Day:1
Year:2019
Time: 4:00 PM

#*#*# Jared's POV #*#*#
"Haha, um yeah I really do!" I giggled

I noticed he was standing just outside the entrance.

"Why don't you walk into the store?" I said, smirking.

"Well ummm my mom doesn't really let me go into this store and well I don-" Mark started

"Your mom isn't here is she?" I ask.

"Well no bu-" He started

"Then come inside! Live a little! Let the devil corrupt your soul a bit!" I boop his nose when I say bit.

He stands and holds his arm to his side. He's looking down and slightly frowning.

He's not gonna come in.

"Well suit yourself!" I shrug and turn away. I walk towards a cool MCR shirt when I hear a quiet

"Wait."

I turn around to see Mark slowly walking towards me.

I smirk while I say "Thanks for joining me."

We look around for a bit with occasional questions from Mark, usually about whether or not something is Satanic. He thought literally every band logo was satanic.

I eventually decided to buy two band teeshirts, and a Nightmare Before Christmas keychain.

Mark bought some kind of Disney merch.

Mark made me not take bags because he didn't want his mom to find out he went to Hot Topic. We put the stuff in different bags and went to the food court.

He texted his mom to say we were here and we went forth to obtain a snack

We decided to feast on Auntie Anne's. We each got a pretzel hotdog and one of those bowls of pretzel nuggets. It was the grandest feast!

Our moms arrived about halfway through our kingly feast. They seemed really excited.

"Boys! You'll never guess what we found out!" Shrieked my dear mother, a bit over excited.

"What?!?" Mark giggled in a high pitched voice. Ima die.

My mom grinned a grin as if she were telling some closely guarded government secret before saying, "We live across from one another! We can see each other whenever we want!!"

While my reaction was a blank stare while I thought
'OH FUCK NO!! I AM NOT DOING THIS!! NOT TODAY SIR, I DO NOT HAVE THE PATIENCE. NO!'

Mark's reaction was the opposite. He got really excited and started jumping up and down whilst screaming 'yay' over and over and again.

Then he tried to hug me.

I almost fucking SLAPPED that boy.

I just gently removed his arms though. I was NOT getting another lecture about how I should be more open to people and communication.

He got the message and, even though he did get a little less excited, he continued to jump around. What was he? Five?

"Anyway, we have to return home Mark." said Mark's mother. Mark nodded his head and skipped out of the mall.

Me and my mom finished up our shopping and drove home. School was starting in like a week. Not much freedom remaining.

I went up to my room and got changed into my pajamas, which was just some shorts and a hoodie. I walked back downstairs to eat dinner.

We were all tired from the move, so we quickly consumed our ordered pizza without much talking. This is my kinda dinner!

I walked back upstairs and made a small pillow nest before pulling the covers up to my chin. I turned on my sleep playlist and closed my eyes.

I fell asleep pretty quick, which was really rare.

Day: 2
Year: 2019
Time: 10:00 am

I sat up in my bed and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I stretched a bit and immediately laid back down. I snuggled into my pillows and thought about what I would do today.

My plan probably wasn't the best since most of it of sleeping and crying, but it was a plan.

After about 40 minutes of pretending to be dead and looking through tumblr, I decided to get up.

I adventure downstairs and found a note saying how my parents went to the grocery store with an attached granola bar.

I munched on my food and looked for some coffee. I almost cried when I found we didn't have any.

I crawled back into my room to draw a bit before my parents got home and forced me to do something.

I wasn't good at art, but I still tried. I hoped to be good someday.

I heard the car pull up about a hour later and walked downstairs. Once I helped my mom unpack, we sat at the table to plan the day.

My mom and dad were going to spend the day setting up the zoo because it had been closed for a while and needed some repairs. I was being forced to join them.

The drive there was about a half a hour. We got out at a rusty old sign of a elephant giving a thumbs up and smiling on a leafy background.

My great aunt, the one we had inherited it from, was too old too take care of it, so it kinda fell into disrepair.

The animals and their cages were well kept because of the employees. My great aunt allowed them to repair any damage to the habitats, so the animals would be safe, but told them to ask her about any other repairs before doing them.

No one really wanted to bother her, so repairs kept getting put on the list of other repairs. They thought she was going to improve so there was no sense of urgency.

A thin girl wearing a heavy amount of eyeliner walked up to us. She had waist length dark brown hair and light freckles. Her skin was very pale and she had tattoos on her arms and a eyebrow piercing.

She smiled and introduced herself as Sam. She was one of the few remaining employees that stuck around from my great aunt.

She had already met my parents from when they had been here last. She offered to take me on a tour of the zoo. I accepted because I would be spending a lot of here and should probably know my way around.

It was a pretty good sized zoo, in addition to the habitats, there was the gift store, a information hut, and a small cafe. 

There were some general things that needed fixing up, but generally it would be pretty easy to get it ready for the public. We just needed to make it look nicer.

Along the way a boy joined who said his name was Logan. He had long, messy, dark purple hair styled in a fringe. He had also had a tattoos and a piercing, his being a nose piercing. So far they were the only people I've meet that I actually would want to talk to.

We reached the end of our tour and they went off to talk to my parents or something.

I decided to turn on some music and sketch a bit. I had just started to sketch a picture of the tree that I was sitting under when I felt someone staring at me.

I brushed it off but then I heard some little footsteps.

I froze.

I should have been alone. My parents were on the other side of the zoo.

I slowly turned around and saw......

A penguin.

I let out a sigh of relief and look closer at the penguin. I realized it was male by its fur pattern. He had tufts of fur on his head that flopped down making it look like he had a emo fringe.

I love him, he's mine. He is the most perfect boy.

He gave a little squawk noise and flapped his wings.

"Hey there little buddy! How are ya' doin?" I giggled. I smiled and scooted closer to the glass.

He waddled closer to glass until his beak tapped the glass. I giggled as he stumbled back, a little dazed. He made a quiet squawk noise, and waddled up close again. He pressed his beak against the glass and cooed a bit.

I pressed two of my fingers against the glass where the penguin's beak was.

"I wonder if you have a name......" I quietly whispered to myself. He cocked his head sideways and cooed again.

I stand up and wave goodbye. I was on a mission.

AN: Okay so I finally updated this shit. And I'm gonna try to update it more. But now I have a need for angst.

Words: 1407

Date: March 26, 2019