The Shadows

Silent It was early in the morning, maybe 5:30 A.M., and my friends and I are all hanging out at the mall like nearly every morning. Mellissia, the youngest, wanted to be the first person to check out this little stuffed animal shop, that I could have sworn was not there a day or two ago. In fact, I’m certain that it wasn’t even in the process of being built, it just appeared.. but Mellissia just had to go, and who am I to say no, I’m her only grown up figure in her life, her mother being a drug addict made her grow up quickly, so she treats me like her big brother, and there’s no way I’d ever let her down. “Silent!” I heard her squeal sounding like somebody was grabbing her. I rushed around the corner ready to football tackle the first person I saw anywhere near her, to my surprise, I came face first with some old closet smelling plushy. “Look Silent! This one has a claw arm just like you!” Mellissia exclaimed giggling. Tensing up while trying not to get angry with her, I moved the plushy away from my face to look her in the eyes. “Mellissia, I told you not to yell like that unless you are in trouble, you know I worry about you.” Mellissia barely turned 11 years old and managed to smart her way into high school, which does give her a small excuse to act so childish being that she still is one and never got the chance having to take care of her mom. Giving me even more need to protect her no matter what situation is thrown at either her or me, she’ll always be safe. Tears threatened to spill making me feel like I hurt her. “I- I’m sorry Silent, I won’t do it again..” hanging her head she gently placed the plushy back on the shelf and drug herself over to Dylana, which meant I was most likely about to get an earful. Clearing my throat I decided to let a small chuckle out, and attempted to change the subject to make Mellissia happy again; “Wow Mellissia! This one really does look like me, no wonder you got so excited! I mean, ahem, it’s not every day you see something so unconditionally awesome!” I look back over at her just in time to not only see Dylana glaring at me, but to see Mellissia perk back up like her normal self. She giggles and turns around skipping back over towards me. She gleams up at me with such an adorable goofy smile. “Sure glad you opened your nerdy eyes, but you’re not all that!” I hear a snort from the peanut gallery that hasn’t said a word to me this morning earning a glare in their direction. I turn to face Mellissia once more, “Ouch I’ve been so nice today!” All three girls roll their eyes at me so I just stuck my tongue out in response. Poking Mellissia I point out another plushy; “Hey kiddo, this one even looks like you.” Her eyes grow wide as she looks deeply at it, she then begins looking further down the rack of toys. “Oh my gorsh!” She squeals, “And this one looks like Sugar! Oooooh!!! And this one looks like Dylana!” She exclaims gathering them all in her small arms. Dylana and Sugar finally decided to regroup with us. “Wow Mellissia, you actually found something cool for once.” Sugar slipped out. It didn’t really seem to bother Mellissia to much so I just let it go while I point out other Plushies to her, she grabs another one saying it looked like our homeless friend. “Look Sugar.” Dylana starts. My first thought was oh great, here we go again as she continues; “I get it, before your royal ass fell from the bloody heavens you were the talk of the school, the one everybody oh so dreamed about becoming. But you’re not anymore, so get off your high horse and stop acting like you’re some huge honor bestowed upon us. Because you’re not and never will be, you just exist here.” Struck back, Sugar couldn’t think of anything that she could say back. So she just stood in silence.