by Eden O'Neill
“I’m going to class,” Knight said, his hands up. “Handle that.”
Handle that. Like I needed to be handled…
Maybe I did. I clearly overstepped on something I didn’t understand here, something that made the boy who looked at me so differently in recent hours reverse any work he’d done to get there. The anger crept up his neck in deep red tones, his strong jaw piercing as tight as his temple.
I thought to speak so he wouldn’t have to first.
“Royal, let me explain,” I said. He raised his hands, but I kept on. “Remember how you told me you went out to Route 80 because of Paige, to be at the last place you guys were at together? Well, that’s kind of why I went there too. I thought maybe being in the last place you saw her might get me in her headspace a little. I might figure out where she may have gone.”
Hearing it out loud now sounded incredibly stupid. Even to me, the one with the so-called plan and the information did nothing to help.
Royal shut down completely during my word vomit, looking pained even, and I cringed.
“I know I wasn’t supposed to go out there,” I rushed. “I know that, and I know your dad didn’t want anyone out there, Royal, but I had to go. I had to. You have to understand.”
Narrowed eyes flicked my way. “I didn’t tell you that information so you could go around and do whatever the fuck you wanted with it.”
“I know that. I know—”
“No, you don’t know,” he said, lifting a hand. “You couldn’t possibly know. You know nothing about my dad, this… town, and you know nothing about me.”
Ouch. “Well, let me try, then.”
“Why should I?” he asked, digging the dagger deeper. The red crept further up his neck. “I can’t trust you.”
My insides caved, a balloon bursting inside my chest and making me feel empty and hollow. I grabbed his arm. “Royal—”
He pushed my hands away. “I’m done with all this.”
He walked away down the empty hall, shoving his hands into his pockets, as he watched his own steps down the hall. He did so in deep concentration and very much without me.
Eighteen
That next few days at Maywood Heights felt as cold as the first, the only difference was no one spoke to me. No one looked at me… It was like a silent summons had been cast over the entire place, and even the teachers barely made eye contact with me. I had to raise my hand if I wanted to be addressed at all, and the same went with Birdie and the rest of our friends. They went to classes with me, let me eat with them, but any responses to me were one or two words and the conversations were well outside of me. They kept them focused on the upcoming basketball season, other things that went on before I arrived in town. They shut me out, and at first, I thought it’d been in my head. After my showdown with Royal in the hall, I figured I’d “othered” myself on purpose. I’d felt so damn guilty for what I had done and the clear betrayal of his trust that at first I only gave one- or two-word answers to questions. I didn’t raise my hand and avoided eye contact, but as I came out of my shell, there was a clear blackballing going on here. I didn’t understand it.
Until I did.
I caught the Court looking at me one day from their lunch table, LJ, Jax, and Knight and everyone else. They all looked at me in one conjoined effort, but the only one who’d been too busy was Royal. He chewed a sandwich, paying attention to nothing but his food, and the staredown made me lose all appetite for mine. I picked up my stuff, excusing myself from Birdie and the others, and dumped my tray. What was worse was I was barely acknowledged at all when I got up. Only when I went to the lunchroom doors and faced back at that center table did anyone notice I left.
The Court had a warning in their eyes before they headed back to their conversations, and that couldn’t be denied. They were telling me to tread lightly.
They were telling me to stay away.
I’d been naive about the power within this place, the almighty Court ruled the school, but I hadn’t been on the receiving end of it. I only saw that power thrust upon teachers, other students, the headmaster, and even my own dad. These people were threatened by eighteen-year-old boys and a club/society way older in this town than me.
“Have a good evening, Ms. Lindquist.”
I did still have Hubert, the older man staring at the rearview mirror when I let myself out to go inside the house. I didn’t have to work tonight, thank God, and called in sick after the one shift I had these past few days. I realized very quickly during that shift I wasn’t welcome there either. LJ, though he talked to me, had me scrubbing down that whole place with basically a toothbrush he called a scrubber, and he stayed with me too, stood over me like slave labor. He watched me scrub, and when he didn’t like the way I scrubbed, he made me do it again. The cherry to the night was coming outside and seeing him, Jax, and Knight and some other boys in the Court at their cars, Royal with them. Royal had been with Mira, just talking, and though he didn’t have his arm around her or anything, it still hurt seeing them together. Needless to say, I rushed into my car, not that he actually looked at me or anything. He didn’t at school, and he hadn’t then.
I dragged my feet up the stairs and into the house, my only saving grace out back, who I immediately went to tend to after I hung up my bag and took my uniform jacket off. Hershey continued to basically double in size, and though I probably should check around for my dad, I needed to see her so bad today. It was another lonely day at Windsor Prep, and I immediately went for the one thing who would ease that. Taking my key out, I unlocked the door to the guesthouse.
The kibble… was everywhere, like she’d turned over her dish and left it scattered, but not just that. The sheets on the guest bed were tattered, the pillows tossed as if she’d had a fit or something and her box was crushed, a shoe print right in the center of it.
A shoe print.
“Rosanna, Rosanna!” I screamed once inside the main house. I ran both upstairs and down, freaking out through the whole house. “Rosanna, it’s Hershey. She’s gone. She’s—”
“You won’t find her.”
My dad’s voice came from his office, a place in the house I never ventured through. I never had a reason. It was his space.
He looked up at me as I backed up, getting into his vantage point. He sat at a wide desk, going over papers.
I dampened my lips. “Where is she?”
“I fired her,” he said, completely dismissive about it. He bowed his head, writing. “Fired her for allowing you to bring an animal into this house and helping you harbor it.” He gazed up with a frown. “Really, December. What were you thinking?”
My world literally crumbed around me by what he was saying, Rosanna… Hershey.
“Dad, I…”
“You what?” He folded his hands. “What could you possibly say when you’ve been lying to me for God knows how long about a damn dog—”
“Her name’s Hershey.”
I cut him off and his eyes twitch wide, borderline madness within them.
His jaw ticked. “I don’t care what its name is.”
“Well, you should care,” I challenged, making him blink. “You should care about me, and that dog is the only real kind of anything I’ve had since I’ve been here. From you or anything else.”
“You have food from me, stuff, and education. Not to mention a roof over your head.” He curled fingers in his hair. “What more do you want from me?”
If he had to ask, he’d never know. Being a parent wasn’t just taking care of me physically. One would think he’d learn that since his eldest ran out on him.
“Where are you going?” Dad came around his desk, but I was already leaving, heading to the kitchen where I grabbed keys. “December—”
“I’m going to get my dog, and I don’t care if I have to tear up this city to find her.”
“She’s been taken by animal control, but you won’t bring her back to this house,” he said, coming around the bar. “You saw what that anima
l did to my guesthouse.”
I did see, the evidence of a frightened dog being taken by people she didn’t know or trust. My throat thick, I shook my head at him. “Bye, Dad.”
“I’m warning you, December. You leave this house and bring that dog back, you might as well not come home.”
The words chilled me, but they didn’t stop me. I went out to the garage, got in my sister’s car, then pulled out. I was going to have my puppy with me when I came back.
I guess I just wouldn’t come back here.
Nineteen
“A chocolate Labrador puppy? Yeah, we acquired one of those, but she’s been moved to the veterinary clinic on third. Let me give you the address.”
The fear Hershey had to be moved to a vet clinic caused me to hit the gas faster. The woman on the phone couldn’t tell me why she’d been moved from the local pound, but just that she had and that was enough for me to move in quick time. I pulled up to the vet clinic just after dark and barely closed the door before rushing up to a building that was completely pitch black outside of the front building lights.
“Hello, hello!” I tapped on the glass and to my relief someone was in there. The lights flickered on, and a woman in scrubs came down the hall.
She opened the door. “Can I help you, miss?”
I explained the situation with mush mouth. I mean, completely incoherent, and I even shed a few tears. I couldn’t help it. Hershey was my friend and I needed her back, and though the woman sympathized, she shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said, sighing. “I don’t know why the puppy was brought in, but I can’t just give her to you. She was brought in today by the vet himself, and he must have had a reason.”
“Can we look at her? If you can see if there’s nothing wrong, can I take her?”
She shook her head again. “I’m not a vet, miss.”
“Please, please, please. You don’t understand. She’s mine, and if she is hurt… if she’s scared, she needs me, please.”
Her hands held the door, so much debate on her face, and I prayed for small favors. This woman had no reason to let me inside this building right now.
But for whatever reason, she did.
She waved me in, locking the door quickly, and I followed her through intricate halls to the back. The place was really nice. In fact, I’d venture to say top notch for a vet clinic. I was used to seeing run-down places where I was from, but the white walls and shining tiles were completely opposite of that. The whole place was elite and not much unlike everything else around this town I’d come to find myself immersed in. The clinic was shiny and polished like anything else, and in the back were cages. They were all empty.
All except for one.
I rushed over, Hershey… my silly little puppy up on her hind legs and waging her tail at me. She looked completely okay. If anything, more than, and when the woman saw us together she laughed a little, shaking her head.
“I guess she knows her mama,” she said, opening the cage for me. Hershey didn’t even let the woman pull her body out before bounding over her and into my arms.
I caught her easily, giggling through tears, and I thought I lost my damn mind. I was crying over a dog, but she wasn’t just a dog. She was mine, my friend.
“Hey, honey girl,” I crooned, cradling her. “You okay?”
“Appears that way.” The woman gazed at a chart on the cage, scanning it. “The doctor did a full workup on her today, and she’s fine. She’s actually queued to be released.”
“So I can take her?” I asked, hope in my voice. “You see she’s mine. We’re each other’s.”
She smiled at that, but then chewed her lip a little. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give her to you, but I will need to get your personal information before you leave. I’m only doing this because Dr. Anderson does bring strays in from time to time, and when he does, they usually go to a no-kill shelter for adoption. It’s only because of that, and only that, I’m letting you have her. Adoption doesn’t seem to be needed for this little one.”
She rubbed Hershey’s head beside me, and the ham Hershey was leaned right into it. I petted her for a while before the woman came over with a personal information chart for me to fill out.
“Go ahead and fill this out and please don’t lie,” she said. “I’m going to call your cell phone to make sure it’s correct before you leave.”
They really didn’t want animals going out to the wrong hands, and though I appreciated that, it made me nervous I did have to lie about my address. I obviously couldn’t go home to my dad and had a feeling I’d be sleeping in my sister’s car tonight. I wouldn’t be calling Birdie or anyone, not with how they’d barely been talking to me.
Hershey in hand, I took a pen to the paper, starting with my name and the other easy stuff. The woman watched me for a while before saying she’d come back.
“I’ve got to finish my rounds,” she said. “I was cleaning before locking up for the night. I gotta take the trash out, but I’ll be right back.”
I nodded, watching her go before going back to the paperwork. I could leave right now with Hershey in hand, but she’d done me a solid, so I didn’t want to do that. Hershey licked my ear, and I dropped my pen.
“You want to get out of here? Huh?” I teased, laughing before going down to the floor to find it. I found the pen quickly, but on the way up, I froze.
Smoke… billowing smoke curled across the floor in a waft, and standing, I noticed it eased out from behind the door the woman left through.
What the hell?
I ran toward the door, touching it with the back of my hand and a sharp burn pulled me back.
My shoes blended with smoke, flames through opaque glass on the other side, and panicking, I braced Hershey and rerouted for another door. I touched it with the back of my hand again, and when it came up cold, I went for the knob.
I ran out into smoky halls, covering my face and trying to remember how I got into this place. There’d been too many twisting turns, those squeaky white floors now covered in smoke, and I ventured into it.
Hershey whined, then barked as I choked upon inhalation. A crash sounded when a shelf or something burst through window glass next to me, making me scream and fall to my knees. Flames from above beat through the window, and Hershey yelped, wrestling from my arms and escaping down the hall.
“Hershey!”
She ran into smoke the opposite way of the fire, and I crawled on my elbows, attempting to scurry after her. The flames from above chased me down the hall, and I stayed low, attempting to avoid them.
They were everywhere, creeping and eating the walls like a flesh-eating disease and I backed up on the floor, the horror of it all sinking me into the depths. I had strong fears I’d die in this place, that Hershey would die and I wouldn’t be able to find her. The latter thought alone got me back on my feet and running out of the hall engulfed in flames. I found another door and pushed myself through it.
Only to find myself against a hard chest.
Unyielding rock literally slammed into me, strong hands as they pulled me and forced me to gaze up into dazzling green eyes.
“December, what the fuck?” Royal gritted out, his eyes wild. “What are you doing here? We need to get you out of here. Let’s go, now!”
Why was he here? I had no time to ask as he was quite literally picking me up and forcing me out of the place. I kicked, screaming about Hershey, but he ignored me. Too hell-bent to get me out. Eventually, we surfaced to clear air on the outside, but as soon as my feet hit the ground, I was running right back to the building.
He dragged me back before I could get too far, and when he braced my shoulders, he shook me. “Are you goddamn crazy? What are you doing?”
“Hershey’s in there,” I choked, smoke still in my lungs. I reached toward the building. “Hershey, Hershey!”
I fought him, wild with all remaining strength I had, but like before, he overpowered me. He forced me to sit on the ground, and before I
knew it, he was pulling the collar of his dress shirt up, covering his face and rushing into the building himself.
“Royal!”
He had to be damn crazy now to rush into a burning building, save me, then rush right back to save my dog. I sat in crippling fear on my bottom while sirens sounded in the distance around me. Help was coming, but I didn’t know how fast.
Getting to my feet, I considering going in again.
But then, a miracle.
A barking dog was in a boy’s arms, a boy who had dirt and soot all over his handsome face and school uniform. The door they came through burst out in flames following their exit, and though Royal almost dropped my dog, he didn’t. He held her tight, coming to me while gasping for air, but he never once let go of Hershey.
“You’re damn crazy,” he said, falling to his knees while he hacked, but with a few licks from Hershey on his dirty face, he smiled a little. “Both of you are.”
Placing her down, he petted her once before gripping his knees to collect himself. She went immediately to me, and I hugged her, trying to figure out what the fuck just happened. My eyes widened at a realization. “There was a woman in here with me. Is she okay—”
“She’s who let me in,” he said, waving off my panic. “And called the fire department after we both saw smoke. We both got out, but when she told me a girl was in there, I went back in. I had no idea it’d be you.”
I braced Hershey, glad the woman was okay, but…
“Why are you here?” I asked, those sirens coming closer. “Did you know about Hershey being here?”
“Yes,” he said, making my insides clench. He knew…
And then a thought hit me, a harsh thought that couldn’t be. He was one of only a handful of people who knew about Hershey, and on top of that, he was mad at me at the present.
My jaw moved. “Did you tell?”
His eyes flickered my way following another cough. “What?”