The Forgot-Your-Lunch Note

My eyes were running on fumes, barely half-open, and even that was a battle of pure willpower. I’d stayed up until dawn. No, not pulling an all-nighter for a work deadline.

I was kept awake by my neighbor, who, for reasons beyond me, threw a party that lasted until daybreak. What baffled me was that nobody complained. The noise literally echoed down the hallway. The thumping bass felt like it was going to make my head explode all night long.

I managed to drag myself through the morning until lunchtime, but my eyes were rapidly giving up.

Zero energy. I didn’t even have the strength to head down to the cafeteria. Luckily, I’d managed to pack a quick lunch: a couple of messy-looking sandwiches and a handful of crisp green grapes.

I gobbled down my food operating on barely a quarter of a brain cell. Damn it.

Get LOUIS’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

Remember me for faster sign in

It took me half an hour just to finish eating. I was so out of it that I didn’t even notice leaving my bright yellow lunchbox — the one with the cute dinosaur pattern — behind on the table. It didn’t cross my mind until I was rushing to leave for the day.

8:30 P.M.

Stumbling on feet that felt barely attached to my body, I went back to grab it. Thankfully, it was right where I’d left it. I reached for it sluggishly, but then something caught my eye.

A carton of milk and a sticky note were slapped onto the lid, partially covering the roaring little dino face.

‘If you were a vegetable, you’d be a cute-cumber. …And if you were a fruit, you’d be a fine-apple!’

I blinked a few times, making sure my sleep-deprived eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Cute-cumber? Fine-apple? My sluggish brain took a good ten seconds to process the puns before a soft chuckle escaped my lips. I rubbed the back of my neck, staring at the cold carton of milk with furrowed brows. Was this sweet… or slightly creepy that someone was paying this much attention to my dinosaur lunchbox?