Devil in Shining Armor

　　Anastasia Green finally found her match. And shes not one to back out of a challenge.

　　That is a cowardly move.

　　She glared fiercely at the final boss one more time. As if the sheer intensity of her glare would make said target to disappear.

　　The stubborn coffee stain on the table shed been scrubbing for the past five minutes was still visible and she would be damned if she let it best her.

　　As the good citizen she is, she isnt going to cuss the clumsy customer and her spoilt child for spilling her drink all over the place or hold it against her. But she better give a fat tip the next time she placed her foot in the shop!

　　Dumping a ridiculous amount of bleach, she went back to scrubbing with all her might.

　　Ha! Take that!

　　Anastasias life had been full of ups and downs for as long as she could remember, but she refused to breakdown. Whenever she finds herself in a tough spot, she scrub away her heartache like shes doing right now.

　　She had been mindlessly cleaning the spotless bakery shop for the last hour after they had closed. Mia, her one and only remaining employee had insisted on staying behind and helping with the cleaning as usual, but Ana refused. As she had done for the past 10 days after the accident. She had alot on her mind that needed some scrubbing away and she feared she might outrun her problems.

　　Its was well after 10pm and the only sound audible in the little dim shop was the song blaring from her phone;

　　 .

　　It keeps throwing balls at you till you go down. So when life hit you hard, hit it back with all youve got. She like it, and this is how she plan to live through her shitty life.

　　In her opinion, Anastasia didnt think she lacked much. She might have lost her father when she could barely walk, but her mother, Ms Maria Green, bless her soul, did everything to make sure she received all the love and care she needed while growing up.

　　She might not have any assets to her name or a fat bank account, but the woman had an incredible baking skills. She had easily became the best go-to bakery shop in their little town, Rockville, when she started the shop. She had made sure that Anastasia had a very comfortable and happy childhood.

　　Anastasia had a petite figure with heart shaped, sculpted face and a short brown hair that framed her it well. With her large baby blue doe eyes, she is often mistaken for a teenager. Her beauty might not be the striking that would make people glance twice, but she felt her attractiveness was quite ample that she never felt intimidated by someone else.

　　Personality wise, she is easy going, approachable and friendly, even though most people question her social life. She lacked friends, but in her defense, no one approached her. Though that might be because everyone within her age group is either happily married or had moved out. She wouldnt blame them, the town is a dead one. And whoever lived in it, shared its fate.

　　Even at an early age, Ana was a well behaved child. In the absence of a father figure, she had started helping with the house expenses as soon as she can even though her mother insisted she shouldnt claiming it was too much to a middle schooler to handle.

　　Her mother had shouldered all of it alone, so Ana took over the house chores quickly to reduce her stress, while also assisting her mother in her business whenever she had the chance.

　　She soon mastered the art of baking, her only skill, which helped her mother immensely.

　　Anastasia although a beautiful, law abiding citizen with a mother who had a good business, attracted zero suitors. Not for the lack of trying. Her mother had tried hooking her up with lots of her acquaintance when Ana failed to bring home a single boyfriend by the time she clicked 20. But much to her mothers dismay, she remained single. To the guys in town, it was as Anastasia simply didnt exist.

　　It really didnt matter to her, but even if none of them were her actual type, rejection still hurts.

　　Anastasia liked cute, soft featured men with a princely face, like those found in the fairy tales. The blond-hair-blue-eyes type of men. Apart from physical appearances, she had specific qualities she liked in a man, which were practically close to nonexistent in the men who lived in their small town.

　　Seems she isnt their type as well, thus her non-existent love life.

　　Her only friend, Ellie, a strong believer that advancing in age would be disadvantageous for Ana in the dead town, tried hooking her up with several of her colleagues at her work place. But Ana is tired of rejection, there is so much her ego can take. Besides, long distance relationships arent her thing. Instead she devoted her time to running their shop.

　　Life had been a little lonely when Ellie got a job in the city and moved out of the town. She has been the only friend of Ana that journeyed 4 hours every week just to spend time with her during her college days when they graduated from high school and everyone went their separate ways. Some went to college, others got married while some simply moved over to next towns.

　　Ana never felt the pressure to do any, she was fairly happy with her life living with her mom despite the random dose of misfortunes. It was nothing a woman cant handle. Her mom was her only relative alive and she never thought about leaving her behind.

　　But now she had passed away and Ana was left all alone in the world.

　　The small bell chimed when the doors were opened catching her attention over the music.

　　"We are closed." Ana called out turning off the music in her phone. But the person either didnt hear her or simply decided to ignore her and made themselves welcome inside.

　　Ana dropped the cleaning rag, mouthed a "we are not done" to the ugly stain and walked over to see the visitors out. The last thing she needed right now is another pity party which seemed to have dragged on even after 10 days.

　　"Im sorry we are......"

　　"Closed." Her words caught up in her throat when she took in the people that entered and her insides churned at the sight.

　　"Oh, how may I help you, Mr Scott?" Ana tried to put on a polite smile on her face but the organ? part of the body? simply wasnt cooperating. She was already trying hard to mask her growing anxiety. After all that had happened, she still knew better than to offend the group.

　　Mr Scott, the wrinkly old man straightened his well pressed, expensive looking overcoat. His beady black eyes snapped to her face from her body and broke into a creepy grin.

　　"You can start by offering us a seat, Ms Green." One of the men flanking his back said, his attention on her as well.

　　"Of course," she nodded. She ushered them inside and brewed a cup of coffee while the two guards simply stood behind him on as he sat.

　　If you are here to express your heartfelt condolences, Ana thought, you can save it.

　　They are the last people she needed to see right now.

　　*

　　But Anastasia knew that wasnt the case. She waited patiently for him to speak as dread curled up in her stomach. His presence has always been associated to a bad omen. She silently prayed whatever news he brought, she would be able to bear it.

　　Although the worse that could happen was losing her mom. And it has happened.

　　But boy was she wrong, nothing prepared her for the next words that tumbled out of his mouth knocking the breath out of her.

　　*

　　Ana gaped at Mr Scott in disbelief, who was seated oh so casually across from her as if they were discussing the weather and not her livelihood. I… repeat that again, sir," stammered Ana, of the debt I am supposed to pay."

　　Debt. She spat the word with contempt, but maintained a calm composure. How much was it exactly?" she asked.

　　$60,000, Ms Green," Mr Scott repeated patiently. His eyes roaming all over her face gauging her reaction.

　　If Ana could, she would have screamed and fainted. Or perhaps even die. But she promised to remain strong. How could that be possible?" she after a deep breath. The moment the word debt came out of his mouth, Ana knew she was doomed.

　　Owing anything to the Mathews is equivalent to loosing your life without actually dying. Trust me when I said death is a far more favourable option to the torture you would go through. You dont want to be involved with them in any shape, or form.

　　$60k might have been a minimal amount for other any middle class family, but for Ana, it was a substantial amount. She wondered if scraping the last of her assets and selling every little thing she owned would be enough to repay it. Anastasia closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

　　Which was a very hard thing to do when his words repeated over and over again in a head like a broken record. Her mind flashing back to the image of her mother in the casket, who had died 10 days ago. If only she had stopped her from going out that day, she thought but willed her mind to not venture that path. Theres nothing but despair at the end.

　　She is strong.

　　Her mother was involved in an accident with a drunk driver on her way from the hospital to greet her friend. The car had swiveled and hit a tree by the park, it didnt help that it was raining. That had meant instant death for her dear mother.

　　She was just an ordinary woman who ran a fairly delicious bakery and had been successful in it. She wasnt someone important nor did she have connections. The police had identified the culprit as he is quite famous for his reckless driving, although never killed a life before. Everyone knew who it was.

　　They concluded that she had tried dodging out of the way and end up hitting the tree, and thus let him go after some charges.

　　Her heart constrict at the thought.

　　Ana hadnt had enough time to mourn. But she refused to allow herself to breakdown. She had taken the reins of her mothers business after her death. She couldnt let her toil go to waste. It didnt prove to be too difficult as she was already well-versed with the work, although she might need to hire a manager. If Ana spent the money carefully, she could probably sustain herself for a few years.

　　However, now with this unexpected turn of event, her future looks bleak. She had tended to all the documents given to her by the lawyers, but all of a sudden, a debt of $60k appeared out of nowhere. Lets go through the documents once again," suggested Anastasia, clinging to her last piece of hope. It could be a mistake."