姑娘赶时间,最近的段落对话多。我往中间抽一段。
The breeze did nothing to smother out the heat. Nisha leaned against a dusty brick wall, sheltered by the shadow of the rust-coloured building. She hadn't anticipated the temperatures of Alberta, much more varied than her mild Vancouver. It was late, yet still, the weather boiled. Not a single cloud passed overhead, leaving the few twindly trees to do the job of casting shade. None of the buildings were tall enough to cover any real ground and the roads, so wide for such an empty place, sizzled like a grill.
She dropped her gaze down to the photographs in her hands and the notes that accompanied them. The house drew the most attention with its bright blue door and its intricate golden details around its rims, but so did the family. They looked pretty well-off, but the teenage daughter… She felt a little different. Though her parents radiated a subtle warmth, she had none of it. Her eyes drooped and though she smiled, she showed no teeth. Her pallor only made her more ghostly. Her bony frame didn't help. Nisha frowned. The girl in the picture reminded her of her older sister, Sakshi. They would've been the same age too.
If the two had been friends, well, that would've been unfair. Sakshi had gone to school in Victoria to study medicine. No one knows where she was now, or what she was doing. To the Crowleys, it felt like abandonment. She was older than Nisha by around ten years, so neither had felt close to one another. Regardless, it was bitter, thinking about what could've been.
It was harder being an only child when you weren't one.
A small rush of wind flew by her hair, ruffling it further. With a sigh, she started walking again as she tied her hair back up in a loose ponytail. The sky above began to turn into a startling orange. Shadows soon crawled further beyond their shape. Her footsteps echoed in the quiet evening. The roads were long. The town was small. The house had to be close.
She shook her water bottle lightly. Empty.
Great, now she had to look for something to drink. The Tim Hortons came first, and it was infuriatingly easy to find, unlike the house she'd been looking for all this time. Unfortunately, it was closed. She peered inside the windows. Something stared back at her. A raccoon. She turned down another street.
Unbeknownst to her, Nisha had just found the tourist strip. There didn't seem to be a grocery store, but there was a gloomy arcade and a library. And a souvenir shop. She listened. The arcade didn't make a single sound. It looked old and grimy, much like the rest of the town, but as a retro arcade, it felt even worse.
Her gaze fell on the carpeted blue floor behind the glass. Reddish stains covered the entrance. Nisha didn't stay.
The library looked, thankfully, rather decent and normal. Then again, libraries were generally timeless. But Nisha was not going to find a drink there. And she wasn't much of a reader anyway; more into movies. Her English Literature grades showcased it nicely.
So she stopped in front of the souvenir shop.
The chimes jingled softly as she pushed open the door. A shuddering fan welcomed her inside, its crooked blades chopping at the dry, sweltering heat. The shop was buzzing, but not with energy. Instead, the few glowing signs took the liberty to blink, casting multi-coloured light on the wings of a mass of dead flies. Dust covered the streets of Magpin, it only made sense for it to be the same inside. She coughed and avoided the shelves. Curiosity overtook her though, so she moved closer, examining them.
The souvenir shop seemed to only sell magpies.
Dozens of magpie toys lined the walls, beady little black eyes boring down on her. Some were huge stuffies, larger than grown men, while others were tiny figurines, standing in oddly military-like formations. All were covered in a thick layer of dust.