Snow.
Christmas had come and gone.
Another year.
If it weren't for all the locks, the security bars, and the overall sense of dread, Pearl would've called the passing time quite enjoyable. She'd always been safe and cared for, a coddled little darling.
Snow was falling. The ground was still highly visible. Pearl had opened the blinds of one window near her gaming desk in the living room. She wanted to see the snow. It made her think of silly romantic things. Maybe when all this nonsense was over, Darren would like to walk with her in the snow. If it got thick enough, they might make snow angels. Then hot chocolate would be sipped and hot kisses would be given.
Baby Blue went over to a spot under the desk, where Pearl's socked feet were. He laid down there, touching one of those feet with his warm, white fur. Pearl liked it when he did something like this.
After a while, though, Baby Blue suddenly growled, his body shuddering against her foot. Then he jumped out of his spot, running up to a window some distance away. He started barking. Gunner went down from one of the couches and joined his companion.
They both barked, growled, spat, and even hissed. Pearl paused her game and left her seat. She closed the blinds near her. Then she went over to the dogs. They looked up at her just long enough to meet her eyes. After that it was back to barking.
Pearl used her fingers to push the curtains away. Her free hand held one of the blades in the blinds just a bit down so she could look outside.
Her eyes popped. She almost cried out.
Aaron the Beast.
Standing in the backyard, snowflakes dusting his dark fur.
He was looking at the house with the same aesthetic of a curious jumping spider peeking out at something from behind a curled leaf or something. Essentially, while he wasn't doing anything particularly harmful, Pearl knew he could pounce on anything.
His dark eyes rolled in her direction.
Yep. He saw the crease in the blade. He knew she was right there.
Pearl released the blade and closed the curtains.
She scraped her phone off the desk and ran upstairs, where she kept her gun. She called out the dogs' names, hoping they'd listen. "Baby Blue! Gunner! Come! Come!"
Pearl stood at the bedroom door, waiting. Soon, the dogs hushed and ran up. They zoomed into the room. Good. Pearl closed the door and turned the knob's lock.
A phone call to Darren had to be made. The dogs started barking again. Pearl wanted to make them shut up, but she didn't want to scold them for doing exactly what she wanted them to do. Darren would just have to deal with the noise.
He didn't answer. Fair. Everybody got busy sometimes. Pearl called again. Yes! He answered!
"Baby? Is everything okay?"
"Aaron's here! I saw him! Claws and teeth and everything!"
"What?! Stay inside!"
She sat down on the bed and watched the dogs run around and holler. Baby Blue used the bed like a platform for his leaps. "Everything's locked up. I'm in the bedroom with the dogs."
"Do you know what he's doing?"
"No. Last I saw he was just standing outside. I think he knows I'm in here."
She heard his feet stomping on a tiled floor through the phone. Then she heard his keys clang and jingle. "Fuck! Don't leave the house! I'm coming!"
"Okay."
He hung up. Pearl stood up, opened a pack of bullets, and loaded her gun. She kept her fingers away from the trigger and the business end away from the dogs. She wanted to talk to the dogs. "Hey, everything will be okay." That's what she wanted to say, but she didn't say it. She was the complete opposite of the dogs, quiet. The only reason she wasn't staying on the bed was because Baby Blue kept jumping on it, which might cause an accidental shot.
She stayed in the bedroom for less than twenty minutes. During this time, Pearl chose not to look through any windows. The dogs eventually quieted down. They likely got tired of freaking out. Still nervous, however, they huddled together on top of the bed, near the foot.
When Pearl's legs started hurting, she chose to sit on the floor. It was less likely to have an accident on the firm surface. She had no idea what Aaron/Shawn was up to. She couldn't hear anything. Maybe he was prowling around. Maybe he was staying in place, staring at the windows. Whatever he was doing, Pearl wasn't about to investigate.
Eventually, the dogs perked up, their tails cheerfully wagging. Then, Pearl got a text from Darren's phone.
"I'm here. I'm going to look around."
It was possible that Reese would have to look around too.
Pearl was fairly certain that both Reese and Aaron were much better at detecting living things, keen sense of smell and hearing, and all the other nice perks.
The dogs went up to the locked bedroom door and whined. Baby Blue even pawed at the wood. Pearl told them with a gentle tone, "You'll have to wait. Daddy will be here soon."
Gunner turned his head to give her one of his rare, "please, oh please" looks. Baby Blue made an extra sympathetic whimper.
Pearl sighed and said, "Not now."
Some more minutes passed, and she got another text from Darren. "He's not here. Unlock the front door."
Pearl unloaded her gun. Then she unlocked the bedroom door. The dogs ran off. Pearl hurried to keep up with them. When the dogs were at the front door, they looked playful. They knew that whoever was behind that door was certainly not a stranger. It was their Daddy.
She took away the security bar and unlocked the door. Darren was right there. His face was bitter, but he petted the dogs and said hello. While he was inside, locking everything back up, he said, "He went and fucked off somewhere."
Hugging herself and pouting a bit, Pearl said, "I'm sorry to make you come home early over nothing."
"This wasn't nothing," the man said as he crouched down to rub Gunner's cheeks with his fingertips. "It was something. He was here." He looked almost old, really. There were so many lines in his face. His lips even seemed thinner.
"But he's gone now," Pearl said.
