Rising Shards

I guess we were really doing this. That shouldn’t have been strange to me, after that long bus ride some strange shopping cart race was supposed to be our reward. But the second I stepped into the mall, it felt like I missed something. Like when I walked back to my room from class and just was on auto pilot the whole way there and was all, ”Wait, how’d I get here?” But that didn’t really make sense, I remembered the whole long bus ride, didn’t I?

”Hey, Zeta, focus!” Iris said.

I was so confused that I barely noticed our cart had started moving. On a contraption that was two shopping carts welded together with platforms to stand on and an engine, Iris, Maia, and Tay were in front of me, Lillia to my left, and Oka in the back driving. My dear and lovely Oka had nominated herself to drive, mainly due to her enjoying a kart racer.

”I like the kart racer, so it’s like I should be driving the shopping cart, eh? Eh?” Oka said when she pitched herself.

I found it funny, but the rest of the group did not. They still let her have the driver’s spot, though. The cart contraption wasn’t super fast, and the harness clipped onto the cart felt secure so I wasn’t freaking out or anything. Just zoning out.

”Shovel some stuff in the cart, we wanna win!” Iris said.

”Right, right,” I said.

It was an oddly pleasant experience chucking as much off the store shelves as I could. When I pictured it, I figured it’d be like the old shows where contestants went to a real store to throw stuff in, but that illusion was broken as the shelves were all merchandise from a toy company that had a few signature characters, and the constructed shelves didn’t quite look like ones from a real store. It was hard to wrap my head around but the spacing was all off, there was too much room between each shelf, and the placement of the toys wasn’t quite right.

It barely felt like a competition, as we each had aisles to ourselves that were just wide enough for one cart to fit in, with the shelves right in front of us.

”Zeta, can I see that one you just grabbed?” Iris asked, holding her hands out. I didn’t even notice what I had in my hands, it was a five pack of toy clay.

”Sure?” I said.

”Yay!” Iris said as I handed her the clay. ”Yummy, yummy!”

”Please don’t tell me you eat Funky Jammin’ Clay,” Lillia sighed.

”No, I was quoting that one show...uh...I forget who said it actually,” Iris said. ”Where’d I get that one? Guess, guess!”

”Why would I guess if you don’t even know?” Maia asked.

”I was thinking it was from Aftershow Bites Reality. That guy will eat anything!” Iris said.

”I have no idea what that is,” Oka said.

”Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Iris said. She juggled the pack of clay tubs in her hands. ”I wonder if we get to keep any of this. Like free prom stuff is cool and all, and they said we get those figures of those guys, but maybe I’d like some toy from my childhood for free or something?”

”I don’t believe they’ve said we get anything other than the prom wear and a Mr. Sleebo and Glump toy, whoever they are,” Lillia said.

”Yeah...huh,” I said, finding the names oddly familiar. I didn’t remember ever hearing of those toys, with names like that I figured I’d remember if they had a commercial or some advertisement for them.

Up ahead, the shelves on each side of us curved, making the feeling that we were in some sort of tunnel a bit stronger.

”Hold on, they didn’t say we were turning!” Oka said. ”How do I turn this?”

”You...turn the steering wheel?” Lillia said.

”Yeah, but...” Oka said. ”I’m used to drifting turns in that game, not turning this big thing!”

I recognized Oka’s acting voice, but didn’t immediately speak up, wondering what she was up to.

”It feels like you’re kinda trying to force drama to make this more exciting,” Iris said.

”Yeah, well. This isn’t the most thrilling, so I just thought...” Oka said, turning the steering stick and revealing that she could turn just fine. ”Thought I might spice things up a bit, maybe?”

”I appreciate the attempt, at least,” Lillia said.

In spite of Oka trying to inject some energy into this cart shopping game, it was still mostly...not the most exciting event I’d ever taken part in.

”Oh, oh!” Oka said. I wondered if she was going to try something else to liven things up.

”What? What is it?” I said.

”Can we...maybe go backwards and try to get a toy we missed?” Oka said.

”Why, is it a really good one?” Iris asked.

”It’s...one I’m nostalgic for...” Oka said bashfully. ”It was a couple shelves up but I can reach, I think, I just noticed it now.”

There wasn’t really a timer or anything, and it could potentially get us more toys to fill our big cart with. She backed up, bringing us to a bunch of toy vehicles.

”Oh, was it on my side? I can get it if—” I said as Oka conjured a vine and snapped it above me, expertly grabbing a toy off the shelf.

Oka hugged it close. It was a purple wooden train toy. ”I hope they let us keep at least one. Maybe I can buy it if they don’t? It’s...uh, one of the Trian the Train toys...”

Oka being embarrassed by her hobby was really adorable, as was this newfound passion for train stuff in general.

”Hehe, you’re cute,” I said.

”Whaaaat?” Oka said. ”I just...well, it’s one I always wanted a toy of as a kid, probably not the toys they were making when I was...actually the right age for them. I know I’m probably too old now, but...”

”Hey, toys are like, forever or whatever,” Iris said.

”I was really expecting you to argue with us,” Oka said. ”Or at least argue with me about this.”

”Who am I to get in the way of nostalgic?” Iris said.

”You mean nostalgia, right?” Maia said.

”Oka said she was doing something for nostalgic reasons, I’m repeating that,” Iris said. ”Besides, you let me throw stuff, so I owe you one.”

”Throw stuff?” Oka said.

”Yeah, throw stuff in the pool,” Iris said.

”Did I let you do that?” Oka asked.

We all paused, as if we all almost remembered something at the same time in a strange way. We brushed the thought aside, not quite getting back to that or the strange circumstances around us just yet.