Other Mother Second Chance A.U. Writing -- Coraline goes to the grocery store

ORIGINAL SHORT STORY

Coraline Goes To the Grocery Store

Seven o'clock, every morning, once a weekend, Coraline heads outside. Outside, it's never different.

Same people crossing the same street,

buildings having the same décor as the year before,

and the cars parked in the same spots beside the curb or driving to the same places a few blocks away.

This drains Coraline from any excitement for today, it's all the same. 'How much miserable can you get?' Coraline thought to herself. The place looked a bit gloomier, which made her look up.

...

Cloudy, looks like it's going to rain soon. Guess that's the only thing different today.

She lived in another apartment, one that was quite far away from The Pink Palace. At least it's closer to the college she's going at. She was trying to study psychology, to help with understanding people, but also herself subconsciously. Unfortunately she wasn't very good at it, so she switched to writing. It's okay at the moment, she certainly enjoys telling stories more than she did before.

On her way to the store, seeing familiar faces from before, she says her usual 'hello's' to the workers at the small grocery store.

"Hey Cor!"

"Hey Carol!"

"What 'cha been up to?"
"The usual, you?"

"Same thing."

The pattern would agitate her more adventurous self, but she has no choice but follow it, even for a little while.

She gets her groceries, leaving the store to be met with buckets full of rain. She didn't care, she intends to get wet today. When she came to crossing the street, out of habit, she looks over to the other side where there's people crossing the street. Perhaps she's playing a game of recognizing people's faces and see if it's all the same. There are times when it isn't, like if someone looked back and waved at her or when there's someone new, but that seldom happens. In this case, she saw someone that stuck out like a weed in a garden.

A woman, as tall as a man, wasn't wearing anything at all colourful unlike the people crossing, she was all in black. The hair was faded to show some velvet brown, with the ends being slightly curled and as dark as debris. She also had shades on, which was odd for a day to be so cloudy.

She, too, was drenched alike to Coraline since they both didn't pack umbrellas. Coraline was caught by the woman staring at her, and she gave a look of unease and worry, which made Coraline look back and take her leave.

When she got home, she stared outside the window as the rain pitter-pattered along to a rhythmic beat outside. There was something interesting about that woman that Coraline saw, other than her outfit---which admittedly she looked rather stylish in---but of some sort of...

Familiarity.

There was something about her that reminded her of something that she can't really put her finger on. Speaking of, she saw that woman outside of her window once the clouds cleared. She was in an alleyway, with her trench coat off to try and dry it---which was done unsuccessfully. Coraline continued watching, until the woman left and turned somewhere where Coraline can't see. There was something familiar, and now Coraline knows that she's definitely going crazy if a random woman seemed familiar to her. 'Whatever,' she thought 'I shouldn't bother about the little things. I should do some chores'.

"Familiar" written by K.P.-Studios
Illustration drawn by K.P.-Studios

The Other Mother Second Chance A.U. by K.P.-Studios