-----FEW HOURS LATER, 7/11 STORE-----

Despite being on the clock, Rose was all out in her slumber as she put her head down with her arms wrapped around on the front counter, her snores likely reverberating five yards away. The streets outside reeked of cold dust and howling low winds, but Rose managed to snatch in a few minutes of sleep when the entire store was devoid of any oncoming customers, even though she should've stood awake longer during work hours.

But eventually, Rose broke out from her deep nap when she felt a tug on her hair. Disoriented, she looked up to see the blurred face of a man with glasses, standing there with a carton of milk. As her vision cleared, she soon realized where she was.

"Hello welcome, what can I get for you!" She blurted out, springing up from her seat whilst snatching the carton of milk from his hand and scanning the barcode frantically. "Okay that'll be $2.50!! Enjoy, have a good night!"

Feeling petrified, the man gave the money and left running with his carton of milk. Rose gave out a deep sigh as soon as he went out the front door, before going into the staff room as the door closed with a loud crash from behind. On the door plate which read "No Admission", there was sticky note etched beside it, saying "For dummies!" with a smiley face poking it's tongue out, most likely written and drawn by Rose herself. Getting inside, Rose ruffled inside a few boxes of potato chips to ease her mind, before almost getting caught red-handed by the manager.

"Oh hey, Rose!" Her friend and manager named Grace spotted her as she got inside from the back-door. "What are you looking for?"

Caught off guard, Rose sprang up with a bag of chips hidden behind her. "Oh what's up, bro!?" she stuttered, trying to make herself seem normal. "Was checking if everything was... fine around here."

Grace responded with a small laugh. "Oh great, thanks!" she assured. "I was just asking for some help on taking the trash out."

"Late at night?" she replied. "Aren't you supposed to do it at the morning?"

Grace shrugged. "Yeah, but the dumpster is overflowing." she responds. "And I'd like to get it done quick before it gets worse."

Rose sighed, putting away the bag of chips which she had hidden. "Okay, I'll help," she answered. "I needed some fresh air after all."

Together, they head to the back alley of the store, Rose's mind elsewhere as they stepped out into the cold pavement outside. Grace slowly opened the dumpster , drawing Rose's attention to something odd about what was inside.

"You know bro? I've been thinking and... H- hey, why is the trash moving?" she pointed out something of what seems to be a tail poking out.

"Oh hey, it's-" Grace went ahead and put her hand right inside the dumpster, right before pulling out something right from a nightmare.

"Grace, what are you... OH- OH MY-" Rose yelled as she pulled out a lizard the size of three cats, holding the poor thing by it's neck.

"God, why did you get in there?" Said Grace, addressing to the lizard. "Look at you! You got yourself dirty now."

"What is that thing doing there!?" Rose stood their wide-eyed and petrified.

Grace turned towards her to show the lizard. "Oh yeah, this is Frederick!" she replied, keeping a casual tone despite Rose's frantic one. "It's a Perentie, one of the largest lizards you can find here."

"O- Okay?"

"It's a species of monitor lizard that can grow up to 2.5 meters." Grace added. "Trust me, they're pretty rare!"

"Then w- what's an exotic animal doing in our dumpster?"

"Don't worry, he doesn't bite!" Grace sighed. "And come on, It was Bring your Child to Work Day!"

"It did not say pets, did it?"

"Ugh, fine" she slowly went to the back-door with the lizard in hand. "I should go wash him first."

"And hey, you wanted manager, right?" Grace stopped near the door and turned back to Rose, who had already lit a cigarette.

Rose exhaled the smoke away as she went for another round. "How'd you know?" she answered.

"I can see it," Grace replied. "I could easily give up my role to you, but I won't."

"Huh? Why?" she immediately got defensive.

"Don't say that I hadn't seen you sleeping at the counter," she came forth with. "It's a long night, I know, and I'm not saying anything against it. But you have to earn the role of a manager. A true manager is the one whom everyone can go along with, not whom everyone has to obey till their dying breaths."

Rose moved her head down as she heard her words, seeing that she wasn't the only one providing advice. "Y- yes."

"I was just like you when I first started out," Grace added. "Infact, much worse than you are now. Only sheer effort and will has helped me garner this honorable role of a manager. God! why did I say honorable."

"I get your point, miss," Rose answered, her voice more sorrowful than usual. "Is that everything you need to do?"

'Aw come on, don't say 'miss'!" exclaimed Grace as she wrapped her arm around her shoulder. "We're all friends here, remember? But yeah, being considerate to your peers is one way to go. Frederick didn't get his title of Australia's biggest lizard for nothing!"

Rose reached for her cigarette pack as she heard her words. "Yeah, I see." Rose answers while lighting up a cig on her mouth.

Grace then lifted her arm away from Rose. "Also, how's your brother doing?" she asks.

"He's uh... doing good now," Rose reached for another cig as she exhaled. "Put him through Jeremy's sessions."

"How's he doing there?" Grace replied.

"Oh, he'll get along soon enough," she added. "First day has been real harsh to him."

"Ooh, I'm sorry to hear that," Grace acknowledged. "Well, I'm sure he'll get along well. Just give it some time!"

"Your advice really came in handy, bro," Rose stated whilst looking at the black inky sky with a cigarette in mouth. "Let's see where all this goes."

-----FEW HOURS EARLIER, COFFEE SHOP-----

Blood slowly dripped from his nose and mouth as Eddy got up on his feet, groaning in pain. He stared at the two hooligans on the ground whom had given him such an appearance. His vision a distorted haze, Eddy's fists clenched, ready to go for another round even though his body said otherwise. After a while, the two men got up and ran away pleading for their lives through the alleyway, leaving Eddy and all of them away at that spot.

"I...wanna go... home." He slowly turned towards Isabelle and the other employee. "I think I... got 'em... Yuh..!"

As he tried trudging his way out in his warped vision, he loses his balance and almost falls flat on the cold hard ground before Isabelle catches him. "Gotcha!" she swiftly caught Eddy from behind. But as soon as she did, he drifted off to sleep right in her arms. The other two employees looked at the sleeping boy with astonishment and shock, seeing as to how a total outsider had helped them greatly in such a way.

A few moments later, Eddy slowly gained back his consciousness. Disoriented, he opened his eyes to see Isabelle putting cotton near his face. He let out a groan from the impact those two men had left him with that time.

"Oh, you're awake," Isabelle exclaimed with a smile. "How're you feeling now?"

"Wh- Where... am I?" Eddy responds as he raised himself up from his bench. "Uogh... My head... hurts."

"Are you able to stand up?" she asked. "You don't look too well to go home yet."

Eddy scanned his surroundings to get a clue on what he was doing. "W- Where... is she?"

"Where is who?"

"That woman whom those punks were–"

"Oh she's at the staff room right now," she answers. "I promise you she's feeling good now."

Eddy glanced at the window in disbelief upon hearing her words. He lets out a slight grunt of defeat, lightly pounding on the seat. "Damn it!" he scorned. "I wanted to bully her!"