The Corner Store

Chapter 13- I'm beginning to think that typo wasn't a mistake at all

She wheeled me downstairs and took me to the cafeteria. Axel was completely wrong about their food because the variety here is restaurant worthy.

I still didn't really have much of an appetite, especially after what happened yesterday, but Julez persuaded me to eat something otherwise I'd be staying an extra week.

In the hospital.

This hospital mind you.

So guess what? I caved and complied.

I'm very glad I did though, because I think I just needed a change of scenery. I got a small croissant, a few blackberries, and a bottle of peach sparkling water. What hospital even has a sparkling water dispensary?

She wheeled me to a rather unique seating area that was facing the windows, which was covered by heavy, heavy, blinds.

Well this is depressing.

She saw the confused look on my face, smiled a little then undid the blinds. Before me was something that can only be described as a wonderland.

"That is the new pediatric area. They recently built to add a little bit of joy in the lives of those poor kids."

No kidding.

What stood before me was far from a regular children's oasis. Sure, there were the basics: slides, swings and a few sandlots spread here and there. In addition to all of that, there was a set of walls all covered in the most beautiful graffiti art, there was another wall where the kids could draw or paint. On the far end, there was a small splash pad with swimming toys lying around, and the best of all; cherry blossom trees where a few children are just lying down, looking at the sky. So adorable.

"Don't let the beauty of the place take away from the fact that you still need to eat." She said, pointing at my plate.

Oh, yeah. I totally forgot about that.

We talked about a few things here and there, but even the silence wasn't awkward. We didn't veer too much into any personal details; if any. We stayed down for a little while until she got paged to scrub in for an emergency surgery. She wheeled me up to my room and said that the nurse will be up to check on me. As soon as she left, the door knocked - if you can call it that- and the three, dollar-store musketeers waltzed in.

"Heyo!" Said Cooper, going straight for a hug. "Man I missed you at the store. Please come back."

"Hey girl." Said Landon, giving me a very calculated high-five. Am I made of tissue paper or something?

"I'm trying to leave here, but they won't let me. It's so annoying."

"Trust me, it's nowhere as annoying as Cooper nagging at me to speak with him because you and Lara aren't there anymore." Axel closed the door, shooting Cooper a mean glare.

"I mean, it might be a little more time before I'm back. My finals start next week and I'm still here so I have to take time off to both recover and study for my finals."

"Man who needs school anyways." Asked Landon.

"You specifically - out of all people - do. Do you not want to own your own business? Or do you want to be running the meat department forever, working minimum wage?" Asked Axel, sending Landon in deep thought.

"Nah, you're right dude. But it's so hard man! Like running this department is all I know... I don't think I can find the courage to start over."

"Landon, that's the whole point of growth. You have to be able to step out of your comfort zone and tackle your fears one by one. That's how you'll grow as a person. Otherwise you'll be stuck doing minimum wage when you could be going out in the world making money."