Just My Life

Beautiful Stranger

As you might have guess, we never returned to the shop, instead, we found another shop, which was almost like a mini supermarket, without all the staff, there was only one person working there most days, and when it wasn’t her, it was her and her daughter.

They were both really nice people, and Mariah (the owner) was like a second mother to my brother and I, in fact she was the mother we wanted but never had, she as the mother everyone wanted.

Sheila is so lucky to have her.

First time we went in, Sheila was almost instantly at our side asking us if we were lost.

I just shook my head and carried on sucking my thumb, my brother explained that we had been banned from the corner shop across the street and had come here because we needed somewhere to buy our essentials.

My brother was only four but he was big for his age, therefor he could have passed as a six year old, I however was small for my age, we might look like twins but the sizes just gave it away.

“Oh, well I hope you don’t cause any trouble here, I know them bed and breakfast children round here, there always up to some kind of mischief”, Sheila was saying, but I was already thinking of a plan to get her to trust us, we couldn’t have her watching us like a hawk could we now?

It’s not that there we were going to do anything wrong, but seriously, ever heard of privacy; it was the thing the man at the last shop found impossible to grant us.

‘She has a soft spot for children, so it won’t take long to convince her you know’. I heard the words, but couldn’t make out the voice; I thought maybe it’s just my intuition.

But then how would my intuition know Sheila had a soft spot for children?

First thing I thought was maybe my brother had devolved telepathic powers, and if he had, maybe I did too, but something told me it wasn’t true.

I looked at my brother who looked deep in thought, and I knew he heard it as well, I also knew he had found out about the soft spot, because… well, he was thinking and that’s something I normally do unless he knew something I didn’t.

“No, you don’t understand. It weren’t our fault, the man just ha'ed children, and then he threw out kitty than Vicky got really sad and started shouting at the man than-“, my brother rested a hand on my shoulder soothingly, and kissed the top of my head.

That was my cue to close my mouth and start the waterworks.

“Hush now, it will be okay Nat, it’s alright, he aint comin' after us, I won’t ledim, like you said it weren’t our fault. No matter what that guy said, I won’t let 'im touch you”, he said softly, but loud enough for the women to hear.

He was running his hand up and down my arm, and hugging me from behind, I rested my head back on his chest and sighed.

‘Smart children, I’m impressed, you look pretty young though, how old are you?’ The voice came again, I could Identify it was a boys voice, I was going to tune into my brothers head to read his thought but something hit me like a punch in the stomach.

Telepathy was not normal, that meant that he wasn’t normal either.

‘Ding ding ding, we have a winner, out of you and your brother; I could tell you’re the smartest, just by looking at you’. I felt my cheek heat up for some reason.

I tried to conceal my blush but it wasn’t quick enough. ‘Aw you look so cute when you blush, tell me how old are you?’

How could I tell him when I didn’t even know who he was?