Chapter 2
Before I knew it, a whole week had come and gone. I was stuck on the couch for the better half of it, but now I can walk/limp around in both my casts without much trouble. Or as Sarah put it "Grab a duster and get cleany" Whatever that means, I don't even think that it's a real word. But anyway, yeah I've been cleaning the house with Sarah. It was actually a first for me; the cleaning back home was always done by servants.
With Sarah's frantic cleaning and organizing around the house gave me some well needed entertainment. She was so excited to see Will next week that she forgot that it was still a week from now; she wanted to make everything perfect for him. She even gave me a dry bath with that weird pet pray shampoo. I haven't been bathed by anyone else since I was a pup, so yeah; it was weird. But we managed.
Now here I am, trying to cool off with a nap on the porch. Sarah was inside preparing lunch for us and Annabelle was in the yard, sitting under a tree having a tea party with her dolls. I don't know how she does it, It's a hundred fricking degrees today and she was playing there like it was nothing! I can barely stand it.
I've never been good with heat. It drains my energy and makes me just want to pass out. I get cranky and aggressive when I'm hot—and not in the good way—that's a different kind of hot. I get heat exhaustion to put it simply; Dizziness, fatigue, nausea, headaches and sweating like a sumo. Not that I can sweat in this form or anything but if I were in my humanoid form I would be sweating. The point being that me and heat, don't mix.
I was just drifting off into sleep when Sarah's voice piped up from the door behind me. "Annabelle come on, lunch is ready" she called her daughter, who happily responded and headed to the house, favorite doll in hand. I cracked my eyes open as she climbed up the stairs and passed me. That's when I felt a gentle nudge at my body cast. "You two Ren, you need to eat or I won't give you a way to cool off" Sarah sang the last part as she disappeared into the house.
I raised my head towards the door weighing the options. I could; 1. Stay here and probably have a stroke or 2. Get up, walk all the way to the kitchen, eat whatever it is that Sarah made and then hope that she wasn't lying about the cooling off thing. "Ah Screw it" I said, getting up and going inside. Moving around in the casts is pretty annoying, I can't curl up or stretch and a few days ago I had an itch on my shoulder blade. It. Was. Terrible. And even though I'm no longer in any pain, Sarah insist on keeping me in it to make sure I 'Heal properly' Or so she says.
When I got to the kitchen Annabelle was stuffing her face with mac-&cheese and a glass of cold lemonade. I sat down a few feet from her and watched as Sarah came to me, holding a bowl of minced meat mixed with peas, carrots and a bunch of other vegetables. She put the bowl in front of me, I gave her a tired toothy grin and a 'Thank you' before leaning down and digging in. I got to admit, Sarah's food is always delicious. If this whole nurse thing ever goes to hell she would have no problem becoming a private chef.
We all ate in relative silence, the only sounds coming from the silverware scratching against the plates and the hum of the fan in the corner. We were all almost done when Sarah's phone started to ring from its place in the counter. Sarah went and picked it up, a frown coming to her face as she listened to the voice on the other end. "It's my day off Sharon, I'm spending the day with Annabelle" She said to Sharon—whoever that is— in annoyance. The voice 'Sharon' started talking again, after a minute Sarah talked again. "Alright fine I'll be there in twenty minutes" she said, after giving the person a short farewell she turned to us. "I have to go to the hospital; they're short on nurses and its busy today." She grumbled with a slight pout. "Ren can you watch Annabelle while I'm gone?" She asked.
I looked up from my meal at her, nodding in agreement I swallowed before speaking "Sure thing Sarah, don't worry about it. I'll watch her" I said with a smile. Sarah gave me a relieved smile and headed upstairs to change. Once she was upstairs I turned to Annabelle who was sipping her lemonade. "So what do you want to do while your mom is at work?" I asked her.
She looked at me with a thoughtful expression before responding. "Do you know how to play tea party?" She asked tilting her head.
I smirked "Of course I do. I used to have tea parties almost every day back home with my mom and cousins" I said, but frowned "But those weren't very fun, all we ever talked about were boys and boring grown-up stuff." I mused. Annabelle scrunched up her face when I mentioned boys. I laughed at her expression a bit. But her face quickly turned into excitement when she remembered the first part.
"You got to dress up every day and go to tea parties!?" she squealed.
I grimaced at her pitch but nodded non the less. "Almost every day" I corrected.
Before she could say anything more on the subject, Sarah came tumbling down the stairs. Bag in hand, trying to fasten her wrist watch while walking. "Alright so, if I'm not back before dinner go ahead and order pizza or something. Remember bed time is at eight and call me if anything happened." She ordered while milling around the kitchen taking my empty bowl and Annabelle's, setting them in the sink.
Grabbing her keys from the counter, Sarah kissed her daughter on the top of the head and made for the door. But stopped half way there "Oh I almost forgot" she exclaimed, turning back she moved to the freezer. From inside she pulled out two plastic cups with a wooden stick coming from the tops. She smiled at me, motioning for us to follow her; we did so and moved to the front porch where Sarah placed the cups on the top of the steps. I approached it to find that the sticks were frozen in some type of juice. I raised an furry eyebrow at the cups and looked at Sarah.
Sarah looked at me expectantly before realizing that I had no idea what they were. "They're popsicles." She offered. "Frozen juice, it helps with the heat. Don't worry it's all natural." She said with an amused smile.
I nodded at her "Thanks Sarah." I said while examining my cup—Annabelle is already well into eating hers—. Sarah nodded and took the cup in her hands, she then pulled the frozen part out of the cup and placed it in a bowl I hadn't noticed before. She placed the bowl next to me and smiled again.
"Well I'm off. You two stay out of trouble." She said while giving Annabelle another goodbye kiss and patting me on the head, and headed down the stairs and to her truck.
"Stay safe" both me and Annabelle called after her as she pulled out and headed down the road.
Once Sarah was out of our sights. I looked down at my 'popsicle' with a hesitant frown. Leaning down to it I licked the frozen cylinder a bit. I was pleasantly surprised that it was in fact all natural orange juice. And having deemed it worthy I quickly ate the Popsicle happy to get some relief from the smoldering heat of the day. Once I finished, I licked my chops in satisfaction. Sarah should make these more often. Or teach me how to make them, either way I'll be happy.
I was distracted from my musing by the sound of the phone ringing inside. I told Annabelle to stay on the porch and made my way to the phone. The house phone was on one the tables in the living room; its height was quite convenient for me as I could reach the buttons without a problem. Well, when you think about it. My height is the one who makes this possible but whatever. I looked at the basic layout for a moment searching for the speaker button. Once I found it I pressed it with my nose, successfully answering it.
"Hello" I chirped
"Sarah! It's me hey. Guess what" The distinct male voice all but sang happily at the other end. I scrunched up my brows at it.
"I'm sorry but Sarah isn't home at the moment" I said. "May I ask who this is?" I asked, mentally preparing myself to memorize whatever information this man gave me. Since I couldn't write it down.
"If she's not there where is she? And who are you?" The man asked evading the question, I could almost hear his frown.
"Her location is none of your concern sir. Now tell me who you are and I might help you" I snapped this guy stupid if he thinks that I'm going to tell them where Sarah was. Dumbass.
Just then Annabelle walked in with the plastic cups and sticks in hand, heading to the kitchen. She looked in my direction, her expression telling me that she wanted to know who it was.
The man went to say something else but I cut him off and gave my attention to Annabelle. "It's no one important sweetie. Go put those in the kitchen and wash up, your hands look sticky." I told her. Annabelle smiled and nodded.
"Alright, I'll be right back and then we can play." She said before turning back towards the kitchen.
"Was that Annabelle? I swear if you hurt her" I heard the man say. I'd almost forgotten he was still on the line. I rolled my eyes at the man's assumption, deciding to end the conversation now before it got out of hand.
"Oh be quiet you, I have to go now take care sir" I said while moving my head to press the end call button.
"Hey wait, Don-" The man tried to say, but I hung up before he could finish.
It's been about four hours since that guy called the house and I left him hanging, so its four something in the afternoon. I've already concluded that Sarah was going to be home late. Leaving me with the task of getting dinner on the table. So I was trying to decide on whether to get Chinese take out or pizza delivered to the house.
Annabelle and I were both on the porch taking advsantige of the cooling breeze, two menus in front of us and the house phone in Annabelle's hand, ready to dial the number for me once we've decided. "Alright Ann, what do you want for dinner?" I asked her, examining each of the two pieces of paper in front of us.
"I don't know" She said with a pout. She was obviously not in the mood to make any decisions. "Let's play" she whined from her place to my left.
I sighed and looked at her with tired eyes. "I know you want to play. But you have to eat as well. And you know that neither of us can cook since you're Five and I'm... well I don't have apposable thumbs at the moment, so we have to do this." I told her with a small frown.
I was taken from the conversation by the sounds of a roaring engine heading our way. My eyes focused on the area where it came from, narrowing my eyes at its direction. An angry growl rose in my throat when a black dot appeared in the distance.
"Annabelle, I want you to go upstairs to your room and hide. Can you do that?" I asked her while keeping my eyes on the dot that was quickly approaching.
"Is this a game?" she asked, excitement bubbling inside of her.
"Yeah, it's called hide and stay quiet. The rules are that you have to hide under the bed and stay as quiet as a mouse. And when I find you, you win a price" I said quickly."
"Like hide and seek" She concluded, tilting her head to the side.
"Yeah exactly, now go. 1, 2,3" I started, pushing her into the house with my head and closing the door behind her. "4, hurry go hide! 5" I continued as I turned back to the direction of the dot that was now looking like a square. Now that I wasn't being distracted by Annabelle, I heard that the engine was not alone. There were more vehicles coming.
I growled deep in my chest at the idea of more potentially dangerous people. I was in no condition for battle; with these casts, they'll make quick work of me if they are trained. Stealth was my only option at the moment. Whoever they are, they won't be expecting an injured family dog to attack them. With any luck they'll think no one is home and leave... or try and rob the place. This doesn't look good.
It took mere minutes for the cars to finish their approach to the house. I tried my best to relax, laying down on the porch and feigned sleep. Though the incredibly loud sound of the engines would wake anyone up, I did my best to pretend that the noise didn't face me. A deaf, injured and sleeping dog is as harmless as they get.
The cars stopped on the gravel roughly. I cracked an eye open to see a group of very familiar cars in front of me. I couldn't quite place where I had seen them but they were definitely familiar. Suddenly the passenger's side door to the black truck opened and a man hoped out. He slammed the door behind him and ran up to the house in a hurry. Then he reached the second step on the stairs I decided to 'wake up' from my slumber. The man stopped mid step when I lifted my head and look directly at him.
He stood there frozen; we stared at each other for a while. I made the first move and stood from my spot and limped my way to sit, facing him in front of the door. During our little staring contest the man's features looked extremely familiar. I was trying to place where it was that I had seen it when the man straightened and opened his mouth to speak.
"Hey there-" He started before his eyes darted down to my body, as if looking for something. "Girl. You're a good girl huh." He said, slowly moving one of his legs to the third step. At his approach I huffed some air out through my mouth, showing my teeth briefly at him and he froze again.
"There there, I'm not gonna do anything" he cooed, holding his hands up in the universal sing of 'don't shoot'. The more I looked at him the more familiar he seemed. It was weird, like I've met him but I know I haven't.
From behind him I saw movement. Another person was approaching the house. He was tall and dark skinned. He two looked freakishly familiar. He stood a ways behind the first man with a curious gaze. "Hey Cap, I didn't know you had a dog" he mused. Looking from me to 'Cap'.
'Cap' narrowed his eyes at me for a moment before looking back at the second man. "That's cuz' we don't Epps." He said with a flat tone. My eyes widened at the man's name. "Epps" I murmured to myself as the men talked. That's Will's friend. So that means that mister 'Cap' here is William Lennox. Sarah husband and Annabelle's father, no wonder he looked so damn familiar! Well shit.
I relaxed from my slightly tense posture in front of the door. 'What do I do now? I can't just start talking like I did with Sarah. There men are soldiers, they'll shoot me! dammit why do I have to be such an idiot.
"She doesn't look dangerous so just move her out of the way and check on them." I heard Epps say to Will. My head snapped in their direction in confusion before it dawned on me. 'They still think I'm harmless!. Well that's, good at least they won't hurt a nice doggy, no matter how big it is.' I thought. With a new resolution I stood from my spot and walked over to the edge of the stairs. Wagging my tail and lowering my ears to seem as harmless as possible.
My movement must have caught Epps attention, because he turned to me quickly. And smiled just like in the picture. "See, she's nice" He said to Will who turned to see me much closer than I was jumped a bit in surprise, he looked at me with hesitant eyes. Then turned his gaze back to the cars on the lot. After a moment of him just looking at each of the cars he nodded and turned back to me with a soft smile. He slowly placed a hand on my head, rubbing it from side to side.
Once he deemed me worthy, he removed his hand from my head and moved passed me to the door. "I'm gonna go see if there's anyone here, maybe that dog belongs to whoever answered the phone earlier" he said with authority in his voice as he opened the door. "You stay here with the dog, make sure no one leaves" he said before disappearing into the house.
I panicked a little when I remembered that Annabelle was hiding somewhere in the house. If he found her, he'll think that she was left here alone without supervision and then Will is definitely going to get angry with Sarah. How do I get myself into these situations? I should find Annabelle first. I nodded to myself a bit then moved to walk into the house. Only to be stopped by Epps, he had a hand on my body cast and an amused smile on his face.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, I sighed in exasperation at him then growled threateningly. He let go of my in surprise and I took the chance to bolt to the door. "Hey come back here!" Epps yelled at me but I just ignored him. I'll apologize when this is all over.
I walked through the house, first searching the first floor first. I passed Will in the dining room, almost knocking him over as I shoved passed him. He gave a yell of surprise at me but otherwise left me alone. Probably too focused on finding his wife and or daughter to care about some random dog walking around the house. With the first floor clear I quickly climbed the stairs and headed to her room.
I let out a breath of relief when I saw her blond curls sticking out from under the bed. I smiled at her attempted at hiding and mover towards her. Crouching down so I could see her better. She smiled at me when she saw me as well. "Hi" she said with a giggle. "You found me"
I smiled again. "Yeah, and guess what?" I asked in a whisper. This encouraged her to speak in whispers two.
"What?" she asked
"I have a surprise for you, waiting downstairs. But you have to be very quiet when you go okay?" I told her. She looked exited and nodded at me, moving to get out from under the bed.
"Alright come on." I said, motioning for her to follow me.
We walked downstairs together as quietly as a dog with foot cast and a five year old could. Once we reached the first floor I lead her to the living room and told her to sit down. When she was settled I told her to wait a moment while I got the surprise and left the room in search of Will. He was looking through the kitchen with a scowl sketched in his face.
I walked up to him and nudged his side. Growling at him to get his attention. His face snapped to me for a second and I motioned for him to follow me. He stared at me for a second before shaking his head and returning to whatever it was he was doing. I huffed in frustration and grabbed his camo coat and pulled him with me to the living room.
"Hey, hey stop that" he demanded as I pulled him along, completely ignoring him for now. His voice died down when we reached the living room and he saw Annabelle, looking around waiting for me to give her the surprise. Will just stood there frozen again, just staring at her. I let go of Will and walked over to stand in front of Annabelle to, a toothy smirk on my face.
She looked at me expectantly for a moment before speaking. "Well, what's the surprise Ren?" She asked.
I smirked a bit before responding. "Turn around and find out" I said softly, moving my gaze from her to Will who was still just standing there. His eyes were wide with a mix of emotions. Unfortunately I didn't get to see Annabelle's face when she saw him. But I did hear her gasp and her acknowledgement of her father.
"Daddy!"