Callie's Sister

Chapter 13

“Do you see the gas station up there on the right?” I asked him, pointing to the colossal rest stop that combined a rundown gas station with a tacky souvenir stand and a skeevy convenience store. We were one town over from our beach town. The two towns shared a police department and fire department and had one mayor, but they couldn’t have been more different. Our town, Seaview Cove, was real quaint and lots of people who grew up there still lived there. My mom was born and raised in our beach house and that was part of what was nice about going there. Everyone knew me and my parents and grandparents and there was an old-fashioned sense of everyone looking out for each other. The other town was Seaview Heights and it mainly catered to the weekend crowd. Not the nicest of weekend crowds either. Seaview Heights had seen better times and now it was mostly rundown motels and rotting beach houses. I didn’t really want to stop here, but there wasn’t another gas station for miles.

“I got it,” Cam said as he steered his rusting chariot up to the pumps. He climbed out of the car, slammed the door and started gassing up the car. I sat in the passenger seat, but felt too fidgety to stay there. I opened the door and hopped out.

“I’m going to take a walk,” I said to him.

“Fine,” he said. I looked at him and he read my mind and said, “Maddie, I’m not mad at you. Go walk, but be back in a few minutes.”

With no intention of buying anything in this disgusting place, I left my money in the car. I stretched a little, leaning over my left leg and then my right. A quick run would have been nice, but a scan of the immediate area quickly ruled it out. Figuring a walk through the convenience store was probably the least harmful of my choices, I entered a time warp. There was an old man at the register, sipping something from a dingy paper cup. A layer of dust seemed to cover the whole store. Did anyone actually buy anything here?

Aisles of car wax and lighter fluid led into cereals and snacks. Tony the Tiger fought for shelf space with faded Pringles cans. The coolers were filled with every type of beer ever brewed. And naturally there were six different types of beef jerky. Dust free, they must be a big seller here.

I strolled through the candy aisle, each sweet bringing back so many memories. In the “before” of our life, my family was big into candy. My mother once said chocolate is the best medicine and she kept little Hershey’s kisses on her desk for us to sneak when we went in there and she was wrapped up in some event she was organizing. There was a year where my father had a Twix for breakfast every day. He stopped when he realized it was probably healthier to go to the gym every morning and Twix was not the best pre-gym food. And legend had it Callie’s first words were “Kit Kat.”

Oh my God, there were Razzles. First it’s a candy, then it’s a gum. If it couldn’t be chocolate, Callie LOVED these. Mike, her boyfriend, used to buy them for her and she chewed them constantly when she was studying. I had to have these Razzles. I dug under a few to get a newer-looking one. My money was in the car. I could go back and get it or… Without thinking, I shoved the package of Razzles into the pocket of my sweatshirt. Now I had to make my escape.

Was the guilt radiating from my face? There was no one in the store besides the old man. If I walked slowly and calmly I would be fine.

Slowly. Calmly. Walk. Step. Step.

My heart was pounding. This was stupid. I should put the candy back. I didn’t need the Razzles. But I wanted them very badly. Enough to keep walking. The old man was not at the register.

Two more steps to the door. One. Two. I was out.

The old man grabbed my wrist.