The Grudge: Part III...with a twist

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The Grudge

Part III

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

(A very special Chronicle with a twist)

“Why are we at the mall?” Sebastian asked, sighing heavily as he placed their tray down at the small food court table.

“Well, we,” Mikey said, stressing the second word as she gestured between her and his father who was doing his best not to smile, “are spending a lovely evening at the mall. I’m not sure what you’re doing here to be honest,” she added with a sad shake of her head and a pitying look that had him narrowing his eyes on the little brat.

“I’m spending quality time with my father,” he said with a glare as he grabbed his drink off the tray.

“Doing what?” she asked, blinking innocently as she grabbed one of his fries and popped it in her mouth.

Narrowing his eyes on her, he grabbed her burger as he said, “Guy stuff.”

“I see,” she murmured, looking thoughtful as she stole another one of his fries.

“I’m sure you do,” he said, moving to take a bite out of her burger when she reached over and plucked it out of his hands, took a bite before slapping it back in his hands, got to her feet, grabbed her bag, and before he could ask her what she was doing, she said, “I need to use the bathroom,” and walked off, leaving him sitting there watching her walk away and wondering-

“She’s not mad at you,” his father said.

“What?” Sebastian asked absently as he watched Mikey make her way towards the bathrooms in the back.

“She’s tormenting you for her own entertainment,” his father said, shrugging it off like it was normal.

It wasn’t.

But then again, since he did the same thing to her, he couldn’t really complain, now could he? he thought as he finished off her burger. With that in mind, he popped one last fry in his mouth and decided to return the favor only to frown when his father handed him his phone.

“It’s for you,” his father said as Sebastian glanced down at the phone and read the text message.

Meet me at the bookstore.

“What’s going on?” he asked even as he berated himself for not grabbing his wallet before he left so that he could find something new to read.

“Why don’t you go find out?” his father said, shooting him a wink that had him frowning as he headed towards the bookstore.

Once he was there, he-

Go towards the back.

Did what the demanding pain in the butt told him to. When he reached the History section another text had him turning left and heading towards the Foreign Language section. Another one had him walking past the Children’s section. Three more text messages and he found himself standing in the Fiction section, standing in front of the M’s and staring at a giftwrapped box with his name written across the tag.

“Are you going to open it?” Mikey asked, coming to stand by his side.

“What’s it for?” he asked.

“Just open it!” she said, smiling hugely as she grabbed the box off the shelf and handed it to him.

“I thought you were mad at me?” he said, running his fingertips over the neatly gift wrapped present and knew that she hadn’t wrapped it.

Mikey’s idea of giftwrapping a present was rolling it up in whatever paper she could find and securing it with two rolls of tape before shoving it in a bag and throwing it at you while demanding that you open it. She hated shopping, but she loved finding the perfect gift. She never settled for something she thought you might like, she always searched for that one thing that she knew that you would love more than anything.

“I’m always mad at you,” she promised him as she gestured impatiently for him to open her gift.

 “I sensed that,” he murmured, turning the gift over in his hands, knowing the wait was probably driving her nuts and wondering how long it would be before she-

“Here!”

-ripped it out of his hands and opened it before shoving it back in his hands.

Such an impatient little thing, he thought, smiling as he glanced down at the white box in his hands and…

“Oh, my god,” he said, staring down at the brand-new iPad in his hands.

“Do you like it?” Mikey asked, beaming up at him as he ran his fingertips reverently over the iconic apple symbol.

“I love it,” he said hollowly.

“Your mom helped me create an account for you and we already downloaded all the book apps on it. I had enough money leftover so I was able to get you a gift card so you can start using it today,” she said, smiling hugely up at him.

“This must have cost a fortune,” he said, glancing down at her to find her shrugging it off.

“It’s no big deal,” she said as the cutest blush that he’d ever seen turned her cheeks pink as she pulled out a baseball from her bag and began rolling it between her hands.

“How…how did you do this?” he asked, glancing back down at the iPad that he’d wanted for years.

“Peeled potatoes for mom, stacked bricks for Uncle Jared, mopped floors for Aunt Necie, helped your Dad with raking leaves and sweeping the driveways at his apartment houses, and helped Grandma with her garden,” she said with another shrug. “I knew how badly you wanted one. I figured that you probably would have had one by now, but every time you save up enough money you end up spending it on someone else. This way you don’t have to wait.”

“Thank you,” he said, glancing up at the girl that he was going to-

“Excuse me,” a man said with a sheepish smile as he stepped around them and placed a book by R.L. Mathewson on the shelf next to them. As he placed the book on the shelf he looked past them at a beautiful woman with long dark hair and smiled as he watched her glance around the bookstore until she found him standing there and when she saw him, she smiled as the man said, “God, I love that woman.”

Taking Mikey’s hand in his, Sebastian pulled her out of the way as the woman came down the aisle.

“What’s going on, Justin?” she asked with a warm smile as the man gestured towards the book that he’d just placed on the shelf.

“I think this is the book you were looking for, sweetheart,” Justin said, releasing a shaky breath as he pulled the book off the shelf and handed it to her.

Smiling, she opened the cover and-

“Oh, my god,” she whispered when she saw what was written for her while everyone reading this Chronicle waited to see what happened next.

*-*-*-*

Kelly Fuller, if you could please go get my book off the shelf and see what’s inside, Justin would truly appreciate it.

-R.L. Mathewson

P.S. Looks like you’ve found yourself a Bradford, Kelly J