Fate. Such a simple word, but it can change so many lives in a moment. I often think about how much I lost because of fate. I find myself pondering about fate. What if I could have changed my fate? Is that even possible? But, I look at my life now and I know I wouldn't change a thing. My name is Annie Delvaine, and this is my fate.

It was early fall in Augusta, Maine. The trees were just starting to loose there color. The wind whistled on the windows of Annie's apartment on the upper east side. The apartment was silent as Annie lay sleeping on the bed that pulled out of her couch. She had just moved to Maine and hadn't had time to settle in yet.

Boxes lined the apartment walls. Furniture was scattered according to where the moving men had set them. The apartment was small, but it was her own. She had finally made it away from her family.

When she got out of collage she moved back home. She stayed there until she decided what she wanted to do with herself. Well, she found herself, sort of. Today she was starting her new job, salesperson at Marie Carries jewelry store. It was a really fancy store. She was extremely nervous.

But Salesperson of the month wasn't her outstanding dream. She hoped to stay at this jewelry store just long enough to get her bosses respect, maybe a raise, and then she would be gone, with a good recommendation. She would get a better job, and then hopefully start a business of her own. If she was lucky.

The silence was broken with a dull shrill from the alarm clock. Annie groaned as she awoke. Then she flipped the switch on the old alarm clock and struggled out of bed to get ready. After taking a shower and getting dressed, Annie sat looking at her bowl of cereal. She was far too nervous to eat. So she got up and went to work early.

As she walked the chilly empty streets of Augusta, she thought about herself. She thought she lived a pretty normal life. Starting a well paying job, a loving family 300 miles away. But she was lonely. She had never been great at relationships. She had never really had a good one. The nice men always turned out to be crazy. And she really wanted someone to love, who loved her.

She walked to downtown and found the jewelry store. It was dark and empty. She was early alright.

She waited quietly for about ten minutes, leaning against the wall before the owner showed up. She had to be in her late 40's, with her blond hair pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head. She walked as if she had great importance. Then she noticed her.

"Who are you?" the woman asked.

"I'm Annie Delvaine." She replied.

"So you're the new girl."

"I guess you would have to say so. Are you Marie Carrie?"

"I am. And you're early."

"I know. I just couldn't wait to start."

"I like the way you show initiative Annie. I like it a lot. If you keep this up, I see a raise in your future."

"One can only hope." Marie gave her a warm smile as she opened the door. Annie followed her inside. Marie disappeared to the back of the store while Annie stood just in front of the front door looking around at the dark store and gloomy glass cases that lined the walls filled with expensive nick knacks, glass bowls, fancy figurines and perfume displays on the counter, and cases filled to the rim with the fanciest jewelry she's ever seen.

Suddenly the entire store was flooded with light, and everything in the store sparkled. The crystals and the diamonds glowed.

"Well, here's the store." Marie said coming back. "Do you like?"

"It's very lovely, shiny. I can't believe I'm working here." Annie said as she awed at the displays.

"Some days I can't believe I made this place. Well, do you have any questions about your job?"

"Well, what department am I?"

"We don't really have departments here, dear. Just help the customers that wonder in. Some are first times while others are old friends of ours. You should be able to distinguish quite easily. Also, while you're not busy with customers, or it's a slow day, which most usually are, clean up a bit won't you. Dust, and remember out motto is no fingerprints. It's about an hour till the store opens. Why don't you familiarize yourself with the merchandise? It's always wise to know what you're selling. Ta-ta." Marie said walking away. She wondered to herself if that woman was always so cheery.

She spent the next hour browsing the expensive jewelry. She was sitting cross legged in front of a case full of earrings when she heard some soft music start playing in the background. Marie must have turned on this cheese ambiance. She yawned, this music added to the boring study of endless cases of jewelry she could never afford, was making her drowsy.

The next thing Annie felt was something solid poking into her side. She pulled herself awake then felt that she was leaning forward into something hard. She sat up and looked around with sleepy eyes at the glass case in front of her with her face print on it.

"What are you doing down there?" said an old woman's voice.

"Oh no." Annie quietly sighed as she realized what she had done. She had fallen asleep on the job. She was so fired if Marie found out about this. She felt another jab in her side and looked up at the old woman.

"Do you work here?"

"Yes, I do." Annie said getting up off the floor. "Please don't tell my boss about that. I don't want to get fired."

"I won't" yes!

"Thank you so much."

"So you work here?"

"Yes, yea I do."

"Then where is your name tag?"

"Oh, it's my first day. They haven't given me one yet. It's Annie, by the way."

"What a pretty name."

"So what are you looking for today?"

"I'm looking for a decorative bowl."

"What kind? We have lots of bowls."

"I was thinking glass."

"We have glass, of course. Let me show you what we have to offer." Then she went about showing everything she could find to the old woman until she found something she liked. She found this job quite easy and thought she was pretty good at it.

After one long hour she final got the very particular woman to commit on a bowl. She wrapped the package and handed it to the old woman.

"Here you go." Annie said politely.

"Thank you" the old woman replied.

"No, thank you."

"I think you will go far here," and the old woman left.

Annie grabbed a rag and started to polish the fingerprints off the rejected bowls and put them back on display.

"What exactly do you think your doing?" said a voice from behind her. Annie turned to see a woman who was only a few years older than herself standing there. She would have been very pretty if it weren't for the scowl on her face.

"What did I do?" Annie asked worried.

"That was one of my regular customers you just stole! Now I don't get that commission!" The woman pouted. What was she, 7?

"Oh, I'm so sorry, but did you just say commission?" This was a better job than she thought.

"Yes, don't you know anything? When you make a sale you get a percentage of that sale, and it adds to your paycheck…"

"I know what a commission is. I just didn't know we got them here. I'm new and I'm just…"

"Oh yes, I remember. Listen new girl, you better watch your step. You better remember which customers are mine or I'll make sure you never find work again."

"Don't be so mean, Candy. She's new," said a voice behind her. She turned and saw a girl that looked almost exactly like Candy except she was brunette instead of blond. Very good looking and so sure of herself. Another girl appeared behind her. Also perfect looking. This made her feel plain and out of place.

"No excuse." Candy said. Annie knew her and Candy would never get along.

"Just ignore her," said the third to appear who had jet black hair. "I'm Tori, and welcome to Marie Carrie's."

"Well, it's lovely here." Annie said.

"Yes," said the second, "I'm Mary. And you are…"

"Yes, what is your name?" Tori asked.

"It's Annie."

"Well Annie," Mary said, "I hope you like it here."

"I think I already do."

"Ladies, Ladies, Ladies!" Marie said as she returned. "Get to work, time for chit chat later. Ah, Annie, here is your new name tag. You are now one of us."

She wondered what that implied.

A few hours passed and she stood behind a counter towards the back of the store, polishing some drinking glasses. They were right, the store never really got crowded, or busy for that matter. But they did seem to have the somewhat steady flow of customers. Noon was fast approaching, and they had no customers at the moment.

As if fate heard her thoughts, she heard the chime of the bell at the front door, signaling someone's arrival. As if they needed an announcement in this ghost town.

She looked up from her busy work and saw a handsome young man enter. His long brown hair flipped naturally around his face because of its length. She knew it was rude to stare, but she couldn't make herself look away. She thought about going to assist him, but as soon as the thought flew crossed her mind, it was too late.

The three girls swarmed to him like he was a piece of meat, and they vultures. That's when she found it to look away. She didn't really need to see them fawning all over this gorgeous stranger.

She could hear them all chattering at him at once, offering help and asking what he needed. Threw all there chatter he hadn't spoken yet. This made her curious so she looked up.

They had managed to relocate him to one of the counters, but he wasn't looking at any of the fine jewelry inside. He was staring intently at her.

This made her blush, and she looked back down at her work and pretended like she was furiously concentrating on polishing the bowl in front of her while her mind wasn't even there except to keep her hand moving back and forth.

She wondered why he was looking at her. How could he even have noticed her? Did he know her? Did she know him? She was certain she didn't. She would defiantly remember meeting someone that noticeable before.

But she had to make sure. She stole another glance. Yep, she defiantly didn't know him. But she did know she hadn't imagined that piercing stare, because he was still looking at her.

She looked quickly back to her work and she was blushing again, but it was deeper this time because she could feel her cheeks burning. Now she concentrated on what the girls were saying to him. They were obviously far too absorbed in his good looks to notice he wasn't listening, or so she thought.

"Is there anything here you like?" Tori chimed.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" Candy said, but this time as she spoke, Annie could clearly hear annoyance stinging her voice.

This caused her to look up and her hand stopped there imaginary work when she saw that now, not only was Stranger Danger staring at her but also his adoring fan club.

Tori and Mary were looking at her with curiosity, like what was she doing that they weren't. But Candy's look could have stopped a train, with this look of utter hatred, and if looks could kill… you get the idea.

"What about her?" the man spoke still looking at me. But this time she couldn't look away as her blue eyes met his. "Let her help me."

"No, no. Not her." Candy said stepping in front of him, blocking his view. His brow crinkled with irritation. "She's new, and utterly incompetent. She doesn't know what she's doing."

"Then let her practice on me." He said finally meeting Candy's gaze with a look she had never seen before. The look kind of scared her. But it didn't seem to faze Candy.

"You'll probably be here forever, she's very slow." Candy was fazed by his look, her voice quaked and she didn't know what to say, the man started walking away from her and straight towards her. "She'll probably break whatever you want to buy!" Candy yelled after him like a two year old. Even she was embarrassed for her as Candy stomped off towards the back of the store.

"May I help you?" She asked unsure and unaware of what dangers she was getting herself into dealing with Jackson Rippner.