Remembering Grey

~ Dark Aisles ~

It took me days to type this up on my phone but I wanted to upload a chapter for you guys so here it goes. I  don't know when the next one will be seeing as my computer is still broken but if it takes too long I'll just write the chapters on my phone.

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My mom doesn't have work today so I dropped her off last night so I could have the car today.  The first thing on my list is the grocery store. I  was so excited to see Milo yesterday that I completely disregarded it until I almost burned the house down trying to make macaroni last night. Settling into the car my phone pings inside my pocket it can only be Grey.

                              Busy?
                Going to the grocery store
                              So, busy?
       Lol yes but you can come if you want
                           Which store?
           The food 4 less near my house
                      Meet you there
      
Throwing my phone into the glove box I pull out of the driveway. The store isn't that far at all so I get there in no time. I have no idea where Grey lives or if he was even home but he made it there before me. He's leaned against the wall next to the entrance doors dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans,  a burgundy sweater with a white stripe on each arm, a pair of burgundy vans and a baseball cap turned backwards on his head. Why does he have to be this handsome?
"There's food here?" He asks in amazement draping his arm over my shoulder.
"Yeah, lots of it." I go along with his humor. I watch with furrowed brows as he skims his finger across various food packages.
"Pop tarts?!" He exclaims in excited confusion. Side eyeing him I turn down a different aisle. I know he's weird and I've excepted that,  I like that about him but sometimes he acts like he isn't from here. The way he is confused by common words and foods its like he's been under a rock since birth.
"Apples." He says lowly making my look up a familiar couple coming into view. Funny, I got kind of a Trader Joe vibe from them.
"Mr and Mrs Dodson? " their heads snap toward me both giving a polite smile.
"Hello Cypress. "
"How are you guys? " I ask although I've already noticed Pepsi's red rimmed eyes and Ashton's dark circles I just want to make sure they're okay.
"We're making it. " Ashton nods pulling his wife closer to him.  The gesture reminds me that I have someone next to me too.
"Oh, where are my manners?  Mr and Mrs Dodson this is Grey." I  sweep ny hand in his direction but the spot is empty.
" Well at least he was just here." I  laugh nervously.
"Who is this Grey?" Pepsi asks.
"A friend,  I met him the same day that I met you guys actually. " I peek down the other aisle but he isn't there and neither are the apples he mentioned.
"Oh, well I hope we get to meet him some day. Our twin boys have been asking about you,  they can't wait to meet you. " Her comment has me smiling with my hand covering my heart.
"I can't wait to meet them either," I say to her before my mouth spits out the words that have been swirling in my head, "you guys shop here?"
"We're usually over at Trader Joe's but they don't have a banquet tv dinner selection. I'd never feed them to my kids but I love them, we grew up eating these."
"Soda pop, the meeting is in an hour." Ashton tells his wife; his pet name for her pulls at my heart strings. She nods her head before turning to me.
"We'll see you in a week?"
"Of course." She pulls me into an unexpected hug then leans away.
"Grey had good taste in cologne, my brother wore the same kind." She gives me a sad smile before walking away. Once they've disappeared I begin piling boxed dinners in my hand held shopping cart.  The intetcoms around the store start to crackle and the lights start blinking rapidly before setting on a dim glow. Closing the freezer door I step away from it moving down the aisle to look for Grey in the dimly lit and creepily quiet store. My sneakers squeak softly across the floor telling me that I am in fact walking but it seems like the more I  walk the longer the aisle becomes. After a few more seconds of this I stop. Opening the freezer I pull out a nugget meal, I don't know if my test will work but that's why it's a test, right? Bouncing the red box in my hand I hesitantly look up and sure enough there's a red box floating in the air about eight feet away from me. I drop the box like a hot potato my loud gasp echoing through the store. The freezer lights start to go out one by one. Boom, boom, boom. The wave reaches the one beside me and the few behind me but it stops at the last one. I can see the now extremely bright light casted on the tile floor. I'm terrified to turn around but something is willing me to I can almost feel it turning my body. Slowly I look toward the freezer expecting the worst but it's only a black feather, a single black feather. Against my better judgment I take the steps necessary to reach it. Bending down I inspect the object noticing how it quivers without wind. Just as I pick it up I spot someone in the newly polished floor just above me on the ceiling. I look up as quickly as possible but they aren't on the ceiling anymore and the lights blink back on followed by the bustling noise of grocery shoppers. Looking back at my hand my eyes go wide taking in the blood covering it and the pigs heart with a symbol branded into it. Screaming I drop the disgusting thing and my basket before making a bee line for the next aisle crashing into a hard chest in the process.
"Cypress," Grey hugs me to him, "you're okay. " He sighs and something clicks, I immediately detangle myself from him.
"You saw it too," I glance at the rest of the oblivious shoppers going about their day, "how?"
"Huh?" He pulls at his hat before tucking his hand into his pockets.
"No, no more answering questions with a question.?
"Cy, what are you talking about? I heard you scream so I came to see what happened to you." He explains and I  instantly feel bad for accusing him.
"Sorry, I'm just a little on edge."
"It's fine, come, lets get your food." Walking back to the freezers I find that my basket is the only thing there, no heart,  no blood, no feather,  nothing just a basket filled with red boxes. I make it a point to finish quickly,  racing to the shortest lind, cutting a couple that is paying way tooo much attention to each other rather than the line.
"$34.26." He gives a big smile showing his pearly white teeth. Digging through my wallet I present the bills stopping short when my eyes lift to meet his face. Gray, gangly teeth planted in a sunken face greet me along with a pair of eyes the color of a blazing fire.
" Dranc." His foreign whisper echoes in my head as I throw the money at him. I run for the door catching a glimpse of the thing from the ceiling in the doors reflection.  I'm going crazy. Absolutely crazy that's the only way to explain it and I don't know if that scares me more or less.

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This chapter is dedicated to @alexchenson thank you for the beautiful cover.