The store

It was all right. You could accept being replaced; you had enough experience with that. What you couldn't accept was that Magnolia was after the one thing you thought she'd never have: your friendship with Alastor. You'd been friends for a long time, ever since the beginning of the hotel story. You'd arrived shortly after Alastor announced his sponsorship, and you'd quickly found a special place for him. You liked to think it was mutual, respecting his no-touch boundaries and all his quirky, tricky personality traits. He put up with more from you than anyone else, and you dared to say you could get him to do anything if you asked him gently. Sometimes you had genuine moments with him, in his whiskey- and jazz-filled room, talking until the early hours. All of that had coalesced into the devil you'd fallen for and hoped would one day learn to appreciate it, even if he didn't love you back. For now, you kept it a secret, and you preferred that because in the end it would only make things worse, wouldn't it? You two spent most of your time together every day, and the other residents and staff were surprised by his absence. It was a comfortable routine and expectation that you didn't want to change. Then came Magnolia. Magnolia—just the mention of that name makes you feel like you're burning sulfur on your tongue, and you wish you could disappear and die a second time. The name burns as it goes down your throat when you see Magnolia approaching Alastor in the sitting room, who was reading the daily newspaper, and seducing him with her charm. The name burns when she reached out to touch his cheek and tilted his head so he would just look at her, and then I'm not sure what happened next. You fought hard to hold back your tears as you walked out of the hotel doors, your pace almost matching Nifty's. Your mind was filled with horrific images and painful memories of your place being replaced by Magnolia over time, and terrible feelings rising in your throat like bile. Could one be blamed for being surprised when the world around them changed and turned into pitch black in the blink of an eye? Did you almost back down and fight with all your might as the shadows receded before realizing that Alastor himself had abducted you? Probably not, but that didn't stop him from scolding you with a sly smile and a light pinch on your nose as he set you down on the sofa of his radio tower. "Hey, my dear, what's upsetting you so much? It's not like you to frown so easily," he whispered softly, bending down to wipe away a tear that had escaped among yours, a sight he hated to see on your beautiful face.