It was rainy.

The pitter patter of rain drops on the shop's roof became a constant reminder of the looming exhaustion that plauged my body, and I begged for the clock's hands to move just a little faster. Afterall, I'm sure Sebastian was missing me quite a bit. He absolutley despised thunderstorms.

I only had 15 more minutes until I was finally free into the world, so I decided to quietly clean the lonely tables scattered across the empty shop.

The mismatched set of dining equipment always reminded me of outside, because of the large amounts of diversity within the colors, the textures, the blemishes, and everything that set them apart. They reminded me of people. People with round faces and smile lines, people with kind eyes and dimples, people with magic in their smiles and freckles scattered like stars. They reminded me of old people, young people, and everyone in between.

The tables acted like people when I felt down.

Because even if I couldn't genuinely talk to actual people, I liked to pretend that the tables around me spoke words of wisdom. I liked to pretend that I was just a little less alone.

The clock read 9:50, only ten more minutes, and then I could be free to walk home in the darkness that laid itself across the sky, almost as if joining me on my way.

But then, the bell rang and someone walked in.