The girl ask a sketchy teen with a rather strong accent. They were drinking Coca Cola at the bar while bartender standing right in front of the teenage boy with one hand right at the lower drawer.
“Yes, I did burn down the house. If I had known that someone still inside, I would not had done it at all and walked away”
His serious face turn fury as he punch the tabletop and cover half of his face.
His entire life has been nothing but a joke.
Abandons at 10 years old by his birth father, and neglected by his mother as she flavored his half sister, who has a rich father.
He got bullied, turn his back from school toward a gangster society. He becomes somewhat of a byproduct from destructed city.
“I ran away as soon as the wanted poster was given to my so called birthed mother, and somehow she bribed them to focus on my case only and convinced her beloved man to blackmail me on every media in the town, I have no choice but to flee here.”
He put his face down on the table and go silent for a moment
The girl pad his back as she stare onto his wound with an empathy in her eyes and gently in her hand. She turn to the bartender, signaling the needs for little assistance.
“Young man, I am under the impression that you were framed and betrayed into a position where nobody willing to lend you a hand, am I correct?”
The bartender asked him as he pour another glass of Coca Cola.
The teenage boy look up and continue his story.
“That house was my home. A place where we use to live together as a complete family. I knew that things did not go well for both of my parents but I still have my grandparents, whom own the house from the very beginning. I knew that my dad was never leaving, he committed a suicide because my mother affairs with her current man.”
His tear begin to fall from his left eyes.
“It is a fact that I never accept in a new household, but I still being accepted as part of the underprivileged community with my grandparents. They knew that I would never harm or downplay my actions to disrespect them and my father until that night.”
The teenage boy becomes speechless for a second. Before he can utter other words, the girl abruptly speak up for the first time.
“They were dead by the same guy who took you in because a large sum offer by your sister, and you could only watch them drying in a flame as both of your hands are tied, hopelessly screaming and bagging them to stop.”
She put her hand on his face, cleaning out his tear and small charcoal trace on his forehead.
“How did you figure that out?, you seem too young to come up with such a controversy’s theory”
He question her intellectual capacity, but she still continues to clean of his face and start to assemble a DIY bandage for his scar on the shoulder. Ignoring his questions entirely.
“I went back home after flee from the screen, finding my mother comforting my half sister. The new husband started hitting me with a belt furiously, blaming me for my mother missable and his daughter injured, which I had never touched her for once since she was born.”
He pause as he feels a pain from alcohol breeze on his shoulder. The girl gently pressed a cotton patch, soaking with alcohol onto his rotted wound.
“Right before I left, my mother swore to never let me have a good deeds for the rest of my life. That point shattered my entire heart, so I exposed the truth of my father disappearance and runaway from that town.”
He finish his story as the girl put the bandage on his shoulder. He tilted his head down facing the table, then look up and see a tidy cloth folded on the table in front of him. He look over to bartender, wiping a whiskey glass after placing those fresh uniforms on the table. The girl tells the boys to go change his cloth in staffs room and he obey her order with a skeptical attitude.
He walk out in a police trainnee uniform, which is something he always look up from his father back in a day. He feels conflict and pain in the back of his heart as he inspects himself in a mirror.
“You look magnificent, so I make the good call right kid?”
The bartender praised the teenage boy and tilt his head toward the girl.
“I have to give you a credit for this one Mr. Bartender, but I noticed it first”
The girl giggles as she walk over to the boy.
“To me you are just an unfortunate person who had a rough bringing, but you still hold your father’s wish. Never lie, cheat or break your heart. You are a very special person who deserves to have a chance for redemption. There no need to walk back into those unfaithful families. No need to apologize for your actions and don’t worry you will find someone who value you for what you are.”
Her bright cheerful face makes the boy cry uncontrollably. He hug her tightly as he repeatedly thanking her for cheer him up and acknowledge his presence.
“Hey, stop fussing like a baby now boy, no policeman will shed a tear for something’s like this. Here, take this batch with you”
The bartender trow a batch over to him. The boy grabs it and put it on his chest.
As he about to walk out the front door, the girl call him
“Good luck out there, see you again later”
She bid him a farewell as he walked out and get on the bus outside.
“Why did you let him off the hook so easily? Was it because he handsome or is it his backstory”
The bartender question the girl decision as she walks back to the table.
“I guess it is both but I prefer to give a chance for someone who deserves to live a life where they in control of their destiny not by the unlawful actions of corrupted people.”
She sit on a high chair and ask for an empty bill. She write down some details about the today’s session including the uniform and drinks.
“Please keep this bill open for now, we will see what are going to be added up in the next meeting.”
She hand the bill to bartender as he put it in the top drawer of the shelf.
The bartender humming to himself.
“I guess that would be the ending for tonight shift, what would tomorrow night look like, who knows if we have an unfinished bill.”