Separated by Cardboard//a fanfiction

Delivery

After about two hours of driving, the big metal cocoon pulled up to the supermarket. All the almonds were on edge, but the humans pulled them out of the truck like they were just things, like they weren't living, like they were nothing.
Julian didn't want to die, none of the almonds did. But what were they going to do?
It's okay, almonds just like us have done this for years. Surely one of them has made it out alive.. Right?
Even in his head he wasn't convinced.

The humans brought them in through the back door of the supermarket. A heavy man with a sloppy stubble and a suit walked up to one of the men and signed a paper before the workers proceeded to bring the almonds farther back into the warehouse.
Julian looked around. There were tons of things in this big building: forklifts, food, clothing, CDs and DVDs, mirrors, candles, picture frames. It was all too much for Julian to process. He had never seen anything like this before.

Julian looked back around at the heavy man in the suit. He was talking with one of the workers from the cocoon. They were laughing and talking, then they shook hands, and then all the workers left. The heavy man walked over to the almonds. They all looked up at him with fear and curiosity filled eyes. Julian now saw his name tag; it read:
Manager
Derek Dimadome
Walmart®

Derek pulled a walkie talkie out of his pocket, "Jeremy Wallace to the warehouse, please. Jeremy Wallace to the warehouse."

A minute or so later Jeremy walked in. "We just got these almonds in. I need you to roll them out there with the others, to the right of the peanuts, thanks."

"Yes, sir." Jeremy said as he began wheeling the almonds out onto the main floor. Julian and the others looked around in amazement. This is what the Big Busy Tree is. They were wheeled around a corner and stopped beside a box just like the one they were in. Julian stood up and looked around at everything. To his left he could see vegetables, and to his right was fruit. Straight ahead was the meat, and behind were the registers. He could see a deli and a door with a sign that read: "EMPLOYEES ONLY"
This is it. This is the place he'll see before he's bought.
Snap out of it, Julian. Stop telling yourself that. You can't see the future, you don't know what'll happen.
Julian decided to look around for a bit to try to distract himself. After all, what else could he do?

He looked over at the peanut box beside him. All the peanuts were talking. Except one. There was a single, lone peanut sitting on the edge of the box, looking down at the ground.
Who is that? Why is he sitting on the edge like tha—
Julian let out a tiny gasp and a quiet "oh."

That peanut wasn't just taking a rest. Julian knew why he was sitting there. How did none of the other peanuts notice? How did they not notice their friend sitting on the edge of the box, contemplating whether to jump or not? Julian was getting more and more angry by the second.

"Hey!" Julian yelled over to the other peanuts. They all looked at him. "Did any of you notice your buddy over there?"
One of the peanuts stood up and walked over to be as close to Julian as he could without falling off.
"Look, there's nothing we can do. Ever since we got taken from the farm, he's been depressed. We've tried to talk to him, but he just ignores us. We all noticed, we all know what he's doing. We've tried everything."

"What's his name? Maybe I can help."

"His name is Malek, but at this point, I don't think anyone can help him. You can give it a shot, though."

The peanut walked away, leaving Julian by himself to think of ways to try and help Malek. Tomorrow, bright and early, he would go talk to Malek.
Hopefully he'll still be there. God, I hope so.