Galaxy Shoes

1. Donation David

I pulled into the dusty parking lot and shut off the engine. I rubbed my palms on my knees and took a deep breath.

"Jo, calm down. We'll get your shoes." Liam reassured.

"Okay, your right." I looked into his hazel eyes. "They have to be in there."

He gave me a toothy smile, his tiny dimples making their presence. I opened the car door and stepped out, while he did the same. We made our way to the entrance of the small, run-down office building and entered, taking note of the ringing chimes when we stepped over the threshold.

The inside of the adequately sized building seemed very cramped. Papers were sprawled across the small countertop on the back wall of the room, opposite of the entrance. Three blue cushioned chairs lined against the wall to my left, accompanied by a leaking water cooler. A small table covered with magazines and toys was pushed into the corner to my right. The walls were colored beige and the air definitely carried a very musty smell; a mild mixture between machinery oil and dust.

"Hello, my name is Ellery. What can I help you with?" The feminine voice came from the small, cluttered counter, yet I couldn't spot anyone in the seat.

Suddenly, a curly red haired, freckled face popped up from behind the small wooden wall. The girl seemed to be around nineteen or so. She had a plain white shirt with a name tag covering her back, while a pair of black-rimmed glasses covered her eyes.

She gave us an adorable little smile before stacking some papers onto the little free space. I chuckled as the friendly, blue eyes went unnoticed by my idiot of a best friend, whose attention was on two palm-sized magnets.

"Hi, I'm Joanne, and this," I elbowed Liam in his ribs.

"Ow!"

"...is Liam. We're here because I may have accidentally donated some very important shoes, and we need to get them back."

Ellery gave us a pained face. "The thing is," she paused, "the donations of shoes we've collected this week, including today, have already been shipped to our various donation outlets."

Liam placed his hand on my shoulder, but I ignored him and bit my lip.

"Well," Liam said, "is there any way of finding out where the shoes went?"

Ellery gave us a tiny smile. "Yes, there is. However, there is only one person who is allowed to look and deal with all the records."

I slowly blew air out of my mouth and looked into her bright brown eyes. "Who's that?"

She gritted her teeth, whether it was from slight annoyance or pure hatred I couldn't tell. "David, but I take it as a personal obligation to tell you he's not very friendly."

Liam and I looked at each other with squinted eyebrows.

"I really need to get these shoes back." I said.

"Okay." She agreed, "Follow me."

She quickly scribbled something on a paper before opening the door behind her. Liam and I rounded the counter and fell in line behind her as she waltzed down the narrow hallway. She stopped to face the door on her right and looked at us.

"This is his office." Ellery gestured to the door, "Be warned, he might take a while before answering."

"Thanks." Liam said.

She smiled at us before walking back to the main entrance.

*****

"Hello." I pounded on the old, partially broken office door for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Now, I was definitely irritated, my curled fists made that much obvious.