Fallen

Chapter 36. The trash cans [Caleb]

The breeze picks up at the push of the door, a waft of air whizzes past us. The wind howls for a short second before it's drowned out by the chime of a bell. A bell, singing its familiar tune at our entry. One that I have come to recognize in a beat.

Leaves drag themselves in by our feet, boots mudded and clad with dirt. The mat by the door quickly gets drenched as we make our way inside the small store. Stomping in, heavily, ready to get a fill of ice cream. That especially goes for Lucy and her man-on-a-mission look on her childlike face.

Mrs. Flores's face lights up when she sees us. She pushes her round glasses up her nose with a wrinkled finger. She walks away from the counter, going around it and heading right in our direction, arms spread wide and welcoming.

Lucy's expression turns from glad to, well, less glad in a matter of seconds. Preparing for the worst when Mrs. Flores goes in for the kill. Squeezing the life out of Lucy, and for good measure, pinching her cheeks too, adoringly. Still, a small smile forms on Lucy's face. No one can fight the love that Mrs. Flores gives.

"It's good to know you guys are safe," Mrs. Flores says as she goes in to hug me and M at the same time. "Things were rather peculiar last night."

"How so?" I flush, both from the cold outside and now in fear of something else. Something else entirely.

She waves a dismissive hand at me and shakes her head, "Don't you worry about it, Caleb, some animals just had a bit of fun and ruined my trash cans in the back," She says. "Actually, the footage is what confused me the most. They were rather big."

I can't help but think, could it be the same monsters? Are they after Mrs. Flores too now?

"Can we see?" Lucy jumps in.

Mrs. Flores seems to ponder it for a short second before she nods for us to follow. She leads us to the back room, where there's an old computer, probably from the middle-ages, situated on just as old of a desk.

She bows over it. Clicking a few times with the mouse before a window pops up. She presses play on the video.

Lucy, M, and I all walk closer. Heads near the screen because of the grainy darkness of the video, making it hard to see anything.

Lucy presses a finger to the screen at something moving over in the corner. "Look," She says.

Suddenly a figure jumps on the trashcan, growling, and scratching.

"Poor trash can," Lucy jokes, although she is way too cheerful considering what we're staring at is the same monsters as last night.

It's hard to form out anything in the dark. There are glowing eyes, a shadowy form moving around in the darkness of the night. But other than that, it could be anything. But M and I aren't that easily fooled, not considering our encounter with them last night.

"Has this only happened to you?" I ask her. I have to find out if they're somehow after Mrs. Flores as well.

"Actually," Mrs. Flores starts with a finger on her chin and a thoughtful expression on her face. "Now that you mention it, Lara from down the road also complained about her trash cans being destroyed."

I let out a relieved sigh.

I drag my face across the room to look over at M, who has his arms crossed and a worried frown on his face. Just like him, I don't think we'd fancy having to deal with Mrs. Flores too. To be the reason she's also dragged into this mess. Our mess.

"Well, It must have just been some big and angry cats," I lie.

Although Mrs. Flores agrees with the bop of her head. "It's always the cute-looking ones that cause all the trouble," Mrs. Flores jokes, squeezing the apple of M's cheek before she heads back to the front of the store. With a last glance at the footage. We all follow her back to the front of the store as well.

Lucy drags M over to the disk of ice cream, animatedly pointing at all the different variants as I go over to Mrs. Flores at her front desk.

"Mrs. Flores, be careful, okay," I tell her sincerely. I don't want anything to happen to her. Especially not if it's because of my mess.

Unexpectedly Lucy hops up next to me, wafting the two ice creams in my face with a smile.

"And you guys too, things have been weird lately," She says as I pay up. If just she knew, but I'm not going to comment on that.

We wave our goodbyes as we depart the store. The bell chimes one last time as we leave.

We head back home right away so I can finally charge my phone. Which is the first thing I do when we're finally in the comfort and safety of the house. Afterward, we all slump down on the couch. Both M and Lucy dive into their ice cream instantly.

"So are we just not gonna discuss how we just saw one of those beasts caught on Mrs. Flores's surveillance cameras and that she might be in danger," Lucy breaks the silence.

"From what we know so far, they seem to only be after M and I," I reply. "And it didn't look like Mrs. Flores was the target."

"I agree with Caleb. I don't think Mrs. Flores is in any danger, only her trash cans," M jumps in, licking his fingers free from the ice cream. He's such a clumsy eater. I roll my eyes, taking my thumb and smearing off a little bit of ice cream on his chin.

"Besides, we'll keep her safe as well if we have to," I reply to end Lucy's worry.

Suddenly, my phone buzzes awake. The notifications pop up without a brake. I go over there to see a flood of messages from Tina. Some recent and others from last night. I start to scroll through them all.

[Tina] 23:54: Sorry about how I acted at the party, I was just... Kyle's an asshole!

[Tina] 00:08: I'm home now, and mom is scolding me... so... goodnight see you in school after the weekend is over? You are coming, right?

[Tina] 08:23: Hey Caleb, are you mad at me? BTW I have a massive headache. I'm never going to a party ever again!

[Tina] 10:01: Caleb!!! Please answer me!!!!

[Tina] 16:56: Guess what!!! I have a date tomorrow. I know it is a bit of a surprise, but I talked to him quickly at the party, and he was pretty sweet, and I jumped into him here today at the store, so I guess this is it! I'll tell you more about it later.

[Tina] 16:58: oh btw... Is it normal to go on a date on a Sunday afternoon? Anyway, I'm so excited, you have to meet him, he's so sweet and nothing like Kyle.

"Who is it?" Lucy asks from over at the couch.

I shrug, not really wanting her in my business. "Just Tina," I say.

I write back to her. Telling her to call me when she has time. I think I might need to be filled in on a couple things. Especially the date-thingy. And how out of the blue that is.

I place down my phone. It might take Tina a while to call me back.

"So should we get this training started," I ask.

I'm alive!!!!!! I'm so sorry for the lack of chapters. The good news is that I'm finally back, and I'm on holiday break so no more school for two weeks. I'm also sorry for the poor quality of this chapter but I still hope you'll enjoy :))

-Sofufff