Cereal Smiles

On that fateful night, when the moon was full and bright, stars shining and ceiling fans spinning, a girl, aged twelve, stood in her kitchen holding an unopened box of cereal named Honey Stars. Eating cereal at night wasn't all that great, but she was hungry, so who could blame her? There were new versions apparently, and her mother had bought the one with stars and moons.

The girl opened the box and took out the silver package of stars and moons. She stretched her short fingers to the pair of scissors hanging on a hook and made a quick cut across the top of the package. Grabbing a bowl while hooking the scissors back, she poured out the cereal carefully.

She tied the package up with a rubber band and opened the cupboard above her, to which five smaller boxes of cereal tumbled out onto the table, almost spilling her bowl. She quickly gathered up the boxes, put her bowl properly, and stuffed them back into the cupboard, along with the package of Honey Stars.

She opened the refrigerator door, grabbing the container of milk. She poured the milk in, accidentally pouring too much. Her mother, who had been speaking to her for the whole time, suggested pouring a bit more Honey Stars into the bowl.

The girl gingerly opened the cupboard, knowing that the boxes and the silver package would fall out. She braced herself and opened it wider, catching the silver package, and pushing the boxes to the front.

Fortunately, said boxes did not touch the bowl at all, and the girl sighed. She started gathering the boxes and arranged them neatly in the cupboard. Having done that, the girl untied the elastic and tilted the bag, a little too much, and caused a heap of honey-coated stars and moons to fall into the bowl.

The girl groaned inwardly and reached for a spoon. She pressed the stars above the milk down, an annoyed expression slapped onto her face. Her lips settled into a straight line as she screwed the cap of the milk container back on and kept it back into the fridge, her mother laughing the whole time.

The girl grabbed the bowl, told her mother that she was going up and walked out of the kitchen, making sure not to spill any milk.

She reached the second level soon enough, and sat down on the mattress laid out on the floor in the corner. The milk sloshed, and dripped onto her leg. The girl, upset, set down her cereal and stood up, rushing to the toilet.

She took two small pieces of toilet paper and wiped her leg clean. She tossed the damp toilet paper into the toilet bowl and flushed it. Perhaps it will one day reach Nemo or something.

She went back to the mattress and laid on her side. Carefully placing the bowl in front of her, she took a spoonful of the Honey Stars and stuffed them into her mouth. Chewing, she grabbed her phone and scrolled through popular websites.

A few spoonfuls later, the heap of cereal had reduced to a measly number of eighteen stars and thirteen moons. The milk was near half the bowl, and that was obviously too much to balance out the cereal till the last spoon.

The girl drank milk, spoon by spoon, and started adding a few stars or moons to the spoonfuls when the milk got lesser. Soon, all that was left were two stars and a moon. As she stared at the cereal, they floated peacefully into a happy face. She let out a small grin and snapped a picture using her phone, sending it to her virtual father.

After a few minutes of hesitant spoon grabbing, she finally scooped up the happy face and stuffed it into her mouth.

And there ends the story of the happy cereal face.