The Time It Takes To Fall

A Familiar Stranger

USA, 2019 A.D.

The hustle and bustle of the repair shop did nothing to distract Cinder from her work. Everyday was filled with the constant screeching and scraping noise that one was to expect at an auto mechanic's place of work.

To Cinder, the deafening sounds did not come as an annoyance; they were her sense of security. She reveled in the numbness that came from her job— how she could lose herself for hours at a time and not even notice.

At the moment, she was rolled beneath and ancient blue chevy, wrench in hand. It had taken her some time to figure out exactly what was wrong with the engine, but now she held within her an innate confidence that she could fix it.

Cinder had come to work at the shop three years previously when she had first left home. She had arrived at the small Washington town alone, and with nothing to her name. She had only been seventeen at the time— and majorly under qualified— but Thorne had taken her in despite it all.

That was the one thing that Cinder always appreciated about Thorne: he didn't care who you were or where you came from, just as long as you worked hard. Aside from that, the guy was a lazy, flirtatious drunk— but at least he held one redeemable quality on his behalf.

A banging came from above Cinder, and she jumped, smacking her head on the bottom of the old chevy and dropping her wrench painfully upon her chest. One would think that her headlight would protect her from such a thing, but somehow the lousy light source never managed to become a barricade between her face and the underside of a car. Cinder cursed in a colorful manner before rolling out from beneath the vehicle.

She climbed out, pushing down on the peeling blue paint of the car with one hand while rubbing her forehead with the other. She had given herself bangs shortly after acquiring the job at Rampion's Repairs for a reason; Thorne was a royal turd when it came to calling one out from beneath a vehicle.

There had been many times during Cinder's career as a mechanic in which her face had collided all too painfully with the hard metal of a vehicle. Thorne enjoyed bringing his employees self-inflicted pain for his own enjoyment. It was a miracle that he managed to keep his three employees around.

"Dammit, Thorne," Cinder scorned, her forehead throbbing painfully. She moved her hand to remove her headlight and glared at the man in front of her. But her glare was not placed upon Thorne.

The man who stood before her was not one who she could recall seeing before, but the second she laid eyes upon him she felt a sense of familiarity. His warm eyes held within them something that resounded deep inside her being. She could feel him, as if his own heart was beating within her chest.

She didn't seem to be the only one undergoing an uneasy sense of familiarity. From the soft "O" that his lips formed to the way he clasped his hands out in front of him, she could tell he felt something too.

"I am terribly sorry," the man said, regaining his composure. He smiled at her, apologetic.  "Mr. Thorne told me that knocking would be the best manner of retrieving you. Now I can plainly see that I was used as a pawn in a practical joke."

Cinder glanced across the room and saw her boss doubled over in a fit of laughter, his blue eyes sparkling as he sent her a wink. She rolled her eyes.

"That's Thorne for you. The most unoriginal prankster to grace the earth." Cinder said dryly, not returning the stranger's smile. "What can I do for you today?"

"My apologies," the man bent forward for a half second, winced, and then pulled himself upright. "My name is Kai Prince. My antiquated truck appears to be in need of repairs, seeing how it makes an awful grinding noise whenever I attempt to drive it."