The Vending Machine

The flickering of a dying lightbulb was what awoke the child. He was young, and it was arguable that toddler might have been a more accurate term.

The Child was a late bloomer, and despite being well past the age most could do so, he was not yet able to fully string words into sentences. His struggle was evident in that he could only get out the occasional word or two, like asking for his cup or saying his mommy's name.

The Child yawned as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes; he was buckled into a safety seat, his mother sleeping soundly in the front seat, her head lying against the car door as she slept. It was a less than comfortable-looking position, but he understood how sleepy she must have been; they had been driving forever.

His dad and two older siblings had left. He wasn't sure why, but they all seemed excited, so he had acted excited too; then, a few days later, his Mommy had hurriedly packed him up into her car, and they had driven away.

The Child knew they were obviously going where his siblings and dad had gone since Mommy had packed up her clothes and his just like the others had before leaving.

He had been excited to see them, but now he and Mommy were both tired.

He looked out the car window; they were parked alone at a little rest stop, a few lights flicking in the morning light.

And then he saw it, shining brighter than anything else. He had seen it only once before, but it had been amazing, the large rectangle that seemingly dropped out snacks at random; his Mommy had called it a vending machine.

He wasn't allowed to have a lot of tasty snacks, only one per meal, his Mommy would say, but his Mommy was sleeping, and the snacks were so close.

Having been taught to escape by his older sister, he slowly and quietly undid the buckles holding him to his car seat.

Snacks were close but not absolute; for now, he had to open the car door. Luckily, his Mommy had forgotten to lock it.

He was wearing his footy pajamas, and as he opened the door, he realized his sibby cup had fallen and burst open against the car floor; the damp floor could get him into trouble, but he had more important things to worry about.

The door was open, and his Mommy was still fast asleep. He carefully crawled out and left the door open just a little so he could get back in after claiming his prize.

Now out in the open, he waddled over to the vending machine. It was a hefty march, and he fell twice, making his jammies dirty, but he was nothing less than bursting with joy as he approached the machine.

He put his hand to the vending machine and babbled incoherently as he demanded it give him his prize.

It didn't reply, didn't beep, and didn't make the sound the other one had made before giving him cheesy snacks. He babbled in a complaint; his voice grew far from quiet as it echoed across the empty, and his angry babbling grew louder as he shook the machine in the same manner he would shake his mommy's leg for attention.

It stubbornly refused to give him the snacks; it must have known he didn't have his mommy's permission to get any.

As he attempted to reason with the machine, several eyes shone in the tree line, drawn to his location by his sounds; several figures began shuffling out of the tree line, heading towards the child as he whined at the vending machine, the figures reached the edge of the rest stop just as the child gave up. Clearly, the vending machine wasn't going to give him snacks without his mommy telling him he could have some.

He babbled in the complaint and began heading back to his Mommy. One of the figures was close; if the child hadn't been so loud in his complaints, he might have heard its grunting and groaning, but he would have also heard the sounds it made when an arrow struck the back of its head, and it tumbled to the ground.

Some of the figures turned to the source of the arrow, but a few mothers continued after the child in response; the arrows came for those still in pursuit first before coming down on the others.

Completely unaware of this happening, the child made it back to his car door and opened it; he heard loud noises and thought another car might be coming in that would surely wake up his Mommy; quickly, he scrambled in and shut the door it's click was covered by a screeching sound that was harshly cut off with a dry thud.

Now, hearing the scary sounds and knowing that they must belong to something scary, the child chose to grab his blanket and hide under it until his mommy woke up and made the scary things go away.

Soon, the sounds stopped, and he peaked out; his Mommy was still asleep. He knew how sleepy she was, and he felt back, but he needed her.

He babbled out to her, and she stayed asleep. He tried again, and she stayed asleep.

Clearly beyond sleepy, he pulled his trump car; he got onto the floor of the far, reached over, and managed to grab her hand. It was cold, so he held her hand and spoke one of the only words he could.

"Mommy," he called out, but she did not reply; he repeated her name and shook her hand as hard as he could; she remained asleep.

Clearly, his mommy was tired, so he let go of her hand and wrapped his blanket around her; she was obviously cold because she had fallen asleep without her blanket.

He was just hoping warming up her hand would make her up with the realization she needed her blanket when suddenly the car door opened.

He turned at the sound and watched as a lady opened the door; she looked just as tired as his Mommy had looked the last few days of driving.

The Lady stared at him, then pulled away and looked around before putting her head back into the car and holding out her hands.

"Hey there," she said in a soft tone, "It's ok, they're gone." He didn't know who she was, but gathered she must have been the one who stopped the scary noises. Still, his Mommy said never trust strangers she didn't introduce him to; he grabbed his Mommy's hand, hoping she would wake up and tell him if this was a bad stranger or a good stranger; the lady followed and looked to his Mommys hand; and then at his still sleeping Mommy.

She seemed scared; maybe she was a bad stranger; the lady pulled out of the car, once again looked all around, and then closed the door and opened the passenger door.

He watched nervously as the lady pulled a cury stick with a string off her back and had then nervousness turned to outrage as she poked his Mommy in the head with it; still very sleepy, she flopped over instead of waking up, only saved by her seat belt from falling over completely. 

He babbled in defiance at this evil stick lady, who just looked at his Mommy with pity and then at him.

The Lady once again looked around and then began rummaging around the front seat; the thief took a few things before stopping with an open bottle.

"Potassium Cyanide," The thief muttered with a disgusted look, "what kind of coward…" The Lady huffed in outrage and tossed the pills aside; he tried again to wake his mommy up to stop her, but it was clear she wasn't waking up; she must have pushed herself too far.

The Lady closed the door and looked around again, and this time she ducked down and grabbed her curvy stick, and moved around the car; after a moment, he heard a scratch and a thud before the thief came back.

Finally, he understood there was a monster outside making scary noises, but he was scared away by the thief making noises with her weird stick.

He'd heard monsters before, but his Mommy had always told him she could scare them out from his closet and turn them into sweaters. But his Mommy was asleep and couldn't keep the monsters away, so while she was a thief, it seemed Stick Lady had at least come to try and help.

He heard movement and saw Stick Lady on the other side of the car, opening Mommy's door and, to his pleasant surprise, helping her get in a more comfy position. Stick lady fiddled with stuff, but he didn't care anymore; Mommy's new position meant he could reach her arm again; he pulled on it and called out again.

"Mommy," He called out, but there was no response; he tried again, this time hoping to try and get to wake up. He heard the back of the car open, and Stick Lady closed Mommy's door, looked around again, and then moved back to the original door she had open, which he assumed to help hide from the monsters.

"Hey there," she said in a nervous tone as she opened the door, "I'm sorry baby, but your Mommy is…she's…very sleepy, and she's gonna be sleeping for a very long time," he made an upset sound and pulled on her sleeve again, to no avail.

"But I…I know your Mommy," he turned to the statement. He was suspicious, but at the same time, she knew Mommy's name, "It…it's why I'm here," The Lady had an odd look, almost like she was equally sad and happy, "I'm….I'm gonna move a few things around, and turn the trunk into a bed for your Mommy," she reached out. He realized she had unwrapped his blanket from his Mommy's hand and was returning it to him, "I just need you to lay on the floor and be really quiet, ok? We don't want the monsters to get you," He took his blanket back, and the girl looked at his chest for a moment.

"Can you do that for me, Nebbie?" Unaware his name was printed onto his jammies, all suspicion left Nebbie at the use of his name, and he took his blanket to hide; the lady was about to leave when she noticed his spilled sippy cup, so she made to pick it up, and then stopped and instead picked up a globby thing that had mostly dissolved in the water but was still solid enough to pick out.

"Pottasium Cyanide?" The Lady sounded horrified as she looked at Mommy; Nebbie understood immediately; the Monster with a weird name must have been approaching; he quickly hid under his blanket, and when he didn't hear a thud sound, figured the lady was printing to sleep since the monster seemed unable to attack sleeping people.

Nebbie lay as silent as he could as the Lady began moving stuff from the trunk into the back seat. Nebbie heard a few more screeches and thuds before he heard Mommy's door open, and the Lady talked to her; he didn't get all her words, but she must have been trying to soothe her so she'd have good dreams.

"What this?" The Lady muttered as she ruffled around, "Hmm…you don't look like you went out with the pill, and you're clearly not bitten," The Lady kept ruffling around before she spoke again. "Organ failure, definitely some medical complications. Is that why you put the tablet in his cup? You knew what was happening to you, and you didn't want to leave him here to die?" The Lady's voice sounded gentle as she spoke; having finally found the right tone to soothe Mommy's dream, she spoke one more time. "I don't know what happened here, and I doubt I ever will, but if you can hear me in there after, I'm taking him somewhere safe, and as a mom, I'm sure you did everything you could for him. When he's old enough to understand, really understand, I'll tell him you died so he could live."

He didn't hear the lady speak for a long time, so long he might have actually fallen asleep. He jolted awake when the lady picked him up; he saw the back seat full of stuff, probably from the trunk where Mommy was now taking her well-deserved rest. 

The Lady closed the door and moved him to the passenger seat, where his car seat had been moved; now facing backward, Nebbie was buckled in, and the lady gave him one of the cereal bars mommy had been giving him ever since they had started driving.

The Lady had apparently decided his red sippy cup was too dirty to use and had found his green one and put it in his little cup holder. He looked around the front seat, realizing the car was making noise but not moving as the Lady closed the door; he just managed to see her walk around the side and pull out two of Mommy's big long bags.

Usually full of snacks, the lady had apparently decided they needed to be empty.

"Car rearranged, baby fed and secured, mother wrapped up in the back," The Lady closed the door, and her last words were muffled, but he still heard them. "Time to loot that vending machine, and then we can head out,"

Nebbie had just finished up his cereal bar when a loud noise echoed out, like a breaking plate; the monster was toying with them. His blanket was crummy, but he hid under it for a minute or two before the sound of footsteps could be heard. He peeked out and saw the back door open and watched the lady stuff the two long bags in, now full; the lady must have convinced the vending machine to give her snacks in exchange for being told how to keep the monster away. He heard the scary sounds again, but this time, the Lady shut the back door, got into Mommy's seat, locked the doors, and then started driving. The noises got louder and then slowly faded away.

The Lady let out a groan before laughing. "Jimbo's going to freak. I go out hunting and come back not with a deer but a car full of supplies and a baby," The Lady slowed down after a while and took care to tuck in Nebbie.

"I may have lost a few arrows, but you saved me days' worth of hunting, kido," She kissed Nebbie on the forehead, just like his Mommy liked to do; Nebbie yawned back and chose to sip at his cup before letting sleep win, as he began drifting off the Lady spoke to him one more time.

"Dream sweet dreams," Nebbie drifted into sleep, dreaming about his mommy; he knew it would be a long time, but he couldn't wait for her to wake up.