Shed.

It was morning. The sun was shining relentlessly outside my window and it refused to go away. I was tired and I’m sure that Jack, one of my best friends, hadn’t made coffee and wasn’t about to either. Neither of us were what you could call morning people.

Sighing, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and pushed Sparta, my pet Jack Russel, off the other end. He barked at me before trotting over to my door and plopping down in front of it. He whined as I stretched my arms before standing up.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” I mumbled before opening my door and letting the dog out. “There.” I muttered before leaving the room myself. I reached my arm back to scratch my right shoulder blade and yawned.

“Were you up late last night?” Jack asked from where he was standing down the hall. I shook my head and tried to give him an innocent look, but I’m sure it didn’t work. It never had before. “Really?” He asked and I nodded before turning to find Sparta. He was probably hungry, I knew I was.

I slowly made my way down the wooden steps and walked barefoot onto the kitchen’s cold, tiled floor. I shivered slightly before reaching over to rub my arm. “Brr…” I reached up to the cupboard above the stove to grab some food for Sparta and absentmindedly wondered whose idea it was to put it there anyway. I poured the food into his bowl and then gave him some water too. “Now… to find the cereal.” I muttered before searching the bread drawer. “None in there.” I searched the cupboards, but they came up almost empty. “Great. No food.” I mumbled before just grabbing a Dr. Pepper from the fridge and then plopping down in front of the TV in the small Living Room.

“Is that healthy?” I heard Jack ask as he came into the Living Room with a bowl. I glared at him.

“Where’d you get that?” I asked.

“I hid it in my room. I have a stash.” He said making faces at me. I thought about tackling him before deciding that it’d only make more trouble for me. I’d be the one to clean up all of the spilt milk.

“Do you have anymore left?” I asked trying to act as if I was just curious.

“Nope. Just threw the box away this morning.” He said happily as he took a huge bite of the Frosted Flakes.

“That’s it. I’m buying a mini fridge so that you can’t eat all my damn food.” I mumbled before getting up and walking to my room. I ignored the fact that I should probably take a shower and just put my dark red hair up in the messiest bun I think I’ve ever seen before slipping off my pajama pants and putting on a pair of worn out jeans. I decided my shirt was fine and left the room before I could even look in the mirror.

I made my way downstairs again only to find that Marie, who was slightly Latina, was up too. “Hey, Anne.” She said before wiping a bit of sleep from her eyes. She had always called me by my middle name, it didn’t seem so odd anymore. The three of us had known each other since first grade and we’d stuck together since.

“Hola Marie.” I said. She fake glared at me for a moment then went back to watching TV and drinking my pop.

“Bitch.” She mumbled. She still had somewhat of an accent even though she swore she’s never lived in Mexico… or even Spain for that matter. I just waved her away before walking towards the door, keys in hand. “Wait! Where do you think you’re going without me?” She asked acting like she had an attitude. She flicked her dark brown hair over a shoulder and cocked her hip. Her arms were crossed over her chest.

I laughed a little. “The grocery store, maybe?” I said tilting my head to the side. Her dark eyes looked confused. “Check the kitchen.” I muttered before exiting the house and shutting the door behind me. I heard Jack laughing from the other room and I can almost imagine the way he looked. He’d be leaning against the arm of the couch with his legs taking up the rest of the huge piece of furniture and his dark blonde hair would be carelessly in his blue eyes. He never cared though.

“Don’t leave me with him!” I heard Marie yell as I walked away from the house. Why am I the only one who ever noticed Sparta? I shook my head and rolled my eyes slightly before jumping into the car and driving off.

The car wasn’t too old, but it wasn’t even close to being new either. It was a ’77 Camaro, a little rough around the edges and it’d been my eighteenth birthday present from my parents and my brother, though I knew he’d picked it out. It was yellow with faded black racing stripes. I smiled as I pulled into the grocery store parking lot. Not everybody thought it was as cool as I did.

“Hey, nice wheels.” Someone said from behind me as I stepped out of the car. I turned my head to see a taller guy with short light brown hair that was slightly spiked. I nodded at him and his dark green hazel eyes sparkled as he gave me what I could only guess was a signature smirk before turning around and walking to his own car. It was black and looked old, but I didn’t take the time to see what it was exactly.

With a smile still gracing my lips I walked into the store and went directly to the cereal isle. I grabbed a box of Lucky Charms and then a box of Frosted Flakes. I started to roll the cart towards the end of the isle before deciding to get some Cheerios too. I hummed to myself as I grabbed a gallon of 2% Milk and then I grabbed some cheese slices for sandwiches. I went through the rest of the shopping only half thinking about what I was doing.

I was walking down the frozen food isle and not really paying attention to my surroundings when suddenly my cart just stopped. I looked up to see I’d run into somebody.

“Oh! Geez, I’m sorry! I was kind of… zoning.” I half yelled in surprise. He just shrugged and stepped around my cart. I turned to watch him as he opened one of the frosted over doors; he was rather short with the kind of hair that shined blue even though it was black. His eyes, which were an odd blue green color, had looked distant as he walked past me. It was odd behavior for a person in such a small town and I wondered instantly who he was and what his problem was.

I tried to shrug it off and finish my shopping, but I found it rather hard to do. Something was nagging at me. I mean, it’s not normal for there to be so many new people in such a small town at the same time is it? First it’s the guy with the car then the strange acting one in the frozen food isle. I started pushing my cart towards the checkout.

“And when my time comes, forget the wrong that I’ve done, and help me leave behind some reasons to be missed…” I jumped at the sound of my ring tone and quickly reached into my pocket to pull out the small silver phone. I flipped it open and pressed it to my ear as a dark blush spread over my cheeks. I looked down into my cart.

“Hello?”

“What, you don’t check your caller ID anymore?” The voice was familiar and I couldn’t help, but to chuckle with him. I shook my head.

“No, I guess not, Tom.” I said quietly. The person in front of me finished and I pushed my cart ahead and started to unload my own stuff. The belt started moving and one of the tall lanky high school students that worked here started to scan all of the food. I smiled at him before turning around and leaning my lower back against the counter. “Why’d you call?” I asked. I’d never been one to beat around the bush.

“I have some friends in town, but I forgot to tell them I wouldn’t be there. Would you mind meeting them for me?” He asked and I could imagine him shuffling his feet and I could’ve sworn I heard rustling over the phone. He didn’t like asking me to do things like this for him. Who does? I didn’t answer right away, I loved watching –or in this case listening-- to my older brother squirm. “Please Raine? I swear I’ll get you back for it!” He said and I could almost see him jumping up and down slightly.

“Do I really need to answer?” I asked sighing and letting a small smile touch my lips again.

“No, but it’s polite to ask anyway right?” He said I could hear him laughing again, even though he’d pulled the phone away from his face a bit. There was a tap on my shoulder and I twirled around quickly to see that the kid had already scanned everything and was waiting on me.

“Listen, call me back in a few minutes. I’m a bit busy.” I looked apologetically at the cashier before quickly paying for my stuff and muttering a ‘sorry’ on the way out. He only shook his head and waved at me as I left. Small towns can be friendly, I guess.

I loaded all ten bags of food into the backseat of my car quickly before running the cart over to one of the two little stalls for them. I ran back to my car and jumped into the front seat.

I’d call Tom back when I got back to the house.