The Good in Sin

Goodnight Coffee

"So Phoenix went home with Sin?" Jen questioned in awe.

"Yeah." Autumn simply answered as the two were closing down the diner. It was eleven o'clock and exhaustion began to overtake her.

Jen's almond eyes narrowed further in thought as she mopped the kitchen with ease. Often times Jen reminded Autumn of a robot in the way she mimicked the same movements each time she closed the building. The thought occurred to Autumn that maybe she looked this way as well. 

"I didn't know you knew him like that."

Flushing, her pulse quickened. "Why do you say that?"

Wiping sweat from her forehead, Jenna hefted the mop into the bucket and drove it out of the kitchen and looked at Autumn. "I didn't mean to scare you-"

"I don't know him that well. Phoenix loves hanging out with him, and I don't want to take that away from him because he's been so happy lately, but you saying that makes me realize I don't know him at all. And I just sent him home with Phoenix."

"Autumn, it's okay, I didn't mean it in any way. We're almost done and then you can go home." Her hand reached over and squeezed Autumn's arm, thick lips creating a sympathetic smile.

"Okay." Autumn breathed out, and she began to scrub the tables clean.

After the two were out the door, jackets on and aprons off, they shared a hug. "Thanks for staying with me, girl," said Jen, who pulled away to lock the door.

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow."

At eleven-thirty, Autumn trekked home, exhausted and hair a frizzy mess in the damp fog that enveloped her. Heart racing, she quickened her pace, clutching her bag tightly to her side. A breeze swept her legs, and goosebumps spread on her body from the ripped holes exposing her knees.

When approaching the last lamp on her journey home, she looked back at the misty afterglow of the stop lights behind her. This last stretch home was a problem each time. 

The meow of a black cat brought her back to reality. It's one-eyed face was caked in dirt, but she saw its tail relax against the lamp post. Releasing a breath, she looked closer, checking for sure it only had one eye, and smiling the slightest at the familiar stray. "Hey, Mango. Stay out of the street, okay? It's too dark for cars to see you."

The cat only meowed in response, and she stood a little straighter, looking at the dark nothingness before her.

Your eyes will adjust.

Just don't think about it.

Walk.

Releasing the breath she held between her lungs she walked in haste, ignoring the uncertainty of what surrounded her, and she kept her eyes on her beat up Adidas that she got from Keith three Christmas's ago. 

The glow of her porch light nearly brought tears to her eyes when the last three minutes of blindness was over. The usual feeling of a weight falling from her chest released her and she could breathe again.

Shoving the door open with force, as the foundation was always shifting it out of place, it creaked open, and she forced herself not to rush inside.

She saw Sin in the kitchen immediately, scribbling something on pieces of paper, his thick eyebrows knitted in concentration. He only looked up at her when she shoved the door closed, startling him.

"Sorry, I should've warned you you'd be here a while." Shedding her jacket and wrapping a throw blanket around her shoulders, she approached the chair across him and sat.