In Charlotte's Eyes

Taken

Charlotte found it pretty amusing, her friends' reactions to her new look. Suzuki and Carlos were mildly concerned at first, but didn't make a big deal of it. Aaron dug it, telling her it was a "mean looking scar." A month and a half passed. Nothing bad happened, this new change didn't really affect her much, if at all. It was a little jarring to look in the mirror at times, but it could be worse.

She had been looking forward to today. She planned to do this a few weeks in advance. She drove almost five hours from Brunswick to Atlanta to go see the mall. She planned to stay until close. She had always wanted to see what Atlanta had to offer, and what better way than to see one of the bustling malls?

She had just gotten finished eating some food she had bought at a food court. She was mostly window shopping, as she didn't want to spend too much. She bought a few things, though. A pair of sunglasses, which she wore, and a variety of small souvenirs.

She wandered around the large mall, on the second of two floors. The place was nicely decorated, and there were many different people walking around. She was alone; none of her friends were available to go with her. It made things a bit less enjoyable, but she was still wowed by all the cool decorations, unique stores, and the size of the place.

She walked down a length of mall where strands of thick, semi-transparent, crystal-like sticks were laid down from the ceiling. They were circled with small, yellow lights. It was like walking through a dream, and she couldn't help but smile at it. As she walked, a store she never heard of caught her eye.

She decided to head inside the space, attracted by all the gems. They weren't of super high quality, she noticed, but even so, they all reminded her of her spelunking trips with Parker. There was even a separate area for fine jewelry, she noticed. This seemed to be a local store, rather than a name brand. While she looked around, she noticed that there were mostly women. An employee asked if she needed help, to which she politely replied with, "No."

She began circling the perimeter of the small shop. There were many different kinds of gem: some raw, some crafted into bracelets, beads, and other shapes. Then, she noticed an emerald bracelet. It immediately attracted her, as it looked very pretty, but also modest. She grabbed it, a small smile coming to her face. The color of the small emerald reminded her of Aaron. Oh, she had to get this. She turned the bracelet over to look at the right side of the price tag.

Immediately, she wretched, her face scrunching. Her mouth hung ajar in disgust and shock. Fifteen hundred dollars?! "What the fuck..?" She whispered. She closed her lips, and looked around, brows furrowed. Nobody was watching her. She turned back to the bracelet, studying it further. $1,500 for this? It wasn't that high quality. And, if it was so valuable, why wasn't it being kept with the other pieces of jewelry?

Charlotte was not, in a million years, going to pay to buy this thing at that price. Sure, it looked pretty, and vividly reminded her of Aaron, but she could always find something else, right?

She grumbled quietly. For some reason, the thought of leaving it here was bothering her. The color reminded her too much of Aaron. The shade of green, and the dull silver. She glanced to both of her sides. Nobody was looking. She crushed the bracelet in her hand, making sure it didn't stick out through her knuckles. With her other hand, she brought her purse up and opened it. She quickly shoved the bracelet inside, then began shuffling through her purse to make it seem less suspicious.

Charlotte took out her lipstick. It wasn't out of the ordinary for a girl to apply a bit of lipstick, right? She did just that, quickly swiping it across her lips a few times. Then, she stuffed the item back into her purse. She closed it, then looked up. Nobody was looking at her.

She continued to walk around the store, to make things less suspicious. She planned to buy something cheap, too, but didn't find anything else she found interesting enough to keep. So, a little while after, she walked out of the store. And that ended that fiasco. She continued on her merry way.

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