Page 1 of When It Rains He Pours

Chapter One

Glory

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What the hell?

Reaching my arm out, I touched the handle and watched the door sway. It was loose, not closed and locked up tight like I had left it the night before.

Why is this open?

Stepping back, I cupped my hips and looked around. The street was busy, flooded with cars and pedestrians. Spotting a woman on the curb right in front of my shop, I started towards her.

“Excuse me,” I said, softly holding out my hand. “Did you see anyone going in here?”

There was a chance that someone could have seen what happened, maybe a wandering eye had caught a fleeting glimpse of something—anything.

Her eyes lifted in annoyance, as if my question had somehow caused a great nuisance to what she was doing. “No.” Tossing her head back and forth, she darted over the crosswalk and was gone before I could get another word in.

Okay, sorry for asking.

Stepping back to the door, I pushed it open and listened to it swing inward. But it didn't open all the way, stopping halfway through, and gently bumping against something hard on the floor.

No, no, no, no. . . This isn't happening. It's not what it looks like.

The hair on the back of my neck shot up, as my skin buzzed, charged with electrified pops. My breathing became ragged, chest struggling to inhale shallow gulps of air.

Panic and confusion struck me down like a giant lightening bolt. I couldn't move, I couldn't think. It didn't make sense, nothing about this made sense. I wanted to rationalize it, pulling simple excuses out of thin air, and forcing them to fit.

The lock broke. . .

I didn't actually close it. . .

The wind, yeah the wind must have blown it open.

I tried everything I could to hold onto those thoughts and make them real. But I was wishing on falling stars, watching them drop from the sky, crashing and burning into the ground. I had to face the truth, no matter how much it hurt.