Beneath The Crescent Moon {TMT #3}

Chapter 1

"That'll be fifty."

I stiffened. My right hand, only mere inches away from the boxed device I'd just laid on the counter not more than half a minute ago, halted after I'd reached forward to collect my change of thirty.

I blinked. "Sorry?"

"I said," the middle-aged woman behind the counter repeated with a wary expression, "that'll be fifty."

Shit. I cursed inwardly before closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath, not opposing my conscience when it accused: You knew this was coming.

Careful not to let my growing frustration show, I schooled my expression, but couldn't keep my left hand from curling into a fist at my side.

"I just saw you sell this for twenty," I stated, barely able to prevent my teeth from clenching in annoyance although I knew what I said would have no effect.

The shopkeeper narrowed her eyes at me, not backing away one bit. "Decided to give her a discount. She is a regular customer."

"That's bull and you know it," I said with my right hand - still hovering over the small box - trembling slightly. "I come here more often than anyone-"

"Fifty," she cut in with a sneer, not bothering to acknowledge the truth in my words. "Take it or leave it."

Stoically, I stared at the woman's hard, unwavering gaze before I drifted my sights towards the boxed device that still remained unwrapped.

Its original price wasn't what she'd offered me. I knew that. And though I had somewhat expected this response, it frustrated me to no end that I was being treated like a contagious disease.

And it was partly because of this that I couldn't allow the shopkeeper to rob me of my change and the remnants of my pride.

Before today, an issue like this wouldn't have been a problem. Since of course, I would've told her to go burn the ocean and then would've walked out with a large amount of restraint on my part.

But at this very moment, I didn't have the endurance nor the will to leave the store without the product I wanted.

I badly needed a Fridge Guard. There were only enough power outages in this bloody forsaken town that my refrigerator could stand and I feared that one more blackout would lead to its permanent destruction.

My previous Fridge Guard had stopped functioning properly a month ago, just two weeks after I'd settled, and was beyond repair. I would've gotten a new one sooner, but I hadn't had a job and I had been broke - had used a large amount of my money to purchase the house I was living in and used the remaining to pay the moving guys for their labour - plus it took me a month and a half before an old man had hesitantly offered me work in his antique shop after weeks of probing him as a result of being rejected by the other town's people over and over again.

The job hadn't - still didn't - pay well. Therefore, I had to manage by strictly limiting myself to only necessary provisions when shopping. Meaning, I couldn't allow precious change to go to waste simply because I was an unpleasant sight to behold and had supposedly caused a few mishaps to occur.

However, another part of the reason why today was a different case was due to it being Ellie's birthday, and I just had to get her something. It was the least I could do for her after being the only one to approach me the first day I'd moved here. Others her age and a bit older reluctantly followed in her footsteps, but it was Ellie who had permanently become my best friend since that day.

And although I knew she wouldn't mind if I wasn't able to get her a gift, it would still eat me from the inside out at seeing her family and other friends buying her lovely presents and me offering only a simple 'Happy Birthday' just because I got cheated out of the original price of a freaking Fridge Guard.