The Pet Shop Helper [G/t]

Chapter Six

          Georgia held her clipboard that had the borrowers names on them, as well as the date they came here.

"Rose...We have twelve borrowers that have been here for more than three months..." She told me. I took the clipboard and covered my mouth. She took a deep breath. "I'll get them into a cage, we don't have any other way to carry them. You'll need to take them to the market..." She told me quietly.

"I can't do it, Georgia." I replied. One or two borrowers I could sneak out. But twelve? I can't do that.

"You can keep the money, Rose. I can't leave the shop and my father fired the only other helper because they stole a borrower from him." Georgia said sadly. I froze.

"He fired them?"

"Yeah. Policy states that if a staff steals even a borrower they can be fired or arrested." She said.

"O-oh..." I swallowed a lump in my throat.
"Luckily I know you won't do that. I know you hate doing this, but please. We'll be shut down if we don't. Don't let Lily know where you're taking them." Georgia gently touched my shoulder and walked towards the oblivious little girl. I took a deep breath, and went into the back room. Twelve borrowers were all sitting in a cage. I couldn't help but have my chest tighten as I looked at them. They looked so terrified, it was heart wrenching. I carefully picked up the cage and left the store. The borrowers cried, and screamed. I looked at the food market, and shut my eyes with a loud sigh.

"I'm such an idiot." I say to myself as I pass the food market. This makes the borrowers go quiet. The a girl speaks up.

"W-what are you doing?" She asked. I kept walking to my house as I spoke.

"I'm taking you to my home." I say calmly. No idea how I'm going to give them all a place to stay, or how I'll keep them all safe, but I'll find a way.

"Are you going to eat us yourself?" A man asked, two children holding on to him.

"No. I'm not that type of giant." I answer, getting closer to my home. I open the door, and lock it behind me. I can hear some of the borrowers sigh, clearly enjoying the warmth. "I happen to have some other borrowers here, just so you know." I told them. I take them upstairs, where Amy and Zachary are playing outside the borrower house. They stop and stare at the carrier cage full of borrowers. Trevor had walked out of the house. And came to a sudden stop.

"Um...Why do you have a cage full of people?" He asked.

"They've been at the shop too long and I'm not going to just sell them as food." I say, setting the cage onto the dresser. "I think I'm going to have to buy a lot of houses if I keep this up." I say with sigh.

"Where the hell are you going to get all that power?" He said.

"I could probably figure it out." I said with a shrug. He scoffed and shook his head.

"Listen, you've got about..." He counted how many borrowers there were. "Twelve borrowers. One nice house can give you four rooms, which can fill eight people if they share rooms. Plus you have full families in there. So four, give or take, houses are not going to fit in this bedroom without getting in the way." He told me.

"Then what do you suggest?" I ask irritably. "Make them sleep on a desk?"

"No. I've looked around that room next to this one. It's got a lot of borrower house outlets in it, and there is chords that have more then one plug on them. Why not just use that room as a place for the houses?"