One

Another free cup.

Barely had the words been scratched into the soft flesh of her inner wrist, when a shadow fell over twenty-year-old, Serenity Monaghan.

“Another cup? On the house.”

Closing her fist around the toothpick, Serentiy turned her wrist to the table and lifted her head, smiling at the young waiter. “Thank you. That’s awfully nice of you.”

“You’re a regular customer, it’s fine.” Ian, no older than her, smiled and leaned forward, filling her cup, the coffee’s steam rising in lazy circles. He poured in cream and smiled as he wandered off, tending to other patrons in the small café.

Snapping the toothpick, she sighed, discarding it onto the saucer. Adding sugar from the little jar on the table, Serenity stirred it in and picked up the fresh coffee.

She shouldn’t do it, shouldn’t use her gift as flippantly as she did, but when she could get through life so much easier with it, why not?

Sipping at the hot beverage, Serenity’s gaze shifted to the world outside the small coffee shop. The sky was ominously dark and brooding, throwing down its fury to the earth below. Sleeting rain and occasional hail blanketed the city, sending people scurrying into doorways and small shops, just to escape the deluge.

Designer skirts and expensive shoes were mere scraps of useless fabric. Fancy hairstyles, ruined, as the rain soaked through to the very bone. There will be more than a few colds and sniffly noses this time tomorrow.

Serenity smiled again; she was happy here, tucked away in a booth at the back of the little coffee shop. It was her spot. She had written so on her skin, two weeks earlier. Ian and a couple of the other waiters had always made sure her spot was free at the same time, every day and no one had questioned it.

A quick head-rush…

Serenity lowered her cup back to the saucer, so it wouldn’t spill and lifted her arm. Resting her elbow on the table, she watched the bright pink lettering on her flesh as it flared red. Burning followed, as it always did and she closed her eyes, gritting her teeth against the onset of a bought of nausea.

There was always a price to pay, when using her gift—Pain.

If it were a small request, something as simple as a free coffee, the pain would last only a few moments—akin to that of a light slap.

Other requests could leave her nauseous, faint, bedridden. But if she pushed too hard, they might kill her. She hadn’t tested the threshold of her powers yet and she didn’t know if she wanted to. While she wasn’t overly fond of her life right now, there was no telling what the future held, if she learned more about her gifts. So, for now, asking for a little help in her life was as far as she was willing to go.

The burning left, the sickness ebbed and her eyes opened. The writing was gone, her skin returning to the pale cream it’d been when she’d first picked up the toothpick.

Sighing, she picked up the cup again and finished the coffee, before lifting herself and collecting her bag. Wandering through the shop, she smiled and waved goodbye to Ian. He was a geeky kind of cute guy and completely not her type, but she knew from experience, her writing could only get her so far. Her personality had to be charming too.

Making her way to the front door, she opened it, allowing a gust of frigid air into the shop. Serenity quickly closed the door behind her as she stepped out onto the stoop of the shop and looked around.

The street should have been a lot barer than it was. But still, people struggled against the storm, looking like drowned rats, trying to leave a sinking ship.

Dashing forward into the freezing rain, Serenity raced across the street, dodging the cars which whizzed past and all but threw herself through the opening of another shop. The bell dinged loudly as the door swung in the wind and she grabbed hold of it as she pushed her way into the small shop.

“Serenity, are you okay?”

Shaking the droplets of water off her jacket, she looked up at the man standing behind the counter. “Yes Joe, I’m fine. How are you?”

“A lot better than you. You’re looking a little wet.”

“It is pouring down out there.” She smiled, turning, and closing the door to the delicatessen. She moved through the shop, picking up food on the way through. A loaf of bread, a hunk of cheese, some deli meat, and a small bottle of milk. Turning, she took the items back to Joe and the man rang them up.

“It’s supposed to clear by tonight,” He replied, placing the items into a bag as Serenity handed over a fistful of change. “Are you okay to get these up the stairs?”

Serenity laughed, taking the bag in her arms, and started to walk toward the back of the store. “Of course, I am, Joe. It’s only two flights.”