She never really knew what she was doing.
Before Azra, it felt like a smudge of her life going on and on about love and fun. Looking for that attention felt like a deep inner gut desire, too natural to the point that she didn't need to think. Whatever interested her, she'd take.
And now–
"How long has that woman been staring at our storefront?"
"Just ignore her. She'll go away at some point."
The two staff for a small cake shop deliberated before tending back to their jobs. Outside of their premise, was indeed a woman. Long straight black hair, covering her right eye with the other barely visible through a slit between the bangs. Most people would question how she was able to see.
An unimpressive hoodie, pants and shoes. The bare minimum to get through the day. People brushed by her as she somberly looked at the cakes the store placed on display. From the shortcakes to the spotless and pretty creamy vanilla to that rich dark chocolate cake. Every detail burned into her made-up brain.
Another five minutes fly by. The woman was still licking the windows with her eyes. She wasn't pressing her hands onto the glass, she wasn't moving at all since the last few minutes. Stiff as a statue, too much so that it appeared like she wasn't breathing.
At some point, the manager caught wind of the woman outside of their shop when the staff behind the counter thought that this situation was getting out of hand.
The bell chimed as he stepped outside.
"Ma'am? Excuse me?"
His call didn't invoke a response from the strange peeker. He tried again, this time tapping her on the shoulder.
"Ma'am!"
He swore he could feel the woman's shoulder shift a little downwards from the force of his hand as if he accidentally dislocated this strange woman's shoulder and he also swore that he felt it gently snap back into place as well. She turned to face him.
"A."
Her voice sounded grouchy and low as if it was layered behind several bad autotunes and voice changers to the point that she sounded like static, almost like an incohesive robot voice.
The store manager pulled back a little. "Excuse me?"
"A-bi–ef–ekkh?" Her words were cutting off and reconnecting, that was the best the man could describe it. "Ef–...ek–vili?"
His lips crumbled, subconsciously taking a step back as he lifted his hand off of her shoulder. As he took his second step, the woman placed one step forward as well, her index finger pointing to one of the cakes. The white ice cream cake with fruits decorated on top of it.
"Waaa–nt."
The one word he could understand. 'Want', albeit the distortion between the phonetics. His eyes darted away from her for a moment, trying to find a reasonable response. The crowd of people didn't seem to bother with them. Did they not hear the rattling and throat scratching voice that the woman had? Was it just him?
"WAA-NT!"
He flinched, his hands rising to cover his ears from the screech-like sound. He looked at the crowd again. Some of them were giving awkward glances as they pass by but none of them seemed as affected as he was. What was this? Was he just dreaming?
His eyes dart back to the woman; a bone-chilling stare, patience thinning faster than ice out under the sun. She opened her mouth once again, he could feel the canals of his ears heat up, something mucking up inside.
"WA–"
"Okay! Ju–Just, come on inside, ma'am!"
The store manager opened the door, gesturing the woman to come inside. Although there appeared to be a language barrier between them, the strange woman understood body language at least. Something that she crammed into her brain if she wanted to stay with the Hero of Hope, anyway.
The two staff by the counter who watched the whole ordeal happen were silent. There were no other customers besides her, to which was a relief or not. That meant that they were also going to have to deal with the strange woman directly.
Their boss zoomed over, jogging with an exasperated look upon his face.
"Look, listen here right now. I'm gonna need you to go pull out the entire strawberry ice cream cake on display and package it in a box for that woman over there."
"Wait, the whole–"
"Yes, the whole damn thing. Don't ask, just box it and hand it over to her before it gets worse."
The two employees briefly glanced at each other, still unsure about the fuss their manager was yapping about.
"NOW!"
And they quickly scrambled, running around the place, almost slipping as they did so. The cake store manager quickly shifted his attention back to the strange woman. She was idling, standing still as she did, like some ghost or zombie. It didn't sound too farfetched to assume that she was either.
"M-ma'am! You can take a seat if you'd like!"
Her eye twitched, now staring at him. It didn't look like she had eyelids, just one gaping eyeball that didn't even feel alive. A corpse.
"...O-or you can j-just stand. It's fine!"
Then, there was a loud clang out at the back of the premise, something similar to a baking pan falling over. It was one of the employees being reckless, but instead of turning to scold them, he kept his eyes on the unwanted customer.
The way her single eye moved, the strands of hair that were most definitely stuck to the sclera, how it looked like it was just going to pop out if someone smacked the back of her head. That was an image that was going to be burned into his head.
He felt sick.
The minutes he had to wait, staring before looking away, staring before darting away, staring before feeling like he inhaling cold smoke. Those few minutes where he had to fend off the sudden fight or flight response that were blaring in his head. He couldn't take deep breaths, only short ones so that he doesn't cough all over the place.
He wasn't sure if it was faulty wiring, an oven left open too long at the back, or it was this woman. This godforsaken woman that decided to appear in front of his store. His whole body felt like it was set alight inside, his throat feeling drier like something was clogging up the walls of it until it created a lump.
A thump over the counter. The cake was in a box, neatly packaged.
"Boss?"
"Give… it to her..!"
He was choking, trying to vomit out whatever was in his oesophagus.
"B-boss–you should really go to the hosp–"
"I SAID GIVE IT!"
A bewildered response, his necktie loosened and collar unbuttoned. Hastily, the staff member rushed over and presented the box to the strange woman.
"H-here you go!"
The strange woman looked down at the box, as if curious about the design. Cardboards tucked in between each other, sliding into perfectly made holes to create a cube. She had never seen it before, most of the things in this world she had never seen before.
She outstretched her hands to the bottom of the box. The employee gently placed it on the palms of her hands. Suddenly, deep panting reverberated within the store, as if someone who had been pushed beneath the ocean had managed to resurface for air.
His lungs were coughing out smoke, not as one would get from a cigarette. Literal clumps of wet dust that had absorbed all of the moisture in his throat, almost vomiting it out even.
The two other employees looked in horror, the woman looked in delight. Whenever she received something, she must always properly show gratitude. She opened her mouth, smoke riddling from it.
"F-vei-t–ekkh!"
The smoke alarm went off, water raining down from the sprinkler system. Noticing this, the strange woman quickly fled before she could be drenched even further. As for the rest, their ears were ringing.
Smoke can be washed away by water, so it was better she doesn't make in contact with it if she wants to keep this more solid form of hers.
As Euglith sprinted away with a cake in hand, her footprints a dusty flat grey over the concrete pathway, the traumatised staff members will soon decide in the future to call in a local priest to baptise the store and hang a crucifix on the wall.