The Bumpy Ride

Bump. Bump. Bump. BUMP.

Eli woke up dazed and very groggy. And very bumpy...!?!?

She opened her eyes to see trees and then shops flashing by and bobbing up and down in a strange fashion. Her head was violently bobbing as well. She then felt the cool metal touching her legs and arms. She appeared to be in a shopping cart of some sort. That's when she looked up and saw a tomato-red asian man panting as he pushed the cart, and her, down the unevenly-paved street. Realizing the situation she was in, it was about time that Eli screamed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"HUH?AHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed the man in response to Eli's screeching.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Look, I-uh- I'm not a bad person- I saw you sleeping- I mean, I found you all alone- What I mean to say is that I remember you from before. "

That was all Eli needed to hear to be completely creeped out. She tried to get out of the cart, but realized too late that her sense of balance was off from sitting in the cramped space for so long. Her movements and the crazy speed the cart was going at made the man lose grasp of the cart and sent Eli full speed down the road.

The inevitable was about to happen when something, or somebody cushioned her fall. Her cushion groaned as he pushed Eli off of him. No way. It couldn't be. But it was. The asian man was warily getting off the wet ground as it had started pouring.

"Mister, are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay? All I was trying to say was that I remember you as the girl from Forever 21 who let me borrow this cart and that I found you in the woods when I was on my way returning from my mail delivery. I didn't want to leave you there, so I was bringing you back to the store. I'm not a pervert or a crazy person. I'm really not."

" I'm sorry, I didn't know you were helping me that much. And thank you for saving me again, you know, from falling, even though it was your fault for letting go of the cart."

"Your welcome, I guess" he said as Eli helped him to his feet. They both walked the rest of the way with the cart to the Forever 21 building. Eli had been side-stepping a puddle, so Renshu (they had introduced themselves at this point) was first to notice the ablaze building.

"Eli, Look!" he said running towards the fire. Eli couldn't close her mouth for the disbelief of what was happening. Her future project, job, and everything was burning up right in front of her eyes. The building was completely covered in ashes and was on the verge of crumbling down. Eli composed herself and called 911 and they came shortly after the call.

The fire department tried to overpower the growing fire, and Eli paced outside the over-lit building. While she was pacing, she looked up to see a man come out of the theater to look at the burning Forever 21. But instead of looking concerned or shocked, she saw the man burst out laughing and saying "Someone probably doused the whole thing in gas and set it off. Too bad I didn't think of that". 


Oh how she wished he did think of it, so she could send him to jail. How inconsiderate! People thought the store was for lame girls but this store meant so much more, even if it was a pain at times. What was she going to do about her job? They were going to kill her!

By the time Eli calmed down and stopped glaring at the man who went back into the theater, she realized that Renshu was nowhere to be seen. "Oh well," she thought. "I'm sure I'll see him again, and hopefully this time, he'll have some better news to tell me about."

Eli left the depressing scene with a flyer of a white teenage girl in hand- not knowing who this girl was- and went back to her crappy apartment building.