KNOCK KNOCK-
Little wooden chips fell from the door. It felt like one good punch could've done it in. The iron bars in the door's window view rattled.
Bea stepped back, beside her younger companion. Contrary to her, Else bounced up and down, her backpack jostling as if weightless, and all with an innocent smile on her face, down to the dimples in her cheeks. Her hands gripped her jacket and shook with barely contained anticipation.
"I've got a good feeling about this one, Bea!"
"Maybe. You can never be too sure," Bea said idly, her eyes fixed elsewhere, mentally preoccupied. "People tend to have a way of disappointing you when you need them-" Bea rambled to herself, her voice a bit distant. Her body had a small flinch mid-sentence, and her eyes dart over reflexively to Else, suddenly realizing the words coming from her mouth.
Else's face dropped... her bright smile starting to retreat a bit. She stopped bouncing on her heels... her shoulders lowered, and her eyes look down to her shoes.
Bea feels a pit open up in her stomach. "I said too much" she thought to herself. In the blink of an eye, her hand shoots up and places itself squarely on Else's cheek. Her thumb softly pokes one of Else's freckles, causing the small one to be jolted from the sudden sag she found herself being dragged into.
"UH- B-BUT NOT ALL THE TIME," Bea hastily corrects herself, her eyes shooting everywhere, looking at every nearby thing before finally summoning the strength to look Else in the eyes. "This place could be just what we need."
Else's eyes widen. "You think so?" the girl asks.
"Well, I hope so anyway," Bea sighed, the most reassuring thing she could've mustered up. Her eyes closed in a cross between relief and exasperation.
And it seemed to have worked; Else perked right back up with that chipper determined smile of hers, poised to bounce on her heels again.
Creeeeeaaaaaakkk...
"Ahem."
A slow, unamused mock of a throat clearing. It cut straight through the chatty air, taking the two girls by surprise. In unison, they whipped their heads to the storefront's entrance... the door stood ajar, and in its' opening stood a... small figure. Tiny. Diminutive in every sense of the word. Despite that, the air felt dense, like breathing through syrup.
This was a... a child. A little girl, at that. She couldn't have been much older than the 10-year-old Else. And yet, her face seemed to lack any youthful energy... her eyes remained half-lidded. Bored... no, disinterested seemed more accurate. Her body language seemed equally as languid, as if even looking up at the pair was a chore.
"Welcome to the Stray Cats' Pawn Shop. What do you want?" the girl said, after a moment of awkward silence. Her utter disinterest seemed to catch Else and Bea off guard, so deeply ingrained in the child that even her voice sounded monotonous and uncaring.
It took a bit for either of the girls to even register what she just said, but when they did... confusion settled in. This girl was greeting them, but that'd mean she worked here. And that... couldn't be right, could it?
"...isn't this child labor?" Else asked in earnest, genuinely curious. Bea brushed right past it though, not as lighthearted, as she posed her own question. "Can you get the owner?"
The girl held her gaze. Almost creepily so. Not even as much as a blink. "I am the owner," she remarked.
Bea scoffed. Something about this child... really didn't sit well with her. As if she was talking down to the two of them. She felt her hand clench, and she physically held back a remark.
Else seemed to take it at face value though, shrugging her shoulders and continuing on. The air wasn't nearly as thick for her, on the contrary. Although a bit confused, she seemed to try and make it work.
"Alrighty then. Uh, I'm Else. We're lookin' for a map. A big ole' one!" She said, holding her hands up, far apart and wide. "Got one?"
...
Else kept her hands up, as if it'd help the shopkeeper visualize it. She held it for 10 seconds... 15... 20... Awkward was the understatement of the century. The young girl stared back, blank faced, her eyes lazily scanning the pair.
"Fresh out. None in my stock," the girl finally replied.
Else's eyes doubled in size. She felt like the floor went out from beneath her. She couldn't believe her ears. "W-what?! Out? But you're the last shop in town!"
It hadn't even been an hour since daybreak... and this was a shop people seemed to go out of their way to avoid. Who could've swiped it so soon?
"Not my problem." The shopkeeper simply turned her head away, palm flat on the doorknob. Just like that, all the wind felt like it left Else's sails. Dead in the water.
"..She's lying," Bea piped up.
"Huh?" Else's head snapped up, looking at Bea.
"Say it how it really is. You weren't gonna let us buy anything."
Bea had been silently keeping a watchful eye on the two as they talked. How the owner seemed to have an eerie eye contact, yet broke it the moment Else mentioned what she wanted to buy. And the way the owner scanned over the two of them, their bodies, their clothes...
The little shop owner didn't even turn her head back. "Buying means you have money. You clearly don't. Goodbye."
Bea huffed. She thought as much. They had been profiled.
Else's heart sank. Those words felt like a gut punch. And a gut punch to an already sore spot, to boot. This wasn't new to them. She should've seen it coming a mile away. But it didn't make it sting any less. She had done something she should've known better to do. She had hoped. Else felt a lump in her throat.
"W-we... just want to-"
"Forget it, sis. This town was a bust too," Bea sighed, interlacing her fingers with the younger girl's. Bea seemed to accept it, however much it pained her to do so. In fact, it seemed like she accepted it from the moment she saw this last shop, as rundown and shoddy as it was.
"Blind eyes everywhere. Let's hit the road to the next town," she said, turning her back to the shop.
Else nodded, taking her sister's hand in a more firm squeeze. "Sorry for waking you up so early. I thought-" She began to speak, but as she did...
"Wait."
The two girls gave pause... turning once more to the pawn shop. The shopkeeper, who'd had one foot in the door, now fully faced the pair once more. Her head cocked to the side, causing her orange hair to bob slightly. "You two are travelers?"
"Huh..? Yeah, we are," Else replied, a bit cautiously.
"Not by choice," Bea added, apprehensively glancing at her. What exactly was she getting at?
The young shopkeeper pondered. She looked at the cobblestone road beneath her feet for a bit.
"I'll give you the map. But I'll need something in return."