Definitely, Probably Slime

The day was anything but normal. It started from the moment Shelli opened her eyes. The moment she realized the cold spot her foot had found on her bed was not an escape from the hot air under her sheets, but a sour smelling gift left by her best pal, Sophie. UGH!! She moaned as she threw off her sheets.

Before she sat up, the loud pattering of feet could be heard coming from down the hall. “Mom, Mom, MOM!!” she heard in a loud symphony of voices, all competing with each other over who would be heard first.

“Is that my babies?” she smiled.

“Mom, Alex hit me!” “Mom, Brandon hit me first!” “Mommy, I’m HUNGRY!!” consumed the room like a tornado.

Ignoring them, she walked into the bathroom and shut the door. As she turned the sink on to brush her teeth, screams and crying could be heard in the hallway.

“Give me a minute” she shouted, spitting the toothpaste from her mouth.

She grabbed the towel hung next to the sink to wipe her face. Just as she was about to press it to her lips, she felt something hard and stiff in the middle. She took a closer look. Slime, it's definitely, probably slime, she told herself as she dropped it into the sink in disgust. But in a house with four boys, anything was possible. These kids are going to drive me nuts, she said to herself as she got dressed and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Sitting at the table was her oldest son, Darrel.

“Is that your disgusting slime-towel in the bathroom” she asked sarcastically. His face blushed.

“Slime towel? I don’t know what you’re talking about” he smiled.

“You’re disgusting” Shelli shot back at him while pouring cereal into three separate bowls. “Boys, time to eat!” she yelled down the hall.

In a stampede, they rushed to the table.

“Cereal, again!” her youngest Daniel said excitedly.

“I hate cereal” another one complained.

“Eat or be hungry” Shelli replied placing their bowls on the table. “You have ten minutes until it’s time to leave.”

As they ate, Shelli grabbed their backpacks from their hooks and drug them into the kitchen, flinging them on the table.

“What is in these things?” she asked, surprised of their weight.

“Nothing in mine” Darrel smiled, grabbing it from the table and flinging it onto his back. “Twinnies, it’s time to go.” He pointed at Alex and Brandon, her 13-year-old twins.

Darrel was a senior in high school and the twins were freshmen. At least getting them to school these days was simple, Shelli thought unzipping Alex’s backpack.

“Alex, what in the world do you have in here? Where is all your school stuff?” Shelli glared at him.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked, seemingly unaware of what his mother was alluding to.

“That’s not his backpack.” Brandon interrupted. “His name isn’t on it, see?” He pointed to the front cover.

“Well, then who’s backpack is it?” Shelli asked, emptying it onto the table.

For the first time that morning, the room went silent as stacks of $100 bills fell to the table.

“What the..” Darrel said, stopping mid-sentence after making eye contact with his mom.

“What is this?!” Shelli asked in a stern voice.

Darrel grabbed the backpack from Shelli for further inspection. He unzipped the front pocket and pulled out a small black notebook. “Look at this” he said, handing the book to Shelli.

Puzzled, and now concerned, Shelli opened the little black book. It was filled with names, contact numbers, and dollar amounts. What in the actual fuck? She asked herself while flipping through the pages, trying to make sense of it.

“Darrel, do you know what this is? Don’t bullshit me!” she looked at him suspiciously.

“Why are you asking me? I’m just as shocked as you!” Darrel replied, seemingly offended.

He piled the stacks on top of each other. “Looks to me like it’s around, $20,000.”

“Alex, why do you have $20,000 in your backpack?” Shelli asked clearly irritated.

“It’s not my backpack!” Alex cried.

“Where is your backpack then?!” Shelli responded.

“I know, I know!” Daniel screamed, jumping up and down with his hand in the air.

“How would you know, you’re only four?” Brandon sneered, sticking his tongue out.

“If someone knows something, they better tell me now!” Shelli roared at them both.

“I know, I know!” Daniel continued, still jumping up and down.

“You know what?!” Shelli accidentally shouted at him. He stared at her in shock. “I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean to yell, please tell me what you know” Shelli tried again with a gentler tone.

“I saw a man take Alex’s backpack at the park Friday after school. He was scary”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Shelli asked surprised.

“I don’t know?” Daniel shrugged.

“So, someone stole my backpack?!” Alex chimed in concerned. “My favorite Pokémon cards were in there! And my science project” he cried, now visibly upset.

“Stop being a baby!” his twin brother Brandon shouted at him while simultaneously punching him in the arm.

“I’m not a baby!” Alex shouted back, lunging at Brandon in retaliation.

“Will you two knock it off?!” Shelli squawked at them. “Darrel, take your brothers to school, I’ll take this to the police and let them figure it out”

She shuffled the boys out the back door and kissed them goodbye. Now that it was just her and Daniel, she could take a moment to process everything. Returning to her days as a prosecutor, she took a moment to evaluate all available evidence.

1. A strange backpack, almost identical to her son’s backpack.

2. $20,000 cash and a little black book full of what appears to be some type of business transactions.

3. A scary man in the park.

Is this really my life right now? She asked herself.

“Daniel, tell me more about the man in the park?”

“I don’t know?” he shrugged looking down at his feet.

“What aren’t you telling me, Daniel?” She grabbed his arm and lowered her tone to show she wasn’t playing.

“I don’t know?” he said again, this time a little less sure of himself.

“Daniel!” Shelli tightened her grip on his arm.

“I can’t tell” he squealed from the pain.

“Can’t tell what?” she gripped his arm even harder.

“It was Brandon!” he finally cried. “Brandon stole it”

“Stole it from where?” Shelli asked shocked.

“The park. It was under the tree and Brandon stole it, he dug it up and he stole it.” Daniel wiped the tears from his eyes with his sleeve.

Shelli loosened her grip on his arm and pulled him into her chest. “It’s ok baby. Thank you for telling me the truth” she said to him, pressing her lips to his forehead. “I love you”

“Let’s get you to school buddy.” She kissed him once again.

Shelli grabbed the backpack on their way out the door. As she drove to Daniel’s school it was all she could think about. She contemplated what to do with it. Taking it to the police is the right thing to do, she thought. But what if it somehow gets Brandon in trouble? She worried. What if the person it belongs to knows Brandon took it? She panicked, almost crashing her car into the back of the one in front of her.

At the next available moment, she pulled a U-turn. Detouring from her path to Daniel’s school and instead heading to the High School to get Brandon. Looking in her rearview mirror, she noticed another car take the same U-turn she did. Am I being paranoid or is someone following me? She wondered as her heart started beating rapidly in her chest. She could feel her hands shaking on the steering wheel.

Without signaling, she took a quick right down a back alley. If someone was following her, it would be obvious now. She kept her eyes on her rearview mirror, her heart pounding out of her chest. No one turned behind her. She stopped the car and put it into park and took a deep exhale. You’re losing your mind, she said to herself.

Just as she was about to put the car back into drive, from the left corner of her eye she saw a large white van headed for them at full speed. She stomped on the break, threw the car into gear, and hit the gas as hard as she could. She could hear Daniel scream as they went flying forward, the van hitting their back bumper and sending them spinning down the alley.

Once they stopped spinning, Shelli could see the van crashed into the building behind them. Out of the van stepped two shadowy figures. Shelli tried to drive off, but her car had crashed sideways into a dumpster and wouldn’t start. She glanced back at Daniel who was unconscious in the back seat, bleeding from a cut to his head. Her heart stopped at the sight of him. It was like a bad dream, a horrible nightmare. She unbuckled herself and slithered her way into the back seat. The shadowy figures were now only a few feet from her car.

“Daniel, baby, are you ok?” she whispered as she unbuckled him and scooped him into her arms, his body limp. “Daniel, wake up!” she cried, kissing his forehead and brushing his blood-soaked hair with her hand. “Mommy loves you baby; mommy loves you so much.”

The sound of the door opening shot fear through her body like she had never felt before. “Give us the backpack” she heard a man say in a deep demanding voice. “We know you have it” she heard another voice from behind her say, this time a woman. “Its in the front seat” Shelli pointed.

The woman grabbed the backpack and looked inside. “All here” she said, giving a nod to the man standing in front of Shelli.

The man reached behind him, nodded back, and pulled a revolver from his back pocket. Shelli felt herself sink to the floor. “You don’t have to do this” she pleaded. “I have four kids; their father is dead. PLEASE, I am all they have” she sobbed.

“Sorry ma’am” he replied. “It’s just the way it is, sometimes”. He pointed the gun at her and BAM….

Shelli shot up out of bed, gasping for air. Her alarm clock beeping loudly next to her head. She blinked her eyes, pain and loss still flowing through her body; her heart beating faster than it ever had before. The sour stench of cat urine stung her nose, bringing her back to reality. She looked down at the yellow tinted spot at the bottom of her bed. Damnit Sophie, she said as the threw the blankets off her.

Coming from down the hall she could hear the loud pattering of feet heading her direction. She jumped out of bed to go meet them, throwing her hands around them. The pain of losing them still fresh in her gut.

“I love you all so much, you know that, right?”

“We love you too, mom” they replied, hugging her back.

“Go get ready for school, I’m going to brush my teeth and I’ll meet you in the kitchen.” She squeezed them one more time.

As she turned the water on to brush her teeth, Shelli took a moment to reflect on her night; the pain of it still fresh. What a crazy dream, she thought, spitting out her toothpaste. She grabbed the towel next to the sink to wipe her face, but just as she was about to touch it to her lips, she felt something stiff and hard in the center. Slime, definitely, probably slime, she rolled her eyes, dropping it into the sink.

Then a nauseating feeling overcame her. She rushed down the hall and grabbed Alex’s backpack. She opened it and dumped it out. Stacks of $100 bills hit the floor.

“WTF!” she panicked. “BRANDON…..!!”