Chapter 2 – The Plan.
Work was an absolute drag. Not that it wasn’t always, but today felt worse than normal. It wasn’t an illustrious job or anything, but enough to pay the bills and be at least a little bit comfortable, especially if you were flatting, which of course he was. He did want to do something better, something more enjoyable and rewarding, but for the life of him he wasn’t sure what exactly what that would end up doing. Not to mention every time he did start to work towards doing something else, fate would seem to intervene. Training would fall through, successful interviews trumped by a last minute more appropriate candidate, applications would get lost, or even in one case the job itself outright disappeared. It was quite depressing really, but at least he still had a job, while some of his flatmates were still looking. Rachael had had three rejections in a row, and he admired how strong she had been about it. Hopefully she’d find one soon. Bruce on the other hand just seemed to be lazy in that regard, his job hunting haphazard at best, but he had wealthy parents, so he could afford to be. Not that he spent a lot of time at home during the day either.
Chris worked his way down the aisle of the supermarket, mindlessly putting stock from boxes onto the shelves. Open box, fill stock to shelf, present, discard empty carton, move onto the next box. Rinse, wash, repeat. For hours. One would have thought they’d have robots doing this type of work by now, but technology hadn’t gotten quite that far yet. So it was still manual labour for now, and it meant he had a source of income. He also only had to do it for a few hours a day, from 4am till 10am, so it still left him with plenty of the day to do other things, and today he had a full schedule, which he had planned out in advance. Thinking about it though was making him really anxious, so he tried instead to focus on the task in front of him. Open, stack, discard, move. Open, stack, discard, move. It wasn’t a bad place to work either, Essentials Plus being the largest supermarket chain in the country and the oldest, and he worked in the largest of the three stores that they had in the city. There was always something to be said for stability and job security.
At least no one would be at home when he got back. Which was part of the plan. He needed the house to himself, or today would be for naught. Millie and Paul both worked late on Wednesdays, Bruce was always out doing something (probably spending money, something that he was very good at), Peter had afternoon classes and went to the gym after that, and Rachael went to the gym early and then had a full day of classes after that. Perhaps her full day was hurting her job hunt, but she was certain that the qualification would help her out in the future, which was fair enough. Chris hoped that she would get something suitable soon. It was kinda unfair that she hadn’t.
Mind you, life wasn’t really fair in the first place. The events from last night still burned fresh in his mind. Yes, it had just been a game, but still, Pyre was a part of him, and now she was gone. He guessed he’d find out tomorrow if they’d managed to defeat the abomination, as he’d be in bed by the time everyone finally got home tonight. He was torn as to if he wanted them to have succeeded or not. It deserved to die, but that Pyre had been unable to hurt it meant that if they had he’d feel even more hurt over the situation. Chris sighed once again, and continued with the work. Open, stack, discard, move.
By 10am work was finally over, and while the shift was short, he was exhausted. Coupled with his nerves being tensed to the max, and his broken sleep from the night before, he was tempted to just go home and collapse on the bed, but he knew this really was going to be his only chance. He had to do it, or he’d regret not doing so. That didn’t make him any less nervous about doing so, but he just felt that pull, that need to know. A desire that he couldn’t ignore. He’d been planning it for months, scouting locations out, finding things suitable and noting their location, or manoeuvring them to other almost hidden locations so that they’d hopefully be there when it came to the day. Which was of course today. He breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself, and then securing his backpack around his shoulders, he headed into the centre of town.
Being the largest one of the chain in the city, the Essentials Plus store that he worked at was at the edge of the central business district. It had been built recently, and the only way to get the space that they had needed for it was out here. It had taken them just over a year to build it, but within a few months of it opening they had known it had been a huge success. But it also meant that he had quite a bit of travelling to do, and he would be either walking or catching a bus. While he did have a learners drivers licence, he wasn’t in a position where he could afford a car, or even justify having one, so he made do without. The city was also getting busy by this point, the morning work commute over, and those remaining going about their business or leisure. Cars roared past him as he walked his way down the side of the bypass, making his way to the closest bus stop, hands gripping the straps of his bag tightly. The smell of exhaust was giving him a slight headache, but it’d be better once he was in the CBD itself.
There was only one other person at the bus stop when he arrived, a little old lady who sat perched on the edge of the bench, trying her best not to touch anything while at the same time give her body some rest. Like a lot of council utilities, the bus stop wasn’t in the best of shape. It was old, and while they had done a campaign of getting all of the shelters painted with murals representing the surrounding area, it hadn’t stopped the vandals from targetting them and covering the artwork with their own tags. The old lady gave him a small smile, and then went back to peering down the road as she waited for the bus, which suited Chris fine. He pulled out his phone, checking the time. 10:19am. The bus was only a minute away. He was keeping to his schedule.
The bus pulled up to the stop right on time, spewing out black diesel fumes as its brakes squealed and the door slid open with a hiss. Chris stood, but waited for the old lady as she gingerly got up and slowly made her way over to the bus, carefully hauling her way onto its first step then up to the driver. Smiling at the young driver she placed her bus card on the scanner, and shuffled her way down to the middle of the bus once it had beeped. Chris followed up behind her, also scanning his card, and then taking the seat right at the front of the bus. This bus only went as far as the hub in the CBD, which was a single zone, so there was no need to tell the driver your destination. He sat down in the seat, trying to calm himself, breathing evenly. It wasn’t really working. He was both anxious and excited, and he wanted to get everything done as quickly as possible. The driver noticed is slightly agitated state, giving him a questioning look, but Chris just smiled as best he could back, sinking back into a weathered seat as the orange and black bus lurched into motion and pulled back into the bypass traffic.
His first destination was an opposition’s supermarket, of which there were two near the bus hub. Sure he could have gotten this particular item from his place of work, but everyone there knew him, and they’d know what he had purchased, and given that he didn’t want anyone to know it kinda defeated the purpose. But they were easy enough to acquire from any store, and once he’d changed out of his uniform into a fairly nondescript pair of pants, sneakers, and top he was sure no one would pay him any attention. He had though about wearing a hoodie, but actually wearing the hood would make him seem even more suspicious, especially in a store, so he ignored that idea. Dismounting from the bus, he walked down the pass the lines of electronics, clothing and book stores, weaving his way through the crowds of people on the street and ignoring the bright neon signs enticing him to visit any of the numerous businesses. He deliberately avoided looking at any of the store windows, as he couldn’t risk seeing something that he liked the look and getting distracted by it, especially as it would all likely be well outside his price range. It was difficult enough trying not to stare at people as he walked pass them.
The Best Price store that he was going to was located a couple of blocks down from the bus hub, one block back from the main street and hence a little quieter than the one a bit further down that was situated right in the middle of the CBD. He noted that it’s car park was half empty as he walked to the front entrance, which was a good sign. The building painted in a vivid red with bright yellow letters for the store name, a combination that he always he thought was awful, even though it did stand out and caught the eye. He tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as he walked in through the main entrance, past the shark teeth and into the store itself, even though he felt super obvious. He made his way across the front of the shop to the aisle in question, and walked as confidently as he could to the fourth bay down, grabbing the item in question off the shelf, quickly checking that it was the right one. He then went straight to the checkout, choosing to go through a self service kiosk so that he didn’t have to interact with anyone, paid for item, and then hurriedly left, stuffing it in his backpack as soon as he was outside the store. He let out the breath that he didn’t realise that he was holding. He was stressed, nerves threatening to snap and send him back home, but at the same time there was also a sense of elation and excitement. He was going to do it today. He’d gotten the first item, only three more to go.
His remaining three stops were all Op shops, or Thrift stores. Call them what you will, but they were within his price range, and though it had taken him a while, he had managed to find what he was after. The first of them, the People Support Shop, was located a couple more blocks back from Best Price, at the edge of the CBD where the businesses went from reputable franchises to the knick-knack and bargain stores where discount goods could be brought for a fraction of the price and were also a fraction of the quality as well. There were a lot less people walking these streets, so Chris was able to walk his way down to the store without any issue.
The store had just opened when he arrived, its front windows a display of the most recent donation, clothes, books, and kitchenware, the lettering across its windows proudly stating that it’s profits went to supporting those facing difficult circumstances. Smiling nervously at the counter lady as he slid the front door open and made his way in, he turned and made his way along to the back of the store, past racks of second hand clothes sorted by gender and type, stacks of old plates and cups, and shelves of books long forgotten by time. Right in the very corner, in what was probably the worst lit section of the store, were the children’s toys, which looked like they never got touched, by either the staff or the customers. So he had felt fairly secure in leaving on of the items in amongst them. He stopped dead in his tracks though when he reached them, his body going cold. Rather than the jumbled mess that he had seen every time he had come here, the toys had all been sorted and tidied up, displayed on a newly set up set of shelves or placed in tubs with similar items. He panicked as he rifled through the tubs, moving them around, searching right throughout the area for the item in question, but it was gone. This wasn’t happening. Not today of all days.
Chris took a step back, settling his breathing, and trying to push the panic back. Think logically about this. It’s good that they have tidied this section up. It needed it. All they need to do is improve the lighting. But if they’d found something there that didn’t belong, what would they have done with it? Most likely they would have put it back where it belonged. Moving back through the store, past the racks of clothes, he arrived at another set of shelves, also now all stacked tidily. He scanned the shelves carefully, hoping as he held his breath. And there they were, sitting on the bottom shelf. He picked them up, double checking to make sure that they were the same ones, which they were, and then hurried to the counter, placing them before the volunteer who was there for the day.
“They’re nice aren’t they?” she said as she processed them through for him and put them in a paper carry bag. “I was wondering when you’d come back for them.”
Chris went beet red, only able to mutter “...Thanks...” before raced out the door and down the street, only stopping a block away to also put that package in his backpack. He couldn’t believe it! She’d noticed and known, and she only worked there a couple of days a week! But at least he had them now. Pulling out a bottle of water he had brought after work out of his bag, his downed it all, throwing the empty bottle into a nearby recycling bin.
He meandered towards his next destination in a partial daze. If she’d known, had any of the others noticed? Was he going to get found out before he’d even managed to buy everything? Was he going to be ruined for the rest of his life? Chris shook his head. These thoughts were getting him nowhere. He just needed to get on with it, or he’d run out of time, if his nerves didn’t get the better of him.
Refocusing, he picked up his pace as he made his way back onto the main street of the CBD. His next destination was Quality Second Life, probably the most up market of the Op shops that he was going to, and the only one located on the main street. As its name suggested they dealt with the better grade of second hand goods, and while their prices were a bit higher, they were always in a better condition. Their turnover was also a lot higher, but he was banking on the next item still being there, as he had only located and moved it at the end of the previous week. The shop was located in a massive open plan suite that was unsuited to most businesses, and had sat empty for over six months till the Op shop had moved in. Obviously the landlord had concluded some money was better than none and let them use the building. He wasn’t sure where, if at all, they had been situated before that, at the least they hadn’t been in the greater CBD area.
Arriving at the door of the store, he slid the large glass sliding door open just enough to fit through and stepped in, closing the door behind him. Happy to see that the counter girl was busy chatting to a friend, he made his way over to one of the racks labelled for Retro Fashion, and went straight to the end, sliding the hangers along. He sighed in relief to see that his item was still there. Grabbing it off the rack, he took it to the counter, placing it down. The counter girl, barely looked at him, instead continuing her conversation with her friend as she processed it through for him. Normally he might have been a bit put off by her behaviour, but today he was very grateful for it. Placing the item in his bag with the others, he opened the door just enough again, slid out, and then closed it behind him. One to go.
The final destination was Norm’s, the worst name for a shop ever, even an Op shops. He had been there enough time to see the name badges of all of the workers (even though he avoid them all as much as possible), and he still had no idea who Norm was at all, if he/she even existed. It was located one block back off the main street of the CBD where the quality of the shops and of the buildings themselves dropped off, showing the distinct division between the older part of the CDB and the more recent development. The state of that end was depressing, and while it would have thrived back in the day, now it was just slowly dying, and Chris was unable to help it and just avoided that area as much as possible. There was just something about it. Norm’s was a quaint shop, standing by itself in an empty plot of land, its shack -like appearance reinforced by its pastel blue paint job, while the inside of the shop was a soft warm yellow. He felt himself calm down as he entered the store, Sasha, today's volunteer, giving him a smile in acknowledgement of his presence.
Chris nodded back at her, and then made it way to the racks on the left side of the shop. These were all very tidy and well organized, and it seemed that the staff here went through making sure everything was in place at least once a week. It had taken him four attempts to find a spot where they wouldn’t keep finding the item and returning it to it’s proper place. That had ended up being the tail end of one of the racks, and even after a month it was still there. He smiled to himself as he saw it there and picked it up, excitement rising within him. This was the last piece. It was going to be today. Being careful to go back to a neutral expression, he walked up to the counter and handed it to Sasha. She smiled at him, and processed it through without fuss. Taking it from her, he stashed it into his backpack and then turned to leave.
“Just a minute please.” Sasha’s voice rang out behind him. It was a sweet, light voice, but it caused him to freeze in his tracks, fear gripping him. What did she want? What had he done wrong? Did they know his secret?
He almost contemplated just running from the store, but he knew that was just the fear in him being unrealistic, so he turned around, trying to mask the tears that were threatening to form.
“Here, this is for you. Courtesy of Norm’s.”
Chris stepped up to her, carefully taking the small box that she held out as she smiled warmly at him.
“Oh, thanks.” He stammered, placing the box into his backpack with the rest of the items.
“I gotta go,” he then muttered as he hurriedly left the store.
Chris checked his watch as he got back onto the street. Damn, he only had a couple of minutes before the bus home arrived at it’s next stop, and it’d be an hour before the next one came through. Grabbing the straps of his backpack, he broke into a run, racing down the street towards the main street of the CBD, and then along the main drag for a couple of blocks, weaving through other shoppers with their big plastic bags of goods, couples holding their hands together and managing too take up the entire footpath, and families with kids that were running amok. He reached the bus stop just as the bus pulled up, the hiss of the door opening a relief. He waited till the other passengers had disembarked, and then boarded, swiping his card as he got up to the bus driver.
“Agers Reach please,” he said to the driver, who nodded.
“That’ll be four zones. You can take your seat.”
Chris stashed his card, and walked down to the back of the bus. He took his backpack off, and sat down, hugging it tightly to his chest. He’d done it. He’d acquired them all.
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CBD is the acronym for Central Business District.
Lol 🤣
Norm was at all, if he/she even existed
Always better to use 'they' as opposed to any clunky version of he/she type thing in writing.
yes, very true ^^
he worked in the largest of the tree stores
do you mean three? sorry XD
I did indeed. Thanks for pointing that out. Has been corrected.
@mogust okay awesome! i thought it was weird pointing something out when this chapter came out a year and a half ago!
@Kamillah That's alright. There is still some editing that needs to be done, that I am working on,
@mogust in that case ill help where i can!