Chapter Text
Rey put on her Freddy Kruger costume, flexing her clawed hand once in the mirror, but otherwise barely sparing herself a second glance before hopping into her rusty Toyota Camry that used to belong to her grandfather. She turned the key once. The engine stalled. She turned the key again. The engine tried a little harder, but it just gave out. Somewhere in her brain, she remembered that force equals milli-amps—something called commotio cordis, so she threw her unclawed fist as hard as she could into the dashboard, along with it, all of her frustrations with life. The engine sputtered to life, but she had no clue how long it would last; the car was going to need a new engine.
“Good girl,” she whispered to the beaten old car. Her phone, half-hazardously discarded in the console, started to buzz. Once-twice-three times. She looked down at it and growled, knowing what the texts likely said: “missing you today!”
“Just reapply for next year. “
“Wasted potential”
Perhaps that last one was just in her head…
She promised herself she wouldn’t look at her phone for the whole day. It was August 23. It was supposed to be the first day of the rest of her life; instead, she was driving, wearing last night's makeup in a Costume to Spirit of Halloween, in a car that barely worked. How the mighty hath fallen.
Five minutes into her drive, she broke her promise. Her phone buzzed without relent. She picked it up and was greeted by a female voice. Rose, her best friend’s normally cheery demeanor was so obviously schooled into neutrality on the other side of the line. “Are you sure you don’t want to start today? I had just spoken to Dr. Solo, and he said, given your unique circumstances, that if you wanted to start, they could make an exception and let you in. “
“Hi, Rose, nice to talk to you too. The answer is still “no.”
She let out a sigh, and Rey’s insides turned slimy. August 23rd was supposed to be one of the most important days of her life—hers and Rose’s, and it was still important to Rose.
Rey peppered up her voice, forcing a smile, and said, “I’m super proud of you. Send me all of the pictures of you kicking medical ass in your white coat today!”
“You got it,” Rose said, voice brightening to her cheery default tone. “Are we still on for Pho this evening?” She asked, as was tradition after every big test, a life event
“You know it! “ I said, trying to sound like the old Rey.
The one who was supposed to be wearing her white coat today. The one that was casually sitting in her closet was now just as much of a costume as the Freddy Krueger outfit that she was wearing. Instead, she was heading to her seasonal job at the world's most depressing abandoned strip mall.
Rey opened the door to the Halloween store and was immediately assaulted with the doorbell tuned to Monster Mash. “That’s going to get old quick,” she thought to herself. The smell of the place was dank with mildew, left over from the abandoned Party city that it had taken over. Her attention was caught by still dusty ghouls with glowing red eyes from last year's Halloween greeting her, and —-were those skeletons acting out the Kama Sutra?—-” There was no one living that flexible,” she thought to herself with a cringe.
The door chime caught the attention of the scruffy manager, Poe. He was wearing a piñata onesie with the hood hanging down, giving a full display of his scruffy beard and tufty brown hair. He wasn’t unattractive, if, you know, burned-out stoner guys were your type. He was smoking something from his vape—Rey was sure there was a “no smoking sign” on the front door, and he happened to be dressing one such skeleton in a naughty nurse costume. Rey looked back towards the front door, immediately regretting taking the job.
Poe’s eyes met hers, and he jumped, “You're early.”
“You said to be here at nine AM?” Rey said as she looked at her phone, seeing that it was eight fifty-five am.
“Yes, well, that's because the type I usually hire are the type to be here an hour late.” He said a little guiltily. “We open at ten.”
Rey nodded, then looked around. Was that a goblin drinking a martini, or was she just high? “Well, I’m here now. Is there anything you need me to do—or?”
Poe shrugged, “I could really use a Taro boba tea,” he said.
He looked Rey up and down from the tight red and brown sweater to the fish-net tights, all the way down to her brown leather boots, and then said, “On me,” pulling out his credit card from somewhere inside his ridiculous onesie. Rey reluctantly reached a hand out and took it, cringing inwardly when she felt that the card was still warm.
Not quite trusting her new manager, she said, “I’ll Venmo you, what’s your @ ?”
“Poe-da-hoe69,” he said with a waggle of his bushy eyebrows, before resuming his dressing of a scantily clad skeleton and said, “so hot,” under his breath.
Rey was grateful that she didn’t eat breakfast, or else it would be threatening to join the other brown mildewy stains on the store’s carpeted floor.
Rey got a few looks from the older man behind the counter at the tea shop. She contemplated raising her clawed hand at him to really give him something to look at, but thought better of it. The look on his face gave a sarcastic, “Your parents must be so proud.” Look, but jokes were on him—Rey didn’t have parents, she had a grandpa that she fought with, and a cat who barely tolerated her, and that was about it.
She left the shop front with two large teas, one Taro and one mango extra boba for her and Poe, as she made way back towards the Halloween store, lost in thought. She knew that the shop opened at ten AM, and that that was the time that she was supposed to be there, but she also knew that if her life was any different, that instead of walking into Spirit of Halloween with her horny manager's boba tea, she would be walking into Medical College of Wisconsin wearing a white coat starting the first day of the rest of her life, and with her grandfather out of town for a few days, she just couldn’t stand to be alone while her best friends attended their white coat ceremonies.
She was lost in that particular sad thought when she tripped, colliding into a black wall, sending her drinks flying into a mess of boba on the pavement.
“Perfect, just bloody perfect!” She said, on the verge of a full on crash-out, when she realized that she herself didn’t go flying, but instead was caught by a pair of sturdy arms, that the black wall wasn’t a wall, but in fact, a man—a tall building of a man wearing a black shirt and dark washed jeans with wavy dark hair, pale skin and deep brown eyes.
He helped her regain her balance, re-righting her, and then his eyes widened with the same puzzled look that graced the face of the Boba tea shop owner.
“What ?!” She asked, voice as soft as a Brillo pad. “Come on, make my day. There’s nothing you could say to me that would possibly make me feel any worse. “
The man took a step back, leaned down, and picked her fedora up from the ground, and placed it gently on her head before saying, “Do you always make it a point to go out in public dressed as a horror-movie kid-murderer ?”
Rey was caught off guard. Her brain had been so distracted in its attempt to distract herself that she completely forgot how ridiculous she must look. She started to laugh and laugh and laugh, and then the tears came.
The man looked around, and then lightly feathered his fingers on her shoulder like one would with a wild bobcat with a thorn stuck in its foot. Cautiously and very aware that it still had very sharp claws.
“Here, let’s find you a place to sit down.” He said, lightly guiding her to the nearest bench.
He feathered light circles on her back in a way that felt familiar even though she had never laid eyes on him before.
Through blotchy eyes with last night’s mascara running black down her face and a snotty nose, she said, “You must think I’m an insane person.”
He had a slight crinkle in his eyes as he continued to rub her back and said, “You? No, what would possibly give you that idea!?”
“I’m not usually like this,” Rey said as she dabbed her eyes with the sleeves of her Freddy Krueger sweater.
The man had the good sense not to tell her that she was just adding to the lunatic optics by making her eyes raccoon-like with the smeared mascara, but he had to admit, she made a cuter raccoon than scary movie monster, even if the costume was meant to be sexy.
“We all have rough spells; it’s what we do with them that matters.” He said.
Rey smirked through a sniffle, “Well, don’t you sound like some all-knowing Jedi, or something.”
The man laughed, his arm casually and familiarly draped across the back of the storefront bench, “or something. “
His face shifted, brightening, “Hey, do you want to go for a walk with me? I know a nice park close by.”
“That sounds like the start of practically every murder podcast ever recorded.” She said, and then added. “I don’t even know your name.“
“I hate to go there and state the obvious,” He said, “but I am not the one currently dressed as a psycho murderer.”
“True, good point.” She shrugged with a bleary chuckle. Then looked back up at the handsome stranger. “Where’s your sense of self-preservation?”
He gave her a soft smile and said, “You give more clawed-feral kitten than axe murdereress vibes—and, you seemed like you needed a friend today.”
Rey let out a sigh,” I still don’t know your name.”
“My name is Ben, Ben Solo,” He said with a smile, extending his hand. “So you know which name to text your people should you turn up missing.
There was something vaguely familiar about that name, but Rey couldn’t exactly place where.
“Rey,” she said back. Taking his hand, her heart skipped a beat. Holy cow, his hand was giant. She grabbed her chest with her free hand.
“Are you ok ?” He asked her.
“Y-yeah, yeah, it’s nothing,” she said.
“Well, how about that walk?” He asked. “We aren’t strangers anymore.”
Just then, her phone started to buzz. Poe was calling. Gahh, she wanted to stay and talk to stranger-not-stranger Ben a little longer, but she also needed this job, even if it was just a seasonal one.
“I-uh-can’t, I’m working at the Halloween Store for the rest of the day,” she said.
Ben nodded,” Well, I hope your day gets better, Rey.” “I’ll see you around.”
Rey nodded, “Yeah, see you, Ben.” She said, pausing for a second, in case he decided to ask for her number, but when he just gave a small wave and turned his back, she shrugged the whole thing off as a weird encounter to add to her weird-upside-down life.
Rey walked back into the Halloween store, which appeared to have been turned into a den of iniquity of ghosts, goblins, and ghouls while she was out, and Poe asked, “Did you get my Boba?”
“Shit,” Rey said,