Hours went by and the bar was still heaving. She tried to be careful as she passed through the bustling crowd with her plate of drinks. She was sweating. Her body was aching. Her head was hammering. She was so fixated on what she was doing she didn't notice the man walking past her too closely. She didn't notice how his eyes raked over her nor his mischievous grin before it was too late. She spun around with a gasp as he reached beneath her skirt.

The drinks tipped as Kaitlyn stumbled. She tried to grab for them but they were beyond saving. They seemed to fall in slow motion. They went everywhere. Beer and soft drink gushed like a river, all over the floor, all over herself, all over a customer sitting at a nearby table. Two of the glasses smashed against the linoleum floor, so loudly heads turned from every direction. The disgusting culprit had already vanished into the crowd by the time the wet customer stood with an angry shout.

Kaitlyn stood, staring, not knowing what to do, not knowing what to think. It was suddenly so quiet. How could a once such busy, chaotic room suddenly be so damn quiet? She felt her cheeks flame. Her stomach bottomed out as the silence stretched.

And then the woman opened her mouth.

The whole room watched as she shouted. Kaitlyn heard her but hardly understood what she was saying, her ears echoing with the sound of her own pounding heart. All she knew was the woman's angry wide mouth and the lines of cruelty around her eyes. It didn't matter to her that Kaitlyn was soaked through. It didn't matter that she was exhausted and humiliated. It mattered even less that she'd just been sexually harassed. The whole room watched in silence and all Kaitlyn could do was stand there copping it, frozen like a statue.

Eventually, the woman's mouth stopped moving. The ends of her blonde hair were damp from the beer. Kaitlyn could see her bra through her wet shirt. With a scowl, the woman turned and sat back down again.

The woman flicked her hair back out of the way as a couple of her friends reached over with their serviettes to help dab her shirt dry. Their lips were thin as they looked up at Kaitlyn in disgust.

'I'm really sorry,' Kaitlyn muttered as she knelt down carefully to pick up the bigger pieces of smashed glass.

The woman merely flicked back her long blonde hair again as she muttered something about "incompetent staff".

Mutely, her ears ringing, her mind whirling, Kaitlyn gathered up what she could of the mess. Her eyes were hot. It felt like there was a rock sitting deep in her throat. Getting up, she wound her way back between the tables, ignoring the whispering, ignoring people's laughing eyes. She reached the safety of the bar but wasn't focusing enough when she put down the plate of broken glass. At an angle, it all toppled into the sink with a crash.

Kaitlyn looked up as Felicity gripped her shoulder. Her friend's eyes were creased with sympathy. 'I'll clean up the rest. Go have a break.'

'No. I'll do it.'

Felicity squeezed her shoulder. Her voice was firm. 'I said, go have a break.'

Tears dripped from Kaitlyn' eyes as she stared down at the sink. The little shards of broken glass glinted sharply against the fluorescent light. Everything turned to a blur. The sounds of the busy restaurant were becoming strangely muffled. With a tearful gasp, she nodded. Turning away, she hurried towards the staffroom, her head down, gripping her elbows.

She went to the bathroom first, pulling off her wet shirt. The beer had soaked into her bra and felt sticky against her skin. She stood at the sink, angry tears continuously filling her eyes as she wiped down her shirt with a wet paper towel. After that, she tried to dry it off as best she could under the hand dryer. Grimacing, she put it back on. It was cold and damp and still smelled like beer.

Kaitlyn looked into the mirror with a wince. Her face was red and swollen and her mascara was running. Her long dark hair clung to her shoulders in damp curls. She felt it sticking to the back of her neck. Her hair smelled as bad as her shirt.

After doing the best she could to fix her face, she spent the rest of her short break sitting in the corner of the staffroom, quietly sobbing into her hands. Was this what her life amounted to? A free grope and a beer-soaked shirt? When she'd been in school, she'd had big plans for her future. A career. A man. A family. She should have already had a kid by now. Though, she admitted to herself, it was a little hard when the last time she'd had a boyfriend was almost three years ago. What was wrong with her?

Fisting her hands on her knees, Kaitlyn stood. She stared hard into empty space as the fury built up in her chest. Before she knew it, she was kicking one of the locker doors. Gritting her teeth, she kicked and kicked until it dented. She should just leave on the spot with no notice. She should abandon her shitty life, move somewhere more exciting with better job prospects, and restart everything. It wasn't the first time she'd considered it—and it wasn't the first time she'd rejected it. Kaitlyn stopped kicking, staring at the dented locker. Then, leaning her forehead against the wall, she sighed.

Minutes later she was back at work.

Thankfully, there was only a couple of hours left before closing time and most people had vacated the premises, staggering drunkenly back home.

Kaitlyn busily began wiping down benches and stacking chairs, feeling much more content. The place looked so much better empty. Still, she was exhausted and worried about the dented locker. What if her boss found out? Did the staffroom have a camera? Would he deduct the cost of fixing it from her pay?

'Good shift tonight, Kat,' Felicity said with a crooked smile as they made their way out the door.

Throwing back her head, Kaitlyn laughed crazily. Tears pricked her eyes and she wiped her nose. 'How do you do it, Felicity? You've been here five years, how do you do it?'

Felicity shouldered her bag as they stepped outside. Most of the other staff members had already left. Abdul would still be busy cleaning the kitchen for another hour. He would lock up.

'By gritting my teeth, babe,' Felicity said, 'and assaulting the shit out of my punching bag when I get home. You need to get one.' She flashed a grin. 'Instead of kicking lockers.'

Kaitlyn's eyes widened.

Felicity took her hand and laughed, then kissed her on the cheek. 'Don't worry, your secret Kung Fu fighting skills are safe with me. See you tomorrow?'

Kaitlyn screwed up her face. 'Don't have a choice, do I?'

Releasing her hand, Felicity gave her another crooked smile before turning and walking away, the glow from the streetlight above making her purple hair shine. 'I'm sure it'll be better,' she called over her shoulder.

Kaitlyn pursed her lips. Shouldering her handbag, she turned and walked down the mostly deserted path in the opposite direction, her bus stop a few blocks away. Another kick in the guts—her car had finally shat itself several days ago and it was going to cost too much to fix. In fact, it was going to cost more to fix it than what it was worth. She didn't even have the money to tow it away, sitting like a wreck in her driveway.

It was one o'clock in the morning and there were few people about, just a young couple walking hand in hand on the other side of the road and a lone teenager sitting on the corner drinking. A black cat shot across the road, its eyes glowing green in the darkness. She watched the young couple for a moment before dropping her eyes back to the footpath.

Streetlights glared upon the road. A truck roared past, music blaring through its open windows. It had been a warm day and a suffocating evening in the bar but the night had turned cool and in her rush to get to work earlier that afternoon she'd forgotten her cardigan.

Shivering, she held her elbows. She turned a corner and walked down another path. The bus stop was only another block away. Her heels clacked so loudly in the quiet.

Kaitlyn glanced over her shoulder. It wasn't unusual to feel wary at night but it wasn't usual for Kaitlyn to feel panicky. She used to take late night public transport all the time when she'd been younger, and she'd been using it for the past week without issue. So why was she feeling so nervous? She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She was alone and yet she felt like she wasn't.

She glanced over her shoulder and that was when she saw him. He'd just turned the corner, hands in his pockets, his face lowered as he stuck to the shadows. His footsteps echoed hers. She hadn't even heard him following her. Was he following her? The light from a nearby streetlight turned his grey hoodie a light shade of blue. She'd completely forgotten about him. When had he left the bar? She hadn't noticed. Had he been waiting for her all this time?

Are you having dreams, Kaitlyn?