The Convenience Store

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CHAPTER 26: THE CONVENIENCE STORE

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It was eleven at night again.

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I couldn't sleep again. The trains had stopped an hour ago. The apartment was quiet. My mother was asleep. The refrigerator hummed. The floor creaked.

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I put on my shoes and walked to the convenience store.

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She was already there.

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Charlotte was sitting on the curb in the same spot, with the same paper bag in her lap and the same can of coffee in her hand. She was wearing a different hoodie but the same too-short shorts. Her pink hair was down this time.

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She looked up when I walked over.

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"You again," she said.

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"Me again."

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I sat down next to her.

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We didn't say anything for a while.

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The street was empty. The convenience store clerk was half-asleep. A taxi went by. A cat crossed the road and disappeared into an alley.

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"Can I ask you something?" she said.

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"You always ask me something."

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"This one's different."

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"Okay."

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She took a sip of her coffee.

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"What happened to you?"

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I looked at her.

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"What do you mean?"

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"You're not like the others. You don't perform. You don't pretend. You don't want anything. That doesn't happen by accident."

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I was quiet for a moment.

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"Everyone has something," I said.

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"I know. That's why I'm asking."

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I looked at the street. The empty road. The closed shops. The dark sky.

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"I lost someone," I said.

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She didn't say anything. She just waited.

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"A long time ago. Someone who saw me. Someone who noticed me. And then they were gone."

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"How?"

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I didn't answer.

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She didn't push.

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She just sat there with her coffee and her paper bag and her silence.

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───

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After a while, she said, "I lost someone too."

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I looked at her.

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"Not the same way," she said. "But they're gone. They're still here, technically. But they're gone."

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"Who?"

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She didn't answer.

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She just took another sip of her coffee and looked at the sky.

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We sat there for an hour. We didn't say anything else. We just sat there, two insomniacs on a curb, watching the street and the sky and the world.

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At some point, she stood up.

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"I should go," she said.

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"Okay."

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She looked at me.

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"Will you be here tomorrow?"

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I thought about it.

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"I don't know."

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"Okay."

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She walked away.

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I watched her go.

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I didn't know what had just happened. I didn't know what she had meant. I didn't know anything.

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But I noticed.

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She had told me something true.

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And I had told her something true back. 43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcTZkTMDW6

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