//------------------------------// // 2. Dare To Move // Story: Golden Hourglass // by EverlyTheBlackRabbit //------------------------------// She may not have looked waitress material at first but after a while I finally learned from her she really was - Time Turner, Owner of Golden Hourglass "Could you repeat that again? Sorry I didn't get the first part!" asks Vinyl to a customer. The man clenched his hand under the table feeling impatient, "I said I want a burger, no cheese, fries and hot wings!" Vinyl nods her head as she scribbles it down, "And you want it with cheese, right?" "No! With no cheese!" he says almost losing his cool. "Alright! Thanks! Oh wait, I almost forgot. What did you wanted to drink?" asks Vinyl. The man face palms. "Cherry Cola." Vinyl scribbled it down. "Sir, it happened again." Octavia tells Time Turner. The two were behind the counter. "What happened again?" he asks as he was on the cash register adding up the price of a customers meal. "Vinyl. She's asking more than once a customer's order and he seems to be the impatient type." "Oh no," he says with no real emotion. "Did she finish taking his order?" "Seems like she did." "Okay, then it all went well. No need to get you, Lyra or me." "Right." Time Turner, could tell there was something on Octavia's mind. "What's up? You sound kind of displeased, Octavia." "It's just that I like to know why you hired Vinyl," says Octavia. Time Turner arched a brow, "Why? Don't like her?" "No! Of course I like her. It's just...I never got to learn why you hired her. I was so busy the whole time those days she started and I remember from Lyra telling me how it somehow changed Vinyl but I don't notice any changes!" The manager smiles, "Maybe you're not looking hard enough." Octavia pouts, "Please, sir, tell me the story!" "Sure but it's a long one. How about if I tell you during your break and if there's not a lot of customers. Remember, we don't have Derpy today so I may need to step in and help if the place get's busy!" The manager explains. "Right, why did Derpy call out?" "She didn't give me the details. She just said, Something came up and I'm sorry that I won't be able to make it. After, I tried calling on her cell but she wouldn't pick up." "Oh my. I hope it's nothing serious!" "Same here, Octavia." The time finally came for Octavia's break. She took a quick look around the lobby. There was just a few who were already eating their food. Nothing big that the manager may need to take care of. She hurries to her locker and takes out her lunch bag then goes towards his office. Right when she was about to enter, he comes out. He notices her. "Sorry, Octavia but I need to take care of Derpy's turn of washing the trash cans," Time Turner say. Octavia groans. In the alleyway, Time Turner had the garbage cans on the ground while he held a hose in one hand. He looks back, finding Octavia sitting on a crate eating her lunch. "You're persistent," he tells her. She doesn't say anything but eat her lunch. "I'll begin. Let's see, I guess I should start when the day Lyra brought her in." Time Turner was in his office with Lyra in front of his desk as she went on and on about a friend she believed would be perfect to be a new waitress. He's noticed that he'd been needing extra help ever since his small restaurant been getting more customers the last few months. "So, does she sound great?" Lyra asks him. "She sounds nice," he replies. "Good because she's here waiting in the lobby," she smiles. The manager sighs, "You shouldn't have, Lyra." "Oh but I did!," she says excitedly. She leaves the office to go get her. She comes back with a girl with two different colored blue hair wearing shades and dressed in white. On the girl's head she was wearing headphones. The girl waves her hand at the manager. Time Turner was taken back by how the girl looked. Usually when someone comes in to ask for a job they dress a bit more professional. He looks up at Lyra, "Why don't you leave us alone, Lyra, so I can start the interview." Lyra nods her head happily and leaves. He looks at the girl in front of him. "What's your name?" He first asks her. The girl removes her headphones and leaves them hanging around her neck. "My name is Vinyl Scratch," she says. "Vinyl Scratch, the position for this job is a waitress. Why would you like this position?" "Well, I work well with other people. I've joined a lot of activities back in high scool and was also the school DJ so I played a lot of music at school dances and events." The manager nods his head, "You have people skills. You had any other jobs before or currently have one?" "Yes actually. I work as a DJ in a small club. It's only for four hours a day and only work for two days on Friday and Saturday night." "If you were to work here we could arrange your schedule for those two days. Anything else?" "Nope." Time Turner goes into his drawer, taking out a clipboard. He takes out a packet of papers and places them on the clipboard. "For now you can fill these out," he tells her. "There's a chair in the back you can sit on." Several minutes later she finishes with the paperwork. He looks through them. "All seems well." He puts down the papers on his desk. "I'll call you around this week to tell you if you got the job." "Cool! Thanks!" she says and sticks her hand out. The manager takes it and shakes her hand. She then leaves. The next day. "Please, sir, tell me! Did Vinyl get the job?" Lyra begged. "I haven't decided! And please Lyra get back to work! We're already busy as it is!" He was in the kitchen helping Bon Bon make several dishes. Octavia comes into the kitchen, "Are the orders for the family of twelve ready?" "Yeah, Lyra will help you carry the side dishes!" he says. Lyra pouts but does as she is told. When the restaurant finally slowed down, the manager went into his office. During the rush hour, he realized his small restaurant was going to need extra help. He looked for Vinyl's papers. He looked through them checking to see if she did qualified. One thing that caught his eye was the times she could work on Friday and Saturday. She gave herself less hours than the other days she put herself. He guessed it was due to the other job. Other than that, he decided that Vinyl was qualified for the job! Few days later. "Does that size fit you?" Lyra asks behind the restroom door. Inside the bathroom was Vinyl who was trying on the waitress uniform. "Yes!" she yells back. "How's everything?" Time Turner "Good! The uniform fits her!" Lyra says happily. "Good! After she's done fitting in her uniform, you can show her how we do things around and the rules of this place!" "Will do, sir!" "During those first days, there was no problem with Vinyl. She worked hard and did her best even if she still wore her shades and sunglasses on but that wasn't much of a problem. But a week later, the day when we found her in the back of store is when we started learning more to her," Time Turner tells. "The back of the store?" asks Octavia. "You should remember that moment. We found her barfing and Bon Bon was with her." Time Turner looked into the kitchen finding Bon Bon gone. He went to ask his two waitresses who were in the lobby. At the time, Octavia was his Head Waitress while Lyra was a regular waitress. "Octavia! Lyra! Have you two seen Bon Bon?" "No!" the two said together. "Where could she be?" he said to himself. He checked the back room and break room, she wasn't there. "Strange, she usually leaves me a note or texts me when she's gone off to do something when she's too busy to tell me in person." He decides to check the back of the store just in case. When he goes out he finds her but also Vinyl. Vinyl was throwing up in the trash cans. "I didn't let her try any of the food I made if that's what you're thinking!" says Bon Bon. "Don't worry, that wasn't what I was thinking at all!" says Time Turner. He goes over to Vinyl. "Has she said anything?" "I asked her already if she was sick or ate something strange but she just shook her head no." "How long has she been here?" "For a while now. I only went out to throw out the garbage from the kitchen then I went out here and found her already throwing up!" Time Turner looked at Vinyl. He noticed that she was holding her shades in the same hand she was holding onto the garbage can. "Vinyl!" Lyra yelled out. She and Octavia stood right next to the manager. After several minutes, Vinyl finally stopped. They took her to the break room where they let her rest. Time Turner past by a few times in the break room just to check on her. When it became lunchtime, she refused to eat anything. Vinyl only worked for three hours that day. Two days later, Time Turner found her having trouble carrying the garbage outside. He also began noticing her looking much thinner . The day he finally decided to ask her what was wrong with her was when she collapsed during the rush hour in the lobby. Lyra and Octavia excused themselves and carried her to the back room. Time Turner told them to go back as he'll take care of her. He looked at her waking up as he stood in the doorway. "What happened?" she groans. "You collapsed. Tell me, what's been going on with you these last few days?" "Nothing. It's just I've not been myself. Working here is just something I still need to get used to." Time Turner noticed how she turned the other way when telling her this. He guessed it was her way of lying. After the store closed. "Tell me. Why are we going to a basement club?" asks Lyra in the driver's seat. The two were in Time Turner's car. "You said before there was someone who knows Vinyl at the club where Vinyl works." "Yeah. Vinyl calls him Neon Lights." "Good! Then it's him we need to see!" The two look at the large old looking building. "This is the place?" Time Turner noticed the street was filled with only small stores and apartments. "We enter at the back!" Lyra says and begins walking to the direction of an alleyway. Time Turner follows. The alleyway was packed with people who were on their phones, eating food, and talking with each other. "Sir, make sure to just look forward and not look at anyone! Look at someone and they may get the impression you got a problem with them. Also, stay cool!" Lyra explains. She goes ahead into the alley. Time Turner didn't have a problem. All he had to do was look straight with confidence just like he did in the past when he had a friend who use to make him go to similar places. Lyra stops. Time Turner notices a ramp that goes down leading to two double doors. One door was open with two security guards on each ]]]]side of it. The two walk down then stop in front of the guards. "Hello, gentlemen!" Lyra says in a cheerful tone. "My friend and I are here to see Neon Lights. I sent him a text earlier that we'd be coming to see him." "Password?" One guard asks. In a low voice Lyra says, "Pony Rock! Party till the morning light!" The guard nods his head. "You two may go in. He's in his office right now." The two go in. The place was filled with many people inside. "Not a lot of people. Neon must not be playing tonight," Lyra comments. They walk up to a door where Lyra says the password again to another guard. They walk through a hallway filled with staff, security and equipment. Their stop was a door that had a silver plaque on it with the name Neon Lights engraved. Lyra knocks, "Neon! It's Lyra and guest!" "Let your selves in!" yells a male voice. Lyra opens the door. Inside was a young man sitting behind a desk with jagged ice color skin, dark gray spiked up hair, wearing a black collar short sleeve shirt with a white tie, and shades with black lenses. Right now he looked frustrated. "This a bad time?" asks Lyra. "No. Just a certain someone who doesn't pick up. Anyways, what's this all about?" says Neon. "This is my manager from the small restaurant where Vinyl and I work at," Lyra introduces. Neon nods his head and stands up. He gives out his hand, "Neon Lights. Friend and partner of Vinyl!" Time Turner walks up to him and shakes his hand. "I'm Time Turner. It's a pleasure to meet you." "So, tell me. What you came to talk to me about?" "I came to ask about Vinyl. She's not been doing well these last couple of days. It started with the day we found her at the back of the store barfing. The days after that she doesn't eat anything during her breaks, having a lot of trouble carrying which she didn't before and earlier today she collapsed during the rush hour." Neon just nodded his, "I'm glad you came to me, Time Turner. Now I know for sure that something is up with her. These last day few days she's been canceling practice and doesn't pick up the phone. If the problems are not coming from your place or mine then that means they must be coming from home." "How did you came to that conclusion?" Time Turner asks. "I known her well enough," Neon says. "I even almost met her mother. Which is important for you to knew but before I tell you anything about her, let me ask you. If you had two children and one left the coop to follow their dream but you found that dream of theirs absurd but the child leaves anyway and then you were left with one left, would you let that last child follow whatever dream they want or keep them from ever liking anything that may lead them to the same direction the eldest child chose?" Time Turner thought carefully. Obviously this question had to do something with Vinyl but it's not like he was going to lie the answer. After all he does have one child. "I would let them follow their dream even if it means having to let them go. Plus all parents have to at least some point let their children go at some point and besides how absurd can a dream be?" "Well, Vinyl's mother finds the idea of getting into music a dead end job. Vinyl's older brother loved to play music so much that he and his band wanted to take an RV and travel to different locations and play anywhere they wanted after they graduated high school," says Neon. "And did they?" "They did but his mother was really against it. She preferred him to go to college, get a degree, and become a manager of a place or a CEO of some company. He didn't want that, so one day after a week he graduated, he and his friends left to go live their dream." "Let me guess," Time Turner interrupts. "After that, she became overprotective of Vinyl." "Pretty much. Vinyl was only a little girl when all of that happened." "She never forgot him, did she?" "No because she had already fallen in love with music when her older brother took her to his school. There they happened to see a band on a float playing and that's what caused her to love music for the very first time." "I see," Time Turner says with a smile. "But wait! How does an overprotective mother explain why Vinyl's behavior?" "Well I guess 'overprotective' isn't the right word for her. The word instead should be, nuts!" "Nuts?" Time Turner questions. "The way she punishes Vinyl can only be the work of a mother who is nuts!" "How does she punish her?" "I mentioned I almost met her mother. When we were both still in high school, she invited me over to her place one day but I guess she didn't expect her mother to come over early. Vinyl hid me under her bed and I overheard her mother getting angry over the pizza we brought over. She punished her by not making her lunch or dinner for the rest of the week since Vinyl could just buy her own food then she didn't need a mother to maker her food." This shocked both Time Turner and Lyra. "Tomorrow. You think we can meet up, Time Turner?" asks Neon. "For what?" "To see Vinyl and meet her mother. You know as well as I do we can't let Vinyl live like that any longer!" "You're right. Vinyl has the day off tomorrow, we may end up meeting up with her in her own home." "Just as good! Lyra's got my number, you can get it from her and we'll talk about the plan tomorrow." "Alright!" "By the way, is your car old and plain looking?" "It's only been four years since I bought it." "Good enough! We'll use your car to get there!" "Why? What's wrong with yours?" "It's a van with a paint job that advertises this club! I rather not have Vinyl's mother close the door on us after she sees my van." "Good idea! We wouldn't want that, would we?" "No, sir, we wouldn't!" "Oh my goodness, I didn't know that side of Vinyl's life and we've been friends for so long," says Octavia feeling shocked. "She didn't want anyone to know. Neon was the only one who ever knew." "Then why didn't he ever said anything or at least could've rescued her." "She didn't want him to and he respected her decision." "But what made him change his mind?" "I already said it, because he could no longer let her live like that." Time Turner decided to close for the day. He called his staff before the time the store usually opens telling them he had to do something important and because there is no Second In Command he couldn't leave it open. Time Turner picked up Neon from his place. Next stop was Vinyl's home. They parked in an empty space across the street from the apartments where Vinyl lived in. The apartments didn't have a fence, they were just separate little buildings with two homes in each of them nestled in a neighborhood full of houses and other apartments. Time Turner followed Neon as he still remembered which home Vinyl lived in. When they got to the door, Neon decided to be the one to knock. Time Turner was going to say something but was too late when a woman opened the door. "Hello! My name is Rising Star!" Neon says. Before he could say anything else the door was slammed closed. "You couldn't have worn what you were wearing yesterday?" Time Turner asks. "It what was at least descent enough and why did you introduced yourself as Rising Star?" Neon was wearing a t-shirt with the words Pony Rock across his shirt in bright colors along with three stars. His pants were black jeans held up by a black belt with silver studs. He had two bracelets on each wrist to match the belt. As for his shoes were black and white checkered flats. Neon whispers to Time Turner, "Rising Star is my real name. The name you know me by is a stage name. So please call me Rising Star in public for now." Time Turner sighs and rolls his eyes. He goes up to the door this time. He says loud enough at the door, "Hello, Ma'am! Sorry for this unexpected visit! I'm Time Turner! The manager of the Golden Hourglass where Vinyl works at." The door was then suddenly open. "Excuse me! Sorry about that! If I knew you were also here I wouldn't have done that. Please forgive my rudeness!" says the woman with two different colored pink hair tied back in a bun. Her skin was white with blue eyes behind glasses and was wearing a simple long navy blue dress. "What may I have the pleasure of meeting Vinyl's manager at this time of day?" she says politely. She glances over at Neon who was right behind Time Turner. "He's with you?" "Yes he is. He's accompanying me with this visit. As for why I came, I came to talk to you about your daughter Vinyl," Time Turner says. "I see. Then won't you two come in?" she says opening the door wide open. Neon follows behind the manager but while he does, he gets a look of disgust from Vinyl's mother. "You two may sit down on the couch," she tells them. The two do so. Neon glances around the house now that he could take a more better look at it than he did the last time he came over. He looks over the one wall that is covered with photos. There were many of Vinyl dressed in simple pink dresses. Neon had to contain his laughter as this was the first time he seen his friend ever wear a pink dress. Especially ones with big bows on it and wearing a matching hat. Vinyl's mother sits across from them in a one seat arm chair. "You know I'm very disappointed that Vinyl has a day off today and works for only a few hours. I believe giving her more hours of work and just one day off would be good for her. She's a real delinquent that girl. She deserves to be working more," she tells them. Neon had to hold in his anger. How he wished he could told her off of how wrong the woman was of his friend but right now he had to make a good first impression till they got to the part of why they came. "I'm sorry to hear that," says Time Turner. "Since she's new, I could only give her as much hours till she's finally got the whole routine down." "Then that's why you should give her more hours. She could spent a lot of the hours trying to get the whole routine memorized. It's that simple," she says. "Ma'am, Vinyl's work schedule is not what we came here for," he tells her. "If not then...did that girl cause trouble?" she said now sounding angrily. She stands up and yells out Vinyl's name. In a few seconds, Vinyl comes into the living room. She is surprised to see Time Turner and Neon. "Oh! For goodness sakes child! Those street clothes again?! We have guests and you decide to wear those juvenile delinquent clothing. I buy you enough clothing so you won't have to look like one. Now go back to your room and change!" Time Turner speaks up, "There's no need for that . If she's comfortable in what's she's wearing then it's fine by me." Vinyl just nods her head and goes ahead to sit down in the available seat next to Neon. She whispers, "Why?" "Because we had to!" Neon whispers back. "Excuse me if I was too loud," Vinyl's mother apologizes. "You were saying?" "What we came here is due to the fact that we're concerned about Vinyl," Time Turner finally tells her. "Of course you should be concerned. She's a trouble making child. She might steal from you blindly or even invite her troublemaking friends and give them food for free," she remarks. "I doubt that," he replies. "From what I've seen of her, she makes a great team member of my staff." He smiles proudly. "She's deceiving you. Is an awful trait of hers what she does when she's not home!" she says. "Oh like you know!" Neon yells out. Neon couldn't take it anymore. "You're the one whose deceiving the people outside! You pretend to be a good mother but you're not! Starving your child is not a great punishment. It's child abuse." "Of course a boy like you. dressed like that, would disagree on my way punishment," she tells him. Before Neon can say anything, Time Turner interrupts. "I know that you may love your child but the way you punish Vinyl is drastic." "You would do the same if you had children." "I do have a child and I do not punish my child in any similar way you do. Not going to ever plan to either." "What a shame. Now, since you two only came here to waist my time, leave." "No way! We're not leaving without Vinyl!" Neon says. "She's my child! Not yours!" Vinyl's mother says. "Understand?" "Yeah well I know that's she's now eighteen years old and by law is allowed to live on her own with society!" "She's not leaving and that's final!" "And I say she is! That's final!" Time Turner looks over at Vinyl. "Vinyl, what do you want?" Vinyl bites her lips and stands up. "I want to go!" Vinyl's mother just looks at her stunned, "You just want to keep disappointing your mother, don't you? The same! You're the same as your brother!" "That's good!" she yells out as she stares at her mother. "I'm glad that I'm a lot like my brother! There's no one else I like to be at least close to!" The two stare at each other eye to eye. "I'm leaving! And that's final!" Vinyl looks over at the manager and Neon. "I'm going to pack. Wait for me, please." She passes by her mother and goes to her room. Neon smiles. He takes out his phone to make a call to bring his van over their location. Time Turner looks over at the mother of Vinyl as she leaves to the kitchen and hears her sob. Minutes later, Neon is helping load boxes of Vinyl's stuff into his van. "That's the last of it," Vinyl says as she places the last box in the van. She looks around noticing her manager wasn't around. "Where's my boss?" she asks. Neon looks over at Time Turner's car then at the direction of Vinyl's now old home. He's him coming. "Here comes now." "Sorry," Time Turner says as he goes up to them. "I couldn't just leave Vinyl's mother in such a state. "What you tell her?" Vinyl asks. "A few words along with some advice," he tells. "So where is Vinyl staying now?" "At my place," Neon reveals. "The apartment above the club?" he asks. "Yeah! I have a spare room and my place is big enough for the two of us. So why not?" "Is that what you decided, Vinyl?" he asks her. She nods her head, "Yeah." "Alright. Let's get a move on if we're done here!" Time Turner says. "Vinyl!" The three turn around to see Vinyl's mother coming their way. She stops in front of them and catches her breath. "Vinyl, please! Please take care of yourself! Eat meals three times a day! Brush your teeth twice and floss once! Don't eat a lot of junk food or drink too much soda. Don't spend more than an hour looking at a screen! Wash your hands before and after you eat. Do laundry at least once or twice a week. Overall, call me every night before you go to bed to tell how you been!" Vinyl was taken by surprise of the things her mother just said. She answers, "Sure will, mom!" After that, the three leave. "You told her something, didn't you?" Octavia asks her manager. "All I said was some words and advice!" Time Turner says with a smile. The garbage cans were now drying from being washed. The manager was wraps around the hose to put away. He goes back into the restaurant. Octavia follows. "So what changed Vinyl? She doesn't sound like she changed," she says. The two walk over to the counter. "Look carefully," he tells her. "It should be obvious!" Octavia looks at Vinyl picking up plates from tables. She just shakes her head, " All I see is that she is not wearing her shades and headphones." "Exactly!" What? But she's done that for almost a year now that she's been working here!" "Yes but after what happened, she decided to stop wearing them during her shift." "Because that's the right thing to do when working." "Not for her. Back when she was living with her mom, she always had to hide them. She only wore them out. Now she has the freedom to choose whenever she could wear them. No need for hiding them anymore." Octavia nodded her head in now understanding. She smiles as she watches Vinyl wipe the tables clean with her handkerchief. "Wait a minute!" She eyes the piece of fabric noticing the cursive stitch of her name on the corner of the handkerchief. "Vinyl! Why are you using my handkerchief as rag?!" she yells. "We ran out of clean rags and I found this! No one was using it!" "That's no excuse to use my stuff!"