The Blood of Three

Chapter 2

The sound of my alarm clock woke me. I reached over and turned it off, still groggy and half asleep. I marked off the third of November on my calendar. It had been exactly seven years since my mother's death.

I walked to my closet, grabbed clean clothes and put on a pair of ripped jeans, with a blue flannel over a white T-shirt. I smoothed out the white comforter and turquoise pillows on my bed, then made my way into the kitchen. After turning on the room lights and gathering ingredients to make breakfast, I ended up with two servings of cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.

Around seven a.m., Aunt Meg sat down to join me, dressed for work. "Good morning," I spoke, setting a plate of food in front of her.

"Good morning, Riley." She smiled and quickly took a few bites of her breakfast.

I slipped her a small smile in return and grabbed my empty plate off the table. I placed it in the sink and began rinsing it off with hot water. It was only a few minutes before Meg came around and placed her plate in the sink also.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I'm already late for work." She walked up behind me and placed a soft kiss on my head.

"It's okay," I replied.

"We will do something when I get off," she promised. "Something special."

"Can we visit my mom's grave?" I asked quietly.

She nodded. "Of course. We will leave flowers and everything." She kissed me on my hairline once again, before grabbing her purse off the counter. "I am going to take the bus home today, so you don't need to come pick me up."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Can you go to the store and pick up some groceries today?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Thank you. Goodbye."

"Bye." I transferred my attention back onto the dishes. I was drying off my plate with a dishtowel when I heard the door slam behind me. After I cleaned Aunt Meg's plate, I decided to clean up around the house. I dusted the furniture, mopped the floors and swept all of the rugs.

After a few short hours, the house was clean and all the chores were completed. I decided to take half an hour and finish the book Meg had bought me a few weeks before. It was a book on Greek mythology, telling the stories of all the monsters and the journeys of the heroes.

Before I knew it, I'd read the entire book in a little over thirty minutes. By this time it was around noon and I was getting hungry. I closed the book and walked over to the fridge to check out the options for lunch. Inside, I found old lunch meat and leftover eggs.

I grabbed my wallet and car keys from the counter, figuring now was the best time to go to the store. The drive seemed quieter than normal. On Saturdays, there was usually a lot of traffic, but today the traveling cars were at a minimum. Hating the silence, I turned on the radio.

I drove a few miles and soon made it to my local grocery store. I parked two buildings away in front of a bookstore, so I could browse there afterward.

I walked in the grocery store and found it almost completely empty of people. There were a few small families browsing around, but not many. I found a shopping cart and headed for the aisles containing the items I needed. After half an hour of shopping, I had collected all of the groceries.