Right Into Place

Two

Two tensed minutes later, the silence got shattered with her voice.

"Okay, what now?" She whispered quietly, her voice eerily adding to the atmosphere, dark lights and a wild storm outside.

"The lights should turn back on," I answered in my normal voice.

"Are you sure?" She whispered.

I rolled my eyes at the very simple distrust.

The lights had turned up the moment she asked. I looked at her, she seemed a bit embarrassed although I'd rather not see that too much in those illuminating eyes.

"No." I imitated her whispering voice. I took her arm off, bowing down a bit and then I walked away. I'll clean the mess up when she's gone. I reckon she can handle herself much better now with the lights on anyways.

The thunder rumbled again once I'm already on my stool. I stared down at the doll she chose and I wondered if she'd choose to have it in a bag or in a box. I hope it's a box, though, especially if she's planning to give it to someone.

With the lack of living things occupying the small space, I heard her footsteps as she walked through the arch. Because of the rare moments of having people here, I know where they are just by the sound of their footsteps and I've practically memorised the place.

As soon as my eyes left the counter and landed on her, I had my sight set on watching her walk towards me.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to --"

"I'll clean it off later. Did you get what you want?" I asked.

"Yeah," she answered and placed the deck on the counter. I guess I know the prices by default so there was no need for looking through my files.

As I was a bit preoccupied by calculating the price, the lady started asking, "What did I break?"

"A fifty year-old piano miniature, all the way from Germany" I answered. "More expensive than the doll and deck altogether, I'm afraid."

She chuckled nervously, "How'd you know it was a piano?" She asked.

"I saw the fragments of the keys --" I looked at her hands, they're a bit too bloody to be ignored. "If you need a first-aid kit, there's one right behind me and I highly suggest you use one right now."

"Oh, this? This isn't--" she looked at her hands in horror-struck eyes.

"Are you in a hurry?" I asked her.

"Obviously, no," she replied with a bright smile.

Alright then. I opened the first aid kit behind me and took out a bandage and some alcohol. Her eyes widened at the sight but it's all I've got at the moment. Accidents don't usually happen.

"No." She chuckled nervously, shaking and wincing at the simple sight of alcohol. "N-N-No. No." She chuckled again.

I settled both on the counter, she's going to have to do what she has to, I'm not going to do it for her.

"The doll, bag or box?" I asked her briefly as she started caring for her wounds, her arm on the counter.

"Box? As in gift-wrapping?"

"I don't have those colorful giftwraps, all I have are newspapers," I replied.

"That's okay, I'm not giving it to a kid," she said and gave me her credit card."Ow, ow! Ouch! These tiny things are painful!"

I ignored her and simply set to work. After putting her deck inside a small, brown bag, I took out a box and since she's not in a hurry, I remembered what my dad told me on how to put dolls and stuffed toys inside boxes.