Trucks Are the Most Troublesome Things, You Know.

Chapter 5

8/12/18

 "Ahhh.... 12:00 in the morning, I've slept for a long time."

He changed his clothes, went through his normal morning procedures, and saw Miss Forticia filling out some forms.

"Morning. It's Sunday, so knock yourself out. Congrats, you've slept for more than a full day. Oh, and I couldn't take it anymore, so I brought back the supplies from the other dimension. They're in the spare room, so do what you will with that. I have a lot of books, so you can go experiment or whatever. Finish up the orders if you're not busy. I have a whole stack of them on the counter."

"Sounds fun," he mumbled as he made toast.

"There're some things you might not want to touch in the box marked [Slimy]. It's marked that for a reason. Be careful, as they may also cause skin irritation."

"Alright. I'll keep that in mind," he said as he took out the emergency bucket of ice cream.

"And absolutely, under no circumstances, come in physical contact with the substance in the jar marked "Banana Slug". It is not a joke," she warned him.

"Duly noted," he said as he took out a plate.

"What are you doing anyways?"

"Eating ice cream on toast. I always eat ice cream the night of when I'm sad. I missed yesterday's, so I'm putting it on my toast," he explained nonchalantly.

"Hey, when did you have that kind of rule?! And what do you mean by just [yesterday's]? Are you planning to eat some as well today?!"

"Why wouldn't I?" he frowned, as he'd been doing the whole time, including yesterday in the morning.

"Was she your girlfriend or something? If so, I don't know what to say. You'll get over it."

"No, she was only my friend. But friends are very important to me. To lose a friend... is a terribly sad thing to happen. And if I had not tried to save her, perhaps she wouldn't have died." It was obvious that it had gotten to him, the fact that his seemingly selfless act ended up indirectly leading to her death. His voice was tinged with guilt. "I don't want to forget all that we did together, all of us, as friends... Even Vanessa, who must've had a reason to betray us. And yet, I find myself drawing a blank at some things that I once held extremely dear to my heart. I can only remember that I used to have a friend, a long time ago, in 2nd grade, but I can no longer remember her face, or what happened to her. I forgot much more than my memories- I forgot my happiness as well, but what is happiness but mere-"

"Toby, you're getting philosophical again. Go back to bed if you're still sleepy."

"Ah, no," he said, stuffing the toast into his mouth. After a few seconds, he swallowed it. "I'd like to take a look at the equipment you mentioned."

"Sure. Remember what I told you."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as he walked over to the spare room, which was the room on the right, next to Miss Forticia's bedroom in the center of the small hallway, as opposed to his bedroom, which was the one on the left. Their rooms were the same size, with an adjoined bathroom, whereas his parents' mostly unused bedroom was on the second floor, which was mostly used for the storage of knick knacks and possibly cursed objects they always brought back from their travels.

"Wow, impressive," he muttered, staring at the stack of papers on the counter. "She expects me to finish all of this, huh? I guess it might take a while."

From the bookshelf, he spotted a large, worn cookbook, and took it down to take a sniff, now that he understood his powers well enough to know that he could do it. It still took him a few minutes of unconsciousness to understand all of the information in the book, though.