“Mom, we need to go to the grocery store,” Nate said as soon as his mother walked through the door. She still had her laptop, purse, and other things for work.
“Nathaniel, since when do you want to go to the grocery store?”
“Since now,” he said.
“Why?”
Nate wasn’t a great liar. He stuttered over his words. “Um, well, I uh, don’t have great snacks for my, uh, lunches.” Nate knew he should stop. But that wouldn’t be enough! “Every kid has uh, pudding cups, they say they’re only three bucks for um a pack of uh… I think it was…” While it seemed like Nate was trying to think of how many, he was actually trying to think of his next move. “I think it was… ten?”
“Ten? For three dollars?” His mom’s brows furrowed.
“It might have been five…” Nate’s heart pounded. Do not sweat. Do not sweat! Everything is fine! Everything happens for a reason.
“Alright,” Mom said. She set her laptop down and pulled out three one dollar bills. “Go buy your pudding.”
Mom didn’t believe him. He couldn’t buy supplies with three dollars! He began to sweat, and Nate knew he couldn’t stop it.
“Mom,” he said, thinking fast. “Oh! I also need a present for Katherin. Her birthday party is this weekend.”
“At the grocery store? Huh. Well, I guess they do have a few things. Alright. Look around.” Mom handed over a twenty. “Be back soon.”
“I will.” Nate turned towards the door. His mom was probably having an internal party. Because when did Nate go to parties? Never. N. E. V. E. R.
“Love you,” Mom said.
“Love you too,” Nate said. He ran outside and breathed a sigh of relief. Now that he thought of it, he did need to get something for Katherin. But he could do that another time, right? He could just say he didn’t find anything. It was the grocery store, after all. He walked through the automatic doors, clutching the twenty in his hand. Somebody’s gonna rob me, he thought, dismayed. Or they’ll be like: “Hey, aren’t you a bit young to be grocery shopping by yourself?” Or worse… What if the person who sent the note decided to murder him?! That would be bad. Like, bad bad. He tucked the twenty into his pant pockets. Yeah, if people didn’t think he had any money, they wouldn’t rob him… Right? Yeah, that’s how it worked. He decided to settle on that.
He walked down the isles, trying to figure out how to spend his money. This is a trick, he thought. They’re all probably trying to make us go broke. He sighed. But if something bad was going to happen, it was better to be prepared, right? He should get something healthy. In a crises, it was probably better to be healthy and well fed, rather than fat and with all sorts of medical issues, because nobodycouldhelpyouinacrises! Oh my God, Nate, calm down. He focused on his breathing. Grabbed veggies from the freezer. Maybe meat…? No. It would go bad. Maybe he should get more veggies? Oh! Pasta! Bags and bags and bags! He found the pasta aisle and threw some bags into the cart. This was about twenty, right?
He walked up to the cashier. Oh, he’s gonna question me… I’m going to get busted. This didn’t even make sense. He didn’t even make sense. He was overreacting! He was thirteen… It was fine.
The cashier looked at Nate. He was maybe in his early forties.
“Grocery shopping for mom?” he asked.
Nate nodded. Oh no. He was starting to sweat.
“Mom likes her veggies and pasta, does she?”
“Yeah,” Nate stuttered. “She likes salad.” The cashier stared at him. Oh, Nate! Pasta and veggie salad? What did you do.
“Alright… That’ll be $19.50. Want a bag?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” The cashier took a paper bag, putting the veggies and pasta in it. “Enjoy your salad, kid.”
Was he mocking Nate? How dare he! Nate wasn’t really that mad. He was annoyed though. But Nate wasn’t great with threats.
“Bye. Have a…” He almost said awful day, but panicked, deciding that would be a bad idea. “Bye!” he said, and ran out of the door.
Ohhhhh, this is really really bad. He wiped sweat from his forehead. He wanted to evaporate into his sweatshirt. This was a really bad idea. Mom’s going to wonder why I bought these things! I could say I was trying to be helpful? Or maybe, Mom didn’t have to know. But… How would he bring the bags in without her noticing? He could put them in the garage somewhere? Yes! That was it. An animal wouldn’t eat anything, and there were tons of places to hide things. He snuck in, as quietly as he could, but with every flop-flip-flop-flip of his sandals, he wanted to melt into a puddle where nobody would see him.
He tucked the bags behind his soccer balls. He had a lot of soccer balls, so it would be fine. He opened the door to the house.
“Hi, Nate. So you’re going to Katherin’s party?” Nate’s heart pounded.
“Y-yeah,” he stuttered. He’d said one word and this was going terribly. He was starting to sweat.
“I thought you didn’t like parties.”
“Well, Katherin told me she really wanted me to go, and that it would be tons of fun, and that it would make her really happy?” This part was actually true.
Mom raised her eyebrows. “I’m assuming you didn’t find anything for Katherin?”
“No,” Nate said.
“Can I have my twenty back?” Oh. No. Think! Fast! What’s at the grocery store? Um… Food! Right. Duh. You were hungry. You wanted food.
“I was hungry,” he said. “I got some pizza.”
“For twenty dollars?”
What now Nate? “I saw Katherin and her friends, and heard them say they were hungry, so I bought them some pizza, too.”
“Well that was nice of you.”
“Um, yeah.”
“You still need to get Katherin a present?”
“Yeah. Her party is tomorrow.”
“Alright. Come on.”
“Now?”
“Yup.”
Two horrible hours later, Nate was in his bed, staring at the ceiling. This was so bad. He’d lied to Mom. He’d probably gotten tricked by some psycho who was going to come murder them all. Nate sat straight up when he heard it. A bang. Straight. Out. Side.
Yeah, he was doomed.
“Nate!”
“Mom!” His mother rushed in, in her pajamas, of course. “What was that?”
“I don’t know. Stay here.” The ground was starting to shake under their feet. His nightstand tipped over, smashing into his hand. His glass of water spilled all over him.
Nate hissed something that might have sounded like ow, and attempted to shove his nightstand off him. He was bleeding, he saw the dark trickle of some liquid on his hand. He ate it. Definitely blood. Nate slid out of bed, towards mom. A giant split was in the earth, and their house was right on the edge.
“Nate!” his mother said again.
“What?”
“Oh my God, Nate.” She grabbed his arm, and began pulling him down the stairs.
“Mom! I need to get something from the garage!”
“No!”
“Mom!” Knowing he’d get in trouble later, he wrenched his hand out of his mother’s grip, and started running for the garage. He threw open the door, and threw his soccer balls aside. He grabbed the grocery bags. The world was tipping over. Oh my God. I’m going to die.
“Nate!” he head his mother scream.
“I’m okay!” He ran out of the garage, and threw the front door open. He lept onto the lawn, clutching the bags.
“Nate!” Mom enveloped him into a hug as they watched the house tip down into the hole.
Everything happens for a reason. But what was the reason now? All his books were gone. Everything. The TV. His computer. Phone. Pictures. Everything. It made him want to cry, but Nate never really did that. They had no money. All they had were the grocery bags.
“What’s that?”
“Groceries?”
“Nate, you need to tell me what’s going on.”
Nate started to sweat. He took a breath. He told Mom everything.
“Nathaniel, since when do you want to go to the grocery store?”
“Since now,” he said.
“Why?”
Nate wasn’t a great liar. He stuttered over his words. “Um, well, I uh, don’t have great snacks for my, uh, lunches.” Nate knew he should stop. But that wouldn’t be enough! “Every kid has uh, pudding cups, they say they’re only three bucks for um a pack of uh… I think it was…” While it seemed like Nate was trying to think of how many, he was actually trying to think of his next move. “I think it was… ten?”
“Ten? For three dollars?” His mom’s brows furrowed.
“It might have been five…” Nate’s heart pounded. Do not sweat. Do not sweat! Everything is fine! Everything happens for a reason.
“Alright,” Mom said. She set her laptop down and pulled out three one dollar bills. “Go buy your pudding.”
Mom didn’t believe him. He couldn’t buy supplies with three dollars! He began to sweat, and Nate knew he couldn’t stop it.
“Mom,” he said, thinking fast. “Oh! I also need a present for Katherin. Her birthday party is this weekend.”
“At the grocery store? Huh. Well, I guess they do have a few things. Alright. Look around.” Mom handed over a twenty. “Be back soon.”
“I will.” Nate turned towards the door. His mom was probably having an internal party. Because when did Nate go to parties? Never. N. E. V. E. R.
“Love you,” Mom said.
“Love you too,” Nate said. He ran outside and breathed a sigh of relief. Now that he thought of it, he did need to get something for Katherin. But he could do that another time, right? He could just say he didn’t find anything. It was the grocery store, after all. He walked through the automatic doors, clutching the twenty in his hand. Somebody’s gonna rob me, he thought, dismayed. Or they’ll be like: “Hey, aren’t you a bit young to be grocery shopping by yourself?” Or worse… What if the person who sent the note decided to murder him?! That would be bad. Like, bad bad. He tucked the twenty into his pant pockets. Yeah, if people didn’t think he had any money, they wouldn’t rob him… Right? Yeah, that’s how it worked. He decided to settle on that.
He walked down the isles, trying to figure out how to spend his money. This is a trick, he thought. They’re all probably trying to make us go broke. He sighed. But if something bad was going to happen, it was better to be prepared, right? He should get something healthy. In a crises, it was probably better to be healthy and well fed, rather than fat and with all sorts of medical issues, because nobodycouldhelpyouinacrises! Oh my God, Nate, calm down. He focused on his breathing. Grabbed veggies from the freezer. Maybe meat…? No. It would go bad. Maybe he should get more veggies? Oh! Pasta! Bags and bags and bags! He found the pasta aisle and threw some bags into the cart. This was about twenty, right?
He walked up to the cashier. Oh, he’s gonna question me… I’m going to get busted. This didn’t even make sense. He didn’t even make sense. He was overreacting! He was thirteen… It was fine.
The cashier looked at Nate. He was maybe in his early forties.
“Grocery shopping for mom?” he asked.
Nate nodded. Oh no. He was starting to sweat.
“Mom likes her veggies and pasta, does she?”
“Yeah,” Nate stuttered. “She likes salad.” The cashier stared at him. Oh, Nate! Pasta and veggie salad? What did you do.
“Alright… That’ll be $19.50. Want a bag?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” The cashier took a paper bag, putting the veggies and pasta in it. “Enjoy your salad, kid.”
Was he mocking Nate? How dare he! Nate wasn’t really that mad. He was annoyed though. But Nate wasn’t great with threats.
“Bye. Have a…” He almost said awful day, but panicked, deciding that would be a bad idea. “Bye!” he said, and ran out of the door.
Ohhhhh, this is really really bad. He wiped sweat from his forehead. He wanted to evaporate into his sweatshirt. This was a really bad idea. Mom’s going to wonder why I bought these things! I could say I was trying to be helpful? Or maybe, Mom didn’t have to know. But… How would he bring the bags in without her noticing? He could put them in the garage somewhere? Yes! That was it. An animal wouldn’t eat anything, and there were tons of places to hide things. He snuck in, as quietly as he could, but with every flop-flip-flop-flip of his sandals, he wanted to melt into a puddle where nobody would see him.
He tucked the bags behind his soccer balls. He had a lot of soccer balls, so it would be fine. He opened the door to the house.
“Hi, Nate. So you’re going to Katherin’s party?” Nate’s heart pounded.
“Y-yeah,” he stuttered. He’d said one word and this was going terribly. He was starting to sweat.
“I thought you didn’t like parties.”
“Well, Katherin told me she really wanted me to go, and that it would be tons of fun, and that it would make her really happy?” This part was actually true.
Mom raised her eyebrows. “I’m assuming you didn’t find anything for Katherin?”
“No,” Nate said.
“Can I have my twenty back?” Oh. No. Think! Fast! What’s at the grocery store? Um… Food! Right. Duh. You were hungry. You wanted food.
“I was hungry,” he said. “I got some pizza.”
“For twenty dollars?”
What now Nate? “I saw Katherin and her friends, and heard them say they were hungry, so I bought them some pizza, too.”
“Well that was nice of you.”
“Um, yeah.”
“You still need to get Katherin a present?”
“Yeah. Her party is tomorrow.”
“Alright. Come on.”
“Now?”
“Yup.”
Two horrible hours later, Nate was in his bed, staring at the ceiling. This was so bad. He’d lied to Mom. He’d probably gotten tricked by some psycho who was going to come murder them all. Nate sat straight up when he heard it. A bang. Straight. Out. Side.
Yeah, he was doomed.
“Nate!”
“Mom!” His mother rushed in, in her pajamas, of course. “What was that?”
“I don’t know. Stay here.” The ground was starting to shake under their feet. His nightstand tipped over, smashing into his hand. His glass of water spilled all over him.
Nate hissed something that might have sounded like ow, and attempted to shove his nightstand off him. He was bleeding, he saw the dark trickle of some liquid on his hand. He ate it. Definitely blood. Nate slid out of bed, towards mom. A giant split was in the earth, and their house was right on the edge.
“Nate!” his mother said again.
“What?”
“Oh my God, Nate.” She grabbed his arm, and began pulling him down the stairs.
“Mom! I need to get something from the garage!”
“No!”
“Mom!” Knowing he’d get in trouble later, he wrenched his hand out of his mother’s grip, and started running for the garage. He threw open the door, and threw his soccer balls aside. He grabbed the grocery bags. The world was tipping over. Oh my God. I’m going to die.
“Nate!” he head his mother scream.
“I’m okay!” He ran out of the garage, and threw the front door open. He lept onto the lawn, clutching the bags.
“Nate!” Mom enveloped him into a hug as they watched the house tip down into the hole.
Everything happens for a reason. But what was the reason now? All his books were gone. Everything. The TV. His computer. Phone. Pictures. Everything. It made him want to cry, but Nate never really did that. They had no money. All they had were the grocery bags.
“What’s that?”
“Groceries?”
“Nate, you need to tell me what’s going on.”
Nate started to sweat. He took a breath. He told Mom everything.
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