Ridley couldn’t help but feel annoyed by the rain, but nothing was going to stop her plans for the day. She pulled on her camo rain boots she had found at Goodwill, orange and brown camo.

  “I guess hunters need to make fashion statements in order to attract the deer?”

  Grabbing a garbage bag she wrapped it over her backpack to protect all the loot she was about to buy. Fortunately, she owned an umbrella, but as she opened it there were two broken spokes, making it limp awkwardly inwards on one side. She picked which side of her was safer for the rain to drip on as she marched with glorious conviction to her destination, Tomodachi Comics and Games store. She didn’t often make trips to the comic shop, although it was the coolest place to hang out that she could think of. It was just hard on Ridley to watch everyone enjoy their games and books when she was completely broke. Window shopping was only so fun and up until now she had been saving up for a car. Now that she was making the big bucks she finally felt free to blow through some cash.

  As she walked down the sidewalk she had to keep a sharp eye out for cars and puddles. She had been soaked by them before, and yes, it was just like in the movies. For all three miles the rain was relentless. Accidentally stepping into a few deep puddles, the slushing of her socks became a rhythmic melody with every other step she took. The sock squeezing out water and re-soaking itself was an odd sensation that got on her nerves quickly. Finally the glorious partially lit G-mes and Com--s sign lit her path to heaven. She felt a shiver of excitement as she marched forward.

  Ridley pushed open the door and a musical chime announced her presence to a curly brown haired young man who was watching the local news behind the desk.

  “…latest viral trend on social media is to make it appear as if you have super powers. Some land flat, but several examples even have special effect artist raising their eyebrows. We have one such clip here with a young man attempting to convince you that he can cut down a small tree by shooting it with a nerf gun…”

  As she moved into the store he muted the tv and gave Ridley a small smile. "Welcome Friend!” He said glancing her way. “It’s really raining neko’s and inu’s out there today.”

  Ridley rolled her eyes. “My god, how long have you been waiting to say that?”

  He glanced at the clock, “About an hour.” He said chuckling at his own joke. “Can I help you find anything?”

  “I’ve got my eye on a few things but I’ll let you know if I have any trouble.”

  “Rodger, well I’m Sam. Just holler if you need me.” he said turning back to the screen.

  Ridley first made a beeline to the models and plushy section. There was a specific object that she was hoping was still there, and if it was, she would not be leaving the store without it. Her heart skipped a beat as she rounded a display shelf and it still sat in the corner with a ‘please do not sit, $149’ sign on it. A grey and tan bean bag resembling a fat creature with circular eyes, arrow like ears and a cartoonish cat grin sat in all its cushy glory. This character was from her all-time favorite animated film, My Neighbor Totoro. The creature in front of her was in fact the aforementioned Totoro. A vanity piece in the anime world. It was fitting that she would buy this on a rainy day. She proceeded to lift it over her head trying not to knock down any merchandise. She almost managed. Then proudly marched it up to the front desk.

  “I’m just going to set this here if you don’t mind.” He nodded, but he seemed pulled into the news segment. Getting his attention again she commanded, “Don’t let anyone take it! It’s mine! I’ll pay for it now if I have to.”

  Sam turned to look at Ridley, stood up, squinted his eyes and looked around the empty store and said, “I’ll defend it with my life.”

  Ridley nodded her approval, “That’s more like it. If anything is worth your life, it is my ability to snuggle up on Totoro’s belly.”

  “I whole heartedly agree! A life well spent. If only we had a leaf umbrella to replace yours with, but speaking of umbrella’s, didn’t you walk? How are you going to get that massive thing back in the rain?”

  “Crap!” Ridley proclaimed looking outside. No way her Mom could, or would pick her up. “Do you have some trash bags I could use?”

  “I can look for some giant ones. Do you have to go far?”

  “Not too far.” For me at least.

  “Ok well I’ll be in the back. Don’t let anyone steal anything from the store while I’m back there.” He said with mock severity.

  “I will protect the store with my life.” She replied with a salute.

  He nodded as he went back to storage. Ridley glanced about and decided to look at some manga next. She had heard a rumor that the Rurouni Kenshin anime series missed the entire final arc of the manga. An unforgivable sin in her opinion. She passed by a massive board game section. The shelves had gotten packed over the years with every variety of genre, but there was no way Ridley could get the people together to play them right now. Maybe she could try to attend a board game night here.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  As she was passing through the comics section Ridley caught some movement in the corner of her eye. Looking about she at first thought Sam had come back out or someone had entered the store. Ridley had to hop a bit to look over the shelves. There was no chime of the doors opening though. It seemed as if it was just her.

  As she came down from her second hop, Ridley's eyes fell on the cover of a graphic novel. The illustration on the cover was striking. It showed a woman with a silver thin banded tiara-like crown with red rubies. It adorned her thick red locks of hair. She held an ornate spear and wore some type of old northern European style garb. She was covered in blood from head to toe and was standing amidst a field of dead bodies. The title of the book was in a thorny black font, Malevolence.

  She grabbed the book off the shelf. It was the last copy. Looking at the figure in the book it seemed familiar. Her heart beat a bit faster as she looked at part of the woman’s uncovered arm and saw runes. She felt, in the back of her head, that she could almost read them. Her eyes fell on the hand holding the spear and they widened. Lifting her hand she saw a perfect mirror of the one the now had permanently sharpied.

  Just then she heard Sam come back in from storage. As if startled awake, Ridley moved to the manga section and grabbed the Rurouni Kenshin mangas. She was tempted to get more series, but decided to do a little due diligence and went to a section she knew she would be completely lost in. The table top role playing games.

  She approached what could very well be a waste of time or a fount of knowledge. As she looked at a shelf that held probably near two hundred books she felt her head begin to spin. So Ridley decided to make the wisest choice available to her. She filled her lungs to capacity, then screamed bloody murder. It quickly shattered the quiet ambience caused by the drumming rain.

  “AHH! What? WHAT!?” Sam came running up from the counter almost tripping on a corner.

  “Ah, Sam. I need your opinion.”

  “But… why did…”

  “You told me to holler if I needed anything.” Ridley smiled a cheshire grin thinking of Totoro as her model.

  “That’s not funny.”

  “Funnier than Neko’s and Inu’s.”

  “Well that’s… fair enough.”

  “I need a book that talks about barbarian fantasy rpg like abilities.”

  “That is both very specific and vague at the same time. May I ask what you will be using this for?”

  “You may… not? I don’t know, I just wanted to figure them out. I don’t have much background in fantasy other than Lord of the Rings. No barbarians in that.”

  “Well…” he said looking at the shelf and tapping his chin thoughtfully. “Do you want to keep it mainstream or go indy?”

  After they picked a player handbook from a popular game system, Sam started to ring it all up. He had covered the whole bean bag for Ridley with the original plastic packaging he found stuffed in the back.

  “Sorry it won’t fit in the original box anymore.” he said.

  “It’s fine I’ll manage.”

  He scanned the books and Ridley watched the number jump straight past two hundred and cringed a little. She had never spent so much money before, it was a weird feeling. He paused and scanned a book again. Then scanned it a third time.

  “Well… looks like this one isn’t in our system.”

  He held up Malevolence with that woman covered in blood. Ridley felt a nervous twinge in her gut for reasons she couldn’t explain. She felt that she needed that more than the other books… not Totoro though. Totoro was GOAT.

  “Well does that mean I get it for free?”

  “Ha. No, I’ll just look at a similar book and charge you that with 25% off.”

  “Thanks!”

  “No problem.” He clicked a few buttons and said, “The damage is $262.33”

  “Do you accept silver coins?” Ridley asked.

  “Ha! I wish.”

  She pulled a wad of cash out of her backpack instead, and counted it all out in twenties.

  Sam whistled.

  “Drug dealing pays well.” She said as she slammed the money on the counter.

  She put the bag of books in her backpack as Sam counted out the change.

  “Why don’t you call an Uber?”

  “I don’t have a phone.”

  “Ah, my apologies. You don’t strike me as one of the Amish.”

  “Ha, ha. Well, at least your humor is improving.”

  “How about I give you a ride home?”

  “What? That would be very nice.”

  “My boss should be here in a few minutes and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me driving a customer home in this.” He said waving at the windows. “You would feel safe riding with a new acquaintance?”

  “Oh, no worries there, I’m pretty certain I could beat you up if you tried to rob me.”

  He laughed at that comment as did Ridley, for a different reason of course.

  On the ride back they got to talking about anime. It became apparent to Sam that Ridley was a classic anime snob. She played it up while avoiding the fact that all she had were old VHS tapes as a source. Something she planned to remedy soon.

  “You know…” Sam said as they pulled in to the apartments. “…there is a Ghibli movie double feature coming up next month at the Movie Tavern.”

  “REALLY!? Thats awesome! Thanks for the heads up. I’ll definitely be checking that out.”

  “Well why don’t we go together then? I could pick you up of course.”

  “Yeah, that sounds good.”

  “Great! Can I have your number?

  “Don’t have a phone, unless you want to call my mom. I need to fix that. Burner phones work best for drug dealing anyways.”

  “Wait, are you seriously dealing drugs?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know, pothead.” She said making sure to smile at the jab.

  He laughed as he shook his head and wrote down his number on the back of a Tomodachi business card.

  Ridley thanked Sam again for the ride as she grabbed her bean bag out of the trunk. Sam offered to help her bring it in, but she didn’t want him seeing her ratty apartment. She could see his eyebrows go up as she took her entire haul in one trip without struggling. As Ridley walked down the open air hall to her apartment she whistled an old favorite Memory of Fanelia. A beautiful violin piece from Escaflowne. She was feeling better than she had in a long time. Making money, shopping, fighting monsters, and two new friends. This was turning out to be a great week.

  As she put her key in the lock the door opened before she could turn it. She looked up to see that her mom was home and standing next to her was Mrs. Malone. Then her eyes darted over at the couch and she saw Jared just staring straight forward at the kitchen wall. Looking back at her mom and Mrs. Malone they seemed startled. She could only imagine what kind of expression her face was making. She hoped it matched the voice in her head that wanted to rip Jared's arm off at the shoulder and feed it to him…

  Ohhh. Got it. I am doing the creepy, evil smile. That is why they look so disturbed.