For The Love Of Oatmeal

Chapter 12~ Suspicious Oats

Every day, Tania would care for Toby and make him oatmeal. Her daily routine consisted of her going out every morning and taking care of the farm. Then, while her Papa left for work at the lumber yard, she would sit across from Toby and do her school. Toby always wondered what it was like to do school at home. It must be wonderful, not having other kids taunt you for being different like River was..but also very lonely.

Soon enough, Toby was nursed back to health. He started to walk around more, and even help out with some of the farm chores. He strangely never saw Tania's dad. He would always walk behind the couch when Toby was really sick. The day Toby finally got better, Tania's dad just disappeared.

"Hey. What happened to your dad?" Toby asked Tania out of the blue one day as they sat down to a bowl of soup and oatmeal bread together. It was a little weird how he just felt like he lived there all his life.

"I have no idea," she said between mouthfuls, "but I'm fine with it. He's always had anger issues ever since my mom died." she said. "But you know as soon as I found you, he really changed. He stopped talking to me for the three weeks you were sick, and most of the time he could barely look at me..or you. And then..hey! Toby!!!!! You ate all the freakin' oatmeal bread?! What's wrong with you?" She slapped his hand.

"Ow! Sorry! I didn't mean to..it's just really good, okay? Gosh!" Toby shook his hand in pain.

"Awww, you like my cooking? How sweet!" She totally changed her tone and gave him a big hug as his face turned bright red.

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That night, Toby couldn't sleep. Sure, he was safe...but he still didn't know who River's killer was. And on top of that, there was something about Tania that seemed oddly familiar...which made him shiver. That's it. I'm getting up. I've got to do some snooping, heheh. He got out of the guest bed he now slept on (weird that a family with no guests would have one) and creaked open the door. Hmmm..where should I start? He sneakily crept down the upstairs hallway and stopped in front of the door to what he assumed was her father's. He opened the door and noticed a small sized bed in the center  with two nightstands on either side, a bookshelf next to a window, and a desk cluttered with junk and papers. He noticed that there wasn't a computer in the house. How do these people live with no human socialization? Sure they have oatmeal, but still...

Toby began to look around without making too much noise. He first looked under the bed where he found two unusual looking packets of instant oatmeal. Wait a minute...I thought Tania said he didn't like oatmeal! He grabbed the evidence and looked over the rest of the room, hoping to find something else. After about an hour of looking through his crap, Toby was about to give up when suddenly, he tripped over the bed and hit his head on the bookshelf!