This Story Doesn't Have a Title and That's Okay

Starting Out

Gray clouds covered the sky and the smell of rain filled the air, causing floods to begin falling from the sky. The fluorescent green from the 50/50 Factory Outlet store called our names and asked us to enter with the money that our employers so graciously gave us.
    "Hi, am I able to help you with anything?" A voice from the back muttered. We turned to face the pink-haired and yellow-toothed woman, smiling as if she actually wanted to be in her current situation.
    I looked at Courtney and Kyra, and they looked back at me, waiting for me to speak.
    "Um, yeah, actually," I began. "We were wondering if you guys had jumbo helium tanks? Like the ones for birthday parties, but like the really big ones."
    "Yeah, the ones that come with balloons!" Courtney added in.
    "Yep! Those are going to be in aisle nine, and near the back. Just follow the balloons overhead, and you should see them on the top shelf. If you need anything else, just let me know, and my name is Carla!" She said, more perky than I could ever imagine being at five o'clock on a Friday.
    Aisles were piled high with hundreds of shapes, colors, and sizes of both latex and latex free balloons. Further down the aisle were colorful blobs of childhood favorites like Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, and even some older ones such as Blue's Clues. The store was packed, considering the time of day and decor offered, but that didn't bother me, Courtney nor Kyra. The three of us searched through the aisle looking for large purple and pink boxes, laced with hot pink tanks filled to their brims with specially made, light air. Tens of boxes were stacked neatly as if no one has ever bought one before and their shiny and glossy gleam brought our ideas to life.
    "Found them!" Shouted Kyra, standing in aisle ten.
    "She said they'd be in nine! What a bit-" I was stopped by Courtney hitting my arm.
    "Let her live!" She frowned at me.
    The boxes were lighter than we previously imagined.
    "Okay, it says that they can blow up one hundred of the 9-inch balloons, and if there's fifty balloons per box, we're gonna need another hundred balloons. So, who's buying them?" She asked, backing away from the boxes.
    "I'm spending my hard-earned money on the tanks, and Kyra said she'd buy lunch, so Courtney, I think it's only fair that you buy the $15 bag of balloons." I said, pointing at the choices.
    The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with balloons acting as groups and individualists to fill bins and bags with colors and sizes gallor. Knowing that we only needed the largest bag possible, we still took the time to look at the ones by themselves. This included: donut balloons, heart balloons, and even pre made balloon animals. Though none of them were needed, the cart slowly filled with pigments and textures that totalled more than our full budget.
    "Put. It. Back." I said sternly, both of the girls quaking.
    "Who cares? You're not paying for them!" Courtney disputed.
    "There isn't enough helium for all of these damn balloons! Put some back!" I argued, pointing at the shelves.
    With the two girls putting balloons back, I hoisted my arms above the shelving units to grab the two boxes of tanks, and placed them carefully in the cart.
    "Court, what are your parents going to say about this?" I asked her, praying her answer wouldn't be too negative.
    "They're going to be in Mexico for the week, that's why we're doing this at my house!" She says, explaining what I forgot. With the newly found bag of balloons compiled and sitting gently on the top of the helium boxes, we found our way to the check out registers.
    "Is there anything else that I can help you girls find?" The same pink-haired lady asked us.
    "Uh, nope, I think we should be good to go!" I said, using the fakest customer service voice I know of.
    "Alright, well can I see your ID for the helium?" She asked me, before remembering this was why everyone came to the store in the first place, I panicked.
    "I, uh," I stuttered. Kyra came to the rescue with her wallet in hand. "I have mine." She smiled.
    "Give me your card and I'll just pretend it's my purchase," Kyra whispered in my ear. I nodded and pulled out my yellow, plastic card and handed it over. The lady, clearly knowing the little game we were playing with her, smirked and swiped the card into the slot.
    "Alright, I'll just need your signature here and you guys will be good to go!" She said, just wanting us to leave her store. Kyra signed the slip, and with us both holding the tanks, Courtney grabbed the balloons and we got in our respective cars.
    The ride to Noodles & Company was uneventful and boring as usual. It took all of four minutes to get there, so there was no point in getting too comfortable with the radio and our seat heaters. The building was normally the most comforting shade of shale that you could imagine, but as the winter months continued, the building became more and more white due to the mixture of snow and salt debris. The rumble of my small Oldsmobile Bravada shook the pathway into the parking spots and Courtney's Honda Pilot followed closely behind.
     Noodles & Company was one of the more homely smells that I can remember. Between the scent of the most sit-down kind of fast food you can imagine, and the friendly waitstaff that have become like a close family to me over the years, I am always welcomed back with smiles.
    "Hi, what can I get for you?" We were asked. The orders were lengthy as normally, with the occasional "no mushrooms" or "extra sprouts" being asked for.
    "Alright, so your total is gonna be $25.76, and was that for here or to go?" The kind man asked us.
    "For here!" We all answered in unison.
The skies outside were beginning to look more gray by the hour. With the cold swirls of gray and blue tie-dying and mixing with the lightest shades of purple and black, it looked like the most standard Wisconsin snow storm. It was only 4:30pm by this time, and the blinds in the restaurant were able to be put up due to the darkness of the skies.
    "Do you think this is gonna get too bad?" I asked Courtney.
    "I mean, it'll probably be pretty bad, but my parents are meeting each other at the airport, so the garage will be empty. You guys can just park in their spots." She said, shrugging her shoulders. It's not that I was afraid of storms, because I wasn't. I was never really afraid of anything. I mean, I had a tattoo appointment set, I had ten piercings at the time, my sister had raised snakes for most of my life, and so I was never really conventionally scared of anything, except for maybe spiders, of course. The thought of a snow storm was nothing new for me, either. I mean, obviously, I've lived in The Northwoods for almost all of my life, so there was no point in being afraid of a little snow storm.
    "Yea, I guess you're right." I said, convincing myself there was nothing to worry about.
    "Also, I live in the middle of nowhere! It's not like anyone can get to my house even if there wasn't a storm coming. It's super safe at my house, and you've been there a billion times. It's whatever. The fact that my parents and sisters are gonna be gone is just the icing on the cake." She says smiling to her pasta.
    "Wait, where the hell are your sisters going?" Kyra asked, absolutely flabbergasted.
    "Oh, they're going to Florida. We have family there and my mom was convinced we would probably kill each other if they were left here, so they're leaving and it's just me and the boys." She says, leaning back in her chair, nearly falling off of it.
    "Wait, let me get this straight... So, your parents left you at home with your two brothers, who just so happen to be ages four and two, while they go to Mexico and your two equal-in-age sisters go to Florida?" She asked, while both her and my eyes were wide and our mouths were fly traps.
    "Yep! Isn't it like she has no care for our general wellbeing?" Courtney asked with a smile.
    "Your life is so screwed up! And your grandparents just moved! If something happens, you're absolutely screwed!" I said, progressively getting louder in the middle of the restaurant.
The end of the conversation brought us just enough time to finish our food and discuss our future plans. On a day like this Target was the only store that was on our minds, and knowing we didn't have school for the next week gave the most immense shock of joy we've felt in our lives.
    "Okay, so I'll meet you at Target, and I'm gonna park on the grocery side." I said, looking at Courtney in the eyes to make sure that she didn't forget.
    "Yea, I know, we do that every time. It's like our entire lives are just one giant routine and nothing changes." Courtney replies, walking away from me and to her car.
    "Hey, eff you!" Kyra yells to her through the parking lot, in the most joking voice possible. Even though they were new friends, they got along like they've known each other forever. I'm still the mediator, and I probably will be for a long time, but I'm okay with it. I've always thought that it was incredibly important to have a couple of good friends that can get you through anything and that can understand you from anything that has happened. I had known Kyra for twelve years at the time, and Courtney for seven. They've always been my friends, but we each drifted a apart for different amounts of time.
    Courtney and I were great friends in middle school, but I didn't really talk to her until the last semester of my junior year, then we were inseparable. Kyra and I, on the other hand, were close acquaintances in elementary, and in middle school we talked occasionally. In high school, though, we became best friends again. Since then, we haven't been able to stay away from each other.
    These girls are still some of the most important people in my life, and I'd do anything to make our friendships last for the rest of our lives.
    At Target, we become the closest three people you could find. The store creates new personalities for us and gives us an intoxicated and unearthly high that will last until we leave. The only thing needed to start it is just one sip of an in-house Starbucks drink, and we're hooked.
    "Okay, so snacks and pizza for tonight will be supplied by none other than Tiffany Michaud, and if we want anything else, she said to put it on the card, and then-," Courtney was cut off by the standard Marimba ringtone that all iPhone users know so well.
    "Hey, Mom..." Courtney answered.
    "Damn, it's like she knew we were talking about her, my God." Kyra said in disbelief.
    "Wait, what?" Courtney asked, clearly shocked. Kyra and I put our ears right next to Courtney's head in hopes of hearing the conversation.
    "Sorry for not telling you earlier, honey, we just wanted to give you a break. We know how much you do for the family and we wanted this to be just as much of a break for you as it will be for us!" Tiffany said through the phone.
    "So the boys are going to your sister's house with the girls?" She questioned.
    "Yea, they asked if they would! They haven't seen them since Henry was born, and they wanted to, plus, they offered to buy their plane tickets, so how could I say no? This is okay with you, right? I trust that you'll make good decisions and I don't mind if Kyra and Ashley stay with you!" She said.
    "She's gotta be high, I don't know on what, but she can't be sober saying this!" I said, absolutely amazed about her sudden turn of heart.
    "Yea, I mean that's fine!" Courtney said, smiling like crazy.
    "Alright! Well, we're going to leave early, at like 6, and um, if you need anything when we're gone, just put it on the card, and we love you so much sweetie! Oh, and tell the girls we love them too!" We heard Tiffany laugh from the phone and we had no idea how to react.
    "Oh-Okay, love you, too, okay, bye, Mom." Courtney said, slamming the "end call" button.
    "Holy. Shit. The whole week to yourself, and no work, either?" I asked, extremely happy for her.
    "Okay, well, let's get some grocery stuff, and then we can go back to my house! Oh, and we still need to go to the pet store for the harness, don't we?" Courtney said, coming down from her own personal high.
    The cart was slowly filling up with crackers, ice cream, pizzas, macaroni and cheese from the box, and every other no-prep food item that the store sold. There were waters and sodas and juices in the cart, as well as some random items that any of us may need. We, once more, got in our respective cars.
    "Okay, I'll meet you at Tropic Waters, and we'll get the harness, and we're probably going to need to get some treats, otherwise Bart is gonna freak." I told myself, but out loud.
    The swirls of the carbon-tinted clouds adjusted while circling over the light of the street lamps to pave the way to your vehicle. Cars were locked and the keys were buried in my purse. As I dug through the purse to find the jingling and shiny lanyard, I fingered through about three empty gum packages. The gum was my standard, Extra Polar Ice, and it reminded me of the small bits of blue that were trying to poke through the dark gray sky.
    The keys in my bag were jingling yet I still could not find them. Digging until I hit the bottom of the bag, I finally rose my hand to the top with the keys in hand.
    "Oh my, God, I finally found them!" I yelled to the other side of the car.
    "Jesus, it only took you a hundred years. Can we please get in? It's getting colder every freaking second!" Kyra growled, yanking of the door handle.
    "Damn, okay, can you give me a minute?" I growled back at her. The key slid itself into the lock and I turned it slightly to the right. The car door shook and allowed me to open it up once the key was taken out. I pressed the unlock feature on the inside of the door and Kyra nearly broke the door off of its hinge.
    "Finally!" She breathed, her breath showing itself in the air.
    I maneuvered the key into the ignition and turned it two clicks forward and held it for a second. The rumble of the engine and the violent purr of the brittle, metal parts signalled to me that the car was ready to be driven. With Kyra in charge of the heater, I plugged my phone into the auxiliary cord and pressed play on the Spotify app. Lyrics from Frank Ocean blared through the speakers and the car rattled more than it originally was.
    Moving ourselves onto the bumpy road caused the car to jolt and feel as if the tires were going to break off and fly behind us.
    "Jesus, are they ever going to fix this road? This entire state's Department of Transportation is completely messed up." Kyra said, more to herself than anyone else.
    "Don't even bother asking yourself stupid questions. You know they won't fix anything until all of the bureaucratic Republicans get their salaries paid." I said, rolling my eyes.
    The short jaunt to Tropic Waters did nothing but create anger in the eyes of drivers. The roads, between the snow-filled potholes and salt damage, were absolutely terrible this time of year, and the skies were getting just dark enough where people who should be using their lights, obviously, were not. The parking lot, however, felt like it was newly paved and the lines were brighter than the sky had been all day.
Choosing a parking spot near the front of the store was the easiest choice I could have been asked to make.
    "Don't forget to grab your jacket, it's going to be colder every minute we're in there." I told Kyra, who was searching for Courtney in her car.
    "Okay, but where is that girl?" She asked, again, talking to herself.
    "Probably waiting for us inside because it's freaking cold out." I said, shaking my head. The phone on the cord in the front of my car started to vibrate violently and glowed with the words          "Courtney Michaud is calling..." on the screen.
    "Answer it!" Kyra shouted at me, enthusiastically.
    "Hey, where are you?" I questioned.
    "Oh, my freaking God, I'm so pissed right now. I was on my way there and I was on the highway and my entire damn tire popped and so I'm on the side of the road waiting for AAA to come out here!" She said, yelling louder than she needed to.
    "Oh, my God! Should we come over to you?" I asked her, hoping she was okay.
    "No, it's fine, just go inside and get a harness and I can pay you back. I'll meet you guys there when the guy gets here. Damn it, why does this type of thing always happen to me?" She cried through the phone.
    "Okay, call one of us if you need anything. We love you, please be careful!" I spoke to her.
    "Yea, we love you!" Kyra yelled over me.
    "Love you guys too, thanks, I will. I'll talk to you in like twenty minutes or so," She ended the phone call directly after, and Kyra and I looked at each other.
    "That was really weird," Kyra said, looking like she didn't know what to do. I nodded my head and started to walk inside the building.
    The entire place smelled like rabbit food and pig ears. From wall to wall there were large piles and large shelves filled with toys, clothes, and foods. On one side of the store was entirely fish and other aquatic and amphibious animals, while the opposite was rabbits, birds, and gerbils. Nothing in the store was quiet, including the tens of screaming children and the parents who didn't care at all what their children were doing. The workers desperately tried to argue with the parents on why their Little Suzy wasn't able to reach into the hamster enclosure and pull them out by their hairs. The entire scene was absolutely horrifying.
    "Can we please get the harness so I can avoid having a panic attack?" Kyra asked me.
    "Yea, please," I agreed.
    Harnesses covered the wall and ranged from sizes that would be able to fit a rat to ones that could fit extremely large dogs.
    "You've got to be kidding me! Not that I care, because, like, gender roles are stupid and he's a cat, but the only freaking harness in his size is pink. Like, bright pink. This is incredible for me, but I don't know if Courtney is going to like this." Kyra said, shaking her head and holding the harness in her hands.
    "I'm going to be honest, here," I started.    "Courtney isn't going to give a shit at all. She literally will not care. If anything, she's going to think it's the funniest thing in the world."
    "I guess so." Kyra said.
    The topic was dropped and the job was done. As we wandered through the store, not knowing what to do for the next fifteen minutes, we stumbled upon a prized treasure. In the corner of the store, a golden embodiment with a white face and the most gorgeous chocolate eyes ever discovered was sitting on a bed that housed embroidered letters spelling out "RUBY". It was as if a separate entity was pushing us towards the animal.
    "Hi, sweet girl!" I whispered, too amazed to say anything more.
    Ruby, now wagging her long, hairy tail, looked as though she knew that she had every employee in the store wrapped around her paw.
    "Wow, she's up?" A voice behind us said. "She normally sleeps all day when there's a storm rolling in. Didn't think we'd even get to see her stand today." The employee, whose name tag said "Bill", spoke to himself. Our heads shot towards the door when we all heard the now familiar ringing of the bells. Courtney sprinted her way towards the back of the store where we sat.
    "We have to go!" She said, gasping for air.
    "What? Why? What is your problem?" I asked, grabbing her shoulders and trying to calm her down.
    "The storm sirens... they're bad... we're under attack... We have to go, now." She said, in between her short gasps for air.
We both looked at her, blank faces. Knowing about the brink of war our country has been on for the past few years, due to a certain presidency, joking about something like this was just as bad as joking about suicide, or about school shooters.
    "Courtney, shut up," Kyra said, before I could even finish my thought.
    "Yea, don't joke about shit like that, do you want to start a ruckus? You wouldn't yell "Fire!" in a busy room, would you?" I questioned.
    "I swear to God, like, on Bart's life. Okay, well, maybe not a war, but I was listening to the radio, and then the storm sirens turned into those cover sirens, and the radio said that lights have been spotted over head, and that these, these, these things keep falling from the sky-" Before she could finish her statement we heard them. The sirens. Every person and animal in the entire store fell silent. The doors and windows began to shake, break, and open, and the howling of the sudden wind began to scream through the now-open crevices.
    "Holy shit! What do we do?" I said, shaking while waiting for the answer. Cars were zooming past the establishment and Courtney thought it was best if we did the same.
    "We should go," Courtney said, trying not to cry. "Meet me at my house and get there as soon as you can!"
    The intimidating weather and newfound news about our country's current state was not going to be enough to stop the three of us from having a good time with Bart. While we piled into our respective cars, the weather got worse. Hail the size of golf balls and lightning strong enough to burst large pine trees startled the midwest.
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