Chicago, January 15, 1991 - Grace's 24 hour shop, in front of the Graceland Cemetery

Marisa was in another very boring night, trying in secret the makeup from the makeup section in one of the mirrors, she was wearing a black dress and black gloves and was honestly not happy with it all, Irwin had left her alone all night there and after 1 AM nothing happened ever, so she could only read her magazines and check the radio for something, not even the small TV Irwin had snuck in the break room had anything interesting at that time of the night.

The store was not too big but did had several small sections with assorted items, it was mostly food tho, being the only employee around did suck a bit however, she did feel like she was alone and sometimes being that close to the graveyard did gave her chills. Sometimes a few customers did come inside, mostly drunken people from the bars not too far and very high people looking for a snack, she was a bit bored so she moved to the makeup section, a small corner of the store that was conveniently on the blind spot of the only camera, she checked.

The store had a eerie feel at night, the lights were on and all that but the sounds of everything resonated when there were no cars and people, it was just, her. She kept checking a few of the cheap makeup stuff for a bit.

Sometimes she liked to grab a few items from the makeup section, they were cheap crap most of the time but sometimes she did find some gem, not like anyone else cared really, she sighed and leans on the chair she brought to look at the mirror when she hears the bell of the door. Sighing and getting ready to see whoever came that night.

With a deadpan tone she got up and walked ahead not looking “Welcome to Grace 24 hour shop” she said and then she turned to see the pair of people just standing, two women, dirty and with a lot of sweat, one of them was huge, almost two meters tall, no, more than two meters now that she looked at her, she had red eyes, maybe a meta one? Marisa had no idea, that woman was wearing a big thick jacket as well. The other one was smaller, wearing silver and black clothes and pants, she seemed fidgety and kept her eyes closed for some reason, she also seemed to have a walking cane, maybe she was blind or something. Both of them carried shovels.

“Uh... how can I help you?” She was afraid to even ask

The smaller woman approached her and gave a smile “We will need food and water and , do you sell towels and stuff like that? Maybe a shower?” she thinks as she taps the counter

“uh.. no, we have towels in the clothing section but we do not have a shower” she seemed taken aback from what she was seeing, soo she looked at the woman again and then at her shovel.

The larger one goes to the food section and carefully started selecting a few foods, she even checked the back of the product? Marisa was very confused, they both did seem like they did knew each other relatively well, the taller woman grabbed a few supplies and placed on the counter as the smaller one went to the kitchen knife area, something about how she was looking at the sharp things gave her a chill, wait , she was inspecting the knife? Marisa did not want to think about it.

Soon the bigger one brought there a few other supplies, mostly food and water, her shovel was tied to her back belt, for a second she thought she saw a gun there. Was she in danger? All she could do was stay in there and look about, trying not to think too hard or to look too afraid.

The smaller one approached “Do you sell guns?” , she was taken aback “uh, no miss... guns are heavily restricted around here...” and that seemed to deflate her a bit. “Oh well, what can you do!” she shrugged.

“Rob a gun store?” said the bigger one in a tone that Marisa was not sure if she was serious or not, and that did scare her. Were these people dangerous?

“HAH! Well, maybe we could...” the smaller one thought while dancing around the store “We really need some ground around here for the next few days”

They were serious, Marisa trembled a bit, oh fuck they were serious! What could she do there, still she stood there, the smaller one approached again “Where can we find a good gun store around here?”

“Uh... at this time they are all closed but around the corner if you follow there there used to be one” she answered almost automatically, please let that not be a robbery, she was not ready for that bullshit.

After a few moments she started almost automatically passing the products on the machine, seeing what they were totaling to, she looked at the shovels again, now with a nervous expression, maybe they were burying people, maybe they were doing something bad, should she call the police? no that would be bad, maybe try and trigger the alarm.

Her hand tries to discretely go under the desk to trigger the alarm as the smaller one opens her right eye just a bit, her eyes were silver and almost glowed, Marisa felt the energy there, it was strange, unsettling, she felt naked, exposed, she froze for a while in fear and she looked at that woman, she smiled a bit, her tone had shifted, from the cheerful tone from before to a strange tone. Almost threatening.

Marisa sees as both of them are armed, heavily so now, she could see it, the larger one had at least a desert eagle there, knives as well, the smaller one had a revolver and a pistol with her, a knife and she felt threatened, the woman leans in “We are not looking for trouble” she said softly and in a tone that gave Marisa shivers.

“A-I was not doing anything”

“Now now, there is no need to lie, we are not here to rob you or anything, just, how much?”

she gulped, looked at the place “Uh... $230?” and then she saw the smaller one counting 4 100 dollar bills and placing on the counter “here!” her tone shifted as she grabbed the bags and they went out , she was dancing again , before she left she poked her head at the store again “oh and a tip” she grabbed about 4 other bills and tossed up before they went into the night.

All she could do was to sit there, she leaned on the counter, she looked at the bill and the money on the floor and on the counter “They... really did pay more” she give a laugh , those two were dangerous. How did she survive, what was even there, she could just sit and look at the ceiling for a while.

“Fucking hell I hate the Graveyard shift...”

The police was not able to recover the footage from that night, some kind of strange error on the recording of the camera, they took her report but that was it. She elected to just tell that as a story on the future after that. That same morning she read at the news that someone dug some grave on the cemetery.

She was both relieved and disturbed to learn that. In any case, since she studied at night, next day she would have another very late night shift.