Villainous Us

Leaving Footprints

The Hauntress

I sat on my bed, wrapped up in my favorite blanket, as I watched the rain trickle down my windowpane. A streak of lightning arched across my vision, and a crash of thunder followed.

There was something about thunder storms that I loved. I opened my window a crack, and a cold breeze brought in the earthly smell of rain. It gave me chills, and I pulled the blanket up over my head to cover my ears. I liked the cold for this reason, that I could snuggle up in covers like this, all nice and cozy. I might not seem the snugly type, but days like today always seemed to bring out that side of me.

The only thing that could make this better was ice cream. Preferably of the chocolate variety.

I climbed out of bed, still wrapped in my blanket, and made my way into the kitchen. The lights were off, so I managed to bump into Mary on the way.

"Watch where you're going," she grumbled. "Shouldn't be that hard with two working eyes."

"I would if it weren't so dark in here," I shot back. "Why are all the lights off anyway? Oh yeah, that's right. You're blind."

She sighed. "So kind of you to remind me."

I headed for the fridge, only to find the freezer empty aside from one frozen pizza. My mood immediately plummeted. "There's no ice cream."

"There's no cable either, so I guess we'll both have to deal."

I raised an eyebrow. "The cable's out?"

She nodded. "Storm must've knocked out the signal."

I let out a long breath. "Looks like I'm heading to the store. We're out of food. Anything you want?"

"You're going out in this weather?"

"Yes," I answered simply as I stepped into my boots. "Do you want anything?"

She took a second to think. "We're out of my soy milk. Oh, and some Lucky Charms, if you wouldn't mind."

"Soy milk and Lucky Charms. Got it."

I tugged on my raincoat as I stepped into the hallway of my apartment building. I headed for the elevator only to find that it was out of service. Great. Looked like I would be getting some exercise in. This was one of those times I regretted living on the sixth floor.

Six flights of stairs later, I found myself in the rain. I had my hood up, but it did nothing to block the wind. I had to use my breath to warm up my hands.

Thankfully, the grocery store wasn't far from home. I stepped inside to warm air, pulled down my hood to let my hair loose, and grabbed a shopping cart.

I made sure to get the soy milk and the Lucky Charms, along with my chocolate ice cream and a few other key things we might need. I even tried to plan out some meals for the week, but it was mostly breakfast foods. I wasn't that good at cooking anything else, and Mary wasn't much of a chef either, being blind and all. Hell would freeze over before I let Mary cook me anything, even something as simple as a bagel.

"Well, well," came a voice from just over my shoulder. "If it isn't Shea Waters."

"Alex?" I asked as I spun around to find him leaning against a milk cooler.

He smirked as he peered into my cart, pointing at a box of pancake mix. "Why does this not surprise me?"

I blinked. "Why would pancake mix surprise you?"

His smirk widened. "Well, seeing as you almost became a pancake the other day when I met you."

I shook my head, trying to shake off a laugh. "So, what are you doing here?" I asked, then mentally slapped myself for the obvious.