I had scrambled in and out of the bathroom, still buttoning up my jeans as I raced into the driveway, with a hairbrush dangling at my shoulder. There was a low growl from my gut as I wrestled with that bloody door. I was tucking my shirt in and combing my hair back when Loki materialized in the passenger seat.
"Yes, come along, why don't you. Watching people get fired is a tonne of fun," I scowled.
"How can you be so certain?"
"You're right. Maybe I should ask you to use your magic and look into the future!"
"Don't be ridiculous," he snorted.
I slammed my foot into the gas pedal and the truck trundled out onto the narrow but ever-empty Riverside road.
"This is all rather prompt, isn't it?"
"Well of course, if I'm getting fired, I'd rather be done with it as soon as possible."
"He said he wanted to see you-" He stretched out the syllables.
"Yes I know-"
"-this evening."
"-what?"
I slammed the breaks, causing my unruly hair to jump forward and mask me. Loki's hand had shot out to steady himself but it had smashed right through the dashboard. He pulled his arm away, slightly startled.
"Well, would you look at that."
"Will you please stop bloody destroying the few things I own?"
"Temper, temper."
"What the deuce did you have me run out of my house at-" I looked at the clock on the dash, "-seven in the bloody morning?"
"In my defence, I tried to warn you, but you were yelling at the faucets in the bathroom."
Something was welling up inside me. Something large and red and ugly and loud. I kicked open my door, leapt onto the quiet road and walked a long distance before I was far, far away from the car. Then in the silence of the surrounding wood and blue sky, I emptied my lungs out into the air. Loki watched me curiously from the car as I stomped the ground, snapped a small branch in two over my knee and proceeded to kick at the trunk of a large tree. This wasn't enough. I found a rock at the edge of the road and attempted to hurl it across the forest floor. After some struggling I managed to get it over my head, but the sheer weight of it sent me tumbling backward, landing squarely on my bottom. The rock rolled away, making a strange mocking sound as it went.
"I hate you all!" I declared to the stones scattered by the road.
Loki stepped out of the car quietly, his hands behind his back as he strolled up to where I was crushing dry leaves in my palms.
"This is an unusual outburst, even for you, Paton." He observed.
He's right you know.
"I have nothing left," I wailed. There was a sudden tightness in my chest. I thought I was having a heart attack.
"Paton, really, try to calm down," Loki said as I staggered away into the woods.
"No," I yelled back. "I'm just going to live in the trees now. No job, no rent, no crazy Norse gods to bother me with the cleaning and the cooking, no more nightmares, no Olivia, or mom or Gregory McAllister. No taxes and errands. No driving around for twelve hours a day. Just sleep. Lots of sleep until my body finally gives out."
"Can you even climb a tree, Paton?"
I ignored him and continued to walk until something snagged around my shoe and sent me falling face-first into the leaf-strewn ground. I spat dirt and twigs, swearing at what felt like a fallen branch. I felt like snapping another, so I felt around and wrapped my fingers around it.
Instead of the gnarled branch I expected to emerge from the blanket of leaves, I found myself holding a most curious object. A staff? A scythe? I couldn't say. But when it lit up blue at the top, I bet Loki could tell exactly what it was.