The System's Hold Over Me

Frizz parked his electric-bike, took out the baseball bat lodged between the compartment and frame, and propped it on the wall near the post. Then he entered the convenience store, causing the bell to ding.

Mina spotted Frizz as he entered. "Didn't you take a leave?" She asked.

"Just going to buy something."

Mina scoffed and returned to work, restocking the shelves and empty containers. Frizz stared at her while she worked, noticing her tight pants. (It must be nice being her boyfriend.) Mina turned around and noticed Frizz looking at her.

"Stare all you want; you won't get any of it," She smugly stated as she turned her back at him, displaying more of her bottom.

Frizz was taken aback. "You're not my type," he retorted. "Whatever helps you sleep," Mina replied.

From the start, Mina didn't quite see eye to eye with Frizz, she saw him as boring and unambitious. He was attractive, tall, and had white eyes that were pleasing to stare at. However, that was all he was to her. He was just another eye candy, decent to stare at but bad to reach.

Mina stared at Frizz while he browsed the candy section. (He has gotten chippier?)

The same could be said for Frizz, he saw her as a brownnoser and competitive. What was there to compete for in a small convenience store? Still, he couldn't hate her a lot. She was a breadwinner, she had a responsibility to take care of her siblings.

Frizz stared at Mina while she squatted down to fix the ice cream machine. (Gah dayum.)

The animosity between the two started a few weeks ago, Mina was changing her clothes, when she heard a shuffle behind a wall. She investigated the noise and spotted a small hole, enough that you could see from the other side. Furious, she put on her clothes and hurried to the next room, and just as she was about to open the door, Frizz popped up with an inscrutable expression.

An argument ensued, with both sides not taking a step back. Frizz accused Mina of slander while Mina accused Frizz of voyeurism. He was about to throw a punch and she was about to hit him with a baton. It took Mr. Sim to calm both of them, he told Frizz that you shouldn't use violence against women and told Mina you shouldn't accuse with no evidence.

Both of them weren't convinced, not one bit. Mr. Sim sighed and offered Mina a much-needed pay raise and offered Frizz to have two more paid leaves a month. They both calmed down and thanked Mr. Sim for his generosity and then walked away from each other, seething.

"I shouldn't have drank a lot." Frizz held his mouth, almost puking. He entered the break room and climbed on top of a bunch of hard cardboard boxes. There he lied and slowly went to sleep.

One hour later...

Frizz woke up, yawning as he exited the break room and walked towards the beverages refrigerator, took out two root beer cans, and walked towards the counter.

"Mina, tell Mr. Sim that I took two cans of root beer. He'll understand." Frizz falsely smiled at Mina behind the counter. She just stared at him with a blank expression on her face and tossed a paper bag. He put both cans in the paper bag, and just as he was about to head out.

Baron entered.

"Shit," Frizz swore as he stopped. Baron stopped in front of him, slightly annoyed. "Excuse me," Baron said to him, visibly annoyed. He curtly nodded and stepped aside.

"Oh, right. I was wearing a mask and a long-sleeved shirt when I invaded; they won't recognize me," Frizz thought as he glanced at the entrance, spotting several people standing outside, scanning the area, a few feet away from his electric-bike.

(Those guys… are they Baron's men? They look like Baron's men.) He eyed his electric-bike and the baseball bat propped against the wall. (It's only a matter of time until they see that and assume that whoever took that bat also owned that bike!)

Frizz entered the break room, grabbed a spare jacket from his locker, and slipped it on. Taking slow steps toward the exit, he drew a deep breath, walked out calmly, and took a seat on a bench near the entrance.

(I could just jump on my bike and ride away acting like I am not bothered by them, but...) His eyes landed on one of the guards lingering away from the main group, fidgeting nervously and glancing around.

(That's the guard that I knocked out at the gate and blasted away with my telekinesis.) Frizz thought as his anxiety slowly rose. (He interacted with me the most; even with the mask off, he might still recognize me.)

"Ma'am, have you seen someone run past by wearing a gray mask and a white long-sleeve shirt?" a burly man asked a woman.

"I can't say that I have."

"Thank you." The man nodded.

(They're asking around!) Frizz thought as he clenched his hands.

"How long is Baron going to be there? That piece of shit isn't here. We should've gone in the opposite direction; that guy is from Lim's group. I'm sure of it." A henchman complained.

The burly henchman stretched his arms and looked at the one complaining. "One guy from Lim's group took out three people, including Baron, and can send objects flying at you?"

"You believe what Bryan said? He's full of shit." He declared as he lit his cigar.

"But you saw the damage?"

"You really believed it? That the furniture started to float and struck them." He puffed out a smoke. "Whatever the case, we'll find that guy and let the boss deal with him."

Frizz's heart skipped a beat as soon as he heard what they'd said.

"Hey, look at that. Isn't that Baron's bat?" The smoking henchman pointed.

"My bat is here?" Baron asked, he just exited the convenience store. The three of them walked towards the bat.

"It is your bat; I recognize that faded paint." One of his men stated. Baron gritted his teeth. "He's here, that fucking guy."

"Shit!" one of them uttered in fear as they stepped away with a terrified look on his face.

"Bryan. Don't go anywhere, you were just high and you got punched in your head." Baron stared at his gate guard, with rage. "What you saw wasn't real."

"Yes...." Bryan reluctantly agreed.

"Baron, do you think that whoever owns this electric trash is the guy who robbed you?" Baron studied the electric bike, he was familiar with this model.

"I think I know the guy that owns this." Baron half-confidently states.

"You do? Then let's talk to him." The burly henchman, looking for a fight, declared.

"They work in that convenience as a cashier; matter of fact, I even bumped into him just now. However, he is not our guy." Baron remembered the time when he lit a cigarette inside the convenience store, and all that cashier guy could do was avoid eye contact. (He's weak.)

"The guy that we're looking for is an experienced fighter," Baron stated as he rubbed his plugged nose.

"Still, if the owner comes, interrogate him. He might know something."

Baron picked up his bat and ordered his men. "Call the others to circle the area. They might still be here." He ordered as he stared at the ground, deep in thought.

(If it were from Lim's group, it wouldn't make sense to send just one; they would've sent multiple. They outnumber us six to one. Also, they're already hot, so acting like this would've just made the targets on their backs bigger, both by the police and us. There's also the fact that the invader was unarmed; he took Bryan's pistol but didn't shoot it.) Baron thought as he stared at Bryan, the guard at his house's gate, unnerving Bryan even further.

(There's also the fact that this guy can apparently, make things levitate.) Baron looked at the sky with a frown on his face. (Hooey.) Baron scoffed.

Baron rested the baseball bat on his shoulders. (If it was from Lim's group, they got the upper hand in this raid of theirs. There were only three of us at the house at that time, we were short-staffed and caught off-guard. They would have just killed me the moment I was knocked out.)

"I don't think it's from Lim's group, but they're the only suspects that we have," Baron muttered to himself.

Frizz stared at Baron, observing him. An average-build man pacing around with his baseball bat, with an average but angry-looking face. His hair was short and it had that dirty blonde color. There were no blemishes on his skin, no fallen teeth, and lastly, he wasn't skinny.

"Despite peddling drugs, he doesn't look like he uses it," Frizz observed.