Waist-Deep In Walmart

:Waist-Deep In Walmart: Capitulo Nueve (Creo...)

I must have fallen asleep at some point after pulling that prank on Anthony, because the next thing I knew, I was jolting out of a peaceful sleep with a snort. A yawn escaped my lips and I stretched, wondering when I’d passed out. I squinted as I opened my eyes, trying to get used to the light. For some reason my face felt stiff, but I shrugged it off. Maybe it was due to the frowning I’d been doing. Usually I didn’t frown so much.

            When my vision had settled, I turned my head to check on Anthony. My gaze fell on something I was not expecting. Instead of the handsome young man meeting my gaze, a monster with a brown, dried face stared back at me. A startled scream escaped my lips and I shoved my hand out, trying to push the monster away. Instead of the brute moving, my hand collided with something that wasn’t budging, causing me to cry out in pain. When I looked again, I noticed the monster now had a hand. A white hand. I blinked, confused. Why did the monster look so much like me…?

            Then it hit me. I moved my hand in a circulation motion. My reflection followed it. It was a mirror! That meant… My eyes dropped to the ground, where an empty jar of Nutella was lying. “Anthony!” I shouted, sitting up. “Ugh! Gross!” I cried, wiping some of the hazelnut spread off my face. It was covered in it!

            I pushed the mirror aside, looking at the empty bench swing. Anthony wasn’t there. As I sat up, I realized my back felt a little stiff. Baffled, I looked down and realized I wasn’t wearing the shirt I fell asleep in. Now  I was wearing a brown long-sleeved shirt. Lifting up the hem of it, I realized there were bandages wrapped around my mid section, covering the part of my back that’d been injured. Instantly I felt my face heat up. Anthony was the only one who could’ve done that for me. He’d definitely seen my naked torso.

            “It was for a good deed,” I told myself, pushing myself off the lawn chair. Before I went searching for the little Walmart worker, I had to wash the Nutella off my face and use the bathroom.

            It took about ten minutes in order for me to wash all of the spread off my face. While I was cleaning myself, I realized how much easier it would’ve been just to wash our hair in the sinks. I had to remember to mention that to Anthony next time we washed ourselves. Tomorrow… or maybe later today. I had no clue what the time was.

            I dried my face and stumbled out of the bathroom, running a hand through my hair. Not to my surprise, the thunder was still rumbling outside. It really never ended. It made me wonder what the lightning looked like. Shaking my head, I went off to hunt down Anthony. After about ten minutes of searching, I finally found him on the ground near the art supplies. In front of him was something yellow and round. Upon closer inspection, I realized he was making a filled in circle of Twinkies and stacking more and more on top of each other, making them so each level became more narrow.

            “Anthony… what are you doing?” I questioned, taking a few, slow steps toward him. He seemed like he was really concentrating.

            “Building a Twinkie tower,” he responded casually, taking a Twinkie out the carton and placing it on the base of the tower.

            I lifted an eyebrow. “Isn’t that in the stalker’s manual somewhere?”

            His eyes snapped to mine and he grinned knowingly. “I take it you’ve seen that movie too.”

            “Isn’t there where you got the idea?”

            “You bet. I’ve always wanted to try it, but didn’t want to waste the money on the Twinkies. You want to help?”

            Laughing, I took a seat on the floor next to him, crossing my legs Indian style. “I’d love to. To be honest, I’ve wanted to do it too. Twinkies are expensive though.”