We'll Fly Home

An abrupt beeping woke Sean. He shook his head, disorientated, and took a minute to survey his surroundings. He was in a shop of some sort, that much was clear. He couldn't quite remember why he was in a shop, but he probably would later. It was a rather small charity shop, and there looked to be only one other employee there. She was a small woman and she wore her pale green hair in a plait. They apparently weren't too strict on the uniform code here. That was good, he supposed, especially seeing as the dye had turned out a bit brighter than expected and his hair was currently a violent shade of purple.

The woman was stood to his left, and it took a while for him to realise they were both standing behind a small counter, and they each had a till in front of them. Looks like he was set to be a cashier for the foreseeable future. That wouldn't be too bad, actually. It wouldn't require a great amount of effort.

The woman - he'd find out her name soon enough - turned to him, leaning her back against the counter. She squinted at his name tag, which he hadn't even noticed he was wearing.

"Sean, is it? Sean... Smith?" she asked, glancing up at him for confirmation.

He nodded. "Yep, that's me."

"For a minute, I thought I was going to embarrass myself. I should really be wearing my glasses, but eh, what can you do?" She smiled at him, and he found himself smiling back.

She introduced herself as Lucy, and she cheerfully showed him the basics of working there. Little things like 'pushing this button opens the till'. Such incredible knowledge. Actually he shouldn't be so mean, he was glad to be with someone who looked to be a nice person. Only too often the people he got stuck with were pure dicks. In fact, Carl Rodger's boss was the literal definition of a 'pure dick'.

Lucy spent a good amount of time showing him what to do, and after that, she seemed happy to just sit around and chat. She told him little titbits about herself and her life, and it was useful in helping Sean build a firm idea of her character. He told her a couple stories about him and his family - all false, of course - and she nodded interestedly and commented in all the right places. Thankfully, she made easy conversation, and he didn't have to think too hard about what he was telling her.

The shop was pretty quiet. For the first part of the day, there wasn't a single customer. Not even one. Lucy assured him that was normal. She told him she enjoyed it because it gave her more time to sit down and read a book, and not only that, but she got paid for it. He had to admit, that did sound pretty fun. In fact, no one showed up until around four, just an hour or so away from closing time. Lucy was quick to jump up and give them a warm welcome, which was lovely in his opinion. Store clerks were usually easily irritated, and spent most, if not all, of their time avoiding potential customers. He preferred this marketing technique.

The customer turned out to be a boy of not much older than sixteen, or so he guessed. He was dressed very much like Sean himself, the only difference being the band logo emblazoned across his chest. His hair was dark and raven like, and he had a somewhat cocky demeanour, though he was sure it would get worse as the boy got older.

He sifted through the large record collection quickly, then moved onto the clothes, and although there were two other people in the room, he refused to make eye contact with either of them. It was almost like he was ashamed to be caught there. Sean couldn't see why he'd be embarrassed, but he left him alone anyway. He'd learned over the years that if someone didn't want to be noticed, it was best to leave them alone.

He didn't stay long, and before either of them knew it, the boy was gone. Lucy smiled sadly after him.

"He comes in here nearly every day," she said, still watching the door. "He never says anything. I don't even know his name."

"That's sad," noted Sean, unsure of what to say.

She nodded in agreement. "It is..."

And she left it at that, not saying another word on the matter, and leaving the boy shrouded in mystery, turning round to finish whatever chapter in her book she'd made it up to. Looks like he had some detective work to do.