Chapter Text
September 2023
A young woman sits idly in a chair at a local coffee shop, the rain pouring hard outside. She swoops a hand through her slightly-buzzed blonde locks, occasionally checking her phone for the time or any notifications. She seems to be waiting for someone..
She waits for quite a while. 10, 15, 20 minutes pass.
I hope I'm not being stood up again..., she thinks to herself, letting out a sigh barely audible compared to the echoed ambience of the coffee shop.
Then enters a man, with soft pale skin, light brown hair and small, metal-framed glasses. He was, for the most part, quite conventionally attractive to the average woman, if not for that slightly off-putting smile he always had on his face.
He stops at her table and the woman's large, bottle blue eyes light up, "Hi, are you Heath?"
Heath's smile widens, "You must be Sherry!"
"So great to finally meet you in person!", He reaches out with a thin, lanky hand.
"You as well!", Sherry smiles, keeping pace with his friendly demeanor.
Heath sits down in the forest-wooden chair across from her.
"Well, I must say, you look even better than you do on your profile"
Sherry blushes, putting a hand to her cheek, "Aw! Thank you, you're too kind!"
"Now...How old did you say you were again?
Sherry paused before speaking, "I'm 37"
Heath's eye's practically bugged out of their sockets, "37?!"
"But...you don't look a day over 20!"
Sherry chuckled, "It was in my profile, Heath!"
"OH! Silly me! Of course it was! Look at me, missing these details...", he joked back.
Sherry happily nodded along with his exterior humor and kindness, just glad that someone finally cared enough to give her the time of day and go on a date with her. They continued on laughing and talking among other things for the next hour or so over coffee before Sherry decided it was time to wrap it up.
"Y'know, Heath, I've had a really great time with you today"
"And...If you're willing, I'd love to get to know you even more in the future", she shot him another affectionate smile.
"I'm so glad you feel that way, Sherry. As I feel exactly the same!"
Sherry was practically beaming in her chair from happiness. Someone finally seems to get her...or so, she thought...
"May I walk you out to your car?", Heath offered.
"Of course!", she replied quickly, putting on her favorite light blue raincoat.
The two walked side by side down the rain-soaked avenue, hands occasionally brushing against each other's. Once they reached the back parking lot area behind the coffee shop where Sherry's car was located, she noticed a grey SUV parked next to her car with a curly-haired woman inside, her eyes staring her down aggressively like daggers.
Heath appears to nod at the woman and she immediately looks away from Sherry, turning around to grab something from the backseat.
"Do you know her?", Sherry asks.
"Not really, just my rideshare driver. My car broke down earlier today, which is why I was so late getting here"
"I see, that must have been so inconvenient", she frowns.
"Oh, it sure was"
The driver rolls down the window and hands Heath something once Sherry's back was turned towards her car. Just as Sherry is about to say goodbye, Heath had one final thing to say.
"Y'know, Sherry...", he began.
"You look so young for your age...perhaps it's because of the G Virus?"
Sherry freezes and her eyes widen in terror, "Wait...Heath, how do you-?!"
All but the sound of a shriek and a blunt object rings out in the midst of an empty parking lot. Finally, it's the slamming of the car door and the screech of the tires as Heath and the mystery woman speed away with no one around to see or hear...