To Live Forever

Chapter 16

Aria looked at the clock in front of her.

She was waiting for her shift to end so that she could just go home and sleep.

She rolled her eyes as a guy entered the market, took a bottle of beer and walked towards her, smiling.

She gave him a sarcastic smile and almost snatched the beers from his hand, sighing as she scanned it.

"Hey, pretty. Isn't it too late for you out here?" The guy said, leaning from the counter lazily.

Aria looked at him, "Well, technically, yes. But since your ass decided to get drunk today, sadly I have to stay here unless other asses like you come to get alcohol. Its, unfortunately, my job."

The blond guy blinked and then swallowed, smiling uncertainly as he gave the money and then walked out of the store.

Aria rolled her eyes, groaning slightly.

God, please let me go home.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone at the candy area.

She backed away a little and looked again.

There was a small boy, maybe ten or eleven and he was shoplifting.

Aria walked over and stood behind him, hands on hips and the boy jumped as he saw her.

He stared at Aria and then gulped, fear evident in his eyes.

Aria slowly smiled at him and then raised an eyebrow, "Stealing, are we? That's not a good thing."

The boy flitted his eyes here and there, as if waiting for Aria to scold him.

"What's your name?" Aria asked instead.

The boy spoke softly, "Jim."

"Well, Jimmy. Do you want some chocolate?"

The boy slowly nodded.

"Then take a good one, bro. This one is trash." Aria gushed, taking the blue wrapper from the boy and replacing it with a snickers candy bar.

The boy smiled but then mumbled, "I...don't have enough money for this."

Aria dusted off some dirt from the boy's jacket and said, "Its okay. I'm paying." She lead him to the counter and gave him a small bag to keep the candy in.

"Jimmy. You do know its really dangerous for you to be out like this, right? Especially in the night. Bad things happen to kids who are alone, okay? You know about the bad people taking kids, right?"

Jim nodded seriously and Aria have him the bag of chocolate, keeping a few extra chips in it.

"Where's your mom? Or dad?" Aria asked, and Jim shrugged.

"Home, I guess. I don't know about dad. But mom's home. Sleeping. She drinks that juice everyday which makes her go all funny. And then she sleeps."

Aria pursed her lips, and then nodded. She looked at the clock. It was almost eleven. She smiled and then said, "Well. I'm going to go to my own house, Jimmy. How about I drop you off, yeah?"

Jim nodded and then Aria told him to wait as she locked the supermarket, taking out her bag and jacket and then held the small boy's hand.

"Let's go?"

Jim nodded and after telling Aria his address, they walked hand in hand.

"So...do you go to school?"

Jim nodded, "Yes. John's Elementary School. But nowadays, mom is not feeling well. So I try to skip school as much as I can."

Aria frowned, "Well. How about you tell someone, someone older, about your mom's illness. They might call the doctor and then maybe they'll help your mom."