Chapter Two.

Lisa rubbed her eyes. She looked around and tried to remember where she was. To her
left was an alarm clock. 8:27 was the time. Staring at the digital clock she blinked a few times.
Oh Shit! I'm late for work. An hour had passed since she had previously looked the clock in its
face and defiantly turned it off. No one tells me when to wake up, she had boldly declared, and
then proceeded to roll over and fall back asleep. In her sleepy dream state of awake-ness she had
forgotten she had work today. Seems hard to forget when one works most every day, but she
managed.
She stood up and proceeded to get dressed. She'd have to wash her face and put up her;
she didn't have time for a shower this morning. Fortunately work is close, she thought to herself.
Unfortunately they yelled at me last time I was late. Fortunately, they were under-staffed, so she
didn't have a big chance of getting fired. Unfortunately, I just put my shoes on the wrong feet.
Who does that? She sighed and fixed her shoes. In her daily routines Lisa often got bored
thinking about the task at hand, thus she had concocted a game she played in her mind. Usually
the subject of the story was not herself, but her favorite fictional character also named Lisa. She
had found out about the game on the internet in high school. She never saw it as a fun game, but
it was a way for her to take her mind off of whatever boring task she was doing.

******

Lisa walked off the elevator as it reached the ground floor. She worked and lived in the
Royal Hotel off of 3rd Street. It wasn't the best job, but they allowed her to live there for a
discounted price. Certainly cheaper than any other place in this economy. Also, she figured it
was less like paying for a place to live if it just came straight out of her check.

The manager eyed her with anger. She walked up with an apologetic look in her eyes.
She never felt proud after she did it, but Damn, I need this job. "Hal, I am really really sorry."
She equipped her best puppy dog face.

Hal sighed. "Ah. I can't stay mad at that. Now, go get your hat so you can get started.
We're severely understaffed today, and I need you manning the door."

"We're always understaffed," Lisa kept talking as she walked through a door to get the
last bit of uniform on. For some reason, the higher ups allow the workers to take all of the
uniform home except the hat. An odd policy in Lisa's opinion, but every time she brought it up
with others they gave it no other thought and looked at her like she was crazy. "Management,
well not you Hal, but upper management, no offense, they don't give a shit about how
understaffed we are, just that we have enough to get the basics done. Why am I on the door
today? I thought I was scheduled for the pool."

"And I thought you were scheduled to show up 30 minutes ago."

 "Ha. Ha. Ha," Lisa said sarcastically as she stepped out of the hat room.

"Dirk didn't come in today. That is why you're not on pool. You know as well as I do that
the pool is the blow off shift. A door person, however, is needed."

"Okay. I'll get to it. Did Dirk call? Is he sick?" Dirk was a douche-bag. Lisa hoped he was
sick. She really just did not care for him at all. How he got a raise before her she did not know.

"No call. If he doesn't call or come with a good excuse, then he is on thin ice."

"Okay. Well, I'll get to the door."

"Well, don't be taking your time. Doreen has been there since 11, and the top tiers hate
giving out overtime."

"On my way, Hal." She left the front desk, the hat room, and the man named Hal behind.
Hal was a nice man, to Lisa at least. This may have been due to her looks. Lisa was a fairly
pretty woman. She had dark brown hair past her shoulders. Sometimes she straightened her hair;
sometimes she didn't and it returned to its natural curly state which was not entirely unlike a head
of ramen noodles. She made short strides towards the door. Her form vaulting across the lobby
was like a lazy gazelle, not sure which patch of grass to eat next.

She had finally made it to Doreen. The two of them stood next to each other in matching
uniforms. For a full minute Doreen stood there, not sure why Lisa had arrived. Lisa didn't bother
to remind her either. They just stood there for a minute in silence. A man entered the door and
thought, "They look like some creepy duo that has telepathic mind powers and they continually
haunt people in this hotel. We know what you are thinking. We will evoke your deepest fear."
He shrugged off this thought just in case it was true. "Can either of you ladies tell me how to get
to Don Pablo's room?”

This snapped Doreen out of her dead tired trance. "Come this way and I'll take you to the
desk. From there Hal can help you find the patron you are looking for."

"Oh, Thanks," and with this statement Doreen walked off and the man looking for Don
Pablo followed. Don Pablo? That name sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place it.

This left Lisa to her own devices. She barely remembered what to do on door duty as she
hadn't done it so long. Unfortunately, she was stuck here until Douche-bag Dirk showed up. She
watched as Doreen directed the man to the desk where Hal stood, and she went behind to leave
her hat in the hat room.

The man pulled out a gun and aimed it at Hal's head. "Don Pablo sends his regards," he
yelled to anyone within earshot, and Bam, the gun fired. Without regard to her safety Lisa made
a mad dash for the man with the gun. Her strides were long now and she moved like a gazelle
with a purpose--a gazelle being hunted by a lion, and this lion's name was Injustice. She wouldn't
stand for the death of an innocent man. The man with a gun heard her approaching but she was
on him before he could fully react. Lisa charged into him and knocked him off of his feet. The
man fell back and hit the floor, his gun sliding 5 feet out of his reach.

Fists started flying from Lisa's arms into this man's face. Blood started splashing.
Whether from her fists or his face she did not care. She had a bit of pent up anger and a no good
murderer was a perfect place to take it out on. While she knew her life was better than others, she
couldn't help but think she should be elsewhere. She imagined she took some wrong turn back in
the past. These thoughts, however, were not presently at the front of Lisa's mind. These were just
the one's lurking beneath. Her current thoughts centered on the fun of punching someone. She
had always wondered how it would feel to full on punch someone in the face. The answer to this
wonder? Wonderful.

"Lisa?" someone said.

Lisa blinked a few times. Then she looked in front of her. It was the Don Pablo guy,
except his face wasn't bleeding...and he was standing up. Also, she was standing. She looked to
her right and saw the front desk with Hal standing behind it.

"Pardon?" Lisa managed to reply.

"You're name is Lisa, correct?" He had Spanish accent, and the way he said correct with
the rolling r's definitely had some effect on Lisa. "That is what it says on your name tag at least."

"Oh! Yes. Uhm. How may I help you?"

"My name is Carlos, and I am new in town. Do you know where a good Italian restaurant
is?"

"Yeah. There is one on 3rd Street just off of Kenton," she replied, instantly imagining the
tasty bread sticks to be had there.

"Well, being new in town I'm not sure where those streets you mentioned are. Would you
mind showing me after you get off of work?"

Lisa was a bit stunned. It had been over a year since she had been on a proper date. Sure,
she got hit on quite regularly, but most of those men were a fair bit on the side of creepy. This
guy, well she had just imagined him as a murderer and tackling him, but he was foreign and
attractive. "Yeah. Sure. I get off at 5, so I can get ready and go by 6:30?"

"Sounds great. I will see you then, Lisa." He made a smile at her and turned away to walk
through the rotating doors. A somewhat shitty day was turning into a pretty good one.