Love Calmed the Storm

Chapter 1

  Nothing was what was happening earlier that day, before I met him. Well to be honest nothing had been happening for over 2 years. Then suddenly, he walked in and everything seemed to change. But first let me start from the beginning, the day that "nothing" was happening.

  It was a Wednesday, hump day, they call it. How oddly appropriate since that's about all there was to do in this town. Being the smallest town in South Carolina boasted one gas station, five stop lights, a Mom and Pop grocery store, coffee shop/bookstore and a family diner. With all the rain that had been down pouring for weeks in this sleepy town, it was even more uneventful than usual. Hump day or not.

  I was working at the Chic Boutique, the one and only local women's boutique store. It is about the only thing semi-modern and what some would call a "fashion" store in this God forsaken town. I hate to bash my childhood town but it just wasn't the same as when I grew up here. Now that I was practically the only one left in my family to still live here, it just hadn't felt like home.

  Chic boutique was more than just clothing and accessories. The owner which is my aunt Claudia, was the only family I had left here. She has an obsession with buying nichey cat items. That corner of the store resembled a cult following, those who follow the "cat." It's a way of life, I hear. Well, What I can hear over the meows and purrs that haunt my dreams.

  Staring at the cultic cat corner reminds me of why working here for minimum wage just isn't cutting it. I hate to be a downer but $9.00 an hour feels even more depressing with about 40 ceramic cats' eyes' staring at me. I've been working here for 2 years now, trying to work on my writing. The lack of foot track and the undesirable 90's style fashion we sold, made it a perfect place I could "work" while still working on my writing. While all my other friends "got out of dodge" as soon as graduation. It's not that I couldn't have gone to college it just never felt like the path for me.

  Writing is the world I belong to, my escape from this crazy life. I want to be free to write what came to me, not write what a professor wanted me to write. But working all day on my writing and not coming up with anything more than I had the day before, left me feeling anxious.Maybe this town had no inspiration to give.

  The doorbell chimed and rain blew in as the door opened. I closed my notebook and laid my pen to rest after many hours of trying to find a plot twist that I could stick with.

"Hey there." Said an unfamiliar voice as I swiveled my chair around from behind the checkout desk.

  I could tell you about all most every person in this town because there is about a whole 200 of us. There is even less men here than women. Needless to say it did pique my interest, when I heard a man's voice younger than someone who could get the senior citizens discount at the diner. What I recall to this day was how sincere his voice sounded and just enough southern drawl that I found it charming.