Flames || Rhink

Fill Me Up

In the next few hours, I had ran out of matches. 

Using the last one felt like a record, but I knew I wasn't done. I'd use more. 

I got up, put on a pair of shorts long enough to cover my legs, and left the house.

I drove twenty minutes to the dollar store, where I filled a shopping basket with three boxes of matches, a pack of toilet paper, and a bottle of water. 

I circled the store for ten minutes, looking for something else. I didn't know what, but I could feel that I was forgetting something. I finally gave up, grabbing a bag of ramen noddles I wouldn't eat.

At the register, I came face to face with my next greatest enemy.

Pilled high on a stand were multi colored lighters. 

Some were pretty, with pictures. The others were plain, boring like me. I grabbed two black lighters and threw them in my basket. 

The man at the register looked at me with a funny eye, "How are you?" he asked.

I could tell he didn't really care. 

"Actually, life kinda sucks."

He didn't expect that answer. But he continued, "Not all the time. Only ten percent of your life is dedicated to the hard times, I like to think. The other ninety percent is whatever you make of it."

I laughed, "What makes you so sure your calculations are correct?"

He shrugged, ringing up the last of my items, "I'm not. But if you think like that long enough, you start to believe it's true."

"Ten twenty-seven," he said, looking me in the eye. The blonde couldn't be much older than me, but he sure did seem wise for his age. 

I swiped my card. 

He handed me my bag, but held on, "Don't make life harder than it has to be. It only breaks you."

He let go. 

I left.

I cried silently on the way home. Knowing deep down, that all my problems were sitting in the seat next to me. 

They were controlling me in more ways than one. They had taken over and I wasn't okay with it, yet I didn't have it in me to stop them.

So I didn't.

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Short chapters but honestly one of my faves. I loved the cashier. He seemed chill. 

I hope you guys are enjoying the story! You're awesome!

Thanks for being your mythical best!

-Robin