Spell Protected (ON HOLD)

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy to find somebody by just using their initials. Hundreds upon hundreds of names came up with the same initials—figuring out which one were my parents would be nearly impossible. So after about two hours of searching I decided I’d give up and instead go buy something to eat. The grocery store sold some of the best mac and cheese, and I don’t care how old I get that stuff will always be the best. Grabbing my keys I headed out the door to my jeep and was off to the grocery store.

“Can I get two chimichangas and a side of mac and cheese, please?” I asked the lady standing on the other side of the counter. From her facial expression, I could tell she was upset at the fact that I had disturbed her quiet time to actually work. Looking around I realized I was the only one in the small store. The only other people were the kids that came in begging their mom to buy them something, but the mom shooing her child out and telling them they would eat at home as she hauled her grocery cart out.

“That’ll be four sixty-five.” She said in a monotone voice. Handing her a five, she took it and put it in the cash register not even bothering to give me change. Not caring about the change, I took the bag she held out to me and walked out the small store into the grocery store.

As I walked towards the exit I noticed the missing child poster of the girl I had seen last time was still there. As I looked closer I realized that the poster had been ripped in half and the only thing that remained was her photo and date missing, which read March fourteenth. The year she went missing…eight years ago.

“How?” I whispered to no one. Dropping my bag I slowly fell to the floor. How was it possible for her to go missing the same day I was found? Could it just be a coincidence?

I’m not sure how long it was that I had been sitting on the floor, but I soon realized people were staring and I knew it was my cue to get up now. It must have been a while that I was done there because as soon as I tried to get up my knees buckled underneath me, causing me to fall down again.

“Sam!” Was that…? “Sam, are you okay?” Turning my head slightly to the left I now saw Ian running towards me, panic in his eyes. “Sam, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?” His eyes spoke of the panic he held as he saw me just sitting there. Who would have ever thought that someone so scared could look so handsome? Chuckling to myself, I received a stern look from Ian.

“I’m sorry; it’s just that I never realized someone could look that good while freaking out.” I laughed again before abruptly stopping after realizing what I had just said.

“So you’re saying I look good, eh?” Ian said, cocking an eyebrow up and smirking.

“No, th...that’s not what I meant.” Color rose to my cheeks as I stuttered my words out. In an attempt to change the subject I added, “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to change the subject, eh? But fine, I’ll go with it.” Ian said as he threw me another smirk. “Well if you must know, I’m buying groceries. You know that stuff you buy to make food. But you wouldn’t know about that considering you just buy your food already made.” Ian said, looking at the bag of cold food lying on the floor.

“I was busy and didn’t have time to make anything.” I added as I attempted to stand up again, only to fail and fall down for a third time.

“Hold these.” Ian said as he handed me his two bags of groceries.

“What? Why?” But before I could get an answer I was being lifted into the air and into his arms. “What’re you…”

“You obviously can’t stand up, much less walk. So I figured I’d give you a lift.” Ian said looking down at me as he carried me into the parking lot. As I struggled to get out of his arms, he effortlessly kept a tight hold on me rendering my efforts useless. “Don’t bother. I’m not letting you go.” At his words, color rose to my cheeks again.