Peter Pointer

Chapter Two

As Darryl and Michelle roamed through the  hardware store, Eric decided to wonder off straight to where the lights were. He didn't want to waste any time and he knew his parent's were easily distracted. Looking up he saw the sign " Illuminate Your Life This Way," and and arrow pointing towards the right, motioning to his right he caught a glimmer of a shadow in the corner of his eye, turning his head a little too quickly and slightly straining his neck he looked around and saw no-one or nothing out of the ordinary, he could hear his parents possibly making their way to the lights section, a child tugging on his father's jacket because he wanted to see what was on the top shelf and a lady who was staring a little too hard at the tools. Maybe she was trying to hide the fact she had no idea what she was looking at or maybe she was trying to make the most economical decision, either way Eric decided he had analyzed his surroundings enough and turned back towards the lights section.

He loved this section of the hardware store the most. Lights of different colours, shapes, sizes and watts. It amazed him how something a simple as light held such power, and people managed to recreate it in so many unique and astounding ways. Long necked lamps, naked lamp shades, fluorescent lights, neon lights, it was heaven. His eyes sparkled like a kid in a toy store as he wondered through each aisle. He found himself right by the clapper light section and chuckled to himself as he remembered how eventful the first week of having them was. In the beginning everyone was giddy and would walk around the house then after a few minutes you'd here a couple of claps a light would come on and a giggle would come from one corner of the room. 
By Wednesday his father had grown tired of it and found it to be more irritating than useful. Michelle would tease Darryl about it to ease the tension and help Eric not feel so bad about choosing those lights because he had seen the TV commercial, but deep down they all knew it was time to go back to the store and find something less frustrating.

Paul the hardware shop owner was a rather frightening looking individual, no-one seemed to notice it as much as Eric and a few of his friends did. As he would slowly walk around the shop his presence brought about a slightly chilling and eerie feeling to Eric and his friends. Most of the adults brushed it off as him just being old,lonely and having suffered a stroke a few years prior so he naturally came across as rather strange because he would try and over compensate due to his age and the impact the stroke had on his appearance, but whenever he would enter the light section of the hardware store his shadow would distort his face into a horrid looking figure. This would cause Eric to hold his breath and never make eye contact with him. His parents took it as him being rude and many a time he would get into trouble for not being polite to Paul. When Eric tried to explain why, his father would slam his hands on the table and demand he grow out of this childish sissy boy behaviour, man up and stop being so rude. His mother on the other hand, knew that her son was definitely more sensitive than most boys his age and hoped that the way she raised him hadn't made him..well... soft.

As Eric looked at the clapper lights he kept looking around to see if Paul was anywhere near, luckily there was no sign of him yet. Turning the corner he saw the perfect lights. Stick on the wall lights that came in different colours and required batteries. No clapping, no light switches and no extra money on lights. Counting his fingers to work out how many he would need, he reached out to grab thirteen of the lights. He stopped and recounted he wasn't necessarily the most suspicious person, but given what he had seen having an even number felt like it would be the best option. He grabbed fourteen hoping that his parents wouldn't ask him to put one back and if they did he would put two back so as to keep the even numbers flowing. Red, white,yellow,purple,green, blue and a reddish pinkish colour. He found it the last one a bit girly but he needed to make sure that he would have the right number of colours.
His arms full and feeling rather satisfied, he turned around and standing behind him were his parents and Paul.
His eyes fixed on Paul's face as he watched the shadows distort his face into what Eric believed was his true form. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead, he tried to look away but was stuck desperately wanting all fourteen of the lights and standing in front of Paul and his parents, he had to play this just right. His throat became dry and as he tried to swallow the lump of saliva that had built up in his mouth, he partially chocked resulting in him dropping the lights and falling to his knees in a bout of coughing and choking.
Michelle dropped to her knees and patted him on the back, "Eric! Eric! are you ok? breath now, take deep slow breaths..In (hold it, hold it), Out slowly let in out. As Michelle helped her son breathe, Darryl apologized to Paul picked up the lights and helped Eric stand up.
"Son are you alright?," Darryl definitely looked worried but tried not to show it. 

"I'll get Eric some water," Paul said as he shuffled away. Eric though still struggle to breath and calm his cough was relieved that Paul was gone. He looked at his parents.
"Sorry..i think my saliva went down the wrong pipe," he said still spluttering.
Michelle and Darryl gave each other a look of relief and walked to the cashier's checkout. Eric was trying to hurry them along so that they could leave before Paul returned with the water.