Comic Shop Junkies

It was just a dusty old comic book shop. Some place you didn’t notice unless you were looking for it specifically. It was your typical comic book store with D&D geeks and Magic players. It was the place Sarah most felt at home. She’d worked there for a little over 6 months, you’re stereotypical geek girl, far too skinny to be considered sexy, glasses as thick as triple paned glass. But she did well here, because she knew more about comics then perhaps anyone else in this dead end town.
Sarah was closing up shop, shooing the last of the Magic group out. “Ceasar, go! I gotta close up shop, and do inventory tonight!”
“Oh, come on Sarah, I can help you do inventory! I’d love to help you! We can talk about that date you owe me. Or it could be the date you owe me.”
“I never agreed to go out with you, Ceasar! Come on, you know Simon doesn’t like me to have anyone in here after closing.”
“Ok, Sarah, I’ll see you later!” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and ran out the door. She locked it after him and shook her head slowly. That boy just did not give up.
She worked her way to the back, careful not to knock over any of Simon’s haphazardly thrown together stacks of comics. It was strange that inventory was her favorite thing to do, most employees complained to high heaven about it. The idea of restocking comics bored them to tears. But not Sarah, she enjoyed the silence, the freedom of it. She had three sisters at home, so she never got any time to herself at home.
Sarah worked diligently but not quite as quickly as she could. And finally when the last comic was put away, a rare edition of Superman which cost about 200 dollars, she wandered into the back to make sure she didn’t miss anything.
Sitting in the bottom of the box that she could have sworn she had just empty was a comic covered in black plastic. “Well where do I put this? I guess I have to open it.” She took out her pocket knife to cut the plastic open.
The comic itself was old and dusty, and printed on the front in careful letters were the words: Comic Shop Junkies. Sarah giggled, it looked like a comic about the shop! This was fantastic, Simon must of wrote it. She had seen old pictures of former employees and these characters looked just the same. She sat in the comfy chair in the break room and opened up the comic. This was beautifully done, Simon should really try to get this published.
Sarah became completely engrossed in the stories of employees of old. Laughing about the Magic competitions they would hold in the back of the store on Saturday nights, 10 dollar buy in, winner takes all, plus a pick of a card from each of the competitors. She longed to know them, to laugh with them about how meticulous Simon was.
Sarah looked at her watch and realized it was almost 1 a.m., she had realized that she had been reading for so long. In fact, how had she been reading for so long, the comic looked fairly short but seemed to go on forever. Sarah stood up to place the comic back in its black plastic but couldn’t close it. Not that she didn’t want to, she physically couldn’t close it. As she struggled with the offending comic the pages blew by as if possessed with a strong wind. Finally it stopped on the very last page, a blank page. The page began to sketch Sarah’s body, and as she looked down, Sarah realized that she was fading. Eventually Sarah was gone and all that was left was the comic, sitting open in the seat where she had once sat reading it.
Simon came by to open up the next morning, he looked at the inventory that Sarah had put away for him. He was pleased, glad to have such an attentive employee. Hopefully this one would last. He liked her, she was a smart girl, she would do well at anything she applied herself to. He traveled his way to the back of the store, going into the break room to start up some coffee. He spotted the open comic in the soft recliner that he knew was Sarah’s favorite spot. He sighed loudly, “Well, there goes another employee.” He grumbled loudly as he walked to the front of the store and hung a much used “Now Hiring” sign in the window.