Where The Dandelions Grow

06 - Listen

Echo's POV

Grocery shopping is more difficult than I thought.

It's not like I had a mom or anything to tell me how to shop or someone to look over and learn. Whenever my dad went food shopping it was always for alcohol. He'd tell me to get anything I wanted and to my young self that meant any junk food that caught my eye.

There were never really any meals made, especially not by Dad.

Walking down the aisle, pushing a cart, I think about the check I got on Friday. More than half of it is going towards rent which doesn't leave me much for myself.

Each price tag I look at makes me cringe. Since when do eggs cost so much?

A chill brushes up my arm as I walk down the frozen aisle. I have a sweater on, but I don't have nearly enough iron in my blood to stay warm for shit.

After dropping a few things into my cart, I start to think about my nights and how little sleep I've been getting. Work has been exhausting, especially with nothing, but the stench of alcohol and dirty men that come into Happies to keep me awake. I've tried medication before for sleeping, some didn't work, but I might as well try again. It doesn't hurt to see. I redirect my cart toward the medication section of the supermarket. In the past, I used to at least sleep through some of my nights. Recently, however, I haven't slept through a night in months. Since Hailey died. When I used to have trouble sleeping, I would run to her building and I'd sleep at her place, or at least call her up and go to sleep on the phone.

She was my happy place; the type of friend I don't think I'll ever find in someone else ever again.

Turning a corner, my cart rams into another, jolting me out of my thoughts of Hailey. I blink rapidly, clearly the moisture from my eyes as I pull my cart back from the person I just crashed into.

"I'm so sorry," the woman the cart belongs to says. She's an older white woman, in her late fifties, I'd guess. Her face is full of embarrassment from the small crash.

I wave my hand. "It's fine I should've been looking at where I was going." I try to move around her, but the woman is standing in the worst spot imaginable, not moving. No way around it except to turn my cart around and go backward. She stares at me up and down and I try not to get irritated. I know I look like shit, but damn, can you be any more obvious?

"Um," I start, awkwardly. "Excuse me..."

"Sorry, you just look a little familiar." She put a hand to her mouth and nipped at a nail, brows furrowing in deep thinking. "Have we met before?"

I look around, seeing if there's anyone we're holding up. Not yet at least. Then turn back to this weird ass woman and shake my head. "No, I don't think we have." I'd remember a face like hers, it's not very... pleasant to look at. Sorry, not sorry.

"Can you tell me your name? If you don't mind?"

I sigh. Another person stops behind her being that she is stopped in the dead center of the aisle. "Echo," I answer quickly to get her going. "Rings any bells?"

She only stares at me blankly for several more seconds, like she's seen a ghost. Or maybe a mirror...

I clear my throat. "Listen I need to get going, so if you can kindly move out the way that'd be great—" I barely get my last word out before she swerves her cart to the side and strides past me down the aisle. I turn my head and watch as she disappears around a corner, not another word or even a glance back at me.

I turn to the two people who are waiting to pass her and shrug. "Lunatic," I mutter, walking forward. One of the two people giggles.

***