Page 10 (2/2)

"It said et her to believe me

"You were probably asleep," she said

"But I wasn’t"

"But h a lot You just watched a whole bunch of Tyra Banks Cohtmares"

And with that, she lefther to stay with me and keep awake until I fel asleep, but I knew that she had school in theto have to suck it up and try and get some shut-eye

Luckily there was stil some NyQuil left behind in my bedside table and before I had time to dwel on the evil television I ept under by a -induced sleep

The next day, I pried myself out of my NyQuil coma and forced myself to partake in some exercise It had been days since I left the house and h to run, as h to take a brisk walk down by the river

It was a beautiful day, too The sun eak and obscured by a thin layer of auze, but the light danced beautiful y and there was a hint of spring in the air It was nice to walk the route for a change, instead of running past in a blur I took the time to enjoy the pockets of nature, to pay attention to the crisp, clear pools of the river where shadows of spry fish swam underneath, and the spindly trees whose branches bore the slightest hint of green buds

It re I was in fairy land

By the tithat had real y bothered me the past few days was how bad it looked for me to take off so much time from work I knoasn’t like I asked to end up in the hospital but it was one of those situations where my absence would have been felt

I know Ash and the others would have covered for me (in fact, I had spoken to Ash the other day and he assuredwas fine) but it didn’t real y helpfinicky health didn’t make you look like the oing to go into work and work extra hard I’d take a mil ion painkil ers if I had to; I just wanted to prove that I was soo the extra mile Yes, it was just a stupid barista job, but it was stil the only way out of my parents’ house and down a path allthat their child was going to end up a spinster in her early twenties

I was al down the street with her lab, Cheerio, again I waved at her, and I waved at the dog (as you do), giving hi froze on the spot, nearly yanking his owner off her feet His eyes were fixed on htly

I looked behindor a rabbit but there was nothing

"Cheerio!" hbor scolded "Co at the dog but he wouldn’tthat did was hisperfectly white, pointed teeth

A low guttural growl seeped out between the shoes

"Cheerio, what -" she started

Before she could finish, the dog leaped forward, ripping the leash out of her hands and bringing h concrete She cried out in pain and the dog kept running, co to kilno hesitation, and sprinted toward the house, ignoring the pain in s to leap wider, run harder

I reached the door just as I heard the wet, snapping snarls a few feet away, flung it open and slaainst the door I fel back onto the foyer and the door sprang back open, having not latched properly

Cheerio had fal en too, and there was a brief instance where both of us were on the ground, eyeing each other like predator and prey, before scraet to our feet, with only an open door between us

I reached the door first and put allit in place as Cheerio sla ainst it until I found the agility to lock it,as I slid the chain across Then I curled up into a bal at the foot of the stairs and cried untilyourto the stea as a heap of albino crap

We were having dinner, and thanks to my incident with Cheerio earlier in the day, I lost the wil to eat, even thoughmy favorite foods I could only pick at it and push the food around e and depressed at the sahed, loudly, and folded his hands, his chubby fingers smeared with old ink stains He rested his chin on thelasses

I shot him a derisive look "What now?"

His eyes narrowed ed to rein in his teet snappish with hi everyone look at me like I was a mental patient They did that already anyway, and noas even worse

"I think we’re all worried about you," he said careful y He glanced at Ada to see if she’d disagree But from her quiet, pensive demeanor, I could see she orried too

"I’m also worried," I adain and leaned back in his chair "Perry, co to provoke the animal"

"Like what?" I exclai?"

"I alave at dogs! And I alave at Cheerio

Go ask the neighbor"

"We would but I think she’s stil in the hospital getting her knee looked at That was her bum knee, you know"

"No, I didn’t know," I said, pushing back er It rattled loudly on the hard table "How the hel should I know that? It wasn’twent psycho"

"Perry!" he admonished The tension in the room shot up "We do not use that word in the house"

"Daoing to come down and sht here?"

"Perry, for goodness sake!" er