Surrendering Spirit

Chapter 4

Just as Anastasia saw the sign for Thundering Falls, she also noticed a huge black cloud seemed to roll in almost right along with her, over the car. Hoping to beat the storm, she pulled her car into the first small filling station she saw. Thinking how lucky she was that she noticed the blackness before it hit. She glanced at the dirty glass window on the station which advertised a quick mart inside, practically jumped out of her car to dash in just as the first few raindrops started to fall. A loud clap of thunder struck as the car door slammed shut. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed the sky had turned a deep shade of midnight purple. The thunder roared and streaks of lightning lit up the angry sky.

When she opened the door, what hit her first was the blast of stale, hot air that seemed to permeate the place. Feeling a little frightened and a lot hungry, Anastasia took measure of the place as she searched for the food section. From the grimy floors to the faded paint to the old wooden counter top, she felt like she had almost traveled back in time. Weird, but it was comfortable. Somehow she belonged here.

Out of the corner of her eye, in the darkened doorway going into another room, she saw what could not be mistaken as an employee. She turned her head to meet his eyes and even from the short distance apart, she could see that his coveralls were covered with grease and sprouted the name of the Fill-N-Go gas station that Anastasia was currently standing in. The man sauntered out of a back room never taking his eyes off her. He looked her up and down and "all ways from Sundays" as her grandmother used to say.

As he walked behind the counter, he winked at her and sat in a creaky, fold-away lawn chair that had obviously seen better days. Anastasia half expected the chair to give way and the man fall to the floor right in front of her. She half hoped he would.

"Little lady. Anything you need, you let me know," he said with something between a leer and a wink.

A chill ran through her as she quickly walked toward the back to get out of the line of site of the gas station man. On her way to the back, she noticed there was one other customer in the store, a small, dark haired girl who was a bit younger than her own twenty-eight years. She stared at Anastasia almost as if she were studying for a test. Anastasia smiled at her and the girl immediately dropped the magazine she was holding and took off out of the store without buying anything. A crack of thunder followed her exit. The guy behind the counter laughed and Anastasia wondered kind of a place she was in where a smile makes people turn and run.

For the first time since she'd left her apartment she was a little nervous. She didn't know what kind of reception she'd expected to find when she reached Thundering Falls, but she sure didn't expect to be hit on and fled from all within the span of a couple of minutes. A visible shudder ran through her and to stave off any more anxiousness, she continued to shop to take her mind off of it all.

She knew it was asking a lot, but she hoped they had some fresh fruit and vegetables. On a health food kick for the last three years since she'd read one article about what chemicals were doing to the brains and bodies of Americans, she hadn't eaten any meat since then. She also tried to give up foods with sugar in them, but every once in a while, a craving for chocolate covered raisins overcame her and she'd been known to dash out in the middle of the night for them.

"Rain seemed to come in right along with you," the gas station guy yelled over the shelves that separated them. "Supposed to be sunny today, but now look at it. Might be a bad omen," the guy said as another crack of thunder struck close and made Anastasia jump. She thought she heard him laugh, but it was over as fast as it started so she decided it must have been something else. She wanted to get out of that store as quick as she possibly could. Goosebumps prickled her skin even though sticky sweat streamed down her forehead and into her eyes.