The Alpha Twins and their Runaway Witch

13

She awoke to the sound of a keratin beak pecking against glass. The sun was up. She had overslept. She heard the unmistakable sound of a security lock beeping, and a door opening. Ariel was out the back door before the stranger's first foot stepped inside.

She ran until she was off campus and back on regular city streets. She fished the papers of notes from her bag. Trying to figure out where she should try and go first. It would be so much easier if she knew what time it was. A lot of the places she had written down kept strange hours due to relying on volunteers for a lot of their services.

She was only certain that she was starving, and unlikely to find a way to cook one of the potatoes left in her bag on city streets. She walked down city streets. She didn't have a serious destination. It was clearly before rush hour. The streets were quiet. It had probably been a zealous student coming to practice music at an early hour before classes who had made her run from where she had slept.

Her stomach rumbled. Reminding her just how hungry that she was. She kept walking. The first food bank didn't open until ten am. Which meant there were hours between then and now. She also worried that food banks would need some kind of identification, an address, something to prove herself as a resident in need. She ate the wrap she had taken; And was still starved.

She had stolen documents from a woman who was certainly dead by now, but had no way to use them, to make them look legitimate. Her mind had worked overtime while she slept. Realizing that almost any service would likely need some kind of documentation. Some means to ensure people were not abusing the systems meant to help those in need.

She had nothing but what she carried with her. She kept moving. One foot in front of the other. Carrying her oversized pack. She passed by a dollar store as an employee turned the closed sign to open. She immediately veered and walked in the now unlocked door. She hadn't been in a store in years. The bright fluorescence lights were harsh and blinding to her eyes.

It was shocking to see so many things for sale all at once. So much stuff just available and most of it for a dollar. There were more kitchen supplies than she had seen in years. So many cleaning products. Plastic storage containers. Endless cheap disposable tat for the next holiday. She walked up and down each single aisle. Everything was so shiny and new. It was exciting to see what was available. What was the same, what had changed.

Then she did another lap around the entire store again, with purpose. Picking up extra socks, underwear, shampoo, a travel size deodorant, and a pack of hair ties. Last she reluctantly added a pack of six condoms. She wanted so many more things. But felt these were her most pressing needs and improved her chances of some safety if she needed to resort to prostitution to keep herself alive. 

Tucking her new supplies into her bag with a smile, paying the insanely low price she was nearly skipping as she returned to the streets. Clean, new never been worn underwear were a reason enough to celebrate in her eyes.

Having spent less than twenty dollars buying the supplies she felt were vital, she was emboldened to waste money on a greasy, real breakfast meal anywhere. She walked as morning rush hour traffic slowly picked up then waned as the normal people arrived at work and school like they were supposed to.

She was passing by another casual dinner. One that was actually open for breakfast and not just waiting to open for lunch. With a bright red sign with bold white font declaring help wanted in the front window. She saw the prices on the felt menu board inside, and was willing to pay the ten dollar fee just this once to enjoy bacon. There wasn't any such thing as bad bacon. She would find a way to earn money quickly. One way or another.

Ariel entered the dinner. A bell over the front door rang out. "Sit anywhere you want-  I'll be right over." A server called from behind the expo station in front of the kitchen. She made her way to one of the several available booths in the open restaurant. A chipped mug with coffee was placed on her table as she was handed a laminated menu. A few minutes later she readily accepted the loaded plate of breakfast placed in front of her.