bucket list//dnf

chapter 5 - pet shelter

a/n: okay so it's like a pet shelter that you can volunteer at for a short amount of time ig ?? idk just go with it

"wait." nick threw out a long, tanned arm. george, not paying attention, ran into his elbow. hard. he lightly rubbed his chest as he looked over to nick, confusion knitting his brow together. nick's eyes were tracing something over the hill.

"is someone there?" george whispered. nick nodded. some color drained from his face, but a daring expression formed. george gulped. "who?"

"old man mcdonald," nick muttered. george inhaled sharply. "old man mcdonald", or mr. tanner, was the elderly man that owned a large farm area behind nick's house. his fields were ideal to roll in and play on, but mr. tanner only viewed the grassy area as a place to let his few animals roam. george and nick continued playing there, though they were terrified that old man mcdonald would catch them and get them in trouble.

"he's coming!" george hissed. the old man's figure slowly became more pronounced against the glow of the setting sun. the boys started backing up.

"run!" nick replied in the same tone. the two pivoted and ran in the opposite direction. a light wind blew against their faces and grass crunched under their bare feet. small flowers and weeds gave them a small obstacle course, and they dodged the dandelions and lilacs with as much grace as thirteen year old boys could muster.

they eventually stopped, george's chest heaving. he placed his hands on his knees and panted while nick gulped in a few deep breaths and seemed fine.

"why are you breathing so heavily? it wasn't even that far," nick complained. george fixed him with a steely glare.

"i have smaller legs, dipshit."

"then just grow them longer."

"that's not how it works."

"okay, well, it worked for me."

"i'm not you."

"oh my god. just suck it up and get taller, george."

"shut up."

george opened his eyes. he was sitting on the couch, next to his sister. his father was sitting in the armchair nearby and his mother was sitting on the other couch. they were watching some dumb show that had started playing when george's father had lazily turned on their tv. yellow characters moved around and said stupid stuff. george was automatically muffling it as he absentmindedly watched his sister play some water sorting game on her phone.

george's father nearly dropped his cup and the gasp his mother released drew both george and lena's attention upwards. not a single drop of any liquid spilled, but mrs. davidson still clutched her chest.

"calm down, elodie," mr. davidson said lightly. george's mother shook her head, smiling, and turned her attention back to the tv. lena had turned off her game, so george let the words from the tv start making sense in his mind again.

"me fail english? that's unpossible." one character said. lena and mr. davidson snorted at the same time mrs. davidson started talking about how the show rotted their brains and made them mindless zombies to their screens. george sighed, picked himself up off the couch, and slunk off to the stairs up to his room. george's feet padded against the wooden stairs. his mother's softly scolding words faded away as he shut his door. he didn't need to hear her going off on another tangent and demanding that lena and george never watch the show again.