Their Lies

Chapter 2

Goulcrest, Pennsylvania

“Oof,” Alexis panted. They ran for an hour straight, they were now in the next town, Goulcrest. Devin was covered in blood, Alexis’ leg ached and they had nowhere to go. The girls were terrified and hungry. Devin took Alexis’ jacket and put it on to cover up all of Simba’s blood.
“Where are we going to go?” Alexis asked as she made sure not to let Devin see the deep gash in her leg. They didn’t need anything more to worry about.
“Why don’t we go get food and new clothes, how much money do you have?” Devin questioned, pointing at the Walmart down the block. Alexis pulled out her phone and looked at the money in her phone case.
“Not enough for food, water, clothes, and a ride out of here,” Alexis responded. They stood there for a while, trying to think. “I have an idea, what if we went to the dollar store,” Alexis said  pointing at the dollar store in the outlet with the Walmart, “and steal just enough cash to get by for a few days.” Devin looked at her as if she were about to interject, but she couldn’t think of any better options. Alexis smiled and they ran down to the dollar store.

Before they got in, they went over the plan once more. “So, you go into the bathroom, I look around. Stay in there for just ten seconds and quickly stuff the toilet with toilet paper. Come back and say, ‘somebody clogged the toilet’ to the clerk. There are never many people working here so hopefully,  nobody will notice me steal some cash from the register,” Alexis cackled. They walked into the store, trying not to look guilty.
“I’m gonna use the bathroom real quick,” Devin said as she walked into the bathroom. Alexis started to look around the store. She saw a pair of scissors and thought about hairstyles. She quickly snatched the scissors and continued looking around. As she turned into the next isle she ran into Chris.
“What the heck are you doing here?!” Alexis hissed, “Why are you in Goulcrest?”
“Well…” he muttered, “because I’m black” He beamed. “The real question is, why are you of all people skipping? Where is Devin?”
“Chris why are you really here? You can’t say ‘because I’m black’ to everything,” Alexis said.
“I ran away. I was bored.”
Devin burst out of the bathroom and ran up to the clerk. She had been in there for well over ten seconds.
“Sir,” she cajoled, “I was about to use the bathroom when I noticed the toilet was FILLED with toilet paper. I tried to flush it but it just made it worse. It must've been some rowdy hooligans. I’ll tell you, kids, these days,” Devin concluded. Alexis smiled and rolled her eyes at Devin.
“Ah shoot,” the clerk hissed. He ran over to the bathroom, which had water spilling through the doorway.
“You are SO dramatic,” Alexis grinned as Devin followed the clerk into the bathroom. While Devin skipped into the bathroom, Alexis went over to the register. There was a camera, but she assumed they’d be out of town before anyone looked at the footage. She took $150 and stuffed it into her pocket. “Devin’s here,” Alexis smirked. Chris looked at Alexis in amazement. Alexis walked over to see how Devin was doing.
“You’re doing great dude,” Devin said to the clerk. She “tripped” and flushed the handle of the toilet again. “Oops. Sorry there’s just, like, SO much water in here and I like tripped, you know?” Devin provoked. The toilet overflowed with water once again, the water was now flowing into the store.
“You know, you kids should get home, I can handle this myself,” the worker gritted. Devin shrugged and turned around, running into Chris in the doorway.
“Oh, you’re here. Why?” she whispered.
“I ran away. I was kinda bored so I thought I’d mix things up a little bit,” Chris said.
“Did you bring any stuff?” Alexis asked while they walked out of the dollar store. Chris walked up to a crate next to the door with a note on top that read “do not take.” Chris turned the crate around and inside there was his phone, a bag of chips, and a pair of clothes, and his black cat Mu Mu.
“You ran away and you brought your cat?!” Alexis barked.
“He’s the most important thing I own,” he remarked.
“Chris that’s one more mouth to feed!” Alexis yelled.
“Wait, so I can come with you? You’re leaving life too, right?”
“Ugh! Yes, fine. You can come with us, but as soon as you find somewhere to go, you’re out.”  The three walked into the Walmart next door.
“We, you especially, need new clothes. Pick something you wouldn’t normally wear,” Alexis told Devin. Devin knoded and they looked for some clothes. Devin picked out some black sweatpants, a dark green sweatshirt, and a dark yellow shirt. She usually wore a bright shirt and jeans, so this was a little different. Alexis on the other hand actually had a sense of style and wore nice clothes. She picked out a red sweatshirt and some grey sweatpants. Chris asked for money, but Alexis told him he could steal his own.
After purchasing the clothes and food, the girls went into the bathroom and changed. Chris waited outside and played with Mu Mu.
“Can you cut my hair and give me bangs,” Alexis asked Devin.
“I think I can do that,” Devin guessed. Alexis handed her the scissors and Devin managed to give Alexis a decent haircut. They got a few weird looks as people used the bathroom. Devin often did her hair and other’s hair in her freetime. Her father was a hairstylist and had taught Devin some tricks.
“What are you going to do to your hair,” Alexis asked. Devin thought about it and said, “I guess I’ll do a braided bun, I never really wear my hair up.” Alexis found some fake glasses to wear while they shopped, so she put them on. Devin already wore glasses, but could barely see without them.  They left the bathroom and saw Chris staring with wide eyes at the opposite end of the store. The crate was empty.
“Chris, where is Mu Mu?” Alexis hissed. Chris looked around frantically.
“Well I was playing with him, not in a weird way, and he just,” Chris swiped his hand through the air, “zoom.”
“Well we gotta go look for him! That cat could be anywhere and it’s the only thing Chris brought so he must be important,” Devin declared.
“I don’t even know how he ran so fast since he’s so fricken fat. He weighs like 500 pounds!” Chris ranted.  The three walked through the isles searching for Mu Mu.
“Mu Mu,” Chris whispered, “get your little booty over here or else I’m gonna throw you in a blender.”
    “Woah there Chris, don’t get too overwhelmed,” Alexis smirked.
    “There!” Devin said pointing to a black blob in the pillow section. His big green eyes stared at the three friends. Chris ran up to Mu Mu, but an old lady picked him up before he could. She thought he was a pillow.  Chris started to laugh hysterically; Alexis slapped him.
“We have to get him back somehow without triggering the old lady,” Devin demanded.
“I have an idea. I’ll grab another black silky pillow and bribe her to give me Mu Mu for the real pillow,” Alexis said. She looked at Chris. He was still laughing.
“Okay, I’ll go get your stupid cat.” Alexis grabbed another black pillow and walked up to the old lady.
“Excuse me ma’am, I noticed that pillow you grabbed has two greenish yellow stains on it,
and you never know what it could be,” Alexis advised with a huge grin.
“No, no, those are jewels, I like the jewels, they match my living room,” the old woman said. Mu Mu was sleeping in the cart, he could care less. Alexis looked over to Devin who shrugged and Chris who was still giggling.
“Well, can I trade pillows?” Alexis asked.
“No, I quite like this one.”
“But...I need it,” Alexis pleaded.
“No, go away young lady or I will tell the manager about this and have you reported for harassing the elderly!” She remarked.
“Okay listen here you old hag, I need that pillow or else my friend over there is going to have a mental break down!” Alexis hollered.
“My! You are not getting away with this, and they both look quite fine!” the woman pointed out. Chris was on the floor, dying of laughter, Devin couldn’t help it, she burst out in laughter, too.
“Okay, that’s it!” Alexis roared. She snached Mu Mu out of the lady’s hands, the woman falling to the floor from the force of the ‘pillow’ being pulled away. She ran and threw Mu Mu into Chris’ arms, Chris barely being able to run. They quickly made their way to a back exit and ran until they found an alleyway that was partially hidden. They could spend the night there. Alexis set up the sleeping bags they had bought.
“Wait where is mine?” Chris asked. Alexis pointed to the dumpster. Devin started to laugh.
“You should’ve brought one instead of that cat,” Alexis retorted.
“Fine. I’ll just sleep with Mu Mu. He’s better than you barbarians.”
“Ugh,” Alexis groaned, “I just want to go home and hug Boo Boo. My parents probably won’t even care enough to feed him.” She laid down and got out the little rotisserie chicken they bought.
“Hey, don’t think like that. You know, I think Boo Boo will be fine,” Devin lied. She laid in the second sleeping bag.
“What about us? Will we be fine?” Alexis asked. Devin thought about it for a moment.
“You know,” she started, “I have a grandma who lives in southern Canada. We can travel up New York and make it to Canada. We’ll be away from American government and my grandma is super nice.”
“Okay. We’ll do that then,” Alexis compromised. “But for now, let’s just eat and sleep.”