The Divine Assembly (IN PROGRESS)

Chapter 2-Erin

Chapter 2- Erin

I woke up at six o'clock to my alarm clock beeping. The sun was just starting to come up past the tree line, casting a faint light on the open acres of the field that I lived on. I lived in a small town where my closest neighbor was a mile down the road, and about half of my backyard was a forest. I absolutely loved it. I rubbed my eyes, climbed out of bed, and pulled on a pair of jeans and a plaid button-up shirt. Then I tied my long, wavy black mane of hair out of my face. Grabbing and slipping on a pair of boots, I headed out to my pickup truck. Mashing on the brake, I turned the key and shifted into drive, then started towards the general store that I worked at.

The store was right in the middle of the town, which consisted of a truck stop, a gas station, a diner, the general store, a hardware store, a bar, a farmer's market, a bakery, a small grocery store, and a motel. Houses and acres of land surrounded the town, making the county sort of a circle. My house was on the outer edge of the circle, and a lot of times I went hunting or shot at targets in the woods on the edge of my property.

I pulled into the back of the general store and parked the truck, then grabbed my name tag and apron out of the back seat. I pulled the keys out of their hiding place in one of the plant pots by the door, and as I looked over my shoulder I noticed a car waiting in the corner of the parking lot. It was a nondescript, gray mid-sized sedan, which looked like it was trying it's best not to be noticed, and only just failing. The driver looked kind of like a woman, possibly in her thirties or forties. She was typing something on a laptop, and looked as if she'd been there for a while. Strange.

I unlocked the door and turned the lights on inside the store. There was no restocking to be done and everything was clean, so I sat down behind the checkout counter. As soon as I did the bell rang and the woman came into the shop. From this distance, I could see her much better than I could through the car window. Everything about her was calm, cool, and collected. Her dirty-blond hair was pulled neatly into a tight bun on top of her head, and she wore a plain white blouse tucked into a pair of black slacks with black heels. She wore a very minimal amount of makeup, and her only jewelry was a small pair of diamond stud earrings. She looked like one of the city folk that lived downtown, which was something we didn't see often.

She surveyed the small shop, and walked down a few of the aisles before coming back to the front desk. She hadn't picked anything up.

"Hello ma'am, how can I help you?" I greeted.

"Who owns this shop- Erin?" She asked, looking down at my name tag. She said my name slowly, and it sounded odd. Her voice was cool, clear, and almost emotionless.

"Oh, um, that'd be Old Mr. McLure. He's not here right now, but I might be able to answer your questions or help with whatever you need." I stumbled on my words a bit.

"No, thank you, that will be all."

And with that, she turned, walked swiftly out of the store, and drove off.

"That was very odd." I thought.

Hardly anyone ever looked at the employee's name tags, and the woman hadn't even attempted to buy anything. Something about her seemed severely off. I pushed the feeling to the back of my mind, reminded myself to contemplate it later, and looked around to see if there was any work to be had. All the shelves had been blocked the night before, and there were no spills or messes to clean. Grabbing a tube of Gorilla Glue from under the counter, I fixed the sagging corner of the homemade "Cash Only" sign on the wall, and, since there was no one there, I put on some music. The radio was playing 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' by George Jones. I tapped my foot to the slow beat, letting my mind drift.