Categories > Books > Stephen King > The Secrets Within
Chapter Ten: A Trip To The Mall
Matt and Bobby Regal had stayed over at Orion's house again that night since their house was still rebuilding. It would take a while for them to move out since the building was going very slow. The date for Greg's funeral had already been set. It was to be the day after Orion's date with Misty so Orion would still be in good spirits that day - if the date turned out good, that is.
He woke up that morning as quick and as happily as he had ever done. He was so excited about his date with Misty, he had gotten ready as quick as possible, even if it was ten hours before the date.
Matt woke up at noon finding Orion looking out his bedroom window at his backyard. He seemed pretty happy and was already dressed. He got up from his bed stretching and yawning. "Good morning. I'm guessing you slept well," he said, glancing over to the window.
"Actually, I did sleep well," he replied, turning his head from the window to look at Matt, a wide grin on his face. "Why do you ask?"
"Do I even need to answer that?" he said, smiling as he walked to the bathroom to freshen up for the day. He came back out a few minutes later, already showered and fresh. "So what are the plans for today? Before your big date, I mean."
"I don't know. I was thinking that maybe we could just hang out in the house until seven. And then at seven, I leave and you stay here. It's that simple," Orion said, laughing.
Matt glared at Orion as he walked to the bed and started making it. Orion had already folded all of the blankets on the floor. "Well, you have a few hours until your date so I was wondering what we could do," he said, sitting on the bed once he was finished making it.
"Let's go to the mall. I want to go buy some stuff for tonight," Orion suggested. He really didn't have anything that special to wear to the date...or the funeral. After thinking about that, he realized he hadn't really thought about the funeral much. The fact that he had a date excited him way too much to think of a funeral - even if it was his father's.
"Fine with me," Matt replied, happy that he actually had something to do that day.
Both Matt and Orion went downstairs to eat breakfast. Surprisingly, Lauren was already down there. Bobby was with her as well. Orion guessed that they were talking about working at the mansion because they both went quiet when the two walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning!" Lauren said, greeting them with a smile. It was not only strange to see her out of her room for once, but she was smiling? This was new. "What do you two want for breakfast? I have pancakes, eggs, and waffles."
Orion and Matt exchanged glances, knowing what the other one was thinking. Orion looked back at his mother. "I'll take pancakes, I guess." He walked over the counter and sat down on one of the barstools.
"Me too," Matt said, also sitting down on the barstool near the counter.
Lauren turned on her heel and began making the pancakes.
"So what are your boys' plans for the day?" Bobby asked, also smiling strangely.
"Just going to the mall and then Orion here has a date to go to," Matt replied as Orion blushed and nudged him.
"Well, that's nice," Lauren said, setting down the boys' breakfast in front of them. "Remember to get dress shoes for tomorrow."
Orion nodded as he and Matt ate their breakfasts in a hurry as quietly as they could. The atmosphere of the room was freaking them out. They couldn't tell whether Bobby and Lauren were faking their smiles and happy moods or not. Both of them were acting somewhat odd. As soon as they were done, they bid the two good-bye and head out the door.
"I'm glad that's over with," Orion said, opening the door to Matt's car.
"Yeah. I have no clue what's up with those two," Matt said, getting in as well and starting up the car. "Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. All parents are weird in their own way." And with that, he drove off.
It took them a while to get there since they had to go to Sumter, a town close by. There were no malls in Wakesville, so that's where everyone went for their clothes. It wasn't a huge mall, but a decent sized one. It was always crowded since it was the only mall around the area. Since it was a Saturday, it was going to be packed with people.
Matt pulled into the parking lot that already seemed full at first site. It took them about twenty minutes before they found a parking spot. Even though it was pretty far from the mall itself, they had no choice. They got out and walked to the automatic glass sliding doors.
The inside of the mall looked like any other mall. The middle isle was crowded with people and their handfuls of bags, some going into the stores on their side to make their hand even more full and their wallets even emptier.
The ceiling had dim lighting, but that was because it didn't need any lighting at all. The glass on the ceiling allowed sunlight to come streaming through to reflect off the white tiles on the floor and light up the whole mall without any use of electricity. Unlike in Wakesville, it was almost always sunny in Sumter.
"What are we here for again?" Orion asked, looking around at all of the stores.
"I don't know. You're the one who wanted to come," Matt replied, already knowing what he was there for. He looked around at all of the groups of girls; attempting to act cool, giving friendly nods to each one that passed by.
Orion was too busy looking at all the stores to notice all of this happening. He spotted a shoe store and went inside, looking for what his mother said he needed.
Matt stayed outside after he struck up an interesting conversation with two fairly attractive girls that were there shopping together.
"Good morning," a salesclerk said, greeting Orion.
He wheeled around to face the salesclerk, taking a glance at his nametag. His name was Nicholas.
"Can I help you find anything today?" he asked, a smile on his face. But then again, it was his job to act all friendly. The smile and friendliness was just his way of avoiding being fired, or to make more money off the shoppers.
"Hi there, Nicholas," Orion replied, attempting to sound friendly himself. "I was wondering whether you had any dress shoes."
"Of course we do. Right this way please," he said, leading Orion to where they were. There weren't that many choices, but Orion didn't really need a lot. He just wanted to buy any pair and get out of there as soon as possible.
He picked up one pair and looked at it. They looked decent enough for a funeral. He tried them on while the salesclerk stood there watching. It was kind of creepy.
"Need it for a date?" he asked in a joking manner.
"Err...not really. A funeral actually," Orion replied with no emotion in his voice. He tried not to think of the funeral too much. He didn't want to be in a melancholy mood the day of his date.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Nicholas said, his voice actually sounding as if there was some real sadness in it.
"It's fine. I'll take these for it then," Orion said, taking the shoes off, putting them back in the box, and handing the box to the salesclerk.
"Right this way then." They both walked to the register together and the salesclerk summed up the cost.
After paying, Orion grabbed the bag and walked out of the store to find Matt joking and laughing with the same two girls. He rolled his eyes and walked up to him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Just socializing with a couple of lovely ladies here," Matt replied, not taking his eyes off the girls as they giggled at his comment.
"Can we move on to the rest of the mall please?" he asked, trying to have some politeness in his voice, but failing miserably.
"Oh come one! I'm just getting to know them better!" he argued, turning his attention away from the girls at last. "I'm sure if you were actually single, you'd approve of this."
Orion just shook his head and walked on towards the other stores.
Matt mumbled a few curse words after his friend and turned back to the two girls. "I'm really sorry about that. My friend is just being a little cranky right now. He didn't get enough sleep last night," he explained to them as they laughed. "But if you give me your numbers, I'm sure we could talk and meet up without the disturbance of my friend." He put on his irresistible grin as the girls giggled again and took out their cell phones to add Matt to their contacts.
A few minutes later, Matt was running after Orion who was far up ahead. "You could have at least waited for me," he said after catching up.
"I wanted to get a few more things done before we left," he replied, still walking. He looked around at the stores and found one with some good clothes in it. He went inside and started looking around.
This time, Matt followed him and also started looking around the store. "Looking for something for tonight?" he asked, not really what he was looking for.
"Yup. I have no clue what to wear."
"You should go for a casual dressy but not formal look."
"A...what?"
"A button-down shirt and jeans or whatever."
"Like this?" Orion asked, taking a blue button-down shirt from one of the shelves.
"That's fine," Matt replied, picking out a few clothes for himself.
"If you say so," he said before both of them walked to the cash register to pay. After doing so, they came back with the bags in their hands. "Let's go get some food or something.
"Sure," Matt said, shrugging. He smiled and Orion immediately knew why he was so happy. The food court would be full with people at lunchtime which only meant one thing: pretty girls.
Orion laughed at Matt and just walked out of the store.
"What's so funny?" Matt asked, oblivious to the reason why Orion was laughing.
"Nothing. Never mind," he said, walking towards the food court.
They walked to the food court which was probably the sunniest spot in the entire mall because it had clear windows on both sides as well as on the ceiling. That end of the mall was circular so the food shops were all next to each other in their semicircular form. As Orion had predicted, there were a lot of people there. And as Matt had hoped, there were a lot of pretty girls there as well.
"So where do you want to eat?" Orion asked, looking at all of their choice.
"Who said anything about coming here to eat?" Matt replied, his eyes already set on a group of girls like a hawk who had just found it prey.
Orion noticed and nudged Matt to get his attention away from the girls. "We're going to eat here and leave. I don't want to stay for long. I got everything I needed."
"Well that's easy for you to say. You, unlike me, have something to do today. I'm stuck at home with your mother and my father. Knowing them, they'll just sit in the kitchen all day and talk about politics or something. I'm screwed as soon as you leave."
"That's your fault. Maybe if you just stuck to one girl, you'd actually have a date tonight."
"Don't blame this on me just because I'm a lady's man. I don't like having one girl. I'd rather have three or four..."
Orion rolled his eyes at this comment and went over to the Chinese restaurant. After both of them were done ordering, they took their food over to an empty table and sat down at it.
"I was just wondering...did you remember your mom at all?" Orion asked, eating his lunch at the same time.
The question caught Matt off-guard. He almost choked on his piece of chicken. After coughing a bit, he cleared his throat and took a sip of his Coke. "Umm...sort of, but not really. I remember her face when I was really, really young. I know she didn't spend a lot of time with me because most my memories always consisted of a babysitter," he replied, trying to remember.
Orion nodded, impressed that Matt could remember the days when he was a kid. Orion remember almost nothing about his childhood.
They finished the rest of their food in silence and threw out of the trays. Then they went outside and started heading out to the car.
"So what do you think is up with the whether today back home?" Haven't seen it like that for a month," Matt said, getting into his car.
"I have no clue. Maybe the story my mother told me when I was little was correct. She used to tell me that there was a person controlling the whether and, whenever he was angry, he would make it rain. I guess today was a good day for him, huh?" Orion replied as both he and Matt laughed.
Matt and Bobby Regal had stayed over at Orion's house again that night since their house was still rebuilding. It would take a while for them to move out since the building was going very slow. The date for Greg's funeral had already been set. It was to be the day after Orion's date with Misty so Orion would still be in good spirits that day - if the date turned out good, that is.
He woke up that morning as quick and as happily as he had ever done. He was so excited about his date with Misty, he had gotten ready as quick as possible, even if it was ten hours before the date.
Matt woke up at noon finding Orion looking out his bedroom window at his backyard. He seemed pretty happy and was already dressed. He got up from his bed stretching and yawning. "Good morning. I'm guessing you slept well," he said, glancing over to the window.
"Actually, I did sleep well," he replied, turning his head from the window to look at Matt, a wide grin on his face. "Why do you ask?"
"Do I even need to answer that?" he said, smiling as he walked to the bathroom to freshen up for the day. He came back out a few minutes later, already showered and fresh. "So what are the plans for today? Before your big date, I mean."
"I don't know. I was thinking that maybe we could just hang out in the house until seven. And then at seven, I leave and you stay here. It's that simple," Orion said, laughing.
Matt glared at Orion as he walked to the bed and started making it. Orion had already folded all of the blankets on the floor. "Well, you have a few hours until your date so I was wondering what we could do," he said, sitting on the bed once he was finished making it.
"Let's go to the mall. I want to go buy some stuff for tonight," Orion suggested. He really didn't have anything that special to wear to the date...or the funeral. After thinking about that, he realized he hadn't really thought about the funeral much. The fact that he had a date excited him way too much to think of a funeral - even if it was his father's.
"Fine with me," Matt replied, happy that he actually had something to do that day.
Both Matt and Orion went downstairs to eat breakfast. Surprisingly, Lauren was already down there. Bobby was with her as well. Orion guessed that they were talking about working at the mansion because they both went quiet when the two walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning!" Lauren said, greeting them with a smile. It was not only strange to see her out of her room for once, but she was smiling? This was new. "What do you two want for breakfast? I have pancakes, eggs, and waffles."
Orion and Matt exchanged glances, knowing what the other one was thinking. Orion looked back at his mother. "I'll take pancakes, I guess." He walked over the counter and sat down on one of the barstools.
"Me too," Matt said, also sitting down on the barstool near the counter.
Lauren turned on her heel and began making the pancakes.
"So what are your boys' plans for the day?" Bobby asked, also smiling strangely.
"Just going to the mall and then Orion here has a date to go to," Matt replied as Orion blushed and nudged him.
"Well, that's nice," Lauren said, setting down the boys' breakfast in front of them. "Remember to get dress shoes for tomorrow."
Orion nodded as he and Matt ate their breakfasts in a hurry as quietly as they could. The atmosphere of the room was freaking them out. They couldn't tell whether Bobby and Lauren were faking their smiles and happy moods or not. Both of them were acting somewhat odd. As soon as they were done, they bid the two good-bye and head out the door.
"I'm glad that's over with," Orion said, opening the door to Matt's car.
"Yeah. I have no clue what's up with those two," Matt said, getting in as well and starting up the car. "Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore. All parents are weird in their own way." And with that, he drove off.
It took them a while to get there since they had to go to Sumter, a town close by. There were no malls in Wakesville, so that's where everyone went for their clothes. It wasn't a huge mall, but a decent sized one. It was always crowded since it was the only mall around the area. Since it was a Saturday, it was going to be packed with people.
Matt pulled into the parking lot that already seemed full at first site. It took them about twenty minutes before they found a parking spot. Even though it was pretty far from the mall itself, they had no choice. They got out and walked to the automatic glass sliding doors.
The inside of the mall looked like any other mall. The middle isle was crowded with people and their handfuls of bags, some going into the stores on their side to make their hand even more full and their wallets even emptier.
The ceiling had dim lighting, but that was because it didn't need any lighting at all. The glass on the ceiling allowed sunlight to come streaming through to reflect off the white tiles on the floor and light up the whole mall without any use of electricity. Unlike in Wakesville, it was almost always sunny in Sumter.
"What are we here for again?" Orion asked, looking around at all of the stores.
"I don't know. You're the one who wanted to come," Matt replied, already knowing what he was there for. He looked around at all of the groups of girls; attempting to act cool, giving friendly nods to each one that passed by.
Orion was too busy looking at all the stores to notice all of this happening. He spotted a shoe store and went inside, looking for what his mother said he needed.
Matt stayed outside after he struck up an interesting conversation with two fairly attractive girls that were there shopping together.
"Good morning," a salesclerk said, greeting Orion.
He wheeled around to face the salesclerk, taking a glance at his nametag. His name was Nicholas.
"Can I help you find anything today?" he asked, a smile on his face. But then again, it was his job to act all friendly. The smile and friendliness was just his way of avoiding being fired, or to make more money off the shoppers.
"Hi there, Nicholas," Orion replied, attempting to sound friendly himself. "I was wondering whether you had any dress shoes."
"Of course we do. Right this way please," he said, leading Orion to where they were. There weren't that many choices, but Orion didn't really need a lot. He just wanted to buy any pair and get out of there as soon as possible.
He picked up one pair and looked at it. They looked decent enough for a funeral. He tried them on while the salesclerk stood there watching. It was kind of creepy.
"Need it for a date?" he asked in a joking manner.
"Err...not really. A funeral actually," Orion replied with no emotion in his voice. He tried not to think of the funeral too much. He didn't want to be in a melancholy mood the day of his date.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Nicholas said, his voice actually sounding as if there was some real sadness in it.
"It's fine. I'll take these for it then," Orion said, taking the shoes off, putting them back in the box, and handing the box to the salesclerk.
"Right this way then." They both walked to the register together and the salesclerk summed up the cost.
After paying, Orion grabbed the bag and walked out of the store to find Matt joking and laughing with the same two girls. He rolled his eyes and walked up to him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Just socializing with a couple of lovely ladies here," Matt replied, not taking his eyes off the girls as they giggled at his comment.
"Can we move on to the rest of the mall please?" he asked, trying to have some politeness in his voice, but failing miserably.
"Oh come one! I'm just getting to know them better!" he argued, turning his attention away from the girls at last. "I'm sure if you were actually single, you'd approve of this."
Orion just shook his head and walked on towards the other stores.
Matt mumbled a few curse words after his friend and turned back to the two girls. "I'm really sorry about that. My friend is just being a little cranky right now. He didn't get enough sleep last night," he explained to them as they laughed. "But if you give me your numbers, I'm sure we could talk and meet up without the disturbance of my friend." He put on his irresistible grin as the girls giggled again and took out their cell phones to add Matt to their contacts.
A few minutes later, Matt was running after Orion who was far up ahead. "You could have at least waited for me," he said after catching up.
"I wanted to get a few more things done before we left," he replied, still walking. He looked around at the stores and found one with some good clothes in it. He went inside and started looking around.
This time, Matt followed him and also started looking around the store. "Looking for something for tonight?" he asked, not really what he was looking for.
"Yup. I have no clue what to wear."
"You should go for a casual dressy but not formal look."
"A...what?"
"A button-down shirt and jeans or whatever."
"Like this?" Orion asked, taking a blue button-down shirt from one of the shelves.
"That's fine," Matt replied, picking out a few clothes for himself.
"If you say so," he said before both of them walked to the cash register to pay. After doing so, they came back with the bags in their hands. "Let's go get some food or something.
"Sure," Matt said, shrugging. He smiled and Orion immediately knew why he was so happy. The food court would be full with people at lunchtime which only meant one thing: pretty girls.
Orion laughed at Matt and just walked out of the store.
"What's so funny?" Matt asked, oblivious to the reason why Orion was laughing.
"Nothing. Never mind," he said, walking towards the food court.
They walked to the food court which was probably the sunniest spot in the entire mall because it had clear windows on both sides as well as on the ceiling. That end of the mall was circular so the food shops were all next to each other in their semicircular form. As Orion had predicted, there were a lot of people there. And as Matt had hoped, there were a lot of pretty girls there as well.
"So where do you want to eat?" Orion asked, looking at all of their choice.
"Who said anything about coming here to eat?" Matt replied, his eyes already set on a group of girls like a hawk who had just found it prey.
Orion noticed and nudged Matt to get his attention away from the girls. "We're going to eat here and leave. I don't want to stay for long. I got everything I needed."
"Well that's easy for you to say. You, unlike me, have something to do today. I'm stuck at home with your mother and my father. Knowing them, they'll just sit in the kitchen all day and talk about politics or something. I'm screwed as soon as you leave."
"That's your fault. Maybe if you just stuck to one girl, you'd actually have a date tonight."
"Don't blame this on me just because I'm a lady's man. I don't like having one girl. I'd rather have three or four..."
Orion rolled his eyes at this comment and went over to the Chinese restaurant. After both of them were done ordering, they took their food over to an empty table and sat down at it.
"I was just wondering...did you remember your mom at all?" Orion asked, eating his lunch at the same time.
The question caught Matt off-guard. He almost choked on his piece of chicken. After coughing a bit, he cleared his throat and took a sip of his Coke. "Umm...sort of, but not really. I remember her face when I was really, really young. I know she didn't spend a lot of time with me because most my memories always consisted of a babysitter," he replied, trying to remember.
Orion nodded, impressed that Matt could remember the days when he was a kid. Orion remember almost nothing about his childhood.
They finished the rest of their food in silence and threw out of the trays. Then they went outside and started heading out to the car.
"So what do you think is up with the whether today back home?" Haven't seen it like that for a month," Matt said, getting into his car.
"I have no clue. Maybe the story my mother told me when I was little was correct. She used to tell me that there was a person controlling the whether and, whenever he was angry, he would make it rain. I guess today was a good day for him, huh?" Orion replied as both he and Matt laughed.
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