The Reaper

part v

part v

Rosa couldn't remember exactly the first time she'd met Anna. She couldn't pinpoint an outfit or a conversation or a hairstyle. They'd been co-workers for a while, both stuck working in a dull chain bookstore until they scraped up enough money to do their own thing. They'd never really spoken – Rosa mostly spoke to Soft Mint Michael, and Anna had some friends at the coffee shop across the road she'd go and visit the second her break began.

One day it was storming. The autumn rain was falling heavily enough to make an ocean of the dirty streets. It drummed down on their storefront window, a bass drum to the lightning's snare, and it would have taken a fool to brave it.

"Do you have an umbrella?" asked Anna. She wasn't even wearing a coat.

Rosa and Michael shook their heads and turned back to one another.

With a dejected sigh, Anna flopped back into a staffroom chair and jammed some earphones in.

"Soft mint?" Michael offered Rosa, who shook her head. He gave her a little suit-yourself shrug and tossed a couple skilfully into his open mouth.

Rosa watched the rain's relentless onslaught. Despite the slight chill it gave her under her thick jumper, she felt an odd warmth. Rain had a way of making her feel safe and comfortable, especially when she was indoors. Storms always brought with them this feeling that an adventure ought to happen, the likes of which belonged snugly between the pages of one of Rosa's storybooks.

"Hey, I gotta get gone in a little while," Michael told her suddenly, shoving the packet of mints into his back pocket.

"To do what?" Rosa scoffed. "Transport two of each animal onto your ark?"

From the corner of the room, a little snort of laughter escaped Anna. She was looking down at her phone, and pressing her lips together to kill her grin, her hair flopping down to hide her face.

Suddenly conscious of the attention, Rosa couldn't help but smile. It hadn't even been that funny.

"Well," Michael sighed, oblivious, "I gotta pick up Matty. His moped's bust."

"Make sure you brush up on your Old Testament, right?" she retorted, more for her new spectator than for Michael.

Anna's shoulders shook a little, and she pressed her knuckles to her lips.

Michael gave an awkward little chuckle – the polite, forced kind reserved for jokes he didn't like – and he dug into his pockets for his keys. "Hey, are you walking home tonight? Do you need a lift? I'm a chauffeur today for all you carless bums," he offered.

"Nah," she replied. "Bus. Thanks though."

"Yeah? See you tomorrow." He nodded over to Anna. "See you..." He paused, searching his mind for her name. "Anna."

Anna glanced up from her phone as though she'd just noticed them. "Yeah, see you round, Mike." She instantly flinched at her unwarranted use of the nickname.

He gave an uncomfortable laugh and pushed through the door with a last nod at Rosa. When the door shut, Rosa was now acutely aware of the strange eavesdropping girl in the corner.

"Something funny?" Rosa grinned at her.

Anna's eyes widened and she yanked out her earphones. "What?"

Rosa suddenly felt quite stupid. Perhaps Anna had been watching some funny video on her phone, or just reading a text. Of course, the sudden blush colouring Anna's face said otherwise, but it was a probability thing.