//------------------------------// // Carry On // Story: Dreams and Reality // by Spyder27 //------------------------------// Chapter II: Carry On Sonata moves her head back and forth to the music in the supermarket, sitting comfortably inside the cart. By now, she’s too old to sit in the seat provided by the shopping cart, but she likes acting like the cart is her pirate ship. Of course, she begged me to let her bring Mr. Thompson with us while we shop. I didn’t end up talking to Sonata yesterday about the consequences of her actions… I felt way too tired. Then again, that’s probably an excuse for me to try and avoid responsibility. I will talk to her when we get home though… “The cereal’s up ahead!” Sonata tells me while pointing a toy sword, a big smile on her face.  “Aye, Captain,” I tell her with a slight chuckle, pushing the cart forward to the selection of cereals. “We can only get one box though, so pick something both you and Aria will like.” Sonata’s eyes look towards me with a confused expression, hesitating to pick out a box for a moment.  “What about you, Adagio…?” Her question sort of breaks my heart… Her eyes stare into my soul, searching for some answer to satisfy the curiosity inside her little mind. The truth is that I don’t have a lot of money left from my paycheck after paying the bills, so I’m trying to prioritize food they can eat rather than treats. Those aren’t necessary, as much as I may want to buy them cookies.  “I don’t like cereal, sweetheart,” I lie to her as casually as I can, walking over to the side of the cart. “I prefer eating breakfast at work and all.” In my attempt to satisfy Sonata’s curiosity, my statement only seems to make her seem more confused. “Work gives you breakfast?” “All the time. It’s one of the perks of my job after all~” If only my job actually had perks like that… I get chewed out by my boss all the time and I never seem to get a break other than for lunch. Hell, that’s only around fifteen minutes… Now that Sonata’s suspended, I’m either going to have to find a babysitter or force Aria to stay home. I can’t quite afford to just leave work for tomorrow. Today was already my day off…  “Do they have blueberry waffles?” Sonata asks me excitedly, seemingly interested in this false narrative I’ve made. “I’ll have to bring you by sometime to check, won’t I? For now, just make sure to pick out a cereal box you two will like, okay?” Sonata nods happily, picking out a typical name brand box with a bunch of sugar. Something kids would like a lot… Pushing the cart again, I look at the grocery list of items that we need, making sure to point us in the direction of the dairy products.  “Adagio?” Sonata asks me innocently, turning around in the cart to look at me. “Why isn’t Aria here…?” It’s true that we usually make these sort of trips together, so it’s not unexpected for Sonata to notice that fact. Aria stayed at school late, probably trying to avoid me and make sure I left for the store before she got back home. I don’t particularly blame her… I said something really mean to her the last time I saw her. Something I shouldn’t have ever said…  “Aria didn’t want to come, but you’ll see her again when we get home.” The next item on the list is milk. Hopefully, we can find one with an expiration date that isn’t in the next three days. I’d like these groceries to last us at least a week. Turning the cart down the aisle, my eyes scan the milk options slowly before picking out a carton with a reasonable expiration date. “Put this down next to the box of cereal, okay, Sonata?” I ask her, carefully handing the carton to her. Without protest, she nods and puts it exactly where I asked, showing the stark contrast between her and Aria. Aria would have argued with me for no reason… I… I don’t think Aria’s a bad person, she’s just… really hard to deal with. I suppose it’s because she’s a teenager… Almost an adult. “The last thing on the list is toothpaste. Do you remember what kind of toothpaste we get?” I ask Sonata in a slight hum, keeping her interested while we shop. A bored kid is the worst recipe for disaster in a supermarket. That’s something I had to learn first hand.  “Mhmm! I know what kind!” Sonata tells me with a big nod, turning back around in the cart and pointing down the aisle. “It’s that way!” Pushing the cart, a sly smile comes to my face, amping up the speed slightly. Sonata’s eyes widen at the sudden increase in speed, giggling at the sensation. “Faster!” In response to her statement, I push the cart even faster, going at a slight jog while I look at our surroundings. Being caught like this from an employee would be quite embarrassing. The air flows through my hair as we quickly make our way to the hygiene aisle, Sonata holding her hands out wide to feel the air. Despite how hard life can be at times, these small moments make you almost forget about the bad things. These tiny things that make you smile… That’s all I want for Sonata and Aria. To experience life with the perspective that it doesn’t all have to be bad. For now, it feels like I’ve been doing a terrible job at that… No matter how much I wish I could provide them with the perfect life, I can’t give them a true “family.” They won’t have parents like other kids and I can’t give them the newest toys… Even if I can’t give them the perfect life, I just hope Sonata can hold onto that childhood innocence for as long as she can… She needs to. ====================================================== “Sonata,” I whisper, bringing my hand to my forehead slowly. Sitting on her bed, I can’t help but feel anxious about this conversation. But I need to bring it up nonetheless… I can’t just let her get away with hitting someone else. Sitting beside me, Sonata looks at me curiously, her teddy bear still in her arms. “You know it’s wrong to hit someone, right?” A look of guilt comes over Sonata’s face, her eyes averting mine for the time being. No one ever told me raising a kid would be this hard… It’s even more difficult when I’m not actually her mother. I’m just her sister, yet I have to be in this authority position… It messes with my mind at times.  “Y-yeah…” Her voice is quiet and small, clearly knowing exactly what I’m getting at.  “Yesterday, you hit another person. I want to know why you did it,” I try to say as calmly as possible, keeping my hands on my knees. Despite every part of me wanting to stop this conversation and hold her close to me, I know that she needs to learn the consequences of hurting another person. Even if it was a bully… God… Why does she have to be punished for the one time she stands up for herself? Every day, those same boys torture her, telling her she doesn’t add up. No one wants to be her friend and I can’t do a damn thing about it… Yet I still have to punish her for hitting someone. Can she ever catch a break…?  “H-he… said some mean things,” Sonata whispers to me, looking at the floor of her bedroom. Her feet kick back and forth slowly, trying to distract herself from the lecture I’m about to give her. “Can you tell me what he said?” I ask her with a soft tone. I want to pull her in and comfort her like I always do from what they said, but… this is one of the only times I’ve ever had to get on to her.  “They said that… you weren’t a good sister… That we weren’t a real family…” Looking at Sonata’s face, I can see a couple tears form, hiding her mouth behind her teddy bear. I know a thousand different ways our mother would have lectured us… All of which were things I promised to never do to Aria or Sonata… I don’t know if Aria was ever bullied like this. She’s kept a lot of things from me, but every time I hear this from Sonata, it breaks my heart. I’ve done so much to try and give them a “normal” childhood. To hear these kids just refute that and tell Sonata that she’s not good enough because of conditions outside of her control or mine is so… depressing.  “And that’s why you hit them?” To my surprise, Sonata shakes her head, her eyes still firmly locked on the floor. “What made you hit them?” “T-they said that…” For a long moment, Sonata tries to tell me the rest of her statement, only to stop herself. Tears easily stream down her face without a sound coming from her… “t-that I’m… u-ugly…” Sonata stops controlling her emotions, letting herself cry in front of me. Her tears soak Mr. Thompson’s head and the only thing I can feel is rage. How could they say something like that to her…? Sonata always tries to be nice to everyone, even her bullies. All they want to do is see her cry…  “No, sweetheart. No,” I whisper, carefully grabbing her and bringing her up in my lap. “You’re not ugly at all. I promise. They’re just being mean because they don’t understand you.” Wrapping my arms around her, I hold her as tight as I can, feeling my anger only grow at the fact that Sonata was suspended for something like this… Hitting someone isn’t necessarily right, but… god damn, did they deserve it… Those little bastards… “You’re beautiful, sweetheart. I promise. Just as beautiful as the siren princess.” Gently rubbing her shoulder, I feel Sonata’s cries slow down, her breathing become more steady as time goes on. No matter how much I try to give them as much as I can, the world still finds a way to spite their lives… Couldn’t the universe just make me miserable instead of them? “Sonata, hitting someone is wrong. You’re a good girl and I understand why you lashed out, but I want you to do something for me.” Sonata tilts her head upward and looks at me, curious by my statement. “Whenever you feel like hitting someone, I want you to remember what the siren princess would do, okay? I want you to remember that Aria and I will always be here at the end of the day. No matter what they say, we’re still a family, right?” Holding out my pinkie finger, I see a small smile come on Sonata’s face, nodding her head before locking her finger with mine. Despite how much she’s grown in the past few years, her hand is still smaller than mine, reminding me of how much farther we have to go. “O-okay,” Sonata says with a slight sniffle, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her pajamas. “The next time you hit someone, I’ll have to punish you, but I’ll let you off with a warning this time~” I wink at the small blue girl in my arms, both of us giggling. “It’ll be our little secret~” ==================================================== The drugstore I work at is usually pretty packed… Every day, there’s a lot of sounds inside the store. Background music, beeping from the registers and the dozens of people talking at all hours of the day until we close. It doesn’t help that the drugstore has a bar that serves ice cream and soda at a pretty cheap price, making it the prime location for teenagers to hang out. I’ve even caught Aria in here once or twice with her friends, but she’s begged me to not talk to her when she’s with them. I guess having your older sister work at the drugstore is a pretty embarrassing fact for her… I’m not sure why since I’m doing what I can to earn money for us. Regardless, the store is usually pretty busy, giving me hardly any time to relax. Today, I had to make Aria stay home to watch over Sonata… She wasn’t pleased at all, but I can’t really afford a babysitter in town and I don’t know if I really trust anyone else with Sonata. Especially since she’s pretty attached to us… Thankfully, I should be home earlier than usual since I wasn’t assigned the closing shift. Most of my shift is primarily restocking items and manning the cash register, so that’s not too difficult. I should have more than enough time to get home and cook both of them dinner before bed. We might even have the time to do something together like play UNO. Maybe it would help me apologize to Aria for what I said…  Moving a cart full of supplies down an aisle that provides bedding materials, I grab a couple of pillows from the top of the cart. Putting them on a shelf, I can’t help but notice a pretty princess bedding pack. Sonata has a pink blanket, but it’s starting to rip in certain areas… She would love something like that… Maybe when I get enough money… Pushing the cart again, I move into the gift aisle, putting some cheap toys on the shelves. The only other person in this aisle is a woman at the opposite end, looking at a particular shelf with a confused look. Her hair has hues of red and yellow, making it almost shine in the light. Usually, I don’t pay attention to customers, but her confused expression makes me a little curious… What could she be looking for…? Leaving the cart for a moment, I walk down the aisle and look at the shelf she’s staring at. Nothing but toys I’ve seen a thousand times. Maybe she’s trying to buy a small birthday present…? That’s usually what people do when they come to this aisle. “May I help you?” I ask her as respectfully as possible, trying to be kind while doing my job. Her eyes slowly look over at me, a shocked expression coming over her instantly. “A-Adagio?” she asks quickly, taking a step back. Do I know this woman…? Honestly, I can’t help but raise my eyebrow at her reaction. “W-what are you doing here?” she questions me nervously, seemingly in a defensive stance. What the…? “Do I know you?” I ask her with my eyebrow still raised, feeling myself get even more confused as the seconds go by. What the hell is wrong with this woman? “Y-you don’t remember…?” Within a second, her expression is almost as confused as I am, her stance becoming more relaxed. “We met at Canterlot High? I’m Sunset, remember?” Sunset…? Is she one of Sonata’s teachers? Or Aria’s?  “Are you one of the parents from the parent-teacher conferences?” My question only seems to make the woman more bewildered, her eyes staring at me as if I’m a freak. “Um… No. We were both students there. A few years ago?” Students? Okay, this woman’s clearly got me confused for someone else… Maybe she read my name tag and thought I looked familiar. “Lady, I was never a student at Canterlot High.”