Bleeding Heart
by Rikugou
a Sacred Poison ficNotes: Anyone interested in reading parts of this fandom can do so here.
Situation: Someone is sent to the store against their will. Must include psychic phenomena and a tree.
There were many things to be wary of in the world. One of which is to walk into a classroom and have all conversations spontaneously stop in your presence. It was a sign that something very big and nasty was about to happen to you and make you the laughing stock of your entire class (which by the end of the day will be the whole school if you were unlucky enough to have gossip mongers in your homeroom). The other was having your sister being very nice and adorable when the world knows that all 14 year olds are spawns of Hell and you'll be forever thankful when they turn 15.
That is, until they turned 16 and began clamoring for Sweet Sixteen celebrations. But that's beside the point. The point was that his 'sweet' younger sister had knocked politely on his door and in a sickingly honeyed voice, said his name.
Terry didn't even bother to hide his suspicious look. "What d'you want, brat?"
A rebellious look flashed across her face but disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. "Mom wants you," she singsonged and quietly closed the door because their parents had given her a 3 hour long lecture on why not to slam doors and didn't have the urge to listen to it again.
If it was one thing about their family that was different from most is that their parents didn't believe in corporal punishment. Terry was of the opinion that his father was a follower of 'lecture until their eardrums began to go on strike' in order to prevent them from doing anything stupid.
He contemplated the thought for a moment before lethargically getting off his bed and absently put his laptop on standby. If his hunch was correct, whatever his mother had him doing would take him away from his computer for awhile. Terry looked out the window and at the heavy sheets of rain hitting against the glass. There was no way she was sending him out in that storm so it had to be laundry or something. Or maybe dishes?
He tried to remember if there were any bowls or plates or bowls left in the sink before he walked out of his room and down the stairs.
***
"You gotta be kidding me." Unamused.
"Your father is stuck in traffic and won't be home for at least 2 hours. What am I going to do about dinner until then?" his mother said in exasperation.
"But--!" he protested.
"It'll only take you 30 minutes to get to the supermarket and back."
"In pouring rain! You don't hear the meowing and barking?!"
"Do you want to eat tonight?" Sternly.
Terry looked at his mother standing by the kitchen counter, hands on her hips complete with stormy expression. It practically screamed, 'Say another word and I'll make your life a living hell'. He sighed in defeat and slunk off to get dressed, grabbing the list of food along the way. He had wanted to offer to order pay for take-out but he'd probably get a slipper tossed at him for the remark. It wouldn't hurt, but it would make his mother irritable and he'd rather not do that.
He pulled on a pair of cargo pants along with a sweatshirt and light jacket. Making sure that the cuffs of his pants didn't drag, he ran down the stairs with his umbrella, ignoring his gleefully snickering sister and emerged into the cold and windy and wet and cold and windy outdoors.
God he hated rain. Logically, he knew that rain was required for all living beings to exist. He just wished it didn't rain where he was. It wasn't too much to ask for was it?
He depressed the button on his umbrella, causing it to open in a dramatic 'whoosh' and stepped fully into the rain. Terry slogged through and around the puddles, walking as briskly as he could. The supermarket was a measley 4 blocks away but it was a journey and a half in sheets of rain so it was an extraordinarily horrible trek. Tilting his umbrella in the direction of the rainfall, he concentrated on avoiding the puddles--a rather taxing feat considering that most of the street seemed flooded.
Terry sidestepped a pile of bundled up tree trunks and branches and continued on his way. In this weather, the street was practically empty with a select few that were unlucky enough to have been caught outside without an umbrella. Hitting the main street, he turned right to walk the remaining 3 blocks to the supermarket. However, the moment he reached the corner, something crashed into him and sent Terry to the ground.
The rain had him soaked in seconds. "Watch where you're going dammit!" He angrily pushed the person off him and grabbed his umbrella. Terry heard a sniffle but he began to walk away.
Another sniffle. He shuffled half a step further. When he heard a third sniffle, he sighed and turned back to the person who crashed into him. Terry gave a mental kick to his conscience when his heart gave him a painful twinge at the sight of the child still sitting on the sidewalk in the rain.
He seriously needed to kill his bleeding heart. Like today. Right now even.
Terry crouched down to the kid's level and held the umbrella over the both of them. "Hey kid, what's the matter? Where are your parents?"
The sobbing child let out a nearly ear piercing wail and launched himself at him, clutching at his shirt and shivering from the cold. Hazel eyes widened in surprise as he landed on his ass for the second time in 5 minutes. Lap full of crying child, he awkwardly wrapped his arms around the kid and tried to comfort them.
The black haired teen patted the child on the back and tried to calm them down. Taking a closer look at the kid, he finally determined that it was a boy, a rather young boy too. Couldn't be more than 4 or 5 years old. Cute too with a page boy haircut and a pair of big blue eyes. However, it bothered him that the kid was wearing no more than a thin t-shirt and jeans. Jeez, what was the world coming to that parents would let kids out by themselves in this kind of weather with so little.
"Hey, it's alright. Please stop crying," Terry squeaked. He was seriously out of his depth. Sure, he was the oldest out of his cousins and what not, but he was a kid himself back then so he never had to deal with them crying. Not much at least.
"I want...my momma!!" the boy cried brokenly.
"Uh, do you know where she is?" he asked. The face buried in his sweater turned from side to side. "Um, let's get to somewhere warmer okay?"
Not waiting for an answer, he slowly got up, grimacing at his wet pants. He was going to be in seriously need of a shower when he got home. A hot shower.
Not knowing what to do with the kid, he carried him to the supermarket.
***
Terry greeted the heated and dry atmosphere of the store with a sigh. He had managed to get a name out of the kid--Zack of no determinable last name, but not much more than that. Having no choice but to have the kid along for his grocery run, he procured a cart to carry the food in. He ignored the strange looks he got from the other shoppers and glared when their whispers got a tad too loud.
Eventually the kid stopped crying and asked to be put down. Bemused and thankful the boy wasn't clinging anymore, Terry let the boy tag along. They went up and down the aisles together, Zack being helpful and finding the things he needed. It was actually made quicker by having him along. While waiting on line, Terry snagged a lollipop on the display and paid for it with the rest of the food.
"Hey Zack, it's time to go. We need to find your parents," he murmured. He grabbed the bags and tried to figure out how he was going to hold the boy when he had so much to carry.
The little blonde boy made the decision for him when he ran out the exit. Not having a choice but to follow, he quickly followed Zack out the door.
"Zack!" cried a female voice. Terry blinked, his eyes strangely refusing to focus properly.
"Momma!" Zack shouted. Little legs ran full tilt towards the open arms of a pretty blonde woman. A tall, dark haired man stood next to her and hugged them both.
"We were looking all over for you, squirt!" the man said fondly.
"'M sorry. Got lost," Zack said in a muffled voice.
"I found him wandering around," Terry offered, stopping just short of wincing as he broke the touching scene.
Zack's parents looked up at him and smiled gratefully. "Thank you for taking care of him," the father said.
"No problem," he smiled. "He helped me get my shopping done faster."
"We should get going now," the mother said reluctantly.
"But I wanted to play with Terry some more!" Zack whined slightly.
"It's getting late and I'm sure Terry has to go home," she said.
"Awww, fooey." Zack got out of his parents embrace and pouted petulantly.
"Say goodbye to Terry."
"Alright." Zack ran over to Terry and gave him a hug. "I had fun."
"I had fun too," Terry said and affectionately ruffled the boy's hair. The kid squawked in indignation but grinned up at him anyway.
"Bye bye!" Zack chirped as he ran towards his parents.
Terry raised his hand and waved back, settling the groceries to a more stable position. He watched the happy family walk away and smiled. Turning towards home, he glanced once more in Zack's direction only to blink in shock as he watched them slowly fade away the further the family of 3 walked.
"What the--?!" He nearly let go of his bags but fast reflexes made sure he caught them before they hit the ground. Terry watched, open mouthed as Zack and his parents disappeared entirely. He stood there, motionless, staring uncomprehendingly.
Above him, the clouds began to clear as the rain tapered off and stopped entirely. The sun broke through the former screen of dark clouds and shone merrily down.
His cell phone began buzzing angrily at him and knocked Terry out of his mindless staring at the sidewalk. Juggling groceries and umbrella, he answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Where are you? You should have been home 15 minutes ago," his mom's tinny voice rang.
He looked at his watch, surprised to see so much time had passed. "Uh, sorry. I'm on my way back."
"Alright then. I'll be waiting." They said their goodbyes and hung up. Shoving his cell back onto its clip, he began to walk home. What was he doing standing there anyway?
Shrugging the feeling of forgetting something, he turned down the block to his house. It was such a nice day out.
-END-
Comments? Criticisms?
--Rikugou
Finished: 10.23.04
Editted: 10.24.04