CHAPTER 1- IN LOVE'S NAME - I

We hop off our last bus (for the time being) into the unknown territory of Virginia. With a sigh, I turn around and grab the luggage for Chloe as she hops off herself. The bus driver makes a sound of displeasure for some reason before closing the doors on us, driving off into the early morning.  Now sitting at a tiny bench bus stop, I begin counting the money we have left while Chloe looks about, her eyes taking in everything the woodsy surroundings have to offer. It is a fairly nice view, but my mind is too focused elsewhere. Namely, how the hell are we gonna travel from now on?

We did pretty well with the buses, but now that we've used up the money we could on that, we need a new plan if we're gonna make it all the way to Maine. Preferably, we need to get more money, and the best way to do that is, well, not exactly legal. I don't wanna broach the subject with her. There's no way Chloe would agree to something like that. I may have to just lie about how I get the money. She should believe it if I look convincing enough. With my new plan in mind, all that's left is to put it to the test, and the only way to do that is with people around. So...we need to go find a place with people. I grab my suitcase and nod for Chloe to follow along.

We both drag our suitcases along, watching the cars pass us by with some envy. What I would give to get around faster than my legs can take me. I try to take my mind off the monotony of the constant walking, but nothing will come to my head. Eventually, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look over and see Chloe looking at me with curious eyes.

"I don't remember Chris, did you ever read Lilly's Garden all the way through?" She asked. I furrowed my brow and tried to think. Lilly's Garden was the name of an American light novel series that had surprisingly taken off with mainstream audiences. Both it and Time Change Infinite were written by a guy named MagnumHopper, or that's what he called himself on that novel writing site, anyways, and both managed to get featured in a famous YouTuber's video, making Magnum a bit of an accidental celebrity. Personally, I'd always been more interested in Time Change Infinite cause of it's more sci-fi mixed with authorship themes, but I could always respect Lilly's Garden for what it was doing.

The story of a young girl forced to take god's place in deciding who goes to heaven or hell, with the consequence of Armageddon should she send an undeserving soul to the wrong place. Similar ideas have been done before, but the heart of the characters were what kept most people reading Lilly's. Plus she was around my age and about as smart as Chloe. That really made me like the character, even if I wasn't all that interested in seeing where it went. I shook my head, myself admittedly only getting through volume 2 before going back to just Time Change. Chloe seemed happy with that answer.

"Well then, how about I tell you what you missed out on?" She began from the start of volume 3 and kept going. Her enthusiasm and way of telling the story, while not convincing me to read it, did give me a good experience on its own, and her attempt to make this walk bearable is just heartwarming. I sigh quietly enough for only me to hear before letting myself get totally tangled up in her recap of almost 25 volumes. It does its job of helping the time pass, I'll say that much. By the time we reach the 25th volume's genuinely heartwarming conclusion of the seventh arc, we arrive at the wood's entrance, leading into what appears to be some kind of commercial district. Stores and stores all around us as we make our way along the sidewalks. Looking around, I see what looks like a McDonalds, and feel my heart race. Oh god, food that didn't come from a convenience store. During all our trips from bus to bus, those are exactly what we had been cursed with. I groan, knowing that we don't even have enough to get on a bus, much less a meal from here. 

Looking over at Chloe, I see her mouth salivating with desire, and decide on what I need to do. I lead us up to the area in which the McDonalds is, telling her that I just need to use the restroom. Once inside, I'm faced with the sight of a dozen tables in use, and no way in hell I can realistically steal someone's food. Remembering stealing from the book store, that was plenty easy, since the place had plenty of unoccupied and hard to see corners. Not to mention, the cameras there were sparse, so as long as I took from unwatched shelves, I was golden. Hence how I was always able to pick up new volumes of those series when they came out. This was different. If I just tried to go up and take someone's food, no way in hell I wouldn't be caught. Thankfully, everyone is too busy with their jobs or their food to have yet noticed me. Blessed by this, I begin examining the other patrons.

I notice the person in the corner table get up, leaving his stuff behind to go use the restroom, leaving me the only window I have to do something. The only issue would be drawing someone who knows who's sitting there's attention. No, to anyone a 4th grader sitting alone in a restaurant to eat is bizarre. The only thing I can do is act natural and hope for the best. I start to walk over, forcing myself to look only ahead. People's attention is drawn to those who are paying attention to them. Just stay relaxed...I reach the table in just a few seconds, nobody looking over at me. I sit down in the seat where he once was and, looking down, I see his bag in the opposite seat. Digging through, I find a wallet. I open it up and start to check the contents. Cards cards and...bingo. 200 dollars cash. Even an idiot like me wouldn't carry around this much in a regular circumstance. Whatever. I take the money out and drop the wallet back in the bag, pocketing the cash. Getting up, I take a quick sweep to see no one was the wiser.

With a gentle sigh, I walk back up to the counter, gently removing a twenty from the roll beforehand so they wouldn't question the amount of money I had. Arriving at the register, I order 4 McDoubles and two medium fries, paying the amount that's owed and start waiting patiently. As I do, I begin trying to formulate a story in my head for how I got all the money I have to tell Chloe. Maybe...I explained our situation to someone and they took pity and gave me 80 dollars. I can hide the rest and say I found it from looking around as we walked over time. As long as I keep hold of the money, it should be fine. I look out and see Chloe sitting on the bench outside, looking with longing at the passerby with their food while we had been snacking on the few bagged items I had brought because our can-opener had been lost from dropping it into the sewer drain and we didn't have anything to get the cans open with. Right, now we can go buy a new one. This really is perfect.

Our food gets made and I happily take it, stopping in the little passageway to the bathrooms to separate out 80 bucks from the rest of the cash, stuffing the rest in my left pocket as I put the right amount in my right. I head out through the door and show Chloe as she turns to look at me. The beaming smile on her face is a reward worth breaking the law for. I walk up and hand her two of the sandwiches and one of the fries from the bag before tearing into my own food. Chloe looks ready to do so herself, but, she stops. She suddenly looks nervous.

"Chris, how did you get this?" She asks softly. I stop right as the food is about to touch my lips, looking over at her. I tell her the story about the man taking pity and giving us enough for our bus trips and buying us food. She seems...unconvinced. I begin to sweat. Come on, please, have faith in me that I really don't deserve. She continues to stare before finally looking back down at the food. "We're very lucky..." She says, before biting into the burger. The shame of seeing her smile fade makes my food taste like slop.

I'm truly awful.