trash

Terrible Storm (part 1)

(I'm publishing all these now because, well, I haven't written anything else for my other stories lately and it's making me feel bad, so here. Have another story I've written under pressure for school.)

It started raining as Nikki walked to the train station. Her day had been terrible, and getting wet just about topped it off. Her boss was a creep, paperwork was piling up, everyone was shoving everything on her like she had no life outside of her work. It had always been her dream to work at one of the most famous newspapers in the country, but now it seemed more like a nightmare. She looked left, waiting for a gap in the traffic, and dashed across the road. She sighed heavily and looked towards the sky. It was cold and grey, getting darker every second. Rain drops were falling more rapidly and the crowd surrounding her had started to flow faster, as if the people could tell a storm was coming. She picked up the pace and hurried to catch her train.

As she got to the station, she noticed a large crowd surrounding the information desk. There was yelling and people were blocking the entrance to the platform. Nikki looked around, eventually seeing an official who didn't seem deeply involved in the coming skirmish.

"Excuse me!" She called.

He turned to her. "Yes?"

"What's going on?"

He sighed. She felt bad for asking him, knowing he had more urgent things to do than inform every single person passing through the station what was happening. "The rain's affecting the tracks. All trains have been canceled until further notice."

"Oh." She said. She was annoyed, but she knew she had no control over these kinds of things. "Thanks."

He acknowledged her with a nod and walked off to attend to a rowdy man screaming about refunds. Nikki didn't really care, not being able to get home could be a great excuse for not getting to work tomorrow. She turned around and pushed through the growing crowd, heading back to the door. She was soon back out in the rain. The sky was black and cold, thunder rumbling in the distance. She pulled one of the least important files out of her bag and held it above her head to shield her face from the rain. The streets were nearly deserted, and the few people she saw were soaked to the bone. She broke into a jog, glad she hadn't left her coat at the office. She looked frantically for a place to wait the rain out, but everywhere she turned was crowded with others who'd been trapped by the train delays. Eventually she found a small cafe in an out-of-the-way backstreet, close enough to the station she could hurry back when the trains were going again, but still far enough away that it wasn't overflowing with people.

She pushed the glass door open. It had a bell above it that rang when the door hit it. How quaint, she thought. She'd never been to a cafe with one of those. The cafe itself was very open, with a warm glow coming from the lights. Including herself, there was only around ten customers. She took her coat off and went to find a table. She spotted one in the corner, near a magazine rack. She dumped her briefcase on one of two chairs and hung her coat over the back of it. Nikki then turned around. She'd noticed that you had to order things from the counter so she walked over and stared at the menu. It was times like this, when she was cold, wet, and tired, that she wished she liked coffee. She was still at an age where she'd get a milkshake whenever she was out, even if it made her look unprofessional.

"Can I help you?" A soft voice asked. She looked at the boy, startled. He looked at her politely, his brown eyes looked tired.

"Um, yeah!" Nikki laughed awkwardly. He smiled back. "I would like a... Um..."

"BAKURAAAAAA!" A voice yelled from the kitchen.

"Coming!" The boy called. He turned to her and smiled apologetically. He rushed to the kitchen and Nikki went back to perusing the menu. She could never make spontaneous decisions. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally decided on a cup of tea and a blueberry muffin. She hadn't realised that the boy had returned and had been waiting patiently for her order. He was just standing there, like he had all the time in the world.

Blushing, she said "Tea and a Blueberry muffin, thank you. I'm sorry I took so long."

"That's alright." He shrugged, dismissing her apology.

She smiled awkwardly and apologetically, she returned to her table and started going through the eyewitness reports she'd gotten off the police. She'd help catch this murderer yet.