Page 57 of The Kiss Of Death
One of the women sighed while the other cut in, “Thank you, Lucie. That was very… informative, as always.”
“Oh, you’re welcome,” Lucie replied in a voice that sounded kind of flat, not at all like when she talked about music with me. Just then, another cash register opened up nearby, the beep-beep of the scanner filling the air. “If you’ll excuse me, I don’t really feel like sticking around to chat right now. I just want to go home.”
But the gray-haired lady kind of steered her cart in a way that made it hard for Lucie to leave. “So, Lucie, how’s your son?”
Grandma was busy at the checkout, scanning our groceries, and I couldn’t talk to Lucie because of those women. I knew this was my chance to slip away quietly, so I tiptoed out of the grocery shop and snuck under their radar.
Levi was at the very end of the small parking lot, and I waved hello at him. “Levi!”
He turned around, his brow furrowing as he looked in my direction, although it could have been the sun in his eyes. I rushed over to him, my grin stretching from ear to ear. And to my surprise, he began to move toward me too, not exactly running, but still picking up his pace. Was he happy to see me too? It was just like a movie. The sound of barking dogs echoed behind me, closer and closer, but I kept running.
“Levi, you—”
But before I could finish, he pushed me.
His hand grabbed my arm, pulling me behind him. I tumbled to the ground, my knees screaming in pain as they hit the rough pavement. I glanced over my shoulder to see why he did that, and I saw Levi shielding me from two large dogs bounding on him. One of them bit the arm he raised to protect his face, confusing him with a playmate. My eyes widened in fear—the dogs were nearly as tall as me and so big. Levi remained stoic until they finally calmed down. I’d made the big dogs excited by running, so they started chasing me. Their owner called out to them, and they bounded away, tails wagging.
Levi shot me a dark, unreadable look, his eyes hidden by his tangled locks of hair. His clothes were now dirty from the dogs’ paws, and there was a noticeable mark where one of them had bitten his forearm. He was bleeding.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “I didn’t think, I—”
A sheet of stickers slipped out from under his sweatshirt pocket and landed on the asphalt. Looking closely, I noticed the stickers were shaped like ribbons. Levi’s eyes widened, his cheeks becoming crimson red. Was he embarrassed or angry?
“Was it for me?” I asked, still seated on the ground. “Did you steal this for—”
“Forget it,” he cut me off, his lips downturned, his shoulders tensing.
He talked to me. He finally talked to me again!
“Dalia!” Grandma’s panicked scream echoed through the parking lot, her hurried footsteps causing her to drop her grocery bag near the two gossiping ladies trailing behind her.
“A child shouldn’t be left alone in a parking lot,” one of them chimed in, her gaze fixed on Levi who clenched his hand.
“He tried to hurt my dogs!” The owner of the dogs pointed an accusing finger in Levi’s direction.
“He pushed her,” the kiosk owner added.
“No! He was helping me, and I—” I tried to defend Levi, but my words were lost in the chaos.
Grandma crouched beside me. “Dalia, your knees are bleeding! How am I going to explain this to your father?”
“It’s nothing. I—”
Just then, Lucie emerged from the store, gesturing for Levi to join her.
“She should watch her son,” the one with a moray eel voice spat. “What a terrible mother.”
“Grandma, I just wanted to play with him and—” I pleaded, but Grandma interrupted me with a gentle kiss on my forehead.
I tried to reach for the sheet of ribbon stickers on the ground, but Grandma held my hand firmly as she led me away. Levi bent down to pick them up, and I pleaded with my eyes for him to keep them, hoping he would offer them to me next Wednesday. However, my heart sank as he tossed them into the trash while making his way back to his mother who was already racing to her car.
Our small town looked down on them, glaring like they were demons in need of an exorcism.
It was the end of our secret supermarket adventures. Or of any adventures at all, when Dad heard about my fall. I was too weak for this world and needed protection. But I should be grateful. Every Wednesday, I could still go to Mrs. Delombre’s house. Every Wednesday, I could still feel free.
In the quiet of the library, I blinked away the memories, unaware that my knuckles had tightened around my pen, turning white.
“Something is on your mind,” Levi observed, squinting. “You’re unusually quiet.”
