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Eddie leaned on the shopping cart with two heavy arms and trudged along a wall of colorful, sugary cereal.
Again.
“No!”
An old woman glanced up from her Quaker Oats and pushed her wrinkles together at Eddie’s sharp declaration. With a friendly smile and a nod, Eddie grabbed another box and dropped it in the woman’s basket.
“This one is better, ma’am. It makes ya shit like a horse.”
Venom chuckled under Eddie’s skin as the woman clutched her can of oats and padded away.
Eddie…
“Venom…” He mocked in a more subtle whisper this time. “No means no, love.”
He stopped the cart in front of the Count Chocula and allowed Venom to slam all six boxes inside with an errant tentacle. A wide-eyed little boy stood just at the head of the aisle and sucked his thumb. Eddie waited for the extra appendage to slurp back into his skin and smiled.
“Don’t get a symbiote, kid. They’re bad for your health.”
The mother appeared a moment later and dragged the gaping boy along by his elbow. Venom scrunched up in Eddie’s shoulders, threatening to pop out, and huffed like an angry lover.
We are the best thing to ever happen to your health.
Eddie smiled sincerely to himself, and by extension to his partner. “I know you are, V. It’s just an expression. I’d be a rotting corpse ten times over without your help.”
The skin of his back stretched with Venom’s toothy smile. Picking up a bottle of Hershey’s Syrup, Eddie popped the cap and sniffed. It triggered a satisfied groan from the being within.
Yes, we always take care of you Eddie. Always will. Which is why we should zoom again.
Eddie sighed, dropped the syrup into the pile of junk food and frozen potatoes, and gripped the cart tighter, determined. The most monotone voice paged ‘Alice’ to the front register, interrupting the constant drone of mid-90’s contemporary love songs.
“Remember what happened last time? Pumpkin guts everywhere. A fucking Charlie Brown massacre. Getting banned from the only place that sells Ho Hos. You really want to risk that again?”
Venom snarled a little. Those fuckers will pay for taking our snack cakes.
“Yea, sweetheart?” Eddie considered a jar of miniature marshmallows, squinting at the tiny print. “The death threats aren’t helping.”
Venom squirmed around and slithered down to Eddie’s elbows, respecting his boundaries, and yet making their displeasure known. We will steer this time. We won’t crash.
Eddie shoved the marshmallows back onto the shelf and opted for the fluffier kind instead, tossing them in with a muted plop. “Hey, are you sayin’ I’m a bad driver?”
The short, balding, aproned man stocking the hot cocoa made nervous, uncomfortable eye contact with Eddie and raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t say anything, sir.”
Eddie waved him off and focused on the symbiote. “I can drive circles around this place, okay?”
You tense up and panic. We do not.
Eddie spread his arms to display the obvious. “There were clowns, Venom. You know how I feel about clowns!”
Venom emerged as far as they could from Eddie’s skin without revealing themselves and sent a wave of calm through their body. It’s okay, Eddie. We can protect us from the painted youths. We’ll keep us safe.
They said it with such concern and devotion that Eddie felt his resolve soften. The stock person vacated the aisle, likely spooked by the man arguing with himself, and left them with an empty runway. Eddie looked around the monument to consumerism and sighed.
“Fine. This place gives me the creeps anyway. Too many…” He poked a cardboard vampire straight in its vacant gaze. “…beady eyes.”
Yes!
Eddie pushed the cart to the middle of the aisle, slowly loosening his controlling grip. Venom’s dark tendrils slithered down his forearm and into his fingers, spreading their warmth and reassurance. He flexed the knuckles once and then let Venom take the driver’s seat.
Ready Eddie?
Eddie locked eyes with the little boy picking his nose just out of his ma’s stealthy grip and winked.
“Yea, V. Hit the gas.”
Venom pushed their right foot back, advancing them forward, and Eddie, trusting his symbiotic other half, grounded his left atop the metal bar on the cart’s lower carriage. They picked up speed at the Oreo O’s and took a left into the main store just as Venom lifted their right foot, allowing them to glide at the cart’s whim.
“Look out! Coming through.”
They sideswiped the old lady, nearly rear-ended a Harley Quinn-clad teenager carrying copious amounts of alcohol and swerved around a cardboard display of Aviator Snoopy. Adrenaline surged through Eddie’s veins and, fuck, he actually allowed himself to enjoy the ride this time- chuckling, hooting, feeling like a carefree kid again.
Venom had a way of bringing that out.
They dodged menacing cardboard displays, did a fly-by at the Doritos, and then fell under the influence of a massive display of Halloween Oreos. Venom licked their lips. Eddie pushed against the black casing surrounding his foot like a parent in the passenger seat of their reckless 15-year-old.
”Whoa, brake. V, brake!”
Just in time, the cart swerved to the right. Eddie breathed, relaxed. Venom garnered three tentacles full of packaged cookies before they collided with a cardboard cutout of a French fry. Groceries scattered everywhere. Cookies erupted like confetti. Cereal boxes flattened under their aching, stiff body. Eddie peeled a marshmallow from his face and blinked up at the store manager’s grimace.
“Yea, yea, I know. We’ll escort ourselves out.”
Serves them right for not having Ho Hos.
Eddie smiled at the kid, his snotty face now alight and carefree, and traversed the automatic doors with only a slight limp that Venom fixed by the time they broke open the plastic and consumed their first orange-frosted sandwich cookie.
They’d stick to Chens. At least the snack cakes never went out of stock.