[MetalMike]

“Well that’s it then. End of an Era”

Sarah turned the key in the door as she said it, having watched the clock tick down to five thirty on the very last day that Comicageddon, Wellingthorpe’s best (and only) comic book and movie merchandise store, would welcome people through its doors. I couldn’t believe my luck when Comicageddon first opened three years ago just as I was starting college. The small town didn’t even have a cinema until I was ten. I hung out here nearly every day and when I didn’t get the grades I needed to go to university – maybe because I was hanging out here nearly every day – I applied for a job here instead. I knew it couldn’t last forever. Wellingthorpe was far too small a town to support a niche shop like this and even with the footfall from the surrounding villages it was already struggling to break even. But still, today hurt. I was going to miss the daily parade of awkward geeks, anime obsesses schoolgirls with dyed hair and overweight middle-aged men trying to relive their childhood. Those were my people.

“Hey Mike, you gonna help or what?” Alex called over to me as he pulled the cash tray from the till and dumped it on the counter, shaking me out of my reverie.

“Huh?” I replied with typical eloquency.

“You and me to cash up, Sarah and Em will start on inventory”

I asked myself why I’d volunteered to help on the last day when I knew that the final stock check would take half the evening. Then I caught sight of Em, clipboard in hand, starting to count the books in the graphic novel section and I remembered why. She had to stand on tip toes even with the help of a footstool and that pose, along with the yoga pants she insisted on always wearing, accentuated the cheeks that me and the lads had named ‘ass of the century’ when we were in her year at school. Not that we’d ever let her know. Those yoga pants were definitely why I had volunteered.

“Enjoying the view?”

I hadn’t noticed Sarah come up right beside me and nearly jumped out of my skin when she asked. She smirked playfully and raised her eyebrows and I realised I’d been caught staring.

“Huh?” I replied, at least maintaining consistency with my lack of verbal talent.

“Men!” She tutted playfully before walking over to join Em.

Once I’d convinced myself that in fact not all of my blood had rushed to my cheeks and that I still had enough blood in my legs to make them work, I grabbed the cash drawer from the second till and joined Alex in the back office.