Should Bring Sunglasses

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara closed her eyes shut. She even pressed her fingers against the eyelids as she took a deep breath. It was a terrible thing to have aching eyes when you needed to look for something. Probably what people with glasses thought too when looking for said glasses. Wasn’t it a running gag in Scooby Doo? Except glasses was not her problem. It was the light. And the air. Her eyes were just too dry for them to take it. Just one of the nice and nasty side effects mutations could have on people. It was also why she was in a pharmacy and looking for the eye drops. Too bad she couldn’t grow a second pair of eyes when the first one hurt.

She should have sunglasses. It wouldn’t do much for the air or how dry her eyes were but it would make the light better. And people wouldn’t see how red they could be right now and think other things out of it. She placed a hand above her eyes, letting them only a slit open as she walked to the right shelf. Then there was the whole finding the right ones because humanity was so brilliant it created drops for a dozen of different reasons. That forced her to place them real close to her face to read what was written but she finally got the right one for dry eyes. Not caring about anything else, she just opened the bottle and poured some drops in her left eye.

She couldn’t say her eye was not hurting anymore but it felt good. And who cared if she now look like she was crying? She had the feeling someone was watching her at some point and turning her face before doing the other eye, she noticed someone indeed. An old woman, staring at her. “Can I help you?” Tamara asked as though she was working here. The lady left and Tamara scoffed. If that scoff was turned into words, it could probably translate to ‘what’s her problem?’, only it didn’t. She preferred to deal with her right eye instead, since it was starting to burn a little.

[Richard Maddox]

It had been a long day. A headache plagued him from the very start. Richard brushed it off. When it continued, he'd grown annoyed. He'd hydrated, figuring that would solve the issue. Still no good. Finally he went looking for medication in his home. No such luck. In a bout of resigned frustration, he'd left his home after thirty minutes of searching. The ride over was painful like most of the day had been. It that late into the day, but thanks to his head it felt like a prolonged eternity.

He brushed past anyone else that got in his way once he arrived. He was there for one reason. Relief. Richard made a beeline for the different rows to try finding the right medication. He dodged right around an older woman at some point. The fact hardly registered in his head. It also hardly registered that he'd barely missed her. So preoccupied with finding the right medicine, Richard didn't notice the second woman. This time she was younger. He managed to bump right into her. His attention changed over to her. He didn't like it, but it was his own fault. Besides, from the looks of it she was experiencing some issues too. "Sorry."

[Tamara Sulik]

With the woman who seemed to think Tamara was robbing the pharmacy, perhaps was she right now but it was not like she had no intention to pay for the bottle afterwards, she had all the time to take care of that other burning eye of hers. Then she probably should go looking for tissues somewhere in her purse, hoping there were any left because she also didn't want to look like she was ‘stealing’ a box of those as well. She pulled her head back, looked up to the ceiling, forcing her eye to stay open. She was about to pour the liquid in her eye when someone bumped her. Not only did she close her eye out of surprise, but it also moved her hand. As a result, the drop fell on her cheek rather than her eyelid.

She let a soft groan, ready to tell whoever bumped into her to watch it. She would do it even more if that happened to be a kid some mother couldn’t keep in line. It was not a kid. It was a grown up man. Who also apologized. It was not easy to look at him. One of her eye could not stand the harsh light and the other was still crying a little as a result of the eye drops, a trail going down her cheek. She must be a pitiful sight to see but she cared little about it. “It’s alright,” she assured. It seemed a little ridiculous to make a scene because he bumped into her. Especially after he apologized.

The state of her eyes bothering her, she wiped away the ‘tears’, blinking a few times to make sure no more would come out. Then, she lifted the bottle and once again attempted to bring some kind of relief to her right eye. She’d have the time to study the man after that. Or completely ignore him.

[Richard Maddox]

She groaned. From the looks of it, she was about to tell him off. Richard noticed her eyes. They looked extremely irritated, and a trail of tears was coming out of one. Even with his problem, at least it wasn't obvious. She appeared to change her mind. She claimed it was alright. Then went back to using the eye drops.

While Richard was curious, he wasn't going to bother her. His headache was still there. This row was clearly the wrong one. He was about to leave, but then he noticed the older woman returning. She wasn't alone. An employee was with her. They were heading in this general direction, and Richard had a feeling why. "Careful." He warned. "I think you've been mistaken for a thief." She didn't look like one to steal. At least not in his opinion.

[Tamara Sulik]

Tam seemed to come with a ‘back off’ sign. Sometimes, it was really annoying but it served her as well. Right now, she was not exactly in the mod for a conversation. Once her eyes would stop being so irritated, maybe she could pick up a conversation with someone, including that guy, but she had other things on her mind right about now.

She would have continued to ignore the man if he did not decide to talk to her. Her head still backward, she moved it to she could look at him better, if one could say she was able to see clearly right now. He told her to be careful and a light frown was shown on her facial traits as she wondered what she needed to be careful of. He explained the situation and she turned her head only with a light "Uh?" escaping her lips before she saw the employee and the woman from earlier. "Crap," she muttered under her breath.

It was not like she meant to steal. She meant to pay for the little bottle of eye drops, she simply needed some of it right now. It was not theft. Right? So long as she paid for it in the end, Tamara did not considered it theft. Sure, she used it before paying but they'll get their money.

They'd keep an eye on her. She better not get out of here without paying for that bottle. Tamara refrained from rolling her eyes. She was not some idiotic teenage girl. And one look at her could tell she was able to afford one bottle of eye drops. Couldn't they just drop it. "Thanks for the warning," she told the man. She just hoped they would not keep an eye on her the whole time. That would be humiliating.