Prescription for Disaster

[Sadie Moon]

Sadie let out a loud sigh that puffed her cheeks as she gazed out of the pharmacy windows at the thick fog outside. It had been this way for almost a week now--the fog was almost thick enough to cut through, and it gave her goosebumps every time she had to step foot outside of her apartment. (Too bad Heath wasn't here; he would've made a great meat shield, in case there were creepy crawlies lurking in the fog.)

As much as she would've liked to be home right now, curled up under a thick blanket and watching her favorite shows, here she was, pulling the late shift.

Tori, the more senior pharmacist, was due to arrive soon for his shift but for the moment it was just her and the bored-looking teenage girl behind the cash register (who kept leafing through random magazines when customers weren't around). Sheesh. She straight up ignored Sadie earlier, when she tried to make some idle smalltalk, and Sadie wasn't so hard up for conversation that she'd keep trying with that stuck-up sourpuss!

She leaned against the counter and propped her chin up in the palm of one hand, elbow resting lightly on the cool glass. Honestly, she felt a little ill at ease even with the other girl here. Something about the fog really felt off to her; she just couldn't quite put her finger on why, or what it was. Maybe it was the fact that the fog blocked off all the sunlight. Sadie grew up with plenty of sunshine and blue skies and here, it was nothing but gray, everywhere she looked. Hardly the kind of weather that made her want to go for a jog outside, or arrange an outing with friends.

Besides, it was all over the news--that residents were advised to stay indoors wherever possible. They wouldn't announce something like that unless there was something seriously wrong with the fog! Some of Sadie's co-workers speculated that maybe it wasn't really fog. Maybe it was industrial smog, or some kind of poisonous cloud that settled over the sleepy, tiny town. Whatever it was, it wasn't going away.

As the door opened with a light tinkle from the door bell, Sadie looked up. The girl behind the cash register looked up too, sweeping over the guy with a bored glance, and then going back to her magazine, so it was left up to Sadie to chime cheerfully, "Hi, welcome to West End Pharmacy! Is there anything in particular you're looking for today?"

Mark YeongM

[Mark Yeong]

Mark frowned as he looked around before placing his bike on the rack in front of the pharmacy. If it wasn't for his miserable mornings, he would head straight home and probably play some League of Legends or something, but he had been putting off getting his allergy medicine for some time now. Well, when he says putting off, he meant that he had been forgetting to pick it up since they called two weeks ago.

Fortunately, this stop should only take a few minutes at the most. That included time if he decided to buy some snacks while he was there.

This fog was giving him all kinds of bad vibes. He wasn't sure what caused it as this was his first fall in Hazelton since he moved from Portland.

Walking into the store, he heard the bell followed by a greeting from one of the employees. His gaze hit the girl behind the cash register first, expecting her to be the source of the greeting. Seeing that she was too engrossed in whatever magazine, his eyes fell upon the pharmacist. Offering her a friendly smile, he walked over to her, "I'm actually here to pick up my prescription. It should be under the name, Mark Yeong. You called me like two weeks ago to pick it up," he answered a bit sheepishly.

"While you are grabbing that, can I grab some snacks real quick? I've had a real craving for chocolate covered peanuts," he chuckled at himself as he smiled. His hand reaching behind him and grabbing his wallet from his back right pocket.

[Sadie Moon]

"Yeah sure, go ahead. The snacks are over there." Sadie pointed to the shelves of junk food. "Oh, and I'll need to see some ID, too," she said before disappearing briefly into the back, where the prescriptions were held. Sure enough, Mark's prescription drugs were there, in their own little paper bag--with a date that was two weeks overdue. Sadie shook her head with a grin. Must be a busy guy--or he didn't need these urgently.

She ambled back out to the prescription counter and leaned lightly against it as she entered the prescription number into the system--just a precaution against giving pills to the wrong person. Mark's name came up, sure enough, alongside some other information on the drugs, which Sadie perused idly as she waited for the customer to return.

"Find everything you wanted?"

[Mark Yeong]

Following her finger, he smiled thanks as he walked towards the shelves.  Mark's eyes scanned the shelves for a few moments before finding his prize. Chocolate covered peanuts were boxed near the bottom of the shelf. Grabbing four boxes, he turned around to see the variety of drinks they had. It didn't take long before he settled on a bottle of cola.

Walking back to the register, he smiled and nodded at the pharmacist after she asked her question. "The only thing missing was a weather machine I could use to remove all this fog," he joked as he placed the boxes and bottle on the counter carefully. "Do you need my ID or just see it and confirm I am who I say I am?" he asked. It was always a bit of a hassle to pull out his ID out of his wallet.

"Speaking of fog, do you know what is causing it? This is my first fall here since I moved and I have never seen anything like this."

[Sadie Moon]

"ID please!" Sadie's smile was apologetic nonetheless. She knew it was a hassle to dig out valid ID but hey, rules were rules. It was better to inconvenience somebody than to give the wrong medication to the wrong person (and risk a lawsuit in the process!).

"I don't know what's causing it but... we did have quite a bit of rain before this," she said dubiously, glancing out of the window at the thick mass of gray. Sadie knew that fog happened after rains but... for this long? It seemed fishy to her. "Maybe somebody has a fog machine and has been running it overtime!" she joked, holding out her hand for the ID.

"Still... it is pretty creepy isn't it?" Not to mention, some of her friends had been talking about disappearances around town. As in, people mysteriously vanishing overnight. Sadie wasn't easily scared--she wasn't that kind of high-strung girl--but she had to admit, spooky stories were a lot spookier with everlasting fog around! Leaning forward slightly, she lowered her voice. "I hear there are things in the fog."