I knew I was going to have a crappy day, the minute I woke up and saw my sister’s chunky little finger pointing me in the face. She lingered watching me until I decided to move out of bed. She seems to think that whenever she is awake, I should be too. Reluctantly I grabbed a bowl of Lucky Charms and sat by the window to watch the sunrise. Today’s sunrise was extra beautiful with a stunning mix of orange and purple radiating across the sky. As I watched I almost forgot about my cereal; quickly I shoved a giant spoon full of Lucky Charms into my mouth. I sat there chewing for a second, humming to myself. Then, I felt my taste buds explode. I spat out the nasty cereal on the ground. I stared down at my Lucky Charms questioning the awful taste. But, nothing seemed to be wrong; I brought my nose down for a sniff. Yuck, it smelled worse than rotten eggs! Now that is saying something. I run to the kitchen to check the expiration date on the milk. “Mom, we need to buy more milk!” I yelled.
I raced my sister into the store, past the bread section, where one employee was a robot neatly stacking the whole wheat from the white. As we entered the dairy aisle and picked out the perfect kind of milk; low fat. Then automatically I remembered that I had neglected to ask my mom for some money. My sister, Becca volunteered to go get the money. Without another thought she ran out the door.
I still remember the flashing lights blinding me; bright white lights blinking on and off, on and off. Then the sound starts, a siren echoing throughout the store, bouncing off the walls. The piercing pain comes back into head. I manage to cover one ear with my free arm. The other hand is still holding the milk, which feels like nothing but cardboard. I look at it wondering if it was worth all this.


I look around the store curiously; it looked like a beehive that had been shaken violently, with all the bees coming out ready to attack at any given moment. Except instead of bees, we had employees. They ran around hectically trying to stop the alarm. While customers were waiting in line to buy necessary items or leave as quickly as they could find an exit. I saw one mother standing in line clutching her baby tightly as it sobs uncontrollably. Another mother hustled her daughter out the door as she screamed. It’s apparent that the little girl hasn’t heard anything like this before. Everyone seemed stressed, expect for one old lady I spot still shopping. She has huge wrinkles all over her skin and shook every time she picked something up. She’s the kind of old lady you would think should be in a nursing home. I chuckle to myself and thought, “I bet she can’t actually hear or see anything that is going on around her.” Yet, at the same time I felt myself wishing I was her or anyone in the store for that matter. If I was, I wouldn’t be a part of the brouhaha.
Who would have known that one simple act, one simply push, one simple mistake can turn into one gigantic disaster of a shopping day. It was only a few dollars we needed, only a simple five spot we were short. Why couldn’t mom just give us the credit card? In fact, it technically wasn’t our fault at all but, my mom’s. If she just trusted us none of this would have happened. It’s funny how something as innocent as walking out the emergency exit alarm door can cause such chaos.