FOOLISH EMPLOYEE

I’ve been working at a café for a while now. It doesn’t have a name because the owners wanted it that way, so I named it The Infamous Café because we don’t have much clientele. No one calls it that way though.

Yesterday I completed my everyday routine once again. I woke up way earlier than I should have, ate apple slices with cinnamon on top of them and danced to a few Lana del Rey songs before leaving for work.

When I arrived at the coffee shop there was someone else already making orders, so I devoted my time to cleaning up the tables. Later on, I catched myself staring at the jewelry that my father gifted me the day of my graduation, and I got nostalgic.

In Bolivia, it’s a common tradition to give the high school graduates a present, and my father ordered a jeweler to make me a gold necklace with a heart-shaped pendant and a ring with a big black diamond on it. He gave them to me in a silver box, and I couldn’t help to think how radiant the items were.

Thereupon my shift ended so I closed the café and walked to the bus station. I sat on a bench and started inspecting the place. There was a man sitting next to me who was making me uncomfortable and a group of men who were approaching us. All of a sudden, the man next to me held me at gunpoint and forced me to get into a black van. Right after I entered the vehicle the group of men I spotted before followed me into the van and stole all my bijouterie. I tried to fight them but I still lost.

Afterwards they threw me out of the van to an unrecognizable street. It was already dark. I was petrified, and kept mumbling nonsense. I managed to calm down and called a cab. I went back home feeling infuriated and provoked. All I could think about was how disappointed my father would be in me after I told him about my experience.