Trash: A Collection of Stories

Don't Forget Me Chapter 1

Date started/stopped: Jun 11th 2017

"Mom, can you bring home some muffins tonight?" I asked, pulling slightly on her dress.

"Zeref, you know our family is tight on money right now, if we could afford it I would buy you one, but I can't today," she eyed herself down in the mirror, tying her hair back.

"But all the kids at school have treats in their lunch, why can't I have one? Muffins aren't that expensive.." I whined, determined to get what I want.

"I snagged something for you last time, now the bakery is keeping close watch on its employees, it seems I'm not the only one taking the scraps. Now hurry on off to school, your lunch is on the counter."

I sighed, grabbing the brown paper sack off the ledge, and shoving it into my green, patchy backpack. I stepped into the living room and saw mom running her finger tips over a picture frame. The image inside was of my father in his uniform. She caught my stare and stood up straight, walking towards the door.

I followed her out, letting her close and lock the door behind us. We lived in a dank, musty apartment building, or at least that's what Aunt calls it. She always complains how close and cramped we lived, she said it wasn't good to raise a boy like myself in these conditions.

Aunt never seemed satisfied with my parents lifestyle or decisions.

"Good morning, Mrs. Dragneel, good morning, Zeref," Nick, the man who was always behind the front desk greeted.

"Morning," I smiled, clamping my fingers onto the edge and standing on my tiptoes, scanning his desk. "Do you have any new stickers today?"

"Zeref, you don't have to ask for one everyday," mom placed her hands on my shoulders, trying to pull me away.

"It's no problem, ma'am. I found this one on apple this morning," he had one stuck to his finger tip.

"Wow!" I plucked it off, dropping my book bag. Fishing out my notebook, I flipped to the page that held all the stickers I had collected from fruits. Carefully, I smoothed it down into place next to the sticker from yesterday. "Thanks, Nick!"

"No problem. Better hurry, school is starting soon, isn't it?"

"Right! I'll see you later," I stuffed my notebook back and dashed out of the building. Mom had already left, she seemed to be in a hurry this morning. Rain pelted softly on my head, the gray sky making it seem dark.

"Good morning, Zeref," the old lady who runs the quilt shop waved.

"Good morning!"

"Mornin', Zeref," the guy who worked in the butcher shop nodded.

"Morning!"

Our side of town was so small and over filled, it seemed that everyone knew everyone. Especially my father, he was one of the men called to war. He was shipped off across the ocean, and hasn't returned in three months. Anytime mom can get ahold of a newspaper, she searches to see if he is anywhere on it. She is always relived when his name isn't on it, I wonder why?

I stepped into our school building right as it began to pour. I shook my hair out, splashing water and causing a few girls to gasp.

"Zeref, you act like a dog sometimes," one whined, wiping her arms off.

"Sorry, I didn't see you guys right there, here," I pulled my blanket out of my cubby, "you can use my blanket to dry off."

They seemed shocked, but slowly took the blanket.

"Everyone, please take your seats," Ms. Kurley clapped her hands. I sat down in my seat, next to the boy who played with his fighter airplane. He made 'pwsh' sounds to imitate gun shots, as he fired at two eraser caps. They had faces drawn on them, and every once and a while he would swoop down and knock them over with his plane.

"That's what's happening in the war," he caught me watching.

"Wow, that's scary," I shivered.

"No, it's so cool, flying a plane and killing the bad guys," he squeezed one of the erasers between his fingers for emphasis.

"Boys, please pay attention," Ms. Kurley said.

I sighed my way through the rest of the day. My lunch was a lot smaller than it was yesterday, a fourth of a sandwich and two apple slices. My stomach growled through nap time, the people next to me got cranky and kept giving me mean stares. My blanket was still a little wet from this morning, and was really uncomfortable to lay on the cold, damp spots. We couldn't go outside for recess because of the weather, and we had a bomb drill today. Everyone dove under the tables, scrunched our legs under our chest, and pressed our heads in between them. The alarm blared for what seemed like an eternity until finally it stopped and our teacher allowed us to return to a normal classroom setting.

"That concludes today's lesson. Please be careful on your way home!" Ms. Kurley dismissed us for the day.

It was still pouring when I dashed out the school entrance. I ran as fast as my legs could take me down the street, hoping not to get sick from this rain.

"Zeref!" I heard a call from one of the shops, stopping me in my tracks. A lady, who was friends with mom, beckoned me out of the precipitation and under the awning of her store front. It was one of the shops that had an apartment above it, there weren't many over on our side of town, but it wasn't uncommon. "I just made a fresh batch of blueberry muffins and thought about you and your mother, so I wrapped two up for you," she handed me a cloth, the ends tied at the top.

"Thank you so much! They smell delicious!" My mouth watered.

"Now don't go eating them, eat them with your mother," she ruffled my hair. "Hurry along, the storm seems to be picking up." I nodded and waved, stuffing the cloth into my bag and sprinting off. Now mom doesn't have to worry about getting in trouble at the bakery, and these are fresh! Unlike the stale ones mom always snags for me, so it's a win win! I smiled into the wind, my shoes soaked and cold, but I didn't care. Things seemed great!

"Zeref!" I heard a shriek in front of me. I squinted through the down pour and saw my mother running at me from a few hundred yards away. My smile grew bigger and I waved ecstatically.

"Mom! A nice lady gave me some muffins for us! Now you won't get in trouble!" I cheered.

"Zeref duck and cover!" She yelled.

"What?" I called back.

"Watch out!" Her eyes were trained above me. I stopped and looked up.

What was about to happen would change my life forever.

Hope you enjoyed!!