"I don't know what's going on, but there's one thing I'm absolutely certain of: Sebastian Michaelis is not human, and I have no clue of what his intention are or what he's capable of doing. "
♞
Bleak.
That, she determined, had become the word to sum...
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♞
Manhattan, October 2018
It's a little less than two hours before midnight, and I'm finding myself trotting through the streets of New York looking for anything worth spending spend my time on to avoid my roommate's company rather than sleeping. I check the time on my phone and sigh to myself; it's only now Alice and her boyfriend are banging headboards. My anxiety grows the longer I'm out alone in the dark city which is only lit by streetlights, and I quicken my pace on my way to my destination wishing I thought to bring a taser or pepper spray with me.
I pray the lights are on as I turn a corner which leads to a small antique shop where I had spent several hours of my life either shopping during the day or dusting and restocking shelves on nights when I had to get away from my apartment. When I see the owner Yana sitting at the counter going through receipts, I nearly squeal in delight as I gently tap on the window, causing her to look up in surprise before her lips curl up into a smile.
"We have a guest," she calls to her husband after unlocking the door and letting me in. Benjiro peaks his head out from behind the stockroom door before ambling into the room.
"Hello, Rosalie," he smiles with a hint of an accent. "What are you doing here so late?"
"Well, I thought I'd held you two out with things since Alice is preoccupied at the moment," I say with a shrug. "I hope I'm not bothering you."
"You're never a bother, Rosalie. We don't mind your company," he replies. "I'd give you something to do, but I just finished the cleaning and restocking."
"Oh," I mumble half-heartedly.
"Rosalie," Yana says.
"Yes?"
"As my husband said, we don't mind your company. We enjoy your visits. Now, come sit."
I suppress a giddy grin as I plop down in front of Yana, glad that I don't have to wander around in the dark anymore while I wait for Alice to tell the blond jerk she calls a boyfriend goodnight.
"So . . . " I begin, unsure of what to say because of the fatigue caused by being up for way longer than I should be. "How's business?"
Awful question, apparently.
They look to each other and sigh. At last, after the longest time of silence, Benjiro speaks up.
"It's been very slow lately . . . We're not making enough profit," he says finally. "We may shut down soon if we don't get many more customers."
I can hardly manage a nod as this new information practically slaps me in the face. Yana and Benjiro aren't just my form of escape from Alice's romantic endeavors; they've become a sort of family to me. More family than my dad and brother back home, anyways.
