Erin wiped the counter of her coffee shop, the store was such a dream once, and now it was an echo of an empty room no matter how full it was. Isabella and Erin were both their father’s pride and joy, regardless of their struggles in life, he had raised them both to love God and love each other. Her father had taught her that respecting others was a cornerstone to respecting herself.
Then one day, in the wildest of her dreams he had introduced her to the family business and she became a Space-Girl, just like on her favorite TV show. Her sister Bella had declined, she struggled with her own schizophrenia and depression. Bella didn’t want to battle cyborg gophers on top of her own problems, but the two girls pleaded and won with their father so he let them use the old building he kept to quickly access the hangar as a coffee shop.
Isabella loved cows and had decided on the name Cowffee Cup. The girls were ecstatic about their business. The old man who ran the corner store that shared a wall with the Cowffee cup was friends with her father and she’d often run coffee over to him to save him the walk. Erin loved Mr. Kook, he was wild, freely inappropriate with language and always insightful in advice.
There were two dufuses that seemed to always be loitering at the corner store, and Erin did her best to avoid them. She loved Mr. Kook, but his little sidekicks had mostly grown up at the store and irritated Erin every time she visited there with her father when she was little, and now they did the same that she was older. Mr. Kook told her when she was young that meant she liked them and the older she became the wiser Mr. Kook seemed about everything.
Erin sighed, she missed the good days, no matter how long she was on a mission, Bella was there in the shop waiting for her return, even if she was sleeping on the couch in the office, eager to hear the details of Erin’s mission. Erin could not ask for a better friend than her sister even on her worst days.
Too soon Space-Girl Carmella and Erin also became best friends, which left Bella feeling out, but she tried not to mind, and Erin was still mostly always with her when she came home. Carmella and Erin might be the twins on missions and Space-Girl things, but Bella and Erin were real sisters when she was home.
Space-Boy Arnold started finding excuses to accompany Erin back and the three of them, Erin, Bella and Arnold, had a lot of fun evenings just hanging out, talking, smoking, and enjoying their time together. Then one day Arnold drug Erin into a war, conflict Erin did not mind, but large scale the heart of her ring tore at her and beckoned her for more. Erin finally gave in when Arnold convinced her all was lost if she didn’t.
Months later when Erin came back, she hated herself, she hated Arnold, she hated Hilas, she hated the Space-Girls and she hated all the enemies of the Space-Girls for what she found at home.
Bella wasn’t waiting for Erin when she came home, but Erin shrugged it off, the time had gotten away from her as she fought and fought, taken over by her lust for vengeance. Erin looked around the shop, there was dust which was unusual as Bella was meticulous. Erin called her house, no one answered.
Erin ran home, she didn’t have a car, but she ran three miles home. When she arrived, her parents' car was gone, but Erin went inside and found her sister lying in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor unconscious. Erin checked, saw she was breathing, and called 911. Between the blood loss and the pills Bella had swallowed, the hospital could do more than say they were sorry. Erin’s parents did not survive long after that, and soon she found her home empty, and the Cowffee Cup her only world.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Erin tried to resign from the Space-Girls, she was a high-ranking captain who oversaw half of the eight commanders, but no one would accept her resignation or even worse touch her ring. They refused to take it back, leaving Erin a burden of an uncertain future. She finally returned to the Cowffee Cup to close it down and found Buck there, having walked to the store every morning and sat on the bench out front before continuing home. She told him the shop was closed, it was Isabella’s dream and not hers. Buck reminded Erin it was Isabella’s dream to run it with Erin, not to own it. The Cowffee Cup reopened that morning, and Buck kept his promise to be the first customer every day.
Erin was left in limbo, with everyone hoping she came back and Erin hating everything about the Space-Girls that she blamed for the death of her sister. Erin was sad when Mr. Kook announced his retirement and even more irritated when he told her who bought it.
Mr. Kook’s last parting advice to Erin was to give Hank a chance. Erin refused that advice stating she could never date someone named Hank. Mr. Kook simply laughed at her and told her to save him an invitation to the wedding. Erin told him guys named Hank don’t have wedding invitations, they get married in Vegas on a whim. Mr. Kook simply laughed and then hugged her goodbye, he was glad to be going up north and out of the heat.
Tonight, Erin wiped the counters, holding the little girl she was babysitting who always found a way to help Erin feel better. Ana’s innocence brought peace to all of Erin, and helping her made Erin feel better about everything.
Erin still hated Carmella and Arnold, she knew it wasn’t their fault, but she convinced herself that if she was home, Bella would have somehow lived. Erin could forgive them, but she could never forgive herself and that was where the real pain lived.
This night, a young girl stood outside the Cowffee Cup looking in. Erin hoped she would decide to come in, not just for the business but because when she was having regretful memories, she liked to be busy. Erin smiled as the girl finally decided to come in.
Erin’s heart recognized the symptoms before her brain did. She saw the fear, the indecisiveness, half of the girl’s body trying to stay put, and the other half of her body trying to bolt out the door and reach the comfort of same that she knew. Erin felt the best way to greet fear was with a smile. Erin’s smile helped reduce the terror in the girl’s eyes.
“Hi,” said Erin softly to not startle the girl, “I’m Erin, this is my coffee shop, may I make you a drink?” she asked, trying to pleasantly re-orientate the fear in the girl's eyes.
“Don’t run, you’ll be okay.” thought Erin.
The girl’s hip pulled back, Erin could tell she wanted to run out the door. The girl’s foot twisted further, telling the hip to remain. “I don’t know what to get.” said the girl, almost crying, but excited by the new world that was in front of her.
Erin decided she would meet the girl’s fear head-on with kindness and her best drink too. Erin’s heart fluttered, the girl reminded her so much of her sister when she was in high school, and hoped the girl had it better. Erin called the guys over to take the little girl before she started making the drinks.
As the espresso machine fired hot water and then steamed the milk, Erin saw the girl wanting to bolt. Erin was glad she fought herself to stay and smiled when she saw the girl did stay. Finally, the drink was done, Erin ignored the money and gave it to the customer. Both girls waited in anticipation as the new customer smelled the drink and finally closed her eyes and decided to try it.
Erin did her best to keep from laughing as the girl giggled into the drink and her laughter propelled some of it forward and out of the cup. Erin smiled brightly, she had always called her drinks liquid happiness, so a laugh was the most sincere compliment. Erin then walked around and wiped the spill with a floor rag.
As Erin looked up, she saw the girl looked horrified by what she had done. Erin reassured her that the laughing only made her day and gave the girl her money back, asking her to come talk with her. Erin and the girl grabbed a couple of the couches in the store and started talking. The girl’s nervousness, the fear in her eyes, and the shaking of her knees reminded Erin so much of Bella, and every kind thought Erin had to help her filled some of the void in her own heart.
Erin offered the girl a job even before she knew the girl’s name, and when the girl finally sheepishly said her name, Erin didn’t connect it with the name Peter had mentioned weeks before.
When Therese left after the first night’s work, Erin felt complete inside, and she prayed on her knees that night the girl would come back to work with her. The next morning, Erin was so happy her prayer was answered as she saw Therese tapping on the window to come in.