Heartbreak Anthem

A U T H O R ' S N O T E

Welcome to my book, Heartbreak Anthem! I'm so glad you've stumbled upon this short story somehow and I hope you enjoy, but let me lay out some things;

•All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This book is a work of fiction, names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this book can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in the writing from the author.

That's it !! You may proceed now, I hope you enjoy it!

xx

* * *

Paris sprawled out in front of Carter, a mess of cobbled streets caught in a cold summer storm. He hugged one shivering arm around his torso and clutched his umbrella's handle with the other. His clothes clung damply to his body, he wasn't in the mood of anything but hot food and four walls around him.

He regretted leaving his friends in the warm hotel room, he was forty- five minutes away on foot but there was no room services and sharing a room is worthless. In fact, he wasn't quite sure where he is, it was just another flowered backstreet with cafés with rain-streaked windows making a blur vision and difficult for him to see inside.

The rain was pouring heavily, he cursed his luck and shook off his umbrella and stepped into the nearest shop, ignoring the little bell that rattled above his head, indicating that someone is entering.

As he stepped inside, he was hit instantly with the smell of papers and dusty vanilla, mixed with the damp that came with such a storm.

"Pouvez-vous s'il vous plaît mettre votre parapluie dans le stand?"

Carter stopped his train of thoughts and looked up, there sat at the desk, nearly hidden by a tower of books, was a boy.

"Salut tu peux?" the boy waved his hands towards Carter with a questioning look.

"Sorry?"

"I said, put the umbrella in the stand" the boy translated it and look at Carter with curiosity, "You don't speak french" that was more like an understatement than a question to which Carter nodded his head, it was only then he noticed the large puddle that had formed around his feet, he cursed under his breath and put the umbrella in the stand.

The rainwater was still pouring down from his hair to clothes like he was a damp indoor raincloud.

"Don't worry about the rainwater, but be careful not to get it on the books" the boy said as he sipped his cup of coffee.

Carter was not there because he wanted to read a book in the middle of a storm, coming in the tiny and dark bookshop was not on his list, heck, leaving his friends in the hotel room was also not on the list but he did.

He was feeling shy to explain why he is here in the first place so without making any more awkwardness in the atmosphere he replied with a quick "sure" and went to search a book to pass his time.

The place was a mess, it was lit thinly by nothing but daylight. It was so empty here that despite being so small and cramped, that entire shop echoed with his footsteps.

He couldn't stop thinking about the strange feeling he was getting, he regretted leaving his friends. It was for him they'd come here because apparently, people think that Paris heals a broken heart, and he was the victim, according to his friends. To him, it was less like a broken heart and more like a wited one.