Witch Hazel

Author's Note: You can message me your thoughts at hecate_anystories

It was Marion’s twenty-first birthday.

She woke up as early as any other day to pick up her shift at a diner just a few streets away from her apartment. Well, calling it an apartment was generous, it was a small closet space with the bare necessities for living.

She shivered in the stall-like bathroom as she bathed in cold water on a chilly spring morning because she couldn’t afford heating. She could barely afford to pay rent but still, it was better to wash with cold water in a house than on the streets.

Besides she was used to this kind of living; she was an orphan no one wanted and she spent her entire life going from foster home to foster home. She was lucky to not be on the streets.

Mari quickly dressed up and brushed out her dark hair, her only mirror had shattered half a year ago so she had to settle for catching a glimpse of herself in the windows of the florist shop downstairs to make sure she didn’t look like a goblin.

It was a cold gray morning so she clutched her worn jacket closer as she walked briskly to the restaurant she worked at. It was easily the busiest restaurant in Wintree, the small town she had lived in all her life.

Although she had lived in the same neighborhood for years now, other werewolves mostly ignored her; sometimes it made her feel like she was invisible.

She glanced up at the signboard of the restaurant which read ‘Bert’s Diner’, took a deep breath and walked in. The tables were all empty as it was too soon for customers to show up but the morning rush would begin in no time and the restaurant would be swamped with werewolves trying to get their breakfast before they went to their respective jobs.

“Mari! You’re late! They need you in the kitchen!” Dana, a middle aged werewolf yelled at her.

Mari winced, she wasn’t late, she had never been late in her four years of working at the diner but Dana didn’t like her; To be fair, Dana didn’t like anyone. She was Bert’s younger sister who unofficially ran the restaurant with an iron hand.

She put on an apron nonetheless and scurried to the back, the very last thing she needed was getting fired on her birthday.

The day was busy as usual but it was harder on Mari than usual because she hoped that at least one person would remember it was her birthday. She didn’t have any friends and although she was friendly with her colleagues at the restaurant, their friendship ended with their shift.

It was depressing. The fact that she was getting older but she didn’t have even a single person by her side hit really hard and it was such a struggle to get through the day.

The diner closed at 9 PM and the day soon came to an end but not a single person had wished her happy birthday, Mari wondered if there was something wrong with her, and that was why no one wanted to get close to her.

“Mari! Come here!” Dana’s grating voice called to her just as she picked up her bag in preparation to leave.

The rest of the workers at the diner were leaving and it was closing down so she wandered why she was the only one singled out. For a moment, hope blossomed in her middle, maybe Dana did remember it was her birthday.

“Yes?” She answered respectfully, anticipation shimmering in her hazel eyes.

“It’s your turn to take out the garbage!” Dana screeched although Mari was just a few feet away from her. “Hurry up with it! I want to close up!”

“Oh,” Mari mumbled, her voice indescribably sad. She should have known better than to expect kindness from Dana or anyone really, no one owed her anything, and she didn’t have a family who could care for her.

She trudged off to take out the garbage through the back of the kitchen, she stood outside for a few seconds just staring into space with a huge garbage bag held in her hands. It was her birthday but her day had gone like usual, if anything, it felt like she had a worst day compared to what she usually had to endure.

She was still young but it was really exhausting to live like this, she didn’t know how many more birthdays she could go through anymore…

“Mari! What are you doing out there?! Do you realize what the time is?!”

Mari didn’t even have the energy to be upset, she just disposed the garbage, took her bag and left without saying goodnight. Dana didn’t seem to notice or care which wasn’t surprising considering that she never responded to Mari’s greetings anyway.

She briskly made her way back to her dingy apartment, there were rumors of Shadows returning so it wasn’t wise to be outside when it started to get late.

On her way back home, she walked by a bakery and on a whim decided to buy herself a slice of cake. It was her tradition, as soon as she could afford to, she bought herself a slice of cake and ate it all alone while singing to herself but today, she was so dejected that she had thought to not do it until she saw cakes through a show glass.

The bakery was also closing up so she quickly bought herself a slice and hurried to her apartment. She lived on the second floor so she made her way up into her room, which consisted of the main living space where all her things were and two additional stall-like rooms for her bathroom and kitchen.

She was hungry but she had no energy to go to the kitchen to figure out what she could eat and she hadn’t wanted to take food from the diner so she would be having cake for dinner.