Tale Zero: Screaming Scorpion (12)

I hate shopping.

Or, if I were to elaborate a bit more and state the actual truth – I hate spending money. I get extremely paranoid. What if the store on the other side of the street has a better price? What if online stores do? What if I just buy this thing and, two days later, it just so happens to go on sale?! Oh, the nightmare… I usually didn’t want to even imagine it.

But today was different.

For starters, I wasn’t the one who came with the intention of spending money – mainly because you can’t spend what you don’t have any of. And second, looking at stores in and of itself was fun when I didn’t have any self-imposed pressure to buy anything. Lastly…

“Hey, James! Come, look at this thing! What even is it about?”

“Oh, this game! Huh, I didn’t know it was already out… Dunno how this one is, but the previous one in the series was pretty decent and-”

“Yes?”

“Wait a second. Do you even own this console?”

“Uh, no, I don’t think I do.”

“Then why do you care so much about this particular section?! If anything, I’m the one who bought this system, I should be the one buying games for it instead of you…”

“Mhm, but if I don’t look at the games, how will I know if I want this for myself?”

“Huh. Fair point , I guess.

“Can’t believe I’m outsmarting someone who prides himself in how many mystery books he’s read and how good he is at thinking logically.”

“Wait, I don’t remember being that much of an egotistical cunt!”

“And now your memory’s also terrible and overhyped. What a great detective you are.”

The disappointed stare of hers would’ve been pretty convincing if it wasn’t for her visibly trying to contain her laughter. A futile affair that was. It didn’t take long before we were both laughing at a barely appropriate volume inside the department store. A few glares from the employees around, though, and we came back down to the real world.

Then, we continued walking around the place.

Stereotypes are a nasty thing, and I promise this isn’t me falling back into those, but Emma did seem to enjoy the clothes section the most, while I simply pretended to love fashion to death as I let my eyes wander around. Having worn the exact same model of shorts in different sizes for four years straight was the best example of such love.

Still, even though I didn’t really care, I enjoyed my time at the mall. Though I would lie if I said I wasn’t half relieved when Emma finally got tired of going through every single section of the gigantic department store.

… Though contrary to my initial expectations, I didn't walk out empty-handed. Emma decided it was a good idea to buy me a children's book that taught kids the names of animals plus an adjective starting with the same letter.

“Elegant Elephant… Jiggly Jellyfish… Swimming Seahorse…”

“Ehehehehe. I don't know why, but when you say it it almost sounds believable, like what an actual expert on the supernatural would name the creatures they came across…”

“Huh, I'll take your word for it because to me it just sounds stupid.”

“Yeah well both things aren't mutually exclusive, just so you know.”

What an asshole.

“Why did you even buy this again?”

“To make fun of you, of course. I thought you reading those out loud would be really funny, and I wasn't wrong.”

“… Why do you keep doing this to me?”

“What thing?”

“Borderline bullying.”

“Does it bother you?”

“Nah, not really.”

“That's what I thought. And if you said you weren't having fun too, it would be hard to believe you.”

“Is that what bullies said when they get caught nowadays? ‘He looked like he was having fun so we kept doing it’?”

“Yeah, that's right, teacher, sir! I was just doing it for his enjoyment, no bad intentions whatsoever!”

“Too bad, miss. The person in question has heard all your arguments and regarded them as ‘complete and utter bullshit’. Therefore, you'll now be coming with me to the principal's office.”

“Oh, noooooo! Not the principal's officeeeeee!”

“Pffft.”

“What are you laughing at now, you asshole?”

“Nothing, just having fun. Isn't that what you said earlier too?”

“Eh, fair enough… Whatever, I'm happy you're having fun today. I kind of thought you'd be really bored after a while.”

At some point throughout the conversation, we had inadvertently stopped looking at each other, letting our eyes drift towards the horizon.

“Why would I be? It’s hard to bore me, you know.”

“And that’s also hardly a compliment.”

“Speaking of hard things…”

“If you make a pervert joke you will actually die today.”

“I was just about to say it’s pretty damn hard to find someone as shameless as you are, but I guess nobody needs me to prove the evident.”

“Oh, shut up already…”

“…”

“…”

“So.”

“Yeah?”

“Should we get moving?”

I said this aloud, but in reality, it’s not like I wanted to move at all—I would’ve been fine staying like that for a while longer. I said it regardless.

“Yeah, sure. So, where to?”

…

Minutes after, we found ourselves right besides that ice cream shop we’d been on the other day.

I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, but in a move I could only describe as fully intentional and provoked déja vù, I got talked into buying a pair of ice creams for our mouths to enjoy and for our health to hate us for.

I really didn’t feel like sitting around to eat it though, so we kept walking through the same few streets we’d already been through a couple times the past week as we took our times to appreciate the flavor.

“Yup, this thing is just as good as I remembered it being… even though I say that, it’s not like it’s been long since we last came here, wasn’t it just yesterday?”

…

“I do kinda feel like we should eat something different next time. What do you say to a big fat ham and cheese sandwich…?”

…

“Emma?”

She hadn’t been replying at all. I would have assumed she was just eating her ice cream, but no, she was definitely the type of person to talk as she ate, and even disregarding that, I couldn’t hear her eating either…

I couldn’t hear her footsteps besides me.

Adrenalin rushing through my veins, I jerked my head to look back and-

“EMMA!”

A dozen or so meters behind me, she had stopped—she had been forced to stop.

She was on her knees, covering her head with both arms, people starting to gather around her—

I immediately ran to her side.

“W-what’s wrong, Emma?! Are you okay? Wait a second, I’ll call an ambulance…!”

I was shaking heavily, I almost couldn’t grip my phone with enough strength to not send it flying somewhere as I painfully called emergency services.

“O-ow… Aaahhh…”

I tried to look at her face. She was crying.

But apart from that, her expression… I’d seen that expression before.

The one she had back then, in the hospital—

“AAAAAHHH!”

I had noticed too late.

Too late, too late, too late…!

I pushed everyone else aside as I covered her with my whole body, trying my best to resist the pain from her attacks. They only grew and grew and grew in strength as the psychotic attack took over her, and after a while, I found myself lying face-up on the floor.

Squeezing both her wrists in my hands, channeling all my energy to keep her in control—and yet, it was useless.

She broke out of my grip and started attacking me with no restraints as her screams pierced my ears and her tears burnt my skin.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

The pain was too much, I couldn’t take, if this kept up I was certainly going to die here—!

I had to do something.

I had to get away from her.

I channeled whatever strength I had left into my legs, and…

I kicked her in the abdomen with all my might.

I sent her flying backwards, my view no longer being blocked by her body. And that’s when I saw.

The street we were in was pretty narrow, and our fight had been happening dangerously close to the road.

…

I had pushed Emma straight in that direction.

And there was a vehicle, an ambulance, coming at high speed towards us—I registered all of that in a fraction of a second.

Far too fast for me to move accordingly and prevent it.

Far too slow to do anything about it.

…

I had done it again.