Ashes

Fallon left the office at seven in the evening because she had a lot of work to catch up on. The new wave of crime in the city had made her a nervous wreck. She found herself glancing over her shoulders every two seconds as she made her way home. All that worrying had her craving something sweet so she decided to make a quick stop at her favourite diner for some of their famous ‘Chocolate Dream Fudge Cake’. She needed a sugar fix badly.

She walked to the building only to be met with disappointment; the diner was closed. Then she remembered the news item she watched this morning.

Rosemarie was dead.

She sighed then continued on her way home. She really needed something sweet. The craving was the only thing that was on her mind as she walked the two blocks to her apartment. She walked to the door and was about to unlock it-

“Fuck this,” she cursed as she made a detour to another diner four blocks away from her home.

Fallon sprinted to the diner and when she entered the front door and walked up to the counter she was out of breath.

“Hey can I help you?” an elderly woman asked with a sweet smile as she walked up to Fallon.

“I need something sweet,” Fallon answered. “What do you recommend?”

“Well we’ve got apple pie, blueberry cheesecake and triple chocolate cake,” she told her. “But you look more like a chocolate cake type of gal.”

“How did you know?” Fallon smiled. “Triple chocolate cake it is then.”

The woman, who name was Lucy according to her name tag, went to get the cake.

While she waited for her food she noticed a petite woman sitting in a booth in the far corner of the diner. Her head was low and she wore dark sunglasses. In a stroller next to her was a sleeping baby. Fallon noticed that the woman’s cheeks were puffy and wet as if she had been crying. Fallon’s heart went out to her. The woman sat in the corner with a cup of coffee not really drinking it. When Fallon’s order came she sighed then got up to leave but got a change of heart and walked up to the woman. She seemed like she needed a friend; someone to talk to.

“Hey,” Fallon said to her. “Are you alright?”

The woman looked up at Fallon then as if that was the final straw, started crying uncontrollably.

“It’s okay,” Fallon comforted her, rubbing her back.

The woman finally stopped then looked up at Fallon.

“I’m sorry,” the woman started, “it’s just that I’ve been going through a tough time.”

“You don’t have to explain,” Fallon told her, “really, it’s okay.”

“You’re a really nice person,” the woman said to Fallon.

Fallon smiled at her the replied, “Well I try to be.”

The two women sat in the booth speaking freely to each other as they were old friends. It turned out her name was Alana Foster and the baby was her son Seth. Alana was a dancer. She was at least four inches shorter than Fallon, with shoulder length dark hair. Her eyes were grey-green and almond shaped. As the two talked they felt comfort in each other. Fallon never asked her why she was crying and she seemed grateful for that.

“Hey let me buy you diner,” Fallon said and motioned for Lucy to come over to their table.

“No, I can’t take this from you,” Alana said.

"Nonsense!" Fallon replied. "It's the least I can do for you right now."

Alana sighed then gave up. She allowed Fallon to order for the two of them and sat quietly as they ate their dinner. Maybe having a friend wasn't so bad after all.