Mundelein High School - Voices Magazine - 2020

V o i c e s 2 0 2 0 | 13
“I don’t know anymore. I’m sorry, I just… I really don’t know what to do. You’re
the only person who knows about it, so I panicked.”
“It’s okay.” August kept his eyes glued to the floor. He was embarrassed that he
would even think Eric would steal something so important to his family. He scratched
the back of his neck and turned around.
“I’m sorry. I’ll just go,” he apologized, putting his hands into his pockets. He
began to make his way back upstairs. It was probably getting close to 4pm and he knew
his mother would come strolling past the shop anytime soon to check his progress. He
stepped on the first stair but stopped, noticing something out of the ordinary; a white
string hanging down from under the top of the second step. Thinking nothing of it,
August pulled on the string expecting it to budge. Instead, more fabric came out from
under the stair. He looked around the corner of the stairs, and saw Eric back on his
computer searching something. Focusing back on the stair, he grabbed the edge and
lightly pulled up. The top of the stair came loose with a small pop sound.
“It was you,” he gasped quietly.
“Hm?” August pulled the apron out from in the stair. He stepped back and looked
at Eric betrayal written all over his face.
“You took my family’s heirloom. Why would you do that?” The tension in the
room tightened to the point where it could be cut with a knife. August wanted to move,
but he couldn’t bring himself to. “You know my mom would tear me apart if she ever
found out that I lost one of the only things that’s been with my family for so long,” he
stressed.
“Do you hear yourself right now?” Eric laughed. “You used to never care what
your mother thought about anything. She constantly told you off for losing stuff, yet
you couldn’t care less. Now look at you; you just started working at the parlor and
you’re already changing. You say you don’t care, but here you are as frantic as can be
trying to find some family heirloom that you said you didn’t care about just yesterday.”
August stood still, his brain whirling.
Did he… actually care? No. He couldn’t. He never did. The family business was a
joke and he never wanted to be part of it. But spending a whole day cleaning… no. It
was just because he hates uncleanliness. And baking cones yesterday was just so people
wouldn’t get sick.
“I-I don’t care,” he replied unsure. Eric stared at him, a bored look on his face. “Or
maybe I do. I don’t know.” Maybe he did always care about the parlor, and he just never
let himself accept the fact because he was too busy doing the opposite of what his
mother wanted him to do.
“I was sick and tired of your constant complaining about the parlor, so I thought I
would do something about it.”