The 826NYC Review, Issue No. 12

with two seats. Plopping down in one of the ridiculous (in Darren’s opinion) colorful chairs, he looked inside his bag.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary, until he realized the sound was plastic rustling. He nervously picked up the small plastic bag his mom had filled with animal crackers. To his surprise, they were moving around, like they were possessed by a spirit or something.

How did this happen? Darren thought.

Darren tried to retrace his thoughts on how his day went. Then it all fell together, making a clear picture, like a puzzle. When he was in a rush this morning, he accidentally spilled chemicals inside his bag, which had the animal crackers his mother had packed the previous night. The chemicals must have seeped through the bag and landed on said crackers.

“Geez, what is in these things?” Darren muttered to himself.

To his dismay, while he was trying to figure out what to do, the bag fell over. When the crackers hit the ground, they started to move on their own, separating. Darren hastily got out of his seat and did his best to round up as many crackers as he could, placing them back in the plastic bag. When Darren counted the crackers he realized one was missing. He looked around the cafeteria. Teachers had always said that if students were caught with a cell phone or toy, they would get detention. He wondered what they would do if they found out he had living animal crackers. He stopped when he noticed cookie crumbs on the floor. Animal cracker crumbs, to be precise—someone must have stepped on it.

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