by Isabel Fox
“No worries. Are you sure you’re…wait, I’m not supposed to ask that. Please don’t scream,” he said, trailing off with a slight grin.
“No, it’s fine. And yeah, I’m okay. I think.” I let out a long, low sigh.
“Anything I can do?” Drew asked.
“No, I don’t think so. I’m just kind of stressed. My cat’s missing,” I explained, opting for the edited version just as I had with Dr. Mallory.
“Oh, I’m sorry! How long has she been lost?” Drew asked. He had heard me talk about Willow on multiple occasions before, and was surely aware of how much I cared about her.
“Just since yesterday. She...she got out, somehow, and my roommate and I are pretty desperate to find her,” I fibbed slightly.
“I’ll keep an eye out for her. Hey, do you have a good picture of her? Maybe I could help you make some posters? Like, little flyers, or something?” Drew offered. I hesitated. On the one hand, I knew it was probably pointless, since whoever had Willow already knew whose cat she was and were she belonged. I hated to waste Drew’s time. But on the other hand, I wanted to do everything possible, just on the off chance it might help us get Willow back.
“That would actually be really great,” I agreed. “Thank you so much, Drew.”
“Any time. Just text me that picture, and I’ll get some flyers printed. I could drop them off at your house, or meet you somewhere on campus. Whatever works,” Drew said agreeably.
“Awesome. Let me just send that picture right now, before I forget. Let me know when you’re done, and we’ll make plans to meet,” I suggested, already hitting the send button on Willow’s photo.
“Deal. Well, I’d better get going before Susan comes looking for me. Later, Cassie,” Drew said, departing with a quick wave. I turned to look out over the well landscaped front lawn for just a moment, shivering slightly in the cold air. I hoped, wherever Willow was, that she was warm and comfortable. Shaking my head in an effort to clear out the sad image of Willow hungry and lonely in some stranger’s house, I turned and headed back inside.
29
When I got home after work, Amber was upstairs in her room. Whether she was still there from this morning or had left and come back I wasn’t sure. I knocked softly on the door but got no response. Hoping it was because she was asleep and not in some kind of weird fugue state, I let her be and went down to the kitchen.
I unloaded my bag, spreading my various books, notebooks, and my laptop across the table. I started to pull up the group discussion I was supposed to be responding to for my philosophy class, but Willow’s conspicuously empty food bowl distracted me. I took it, washed it out, and set it on a shelf in the laundry room out of sight.
Returning to the table, I sat down and struggled through my assignments for the day. I knew it probably wasn’t my best work, but under the circumstances I felt like I’d done okay. I certainly wasn’t in danger of failing, at least. That probably would have been more than I could handle.
Thinking about my grades led me to suddenly consider a horrifying possibility. What if I never figured out who was stalking me? What if it just went on, for weeks or even months? I was pretty sure that I couldn’t deal with it indefinitely. Just trying to get through my life as normally as possible for the past week or so had been exhausting.
Trying to keep my anxiety from getting the better of me, I went online and searched for the small security camera Officer Hanson had mentioned. I found one that was only ninety-five dollars, which seemed reasonable enough. It even came with two cameras to allow for multiple angles of surveillance. It had good reviews, so after only a moment’s hesitation I entered my debit card information and splurged on the outrageous but mostly necessary one day shipping option. The sale confirmation promised it would be here by tomorrow evening.
Next I clicked over the weather report. Things had escalated since I had last checked. Still expected to arrive towards the end of the week, the freak early snow storm was now predicted to dump up to ten inches of snow. I loved snow, so normally the prospect of a major blizzard would have been exciting to me. Now, though, it just seemed like an extra complication in my already insane life.
A knock at the door startled me out of my thoughts. I froze, uncertain if I should even answer it. I waited a moment, naively hoping that maybe whoever it was would just go away. Another knock sounded, though, and I crept across the living room, trying to stay out of sight of the windows by ducking below the couch. I felt like a ninja but I was aware that I probably looked more like a lunatic.
At the door, I peered around the side window to try and get a glimpse. For a moment all I could see was a sliver of gray jacket, but then the person moved. It was Drew!
I opened the door to see him rubbing his hands in the cold.
“Wow, it’s freezing out here,” Drew said, and as he spoke I could see his breath.
“Yeah, the temperature’s dropping pretty fast. Come on in,” I said, not wanting to be rude. “What’s up?” I asked when Drew had stepped inside. Drew pulled a manila folder from the messenger bag he carried.
“Flyers!” he explained cheerfully.
“Uh, wow,” I breathed, pulling out approximately fifty glossy flyers. Willow’s photo, in full color, was centered on a giant header reading “LOST” at the top, along with more details about Willow and my contact information at the bottom of the page. “Drew, these look great!”
“Oh, it was easy,” Drew waved my compliment off. “I had some extra time after work, and I wanted to help. So I figured I’d get these to you as soon as possible.”
“Thank you! Seriously, these look so professional,” I told him.
“It was no problem. I was happy to do it,” Drew sounded sheepish. “Hey, do you want some help putting them up? I don’t have any plans this evening.”
I glanced at the clock. It was seven o’clock and I was starving. There was a frozen lasagna in the freezer with my name on it, and the last thing I wanted to do was go out into the cold, dark night to tape flyers to stop signs and telephone poles.
On the other hand, Amber was still up in her room. James was at a mock trial club meeting. He had offered to skip it, but I wanted him to avoid upending his normal routine for me as much as possible. Besides, as the president, it was pretty important that he be there, so I had insisted he go. Jenna and Brooklyn were doing their own thing. I would be pretty much on my own for awhile, and being on my own was just about the last thing I wanted.
“Uh, yeah, sure. That would be awesome,” I said. “Let me just grab my coat and let my roommate know where I’m going.”
I turned and hurried upstairs to my room where I grabbed both a box of tacks and my coat. I paused outside of Amber’s room as I shrugged the coat on. Knocking softly, I called her name. No response. I tried again, a bit louder. Still nothing. Feeling a little worried, I turned the knob.
Amber was sitting in the middle of the bed, wearing an ancient hoodie and pajama pants. She had a box of Oreos beside her and her sketchbooks spread out in front of her. Pens, pencils, and permanent markers littered the bedspread. The only light came from her desk lamp.
“Amber?” I said again. Startled, Amber quickly straightened up from her position bent over her sketchbook. She pulled out her earbuds, the sound of music clearly audible.
“Christ, Cassie. You scared me,” she said, putting her hand to her chest. “Was that you knocking? I thought I heard something, but then figured it was the song.”
“Yeah, it was me. Listen, are you feeling okay?” I asked. Amber nodded emphatically.
“I’m better. Well, mostly. I’m sorry I was such a grump this morning. I’m just really worried about Willow, and I’m mad about all the shit you’re having to deal with. Plus I really didn’t want to go to class today. So I just...didn’t. Call it a mental health day, if you will,” she said as she plucked an Oreo from the box. As was her custom, she twisted it apart and ate the cream side first.
“Well, I’m glad you’re doing better
. Listen, a guy I work with made some flyers for us, for Willow. We’re going to go put them out.” I told her. Amber looked confused.
“Why? We know who has her. Well, not who, who, but we know she’s not just wandering the streets.”
“Yeah, I know. But I was just thinking that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to put some flyers out. You never know, maybe someone will call and say, “Hey, my neighbor just brought a cat that looks just like that home.” Then, we’ll either A) get Willow back or B) get Willow back and know who my stalker is. I figured it couldn’t hurt, at least,” I shrugged.
“Eh, I guess. Well, have...fun, I guess? Is James coming over?” Amber asked.
“Later, after his mock trial meeting. There’s a frozen lasagna we can heat up for dinner. Or whatever else you want. I don’t care, you guys can decide,” I said as I turned to go. I paused when I heard Amber laugh.
“Cassie Morgan, handing the decision making completely over to someone else? Now that’s a new one,” she chuckled. I grabbed a stress ball that was sitting on the bookshelf by the door and chucked it at her. Amber caught it deftly, impressing me. It probably would have hit me in the face. She shot me a mischievous grin. I rolled my eyes and ducked out into the hallway before she could retaliate.
30
Downstairs, Drew was standing by the bookshelf looking at the photos that dotted the shelves.
“This is the same cat that’s missing, right?” he asked when I came up beside him, nodding at a framed photo of Amber holding Willow as a kitten.
“Yep, that’s Willow,” I confirmed.
“She’s cute. Hopefully these flyers will help you guys find her. You ready?” Drew asked, still looking at the pictures.
“Yeah. Should we take your car or mine?” I asked, pulling on the pair of gloves I had found in my coat pocket.
“I can drive. I’m parked behind you, anyway,” Drew offered, pulling his keys out of his pocket. I stopped and flicked on the porch light so it wouldn’t be totally dark when I got back. Locking the door behind me, I shivered as I felt just how cold it had gotten since I had come home.
“Did you see that they’re calling for even more snow now? It’s wild. I love snow, though, so I’m pretty excited about it,” Drew said conversationally as we both climbed into his car. He hooked his phone into the stereo and scrolled for a minute.
“You okay with the music on?” he asked.
“Sure,” I shrugged, straightening the pile of flyers that sat in my lap. A few seconds later, one of my favorite songs began to play. “Oh, I love this one,” I told Drew.
“Me too!” he said, backing carefully out of the driveway. “It’s one of my favorites.”
Drew kept up a constant stream of chatter as we drove, asking about my fall break, Willow, Amber, work, and several other things. I answered all his questions, but I noticed I barely had time to reply before he asked another question. He also went off on several tangents involving long winded stories about random people he knew. Drew stopped several times for me to get out of the car and tack a flyer to utility poles, and he even found a roll of duct tape I could use for stop signs. No sooner would I climb back in the car than Drew would pick up the conversation where we had left off.
I didn’t remember Drew being this chatty at work, though it occurred to me that we rarely had time to have a long conversation there. As we drove on, a new song came on. It was another of my favorites.
“I’m really loving your musical taste,” I said to Drew, stopping him mid sentence as he told me about something his roommate had done freshman year.
“What? Oh, yeah, it’s a really good one. Anyway, so my roommate got so mad at our RA he just decided to never go to another floor meeting again. So then I had to-”
I zoned out, feeling slightly guilty. I appreciated Drew helping my making the flyers and driving me around to post them, but it was also occurring to me that I’d never spent any time with Drew one-on-one. I was starting to realize he was kind of...well, annoying. Of course, my patience was at an all time low these days, so I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and stop my stream of negative thoughts about him.
Mercifully, his story was interrupted by my phone ringing.
“Sorry, I’ve gotta take this,” I told Drew, pulling my phone out of my coat pocket. The caller ID showed it was James.
“Hi!” I answered enthusiastically, relieved to be putting an end to the epically boring saga of Drew’s former roommate.
“Hi yourself,” James replied. “What are you up to?”
“I’m out posting some lost cat flyers. A friend at work made some, and offered to drive me around to get them put up. What about you? Is your meeting over?” I asked.
“Just finished. I’ve got to swing by my apartment and grab a few things, and make sure Chris actually paid the power bill this month. Then I’m going to head over to your place, but I wasn’t sure if I should grab anything for dinner.”
“Check with Amber. I told her we had a frozen lasagna we could do, but depending on whether or not she actually got up to put it in the oven we may need a backup plan,” I explained. “I’m fine with whatever you guys want.”
“Okay, I’ll give her a call. Did she seem to be in a better mood?” James wanted to know.
“Yeah, I think she’s doing better. She apologized for being such a grump, which I’m sure you know she rarely does.”
“Oh, good! Then I don’t need to be in fear for my life. I’ll give her a call and see you at the house. Sound good?”
“Perfect. See you soon,” I said. I hung up, and saw Drew was looking at me intently.
“Was that your roommate?” he asked.
“Uh, no. Boyfriend,” I said, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable. Though Drew had turned his attention back to the road, I couldn’t help but notice a strange expression cross his face for just a second. He was quiet for a moment, the music the only sound in the car.
“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend,” he said finally. His tone was conversational, but I couldn’t help but notice a slight change in the pitch of his voice.
“Yeah. It’s, um, a pretty recent thing,” I said slowly, wishing I hadn’t said anything. So much for me trying to keep it under wraps. At this point I could probably go ahead and just take out a billboard ad. Cassie and James, sitting in a tree...
“Oh. Well, cool,” Drew said. “Good for you.” His voice sounded normal, now, and I wondered if I had misjudged the situation. As far as Drew knew, I hadn’t dated anyone in the entire time he had known me. It probably was pretty shocking news to find out I was not, in fact, a nun.
“So, you were talking about your old roommate? I guess it’s a good thing you got rid of him and met Ashton, huh?” I said, trying to steer the conversation back to less awkward territory.
“Oh, yeah, I guess,” Drew replied, shooting me a strange look I couldn’t read. He stopped talking, and I made no effort to force the conversation. I wasn’t sure what had changed, but I felt uneasy all of a sudden.
I put out the rest of the flyers at our next stop, giving the cashier at Joanne’s Cafe more than was strictly necessary so I would be out and have an excuse to end this odd little excursion. Drew just nodded silently when I told him that the last of the flyers had been distributed and started to drive me home. He wasn’t quite as verbose as he had been when we first started out, but as we drove he did eventually start back on a fairly steady conversation monologue.
By the time we arrived back at the house I was pretty certain I must have reached a new level of paranoia. Here I was, seeing bad things in the actions of my professor and my coworker. They couldn’t both be my stalker, and clearly I was wrong about at least one of them. I remembered my security camera order and hoped it would help me end this whole thing soon. I was starting to lose my mind.
James’s SUV was parked in the driveway and the porch lights were still on. I got out of the car and bent down to bid Drew goodbye, but he was already unbuckling his seatbelt and climbin
g out as well.
“I’ll walk you to the door,” he said, shrugging sheepishly. “My mom always said I should never let a girl walk in by herself. Because apparently I’m excellent protection from kidnappers and muggers, or something.”
I laughed weakly and started for the door, Drew right behind me. I pulled out my keys, sorting through them to find the one for the front door. My cold fingers fumbled with them and they fell to the ground with a metallic thunk.
I stooped to grab them at the same time Drew did, and we bumped heads.
“Ow!” I said with a laugh, holding on to my forehead. Quickly I bent over again and grabbed the keys.
“I’m so sorry,” Drew exclaimed as I straightened back up. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Just a little bump. No harm done.”
“Are you sure? I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I did that,” Drew went on.
“Seriously, Drew, I’m fine. It was an accident, just a little bump. Don’t worry about it,” I said, polite but firm.
“Cassie, I feel terrible. I-”
Drew was cut off by the sound of the door opening. James appeared, holding a can of soda in his hand.
“Oh, hey Cassie. I thought I heard voices out here!” he said cheerfully. Grateful for the interruption, I climbed quickly up the porch stairs, putting a few feet between Drew and me.
“Drew, this is James, my boyfriend. James, this is Drew, from work. He made those missing cat flyers for us,” I said by way of introduction. I figured he already knew James existed, so there was no harm in being polite.
“Oh, nice to meet you, man,” James said, his voice friendly. He took a few steps towards Drew, holding out his hand. “Thanks for helping Cassie with those flyers. That was really cool of you.”
Drew was looking at James rather strangely, as if he were a zoo animal he’d never seen before and was both somewhat fascinated by and scared of him. He gave him a quick, abrupt handshake in return.