Chapter 9: Nightmare

Walking slowly through the isles of the corner store, Rayne picked out some daily staple ingredients.

She picked out a small carton of eggs, some milk, and a loaf of bread before walking over to the meat section. She didn't really have a menu in mind so she decided to only pick up a small pack of chicken.

While walking through the store, Rayne weighed the items in her hands and what she had in her shopping basket. Seeing that she could carry a few more things she went to the produce section and picked out an onion, two carrots, a tomato, and a cucumber. She figured she could make a few different things with these ingredients.

Her initial idea of storing more food ingredients into her space fell through because the young man at the register couldn't keep his eyes off of her. She didn't want to take any risks exposing her space, so she decided to just shop normally and store the things she bought once she got home.

She knew she would have more opportunities to fill out her system with food ingredients in the future, so she wasn't bothered by it.

The poor man at the register was so nervous when Rayne came up to pay for the items that he barely mumbled a greeting.

Rayne was surprised and rather flattered at such a reaction! She couldn't help but want to tease him a little when she spotted his crimson ears!

"Thank you sweetie!", smiled Rayne, winking at the man.

"...You..re...welcome...miss..", the man replied, stuttering, his face turning completely red.

Walking home Rayne realized she made a mistake. She knew the walk back home to her apartment would only be 15 to 20 minutes, but she didn't take her heels into account. After only about 5 minutes of walking, her feet were blistering and in pain.

Rayne walked over to a small public bench on the side of the street and sat down. She took her heels off discreetly and looked at the small red blisters that had formed on her soles.

Rayne pretended to place her heels into her backpack while in fact she placed them in the trash bin of her system (since she had a copy of them stored already).

While she sat on the bench to allow her feet to get some rest, she decided to open her system's holographic screen.

While scrolling through the many icons on the screen, Rayne noticed that there seemed to be a new additional feature! She could now create a folder and labels for her icons! She was very happy to see this because she had spent the last few minutes endlessly scrolling searching for a more comfortable pair of shoes.

She had stopped by a large shoe store at the mall, and had stored dozens of pairs of shoes in her size. Some of the shoes she didn't even look at. She simply opened the box just enough to fit her hand in, storing them into her system.

This new folder system would let her organize her items within the system panel so that she could find the items she needed much quicker.

Since she was already looking at shoes, Rayne decided to make her first folder labeled 'Shoes', and placed any relevant shoe icons into the folder. She decided that once she got home she would create more folders for her other items, and take the time to fully organize her inventory.

A few minutes later Rayne finally came across a comfortable pair of flat sandals. The material they were made from was very soft and they were designed more for comfort than beauty. Using the backpack once more as cover, she took a copy of the shoes out of her system.

Feeling refreshed and in more comfortable footwear, Rayne picked up all of her shopping bags and continued walking home. When she made it to the entrance of her apartment building she was greeted by two elderly women.

"Ah Welcome back Rayne, we are so happy to hear that you've recovered well!", said one of the elderly women. She was seated on a small bench that was located under a big oak tree that was at the front of the apartment building.

The other elderly lady eyed Rayne up and down a few times, looking at the many bags she was holding as well as the new dress she had on.

"Hmph! Look at her beautiful face and figure! Are you certain she was in the hospital due to a car accident? To me it seems like she went to see a cosmetic surgeon! I've never met a person who came back looking more beautiful after getting hit by a car!".

The first elderly woman frowned hearing her friend say such a thing out loud. She knew Rayne for a few years now and knew her personality. She turned to her friend and said, "Well if you don't believe Rayne, then believe my words! My niece is a nurse at the hospital, and she was the one who informed me of the accident!".

Rayne walked over to the two ladies, "Good evening Mrs. Li, Mrs. Barton. Are you finishing up your post dinner walk?".

Rayne then turned to the first grandma who spoke, "I've recovered very well Mrs. Li, thank you! I appreciate you keeping everyone informed of the truth on my behalf so that nasty rumors don't get spread around".

She turned to look at the other elderly woman, "I greatly appreciate your compliment Mrs. Barton. My complexion has indeed improved noticeably since I've gotten hospitalized. The doctors and nurses at the hospital must have great skill to help me recover to a state that's even better than before!".

Rayne excused herself and walked inside.

Mrs. Barton's face turned sour but she couldn't refute. She knew that Grandma Li's niece did in fact work at the hospital, and knew that Grandma Li wouldn't lie about the matter. Still, she thought that Rayne's changes were too great. Rayne had become too beautiful, even her aura changed.

Rayne took a deep breath entering her apartment. She knew that the elderly Mrs. Barton had always had a slightly more difficult personality, but she didn't expect to get called out like that.

She decided not to dwell on it and went inside to place the food ingredients into the refrigerator as well as her system. She felt tired from all the walking and shopping she did today so she decided to relax for the rest of the evening.

She went to take a hot shower and put on her favorite comfy pajamas before curling up on the couch.

Rayne turned on the TV for some background noise and decided to take the time to organize her system. She first made a bunch of general folders--Food, Clothing, Bedding, Shoes, Stationary, Money, etc. Then inside the folders she made more sub folders, for example inside the Food folder, she made sub folders called: Meats, Vegetables, Fruits, Grains, Canned Food, Dairy, Prepared Food, etc.

She spent a few hours making the folder and subfolders, while organizing her current items to their respective locations.

By the time she finished organizing, it was already very dark outside. She got up and stretched, happy about her newly organized system and decent amount of items.

She looked around her living room and realized that she didn't store any of the items or furniture she already had! Up until now the largest item she had placed into her system was the long evening gown she purchased earlier today.

Rayne wasn't sure if the system had some sort of limit to the size of the items that could be stored.

She walked around a few times looking for a good object to use as an experiment when her eyes landed on her large flat screen TV. She walked up to the TV and placed one hand on the corner, concentrating really hard.

She realized that it was a lot more difficult and her face paled. Rayne didn't want to give up and continued to concentrate. A few moments later a sharp stabbing pain spread through her head. It was so painful that moments later she passed out, falling to the ground.

That night Rayne spent the night on the floor in front of where her TV stood. She was currently experiencing a really bad nightmare--

She was standing outside of her apartment building except there was chaos everywhere. Many of the widows were broken with glass shards covering the ground. She turned her head and saw a man slap his wife so hard she fell over only to turn and eat the last few biscuits that were in the small bag.

Rayne tried to run over to the woman to help her up, but realized she couldn't move. She tried to yell at the man, but no one heard her.

Different scenes kept flashing before her, and people were killing each other for a single piece of bread! A young man smashed through a window and robbed an elderly couple of all their food. Another scene showed children shoving handfuls of dirt in their mouths just to fill their bellies.

She wasn't sure what was happening and why the world was in chaos, but at that moment all she wanted to do was run and hide!

Rayne woke up gasping! Realizing that she was on the cold living room floor only a few moments later.

"What happened to me? I remember trying to store the TV and then a sharp pain made it difficult to concentrate... I must've passed out".

Rayne got up off the floor and noticed the empty space where the TV was originally standing.

"At least after all that effort I managed to store the TV..", she mumbled.