Had to be Dyson

Chapter- 12

“What?” I asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious

“Tyler, are you being... civil towards me, Dyson Becker?” He asked in a dramatic voice.

I sighed. “I’m trying but you’re making it very hard.” I mumbled.

“I am not.” He defended. “Look, I even brought out a big box of donuts so we could share.” He said, gesturing towards the box of donuts on the table.

I chuckled. “Fine.” And I took one of the donuts from the box, quickly stuffing it into the whole on my face. “So what happened to the heat?” I finally asked.

“It was only a matter of time, considering the power is out, the heat is out too.” He explained. I never realized how smart this kid was.

“But the heat in here still works because of the generator.” I finished.

He nodded. “Exactly.”

“So what are we going to do, just live in the food court?” I huffed.

“So now it’s ‘we’, huh? What happened to ‘I don’t like you!’ and ‘It’s none of your business!’” He screeched.

I chuckled. “I am not freezing to death alone.” I said matter of factly.

“Right.” He said with a small smile. “Well, the storm shouldn’t last much longer.”

“Well, that’s good.” I mumbled, finishing my breakfast and resting my elbows on the table in front of me.

“Can we play Battleship?” Dyson asked with a childish smile as he closed the lid to the donuts.

I chuckled and shrugged. “I guess so. Why?”

“I haven’t played Battleship in years. Are you any good?” He asked as we stood up from the table and started making our way towards the toy store.

“I’m okay. But I haven’t played in a while either.” I mumbled, shivering in the cold of the mall.

“Well, I have to warn you. I’m kind of sweet.” He grinned.

“But you haven’t played in years, remember?” I chuckled.

“I’m sure I still have it.” He said proudly as we turned the corner into the toy store and then into the back where there were shelves beyond shelves of colorful board games.

But before we got there, as we were passing the books, I let out a horrified gasp.

“What is it?” Dyson asked in a rush.

“What is this?!” I squealed, grabbing one of the horrifying hard back child books and nearly shoving it in his face. The cover was a dark with a  gross looking green monster peering in a window with stars in the back ground. In the room, there was an octopus in the stone fireplace with the title in creepy, thick green letters.

“Goodnight Goon?” Dyson said in a confused voice as he read the title. “A petrifying parody.”

“How can they make a parody to a classic like this?!” I shrieked, still baffled. “They can’t do that!”

“They can.” Dyson said with an amused smile on his face. “And they did. It doesn’t look too bad, really.”

“This is awful! You can’t just mess up something as amazing as Goodnight Moon. You just can’t do that! What are they trying to do? Scar kids for life?!"

"I don't know, it looks kind of... cute." Dyson chirped, flipping through the pages of the traitorous book.

"It is not cute! It's... it's..."