Look around the store

You finish washing your hands, pull yourself back together, and walk out into the store feeling numb and lost. With no particular plan or direction you start wandering around, checking out the merchandise, your brain sort of silently ticking over and wondering if anything you could get here might help explain things to Trish. It's a crazy thought, but you're willing to latch on to anything. After five minutes or so you circle back and end up staring at the Dragonette. It's so strange - like someone created a lizard girl twin for you out of silicone.

"I thought it was you," says Henry from behind you. It nearly shocks you out of your skin.

"Um, urm, uh... Yes," is all you manage. The 'yes' comes out as barely a whisper. After a long, awkward pause you snap out of it, thank Henry for letting you use the bathroom and head out to catch the next bus... which you see driving past. Second time tonight... is that bitch on the phone in charge of the bus schedule too? As you walk up the street to the stop a few drops of rain hit your head. The sky looks dark and angry, the bus stop is one of the cheap ones without a shelter, just a sign fixed to a telephone pole.

The rain starts to fall more rapidly and you realize that you'll be soaked through and frozen stiff by the time the next bus gets here. With nowhere else to turn you race back through the developing storm to the adult shop, the only place you know is open. When the little bell goes 'ding' Henry looks over from his desk and says "Didn't expect you back so soon" in a joking, friendly way.

Even your short time in the cold rain has wetted your hair, soaked into your clothes and left you chilled. When you move further inside Henry sees your condition and says "Oh, sorry, I didn't know it had started up. Uh... here." He picks up a towel with an anime girl on it and move over to you.

"Thanks" you say, reaching for the towel. But Henry doesn't see you reaching. He puts the towel over your head and starts drying your hair. You'd probably complain, but it feels so nice to have someone looking after you right now.

"Yeah, I guess there was supposed to be a pretty big storm tonight," he says, trying to make conversation. "Looks like you got hit pretty badly - and you weren't out there very long."

You can both hear the wind blowing along the outside of the building and the pattering of fat raindrops against the store's door. "No, uh, it's really something out there" you manage.

Henry steers you over to a seat near his desk as he continues drying your long and uncooperative hair. His hand feels hot against your shoulder. "Wow, you're freezing. Here, just sit down for a bit." He leaves you with the towel and fishes some other stuff out from a nearby cabinet. You're so out of it that you just sit, dragging the towel back and forth across your head, barely aware of what he's doing.

When the microwave beeps Henry returns with a steaming mug of hot chocolate... and you start to cry. You can't help it, he's being so nice and he doesn't know you from Adam. Or should that be 'doesn't know you from Eve'?

"Hey, hey. Uh... it's okay?" he says, probably doing a better job than you would have as a guy faced with a beautiful girl who starts crying for no reason.

Feeling like the whole world has caved in you grab his arm in a **** grip and try to tell Henry what's happened to you.

For the next little while you whisper and cry your way through your story. Your crazy, unbelievable story. Henry, who has probably witnessed more believable stories in porn videos, just sits there next to you and listens. By the time you finish you're starting to feel warmer, just from contact with his arm and the shoulder you've literally been crying on.

"That's quite the story," he says, sounding kind of dazed. You feel your stomach sink - all that, pouring your heart out, and he doesn't believe a word of it. Why would he?

"Maybe the storm's over," you **** out, "maybe I should go?"

But Henry holds your arm tightly and says, "Hang on. I don't know why... but, but there's something." He shakes his head and looks around. "I feel like there were some cobwebs in my head." Suddenly he gets up and pulls a cardboard box, coated in dust, from under the desk. It looks like the kind of box companies ship wine bottles in and "Tax Returns" is scrawled across the side in permanent marker, but he stares at it like it's venomous.

"Henry?"

"This shouldn't be here," he says, carefully putting it down in front of you. "I mean... <achoo!> I... I'm <achoo!> ...lergic to dust!" He moves back and finishes his sneezing fit, finally managing to say, "Can't remember it being here, but it has been here, under my desk - for months."

You open the box and see a few little glass bottles. A few hold a clear blue fluid and are marked Eolasine salve, a few others are filled with a thin, white liquid and are marked Eclatane juice. There's also one unlabeled empty bottle with a thick, black-green residue at the bottom.

"There was... yeah, a woman with a sapphire on a golden chain. I don't remember her, but she told me... made me keep these," he looks into your eyes, "for you."