Grumbo: One Shot

Heartless

Walking through the streets of the freshly woken city I held my head high pushing my hands deep into my pockets. My shoulders where raised tensely as I tried hard not to draw any attention to myself. Although my head was high, I felt utterly invisible in the cool air and I liked it that way. I avoided fleets of morning people doing morning people thinks like the wind, and they chatted and laughed passing me by. They where caught up in time... time that didn't include me and time that I didn't want to be a part of. I don't understand how someone could be a morning person unless they where being forced too.

"Oliver, wake up. Just cause there's no school doesn't mean you can stay in bed all weekend." I'm reminded of mum pounding on my door at seven am. She's a morning person, I'd bet a million pounds. I wonder who's black mailing her. 

Now I'm outside at ten am trying really hard to figure out why I'm on the streets of Newton when I could be in bed. The shame was that I knew why I was here, mum was expecting me back with milk. She gave me 10 pounds and a stern talking to, "Now Oli, I need you to pick up one carton of milk and four eggs." I starred at her blankly I'm sure. Yeah sure mom I got it, I don't have amnesia and I'm not a child, you don't have to shout about it. "Okay, now repeat it to me carefully..." I huffed in great frustration and got out of the house as quickly as I could.

Looking both ways before crossing the road and as I lifted my foot to step onto the pedestrian crossing I felt a tug of force on my sweatshirt. I tittered on one foot, fate deciding weather to let me tip over the edge and fall. But I feel fate wasn't in charge here. A much greater force had yet to unleash itself, at least that's what the hairs on the back of my neck were telling me.

My wildly flailing arms tried to balance my weight but I began to fall backwards. A strong hand grasped my elbow and steadied me with one fluid motion. I flipped around to glare at the fool who almost caused me to face plant into the cross walk.

He sat far away from most other students, especially the ones not like him. Next to the popular kids some would say and just lump him in but he was very different. He doesn't seem to fit in any where. For all I knew he didn't talk much if at all and I've never seen him smile. 

He was smiling at me now and I didn't know how to feel about it. "You're Mumbo am I right?" He asked with a stupidly coy smirk on his face and I'm sure I've missed the light by now. As I was trapped here my options where limited, I guess I'll make a new friend today if this doesn't end as horribly at I imagine it will, please and thank you. After that quick prayer I smile slightly, trying to be polite. "My name is Oliver, m-most people at school call me Oliver." I starred at the boy, my head tilted as I took him in, he was around my age and he wore glasses over his lively blue eyes and a knitted jumper with a button up underneath and some black jeans that complemented his black shoes. I've never seen him where normal clothes before, his golden boy persona always seems to shine through anything he does and apparently that included pushing strangers into the road.

"You dropped this..." his eyes where colder as he shoved ten pounds into my already extending hands, my hand met his mid way before I recoiled.

"That isn't mine." 

The irritating smirk never faltered and he raised an eyebrow as if he we're questioning me. I hadn't taken my hands out of my pockets until now so it couldn't have fallen out before that, and now he had me questioning myself. I dug through the pockets of my over coat and found nothing.

"Oh, it isn't? I could have sworn it fell from you." My patience ran thin naturally and I wanted to understand the game desperately, what was his angle?

"What did you say your name was?" I ran a hand through my hair, a self soothing method that would distract me and hopefully deliver me from this evil.