Hello readers! Thank you for all the comments on the last chapter, I tried to make this one longer than the others as per request. Keep letting me know what you think, it's very helpful!
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After a few minutes I let go of Felix and he took a few steps back to give me some air. It wasn't surprising for him to act this way, scenes such as this were the norm in my house and Felix had adapted; finding a niche that was helpful to me in the current circumstances. I closed my eyes and leaned back against the wall, taking slow deep breaths in an effort to calm myself down. My eyebrows furrowed and my body tensed the more I thought about what must be done. I couldn't just sit there and feel sorry for myself, it got worse the more time passed. I exhaled sharply and opened my eyes. There she was, snoring on the couch. Her shoulder-length honey blonde hair dirty, the mascara and eyeliner she wore smudged, her lipstick washed out looking. Her mouth was open and she was drooling on the sofa cushion, wearing nothing but a cheap silk kimono and a pair of pink slippers. Even in her sleep, she gripped the near empty bottle of whiskey in her hand like it was life itself. It was staining the carpet.
I sat on the floor and stared at the opening of the glass bottle and watched each drop fall and shatter onto the carpet, the amber puddle on the rug growing at a gradual rate. As I watched, frozen in place as if the liquid had shackled me in place, I felt the anxiety within me build. I threw off my coat, stomped toward the broom closet and grabbed the towel hanging off the oven's door handle in the kitchen. I rushed toward the couch and, with great difficulty, wrenched the bottle from my mother's vice-like grip. I set it down on the ground and began to pat at the wet spot on the rug with the towel. I scrubbed at the spot with a small cleaning brush that I'd doused in carpet cleaner. Once the carpet was looking clean and simply needed to dry, I put the cleaning supplies away and threw the dirtied towel in a laundry basket. I walked back to that same spot to grab the bottle from the floor to throw it away, but when I did I couldn't help but stop and stare at her. My mind was whirling with a thousand thoughts, all seeking limelight within my brain, and what spilled out of my mouth before I had any control to stop myself was, "You're a God damn disgrace."
The words were dripping with the heartbreak and disappointment I had bottled up and it was all I would indulge myself. I looked away and stood statuesque for a moment as I processed what I'd just said, before walking to the back of the house to throw the bottle away in the garage. When I came back I decided to wake her enough to get her walking up the steps to her room where I deposited her on her bed, just the sight of her was upsetting me. I closed the door to her room and headed back downstairs to see that Felix had taken her spot on the couch, his pretty brown eyes looking at me with what I could only label as worry.
So expressive
, I thought, with a smile lurking on the corners of my mouth. He made the fox and cat from before seem less abnormal. I perked up suddenly.
I forgot to ask them about their weird pets.
But then I shook my head, realizing I'd probably never get to communicate with them again. Not after that display. I went to the broom closet again to pull out the vacuum and run it over the spot on the rug I'd cleaned earlier. When I'd finished I put it away and noticed my coat on the floor where I'd left it.
I walked over to it, took it in my hands and pulled out my gloves and phone from the pockets. I set them down on the dining table and hung my coat in the hall closet, then took my accessories and phone upstairs to be put away in my room. Felix got off the couch and followed me up with more eagerness that I could ever express. The silly dog ran into my room and jumped onto my bed before spinning around in circles over the covers and finally settling in his seat. I smiled absentmindedly and shut the door, slumping onto the bed next to him. I threw my scarf, beanie and gloves onto the end table before hooking up my phone it's charger. I heard that familiar beep as my phone confirmed the connecting to the charging cable before switching to the lock screen with a notification that shocked me. There was a text message from an
Oliver
that asked me a simple, haunting question.
Are you okay?
I quickly unlocked my phone and opened the text, hoping that my phone had malfunctioned and that the text wasn't really there. But when I opened my messaging app there was a conversation under the title of
Oliver
, underneath which was written the latest written text of "
Are you okay?"
I exited out of the app and opened my contacts list. I scrolled through the short list and, to my horror, found not only a listing under Oliver Sterling but also under Erik Lockwood and Everett Michelson. I choked on the air suddenly, flabbergasted by this turn of events. I looked under each listing for anything that might explain how one of them could've gotten in my phone and I found what I was looking for in Oliver's entry under
Notes
. It read
4321 is not a good password for your phone.
I exhaled sharply with disbelief.
I unceremoniously threw my phone aside and rolled over onto my back to angrily stare at the ceiling like it was my nemesis. Felix walked over to me after a moment and rested his head on my shoulder. I looked at him with crazed eyes, but at the sight of his non-committal expression toward my fury I looked back at the ceiling. "What cheeky fucks," I muttered.
- - -
Fast-forward seven days and I hadn't received another text from any of them. It had taken a lot of willpower not to respond or start a new conversation with anyone of them when they were so temptingly within my reach. I had wanted to keep in touch with them since the moment of introduction. I wanted them, and I say
them
because I want him and the other one and that one as well but couldn't decide whether him was better than other one and if that one was superior to him yet subordinate to other one. My indecisiveness regarding who I was most attracted to served me in my avoiding them altogether. When I couldn't decide who to text first it was easier not to text any at all. But when they hadn't reached out to me again I came to the conclusion that they had probably offered their phone numbers because they were worried I might get into trouble again after finding me unconscious in the forest, and after having met my charming mother felt it was the right thing to do to check in on me, but afterward felt I was too complicated to deal with. Simple really.
It bruised my ego, of course, that I was neither pretty or enticing enough to spark their interest to send me a second text. Yet I reminded myself how plain I am in comparison to the handful of Adonises I'd stumbled upon, which assisted my ability to shrug the hurt off. I was repeating this reasoning to myself like a mantra for the past week so I could just move on from the encounter with grace, a task proving to be near impossible to finish within a short period of time. I continued to walk in the darkness, Felix tugging maniacally at the leash as he sprinted from tree to tree, stopping only to momentarily sniff at the bark.