Endings and Beginnings for Rhian Oran
Kyra's Beans and Greens was unusually busy for a Sunday morning. In this part of town, people were usually too hungover to make sure they get the early bird specials on kale and wheatgrass shooters. Binx tossed their reusable shopping bags into a nearby cart and wheeled into the automatic doors. Once inside, Binx started tossing an assortment of produce into the basket and finally asked Rhian Oran about what shook her up so much. "Hey so, you seemed really stressed out earlier." She said. "I don't really want to talk about it…here." Rhian Oran replied, knocking on a honeydew approvingly before adding it to their other items. "Well, we can talk about it later, but I guess what I really need to know is are you okay?" pushed Binx, turning to the next aisle, filled with granola and muesli. "Yeah, I mean I think so. It just, scared me. The…thing that happened." Rhian Oran sighed, crossing her arms and avoiding eye contact. "Okay but I don't want you to be scared in our home, you know? So, if something happened I want you to tell me." Binx urged, reaching on tip toes for the roommate's favorite granola bag. Rhian Oran heard a shuffle behind her and turned out of instinct. There They were, here! Again! "Yeah, yeah I will tell you. Later. I promise." Rhian Oran urged, taking hold or the cart and rushing out of the aisle. She hurried to collect their other shopping, confusing Binx. "Rhian Oran are you sure you're okay? You're being so weird!" Binx said a little too loud, while Rhian Oran tossed in veggie burger patties, oat milk, and nooch. "Yeah I'm fine I just, don't want to leave Enki alone. I've got a lot to get done." She blurted out, suddenly they were at the cashier.
"Heyyyy how's it going ladies?" he said, through a sleazy smile and lip ring. This is Cascade, he frequented Seacrest always trying to get Clea to play his "fire mixtape". Nobody knows his real name; he only goes by his DJ name. Clea said he's been working at the grocery store as long as she can remember, but just got promoted to cashier from bag boy last month. "Total burnout," says Clea "he's lucky his mom still pays his phone bill, or he'd never make it in the city." Rhian Oran coughed, "Hi Cascade, we're kind of in a rush. She scanned the store again, They were in the toiletries aisle but not looking at her this time. "Okay yeah sure, we're all in a hurry huh? That's capitalism I guess, no time to just slow down and talk like normal people, always somewhere to be." Cascade rambled, ringing up their purchases. As he reached for a plastic sack Binx jumped in "Oh no, we have these! Rhian Oran crocheted them; aren't they cool?" "Woah yeah I love these!" Cascade exclaimed, pushing his moplike hair away from his eyes, "Hey Rhian Oran you think you could make me a couple? I can't like, pay you but-" Rhian Oran cut him off, "Yeah sure, no problem. I'll bring them, how much is it?" she interrupted, reaching for her purse. Binx saved the day again "Oh uh, I've got it." "Wow yeah uh, okay," Cascade said, "Well it's $37.19, sorry I didn't know you were in a rush so much." "Yeah," said Binx as she handed him the money, "I didn't either." Rhian Oran led the way out of the shop, taking one more look over her shoulder. They were gone. "Okay dude, seriously WHAT is with you today?" Binx shouted, holding a hand up to stop Rhian Oran.
Rhian Oran gasped and looked around panicked, They weren't around. "Okay, come on." She sighed, pulling Binx into a nearby alley. "Listen, okay the past couple days have been…I don't know. Wrong. First, at Seacrest. Someone was looking at me." "So what?" said Binx, "People look at people that doesn't explain-" "They were looking at me all night!" Rhian Oran interrupted, "Like, outside too, and then they were at the store just now too." "Oh wow, so you have like a stalker? What the hell?! What does he look like?" Binx shouted, dropping the grocery bags. "Well I don't know if They're a he, I guess, but that's not the only thing. So today, before you got home, I was putting up that altar I told you about right? And some of the crystals…flew up." Rhian Oran added, nervously. "What do you mean flew up? Like got knocked over?" "No, like they were just hovering in front of me!" "What the…" Binx gasped, when suddenly a huge wave of water splashed them from the gutter, as a truck sped by. "YUCK!" Binx shouted, shaking her arms. "DISGUSTING! I don't even, I just -sigh- can we just go home dude?" "Yeah," assured Rhian Oran, picking up the bags of wet groceries from the ground "yeah let's just go home, we can talk more there."
The sky had darkened, and the large paned window of the loft shone brightly with the lights of Emerald City. "So, what did They look like?" Clea said, placing a large salad bowl in the center of the table. "Uhm, They had a shiny blue jacket, and yellow and blue hair. I don't know I guess I looked away from Them as soon as I noticed." Rhian Oran answered, seated on the floor petting Enki in her lap. "Okay the person is gonna get their butt kicked if we ever see them again," Binx said, stomping in while towel drying her hair after a shower, "But what about the stupid rock thing? They were flying?" "I mean I guess? I don't know what else to call it." Rhian Oran mused. "Is the house haunted? Like did someone die here before we moved in?" Binx asked, sliding into a chair "Just my ex-boyfriend!" Clea laughed, setting down a large pasta bowl and serving herself, "I'm kidding, obviously, but no I don't think the apartment is haunted. What if it's like…a power?" Rhian Oran gasped "No, no people who have powers, those show up way earlier, not when they're like grown up." She set Enki down and stood to make a plate of the creamy mushroom rotini Clea had put together from the salvageable groceries. "I don't have powers, it's too late." "I don't know dude, maybe? But what else would cause that?" Asked Binx, munching on her salad. "Did you try to do it again? "Well no! I don't think I even did it!" "Try it! Move this spoon!" Binx shouted holding a spoon in the air. "No that's stupid! I don't have a power!" Rhian protested. "Just try it! We gotta find out!" Binx added, putting the spoon on the table in front of Rhian. "Oh my god, if it will shut you up fine." Rhian Oran said, sitting on the ground eye level with the spoon. She stared, unblinking, intensely concentrating. She felt a little lightheaded even, from trying so hard to make this spoon move, until finally releasing her breath "There! See? Nothing happened!" she shouted, picking up her pasta and shoveling a mouthful in. "Fiiiine, I guess it's a ghost then! Can we go to the thrift store and get a Ouija board?" Binx begged, never deterred from an exciting idea. "Actually, I may have one. Remember that goth guy I dated?" said Clea through a mouthful of romaine.
"I'm glad it's nothing," Rhian Oran sighed, "I don't want powers at 19, that would be so embarrassing. Like getting acne." "WOW Rhian Oran, LIKE THIS ACNE?! THANKS!" Binx shouted, pointing at a small reddish bump near her chin. "Oh my gosh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Rhian Oran frantically apologized. "Geez, calm down! I'm totally kidding!" Said Binx, shoveling down the rest of her salad, "Okay, well I'm going for a run. Anybody else?" She said as she laced up her sneakers, knowing the other two girls wouldn't run if they were being paid to, "No? No takers? Alright, hold the floor down for me while I'm gone I guess." Binx added, slamming the door behind her. "You know," said Clea, scooping up her and Binx's dishes, "Sometimes people with powers can be late bloomers. We have a cousin Jackson who didn't know he had super strength until he was 21. He got in a bar fight and punched a dude straight into the wall! He just hadn't ever had a reason to punch someone before, you know?" "Wow, that's wild! But no, I would know if I didn't. I think. Maybe I was just like…seeing things?" Rhian shrugged, putting away the leftovers. "Well I'd be more worried about you seeing things than if we had a ghost. If it happens again, will you tell us? Like right away?" Clea asked, gently touching Rhian's wrist. Rhian Oran looked up, "Yeah, I will. I promise." She said and leaned over to give Clea a little hug. They'd known each other a long time, but it really felt like in the last year Clea started seeing Rhian Oran as family. She was always working so hard to make sure the younger girls found their way in the city. She even got Rhian Oran the job at Fries and Shine and called to cuss out Rhian Oran's manager when she'd been fired. Rhian Oran was fired for a valid reason, but the manager was another one of Clea's exes and she was really just looking for a reason to cuss him out. Rhian Oran thanked Clea for dinner and headed to her room.
She pulled out an old laptop and opened the document titled . She stared absentmindedly at the screen, focusing in on the little bar blinking in and out after Reason for leaving last employer: _. How would you even start? That day was such a disaster. It was the third week in a row with the orange juice slushie machine being busted. She was taking it apart to clean every piece, hoping to find a clog when, well find a clog she did. As soon as she pulled out the hose that fed into the nozzle, weeks old juice poured out onto her, the counter, and the floor of the food court. With a giant gasp she drew the attention of everyone sitting in the nearby area, just in time for them to see a pregnant mother slip on the sludgy mess and fall to the floor clutching a gift bag of chocolates which exploded everywhere. As if it couldn't get worse, when Rhian Oran was helping the woman stand up, she sneezed straight into her face, spraying spittle everywhere. There was no apology in the world big enough, and honestly a clumsy accident isn't enough on its own to get fired from. Then again, there was the reason Rhian Oran had been stuck unclogging the broken slushy machine anyway.
It all started when she dropped a case of eggs on the floor. Fries and Shine's specialty is breakfast food, with crispy golden French fries as a central ingredient. You need the breakfast part too though and losing an entire case of eggs meant they had to close up early for the day. In addition to the lost business, Rhian Oran had been miscounting tax, and got demoted from cashier to kitchen staff. The last straw was truly what happened right after the slushy incident. She cleaned the entire floor, replaced the cost of the chocolates for the expecting mother out of her own paycheck, and had begin to clean the machine. Well, there at the top of the entry hose was a big, gummy, black blob. Right there on the countertop, Rhian Oran fished it out with her fingers and screamed at the top of her lungs! Hurling it at the floor she shouted, "It's a roach!" There, in the middle of the food court, she had splatted a cockroach that had been clogging their drink filter for god knows how long, and then screamed to make sure everyone knew. After every business in the food court spent an hour refunding customers disgusted by the idea of an infested restaurant making their lunch, Rhian Oran was pulled into a back office. Her manager let her know it was time to leave, and they'd mail her the last paycheck she could expect from them. No amount of tears could change the outcome, not even the ones welling up in her eyes now as she sat staring at her resume. She slapped the laptop shut and stood from the bed abruptly, wiping her eyes on her shirtsleeve.
Rhian Oran stomped a little too hard over to the area of her room where the altar was, she scooped up the crystals and dumped them in the bag that had held them before. The last one she went to pick up was the citrine that started it all. With a frown she slumped to the floor. Turning the small stone in her hand, Rhian Oran wondered if Clea was right. Maybe she was just a late bloomer. She rolled her eyes, dismissing the idea, but then…then she sat the citrine on the table in front of her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Remembering the guided meditation videos she'd look up on YouTube sometimes, she eased her breath. She focused her intentions on connecting with the floor below her, sturdy and steady, like a tree rooted directly into the earth. This is how intense her connection was with the universe. All parts were one, she repeated to herself, I am the universe, just as the universe is a reflection of me. Breath in. Breath out. Rhian Oran thought about floating. The crystals floating. The bag floating. The concept of floating. Delicately, she allowed her eyes to open, it was floating again! The citrine! Hovering in the air, far away from the table. Actually, between her and the table. Between her and…her? Rhian Oran panicked a little, looking around she saw she was floating near the ceiling, but she also…wasn't! She was sitting on the floor, same as she remembered, breathing deeply. Rhian looked at her hands, they were a rainbow of colors, the rest of her was too, but translucent, like a ghost. She opened her mouth to scream, and then snapped back into her body. In a panic she stood upright, screaming and putting her hands all over her face and legs and stomach, just to check if she was all there. Clea burst into her room first, then Binx pulling out her headphones from her run. "Are you okay? Oh my god!" Clea shouted, just in time to catch Rhian from falling all the way to the floor as she fainted.