Page 38 of Poison

My feet move, leading me further into the shopping centre. I’m sick and tired of not being in control of my own life. So what? A random guy knew my name, does that mean the end of days is coming? Maybe not, there could be a reasonable explanation to this, he could be checking on me after the memory wipe. Because if I know one thing about Belladonna Draken, she doesn’t like uncertainty.

I spot a sign saying food court, my stomach rumbling loudly at the idea of having something other than the crap my aunt had me eating. She has been on a massive health food vibe, since I’ve lived with her. She did tell me a few years ago that the mix of looking after her body and the spells are what keep her young and looking like she does.

I breathe in deeply as the smell of a cheeseburger invades my nose. My mouth waters and I lean towards the scents, my eyes landing on a section of the food court that has a picture of a cheeseburger and fries hanging over a counter. I make my way over, in my eagerness to get there I knock into some people who growl at me and cussing me out. I ignore them, my quest for food higher on my agenda than worrying about them.

A guy with a weird looking uniform on that looks like a brown-yellow colour smiles at me.

“What can I get you today?” he asks with a bright smile.

“Can I have two of those please?” I say pointing to the picture, he smiles at me.

“Sure can, would you like those meals large?”

I nod in agreement, my eyes looking at everything behind the counter.

“Drink?” the guy’s voice pulls me out of staring.

“I want to try a Coke, if you have it?” I say sheepishly, the feeling of ordering some food is so foreign to me.

“Sure,” he smiles. I hear the bleep of the machine in front of him as he presses buttons. His fingers flying across the screen.

I see the total amount illuminate on the back of it and take the bank card out of my pocket as the guy holds out a weird contraption in his hand. I hear a bleep, my eyes jumping to the guy next to me as he talks to the girl who is in front of him. He taps his plastic card thing on top of the machine and the girl smiles, she turns and grabs some brown bags and then hands them to the guy.

I copy what he’s just done and tap my card on top of the machine. It bleeps and the wide smile that spreads across my face has the guy in front of me looking confused.

“I don’t get out much,” I say.

He doesn’t say anything, just turns around and grabs the two brown bags before passing them to me. Then he hands me my drink, and the smell of the burger and fries assaulting my nose is making my mouth water more. My stomach growls again and I hear a couple of people behind me chuckle.

“Thanks,” I say quickly, spinning on my heels and heading towards a free table opposite the food place.

I drop into my seat, my smile is still wide. I’m proud I managed to do something for myself. I’m not completely dense, I know money is used to pay for things. But in the supernatural world everything isn’t as advanced as it is here. They don’t like things they know nothing about, and some of the things I’ve seen here already would freak them out.

Ripping into the bag, I pull out the box of fries and the wrapped-up goodness. My stomach rumbling again, I hear a tinkling giggle. I look to my left to find a little girl, maybe six or seven looking at me as she giggles again. I smile at her as I unwrap the burger and take my first bite.

The ingredients explode on my tongue as I chew. Oh my god, I know we get our food ideas from the humans, but damn, they really know how to make food. I scoff down the first burger barely coming up for breath. I grab a handful of fries, shoving them into my mouth. The salty texture has me frowning though, they’re okay but I prefer the burger.

I push both boxes to one side and start on the other burger, eating as I listen to the chatter between the people sitting around me, smiling every now and then when I find something funny.

“You’re going to choke.”

My eyes snap open, my head whipping up. My eyes connect with the blood red eyes I know so well, and I quirk a brow as Kevin leans against the table with his reasonably sized body.

“What’s that?” he asks.

“Not a chance, sunshine,” I say as I throw the last bite of the burger into my mouth. “So where’d you go?”

“It’s not important,” he says as he people-watches. “I think it’s a good idea if we get back to the flat.”

My brows scrunch together in a frown as I try to read his face, but as usual he’s not giving anything away. I only know something’s wrong because of the way he keeps looking around the food court.

“Kevin?” I demand. If he thinks it’s a good idea to leave me here on my own when he’s worried, then show back up and demand I go back to the confines of my flat… not happening, buddy.

“Poison.”

“It’s like that, is it?” I hiss, my patience is wearing thin with him. He doesn’t even have the decency to answer me, he just nods his head in the direction of the entrance. “I’m not going home. I’m going to the cinema.”

“Poison,” he breathes heavily in annoyance. “I need you to go back to the flat.”

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