Chapter 9: Another Chance

POV: Avery

"Wake up, Avery," Elliot said, shaking my shoulder. I jumped out of the chair with my gun in my hand. "It's only me, and Diane is awake near the shelves."

I looked across the warehouse. Diane stood by the food shelves with her back to us, and her hand was moving inside her coat. The clock on the desk said five in the morning.

"Diane, take your hand out of your coat," I said loudly. She jumped and turned around slowly, and then she pulled out an empty hand. Her face was calm, like nothing had happened.

"I was only looking for something to eat," Diane said, rubbing her eyes. "My daughter is lying in a corner, and nobody cares if I'm hungry." Her voice cracked at the end, and I almost felt sorry for her.

"Breakfast is at seven," I said, and I stepped closer to her. "Everyone eats the same, and nobody takes food alone."

Elliot walked up to Diane without a word and patted her coat from the outside. A can of peaches fell on the floor, and it rolled to my feet. "Hungry people don't hide cans," he said.

Diane's face turned red, and she looked at me like I should save her. "Avery, you wouldn't believe a stranger over your own mother," she said. Her voice shook, but her eyes stayed hard.

"You're not my mother," I said. "Give me your coat, and I will keep it until you learn." I held out my hand and waited.

She threw the coat at my feet. Three more cans rolled out of the inside pocket and hit the floor one by one. Nobody in the warehouse said a word.

Gerald woke up and rushed over with his hands raised. "Avery, please, she's grieving," he said, standing between us. "She lost her daughter, and she's not thinking straight."

"She was thinking straight enough to hide four cans," I said. "I'm sorry about Chloe, but nine people need this food." My hands felt cold, but my voice stayed calm.

Victor came over with his arms crossed and looked at the cans. "In the army, stealing food was a serious crime," he said. "A smaller portion is the least she should get."

"Agreed," I said, and I picked up the cans. "Diane gets half a portion today, and these go back on the shelf." Diane screamed that it was cruel, and Gerald pulled her back to the corner.

Tyler leaned on a box and laughed under his breath, and Nathan told him to shut up. "Rules are only for people you don't like," Tyler said. "I tied you up, and I still got a bed."

I sat at the desk and rubbed my eyes. The storm outside was still loud, and the heater was running hard to keep up. When I opened my notebook, the numbers hadn't changed.

"Avery, can we talk?" Damien asked, standing beside my desk. His eyes were swollen, and his coat was still wet from carrying Chloe. "Just five minutes, and then I'll leave you alone."

"Talk," I said, and I didn't stop writing. "You have five minutes." Elliot moved a little closer without a word.

"I was wrong to do that to you," Damien said, and he sat on the floor beside the desk. "I treated you badly, and I know it now." He looked too tired to stand.

"Chloe is gone, and I keep thinking about our two years," Damien said, wiping his nose. "We had good days, Avery, you remember." I remembered every dinner I cooked, and I remembered that he never said thank you.

"The divorce papers are not final yet," he said. "I can cancel them, and we can start again." He reached for my hand, and I pulled it back before he touched me.

"Your girlfriend died last night, and you're already asking me to take you back?" I asked. Elliot's hand moved to his gun, and Damien noticed it.

"I'm not asking for love," Damien said quickly. "I'm asking you not to throw me outside, because I have nobody else." He wiped his face and whispered, "Please, one more chance."

I looked at him for a long time. In my last life, I begged at his door, and he laughed. Now he was begging me, and part of me enjoyed it, which scared me.

"You can stay inside, and you will work like everybody else," I said. Damien nodded fast, but I held up my hand. "Don't thank me, because I'm not doing it for you."

Damien went back to the corner and sat down with his head in his hands. Elliot leaned on the desk and spoke very low. "You're thinking of forgiving him," he said.

"I'm thinking of the food," I said. "Another person who works is better than a person in the cold." I kept my eyes on the notebook while I said it.

"That's not what I saw on your face," Elliot said, and he walked away before I could answer. I wanted to throw Damien out, and I wanted to forgive him, and I hated both feelings. Revenge had felt so simple in my last life.

Helen brought me a cup of hot tea and sat down quietly. "You did the right thing with Chloe," she said. "I know it doesn't feel like it, but you did."

"I opened too late, Helen," I said, holding the cup with both hands. The tea burned my fingers, but I didn't let go.

"She was gone before you touched the keypad," Helen said, and she squeezed my arm. "I've seen that color on a person's lips before."

By noon, Victor and Nathan had wrapped Chloe in a tarp and moved her to the coldest corner of the warehouse. Diane sat beside the tarp and did not speak or eat. Every time I walked past, she looked at me.

Her stare followed me all day, and I knew what it meant. A person like Diane doesn't cry for long, because she looks for someone to blame. And I was the only one in that warehouse she could blame.

Late that afternoon, I walked past the corner and heard Diane whispering to Gerald. "Wait until they're all asleep," she said. "Then we will see who gets locked out."

I kept walking like I had heard nothing. Elliot fell in step beside me and spoke quietly. "I heard it too, andI'm not sleeping tonight," he said.