Cracks

She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled shyly as he walked past.

A soft breeze followed, as he opened the diner door.

The little bell tinkled.

A ray of sunlight fell through the gap onto the tiled floor.

She sighed.

Straightening her apron she turned and went behind the counter.

Pretending to occupy herself filling sugar shakers.

Hopefully nobody would talk to her for at least 10 minutes.

She needed to pull herself together first.

It made no sense.

No sense at all.

But every pore of her body.

Every breath.

Was directed towards him.

Shaking her head she put the sugar down and walked off to the bathroom.

The cracked mirror showed her face in several smudged pieces.

"That figures" she thought as she pulled a small box of pills from her pocket.

Taking one, she felt it travel down her throat as she closed her eyes, waiting for it to take effect.

Her mind wandered off.

Vividly, the image of his eyes, burning into hers appeared before her mind's eye.

Sunlight falling on his hair, softly moving in the breeze.

His smell filled her nostrils.

The warmth of his skin tingled on her fingertips.

Soft wet lips smiled and spoke.

His...

Then they were gone.

She opened her eyes to the cracked misty image in the mirror.

Nothing was as it should be.

Wiping a strand of hair from her face, she turned towards the door to resume her position behind the counter before her boss would come to get her.

Her hand trembled softly.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

Surprisingly a strange crunching sound came from under her sneakers.

Brushing away her tears she looked down to the floor.

The tiles seemed darker than usual.

She forced her eyes to focus through the humidity.

The dark smudges on the tiles seemed to move.

Pressing her hands on her eyes she tried to concentrate.

It wasn't the pill, she knew that much.

Her hands slid off her face slowly as she opened her eyes and looked down again.

She gasped.

The floor was covered in small, black beetles.

She stood for a few seconds, regaining her composure, then slowly looked up towards the door.

Moving like a sea of black waves, the beetles flowed and pulsated over every surface of the little bathroom. Making a soft rustling sound as they moved on the shiny white tiles.

Slowly but steadily she edged towards the door, doing her best to crush as few beetles as she could. The ones she crushed left a gooey black substance smeared over the white tiles.

"This is not happening, this is NOT happening!" she mumbled softly.

Sweat soaked her uniform and formed little droplets on her forehead.

At the door, she reached for the handle, with a trembling hand, turned it, and flung the door open.

"Hey."

His eyes burned into hers again...