24𝙃 𝙂𝙍𝙊𝘾𝙀𝙍𝙔 𝙎𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙀

a night to bury a friend

𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐞𝐝 deeper into her scarf, hoping to warm up her cheeks and frozen nose. the headlights of the car ahead of her were nearing fast and almost blindening in the dark.

there was a puff of smoke as she breathed out the warm air from her mouth, meeting with the iciness outside.

she was glad to have reached the store, at last. warmth offered. her knuckles were chapped and red from dryness as she went to open the door, and she made a note to bring some hand cream next time. she greeted the worker whose shift had just ended, watching her leave for her home.

the lightbulb in the store shone, buzzing with white light that spilled onto the sidewalk through the glass, made it hard to see outside — jackie could only see her reflection in the glass. it made her feel as though somehow, the outer world did not exist, that she was stuck in this room of sorts with no way to escape.

there were also no signs of tony. it really felt like she had just stepped into another world, where she was only by herself.

she barely had time to put on her vest when she heard the front door open. although when she peeked — thinking it was tony — her sight was met with a head of balding hair instead of the familiar brown of tony's.

"good evening, may i help?" she immediately proceeded to get on with her work, brushing tony's absence. he was probably just stuck somewhere, as it was so cold and icy everywhere.

the young female had not noticed at first, having walked to the counter in a rush without looking discreetly at the customer, but he had a peculiar plastic bag in his hand. he held it in front of him, careful of its contents.

it was filled with water, and there was a fish swimming inside. well, maybe not exactly swimming — there was barely room enough in the small bag for the fish's body to fit.

wasn't the fish cold, though? jackie thought.

the man with the balding head cleared his throat, coughing away the cold, letting the warm, stuffy air of the shop enter his lungs. he shivered at the sudden warmth, plastic bag trembling in the air.

"i was hoping you had some food for this little one stacked here somewhere," he said bluntly, staring at the girl. he took his other hand that had been previously shoved in the pocket of his coat out, scratching the hairless part of his head.

"sir, we aren't a pet store," jackie replied to the man. she couldn't keep her eyes off of the fish. how it was just floating there, unblinking.

the man's eyes visibly fell. he looked as though he must've been looking for a while, now. jackie felt sorry for the man, and for the fish as well.

"oh, okay. good night," the balding man uttered, clutching his fish and aimed for the door. at the entrance, he almost crashed into a firm, build up chest clad in tony's infamous leather jacket, had the younger man with better reflexes not stepped out of the door quickly. the man passed through, jackie was able to see his figure as he walked near the glass window of the shop before he merged with the darkness and jackie was left to stare at either her reflection in the glass or tony, her coworker that had just arrived.

late.

"why was he carrying a fish around?" he inquired, sending a confused stare behind him, at the place the man was standing at just some seconds ago.

jackie shrugged her shoulders, not bothering with greeting him either as he did not, even though she was glad for his company — it were the freezing months of winter, after all, and it was cozier in two rather than one. "dunno. he wanted some fish food." and although the greeting could be ignored or avoided, her curiosity could not. "why were you late? you're usually always here before me."