Damn. She dropped it and now the shattered glass winked teasingly up at her, taunting the mistake of clumsy hands. She stood there unmoving, the flat of her heel tapping against the scuffed floors. Her eyes flickered from side to side, waiting for something, anything to happen. There was light tap on her shoulder, sharp and piercing as if a small knife was sawing its way under her skin. She spun around, her head spinning from the panic that flew to her throat. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to break it, it just slipped from my hands!" The woman, no teenager, rose an unimpressed brow. Newly manicured nails fell in a lazy rhythm against her crossed arms and she blew an aggravated breath while tossing dreadfully dyed blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Ma'am. That'll be $12.63 at the check out." Elise winced at the girl's biting tone. As the girl swayed away from her and turned to walk down another empty aisle, Elise hissed in resentment. "$12.63 my ass! This thing looks like it could be made from clay!" She kicked at the neglected pieces of the mug, the light snaps of the poorly made cup crunching beneath her shoes. "And she has the audacity to just walk away without even cleaning the mess! What the crap is she here for then? To look pretty?!" With one final stomp, she crushed what ever was left of the mug, muttering bitterly.
It was an early Sunday morning and Elise had planned to have a peaceful shopping trip before the crowds came to hover over her every step. Unfortunately, four things happened the night before which led to her have a terrible start. 1) She found out the her fiance had been cheating on her (with her cousin no less). 2) After a long night of screaming and ranting into the phone with her newly made ex, she broke the receiver after slamming it down too hard. 3) She spent most of the night crying pitifully into her pillows until both were to soggy to even sleep on. 4) Her voice was sore as hell and she had difficulty as it was speaking.
Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Elise heaved a heavy hearted sigh as if every single burden in the world had been placed upon her shoulders. This was an exaggerated thought of course, but she couldn't help but feel she was being pulled down into a thick darkness of misery. Pushing the grocery cart away from one of her many mistakes, she moved to find where the dark coffee was hidden, the life blood of her very soul. As she passed the cereals, she found that her eyes had strayed to the back of a young boy. A very short boy who seemed on the very of dying. "Dang, he is a skinny thing", she thought humorlessly. If he fell, all the bones in his body would just snap on impact of the ground.
She glanced this way and that, looking for the parents. When she didn't see anyone who looked to be a guardian, she wondered if he had just wondered away. But then a thought made her keep moving rather than question the boy. "I'm being creepy! Just staring as some scrawny kid like I'm so kinda pedo! God, my life..."