Junebug Saves the Day

“I don’t want to go with you, Brit! I mean it.” I grab my coat, shrugging it onto my shoulders. “I got things to do, people to see.”

      “No you don’t.” replied Britney, flopping onto the bed. “I know you don’t.”

Of course, she was right. She was always right, and this was just one of the reasons to be jealous of her. She had thick, short, dark hair and shiny blue eyes. When she smiled, her perfectly white teeth lit up her face and her flawless skin seemed to gleam in the light. We had been together since ninth grade, and I was the only one who seemed willing to bask in her shadow. I don’t envy her beauty; it is accompanied by loneliness.

 

        “Listen, Brit,” I sighed, “I love you, but today is not a good day. I’m gonna head down to the bookstore, and maybe I’ll meet you over there. Okay?”

“No not okay.” she pouted, “I wanna spend time with you.”

“I shall pout the whole time if you force me to come. I shall be no fun whatsoever.”

“You’re always fun.”

“On the contrary, Ms. Stim, I am the perfect depiction of the phrase ‘boring’.”

“We can have CometDollars...”

“I haven’t, and never will let that filth pass my lips.” I said, turning up my nose, “Now, I bid you adieu.”

Britney groaned, but in the end she agreed. “Meet me at three, at the mall, okay Junebug? Three, on the nose.”

“Three. Gotcha. Bye.” Britney smiled a radiant grin and waltzed out the door, grabbing her favorite green scarf on the way. Finally, the door slammed behind her and I took a deep breath, glancing at my reflection in the mirror. Dark shadows beneath my eyes hinted at sleepless nights and my pursed lips seemed to keep secrets locked beneath them. It didn’t take much effort to tear my eyes away from the glass.

My bookstore was just down the street. I had bought it early in life and it was very popular: My main income. It was three story brick building and I had done my best to make it comfortable for the devoted customers. The place was always spick and span; free of dust and trouble. The shelves were spaced apart so as not to inspire claustrophobia, and songs were always playing- unless you were in the reading room, that is. But thats not the point. The point is, the shop is my pride and joy. I love it.

And I like to think that it loves me back.

“June!” called Rico, my best employee. He insisted he would be called Rick, but I adore the name Rico, so he would forever be known by Rico, “We just got a ton of books in this place, I can’t believe it! Look at this!” He pulled out a box full of novels. There must have been two hundred. I ran my hand through my brown hair.

“Where are we gonna put those? The shelves are full. Or we could sell them on the black market...”

“Eh, by the end of the day i’m sure the shelves will be empty.” 

“Rico, always the optimist.”
“June, always the pessimist.”

“Touche,” I remarked, leaning over the box. “Now, what have we got here?” Hundreds of novels, from epic poems to modern young adult romances crowded the cardboard crate. They would no doubt sell well. “These are some pretty good books. Who donated?”
“Some old lady. Mrs. Violet I think her name was. She even bought a few books, for her grandkids.” his eyes darted from my face, “Hey, did you see that bird? That bird was incredible! Did you see...” I tuned him out. Rico is very easily distracted and loves birds. He could go on for hours. My fingers sifted through the novels expertly, mentally calculating the worth. New best seller, ten dollars. Ripped up Dickens novel, three. New, amazing condition children’s book, fifteen dollars. Generic romance, bad condition, two dollars.

Why would some random old woman have such a range of books?

“June. Ms. Trent. June. Snap out of it.” Rico was staring at me in concern, his long dark hair flopping in front of his eyes. 

“Sorry, what?” I asked, blinking. “Sorry, I was just thinking. Tell me more about this Ms. Violet.”

Through Rico, I learned that Ms. Violet had two grandchildren, liked CometDollars coffee, was seventy something and wore a ruby fastened around her neck. She drove a black car and she lived in a large house on the west side of the city. It wasn’t much to go on, but thats me, always searching for an adventure. I was intrigued. 

I threw my bag over my shoulder and told Rico to look after the shop. I half ran, half walked down the sidewalk to me and Britney’s apartment. I wheeled my moped out of the garage and I was off, determined to find this “Ms. Violet”.

I live in Smitville, an island city off the coast of California. I love it because it reminds me of Japan, where I grew up, but also because I met Britney and opened my shop here. I daresay it is my favorite place in the whole world. It smells of seawater and fresh air, and despite the large population, cars do not clog the streets and fill the clear air with exhaust. Everything is beautiful, it is my utopia, and riding down the highway along the coast... It was magnificent to say the least. 

Finally, I came to a house just short of a mansion, looking out on the calm sea. I parked my moped by the street and ventured up the driveway, my curious eyes hungrily taking everything in. The courtyard was overgrown with flowers- mostly violets, but it did not seem unkempt. It was more purposeful than any garden I had ever seen. A statue of a pixie sat on the branch of a cherry blossom tree, a mischievous smile curling across its cheeks. And perhaps most strange, a tree grew in the middle, laden with the most peculiar red fruits I had ever seen. I was slightly overcome by the sheer beauty of the garden scene.

“Hello?” I whipped around, my eyes searching for the source of the voice. A tiny girl with straight brown hair stood behind me, her eyes looking curiously into mine. “Hello, who are you?”

“My name is June.” I said, my voice reflexively taking on that sugar sweet tone that I used with small children, “Do you live here?”

She shook her head rapidly. “No. My Grandma does.”

“Is your grandma home?”

“No. She-”

She stopped as a tall woman with unbelievably long hair and a big coffee stepped into the area. They had the same eyes.

“Mum!” the toddler exclaimed. 

“Hi,” the woman said to me. Her voice was cordial, but suspicion creased her brow, “Hate to be rude but who are you?”

“My name is June. June Trent.” I said, offering my hand. The woman took it. “Ms. Violet donated some books to my store earlier. and I had some questions. Do you happen to know where I can find her?”

“No.” the woman eyed me warily, as if debating whether to tell me something, “She actually disappeared around eight AM. We haven’t seen her since.”

“Disappeared?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re looking for her?”

“Yes.”

“May I help?”

“Thank you for the offer, but I think we’re ok.” she didn’t trust me, but how could she be expected to? I nodded and headed down the driveway. When I glanced back I saw the little girl waving at me, worry in her deep blue eyes.

...

Instead of going back to the bookstore, I went straight to the mall. Rico would be fine, I reasoned. Tuesday is not a busy day, and besides, my stomach was growling. I deserved a trip to the mall. I was ten minutes early, but Brit was already there. Her ever present energy was built up inside her like the calm before the storm and the second she laid eyes on me, Hurricane Britney hit the coast.

“Junebug! I’m so happy to see you, happy, happy, happy! Look at this T-Shirt I got, do you like it? I like it. Its so pretty and silky and, argh, I just love it, don’t you love it?” her dance of joy had drawn stares of disapproval from the customers, and she was spilling her CometDollars iced latte. I patted her shoulder, calming her.

“Yeah, I love it, Miss Tropical Storm of Screaming” I said, not really looking at the shirt. “You wanna get a bite to eat? I’m famished.” 

We walked down the long corridors to the food court. Well, I walked. Britney skipped and twirled. Her energy comes from some force unknown to man, but not I. Unlike Britney, I need actual food for energy so when we finally got our pineapple pizza I was relieved. I could always count on Annie’s Pizzeria to serve amazing food.

“So what have you done all day?” I asked her. Her eyes lit up.

“Well, I was gonna get Steve to come to the mall with me, but he wasn’t home. His roommate said he said he hadn’t been there in days, that one day he just came home and Steve was nowhere to be found! So I came over here and I-”

“Wait, one second,” I said. It was just like Ms.Violet, except she had only been gone for hours, not days. “I went to this old woman’s house who had donated books today, and she had disappeared too. Do you think it might be connected?”

A spark arose in Britney’s eyes. Two things that brought us together were our love of pineapple pizza and adventure- but Britney was far more daring than I, and that spark scared me.

“Definitely,” she said, her voice dropping to an intense whisper, “We gotta find out more about this.” before I could even respond, her hands were moving quickly, picking up slices of pineapple pizza, shoving them in the box, grabbing her scarf.

“Britney, I doubt that they’re connected.”

“I don’t. Two people, maybe more, going missing in one day? It’s like a novel!” excitement glowed on her face. Part of me leaned toward telling her that they definitely weren’t connected- Britney could do rash things when she was excited. But the other part of me couldn’t extinguish that light in her eyes. Reluctantly, I grabbed my bag.

“Fine, let’s go. But let’s go to the bookstore first.” I grumbled. 

“Why?” she asked, effortlessly keeping pace with me.

“I just gotta check on Rico, make sure he’s okay there alone.”

“I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Even so.”
We climbed onto my moped and sped off toward the shop. The streets were quiet and the air still. It sent shivers up my spine. 

“Rico?” I called into the empty shop. No noise, no customers and definitely no Rico.

“Just like the others.” whispered Britney. 

“He probably just went out to get some lunch.”

“He wouldn’t leave the shop open with no employees!”

I looked frantically through the book store, my mind searching for reason. I was sure that I would turn a corner to see Rico curled up on an armchair, a bird encyclopedia and a CometDollars mocha clutched in his hands, but the place was undeniably empty.

“Junebug.” I heard Britney call. Her voice no longer held the same excitement. Instead, it was filled with dread, “Junebug, come here.” I jogged to the break room, where Britney was staring up at the TV. A woman with gray-blonde hair was speaking into a microphone.

“People are vanishing left and right. One day they’re there, the next, there is no trace of them. We’ve counted two thousand across the world, and that doesn’t account for disappearances that have not been reported. Next up, CometDollars, on the rise.”

I turned to stare at Britney in horror. Even she looked scared. Somehow, the newscast had made it far more terrifying.

“I’m scared, Brit.” I whispered. She nodded, and wrapped me in a tight hug.

“What if we vanish.” she whispered. I squeezed my eyes shut.

“I don’t want to think about that right now.”

She broke away from the embrace and looked out the window. “We have to do something.”

“How can we? We don’t even know what’s happening.”

“I don’t know, okay? But we can’t just sit here and worry!” desperation strained her expression. She looked at me for a few minutes, then sunk to the floor, sobbing. Britney had never handled scary situations well. 

Come on, June. She’s right. I think. We’ve gotta figure out whats happening. So we gotta witness somebody disappear.

“We have to see it happen.” I decided, “We have to watch somebody disappear. So we follow someone. We follow them everywhere. And we hope we don’t vanish first.”

Britney nodded, but she didn’t look convinced. She looked scared, and it made my heart beat faster. Britney was always the brave one.

“We’ll just act like it’s a game, ok?” I offered my hand and she took it. Her eyes cleared a bit.

“A game.”

“Yes.”

“Ok.” she wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. “Let’s go.”

...

I decided against my better judgement to go back to Ms.Violets house. I felt that if the woman hadn’t disappeared yet, she would. The only thing I worried about was her child; I couldn’t think about the little girl disappearing without having a terrible dread coat the insides of my stomach.

We hopped off the bike and ran up the driveway the second we arrived. The woman was sitting at a table playing cards with the little girl. She hopped up in alarm when she saw us.

“What are you doing back here? We haven’t found her.”

“I know,” I gasped, breathing heavily, “Have you seen the news? People are disappearing everywhere.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a freak occurrence or something. Everybody is disappearing.”

“Are we going to disappear?” It was the little girl. She looked as if she was about to break into tears at the thought, and if I was honest, I was too.

“Probably,” Britney replied, just as the mother said ‘Of course not.’ She whipped around to glare at Britney as panic arose in the little girls eyes. The mother and Britney started arguing, but I kept my gaze on the child. The panic went down as soon as it rose and was replaced by a hard acceptance. 

“Of course you’re not going to disappear, Rosy.” her mother reassured her. “These women are just being silly.”

“I believe them.” replied Rosy.

“Don’t. It’s all nonsense.”

“But Grandma and Lily aren’t here anymore.”

Rosy’s mother looked as if she was going to reply, then decided against it.

“We need help.” I said after a moment of silence, “We thought we’d follow you around, to see it if you- or if we- disappear.”

Rosy’s mother nodded, then held out her hand. “My name is Hydrangea. It’s very nice to meet you, I suppose.”

“Nice to meet you too. I’m June, this is Britney.” the woman shook hands with each of us, and then primly walked through the garden, leaving us to keep pace. She was not one for small talk, apparently.

We constructed a system in which we could all see each other at different areas of the garden- Britney at the top left corner, Rosy at the right, and her mother at the bottom left corner. I sat in the middle, under the peculiar fruit tree. It was going to be a long afternoon.

...

We sat in silence for three hours before Britney gasped. “My phone! I just got a text from a satellite. It says that they see barely any lifeforms.”

I checked my iPhone. “Mine says that too.” I sighed and slipped it back in my jeans pocket, “I guess it won’t be too long now.”

And indeed it wasn’t. A few minutes later I heard Hydrangea’s piercing scream. A beam of light surrounded her and in an instant, she was gone. The aircraft that had abducted her slowly flew away.

“Follow it!” I cried out. I dashed down the driveway and jumped on my moped, Britney jumping on behind me holding Rosy. She secured a helmet to the little girl’s head and we were off, leaving a trail of dust in our wake. As we neared downtown, the aircraft began descending. Determined, I sped up, maintaining a high speed until we finally got off.

My beloved Smitville was a ghost town. Car crashes lined the streets and there was a fire raging nearby. Britney, Rosy and I sorted through the wreckage until we came to the clearing where the blimp sat.

“Britney, you go around that side, me and Rosy will look for an entrance over here.” I ordered. As soon as Britney left, me and Rosy started searching the body of the vehicle. No sounds came from inside. “I think we’re safe.” I murmured. I wiped my hand over the steel and uncovered a word. “CometDollars?” 

“What?” said Rosy, and then a flash of light, and the girl was gone. I whipped around to see a tall, skinny man in a wool sweater pointing a gun at me. He pulled the trigger and I squeezed my eyes shut- But nothing happened. A look of confusion crossed his face. He shot me again to the same effect.

“Why won’t it work?” He exclaimed.

“Who are you?”

He stopped fiddling for a second to hold out his hand, “Oh, I’m Mr. Cacon, CEO of CometDollars.” He looked down at my BENTEZ T-Shirt. “That’s a cool shirt, are you a Whatvian? I love that show. Almost as much as pumpkin spiced lattes.”

“What- Wait- What?”
“I especially love the 11th professor, he’s my favorite, what about you?”

“Dude, you’re destroying my planet and all you want to talk about is Professor What?”

“Making it better- not destroying.” he corrected. “You see, CometDollar’s coffee is made out of freshly ground bones. We’ve been using an alien race for a while, but they seem to have run out. We’ve been fattening you up, darling. And now, we must harvest our ingredients and move onto the next planet- then there will be no more troubles. Only frappuccinos!”

“Wonderful, we’ve all been drinking alien bones.”

“But you won’t react to the beam,” he said, continuing as if I hadn’t even talked, “I wonder... Have you ever had CometDollars before?”

“No. It’s disgusting.”

His gaze hardened for a moment, then relaxed. “We can convince you otherwise later. Since you can’t be beamed, would you like a place in our perfect society?”

“No, I’d prefer that you let the human race go, maybe not grind their bones into liquid diabetes.”

“Wonderful! You can be a doctor on the new planet!”

“I don’t have those credentials, but I suppose that’s beside the point.”

“Exactly,” he said, “Care for a pumpkin spice latte? They’re my favorite.”

I was shaking my head when, to my horror, I heard Britney’s voice, “Junebug? Where are you?”

“Who’s that?” asked Mr. Cacon.

“Junebug, where- Oh, hello.” Britney looked at me, confused.

“Britney, this is Mr. Cacon, the CEO of CometDollars, also known as the megalomaniac responsible for the end of the world as we know it. Jerk, this is Britney, my girlfriend.”

“And do you like CometDollars, Britney?” She did. He was going to take her. I squeezed her hand and gave an almost imperceptible shake of my head. Confused, she replied.

“No... Nope not me.”

I let out a sigh of relief, but then the man fixed me with a wicked smile. “Let’s see about that, shall we?” he hefted the gun up and before I could move, Britney was gone without a trace.

I whipped back to the man, fury in my eyes. “You let her and the rest of them go, or I will personally make you pay.”

“Now how are you going to do that?” he must have seen the uncertainty in my eyes because his face softened. But there was no sympathy in his eyes, “Huh, Junebug? How are you going to stop me?” he taunted. My fists clenched as he imitated Britney. I thought back to my high school years, how Adam Mclibb and Breena Tyler would torment me. They’re just bullies. my mother would say. But to bullies, I’d resort to sarcasm and jokes. This wouldn’t work with Mr. Cacon.

“Where are you taking them?”

“Pluto.”

“The land of disappointment.”

“Not for long, Junebug.”

I started to reprimand him for using my nickname, but I bit back my words. He wanted a reaction out of me. He wouldn’t get it. “The people of Pluto don’t like sweetened sewer water, methinks.”

“Dissing quality coffee now?”

“Quality? I’d get more quality from a half dead mosquito than from your franchise.” Make him angry, I thought. Get him on the defensive side. So much responsibility sat on my shoulders, weighing me down. I was the last person on earth.

“So it shall be a battle of the wits, will it?” Mr. Cacon quipped.

“I didn’t say that, but sure.”

“If I win, I grind humanity’s bones into caramel mocha cappuccinos. And if you win...?

“You let humanity go?”

“Deal.”

“And you promise to honor this?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die, poke a needle in my eye.”

“Wonderful.”

“I shall present to you a riddle. If you can solve all three, you win. If you miss one, you lose.”

“Risky.”

“Very.”

“Let’s do this.”

The CEO looked at her and she thought she saw a hint of appreciation in his eyes. But it was gone as soon as it appeared. “A man by the sea decides to quit his job, so he turns off the lights, and walks out of the room, and 200 people die. Why do 200 people die, Junebug?”
I racked my brain. He turned off the light, two hundred people die.... A monster that only comes out in the dark? No, that was ridiculous. Turns out the light... Suddenly I remembered the detail. A man by the sea.

“He operated a lighthouse. The boat crashed.” I shrieked triumphantly. The man smiled, but there was worry in his eyes.

“Correct. Riddle number two.Two cops walked into a room with no windows and found a dead man who obviously hung himself from the ceiling, though they couldn't figure out how. There was no chair beneath him that he might have jumped off of, or a table. Just a puddle of water. How did he do it?

I didn’t hesitate; I’d heard this one. “He stood on a block of ice until it melted. Seems ridiculous to me.”
“Correct...” said the man. “Last riddle. What is the best coffee shop on Earth?”

“What?” I cried indignantly. “That is a matter of opinion!”

“Answer the riddle.”

CometDollars, the answer had to be CometDollars. But there was a twist, I could feel it. It couldn’t be just any coffee shop though... Or could it? 

But wait. CometDollars had relocated to Pluto. They weren’t on Earth anymore.

“The CoffeeBean.” I said, naming a local shop. Mr. Cacon smiled in triumph.

“Nope! It’s CometDollars. Time to grind my human bones.”

“No.” I replied calmly, “CometDollars relocated to Pluto.”

I could see by the way his face fell that I was right. “Semantics,” he said, but his voice was not confident. “You’ve lost.”

“On the contrary, Mr. Cacon, I’ve won.” I said, rising to my full height, “Now give me back my race.”

The man shrunk down. “It doesn’t matter. It was just a stupid game. I’m taking the humans for myself.” But as he stumbled backwards, he fell to the ground. His eyes turned quickly red. “What’s happening?” he screamed.

“Cross my heart and hope to die.” I said quietly. “Poke a needle in my eye. You broke your promise Mr. Cacon.”

And just as those words left my lips, Mr. Cacon collapsed, dead, onto the cold pavement. As the last breath left his lungs, a fleet of blimps descended, landing on the ground. And the first person to come out was Britney. She ran up to me and threw her arms around my neck.

“You saved us, Junebug. You were the last person on Earth, and you saved us.”

I closed my eyes. “Yes. I suppose I did.” I sighed. “Do you wanna go get some pineapple pizza?” 

She nodded, and, hand in hand, we made our way through the wreckage to whatever lay ahead.