Percentages (A series of short stories)

Prices

I visit the shop and bite my lip, the few coins I have feeling heavy in my hand. I look for just a loaf of bread, but the price is insane. I only have 25% (percent is our word for pence/cents/nickels, whatever) and the bread is 50%. I take the loaf of bread and approach the counter, hoping for the lovely lady who understands my financial problems to be there. But instead it is the ugly, mean man with huge glasses. He is looking nice today.

"Do you have enough for that, Mitchell?" he asks. I reveal my 25% and he sighs, shooing me away. I go over to the shelf and grab another loaf and I do the thing that will cost me my life.

I race out of the door but the small man is amazingly fast, by my side in an instant. I see a glint in his pocket but take no heed, running faster. I kick off the manhole to the sewers, jumping down to land in horrible water. I swim to the side but the shopkeeper is already in the water, swimming towards me slowly. I climb out and run, quickly climbing up a ladder and exiting the sewers, sliding the manhole cover over the hole and walk around the streets quietly. People stare at me, disturbed.

I enter my home sewers, which are flooded and as soon as I take the manhole cover off someone pulls me into the water-filled sewers and slides the manhole cover over. I am trapped, sinking to my doom and I feel a knife dig into my arm. I scream bubbles, wasting some of my last oxygen that I could keep for swimming. My attacker is the shopkeeper, wearing a snorkeling mask. I kick away from him, quickly swimming away. But soon black dances around my eyes, and I slowly drift to the bottom of the sewers, my life gone.

Gaining Money

After the death of my dear husband Alkái, I decide to bring the family finances back to the days when we were rich, toppling most other families with a whopping 999,999,999%. But our children stole our money and ran, so we took to living in the sewers. We found all our money in the sewers. Every last percent. We didn't find much this week and Alkái began to get hungry so he went out to buy some bread. The grocery shop is quite a swim away, but he was so hungry he just popped into the corner shop. I hear he stole two loaves of bread, the idiot. Perhaps he would not have died had he just taken one. 25% is a quarter of the 100% the bread loaves cost.

I walk around the streets, begging and using our greyhound Pitt to scare some people into paying. By the afternoon, I have 50% more which gives me 75%. And to the evening I beg, at nightfall swimming through the sewers to the next door village. I find a few places still flooded from the sudden rise of waste water. They're no problem for my snorkelling mask, and I reach next door's village at dawn. I beg until morning rises, my finances raised to 100%. I buy two loaves of bread, 50% my total and my remaining money. I beg some more, sitting in the sunlight to dry my soaking clothes. The money by evening is 100% again and I swim back home.

But I need more than 100% to survive, and I can't survive on loaves of bread. I decide to inhabit Leksor, the grocery shop town. I sit in their sewers and feel homesick, and I dream of Alkái.

Fire

I kicked the rocket boots into go, soaring towards the mountain. I checked my fuel levels and slotted a 5% into the side. I felt the heat as the 5% was converted into fuel. I was thrown forwards at blinding speed and I kicked out, falling onto the summit of the mountain. I rolled over and landed face first in a platform holding the cave which had its roof as the tip of the mountain. I adventured into the dark cave, powering up my torch.

I heard the slide of rocks, and turned to see a huge boulder was in the way of the entrance and a mysterious creature creature ran off. I followed the creature then I heard a splash, looking down to see water. I shoved a snorkelling mask over my face and dived into the water, pursuing the quick moving tails of the creature in front of me. I fired up my rocket boots and shot through the water towards the creature. I reached out a hand and grabbed a tail, and the creature turned.

It was only Tails, the two-tailed fox. He swam to the surface and I followed, removing my mask. Tails took this oppurtunity and grabbed me, dunking me down into the water. I saw dark spots and Tails pulling all my % out.

I died there. Tails pulled out the 600% and flew over to a blue Hedgehog, Sonic.

"Is the Artifact safe?" the hedgehog asked. Tails nodded and Sonic bolted away, and Tails dived under the water, parting a rock and then slipping into his cave before moving the rock to give him oxygen. Dr. Eggman stood waiting, and asked the same question as Sonic, recieving the same answer. Then he pressed a button, a fake cheering echoing around the caves.

Tails and Eggman swam out to discover the party starting. Sonic was DJing, Amy was quickly laying out panels to make the dancefloor and Knuckles was moving boulders to make room for the parTAY!

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