Steven Denvers (19), from an old antique shop

Steven was a bit of a downtrodden guy. He often spent time in his room on his computer, mindlessly scrolling on the internet. His parents encouraged him to get a job during his gap year, but he hadn’t found the motivation to do so. In his mind, it was hard enough to get by sharing a home with his annoying little sister. She was 18 and fresh out of high school, but she still acted like a bratty child, making it her personal mission to annoy the hell out of him.

He was on a walk today, mostly because of his parents nagging him to go outside, but partially just to get out of the house and away from his nuisance of a sister. On this particular day he happened to walk to the main city area of his quiet town. Through the busy streets and shops, he looked around at the town square. This was basically the only popular location in miles, so it made sense that everyone in town was around here.

He sighed to himself, seeing all the people out and about… having fun. Doing as they please… maybe if he finally got a job, he could afford to have fun like those people…

“Wh-wh-whoooa-!”

His thoughts came to a stop, as he tripped over the curb of the sidewalk. Falling down on the sidewalk to the amusement of the people around him. They laughed jovially as his face washed over a hot pink and he ran into the nearby building to avoid the crowd.

The door opened with the ding of a bell. before he even saw what shop he walked into, he noticed the distinctive smell of musty, old artifacts. Looking forward, he saw an assortment of random trinkets and antiques. He had walked into an old antique shop.

Before he could turn to leave, he heard the voice of a raspy old woman. “Welcome to Zhana’s Antiques!” She grinned mischievously through her foreign clothing. She grabbed you by the wrist rather forcefully. “Now why don’t I show you some of our finest products, we just got a new shipment of-…” Steven cut her off by swiftly pulling his wrist out of her clutches. “U-uh… no ma’am. I don’t want to buy anything…”

Her face turns from a glad, joyful grin into that of a grimace. “But then… why did you come into store?” As she spoke, her oddly foreign accent shone through. Clearly she wasn’t exactly immersed in American culture “W-well… I mean.” He stammered, not wanting to bring up his embarrassing fall.

“Bah!” She shrugged off his response. “You change your mind when you see my products. Here!” She spreads her arms in emphasis. “Everything in this store is something you’ll like! Here!” She points to a sugar bowl on a shelf. It was glossy and well polished. “Sugar bowls are a great decorative item, but this is special. It contains extracts made from Egyptian sugar cane!” She gave him the hard sell.

“U-ugh no. I don’t really drink tea.” Steven said, not wanting to upset her by outright telling her to stop. She brushed it off, keeping her saleswoman act up. She pulls him to another shelf. “A perfume designed to make woman fall for you~” She spoke with an erotic tone, clearly trying to appeal to his pervert side. “Yeah, no thanks.” He had seen enough ads online to know stuff like that was completely fake.

“Fine, fine… but this shop is in dire need of customers… how about this~?” She suggests, pulling you over to a large display case. “This case is designed to change people… haven’t you ever wished your friends or family were more… to your liking?” She says.

She can tell by his expression that he is still quite unamused. “Fine, you drive hard bargain. How about this?” She suggests. “You tell people about my shop, and you can have this case for free!”

At this point, Steven was so done with this situation, he didn’t even care to ask questions. “Uggghh… if I do that, will you let me go home?” She nods. With a groan, he uses his decent body strength to lift up the large case, which was surprisingly lightweight, and spent an hour walking it home.