"This was supposed to be here yesterday."
Calla didn't have time to look at who had spoken, because they immediately walked back into their home. This left Calla's mouth open, ready to speak to an audience that no longer existed. Instead, she turned to her mother and shrugged. In response, her mother also shrugged.
"I'm not sure what you are waiting for," The voice called from down a hallway. "But you can bring it in here whenever you're ready." Calla rolled her eyes. Most of the time, the customers were fine. Even if they weren't, she was used to the attitude in small doses. People would shoo her, shut doors in her face, and refuse to acknowledge her presence. Calla would tolerate all of this, because it only lasted for a few chimes. This man, however, seemed like he was going to be a long-term problem.
Calla bent her knees and squatted down to her end of the box. She pushed the chest over to one side so that just enough space for her fingers was revealed. Then, after lifting with her latched hand, she slid the other underneath. "Got it?" She looked up at her mother as she spoke, waiting for the woman to give her the all-clear to lift. Renia nodded.
"Okay, ready and....lift." Calla pushed up with her legs. Lifting anything with her arms would be difficult the next few days; her arms throbbed, begging for relief from every tick of exertion they were now putting out. Calla back through the doorway, then Renia entered. Her mother went to kick the door closed behind her, but Calla quickly whispered: "Don't." After a puzzled look from her mother, Calla explained. "We're not staying long."
The pair shuffled to the end of the hallway, which was already more than Calla was expecting to do. Her job was to deliver the package, and the only reason she was doing anything more than that was because she was nosy. Calla curiously looked around for the person who had answered the door. To her right was a small door underneath a staircase. The staircase was the first thing they had seen when walking into the home, because it took up the whole left side of the main hallway. It reminded Calla of home her family home was set up, and it made her wonder whether all Zeltiva homes were laid out in mostly the same way. To her left was a large archway that led to what appeared to be an office.
"We're just going to leave this in the hallway." Calla called into the office. As the pair began to put the chest down, the voice manifested. Suddenly, there was a well-dressed man in the archway. He wore a vest and a frown.
"I want it in here." The man gestured to the room behind him. "Right over there, next to that shelf." He pointed across the room. As he had his back turned, Calla finished putting her end of the chest down. Renia, confused and kind, still held onto her end.
"Okay." Calla nonchalantly replied. She straightened her posture as the man turned back to them. Renia slowly let her end of the slide out of her hands. The man's mouth was agape with shock.
"Okay what?" He crossed his arms in front of him. Calla continued to stand as casually as she could manage: arms loose at her sides, weight shifted over to her right leg, and her head level.
"Sounds like a good place for it." Calla nodded, peering around the doorway to look at the spot in question.
"I wasn't asking for your opinion." The customer quickly spat out. "I was telling you where to put it."
"Oh, I see." Calla looked up at the man. He wasn't much taller than her, which made him a short shyke. She wondered if that was why he was such a pain--compensation. "Well, my job is to simply deliver packages." Calla gestured to the chest resting in the middle of the hall. "And I have done that."
"You have to put it in here." The man lowered his brows as his voice raised in anger. "You expect me to do it on my own?"
"I don't expect you to do anything, sir. That's not in my job description." Calla moved next to her mother, who was clearly baffled by this situation."My job is to pick up packages and letters and deliver them to the address. This chest is at the address. In fact, we even put it inside the address. As far as my job is concerned, I went above and beyond."
Her mother tugged on her shirt sleeve. Ever the pacifist, Renia spoke in a hushed tone as she tried to end the conflict. "Calla, we should just move it." For the first time ever, Renia hadn't spoken quiet enough. The customer, fueled by new information, stepped closer.
"Listen, Calla, I didn't pay to have this left in my hallway. Do your petching job and put it where it belongs." The man was now in her face. Calla, unlike her mother, was not blessed with never-ending patience. She slid her right foot back and slowly tilted her body so as to make it an even smaller target. Her arms remained at her sides, for now.
"I'll put it somewhere." Calla snorted. "Keep getting in my face, and I'll put it somewhere."
"Calla--" Renia tugged on her shirt again.
"Are you threatening me, little girl?"
"You're calling me little?" Calla laughed in the man's face. "We should've brought you a mirror."
"You better get out of my petching face"
"You got in my face first!"
"Don't make me call the guard."
"I'm just doin my job, and they'll just do theirs. Call 'em, see if I care." The pair went back and forth, shouting in each other's faces for a few chimes. All the while, Renia muttered pleadings in Calla's ear. She was ignored by both parties as the situation continued to escalate.
"You aren't gonna do shyke." Calla spat in the man's face. And, to her credit, she was confident he wouldn't. They had been yelling back and forth for quiet some time now, and the man hadn't budged. He had just stood there yelling and spitting in her face, his below-average body quivering in anger. But, she guessed wrong. The man unleashed a slew of profanities as he raised his hand and gave Calla an open-handed slap to the left side of her face.
Immediately, tears welled in her eyes. It was a reflex. His hand connected with her face with a force that she hadn't been exposed to in quiet a while. She was still in her fighting stance, so the force from the hit didn't knock her down. But Calla did bend under the pressure. As she recovered, her hands came to protect her face.
"Don't touch her!" Renia unexpectedly sprung from behind Calla, launching herself at the man. Her body slammed into the man's, knocking them both down. As they hit the ground, Renia shouted back to her daughter: "Run!"
Without hesitation, Calla turned and booked it to the exit. Her body screamed in protest as she shocked her muscles awake; her body had been through a lot today, and she sympathized, she really did, but now was not the time for lethargy. As she reached the door a pang of guilt surfaced inside her. She had abandoned her pacifist mother to fend for herself. She slid to a stop and turned to look back.
Renia had scrambled to her feet and was right behind her. "Go, go, go!" Renia smashed into Calla as they both stumbled out the doorway. They threw their bodies into the crowd, pushing their way deeper and deeper into the street. Calla didn't look back, but she heard the man trying to shout something at them over the festivities: "Stop them! Stop them! Thieves!"
Calla was in front of her mother. Like a flood, the people around them found the crack between them and jammed themselves into it. Renia began to fall behind, so Calla thrusted her elbows out to the side and waded back to her mother. The pair reunited, grabbed each other's hands, and went back to shoving their way through the crowd together.
