By Reagan Rought, Staff Writer
It’s nearing midnight as Naomi walks down the sidewalk from her night job, which ended less than thirty minutes ago. Jack had the audacity to slip out of the building during closing, saying that he had somewhere important to be, leaving her to close all by herself. The last bus home left without her, so now she’s making her way somewhere— she says she’s going straight to her apartment, but deep down, Naomi knows she’ll make a stop at a corner store for a soda and whatever else catches her eye.
It’s quiet, uncomfortably so. The wind is absurdly silent for this time of year and the only ambience other than her footsteps is a low buzzing from certain street lamps. They’re stretched far apart, and in the middle of every dead space is a patch of darkness. It reminds her of scenes from old horror games she saw her brothers playing on PS2 when she was a kid.
Her hands are tucked into her pockets and, unseen, she’s grasping her keys in between her fingers, just for the added security. A few people are passing, but none of them seem to look at her.
She sees someone, a woman, up ahead, with something in her hands and whatever else she has spread over the ground. Naomi watches as two people change the arc of their route to avoid the woman’s situation. Naomi considers doing the same, but guilt is more powerful, and she stops to help her pick up various items, probably from a grocery store. The bag lying next to the items is torn at the bottom. Naomi sees the woman more clearly now, with big eyes and black curls that go down to her shoulders. She’s pretty, and the streetlight above her flatters her features in a way that makes her look like she’s posing for a picture.
”Oh— thank you. You didn’t have to do that,” The woman mutters. She has a quiet voice, both raspy and smooth.
Naomi smiles. “It’s no problem.”
The woman gazes past her, watching the two people continue to walk away, before sighing and continuing to pack her items in the one remaining bag she has. “I wish more people were kind like you; last time this happened, I ended up chasing my things out into the road.”
”It’s happened before?”
”Too many times to count, unfortunately. You’d think I’d just buy the heavy-duty bags, but at this point I’m just set in my ways.”
Naomi chuckles, setting the last item in the bag before getting back on her feet. The woman follows, and Naomi realizes that she must be at least half a foot shorter than her, strange for Naomi, as she’s only 5’5”.
”Do you want help carrying that?” Naomi asks, reaching her hand out.
”No, no, that’s alright. I’ll be fine once I get walking.”
”Where are you headed?”
”Oh, just up that way,” the woman says, pointing in the direction Naomi was already headed. “I’m going to my brother’s house.”
”I’m headed up that way too, mind if I tag along?”
”No, not at all. It’ll make me feel a little safer.”
Both women smile, before setting off down the road. It’s back to the same silence as before, this time with an added pair of footsteps. The pace is slower than when Naomi was alone, but she takes the time to enjoy the night.
After a while of now-comfortable quiet, the woman breaks it.
”Do you believe in karma?”
Naomi is taken aback.
”I mean… I guess. Do good, get good in return, right?”
”That’s a simple way of putting it,” the woman begins, “but you’re not wrong.”
”Why do you ask?”
”I’m not sure.”
It’s silent again. Naomi feels awkward about the situation as a whole, and is afraid her body language is showing it. The woman shows no sign of discomfort, continuing on as she did before.
Up ahead, but far out of sight, Naomi knows that her favorite corner store is there. She can use this as an opportunity to leave, she thinks, and says quietly, “I’ll have to break off once we get up to that store.”
The woman does not respond, and together they continue the walk towards it.
As they approach, Naomi can hear police sirens, and is beginning to see flashing red and blue lights. There is a small crowd of maybe ten people forming outside the corner store, and beside the entryway, an ambulance is sitting with the back doors open. There is a man, who Naomi recognizes as the common clerk at this hour, holding what looks to be an ice pack against his head.
Naomi and the woman approach one of the people watching, asking what’s happened, and the man whom they’ve asked responds with a simple “robbery”, never breaking eye contact with whatever else he’s looking at.
Naomi looks at the woman, who is blankly staring at the shop. She turns to meet Naomi’s gaze.
”I think karma worked out in your favor today.”
Naomi walks away from the shop, the woman following. The situation has a growing sense of discomfort, and Naomi isn’t sure whether to be comforted or confused.
”I’ll have to leave you here,” the woman begins, “this is where my brother’s house is.”
Naomi nods, exchanging good-byes with the woman before she continues off towards her apartment. All of a sudden, she turns around on a whim.
”I’m… Naomi, by the way.”
The woman turns around. “My friends call me Kismet.”
There is another awkward silence.
”It was nice to meet you, Kismet.”
”You too.”
Naomi watches as the woman disappears off into the darkness. She stands in silence for a moment before hesitantly turning back in her normal direction, back into her normal strides.
When she gets home, Naomi checks her phone. Sure enough, Jack has messaged her, asking if she made it home safe, apologizing for leaving so early, and then a newer message asks if she heard about the robbery.
She responds before getting ready for bed, and checks her coat pockets for her wallet. She finds a bag of candies, her favorites, and realizes she must’ve grabbed one of Kismet’s items by accident. She cringes at herself, wondering if Kismet knew, and that’s why she was acting so odd.
Naomi goes to bed, trying to guide the occurrences of the evening into one nice, completely explainable story. Coincidence. That’s all it was.
In the morning, Naomi gets ready for her day job, runs out to the bus stop, and boards the bus with plenty of time to spare. She realizes the candies are still in her pocket and pulls them out, considering eating them but still feeling a small sense of guilt.
The bus goes down the path that she had taken the night before, including the place where she had last spoken with Kismet.
Naomi blinks in confusion, trying to make sure she wasn’t imagining things.
There is no driveway, no mailbox. No house at all.