Remembering Somebody - KH Riku Romance

The Two Strangers

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I got up and went to work, as normal. When I punched in, and went to the register as I normally did, I focused on the ticking of the clock behind me. It was soothing when I needed to not think. Soothing when I needed to analyze.

I focused on the texture of the counter. It was a deep green, a fake marble cover over wood that I could get lost in. I'd do this until I was told to stock, as normal. Customers would attempt to small talk when they ordered, crack the same jokes, ask the same questions. Nothing new. Order, receive, eat, leave. Don't address me, don't expect eye contact, and certainly don't touch me. Routine.

"Are you okay?"

I ignore it, but-- those words stick in my brain. That wasn't directed at me. No one speaks to me.

"Hey, really, are you okay?"

I wasn't expecting the sudden brush on my skin-- his arm, for whatever reason, reaching out and touching mine. It was light, but my back slamming into the coffee machine was not. The scalding sensation of the hot liquid on my back makes a sound release from my throat I didn't realize I was capable of. If he hadn't done that, this wouldn't have happened. Everyone knows it--

I don't enjoy human contact.

"Sorry, it's just.. You look a little.. lost, I guess."

My eyes looked to him. Oh god, why did they look to him? Tall, very tan. His hair pure white and his eyes-- the deepest orange I had ever seen.

I didn't want to inspect him, but my brain analyzed every feature. There was nothing creepier than an older man touching a teenage girl. What the hell was his problem?

"Woah, Naria, you put a pretty big dent in that machine. Everything alright?" Wakka approaches me, and I shy away before he makes any attempt to help me from my coiled position.

"Fine."

Perhaps I was unconvincing.

"How about you go take a fifteen? You look a little pale."

A break? I don't take breaks. I barely get opportunities to take breaks. Yet, one look at that man again, and I find my legs dragging me out back to the employee room. I sit down, and suddenly realize how panicked my breathing was.

What the hell was going on? I just shut down. Well, maybe I started up. This doesn't happen. I don't.. just.

Feel.

I don't get scared. But, just now... I was. I was scared. I was afraid of him.

"Naria?" My boss finally makes an appearance, finally left his god damned office today. Probably because I damaged the coffee machine. "I heard you bumped pretty hard into the machine after an older male made a grab at you. Why don't you head home for the day? I don't want to make you work a shift while being jumpy. Go home and get some rest." He tucks his hands in his pockets and lets out a sigh. "And let me know if you need worker's comp, go get that burn checked out, okay?"

Yeah right.

I retrieve my bag from my locker and quickly head out the back door, not wanting the potential to run into that strange man. I don't even care if he was going to apologize, or whatever, he terrified me.

It wasn't just the touch. There was something really weird about that guy... I felt something. Like I knew him, or my brain instantly thought of something. Maybe I had seen him before? But.. I didn't recognize him.

The stress finally seeped in and my head started to hurt. I'd have to take pain meds today. How did things fall so off the rails?

I slip my shoes off at the door of my house. There's coffee stains on those. In fact, there's coffee stains on everything I'm wearing. I'd have to do laundry today rather than on Sunday. I sigh and trudge downstairs to basement where the machines were, tossing off my previously white (now beige) dress shirt. I strip myself of my work skirt and stockings, tossing everything into the washing machine. As I unclasp my bra, the sheer reality of the burn on my back begins to seep in. It stings. It's incredibly painful. I don't usually do anything that causes me pain, I'd almost forgotten how it feels.