Chapter Text
Cold air hit Nina’s knee as she limped into Walmart. It stung like all hell, but she knew she had to keep going if she was going to make it in time. There was a grainy announcement on the loudspeaker: “As a reminder, the Star Wars merchandise sale is buy one get one free so be sure to grab yourself and a friend the gift of adventure this Holiday Season.” It was read in the same monotone voice of a school child forced to read Shakespeare--awkward pauses and all. Nina was amused for a moment before the squeaking of her sneakers against the glossy floor dumped her foul mood back onto her, similarly to the downpour that caused her to fall a few blocks back.
I only came here for bandages, she repeated to herself as though that would stop her urge to look at the Star Wars merch. She had never watched Star Wars but she was thinking of Sam. He had tried to explain Star Wars to her various times as she half listened to him while doing mundane chores. It never interested her enough to watch it. She knew the general plot: space ninjas fight the deformed baby killer and then it turns into incest because of a kidnapped princess-- that’s what she understood from his long ramblings at least. Her attention span had never been great, especially not when working the stove and wielding a sharp meat cleaver. Children always pick the worst times to open up to you.
And so, she wandered into the Star Wars aisle looking at plastic replicas of things she vaguely remembered described to her. She picked up the toys one by one and tried to guess if Sam would like it. It was only when she felt a drop of blood slide down her leg that she gave up. Her right sock was turning pinker by the minute.
There were plush toys of an alien resembling a penguin with bulging eyes at the very end of the aisle. Sam might not like it, but they were cute and would make good decorations for his spacious room. She knew Sofie would like it simply because it was a stuffed animal.
They were about a foot tall and arranged in a pyramid formation, one on top of the other, and Nina rushed (as fast as she could on her bad leg) toward them. She was already off balance when a startled girl turning the corner of the aisle bumped into her, apparently distracted by the same penguins Nina was going for. Nina instinctively grabbed the girl’s shirt and the girl grabbed the edge of the table. Neither stayed upright.
Nina was on her back, looking at the hanging Walmart lights in more pain than when she had walked in. Why me?, she thought, I just wanted a stupid penguin. She cursed the monotone voice over the loudspeaker for tempting her. The girl and the penguins were on her like a carelessly draped blanket, though the girl pushed herself up immediately so that Nina was now looking into her brown eyes. Her hair reminded Nina of long strands of tanned wheat.
As the girl began to get up, her skirt brushed up against Nina’s knee. She gasped in pain, covering her mouth to keep herself from screaming. She took large breaths and didn’t notice the other girl’s panicked expression.
“Are you ok? Oh my gosh, how did I do that?” said the stranger.
Nina calmed down enough to look at her.
“I’m fine,” Nina said though she knew her voice was strained and whispered. She began pushing herself up slowly and gently like reluctantly getting up early on a Sunday. To her surprise, the stranger started helping her up despite her efforts to show she didn’t want it. Her hands were cold on her arm and she had to fight the impulse to flinch.
There was blood on the hem of the girl’s skirt turning the blue fabric a morbid shade of purple. “Sorry about your skirt,” Nina said straightening out. The girl released her arm and glanced at her skirt briefly not seeming bothered. “The spirit of the person I murdered in a past life likes to target my knees.”
“So you fell before I knocked you over?” she said looking more relaxed.
“Yep. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to pick up the penguins and then pick up my other penguins.” The girl didn’t acknowledge Nina’s choice of words beyond furrowing her brow.
“This mess was half my fault. It must hurt to bend your knees.” Nina didn’t mean to be rude but she was sore and running out of time. Oh God, she was going to be late.
“They’re Porgs by the way.”
“What?” Nina said briefly distracted.
“You called them penguins,” she said stacking up another Porg. She was stacking at the same rate as Nina even though she was not injured. This irritated Nina’s already fried nerves.
“That’s a stupid name for a penguin,” Nina replied in a monotone voice.
“Well they were actually made to cover up the puffins on the island the movie was shot on.”
“Oh so it’s like a conspiracy. They’re hiding the truth by distracting us with the adorable.”
“Exactly. These are Star Wars equivalent of minions.”
Nina chuckled and increased her stacking speed, fully aware that bending down as she was, accelerated the bleeding. In her haste, she did not notice the porg directly below her knee. She barely grazed it but it’s white furry belly now had tiny specks of red.
“Crap,” said Nina clutching the plush.
“What?”
“I wounded the penguin. Look.”
“It’s barely noticeable. Just put it back,” the girl said while putting it onto the new clumsily put together pyramid.
Nina grabbed it back and clutched it to herself. “No. No one will want to buy it and if they did, I’d feel guilty my blood was on it.”
“I guess--”
“I’m late. Ahh,” Nina interrupted. There was only one porg on the ground and the girl grabbed it.
“Do you have to be somewhere? Like that?”
Nina was too panicked to be offended at the rude comment. She knew the stranger was right: she was bloody, disheveled, and slightly covered in dirt (also from the fall).
“I have to pick up my children from school.”
“Oh from Orangeview or…?”
“Yea that’s the one!” Nina began walking away with the porg in hand when the familiar cold touch grabbed her arm.
“I can drive you if you want. Come on.”
“This might be a kidnapping but I’m in no position to argue. Thanks,” Nina said as she slowed down. By car she would make it with time to spare. She felt her muscles relax a bit.
“What’s your name by the way?”
“Jenny.” Nina tried to keep her face void of emotion though she felt her insides shift to left uncomfortably. She came to California to forget. She paused for a moment too long.
“What’s yours?” Jenny continued.
“Nina. You’re buying a Porg too?” she asked noticing that Jenny never put down the last Porg she picked off the ground.
“It’s what I came for mostly,” at Nina’s confused expression she continued, “I sort of collect them. I want to gather them before the porg bubble of popularity bursts.”
Nina smiled and they walked to the register in amiable silence. Nina grabbed some gauze along the way. Jenny was behind her on the 12-items-or-less line and Nina grabbed the Porg Jenny was holding. The cashier scanned it before Jenny could protest.
“But--”
“It’s buy one get one free. I refuse to give The Man more money than necessary,” Nina said in an exaggerated way. She didn’t actually care about The Man.
The rain had stopped though Nina did not know when. They got into Jenny’s deep blue BMW. The drive was less than 5 minutes: a time too short to start another conversation but long enough for the silence to be felt. The only thing of interest within the car was a worn Goosebumps book in the compartment next to Nina’s seat. It triggered a vague wave of nostalgia Nina pushed away violently. She focused on the slight scent of lemon instead, coming from a car freshener by the steering wheel.
Nina briefly wondered why she was so trusting of this stranger who had knocked her over not half an hour ago. Mentally going through all the True Crime documentaries she watched often, could not raise her alarm bells as much as she tried ringing them herself. Maybe it was because Jenny was shorter than she was and it gave her subconscious a false sense of security. It could be the the charming fish blouse she was wearing. Everything about this girl reminded Nina of an unassuming doe. Did she always let strangers into her car? They should both be more suspicious of each other.
Nina knew they were getting close when the traffic came to a slow crawl. Cars with the same destination and motive packed the street. The large brick building was visible from where they were positioned down the block.
“Thanks for the ride,” Nina said with her hand on the handle.
“No, it’s fine I can drive you back with your kids.”
“You sure?” Nina replied hesitantly, hand still on the handle.
“Yes. You’re still bleeding through the gauze you put on.”
“Alrighty then. Thanks.” she awkwardly smiled, stepped out of the car, and walked in the direction of the school.
Everyone waiting at the doors for their respective children, was dressed casually as expected-- the majority were housewives or reluctant fathers. Nina felt a bit out of place every time she picked up the children. She was younger than everyone there at 19. Everyone assumed she was either a sibling or cousin and she had no reason to correct them.
The school was divided into a middle and elementary school, with most of the parents concentrated on the elementary school side; middle schoolers were too cool to be picked up. Unless forced, that is. The bell announcing dismissal rang before she reached the door Sofie would come out of. In the matter of a few minutes, there was a swarm of children pouring out of school like a hive of disrupted bees. She could hear the hundreds of excited greetings of children to their parents. It was hard to distinguish the children with their identical navy uniforms and khaki pants or skirts. They all looked like bland bouncing balls of excitement, though Nina could instantly recognize her bland ball hanging off the railing by the stairs with her friends. She would be more concerned if she didn’t vividly remember having so much pent up energy and not having an outlet for it; besides, what was childhood without a few scrapes and bruises?
“Sofie!” Nina called from a few feet of her. The child immediately dropped from the rail and ran to Nina.
“What the heck happened to you?” Sofie said in her slightly accented and high pitched voice. Nina was glad to see the cute gems she put into Sophie's hair this morning remained mostly in place. There was one red pin missing but that was to be expected.
“Take a wild guess,” Nina smiled and pat her head-- an easy task as she only came up a few inches higher than her belly button.
“Meanie.”
“Now go find your brother. I’ll meet you both in the front.”
By the time they met up, Jenny had arrived, working her way down the slow moving river of cars. The children were hesitant to step into the car but did as they were told. While Nina was happy they trusted her, it concerned her how easily she would be able to kidnap them if she chose too. She would sit them down to watch True Crime shows later, she told herself.
The children politely greeted Jenny as they were brought up to do. They were uncomfortable with new people so they remained quiet afterwards. Jenny broke the silence.
“These are your children? How old are you?” It was a valid question. It would be mostly impossible for a 19-year-old to have two children above the age 10.
“She’s our nanny,” Sam said helpfully from the backseat.
“Yea it’s just a habit to call them ‘my children’. Didn’t mean to shock you.” Nina glanced at the rear-view mirror observing the bored looking children, knowing they were wondering why they weren’t walking home as the traffic moved an inch at a time. “Guys, this is my new friend Jenny.”
“Is she Polish like the other one?” Sophie asked straining against the seat-belt to get a better look at the driver. Children had no filter, though, Nina knew Sofie had no idea of the emotions her words provoked.
“No,” Nina said sounding slightly more upset than she meant to, “She is nothing like the other one.”
“That sucks, the other one was hot,” Sam meant it as a joke-- a rude one, but it was one he made often at the mention of the Other One. He didn’t know either.
“Sam not now,” Nina warned in the voice she used when taking away his Xbox.
“What are they talking about?” Jenny asked, and she really didn’t know.
Nina sighed and forced a smile, “It’s nothing.” She could see that answer didn’t satisfy Jenny, but Nina looked down and opened google maps on her phone. “This is where we live. Again sorry for the trouble. I’ll try not to hurt myself in your vicinity again,” she said as she showed Jenny the phone.
“If I get a free Porg every time I ram into you, I’ll hunt you down myself”
“Wow what a Porg-digger.” Nina expected Sam to say something about Star Wars but he stayed unusually silent. She could tell he was observing them.
In the time it took to reach the house, Nina learned that Jenny was 26, a massive Star Wars fan (to Sam’s delight), and a My Little Pony fan (to Sofi’s delight). She was interesting indeed.
A block away from the house Sofi let out a frightened scream, “Stop the car!” Everyone was thrown forward harshly as her command was obeyed by a frightened looking Jenny.
“The fuck is your problem!”
“Sam. Language. What’s wrong Sofie?” Nina said turning to address her face to face.
“That’s our parent’s car!” she said emphatically pointing at the white Mercedes-Benz driving towards the same house, a block in front of them.
“Fuck, that is them.”
“Sam!” Nina put her head down and sighed, “I’ll let it go this once because your sentiment is reciprocated.”
“What’s reciprocated mean?”
“Sam. We’re going over your vocab words the minute we’re home. Right now just get out quickly!” She turned to Jenny and handed her a porg with an apologetic smile. Nina could see the many confused questions trying to escape her lips. “It was nice to meet you,” she said as she opened the car door. “Gotta run, sorry.”
“Wait--” Jenny’s plea was interrupted by the sound of three car doors closing. Nina glanced at Jenny though the window one last time before motioning to the children to hurry up onto the sidewalk. The hand holding the plastic bag containing the Porg felt heavy somehow.