After he had paid for his food and began to head for his falling-apart apartment, Alfred couldn’t get the face of that girl, Melanie, out of his head. She was quite a beautiful girl, and Alfred thought her voice had a soothing touch to it.

“What is wrong with me? I feel weird thinking about this. Since when did someone’s voice relax me?” He thought, his inner voice sounding confused and slightly agitated. It was true though, everyone else he knew had voices that annoyed him at some point. It was probably because the people those voices belonged to always talked about money and the other things Alfred hated.

As Alfred continued to walk on, food bag in one hand, duffle bag in the other, he wondered if he was getting sick.

“If I’m coming down with something, then I’d have to return to the penthouse. If I go back there, I’ll just continue being miserable. No, I can’t get sick, I can’t go back there yet, I’m not ready.” As he continued the rambling in his head, Alfred didn’t notice the greasy-looking man who’d passed him, turned around, then passed by him again for the third time now.

As the gross man made his fourth pass, he rushed at Alfred, grabbed his food bag, and took off with great haste. Stunned and still processing what had happened, Alfred sat there for a moment in silence. After he realized what happened, the thief had disappeared, and his food was gone for good.

“Fuck! Now what am I gonna do, go spend more money to eat tonight? I can’t waste money, this puts probably a full day off the calendar for how long I can stay out,” Alfred muttered to himself as he slowly made his way back to the gas station to get more food for his dinner.

. . . . .

When he entered the convenience store for the second time, the moment he saw Melanie Powell, his heart started racing. “Could it perhaps be…? No, that can’t be it, I’m probably just a little sick.” He thought as he felt his heart speed up.

“Back again? Don’t tell me you ate that frozen pizza already. What’s you do, cook it with a magnifying glass and the sun?” Melanie asked with a chuckle and her warm smile. Alfred returned the smile and shook his head.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Nope, got my food stolen by someone over on Delancey. I’m guessing that if he was desperate enough to steal a frozen pizza and chips, he probably needs it more than I do,” he said as he walked to the freezers to get another pizza. He decided not to grab chips this time, since the theft was probably a sign for him to not eat so much junk food.

“Oh dear, are you ok? You didn’t get hurt, did you?” Melanie asked, her brow furrowing in concern. She bit her bottom lip as she scanned Alfred’s body for any visible signs of injury.

“Nah, I’m ok. How much is this gonna be?” Alfred asked as he slid the pizza on the counter. He pulled out his wallet to get the required money. Deep in his thoughts, a small whisper said very faintly “She’s worried about me. She’s a good, caring person.”

“Oh no, please, just take it as a replacement. My treat to you, uh, hey, what’s your name?” Melanie asked, her facial expression scrunched up like she was trying to remember if Alfred told her his name.

“Oh, I’m Alfred, Alfred Smith.” He said quickly, feeling embarrassed that he’d asked Melanie for her name earlier, but never told her his name.

“Well, nice to meet you, Alfred. Hey, here’s my number. If you get your food stolen again, just call and I’ll bring you some more instead of you tracking all the way back here, ok?” Melanie said, grabbing a napkin and pen, then wrote down her phone number and gave the napkin to Alfred.

Alfred set his phone on the counter and put the napkin in his pocket. “Thanks, I’ll be sure to remember to call you if it happens again.”

As he made his way to the door to leave, he muttered to himself, “I hope the electricity is still working at the apartment. If the microwave’s busted, I’m not eating tonight.”

A bit afterhe walked about ten yards away from the store, Melanie ran out and called after him . “Alfred, wait up! You forgot your wallet!”

After she caught up with Alfred and gave him his wallet, there was a moment of silence after Alfred thanked her, then she spoke up.

“Hey, when you were leaving, I heard you say you hoped the electricity in your apartment was still on. Do, uh, where are you living, if I may ask?” She asked, concern filling her eyes as she looked at him. She was a few inches taller that Alfred, so she had to look down slightly.

“I’m at the apartment complex over on Aimwell, by that small butcher shop.” Alfred said, finding himself feeling an unknown, yet interesting feeling when he had to glance up to look her in the eye.

Melanie widened her eyes. “But… but that complex has been closed and abandoned for years. You mean you’re living there of all places?” She sounded both shocked and worried about that information.

“Yeah, it’s the only place I have to go right now, so I take what I have.” He’d passed it off like it was nothing, but he sometimes did wish he had better options.

“Well, not anymore, I’ve got a much better place you can stay. Come with me.” Melanie said as she started off towards Wall Street. Her pace was fast and determined as she walked, and Alfred had to run at first to catch up.

“Where are we going? And what about your shift at the gas station? I don’t think you should just abandon your job, right?” Alfred said as they walked.

“I actually just finished my shift right before I ran out to meet you, and as to where we’re going, we’re going to my house. You’re going to stay with me and my dad from now on.”