Frozen Love

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I woke up in the morning and heard kids playing at the playground, I didn't have a watch on me so I didn't know what time it was. I was going to ask someone but then I thought I should change my appearance just in case someone noticed me. I changed my appearance from a brunette with blue eyes to a red haired girl with blue green eyes. I walked up to one of the mothers that was standing in the park and asked if she had the time, she pulled out her phone and said "11:30am" I thanked her and went on my way, I had 5 hours and 30 minutes to kill, I wasn't going to spend the whole day in the park just sitting on a bench watching kids, people would get the wrong idea and it would be creepy. I walked down to the convince store and entered, I had no money to pay for food so I was going to have to steal some, I never liked the thought of stealing but I had to eat to survive so I did what I had to do.

Given that I was walking around a convenience store there wasn't much actual food, it was mainly just junk food, but hey food is food I guess, I walked down an isle so that nobody could see me, I looked to see if their was any security cameras I didn't see any so I started to grab a couple chocolate bars and stuffed them in my pockets. I grabbed a bag of gummy bears and put them up my shirt, I needed something to drink to go with it, so I grabbed a bottle of water and put it in the sleeve of my shirt. I was about to leave untouched and unnoticed when the store clerk spoke "you know, if you didn't have any money you could've just told me instead of trying to steal my merchandise" he didn't seem angry and spoke in a calm voice, I turned around looking ashamed and put all of the food I had taken on the counter, I was about to walk out when I had remembered the water bottle in my long sleeve, I turned back around and took the water out of my sleeve and placed it on the counter. I turned to walk away when the clerk spoke again "I didn't say you had to give it back, I was just saying you should've asked" I turned around and looked at the smiling man, he was an older gentleman and a kind one at that, he motioned for me to walk over to him so I did slowly. He came from around the counter and looked at me with gentle eyes and spoke softly "now how about we say I close up the shop today and you and I can go in the back and you can tell me what's going on?" I nodded my head and then he placed his hand on my shoulder leading me into the back room, he turned on the light and I saw a table with 2 chairs and a mattress laying in the corner of the room on the floor, there was also a water cooler and a mini fridge. He gestured for me to sit at the table and then sat down himself, I carefully sat down across from this man and sat there awkwardly, I was looking down at my hands that were in my lap and I could tell the old man was looking me over thinking to himself, he then got up and started walking over to me for a brief second I thought he might try to rape me too but I tried to ignore the thought, he walked past me and went to the water cooler, he then opened the mini fridge and was rustling around for something.

He came back to the table and put a cup of water and a take-out container of food with a plastic fork in front of me, he then sat down across from me again and smiled, I was hesitant to touch anything he had placed in front of me until he told me everything was safe and not to worry, I don't know why but something about this man just made me trust him, I slowly opened the container of food and saw some Chinese noodles with beef and vegetables "I hope Chinese is ok, I wasn't expecting any visitors so I didn't make a feast" he chuckled at the last part and I giggled to myself. "It's more than ok, thank you" I said with as much gratitude as I could "not a problem deary, so wanna tell me why you were trying to steal from my store in the first place?" He didn't seem angry or upset he just seemed to be curious as to why a young girl like me was trying to scrounge up some food to eat, "I- um I ran away from home last night, although even when I was there I didn't get much food" he looked at me with pity "did your family not have enough money to feed you?" He said with concern I didn't know if I should just lie and say yes or actually tell him about what really happened. Something about the way this man looked me in the eyes made me not want to lie to him "um no actually we had lots of money and there was plenty of food in the house, my parents just pretended I didn't exist and locked me in a closet with no food or water, and when they did being me food it was just leftovers off of my brothers plate" he looked at me shocked and possibly thought I was lying.

"So how did you survive? And how long were you locked in the closet? Did you do something bad to deserve to be in the closet? I mean if you don't mind me asking" I shook my head and told him it was fine. I explained how I would break the lock off the door when everyone was sleeping and go to get food from the kitchen and then return to my room, I told him I was locked in the closet since I was a little girl but even before they put me in the closet they hated me, I mentioned how I didn't think I did anything other than existing to make them hate me and also told him how my brother and I were best friends as young kids but then he grew out of it and hates me more than my parents do now. The man seemed to be taking in all the information I was telling him and seemed shocked at what I had went through I left out all the parts about me having powers and being able to change my appearance, I had finished the meal and water the polite man gave me and I told him I should be on my way. Before I could leave he told me to wait and said that if I wanted I could stay here in the back room of his store and sleep on his mattress that was laying in the corner of the room, he then explained that when he gets to tired after closing the shop or restocking the items on the shelves he doesn't feel safe driving home so he just crashes in the back room and has a change of clothes handy at all times.

I thought about what he said and was actually considering staying here, I had barely known this man more than 2 hours and he was already offering to take care of me and provide me shelter he said that if I stayed here he would bring me food to eat and allow me to snack on some of the junk food he had in his store, as much as I wanted to accept the offer I told him I simply couldn't ask that much of him. He told me that it was really no hassle at all and he'd be glad to help someone like me, he said that he would close the shop tomorrow and take me clothes shopping "oh I can't let you do that, I don't expect you to let me stay here with food and shelter and then on top of that buy me clothes" it was too much to ask of him. "Sweetie, my daughter passed away almost a year after my wife had died, she was 30 years old and wasn't married she never had the chance to give me a grandchild but if she had I sure as hell hope she'd be like you" I couldn't help but smile at this I walked over to him and hugged him I squeezed him around the torso tightly but not too tight because I didn't want to hurt him, he hugged me back and held me close, for the first time in my life I actually felt like someone cared for me and wanted me around, I felt like I had a real family and like I was at home in this old mans arms. He showed me the same amount of love and affection that a grandfather would show his grandaughter, I truly felt like this man was my grandfather and wanted to stay with him, I still felt like he was giving me too much so I told him I would get a job and pay him back he shook his head "no need for that sweetheart, how about this if you feel like you absolutely have to give me something in return, you can restock the shelves for me and help around the store if I need it. Does that sound like a good deal to you?" I nodded my head. That was fair, he let me stay and live in his store so it only seems fit that I help him out with it, I finally felt like things were going right in my life and wanted them to stay like this for a long time.