Destruction

Author's Notes: … I own all the Petshop books except 2 & 3. After visiting a bookstore, I discovered that there is already a story titled "Destruction" in book 2. Dang it! Now what!
And sorry about the super long wait…my computer decided not to boot for almost a week! Hopefully THAT won't happen again!

Comments:

Shadowlark71: Thank you again. Seeing Dreizehn as a man? Well…some people already do, lol. It's just a matter of getting KAREN to revert back.

Araz: I'm glad you like an introspective Karen, because she definitely is! And yes...a mural/dies/

.oO0Oo.oO0Oo.oO0Oo.

Amanda was ever cheerful the next morning, bouncing around the room and humming a gay little tune. Karen groaned in protest to the noise, but Amanda continued to skip and sing, unaffected. After what seemed like minutes, but was really a few seconds, Karen rolled over and buried her head under the pillow, determined to shut out the noise. She closed her eyes and attempted to relax, but the more she quieted her mind, the more she could hear Amanda's humming through the cotton pillow. She clenched her jaw and made a show of rolling over a second time. Chancing a quick glance toward the window, she spotted Amanda seated in the chair, still humming as she pulled up her socks.

" 'Manda!" Karen snapped as well as she could while still half asleep.

"What?"

Karen groaned. It took far too much effort to construct a sentence, let alone speak it. She grasped the edge of her pillow and chunked it as hard as she could at source of her irritation. Amanda immediately stopped humming and left the room, leaving the door open behind her.

Dreizehn walked in and sat beside Karen's side of the bed. He studied her sleeping form and then grasped the blankets in his mouth. With a determined tug, he pulled the sheets and covers back, exposing the girl to the cool room. Her left hand felt around for the warm blankets, but found Dreizehn's head instead.

"So, you're in league with her, eh?" she mumbled in unintelligible syllables. Guarding her eyes against the sun, she sat up just enough to reach the blankets and pull them back over her.

Dreizehn growled faintly and pulled them back.

Karen propped herself up on one elbow and glared at him. "Stop that," she slurred. She reached for the covers again, but Dreizehn jumped up on the bed and blocked her.

"Oh phewy!" Karen glared at the dog a few moments more and then flopped backward onto the bed. "Okay, okay. You win. Now go away."

Dreizehn jumped back down and waited for her to get up.

Karen yawned and then sat up and scratched the back of her head. "If I had it my way, there wouldn't be any mornings."

.oO0Oo.

"What made you decide to bring Dora-chan with you?" Ellie asked as the trio walked to school.

"Um…" Karen glanced at her dog. "Well, I tried leaving him at home and…well…it wouldn't be fair if I didn't try taking him to school." She smiled and hoped the girls believed her.

"Oh. And…?"

"Well, I guess if he likes it and behaves, then I'll keep bringing him to school…or something…" Her excuse sounded phoney in her own ears and she didn't dare hope her friends were fooled.

"I see," Ellie replied.

Amanda cocked an eyebrow. "Like he ever misbehaves?"

"Well, no. But still, he's only a—" she caught herself "um…bodyguard, which I don't even need, and…um…yah…"

"No need to go on the defensive," Amanda chuckled, patting Karen's back. "Gosh, girl! You're flushed."

Karen laughed nervously. "I guess I'm worried what the school officials will say."

"Oh, it'll be fine," Ellie encouraged. "You're practically a billionaire, now. They'll bow before money, if nothing else."

"Yah…I guess so."

Once again, the memory of her parent's death was fresh in her mind.

.oO0Oo.

Principal Durnhart looked at Dreizehn and then back at Karen and then at his hands which were lying clasped on the top of his desk.

"Well, Miss Karen, I don't see any reason why your bodyguard can't accompany you around the school. If I was in your shoes, I know I would want someone watching my back and I'm a grown man. A young girl like you definitely needs someone to protect her. While I would hope that our school would be a safe haven for you, I will not deprive you of the peace of mind that your bodyguard can give…provided that he stays out of the classrooms. While you are in class, he will need to wait out in the hall. Having him in the classroom would be simply too much of a distraction. I hope you understand that no one will be able to reach you in our school and the chance of them getting into the classroom, itself, is even smaller."

Karen nodded vigorously hoping that the more she nodded, the shorter his speech would be.

"In the cafeteria…"

The principal continued giving instructions and examples for another thirty minutes. He covered every aspect of the day with detailed instructions, many which were repetitious, for every activity. By the time that he was finished, Karen had missed most of her first class and had a crick in her neck from nodding her head so much. She stood up, very thankful to be leaving, and headed for the door.

"Oh, and just a minute, Miss Karen," the principal said. He walked over to the copier, pressed a few buttons, and then handed her several sheets of paper. "You'll need to give each of your teachers one of these when you get to class so that they'll understand that," he wagged his finger at the Doberman, trying to remember the dog's name, "why your bodyguard is there. Now run along."

.oO0Oo.

Ellie sat beside Karen at the table in the cafeteria and laid out her dishes. "I guess Mr. Durnhart was okay with Dora-chan being here?" she asked.

"I guess so," Karen chuckled between bites of her tuna sandwich. "He said a lot of stuff that I don't remember, but I think the overall statement was that it was okay."

"Sounds like old Durnhartl, alright," Ellie chuckled. "I don't think he can say just 'yes' or 'no'. He has to give an entire dissertation first."

"He should have gone into law school," Karen agreed. "Can't you just hear him? 'I hereby give and bequeath to you, Karen Elizabeth Schneider, all rights and privileges to the use and possession of one Doberman Pinscher, Dreizehn, provided that—"

"Oh no, no, no!" Ellie interrupted. "He wouldn't use Dora-chan's real name. Or if he did, he'd use his full name."

"Or maybe…. He kept referring to him as 'your bodyguard' while I was in his office. Maybe it he'd do one of those, 'Driezehn, forthwith referred to as "the bodyguard",' and I'd probably become 'party of the first'."

The two girls shared a laugh at the principal's expense and then Karen suddenly sobered.

"What's the matter?" Ellie asked.

"Oh, nothing," Karen replied absently. Spotting Amanda, she quickly hailed her friend over as a distraction for Ellie while she mulled over the thoughts in her mind.

During her demonstration of how the principal would talk if he had come from law school, she had proclaimed Dreizehn to be a Doberman Pinscher—a dog, instead of a man. Fortunately, Ellie didn't seem to notice. Either that, or she saw him as a dog.

Karen chewed her lower lip. That would certainly make things very interesting!

"Earth to Karen. Come in, Karen," Amanda's cheery voice broke through.

"Oh, sorry. I was daydreaming."

"I'll say!" Amanda laughed. "Now, look over there."

Karen followed Amanda's finger to a pert, slightly plump, very well groomed, red-headed girl, flanked on both sides by the once popular boys of the school. It was Claire and today she was wearing a pearl necklace, most likely the offering of her latest boyfriend. As she made her way around the cafeteria, revelling in the jealous scowls of the various girls who had lost their boyfriends to her, she suddenly stopped. There, at Karen's table, was a guy she had never seen before—a clean-cut, fiercely hansom guy in a military uniform.

"Here she comes," Amanda whispered.

Claire sashayed over to their table and then sat on the edge in a way that pulled her skirt up a little farther than necessary. "Hello, Hansom," she breathed in her most seductive tone.

Karen glanced up at her and then continued eating. Dreizehn didn't even look at her.

"You should pull your skirt down," Amanda commented with a snicker. "You're flashing the teacher's table."

Ignoring her, Claire tried again. "Lucky numbers come in groups of three and four, you know? Want to share mine?"

"Dreizehn doesn't talk to people," Karen stated. "He's from Germany and doesn't understand English."

"Oh really?" Claire scoffed. "He your boyfriend?"

"No."

"Good. Tell him I want his number."

"I don't speak German."

Ellie and Amanda chuckled.

"Slut! Then how do you talk to him? Pig Latin?"

Karen smiled up into Claire's haughty eyes. "For your information, I don't talk to him, except to tell him when someone's bothering me."

"He's her bodyguard," Ellie explained between snickers.

"And how do you do that?" Claire challenged.

"Would you like me to demonstrate?"

The red-head glowered at Karen's sugar-sweet smile. "You're a bunch of liars!" she finally pronounced. "Come on boys, we don't need a military brat in our group."

As the queen of snobbery left with her entourage the girls burst in a fit of laughter.

.oO0Oo.

After classes, Karen stopped by her locker to drop of her books. She opened the door and immediately looked at the mirror.

No note. She sighed in relief.

Unzipping her backpack on the floor, she pulled out her English and American history textbooks. Standing up again, she almost dropped the books. There, on top of her biology and algebra textbooks from the morning, was a small white scrap of paper.

"Dreizehn!" she hissed.

The Doberman was at her side in a matter of moments.

With trembling fingers, she scooted the scrap of paper off the books and into her hand. Written in cursive with a ballpoint pen was the message:

I'm sorry I never told you before, but I like you. I guess you have a boyfriend now, and I can't blame you for liking him. He's quite the looker. But if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll still be waiting for you.

--Aaron Moore

Karen read the note again and started to laugh. "Maybe that first note was from him, too," she whispered to her Doberman. "If he wanted to be anonymous, it would make sense that he'd disguise his handwriting and use cryptic messages. Heh! I was worried for nothing. Aaron Moore, eh? I'll have to look him up tomorrow."

She pocketed the note and ran to meet her friends at the front of the school.

.oO0Oo.

"Oh, Karen's here, now," Ellie announced. "What shall we do this afternoon?"

Karen pulled up beside Amanda. Grabbing her hand, she thrust the note into it and started laughing again.

Amanda looked quizzically at the paper and then slowly unfolded it.

"'I'm sorry I never told you before," she read, "…but I like you!' Who's this from? Aaron Moore! Oh my gosh!"

"What? Who is he?" Karen inquired.

"Only one of the hottest boys in school!"

"And Claire hates him because he won't give her the time of day," Ellie added.

Karen giggled. "Sounds promising!"

"Only not," Amanda negated. "There's several rumours floating around about him. Course…they're only rumours and this is high school."

"What kind of rumours?"

"Mmm…well, about a year ago, the police picked him up for running with the wrong crowd. Then again, they didn't pin anything on him, so there's some speculation as to whether his father paid them off or whether it was just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one really knows."

"What do you think?"

"I really don't know. No one really knows, except Aaron, of course, and the people he was with at the time. I doubt his father even knows for sure."

"I see."

The girls fell silent as they continued walking. Amanda finished reading the note and passed it to Ellie who then gave it back to Karen.

Karen pocketed the note, took a deep breath, and then made her proclamation: "Hey, I was thinking about going by Edward's house to get the rest of my things. Would you two come with me?"

.oO0Oo.

Karen glanced oddly at the car parked in the driveway of her cousin's three-story house, and then continued to the front door. Trying the handle, she found it unlocked.

"That's a good way to get robbed," Ellie murmured.

Karen shrugged and continued bravely forward. With no one in the house and all the lights off, the familiar rooms took on an eerie quality that demanded hushed voices and cautious steps. The clutter on the living room table, the calendar showing the old date, and computer still running the screensaver all spoke of that fateful day when her life had turned up-side-down again. Nearing the stairs, she glanced at the grandfather clock which had stopped from never getting the weights reset and then nearly ran into Amanda.

"I guess that's where he fell," the girl commented sombrely.

Karen stared at the remains of the blood stain and mutely nodded her head. Then, setting her chin high, she deliberately started up the stairs with Dreizehn close by her side. Reaching her room, she gently pushed the door open and stopped.

"Oh, Karen," Orcot said as he quickly replaced his pistol in the holster.

"You know this guy?" Ellie asked.

"Sort of. Um…why are you in my room?"

"Police business," he answered casually, bringing his notebook forward. "Just working on the case. Why are you here?"

"I came to get some of my stuff. I kind of left in a hurry. Forgot to get my school uniforms and stuff like that."

Leon frowned. "I'm not sure I can let you do that. They've reopened the files on your cousin. Taking things out of here will be like tampering with a crime scene."

"You're a cop?" Amanda questioned.

"After a fashion."

"Where's your partner?"

Orcot pointed at the ceiling. "Next floor."

"Why'd they reopen the case?" Karen asked. "Edward is…."

Leon glanced at her quizzically. Guessing what she couldn't say, he corrected her. "He's not dead. After you left, the medics came and discovered that, while he had lost a lot of blood, he was still barely alive. You're dog is very good at his job. He protected you to the extent needed, but he's not a killer."

"Dreizehn?" Karen whispered, her hand hovering around her mouth.

"However, this morning, Edward escaped from the hospital and is currently at large."

"But…he's alive!"

Leon paused in writing his notes and studied the three girls, their expressions showing mixtures of relief, surprise, and anxiety. Finally, his eyes rested on Dreizehn's emotionless face.

"I'll tell you what," he decided, "if you get what you need now and don't come back until this case is settled, I won't say anything. After all," he threw her a charming smile, "they don't have the tape up yet."

Karen raised her eyes to meet his, tears of joy at the news of her cousin threatening to spill onto her cheeks. "Thank you very much," she breathed.

.oO0Oo.oO0Oo.oO0Oo.

Last notes: Hurray for creative interpretations. /smile/ I guess I watch too many action movies where, unless the coroner comes out an pronounces the guy dead, then you better not consider him dead! Doing so is a good way to die.