It was dark by the time they drove back to the shop.

Dan was decidedly lighter in the pockets this time however.

$345 lighter.

Why exactly were clothes so expensive?  Whatever, it needed to be done.  With a sigh Dan pulled onto the road his shop was and was surprised to see red and blue sirens down the street.

“No,no,no, please don’t be mine.” he groaned as he looked at the cop cars parked down the street, he however had the feeling his store was the reason they were there.  As he got closer his fear was confirmed.

Outside of his shop were three cop cars.  Or perhaps it was more accurate to say outside of what was left of his store were three cop cars.

The entire window display section of his store was smashed in, glass was everywhere and from what he could see inside it looked like whoever had done this had done a number on all the items in there aswell. It looked like a tornado had ripped through the shop.

“What happened?” Amani looked out the window at the shop.

“Stay in the car.”  He said with a gruff voice, there was a hard angry edge to the words.  He pulled over the car and got out. He was not in the mood to entertain any of her crazy ideas or antics.

“I'm sorry sir but this is a crime scene if you could please step away.” an officer said, making motions for him to step back. The police officer was a younger man in his 30’s or so with a trimmed down black beard.

“This is my store.”  Dan said.

“Are you Daniel Rhodri?” the police officer asked. “Can I see some identification to verify that please?”  Dan pulled out his wallet and handed the Id over to the police officer, who looked it over and then looked back at Dan to make sure the images matched. “Sorry about that, just had to make sure.”

Dan nodded, “So what exactly happened to my shop?”  he asked, there was a cold angry edge to his voice.

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“It looked initially like a robbery, but honestly it looks more like an act of sabotage to me.” The officer said as he led Dan in through the wreckage of the front door.

Inside there was not a single shelf standing upright, and as Dan looked around it looked like there was not a single object left untouched. Grandfather clocks lay splintered in pieces, Vases smashed into little ceramic pieces.  Plates shattered.

Everything was ruined.

Dan kneeled down in the wreckage, one item caught his eye. It was the small carved figure from Asia, it depicted a mother holding her child, serene happiness on both of there faces.  He reached over and picked it up.  The old statue was cracked down the center, and the mother was missing part of her head.with a sad sigh dan placed it back on the ground.

What was he going to do now?

With a numb feeling Dan walked towards the back of the building.  Back to the living areas.

Not even back here was anything spared.

The couch was shredded, all the photos of his family, everything it was all gone.

Dan flopped down onto the ruined couch and sank his head into his hands. It was all gone, everything his father had done, everything he had made.

It was like losing him again.

He didn't know how long he sat there before he realised he was being hugged by someone. Picking his head up out of his hands he found he was currently being wrapped by Amani in a warm hug.  He had no idea how long he had been like this without noticing her, or even when she had shown up.

“It's ok Dan.” she said softly.

Dan looked up at the cop who was still politely standing there. “Did you catch the person who did this?”  he asked.

“Unfortunately we got here to late.”

Dan nodded slowly.

“Can you think of anyone who would have reason to do something like this to you?”

“No one,” Dan answered numbly.

“I see, well if you come up with anything please be sure to contact us.”  the police officer said before starting to walk out. “Do you two have any place to go tonight?”  he asked.

“Yeah, we can go to my apartment, thanks.” Dan said, the police officer nodded and left them alone in the ruination that was Dan’s life. “Let's go,”  he said standing up from the old couch. “We can deal with this latter.” he said softly as he lead her back to the car.

Dan’s apartment was small, clocking in at right around five hundred square feet.  It was a small studio apartment not far from the college.  Small but functional.

Amani didn't say a word the entire trip there, or even when they entered the elevator and went up to the third floor.  Dan opened the door and went inside. The groceries could wait till latter, right now he needed sleep, or alcohol or both, he didn't know.

With a sigh he sunk into the soft comfort of the foton that had served as his bead for the past two years of college. It was nice to have something familiar to lay on.  With a sad sort of sound he rolled over and kay face first in the pillow.

Amani looked at him, she knew exactly how he felt, like everything had been ripped away from him.

Like everything was gone.

He was feeling just like she had.

She didn't know what she could do to help, since she had used her one big wish she was only able to do small things, she didn't have enough power to simply fix his shop, or the items inside it.

With a sigh she sat down on the edge of the bed and looked over at the poor man lying  face first on the foton.

She really wanted to help him, somehow...