Mollie + Chester

Chapter Twelve

Chester sat in the middle of the kitchen floor, watching Mrs Mocomile carefully and waiting for her to drop the tiniest bit of acceptable food that he would pounce on and eat. She was bustling around the kitchen, the sounds of clanging metal and glass bouncing off the walls. Her elbow knocked an egg and it flew off the bench, flying through the air in seeming slow motion before smashing on the kitchen tiles.~
Mrs Mocomile stopped as if she had been put on pause and just stared.~
And then she broke down. She slid down the cupboards to the floor and held her head in her hands, crying loudly.~
Her cries were like screeches scattered with gasps in between. Chester walked over tentatively, nudging her with his head.~
The woman sniffed." I can't do it, Chester," she said, her eyes unfocused as she stared off into the distance. "I try and comfort her when she says it's not fair, but really; she's right. It's not fair on any of us."
Chester ran off, despite her cries and nudged open Mr Mocomile's study door. He looked away from his computer in surprise.
"Cat, you know you aren't allowed in here..." He started but Chester meowed, cutting him off.
Chester only meowed when there was something wrong.
Mollie's father jumped up from his desk chair, letting the cordless mouse clatter to the floor. He followed Chester out of the room and into the kitchen where Mrs Mocomile remained, heavy tears dropping on the tiles.
The man stood there frozen, watching his wife, unable to move or act. Chester knew deep inside he loved all of them, but he had put up a thick wall around his heart so he wouldn't get hurt. He knew that love eventually brings pain.
Love brought the pain that was splattered across his wife's face. Love brought the pain in Seth's eyes when Mollie was having a particularly difficult day. Love brought the pain in Chester meows when the little girl had a coughing fit.
Slowly, he walked over to his wife and held out his hand. She took it, their fingers intertwining as he pulled her to her feet and into an embrace.
"It's not fair," she whispered over and over again.
Mr Mocomile led her to the couch and they sat, leaning against each other as if they both couldn't live without the other. Chester jumped up and curled into a ball in their laps.
"I try to protect her, but it's impossible."
Mr Mocomile whispered two words: "I know."

"Seeeeeth," I whined holding my growling stomach and feigning light-headedness. "I'm starving!"
Seth rolled his eyes as I heard Toby's stomach rumble. "We are both staaaarving!"~
Toby showed me his notepad. Tell him I will pass out if I don't eat food. I read the message out loud and Seth sighed very loudly.
"You two, honestly I don't even know why I offer to take you anywhere."
"It's because we are amazing!" I yelled and then I read another message Toby had written. "Your life would suck without us. That's very true, Toby."
Toby grinned and Seth sighed again.
We were in the middle of nowhere, in no way shape or form close to any sort of food now except for the food that probably lived in the fridges of the farm houses that were scattered on the side of the road every few kilometres.
"I will just magically conjure up food with a mystical fingertips..." Seth said sarcastically.
Toby tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out the window.
"Coming up in the next kilometre: Wycall. Has toilets, picnic tables and FOOD!" I read off the green road sign.
"You just want me to drive into some tiny town that could be full of axe murderers, when we are literally ten minutes away from home."
We both stared at him as if he were stupid.
Seth threw one hand up, the other still hanging onto the steering wheel. "Fine! But if we get killed, Mum will kill us. So I will be dead twice."
"But if we don't get food we will die of starvation, and then Mum will kill you anyway."
"So what I'm hearing is; if I deny you food, I only die once?"
I threw a ripped page from Toby's notebook at him. "Turn."
Seth laughed, "Okay, okay. I'm turning."
He drove into the small town slowly, Toby and I staring out the window, ready to point out any type of food we see.
I saw the colourful sign and didn't look any further. "Ice-cream!" I shouted so loudly Seth flinched.
Seth just muttered to himself; "I'm feeding them sugar, I am so dead."