Flash

Serendipity

Hallie frowned as she gathered up her things before walking home. That guy seemed so weird to her. She just wanted to see him smile and in return he just had to swear at her?! She didn't feel like singing to people after that. And plus, the town seemed so sketchy after seven; it creeped her out.

 She smiled though; there was a part of her happy that she finally got him to notice her existence. After two weeks of passing by, they still hadn't spoken a word to each other until that meltdown he had. What was his problem? She'd seen him before smiling and laughing while the snow cascaded, but then everything took a turn for the worst after he completely did not show up. Unbeknownst to her, he did show up, late at night to attempt to get wasted and let everything slip away. It was definitely better that he came at the right time and was intercepted for the better.

She sighed as she packed everything into her backpack and waved to her friend, Destinee, who was working the night shift in the cafe. Destinee also seemed sad a week before, and Hallie had asked but she didn't want to pry when Destinee shook her off. She was getting curious but she figured it had to do with the recent memorial of a pretty girl, Anne, Hallie thought her name was. She doubted it though, wouldn't Destinee have told her about that? Destinee did mention an Anne... She sighed knowing that Dess didn't like people who pried.

Gosh, why did people have to be so frustrating? I just wanted to help! she thought helplessly. She couldn't help but feel so defeated when people like Jace managed to pry at her heart and immediately make her want to help. 

She sighed as she tugged on her backpack, stumbling slightly like she always did. She didn't have anything heavy per se, but the jerky movement tended to throw her off balance. Not really rushed, she took her sweet time as she strolled towards the park.

She always loved to sit at one of the benches after her 'shift' as she called it. There wasn't much reason behind it, but she loved seeing everything at night. The scenery seemed to transform after the sun went down. Everything looked wonderful, well at least more than before. She wished she had a camera that would be able to capture everything from her naked eye. Photography was her forte, and she loved it. She'd forgotten her camera for the past couple of weeks as during her singing gig, as she liked to call it.

No one from work really knew about why she took such a long break during the winter. They never questioned it though. They didn’t really care for her; actually, most of them liked to flock to her because her grandma was the owner of the company. In the hopes of getting a promotion, Hallie had earned several ‘friends’ who loved to suggest new ideas for her to give to her grandma. Of course, this would be done all done under their watchful eye and while giving them credit. She always nodded and lied, “Oh, maybe sometime soon, I guess. She’s quite busy around this time of year.” She gave that excuse all year round but luckily, most of her friends were in different departments, leaving not much overlap for them to all conspire about her lies.

She liked her job though. It was just that the lack of people who really cared often left her empty. She assured herself that it was their selfishness and her status that constricted her from creating real relationships with them all; she found it to be quite rude to them but when they only really talked to her when they wanted something, it was quite obvious their true intentions.

Her grandma actually approved of Hallie’s vacations. She found them to be quite... nice. She’d been taking those breaks for four years back, one week after her grandfather’s death. Hallie was a musical person; just like her grandfather. Hallie was raised by her grandparents after her single mother passed away at the age of ten. They often sang together and carolled during the holidays. It was only meant to be annual or maybe once but when she felt the snow prickling her face with coldness, saw the smiles of the people’s faces when they heard her sing and felt the happiness that came with the freeness of singing it became a need almost, to have her grandfather... near her in a way. She also couldn’t help but want to spread some holiday cheer.