Shackled

Chapter 1: Julie

Today is my sisters birthday and I have utterly failed to remember to get her a gift. I run into the mall and into the nearest store that I believe will hold what I'm looking for. It's a bit large and I fear I might have to run around for awhile before finding anything. 

"Welcome to..." The man speaking is cut off abruptly when I give him a hard look. "Can I help you with something miss?" 

I push my hair from my eyes as all my running has messed up my hair. "I need a gift for a seventeen year old girl." I fold my arms, not in a rude way... just to show I mean a bit of business. "We are pretty close and she likes the pretty kind of stuff." The man begins to talk before I cut him off again. "Even if I could find like a dress or something, cheap please!" I smile my best smile as I say this. The man looks a bit afraid to speak, probably because he thinks I'll cut him off again. "Your turn." I say a little sarcastically. I'm knocked forward a bit as a customer pushes past me. "Hey, watch where you're going!" I yell after them. 

"If I could miss." The man finally speaks. "If you go to aisle 27 just on the left there," he points before continuing. "I believe you will find something for your sister."  He smiles hopingly at me and I give him a small sarcastic curtsy while saying thank you. I rush off in the direction he pointed and count down the aisles until I reach the 27th. I scan the aisle looking at the dresses and little things available. None of them really call out to me and I keep moving down the aisle. Once I reach the end of the aisle, I decide to give up on getting her a dress and I walk out to the main walkway. 

"Shit, now what?" I ask myself. My eyes quickly scan other aisles across the store and finally land on the toy section. "Seventeen year old's like toys right?" I say as I head towards the section. Being in a bit of a rush, I walk briskly hoping to not be late for my sister's birthday party. Lucky her, I never got to keep having parties past the age of fifteen. Perks of being the younger sister I guess. Lexi was six years younger than me and she made it known everyday. For as long as I can remember she always got me into trouble and got a pass just cause she was the youngest. Of course myself, being the mature person I am, would smile at my parents and then stick my tongue out at my sister when they weren't looking. We had that beautiful love, hate relationship that all siblings had. Lexi was honestly lucky enough I was even thinking about getting her a present as I certainly didn't think she deserved it. 

I reached the toy section and flew down the Barbie aisle. Lexi hated Barbie's for some reason. She would always give a reason of being too old for them or having a boyfriend who thought it was pretty silly. It was the perfect gift to give someone you have a severe distaste for but loved anyways. I found the most girly looking one and decided it would be the one to bring a smile to my sisters face. I grabbed it off the hook it was on and turned to leave the aisle. "Excuse me." A small voice sounded out. I jumped to the side as a boy who didn't look much older than me walked quickly past me. He seemed quite busy as he held many toys in his hand, it was a bit funny to me as some were Barbie's and the others were more girl toys. I turned to leave again and heard a crash behind me. 

I looked back to see the boy on the ground, with the toys he had been holding before surrounding him, clearly he had fallen. I thought about helping but then wondered if it would be awkward. It was then I noticed he was wearing the uniform of the store so he was an employee here, that explained the girly toys. Not that there was anything wrong with a guy buying girl toys, I just found it a little funny. I decided I would be nice and try to help him up. "Nice toys." I said a bit sarcastically. I wanted to shove my hands over my mouth so fast but I had already reached a hand out to help him out. Why had I said that? That was so rude. "Sorry," I quickly apologize. "I don't know what I meant by that."

"I think you know exactly what you meant by that." He says as he grabs my outstretched hand and I pull him up. "Can't a guy like Barbie's?" He asks.