Consuming Darkness, Arising Light

Chapter 27: Fate's Shackles

Kyle and Luke

Kyle is at the grocery store, per Mrs. Marsh's request. Well, it was his turn anyway. They have a routine to only restock on groceries whenever they get low, Kenny was the first to volunteer and was ecstatic about it too. Kyle chuckles a little at the memory as he grabs several bags of chips and puts them into the shopping cart. He goes over to the opposite row of shelves that contain the drinks, and gets four two-liter bottles of soda of different flavors. After setting them down into the cart, he goes back to get two cases of soda, grabbing his personal favorites because he can, and puts them underneath the cart in front of two cases of water.

Getting behind the cart, he pushes it, leaving that aisle, and going to one that has healthy foods. Mrs. Marsh hates it when they only bring back junk food, and Kenny is to blame for that. With the amount of snacks and sodas he brought to the house that one time, Kyle thought he had almost emptied the shelves.

"Are you tryin' to make us fatter than Eric?" Stan commented that day. Only Kyle laughed while Kenny quickly denied the assumption, bashfully admitting that he went a little overboard, which was an understatement. Mrs. Marsh made him return half of the snacks and sodas. It was since then on that if they ever got just unhealthy foods, drinks, and snacks, then they would be forced to swap majority of them out with fruits and/or vegetables. The rule has not once been broken.

Kyle puts a bag of green grapes into the cart, then scans around for any other fruits to get. Whilst doing so, he can't help but be amazed all over again. Mrs. Marsh is really incredible. To be able to keep everything in here fresh that are well past their expiration date is just...admirable. This is the only grocery store she managed to save and protect inside of a 'Cessation Barrier'. Time does not flow here, thus none of the foods and beverages go bad—unless they're taken out of the barrier. However, anything the boys take home from here remain edible thanks to the barrier surrounding their home. Kyle doesn't know for sure if it's also a Cessation Barrier. Mrs. Marsh has more barriers put up around a few more stores and shops with the purpose of preventing them from being destroyed. After knowing this, the boys naturally became worried about her, thinking that having more than two barriers up was rapidly consuming her magical energy day by day. She told them that the barriers weren't taking too much out of her, and also told them that if she hadn't done this, then they wouldn't survive long with the rations they had.

Kyle settles on getting two cartons of strawberries since he and Mrs. Marsh like them.

"Don't Forget The Milk."

Kyle nods. "Okay, thanks for reminding me, Luke." He heads to where the dairy section is. Hearing just the wheels squeaking as he strolls along is a sound he's gotten used to, but every now and then, he would envision individuals, couples, and families walking about. He frowns, but he doesn't feel any sadness compared to the other times. Rather, he feels...nothing. Not one emotion.

The mental imagery alters drastically.

All of the lights go out and everyone stops, except Kyle. The silhouettes of every single person look at him. Their eyes glow and change to dark green. A little further ahead, two rows of fangs smile within the darkness.

"Sooon...Soon, you will join our cause, Kyle Broflovski. Your friends cannot change your fate. It is futile."

"Kyle?"

The eyes and fangs disappear, then the entire store brightens up. Kyle stops, he is alone. He blinks, light swiftly returning in his lime-green eyes. He notices instantly that he is not near any dairy products. Instead, he wandered into the frozen foods section. He heaves a sigh. "Sorry, I spaced out for a moment."