A Gift or A Curse

Chapter 1

THANK YOU SO MUCH @Synysters_Wife for making this awesome cover for me!! I love it so fuckin much! XD

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"Morning, Ms Quinn."

Blake looked up from her newspaper and gleamed at the old man in front of her.

"Morning, Mr Elmer. What would it be today?"

"Just the usual please."

She nodded and reached for a copy of this month's Fish and Reel issue and handed it to him.

"You've been fishing a lot huh? Caught any big ones lately?"

"Ahh you know them fish here. Stubborn like a jig in my toe."

She laughed slightly before receiving a couple of ten cad from him. The old man touched his hat slightly, indicating that he's leaving.

"Come back soon, Mr Elmer!"

The bell from above the door chimed softly as he went out and ignored her yelling.

"Well, that's one." She counted.

Every day, there would only be two people who came into this shop and actually buy something. Those two were her regular customers. Mr Elmer - who stopped to buy his monthly issue of fishing magazine and sometimes just saying hi to her, and Mrs Gideon - who always looking for recipe books.

She has tons of recipe books in here. In fact, all kinds of books are here. It's just a matter of finding them. She managed her books like library - by genre, by author and so on. But they were lying everywhere. On the floor, on top of the bottom shelves, on the counter, on the stairs, everywhere.

Well, one reason is because she wasn't tall enough to reach the top of these shelves. Sometimes she wondered, maybe she really needs an assistant. A tall one, specifically.

She was arranging the books in the fantasy section when the bell above the door chimed suddenly. She smiled, and immediately knew who came into her shop.

"Hi there, Mrs Gideon!"

The elderly woman beamed at the sight of her. They hugged briefly, and Mrs Gideon took off her coat.

"You're looking for another recipe?"

"Yeah, maybe. I was nearby and thought I could stop by. How are you dearie?"

"I'm good. Business's a bit down though."

Mrs Gideon smiled sweetly at her. Blake had always thought of her as a mother.

"Well, you just gotta wait a bit more. Maybe today someone will come in and buy something from you."

"You're just being nice now. Here's your recipe book." She handed over a new copy of Cooking with Clams to Mrs Gideon and she took it.

"Looks like we'll be having some clams today." She muttered as she opened her purse.

"Oh God I'm sorry, I just took the latest book from my shelf, I didn't know it was all clam recipes!"

Mrs Gideon laughed watching her panicking and trying to put the book back onto the shelf.

"That's okay dear. I like clams!" she touched her forearm lightly and stopped her.

"Okay then, that'll be 20 cad."

Mrs Gideon gave her the exact change and she put it into her register.

"Well, I'll be leaving first. Don't you give up young lady."

"I will. I mean- I won't."

Mrs Gideon beamed at her again and off she went by the ringing sound of the doorbell.

Blake sighed heavily. At this rate, there won't be anyone coming in anymore. Sometimes she wanted to just close this shop down and find herself a desk job. But then she wouldn't have the time to read anymore.

RING!

The door bell suddenly chimed again. She sat up straight from behind the counter. A new customer! Who could that be? She thought to herself. The counter was a bit hidden from the front door view so she couldn't see who was coming into her shop. She got up from her seat and went out of the counter when the new customer didn't seem to walk forward for a while.

"Hello there, welcome to Book Heaven! Can I hel-"

She blinked at the person in front of her.

He was tall, lanky and moderately skinny. His black hair had fringe on both sides of his sideburns and he was wearing dark black eyeliner. His attire - black tshirt, with black skinny jeans and fingerless glove on his hands. His fingernails were black, he had colorful tattoos spreading on both of his arms and piercings on his lips.

He looked lost.

Blake had never seen this man before. Her town is a boring town. If there was anyone dressing up like this, they would be middle school kids. But this guy was a fully grown adult man.

"Can I help you?" Blake asked again.

The man quickly turned to look at her.

"You can see me?"

A/N: haha first attempt of making a sequel for me! well, a semi-sequel. this story will focus more on Jimmy, but also on the band entirely. will put in scenes of Michelle and Brian too! can't wait for your feedbacks!! :D