The week I turned 18, I got a job at a local restaurant. Just your average burger joint. The waitress outfits were a bit too small, and the busts too revealing, but that was the way the patrons liked it. It was on my birthday that I was called into work by my boss, Jon.
Jon was the type of man that demanded respect. He was almost 43, tall, about 6'1, with brown hair and hazel eyes that could pierce straight through your heart. I was intimidated, almost frightened of him. That was why I cancelled my plans with my friends to go into work. I couldn't afford to lose this job, the economy was so bad, it was a struggle to even land this one.
I got to work in my uniform, just a few minutes late because of the last minute notice, but Jon was furious. The moment I arrived he called me into his office.
"Jenna, just because it's your birthday doesn't mean you can be late," said Jon in a hushed voice. There was something in the way he said my name that sent chills down my back. "Now get to work, and don't disappoint me." He winked at me.
I turned around, and I could swear he briefly touched my ass as I turned around. I looked at him startled as he feigned innocence. Annoyed, I brushed it off and walked away, determined to finish my job for the night and then leave to go have fun.
I finished off the rest of the night in haste, skimping on my duties and barely making conversation with the customers. After everyone had left, I was busy cleaning off the rest of the dishes when I felt someone looking at me. Slowly, I turned around and saw Jon standing roughly 4 feet behind me, staring at me working. I tried to shrug it off, a bit nervous as I quickly finished scrubbing the table. I turned around to go grab my coat and leave when his hand grabbed my arm.
Startled, I dropped the bucket of sanitizer I was carrying and it fell crashing to the floor. Jon caught his breath and I looked up just in time to see his eyes gleam with sinister malice.
"Better pick that up bitch. You have 60 seconds." I was caught off guard by his words. Jon was intimidating, yes, but never derogatory towards me or any of the other female workers. "55, 54, 53, 52, 51..."
I practically ran to the kitchen to get the mop, but tripped over my own feet. By the time I got back to the floor, Jon was already at 41.
"41, 40, 39, 38, 37..." I tried to clean up the mess, but in the time that I was gone, Jon had flipped over the remaining water to other spots of the floor. With tears forming on my eyes, I tried as best as I could to clean up the sanitizer. "29, 28, 27, 26, 25..."
"Please I'm tryin!" I screamed towards him. That made him angry.
"You're not trying hard enough, you slut!" Jon slapped me hard across the face. Pain sprung to my cheek and I brought my hand to my face. "10, 9, 8..." Panicking once more, I struggled to clean up as much as I could as he counted down "5, 4, 3, 2," Another slap. "1."
"Well well well, looks like little Jenna couldn't finish her task. Too bad it's your birthday and I'm going to have to keep you late."
Angry, I replied "Well I wouldn't have had to stay late if you hadn't made me spill it in the first place you prick!"
Jon looked down at me cooly, my shoes soaking wet and my cheek still burning red with pain from his slap. "Pack your things and leave. You'll never have a job here, and you'll never have a job in this town again."
I was caught off guard. I knew that Jon was powerful and had money, but I had no idea the amount of his significance and power within my small community. "Please sir.. I'm - I'm sorry."
