I Trust You

Peas and Gravy

"Enjoy ya little sinners." The man with a white apron croaks as he walks away. "Who knows it might be ya last meal outside of prison."

Grace tightly grips the metal dish and eyes the yellow mash potatoes and dark brown gravy, swimming in a sea of green peas.

Barf!

"Well, this is...something." Her jail mate mutters, swirling his plastic spoon in the mash. "The good news is we might not even get to go to jail, the food might kill us first."

Snorting, Grace lifts the plate up to her nose only to flinch back.

"It actual smells dangerous. Is dangerous even a smell?"

"But you even saw him." He laughs, placing the food onto the floor. "His apron was as dirty as a train station sink. I wouldn't be surprised if he was playing some Charles Edmund Cullen shit."

"Right but more like the chef edition."

The two burst into giggles.

"You're not so bad, you know. Kind of scary when you first came in here but you're more like a prickly teddy bear."

"Thanks." He groans, playfully flicking Grace on the ear. "Are you going to eat that though?"

"Well, I'm starving." Grace answers, sticking her finger into the mash."It can't be that bad, right? Even if it is I'm sure I've tasted worse."

"Impossible!" He laughs, throwing his head back. "Look at it."

"Trust me, my friend Vic had to bake brownies for this work charity thing. Unfortunately, I was the first to try them and had diarrhoea for a week ." Grace softly grins. "We had to go to the junk yard to throw them away, that's how bad they were. We made up a little nickname for it, um I think it was Radioactive Brownies?"

"How long have you been friends with her."

"Years." Grace whispers, pushing her curls back. "I just don't understand why would she just leave me here. It doesn't make sense."

Grace grips the plate of food as sharp pain shoots through her.

Vic, where are you?

"Enough of the sad, sloppy stuff." He murmurs, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to hear my story or not."

Forcing a grin, Grace wildly shakes her as she takes a spoonful of the mash before tossing it back onto the plate.

"So, it all started with a bad boy who stole my textbook." He chaffs.

"Oh, come on be serious." Grace mutters, pushing him back with her free hand.

"Fine. Last week I received an invitation from my high school 'friend', Manny."

Grace slowly nods.

"Manny said he was throwing a little party at our old school to celebrate 12 years of freedom, I don't know why he threw it at the place where they stole it but it was one of those situations where you party now and ask questions later. So, the day of the party rolls around and I show up at the school, wearing my favourite white tee and combat boots."

"The ones you're wearing now?" Grace asks, picking up some peas and mixing it up with the mash.

"Yep, these exact clothes. Anyway, I get there, park my car and walk up to the main doors but they're locked. So, I eye the building for  second and realise that everything is dark. No lights, no music and no cars. Utter silence. So, I call Manny and he says some rubbish about going round back and jumping through the old physics classroom window. I was skeptical, trust me I was but I did it anyway."