asked her with concern in his voice, what is wrong my dear? he asked again as he gently held her hands in his but this only made Laura tear up. Laura sat on her desk as Mr O'Connor gently stroked her shoulders telling her everything will be alright at the end "oh dear, it's ok darling, everything will be fine" he said while Laura cried her heart bawling like a child, her heart ached, she felt like her heart will shatter into a million pieces, the pain was too much for her to bear, her uncle's cruelty and the memory of her deceased parents thuging at her heart. when she finally calmed down, she explained all that transpired at home that morning to her boss Mr Oc as she usually called him, he was furious, how could her uncle be so mean to her? Laura was such a sweet girl and everyone in Little Borough was drawn to her charm and warm nature, he knew Laura will never agree to accept his offer to live with him in his cottage but there and then Mr O'Connor decided to increase her weekly wage, that was the least he could do to help her.
Laura started her usual daily routine at the store trying to get her worries off her mind, she found that working helped her forget her pain, she immersed herself in the sorting of goods on the shelf and balancing the account. during lunch time, the store was usually quite with just few customers picking items off the shelf. she went back to work inputting figures on the computer and did not notice when a figure walked into the store and towards her desk and a voice said " Hello! please where can I get.... em...the voice stopped mid speech as she lifted her face to answer the customer, she stared into the eyes of the stranger she had met at the stream, the stranger starred back at her, they locked eyes for a few seconds and it was almost as if they souls leaped, something remarkable had just happened. the stranger snapped out of the staring contest between him and Laura and spoke his voice a deep alluring timbre, ''Hello, we meet again, I am Macsterreen Junior but you can call me MJ, we met the other day by the stream, sorry for my rude behavior he said, ""nice to meet you," MJ Laura responded sweetly to him taking his outstretched hands for a brief handshake, are you new in town? she asked, I have been here a couple of times MJ responded, he could not believe he was meeting her again, the mysterious woman whose beauty struck him when he saw her at the stream. " um um.. he stuttered, you work here? damn" she was really beautiful, and her sweet angelic voice soothed him, get it together MJ he scolded himself, he tried to shake the thoughts out of his mind reminding himself of his vow to keep of women and love forever, "oh yes, I work here, I have been the cashier here for 6 years Laura responded, can I help you get something? she asked him, oh yes, umm .. ummm... does he always stutter Laura thought, please can I get a pair of socks here? he asked, of course Laura said leaving her desk to grab a pair of socks for this new acquaintance, what color would you want sir? "black is fine, MJ responded. Laura gave MJ the pair of socks he asked for, he paid for it, thanked her and left without saying another word to her, Laura felt like he was almost running out of the store and she wondered if he always did that, he looked too polished and educated to be regarded as the shy type, she could see pain in his eyes but from what? why does he look at her with so much sadnesses, could he feel her pain or did he carry his very own? Laura wondered.