2024 Story Collection

How a Bad Girl, Nerd, Goth, & Quinceañera Princess Saved The World VI

They pull up to the old video store just past midnight. It's in nestled in the middle of a strip mall hidden away behind a tire shop in some small town west of the city.

It was an old mall. There was a salon on one side and a nail place on the other. She wondered if they were all fronts. The store in front of them had an old neon sign in the window: open 24hours. It looked like it barely worked anymore, flickering on and off at odd intervals. It fit with the sign above the doors that was missing half its letters. The rest of the windows were covered in ads for movies that came out in the 80s.

Joann glanced up at Sheryl, who was about to get out of the truck.

"I'll go with you," she whispers.

"Okay," Sheryl whispers back.

She was grateful for the distraction. She really didn't want to be left alone with her thoughts anymore than absolutely necessary.

They get out and walk into the old video store. Her crows follow her, a cloud of black that circle her for a moment. She motions for them to camouflage themselves. As she walks up to the door, they circle her before latching themselves onto her coat, filling in the gaps between eachother so that in the end it looks like she's just wearing a bulky feathered coat.

The bell dings as they enter. All around them are shelves and displays filled with cassette tapes, CDs, VHS tapes and DVDs covered in dust. In one corner is a couple of vinyl records.

Joann follows Sheryl as she walks right past it all and into a back area behind the empty checkout desk. Joann swipes a CD of Judas Priest and one of Black Sabbath as she walks through. Something to listen to on the road. The truck's radio only seemed to pick up country stations, and it was driving her mad.

Through the black curtain is the real store, a black market for what looks like electronic devices of all types. Not that Joann would know anything about that. She delt in secrets and lies.

Sheryl nods to the man behind the desk. He nods back. He gives Joann a strange look, which she ignores.

"Hold this," Sheryl says, handing Joann a small cardboard box.

Sheryl walks through the aisles of shelves that look like a junkyard for electronics. She watches as Sheryl sifts through the mess, throwing in a thing or two every once in a while.

After a while, she tells Joann, "I think we got it all."

Sheryl pulls out her phone and goes into an app Joann doesn't recognize. She types something in before slipping her phone back into her pocket.

Joann follows her as she walks up to the guy and hands over a wad of cash.

"You've never seen us. We were never here. During this time, you cameras reset and lost a few hours of footage due to a strange power outage," Sheryl says with a small smile. He nods, pocketing the cash and just as they turn to leave, the store goes dark.

A moment later, the lights go on and the man is gone. Sheryl wastes no time and leads them back out quickly.

As soon as the door closes behind them, the man appears as a shadow. He locks the door and turns off the old neon sign before disappearing again.

"What just happened?" Joann asks. "Did you do that with the power?"

She shrugs but mouths an of course.

"What about you? Am I supposed to just ignore the fact that you're wearing a coat made of live crows?"

"Oh, that-"

Irene interrupts, opening her door. "Naomi's gone."

"What?" Sheryl asks. Joann is grateful for the change in subject.

"I just woke up, and she was gone. Her snake too."

"Lets just wait for 10 minutes," Joann says. "Maybe she went to do some shopping of her own."

"True," Sheryl agrees.

"Maybe she just had to pee," Irene adds. "Speaking of which, I'll be back."

Irene hops out of the truck. She hits the ground lightly, her dress floating, falling around her in such a way that made her look like she was floating. Her hair, still in perfect ringlets, bounces as she lands.

"And we're talking about the coat of crows later," Irene says, pointing two fingers at her eyes, then at Joann as if to say she wouldn't let it go. She walks off behind a fence shaded by a few old pines.

"I honestly don't know which of you is stranger," Sheryl says, shaking her head.

"Says the one who just bought a bunch of stuff from the black market. And this is obviously not the first time you done that," Joann says, joking, her voice soft.

Sheryl chuckles, a light smile on her lips. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"What did I miss?" Naomi says from behind them. Two shopping carts filled with stuff in front of her. "Where's princess?"

"Had to pee," Sheryl replies before throwing out questions of her own. "Where were you? What is all that?" she gestures at the two shopping carts in front of her.

Irene interrupts drying her wet hands on a paper towel as if she had just came out of a bathroom and finished washing her hands.

"Where did you get those-" Sheryl begins to ask but Irene interrupts her, changing to subject back to the crows.

"Joann is wearing her crows," she says.

"What?" Naomi says in disbelief and excitement.

"For heaven's sake," Joann says, gesturing at the crows. They all detach themselves in a cloud of black that circles her before landing all around them on the ground, the shopping carts, on the building and truck.

"Holy shit," Naomi swears, "that was badass."

Joann ignores her and gestures to the shopping carts, pushing for an explanation.

"To blow those fuckers up who want us dead and threatened our democracy."

To be continued...

March 25, 2024