Excerpt: Kathy's Shop

As Lizzy walked to the knitting shop, she thought what a peculiar place it was. Almost anything can and has happened there. She walked up the steps and pushed down on the door handle. The door swung open and the cool breeze from the air conditioner pushed her brown hair back behind her shoulders.
"Hello," she called to whoever was in the shop. The door slammed shut behind her. Lizzy glanced around and saw nobody. "Where is everybody?" she asked aloud.
“Back here,” a familiar voice said from the rear of the shop. Brianna, Lizzy thought. She knew the voice of her best friend well.
“Where’s Kathy?” Lizzy asked Brianna, walking back toward her, “She’s usually here by now.” As she walked through the doorway, she noticed Brianna’s pale hands clutching a note. Her bluish green eyes caught the glimmer of the overhead lighting, exposing her concern.
“I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.” She shoved the note into Lizzy’s hands while she walked toward the door. The handle of door was already rattling as she was in motion. In walked Natalie and Jess, two other teenage girls who had come to work, just as Lizzy and Brianna had.
Natalie, a tall slender brown haired girl, greeted them as they walked in. Jess, a shorter, brown haired girl with tanner skin, waved just as her best friend had. Their smiles were genuine, unaware of what was to come. Natalie looked around and opened her mouth to speak, but Brianna used her words first.
“Kathy’s not here yet,” she responded to the unspoken question. Lizzy became unaware of the crumpled note she held in her hands, her brown eyes focused on the girls around her. Brianna mind drifted else, she too had forgotten what they found, even if it was right there.
“She’ll be here soon,” Lizzy added. She and Brianna were the older of the two; they often took charge in situations such as these that required a leader. Natalie and Jess exchanged a glare and a slight shrug before Natalie moved the shelves, arranging the yarn, as was her task most days. Jess came to her assistance.
Brianna mumbled something softly before heading for the cash register. While she began to organize the money, Lizzy stood around idle. Her job was not usually to sell yarn, or to arrange the shop. She was more of a helper to the knitters. The knitters were not due for another half hour, assuming Kathy showed up. While glancing around awkwardly, she caught sight of the note in her hand at last. She began to unfold the wrinkled paper.
“Bri-“ she began to say, before seeing a few words of the note. Her heart jumped in her chest and words left her. At that noise, all eyes focused on her. She pondered a moment before attempting to muster up the words.
“Where’s Emma?”
“She’s taking off today,” Jess replied, her attention turning back to the task at her hands. “Why?” she said, almost as an afterthought. Lizzy swallowed.
“I think we should all be together when we read this.”