The Reaper Child: Book II [Child!Reader Protagonist]

~Chapter 15~

"Hey! That isn't a jungle gym!" The clerk shouted. He tossed his magazine on the surface in front of him and stood from his chair. "Kids can't be climbing on these shelves!"

He walked over to where he was now standing directly in front of the shelves.

"Get down this instant!" He commanded. You didn't respond to the man. Instead, you looked down at the rest of the store frantically. Where was your mother!? You had followed all of the instructions that you'd been given earlier, but those directions didn't get any further than climbing the shelf to distract the clerk.

But why were you distracting the clerk in the first place? What were you distracting him from in the first place? What on earth was your mother doing and what were you supposed to do now?

"Don't make me come up there and get you down myself!" The clerk said. "Where are your parents? Children aren't supposed to be in this store unsupervised, you know!"

Panicked and not knowing what else to do, you attempted to climb up on the shelf even higher only to accidentally knock over another bottle. You squeezed your eyes shut, flinching as you heard that dreadful ambience of glass shattering. You didn't even need to look down to have an idea of what the damage looked like underneath you.

"These were my new pants!" The clerk shouted furiously.

That was when you finally heard your mother's voice.

"(Y/N)!" Grell said to you in a sharp voice. You looked down to see a very stern-looking redhead walking towards you, more stern than you had ever witnessed directed at you. "What are you doing up there!? How many times do I have to tell you that you are not to climb on shelves in stores!?"

Just what was she talking about, you wondered. Confused and also intimidated by your mother's demeanor, you said, "But why-?"

"No buts! You have three seconds to get back down."

"I'm not sure if I can!" You responded in a shaky voice.

"You got yourself up there, you can get yourself down." Grell scowled. She began her count. "One..."

You looked down, gasping slightly when you noticed how high you really were from the ground. There was no doubt that if you fell from that height, you would experience a significant amount of pain assuming you didn't break any bones.

"Two..." Grell warned.

Not wanting to find out when she made it to three, you tried to climb down only for your feet to slip. You tried to hang on with your hands but gravity overpowered you. With a yelp, time slowed as you fell downwards. But fortunately, you gracefully landed in your mothers arms.

With a sigh, Grell said, "Ugh, I'm so sorry about all this." She gave the clerk a guilty look. "My child here has this awful habit of climbing just about everything and causing so much destruction."

"You kid here has damaged two of the most expensive items. Since you can't seem to look after your kid, that means you have to pay for it. Look at what happened to my pants!" The clerk gestured towards his pant leg, which was splattered with red-colored wine. His pants were probably permanently stained. Even though you were ashamed of what you had just done, you couldn't help but give your mother a look of betrayal. Why was she making up lies about you? This was the first time you ever pulled a stunt like this and she was the one that told you to do it.

"I know, I know..." Grell said sadly. "I'll surely take care of this. But first, I'll take (Y/N) home so I can properly discipline (Y/P) for their actions. I'll be back to clear this up."

She adjusted you so that you were straddling against her right hip. You felt something pressing against your leg that was resting at her side. It was an object made of some hard material, probably glass.

With a sigh, Grell added, "Have kids they said..." As she started to head out the door.

"Hey! Wait!" The clerk tried to chase you both down only to slip on the pool of alcohol on the hard floor. He landed hard on his bottom. You heard him wince as he landed on glass shards.

Grell maintained her stern look after you initially exited the store, but then you saw a smile spread on her face.

"That was... almost too easy!" She said cheerfully.

"I... I don't understand..." You responded softly.

"I'll explain in the car," your mother told you as she carried you across the parking lot. Once you both made it to her car, she put you in the back before entering in the driver's seat.

"Why would you tell me to climb the shelf and then scold me for it!?" You demanded after Grell shut the door behind her. You couldn't stand to be confused anymore.

"Settle down, darling. I told you I was going to explain." Grell was facing you while sitting in her seat. "Everything went according to plan."

"What plan!?" You curled your small hands into fists and glared at your mother.

"Well," Grell began, seeming indifferent to you getting slowly more worked up. "There was something I needed. And in order to get it, I used you as a distraction. Luckily what made this little heist so easy was that this specific clerk was on shift today and he always has his nose buried in something that has nothing to do with the store. But, there are surveillance cameras. By having you climb that shelf, those watching the camera would be paying more attention to that than me standing at the corner of the store.

"Giving the illusion that I was merely browsing the different wines and liquors," Grell continued to explain. "I was able to swiftly use my small pocket knife to remove the barcodes and hide this wine bottle underneath my coat tucked inside my pants. I continued to pretend to look at the other products until I noticed that the clerk had finally noticed you. That's when I played the role of a stern mother catching her child doing something naughty which leads to where we are now. Because of all of this, I got what I needed."

"What was it you needed?" You asked.

Grell smirked. "This," she said before reaching inside of her overcoat and pulling out a large bottle.

It was the one Grell was looking at just prior to giving you the signal.

"Will and I have been looking for this specific wine for ages now! Not only is it hard to find, but expensive too! Now he and I have something good to drink tonight!" She beamed, looking proud of her accomplishment.

"So you stole it!?"

"I suppose that is one way to put it." Grell set the bottle down on the floor in front of the seat next to her. "But I like to think of it treating my husband and I without hurting our finances."

"But stealing is wrong!" You said. "Why didn't you just buy it!?"

"Ha! You're a rather naive one, aren't you? That is easy for you to say since you are little and have not so much as had to spend a coin on anything in your life. Darling, one day you will understand that life is expensive and there are times where you will want something, and will have to have creative means of getting it. I'll teach you my ways soon, as I know it will be useful to you. It's better to start now that you're young so that if you do get caught stealing a candy bar, you just get a scolding from the law. Oh I can't wait to teach you!"

Grell turned around in her seat and started up the car.

"You know," Grell added. "Not only are you cute, but you're quite useful. You did really well on your first time with this sort of stunt. Because of your help, I'm rewarding you with ice cream today!"

At this point, the anger and confusion had slowly subsided. Grell's thrill ride began once again but this time, you were too distracted by your thoughts of what happened just now. But even then, you couldn't help but smile.

You may have not been particularly proud knowing that you helped steal something from a store since you knew that stealing was bad. But your mother was going to treat you to ice cream along with a day at the park.

That was something you would never complain about.