City Lanes

Chapter One

Chapter One

"There was a trapdoor in the sun that I couldn't close, so in the end all the spirits of the world tumbled out and into her instead."

My mind was still on the red-haired boy as I shoved my book in my messenger bag and wrapped my jacket more tightly around myself, trying to keep the raindrops at bay. The sky shifted from pale white to a stormy grey, as I strode down the sidewalk.

Words couldn’t explain how much I hated rain. There wasn’t much I could do about it, since that was all the sky seemed to do all year ’round here. It just rained and rained—which really, really sucked.

I was so lost in thought that I didn’t notice the massive rain puddle; it wasn’t until I stepped in it, splashing my shoes and the legs of my jeans with rainwater that I stopped, gasping and cursing.

You have got to be kidding me.

Biting back a stream of expletives I really wanted to let out, I took a deep breath instead.

“Okay, Tari, it’s just rain. Just rain. All you’ve got to do is make it to Flipper’s, and then you’ll be home.” Paying no attention to the stares I was getting from some passing pedestrians, I continued on my way to the bane of my existence—Flipper’s.

Flipper’s was a crappy little movie theater on the corner of Central Street, squeezed in between a vintage coffee shop and a thrift store. It was honestly a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” type of joint.

The upholstery on the seats were ancient and peeling, the popcorn machine was older than the place itself, and the screens would actually flickered and buzzed before playing the movies. Let us also not forget that said movies still ran on film stock and weren’t projected using a movie projector. The film practically disintegrated, and was a pain to switch out. It was no wonder that we only got an average of twelve customers per week.

Anyways—it was where I worked. Some days I would wonder why I even bothered with the place: the pay was just the bare minimum and my coworkers could honestly drive me up the wall sometimes. But then I would remember that, after four failed applications to other locations, Flipper’s had been the only place willing to hire me. Lovely.

I tried to ignore the squishy sounds my socks were making, but each soggy step I took only dampened my mood.

Fucking rain.

As I approached a crosswalk, I waited for traffic to calm a bit before pressing the pedestrian signal button. The glowing hand signal turned green, and all incoming traffic slowed to a halt. I glanced both ways before swiftly crossing the road.

A left turn later, I was on Central and Flipper’s neon lights blinked at me. I sighed. “Here goes nothing,” I mumbled, pushing open the door.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The smell of popcorn greeted me as I stepped inside the warm building. Shrugging off my coat, I headed to the hidden employee room near the entrance to place it in one of the small metal lockers when I noticed that it was full of snack wrappers. With a roll of my eyes, I swept the mess out using my arm and placed my bag and coat in.

I was already wearing my Flipper’s tee, so I grabbed the one of the hats off of the rack by the door and left the room. As I returned to the lobby, I nodded at Mandy, our usher. She waved unenthusiastically back at me, and I flashed her a sympathetic smile before moving behind the concessions counter.

Amanda, or Mandy, as she liked to be called, hated this place almost as much as I did. I was pretty sure, though, that she hated life in general—she basically emanated a “fuck everyone” attitude.