Couldn't My Reincarnation have been more Cliche!

Interlude Two (The Black Cat) Part 2

Watching his back disappear into the rain. Maria couldn't help but wonder if she would ever be able to get through to him. Taking one last look at the dimly lit street she turned around, and attended to a few more customers before she wearily swung a "closed" sign down with a small noise.


Passing by a display case, she idly grasped a few of the unsold pastries, which had gone stale and lazily grazed on the desserts enjoying the sweet feeling filling her mouth. A quiet sigh escaped her mouth as her body plopped down on an empty seat. A moment of stillness passed only interrupted by the hum of a car passing by outside, as she half listened to the tv broadcast that was playing in the shop.

[female TV anchor] "As you can see, the forecast calls for at least two inches of precipitation in the following counties. . ."

Snacking quietly she couldn't help but run through the previous conversation in her mind.

[Mariam] "The last time he says? It'll only be the last time when he succeeds. Why can't he just give it up already? Ugh, I can't believe he thinks he can just come here and do whatever he wants without even considering how I feel. It's not like I work this hard so he can throw his life away for nothing. Maybe if father hadn't left, he might not be so stubborn about this."

Regretting the way she had been thinking, she shook herself, forcing a smile to return to her lips.

[Mariam] "Well, this kind of thinking won't get you anywhere, Maria. Oh, and look how dirty the shop is; you better go clean it before more customers arrive."

Laughing at her own scolding, she planted a hand on the counter and slowly rose to her feet.

When a set of words coming together on the TV screen managed to catch her attention.

[female TV anchor] "Our main story today is on the developing situation regarding the rift incident in residential district 23."

Maria's ears caught on the anchor's voice; she had heard rumblings of some kind of accident from the customers.

[female TV anchor] "An official report by the warden-assigned press offices revealed that a grade four gate, was misclassified due to malfunctioning military equipment, opened 200 meters away from an evacuation point. A joint military warden task force was able to neutralize the rift with minimal loss of life. So far, only two people have been confirmed missing, a female resident of 56th Street, and Paul Evenworth, a decorated and highly praised military private. If you have any information about these individuals, please report it to your local police hotline immediately."

[Mariam] "Huh, that's strange? When was the last time a grade four has appeared inside the city like this."

Sure, rifts appeared all the time, but they were usually spread out enough to avoid population centers. Something like this happening, and even claiming two victims, was just not common in recent years.

Her eyes flitted down to look at the information displayed on the bottom of the screen as the anchor paused for a moment to listen intently to her earpiece. The tone of the broadcast was a little grim, she considered changing the channel as she wasn't in the mood for this sort of thing, stuffing the last of the pastries into her mouth she got up a bit heavily as she went to clean up the shop before she laid down to rest a bit.

Humming a tune to herself, she swept under a table which, judging by the amount of food scattered underneath it, belonged to a partially dysfunctional customer.

Stopping to swipe a bit of sweat that had pooled on her forehead she took a look at the shop and feeling satisfied with how clean everything was, this feeling was taken out of her when she saw the several empty trays of pastries that would need to be refilled tomorrow. Letting out a breath she decided just to put it off to tomorrow as she finally was ready to rest her exhausted body.

As if mocking this thought, a crash reverberated through the left wall of the tiny shop, as if it had just been hit by a sledgehammer.