It’s bad…

Shortly after being chewed out by my boss, I quickly get to work up front as a cashier. If I had to describe my day to day, it would be pain and boredom.

Every day, I have to stand next to my cash register, waiting for someone to come into my line, only for an elderly woman to take 10 whole minutes to place everything out of the cart and pay for her groceries. It feels like the old people intentionally go to my line just to annoy me.

And god forbid I ask them if they want anything else. They may be old, but they have the spunk and attitude of a teenager. And I have to just sit there and take it while they yell at me for either being rude or too nosy.

Sometimes I wish I could just escape it all and get away from my job. It doesn’t pay well, most of my co-workers are shit, my boss is an asshole, and the people that shop here are terrible. But unfortunately, money is money no matter how bad the pay is. There is no way I can afford food and other bills if I just quit my job.

After about 2 hours, I finally go on break. As I close my line, I feel my stomach rumble like an earthquake. Nothing but coffee in the morning surely doesn’t help with my hunger, so I decide to look around the store real quick to find something to eat.

Our break room has a microwave, so almost anything that I buy can be cooked somewhat.

I walk up and down the aisles to find what would stave my stomach off for at least a couple hours. I catch a glimpse of a granola bar packag, and something about it peaked my hunger. This along with maybe a hot pocket would be good enough.

So, I go to grab the granola bar box, and as I take it off the shelf I see a familiar ghostly pair of eyes staring right at me.

“Hello, Sir Jerry~” Elizabeth says from behind the aisle.

“Ahh!” I yelp as I fall flat on my ass. Even though we already met, I’m still not used to this spirit woman following me around.

Elizabeth phases through the shelves and appears before me with hands of her ghostly hips, staring down at me with sultry eyes.

“W-What are you doing here? I thought you were tied to your book or whatever?” I ask, still on the ground.

“Augh! Can’t a thousand year old spirit do anything anymore! I just wanted to explore a bit. It’s been almost 40 years since I’ve seen the world, and might I say a lot of things seemed to have changed since I was gone. I mean, this technology you all have now is leagues better than what I saw in the 80’s,” Elizabeth says as she flies around me in amazement and slight sarcasm.

“I mean, those small bricks you carry around in your pockets are amazing! Some Mad Wizard must’ve put a lot of effort into creating one of these!”

“Well, I guess you could call Steve Jobs a wizard in more ways than one, b-but you didn’t answer my question! Shouldn’t you still be by the car?” I ask.

“Ohh… Sorry, got a bit sidetracked, everything is just so new and interesting! Since you summoned and released me, you and I are linked. I can go wherever you can go, but if the tome is not nearby, I can’t use my magic,” Elizabeth explains.

“Geez, I’m gonna have this spirit follow me around all the time? This’ll get annoying real quick…”

“Wow! You think I’m annoying, Sir Jerry? I’m offended you would say such a thing!” Elizabeth says through fake tears.

“W-What no I mea— Wait, did you read my mind!?” I ask in shock.

“Yep! Remember, we’re partially linked by soul together, and your internal monologue is part of your soul,” She explains.

“Jerry! Are you okay Jerry?!”

Before I can even process what’s going on, I hear someone yelling my name and footsteps coming my direction. I look to see and it’s Cassie running down the aisle with a concerned look on her face.

Cassie was and still is a great friend of mine, ever since elementary school. We always managed to be in the same classes as each other, and funnily enough we both flunked college at the same time as well. I was so excited to have her work at the same store as me, cause we can still be in touch. She’s always been a sweet, and very kind woman, always taking other people’s shifts and helping out when she can while on break.

She has long, golden blonde hair that reaches all the way down to her chest. Her eyes are a beautiful sky blue that almost glow in the dark. She’s pretty tall, being about the same height as me. She has a slim and mature physique, having an hour glass figure that I can only describe as super model like.

“Jerry, did you hurt yourself? I heard you yell from my aisle,” Cassie says as she bends over and extends a hand towards me. Somewhat embarrassed, I grab her hand and lift myself up from off the ground.

“No, I’m fine. Was just a bit spooked by a customer is all, thank you for coming here though,” I reply.

“Good, good! Glad you’re okay. But, ahh, who were you talking to?” She asked with a confused look on her face.

I have no clue how to explain half of any of this crazy situation, so I just choose to lie.

“Ohhh, ahhhh…. I was talking to the customer behind the aisle that spooked me, yeah…” I say.

“Hmmm…. Alrighty then! Have fun on your break Jerry!” She says before leaving.

With a small sigh of relief, I bend down to pick up my box of granola bars. But as I stand up straight, I feel Elizabeth flying around my body.

“You like her, don’t you~?” She says in a coy tone.

“No! We’re just friends is all,” I reply with a bit of blush on my face.

“Oh come on!!! Your soul doesn’t lie, Sir Jerry, I know that you know you like her!”

“Just shut up about it, okay? I just wanna eat my break food and get back to work,” I reply. In truth, I do like Cassie, but I don’t think she likes me back in that kind of way. She’s just so perfect compared to me.

Anyways, I take a hot pocket from the frozen foods aisle and scan my stuff in self checkout before heading inside the break room. All the while, Elizabeth floats around gawking at everything in the store, curious about this new world she’s living in.