The Bond: Chapter 5

Chapter 5


Sean was finding all the leftover food from the bus pans increasingly more and more distasteful. There were partially eaten hamburgers, fries barely touched covered in ketchup, scoops of coleslaw, and melted ice cream all blended into a greasy concoction at the bottom of his grey bin. The dishes and silverware were already removed and running through the industrial dishwasher which further increased the humidity of the kitchen’s back room. He used his hand to scoop the disgusting mix of food into the garbage as he tried to bear in mind that he could wash them immediately afterwards in the huge sink. He tried to imagine at one point having liked this type of food back when he first started working at the (fast food restaurant), but the thought of it looking appetizing was overwhelmed by the many times he’d seen the leftovers mashed together. He used to enjoy eating the free food that was considered to be mess up orders, but lately it all seemed to have lost its flavor. Perhaps he was better off not eating the fast-food anyway, because it was supposed to be unhealthy and fattening. However, with his metabolism, that fact hardly bore any relevance to him.

The brown tiled floor was damp from the occasional splash of water that missed the sink when he rinsed the plates off. There were supposed to be rubber mats on the ground that ran the length of stainless steel counters, but there was one missing which left a dangerous gap on the inside corner where the dishwasher was. Occasionally he would find himself slipping in that one spot and twice he had fallen, before he had gotten used to it.

The place was getting near to closing and there were two of the waitresses sitting in the room at a table in the corner dedicated for breaks. They were wrapping silverware in napkins getting them prepared for the next day, and Sean was trying to ignore their whispered conversation and sporadic girlish giggles, fearing that he might be the topic. On a different day one of them had even tried asking him out on what he supposed would’ve been considered a date, but he had been curt with a convenient excuse of having to study for a calculus test. Since then no one else had tried talking to him much, and he was getting better at tuning out the background chatter, getting his work done, and leaving on time.


Sometimes, like tonight, there would be a big last minute rush of customers just before closing. The waitresses were supposed to help with the extra work load, but they would never stick around, and the store manager would have to wait for him to finish before he could lock up the place. He still had a mound of bus pans filled with dirty dishes behind him on the island counter, and he knew it was going to be another late night.

Water was collecting at the bottom of the sink and he had to lean over to unclog the drain from the food particles that had collected there. As he did, his precious pendant fell out from underneath his shirt and dangled around his neck in front of his chin. He stood up quickly almost in a panic and tucked it back under his collar. It was getting warm with the constant steam from the dishwasher, so he had undone the top two buttons of his shirt. He couldn’t allow even the remotest chance of the necklace coming off of him and closed his shirt back up. He would only have to deal with the extra heat temporarily, and that would be a far better punishment than his pendant escaping him.

Seeing it reminded him that it had almost been six months since his traumatic experience with the…

He couldn’t bear to think about it again. It only made his mood darker, and it never did him any good dwelling on it. If it hadn’t been for his uncle’s help he would never have gotten the motivation to pick himself up and get back to living.

Gregor tried different things to get Sean to snap out of his deep depression, but the experience had scarred him profoundly, and ultimately he had to resort to altering Sean’s mind. He was very much against erasing his memory, for that would permanently remove Sean’s opportunity to heal his soul. So, what he did was put up barriers that would degrade with time and block the experience in his subconscious. This way he could still function while awake, but the side affect was that sometimes he would have horrible nightmares.

Sean remembered wishing more than anything in his life that he could run back to his uncle’s manor and hide behind those protective wards forever, but the brief contact with his vampiric relative was enough of a refresher to remind him of how insane he had become before he desperately chose to leave. Going back was not a choice. He knew he had to find his own way, and that was the harsh truth.

For a time he drove around the country aimlessly, sometimes noticing the scenery when something interesting struck his eye. He didn’t really start looking for a place to settle down until he had received a call from his uncle that they had earned the attention of the Veil and that they would both have to lay low for a while. Gregor gave him instructions to stay within the city he was currently at, which was Louisville in Kentucky, and that he should probably get an apartment, because he fully expected that they would have to stay under the radar for an extended period of time. Shortly after he found a place and established an address, Gregor contacted him through the mail with a large manila envelope. Inside it was a false ID and further information on how to protect himself from being identified by the Veil. He also informed Sean that he would not be able to maintain any further contact with him until this whole thing blew over and that whatever money was left to him in his account would have to last until it was safe for them to come out of hiding.

He now had to endure the name Jonathan Amaric. He hated using it, and the way it sounded coming out of his mouth made his face twitch. It was hard getting used to telling people his false name, so he avoided saying it whenever possible, which meant he avoided people. He knew there were deeper reasons to avoid socializing, but he wasn’t ready to reflect on that dark topic.

“Aren’t you guys done yet?! Come on! The boss won’t let me out of here until the front is setup for tomorrow, and my ride is already here waiting for me.”

Sean knew who the girl was without having to glance over his shoulder, but he did anyway. The name tag on her shirt said Chris and she came whipping around the corner with reckless speed. She was Sean’s height, had short blond hair, and the beautiful face that could get away with that type of hair style. Her eyes were true blue and he got the chance to glimpse them again as she tried to avoid looking at him and make a straight b-line toward her fellow coworkers at the table in the back.

Her eyes didn’t have the same color or intensity as his uncle’s did, but they did share a similar quality that Sean could not describe in terms of physical attributes. Sean had felt more than just her eyes staring at him simply out of happenstance the very first time they had met. It was the same indefinable expression his uncle used when he was trying to listen in on his thoughts. As quick as their eyes had met Sean looked away, reinforced his mental wall, and busied himself with clearing tables and bringing his collection of dirty dishes back to the dishwasher. He tried to remain nonchalant, like there was nothing out of the ordinary, but it wasn’t soon after that he felt her invisible presence pressing up against his mental shields carelessly pushing and prodding like she had never encountered a psychic block before. He had to wonder if she even knew he could feel her, but he doubted she did based on the way she tried to act nonchalant too.

Ever since that fateful moment Sean always made sure he was on guard in his workplace, and pretended ignorance of what Chris had tried to do to him. She fascinated him, but at the same time he was extremely cautious around her. Several times he had even followed her home after work when she didn’t have a ride and had to walk. He found out that she lived in a bad neighborhood seemingly by herself, and her house was in ill-repair. He was always surprised and grateful when she made it home without anyone trying to assault her, but then again maybe she had long since established herself as a woman not to be messed with. She walked with full confidence and a pinch of attitude, enough to show she wasn’t prey. Sean only knew that there was something very unique about Chris and that he had to play it safe by remaining cautious.

She stood at the table where the other two younger girls sat and helped them with folding the paper napkins around the silverware adding to the growing pile inside of a clear plastic bin. She was almost twice as fast as her immature coworkers and worked with a no-nonsense attitude so that she could catch her ride that was supposed to be waiting for her outside. Sean was a little surprised to feel relief that she wouldn’t have to walk the dark streets alone tonight, and also wondered who was giving her a lift.

In less than a minute the three girls completed their task and Chris turned and almost ran out of the room. As she passed the dishwashing counter she slipped on the wet floor and would have fallen if Sean hadn’t been quick enough to grab her so that she could get her footing back. She had barely stabilized herself before she was shirking away from him yelling, “I’m fine!” She darted away without a thank you or even a backward glance.

Sean allowed himself a second to consider her then shook his head and got back to working the mountain of dirty dishes behind him. The other two girls walked out pretending not to see Sean; in hopes they wouldn’t get told by their manager to give him a hand. Once they had cleared the room and were a couple of steps away he heard them start their irritating giggling again and he was glad that they were gone.

When he was halfway finished, the night manager, Ed, poked his head in the backroom and whistled at the amount of cleaning still to be done. He informed Sean that there was no one else left in the restaurant, and that he was going to be upfront going over some paper work. Sean put away the rest of the dishes and made sure Ed knew he was leaving, before he headed out into the mid November night.

The weather had gotten a little colder than was normal for this time of year, and Sean wore a navy blue hooded sweatshirt with a thermal lining on the inside. He left the front open, because he felt the cooler weather to be refreshing after having been in the food-tainted humid air of the dishwashing room. He only lived three blocks away from where he worked and walked home after every shift, usually returning a half hour after midnight. But, tonight since they had a rush of customers he wouldn’t get home until after one. He hoped that his stray cat, Serenity, wouldn’t be too upset with him feeding her late.

He had discovered the cat by accident during his first month in getting accustomed to his new apartment, and the surrounding area. He was exploring a potential shortcut through an alley way that he could use to cut down on his time when he had to get to the university. As he passed an old beat up dumpster he caught a glimpse of the most pitiful excuse for a cat he had ever seen, hiding between the wall and the dumpster. At first he merely noted it and kept on walking, but then he reconsidered his action for some reason and turned around to check on the animal.

She was supposed to be white with faint hints of brown splashed on her face, ears, and the tip of her tail, but at that point she was so covered in grimy dirt he really had no idea. When he made his approach and knelt down to the ground to get a better look at her, he knew that something was wrong since she didn’t try to bolt or pay him any attention. He could identify with not having the strength to carry on with life. He had been there too, and was lucky enough to have someone who cared enough to be there for him. He didn’t think the cat he found belonged to anyone and was getting ready to die where it lay.

His heart went out to the poor creature and he scooped her up, determined to try and do something. Sean returned to his apartment, got her warmed up and tried feeding her some chicken he hadn’t finished from the night before. She showed no interest in food or water and only continued to lie on the towel he had bunched up around her to make her more comfortable. He eventually made up his mind to call a vet and had the stray cat in front of a veterinarian within an hour. After a quick exam and a few questions for Sean she told him that the animal probably wouldn’t make it through the night, but if he wanted she could keep it for observation since they had some free space in their kennels. Sean agreed, and was amazed when the vet had called him the next day around noon to let him know that the cat was showing signs of improvement and he was asked if he wanted to take responsibility for the animal.

Before he could think about it he surprised himself by saying yes, and in a few weeks he was the owner of a white flame-point cat in need of a good home, and a name. It took her a month and a half to regain her weight and to be cured of her ailments, but she recovered and showed her appreciation to Sean every day. She never missed an opportunity to leap into his lap whenever he sat down, or to cuddle up next to him when he slept. No matter what mood he was in her dainty meows, and affectionate purrs always did something to put him in a better place. When he sat down to try and relax she was there in an instant requesting her petting tithe. He didn’t fully understand it, but her mere presence made him feel more serene when he gave her attention, and that’s how she ended up with the name of Serenity.

The apartment building he lived in was far from the quality of living he had grown accustomed to. He lived on the fourth floor of a six story building in a neighborhood that had certainly seen better days. It didn’t look like the ghetto, and it didn’t have the same kind of reputation of where Chris’ house was, but it was definitely in need of a good neighborhood cleaning. The main lobby was small and had an elevator that had been out of order ever since he had moved in. The only way up to the other floors were by the use of the stairs with their worn out linoleum and a missing banister from the third to fourth floor. His place was the second door on the right down a dimly lit hall that had rust colored carpeting in need of replacement. He shared the floor with five other apartments two of which he was pretty sure had no tenants. He was grateful that he barely heard his neighbors and for the most part they all seemed to be like him, quiet, reclusive, and wanting nothing to do with other people’s business.

Sean stopped in front of the door with the white numbers 403 professionally printed on a piece of dark plastic, and habitually had his key already in hand to unlock both locks. After he had closed his door and redid the locks, Serenity was at his feet with her back arched and rubbing her side against his leg, happy that he was home.

“Sorry I’m late girl,” he spoke to his cat pretending she could understand him. “We had another one of those last minute rushes, and you know how that can be. But, I didn’t forget about you.”

He petted her briefly and she gave him one of her silent meows where her mouth opened without sound, and she looked up at him with wide hungry eyes.

“I know, I know, you’re hungry.” He stood up and walked straight through his living room and into the kitchen. “Come on, let’s feed you.”

Serenity didn’t wait for the can of cat food to touch the floor, and had already thrust her head over the chicken flavored chunks covered in some kind of gravy. It didn’t look appetizing to Sean, but if it made his cat happy, it didn’t bother him.

While she ate he eagerly stripped off his clothes that reeked of the food and ice cream smell of the restaurant and hopped into the shower. Always mindful of his pendant he was ritualistically careful that it never left his neck for an instant. The water took away the smell and feel of his workplace and helped revive him so that he could spend a couple of hours finishing his college homework before getting himself to bed.

His decision to attend college was rather spontaneous, and ultimately seemed like a good way to help kill the time while he stayed in Louisville. At first, applying seemed like it was going to be difficult, because he didn’t have much of anything to put down for educational experience, or background information. But he tried and mysteriously his paperwork went through, and he got accepted. He imagined that his uncle could’ve had a hand in it, or maybe even anticipated that he would do such a thing and made arrangements. It wouldn’t surprise him. Gregor was very good at making plans and Sean was always amazed at how far in advance he could anticipate things.

Shortly after he applied and was accepted he started to realize that he was going through his money too quickly and wasn’t sure how long he would be able to make it last. Luckily it wasn’t too late for him to get a student loan, and he used that to substitute some of the money that he would have otherwise spent. As long as he stayed a full time student he wouldn’t have to make any payments on the loan, and he figured by the time things blew over with the Veil he’d be able to get back in contact with his uncle and he would more than likely pay the entire thing off.

However, what if it took more than a year until he heard from his uncle again? What kind of financial situation would he be in? Sean had gone over his expenditures and bills and figured out how long his money would last him if he continued living the way he was. He found that he could last a little more than a year if he didn’t have any expensive unforeseen problems. He started off with a hundred and nineteen thousand dollars and had more than half of that left in his account. It was shocking how fast he had spent his money, but at least he realized before it was too late that he would have to ration what he had left.

Signing up for college was a great way for him to stay occupied, but he still found himself feeling bored and looking for something to do, so he went job hunting. He filled out at least a dozen applications and sat through five interviews and learned that he wasn’t very personable, and that most jobs did not offer a fair amount of money for the work required. Still though, something was better than nothing and he stuck with the first place that was willing to take him.

Sean wasn’t a quitter and had developed some work ethics with the time he spent helping Carlos do the odd jobs around the manor. When given a task he wouldn’t stop until he finished it. He didn’t know why. He just didn’t like the feeling of being responsible for something and leaving it incomplete. Carlos told him that it meant he had honor and with that he could earn the respect of others and they would recognize him as a good man.

Sean got dressed in a comfortable pair of sweats and a t-shirt, and settled down on his couch with his calculus book in front him. He felt ready to tackle the last two homework equations his professor gave the class Monday. Calculus was a funny subject for him, because he always did better when he didn’t think about it too hard, but when he paid attention and tried to comprehend the formulas he started messing up.

Right before he was about to write out his first equation, Serenity leaped up to his lap and knocked the pencil from his hand. She darted after it excited that she had discovered a new cat toy, and swatted it into the kitchen where it would slide across the floor better. “Hey”, Sean laughed. Had it been anyone or anything else Sean would have been mad, but since it was the cat that he had rescued, he was much more understanding. She was happy that he was home and wanted a little attention.

He watched her for a minute feeling amused with her playful antics as she pretended that the pencil was some sort of prey that she had to sneak up on and pounce. Sean went over to the coffee table in front of the couch and dug through her bucket of toys. He found a laser pointer in the shape of a grey mouse with a button on top of its head and went back to his cat that was looking at him with curiosity. He pressed the button to produce the little red dot and instantly Serenity took off after it sliding across the floor in her mad haste to catch it. He made a couple of circuits through the kitchen and living room, and delighted in seeing how she vaulted over the furniture, slid across the kitchen floor, and tried climbing the walls in her desire to final catch the elusive red dot.

After about five minutes of playing with Serenity, Sean recovered his pencil and settled back down to get his homework done. He sat Indian style on his couch with his back part way up against the arm. He opened his text book and set it on the couch and had his spiral notebook on the opposite side, making allowance for his cat to latter settle down in the bowl he created with his legs. Sure enough before he could even get halfway done with his first math problem there she was making herself comfortable in his lap and purring contentedly.

By the time he completed his last math problem he had yawned at least twice, and the time on his TV cable box said it was 2:15 in the morning. He folded the sheets of graph paper into his text book and tossed everything onto the long coffee table that ran the length of the couch. There it would sit until he was ready to take it with him to class in about four hours. He felt like he would be comfortable sleeping right where he was, but he knew if he did he would probably wake up in the morning with a back or a neck cramp.

Regrettably he nudged his cat off his lap and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He opened up the medicine cabinet which was behind the mirror and wondered for a brief instant if he should try taking a sleeping pill, but decided that it would make it too difficult for him to get up in time for Basic English at seven a.m. Maybe if he made himself sleep less than four hours he wouldn’t have to worry about dreaming. Normally he would use five or six pills if he knew he could have six uninterrupted hours, but even if he took less than his normal dose he didn’t know for sure how that would affect him when it came time to wake up. He figured it was better to risk the nightmares than to miss his class.

He finished brushing then crossed the hall to his bedroom where Serenity was already waiting in the middle of the bed stretched out trying to take up as much room as her little body could. Sean let her keep her spot and laid down on his side pulling his blankets over his shoulders careful not to cover up his cat. She hated that, and the last thing he wanted to do was to make her feel unwelcomed on his bed. He couldn’t remember precisely, but he thought he had read or heard somewhere that cats were supposed to help ward off nightmares. Whether or not that was true her presence near him did feel reassuring and he knew that had to do something to help.


He woke up with the first annoying beep of his alarm clock. It felt like he had just blinked and all of a sudden it was time for him to get up. He wasn’t in a rush to turn off the alarm and rolled onto his back so that he could properly stretch. Serenity had moved during the night to find a place on the pillow his head was resting on. He wasn’t sure but he thought that she might have been licking his hair, because even after he got up out of bed he could smell something similar to the can food he fed her last night.

“Ugh! Cat breath,” he remarked as he stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He figured he could afford the extra time to shampoo and rinse his hair in the bathroom sink, and it could naturally dry on his way to the campus. Before he finished in the bathroom he leaned in close to the mirror to make sure that his hair dye was holding up still. The last time he had applied it was a week ago and it was still hiding the white. He made a mental note to try the same brand again next time.

Hurriedly he shoved his books into his backpack, swiped an apple and a banana from the bowl of fruit on his kitchen table, and gave his cat a quick pat before heading out the door. He left his apartment building and started jogging toward the subway station. If he hurried he could still make the earlier train and could take his time getting to class once at the university. He crossed a busy street that had a bunch of cars bumper to bumper, because someone had gotten into an accident at a nearby intersection, and the police needed the lane to deal with the problem. Seeing such sights reminded him again why he walked instead of driving in the city. Everyone here drove like maniacs and it made Sean to nervous to get behind the wheel. There was a parking garage a block and a half from where he lived and his car hadn’t moved from that spot in a week and a half.

Luckily he made it on to the subway train a second before the doors closed. So far the day was turning out to be pretty good. He had no nightmares, felt rested despite how little sleep he had actually gotten and caught the early train that would drop him off at the platform inside the campus. If things continued to go his way he figured he might just play the lottery tonight. He smiled at the thought of it, and then in hindsight thought better of it. He still had to lay low, and even though it was unlikely that he would actually win, he still didn’t want to risk the publicity.

The train made two stops before it arrived at the college platform, and he disembarked. He made his way through the crowd of all the other students trying to get to their classes on time and started walking down South Brook Street. He still had fifteen minutes to make it to the Bringham Humanities building which would give him plenty of time to sit down on one of the benches just outside and eat his banana. He took his time eating while watching all the different types of people hurrying in and out of the building, but mostly in.

In the beginning when he first started classes, the whole experience of being around a crowd of people made him feel anxious and on edge. He found it difficult to relax even while focusing on calm images within his imagination, and in his first week of classes he did a very poor job of keeping notes and staying focused on the lessons being taught. That weekend he used the universities library to educate himself with the fact that he had a mild case of Enochlophobia; a fear of being around a crowd of people. After he identified what was wrong with him and read up on simple ways he could adjust the way he thought, he made progress with overcoming his anxiety, and he made a dramatic improvement with his class performance.

Now he took pleasure in watching all the little things that people did and how they acted. He found crowds to be less disconcerting when he picked one interesting individual and concentrated on what ever made them interesting. He was astounded with how much information he was actually able to pick up from people just by observing them in a nonintrusive manner.

He got to his class with a couple of minutes to spare. The professor talked about great literary writers and what made the works capable of withstanding the test of time. Although he had a very dry and boring tone regurgitating the same lesson plan he probably used his entire career, Sean still found the topic to be very interesting especially since his uncle had probably met some of the greats personally. Next semester he was already planning on taking some kind of history class.

After English he had an hour to kill before his nine o’clock class of calculus in the Science building. He did what his normal routine was and headed to where his next class would be and worked on his English essay. He usually finished most of it before class started, and today he was able to complete a handwritten copy before the teacher even showed up. All he would have to do is type it up on his computer after he got home and he would be finished.

His math class was quite the opposite of his English one. The teacher tried to make the subject more interesting by showing everyone how a math problem could potentially be applied to real life, and she sometimes made her voice sound funny to get her class to laugh and stay interested in what was going on. Sean was doing his best and had to try twice as hard as all the other students just to maintain his C+ grade, unfortunately numbers just weren’t his forte. He did every extra credit problem the teacher offered and even stayed after class when she could afford the time to go over a particular point. She knew Sean was struggling with the material and that he was making an effort to do well, which was probably the reason why he had earned the grade he had currently, otherwise it would be much lower.

But, today he was having a great day, and he was able to fully grasp the formulae she was teaching. He still stayed after class for a few minutes anyway just to make sure he understood it correctly and his teacher even gave him a compliment hoping that he was finally getting the hang of it.

His Wednesday classes were over by ten, but he commonly made it take longer, and would head out of the building around ten-thirty. Depending on what day it was and if he did not have anything else to do, he would normally head to the cafeteria and have his lunch among the vast crowd of students. In doing this he was helping himself face his phobia and to overcome it. The more he watched people the more he learned about them which gave him power over his anxiety. People-watching was becoming something that he was enjoying.

He did suppose other people observing him at a glance might find him to be a little bit creepy, always sitting alone and staring, but he didn’t really care. In fact he preferred it that way so he wouldn’t have to worry about making friends and subjecting them to the troubles in his life. It was the way he rationalized keeping a low profile and not endangering anyone. Although, if for some reason something did happen to his pendant and the giant beast suddenly found him again there could be a lot of people getting hurt. He hoped if he had no special attachment to anyone then the beast would only focus on him. That way he could lead the thing away to a less crowded place and let happen whatever would happen.

Sean cursed under his breath for allowing his thoughts to get on that topic. He hated thinking about it because there was nothing he could do, and the more he brooded the more it crippled his life to the point he couldn’t do anything. If he was going to die then he was going to die, but he wasn’t going to waste his life just sitting around waiting for it to happen. He had spent too long cooped up in his uncle’s manor only to come out and let fear cripple his life. He was going to do the best job he could of imitating his uncle and live life to its fullest.

It was rather interesting how when people were everyday normal they wished to have the extraordinary in their lives, but when someone like Sean was extraordinary they usually wanted to experience a normal life. He guessed people were always wanting whatever they couldn’t have and that was simply their nature.

He took his time eating his food and people watching while keeping an eye on his breathing and heart rate, making sure he was staying calm, especially since he hadn’t transformed in over a week now. The longest he had gone without becoming a werewolf was a month and by that time it was nearly impossible for him to resist the change. If he gave himself the chance to change on a regular basis he found it easier to control when and where it happened. His usual routine was once every week or two he would head out to Cherokee Park after dark and find an out of the way place to park his car. He would make sure he had a change of clothes in his car and he would hide his keys nearby, sometimes digging a small hole or hiding it under a rock. Then he would move deeper into the woods remove his clothes he was wearing and try to calmly let the transformation happen.

After doing this a couple of times he eventually got wise enough to place some extra clothes inside large zip-lock bags and stash them at different locations throughout the park. It was far better than to wake up naked and have to go streaking all the way back to his car. More than once he found himself as far as the Cave Hill National Cemetery and he decided to increase the area in which he kept his wardrobe. Periodically when he had nothing else better to do he would head out to those areas and explore them as he checked the locations of his hidden stashes. So far, at least to his knowledge there, hadn’t been any incidents reported about a Bigfoot running amuck or unusual killings.

To date his success varied, but he still could not retain conscious control over his alternate form after the complete transformation. He tried not to be frustrated, but he just could not think of anything else he could do that would improve his ability to take charge of the werewolf within him. The coming up weekend would make it two weeks since the last time he let himself go, and he knew that he would have to make plans to get it done on either Saturday or Sunday.

However, for now, this wasn’t something that he had to be immediately concerned with so he decided to head back to his apartment and relax until it was time for him to head into work for another eight hour shift. Once back at his place his cat came running over to him giving him her usual greeting with her tail slightly wrapping around his leg in a kitty hug. He smiled at her and gave her some attention thinking that they both understood what it meant to be appreciated.

He dropped his backpack on the couch and hopped on his computer to check his emails. As usual he hadn’t received any from anyone he knew, but had about five in his spam folder. He went through them just to be safe, and before he could get sucked into reading whatever special offer they were advertising he deleted them.

He drummed his fingers on his desk looking around his apartment trying to think of something that he wanted to do. He thought about playing a video game on his computer or Xbox, but didn’t want to risk getting too sucked into a virtual world and track of time. He had been late to work once for that reason and promised himself he wouldn’t make that same mistake twice. He thought about picking up a new novel from his shelf and perhaps getting a couple of chapters into it before work, but decided he wasn’t really into reading. He was feeling tense.

Without many options he finally decided on retrieving his sword from his bedroom and heading up to the rooftop to practice.

He was still sitting in his computer chair and he looked down at his warm lap not remembering exactly when Serenity had jumped up. She did it so often he thought he would only notice it if she didn’t do it.

“Hey Seren, want to come up to the roof with me?” he asked her as he scratched her behind the ears. She looked up at him with her eyes squinting in a kitty smile and purred. Gently he nudged her off his lap and went down the hallway into his bedroom to grab his sword that was resting on two “Y” shaped blocks of wood. Serenity followed him out of curiosity, sensing that he was up to something. He went back down the hall, into the kitchen and over to the triple window that his kitchen table covered up half of. He slid the window up and stepped out onto the fire escape scaffolding that would take him up to the roof top where there would be plenty of room to use his sword-chi.

He left the window open and looked back to see an uncertain Serenity looking back at him. Although he offered, she seldom ever went outside. Only once did he catch her sneak up to the rooftop to investigate what he was doing up there, but as soon as she saw that he noticed her she darted back down into the apartment as though she wasn’t supposed to be seen. Sean didn’t let it bother him and allowed her to be herself. He guessed if he was a cat that nearly died on the street; he too would probably rather stay safe indoors and live a life of luxury.

Sean carefully went up the narrow fire escape steps and swung over the low wall to the top of the tar covered roof. For the most part the area was unobstructed. There were a couple of metal pipes, some vent ducts, five large AC units, and a locked door that led to the service stairs which left him plenty of room to move about and swing his sword without having to worry if he hit anything.

Even though the temperature was in the forties, which was cold to some, he removed his shirt and set it down on the ground near the low wall that he had just entered from. He knew that once he got into the flow of things he would be building up a sweat in no time. He didn’t know how other people practiced, but he liked working out his own routines. The way he came up with them was that he imagined different types of opponents and carefully planned out each attack and block like coming up with a script. Then he worked on memorizing every step and going through each move in slow motion making them perfectly precise. Later, once he had gone through the moves so many times he had them committed to memory he would launch himself into full speed and let his instincts walk his body through the motions.

He enjoyed doing this so much that he started to keep a drawing pad full of notes and pictures of the different sword-chi dances. With a little practice he had learned how to draw a decent outline of a human body and his pictures weren’t half bad.

A month ago one of the black opals on his hilt had turned white, and as his uncle had instructed he popped it off and held it on to one of the dented in moons of the hilt. He held it in place for a few seconds not sure if it would stay or if he would have to do something to make it stay. When he removed pressure the stone was stuck in the hilt as though it had always been a part of it. He didn’t know what sort of affect it had, because noticed nothing different, but he did remember that the sword would likely find some way to aid him in regards to his mental state. He didn’t let his lack of knowing bother him. All he knew, and what really mattered was that when he practiced he found an element of peace within himself and believed that anything was possible.

A half-hour into his newest dance that he was working on he noticed out of the peripheral his vision that his cat had come up the fire escape and was watching him from the edge of the wall. He pretended not to notice her so she wouldn’t spook and run off like she did the last time. She stayed for about ten minutes before losing interest and headed back down.

He remained up there for two hours getting a good work out executing every move with deadly accuracy. It was a new dance that he had been working on that he entitled “Trident” where the weapons his three opponents had were a spear and two samurai long swords, like his. He was still getting used to the routine and wasn’t ready yet to let himself go all out. Maybe tomorrow though, he would be. Regardless, he still enjoyed that positive feeling that flowed through him during and after his sword-chi. It instilled a positive outlook, and he looked forward to whatever might happen.

He checked the time on his phone and saw he had about an hour to get ready for work, so he sheathed his sword, picked up his shirt, and headed back down the fire escape. He caught a glance of his cat peeking out the window as he descended, and she quickly ducked back in trying to act like she hadn’t done so. Sean climbed back into his apartment and almost decided against taking a shower before heading into work. It seemed pointless to wash up only to get sweaty and gross by the duties of a dishwasher, but impressions were important and he didn’t like it when people thought poorly of him.


Chris was having a rough night with tips. She tried to tune out the disgusting thoughts that came from her male customers, but tonight she was feeling overwhelmed. She still had a chemistry test she needed to study for and a book report she had to type out for English II, not to mention she had to stay at her house this evening, because Tara and Dawn feared they might get hit with a surprise room inspection. They had already gotten in trouble once for having an unauthorized guest in their room, and now the dorm manager was unfairly sensitive to her being there.

She could probably cheat on her test again by seeing what answers she could pick from the nerds up front. There were two of them that had very clear and organized thoughts and if she could keep up with them she would have a chance at acing her test. Unfortunately, with the book report she’d have to buckle down and get it done herself. It was due on Friday morning so she knew that tomorrow would be spent in the library with her head in the books and great big thermos of coffee.

“Chris, what’s with you today?” Ed asked her as she came zipping off the floor to the salvation of the kitchen area. “How are you going to get any good tips if you’re not being attentive to your customers? You’re always saying that you need the extra money, and I’m trying to be nice to you by keeping your section full. If you don’t want the work tell me and I’ll let some of the other waitresses take your load.”

Ed wasn’t a bad guy as far as men went. He was tall with white speckling his black hair and solid patches of white above both ears, which he called his wings. He had a wife and two kids and tried hard to stay devoted to them, but it wasn’t easy for a man to remain chaste in his thought with most of the young college girls dressing up the way they did. Ed was just another guy whose thoughts and actions were driven by desire, although the things his mind showed were more decent than the college boys. Chris got her job here just like all the other waitresses did, because she was pretty.

“I’m sorry!” she said. “I just have a headache, but I took some Tylenol, so I should be fine now,” she lied.

“Are you sure?”

“Yea! I got this.”

“Good, because Debbie is feeling sick so I’m letting her take off, and I need you to finish up her two last tables.”

Chris had to make an effort to say thank you and not roll her eyes. She really was hurting for money, and she needed to make another two hundred bucks by Friday to pay the water company. She’d been behind on the water bill by a month all year and getting by with just paying the minimum amount necessary. Now they were telling her that her bill had been outstanding for too long and that if she didn’t pay in full they were going to shut off the water to her house.

She tried to relax and pretend not to pickup every dirty little slimy thing the people in the restaurant were thinking, but she was too stressed and she was having trouble managing her telepathy. Some days it was a gift, like when she needed to pass a critical test, and at other times it was a curse, like today. She wished she could just go outside and let out all of her frustration by screaming, but she didn’t want to be near that strange guy in the back that Ed had hired as the new dishwasher.

Chris didn’t know what to make of him. He always had his mind encased in a shell wrapped up so tight she couldn’t find a single weak point or loose thread anywhere. She had stopped trying to penetrate his thoughts a couple of weeks after he was hired. It was during a night when she left early and had to come back because she forgot her math homework on the break table in the back room. All the customers were gone and it was only Ed, Sean, and Debbie left in the restaurant. She figured she could slip in real quick, grab her paper, and leave. As she stepped behind the counter she saw Sean with his back to her kneeling on the ground putting away a bunch of ice cream dishes. As was becoming her habit she tried to peek into his mind again.

That’s when she realized he could feel her every time she tried, because he gave a start and dropped the dish he was holding in his hand. Glass shattered across the floor and Ed yelled at him to be more careful. Sean never said anything to her though.

If he knew what she was doing, then what did he think of her? The only reason she was trying so hard to get into his head was so that she could see how he made his mental shields so tight. She could only dream of shielding her own mind so well, and then she could choose who’s thoughts she heard and who’s she didn’t.

She never encountered anyone before who had felt her listening. Sometimes there were people who protected their thoughts better than most, but they always had cracks or loose spots that she could spot in a second, and they never even knew she was there peeking. From doing that she had learned that sometimes there were other people who were aware and that they took people like her away. She learned very early to keep her mouth shut and never let anyone else know what she could do.

Everything was fine for the most part until Sean showed up. He never did anything to threaten her, hardly said a word to anyone, and kept to himself most of the time. She couldn’t even recall seeing him smile once since he had started working there. She did wonder if maybe he was like her and didn’t want anyone else to find out that he was special too, but she couldn’t risk taking the first step, because if she was wrong… she didn’t know what would happen.

She tried to just focus on the actual voices she heard entering through her ears, but it was so hard to filter them out. The floor was buzzing with all sorts of chatter, some of it appropriate, and some of it not. Chris forced herself to go out onto the floor armed with the knowledge that there was only one more hour left until she could be off. She headed over to Debbie’s two tables and saw that one of them was already gone and had left their tip. It was ten dollars! It did a lot to boost her spirits and she thought tonight might prove to be worth it if she could hang in there.

She turned to see if the patrons at the other booth needed anything, and her happiness level increased again when she saw that they were finishing up and leaving a twenty dollar bill on the tip tray. She gave them her best smile and said in the most positive voice she could muster, “Thank you gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed yourselves and revisit us soon.”

She picked up the twenty dollar bill, and for the first time really noticed her customers. They were five, two older men, and three younger, possibly college students. It wasn’t so much as their appearance that shocked her, but the lack of thought or sound coming from their table, and the way they all stared at her with blank expressions on their faces somehow conveying the image of psychotic predators. The way they looked at her made her feel like she was intruding and caused her face to go instantly slack. Chris just turned and walked away with the twenty in her hand, all the while being more and more aware of the one deathly quiet spot on her floor.

She waited behind the counter until the disconcerting space of void thought left the restaurant. She didn’t dare try to look at their faces again. There was something creepy about them, more so than the dishwasher. Sean was distant, but not hostile. The other five men looked like they were killers.

Even if she didn’t have a sensitive mind she figured guys that looked like they did would still get awkward response from people similar to how she just behaved in front of them. Hopefully they never noticed that she was different.

One of her duties was to clear the tables, wipe them clean and carry all the dirty dishes into the back where Sean could wash them. Sometimes, like tonight, she would be too busy, and Sean would come out to the floor with a bus pan and help clear off the tables. She had no desire to go anywhere near the spot where the creeps had been sitting, so she waited until Sean could get to the table.

When he did finally get to it she found herself paying close attention to him, and saw him act weird. He set his bus pan down and stared at the area for a few seconds with a scrutinizing expression. He then careful picked up every item looking at them separately before placing it in the bus pan. He even brought a couple of things up to his face and sniffed them, looking like he was disgusted.

After he smelled what he had in his hand, two of the customers from a nearby booth looked at him strangely. Chris was further confused when she heard their thoughts tell her that Sean’s face wasn’t curled back with disgust, but he had actually growled. He growled?! Who acted like that? Did Sean have some kind of connection to the creeps? Could they possibly be there to take him away?

All Chris knew for sure was that she was going to keep her distance and not get involved. It was what she had done before, still did, and would continue to do. That’s how she was able to stay safe.

She finished up the rest of her shift while avoiding Sean the best she could. She threw on her sweatshirt, and swapped her work shoes for her sneakers. Her work shoes were supposed to help keep people from slipping, but she couldn’t tell the difference between them and her regular sneakers. Ed, however, insisted that everyone wore the shoes that were issued to them, because it was policy. It annoyed her, but not enough for her to make a fuss over it. She needed to keep her job after all.

She left the restaurant and started walking. She had about a two mile hike to get to her house and she hated the area she lived in. The place was run down and she hadn’t the slightest clue as to how to maintain everything in a house. If she could she would’ve sold the place for any amount of money she could get. She didn’t care if someone bought it for an eighth of its true market value. She just wanted to be rid of the damned thing, but her stupid father wouldn’t let her, and since the house was in his name she couldn’t do anything about it.

Her father was a marine and he was never around. When her grandfather passed away the house was left to them in his will which constituted that it would be split 50/50 between them both. Her dad said that she could use the house to live in while she attended college, and gave her the condition that once she finished with a degree then she could own the whole thing and sell it if she wanted too. She was halfway done. All she had to do was get her associates degree, sell the house and then she could get the hell out of there.

It was a little after midnight and she had covered half the distance to her house. It was still cold and she wondered if they might get an early snowfall this year. Her jacket remained open because the zipper on one side was missing some of its teeth. She had her hands jammed into the pockets and pressed it close to her body trying to contain as much body heat as she could.

She was alone on the street she was heading down and it didn’t usually bother her, but since the incident at work, her overactive imagination was making shapes out of the shadows, and she felt like someone was watching her. Every now and then she’d stop and glance over her shoulder just to be sure, but there was never anyone there. She even scanned with her mind listening for thoughts, but heard nothing. Despite what her senses told her she still couldn’t shake the feeling. Chris kept on walking trying to distract her mind from creating trouble that wasn’t there.

Suddenly she heard the soft sound of someone’s shoe scuffle along the sidewalk behind her, but it was too late. An arm grabbed her around the waist and neck and started to drag her toward the shadows of a nearby alley. She tried to scream, but the man’s forearm was crushing her larynx, and she couldn’t breathe. He was evidently taller and stronger than her, but none of that would matter if she could get a chance to see him.

She tried to reach out with her mind to see if she could do anything to scramble his head, but there was nothing there. It was a void.

Her terror level shot through the roof, and a burst of adrenaline gave her the strength to slip out of the grasp of her assailant. She whipped around and shoved blindly with her mind knocking the man off his feet with a glancing blow. He fell backwards, but a wall was there to prevent him from falling.

In an instant she recognized her assailants as the five creepy customers from the restaurant, but she only saw four. Where was the fifth one?

She looked around while backing up and trying to asses her situation. Before she took more than a few steps something solid clanged into the back of her skull, and she collapsed. She was stunned lying there on the ground trying to get her bearings. She could hear the five of them laughing at her in a sinister way. Between the poor lighting and the concussion she had just received she couldn’t get her eyes to see anything clearly. One of the men was hovering over her and grabbed a hold of her shirt. She tried to shove him away, but her arms had been sapped of their strength.

He yanked back with a sharp jerk and she could feel her shirt being ripped down the middle. An all new set of warning bells were going off in her head and she tried to muster up the strength to do something, anything, but her body would not respond to her commands. The dark edges of her vision were growing inward and she felt as though she were staring down a tunnel.

“Hey buddy, get lost,” she heard one of the mysterious creeps yell.

She managed to turn her head and catch a glimpse of who they were yelling at. It was hard to tell, because her eye sight was acting all funny, but she was fairly certain she recognized Sean standing at the mouth of the alleyway. She sensed the attacker on top of her get off and she presumed that all five men were directing their attention at Sean. She couldn’t see him anymore now that they were all blocking her view, as though they were standing between their prize and someone who would try to steal it from them. Surely Sean couldn’t take on all five of them, but maybe he could distract them long enough for her to get away.

She struggled to roll over and found she barely had the ability to do that. Chris realized she didn’t have the slightest hope in running away, but maybe she could hide somewhere. All she had to do was to force her body to move a little bit.

“NoooooOOOOOAARR!”

Her mind froze. What had she just heard? At first she thought it was Sean, but then it became something else. Like… like… That was the last thing she could think of before she blacked out.


Sean woke up lying on the carpeted floor of his living room feeling a cold draft along his backside. He was naked and knew that he was waking up from the werewolf within him having taken over his body. Serenity was sitting right by his face six inches away. His forehead and cheek felt slightly raw as though she had been licking him. When she saw his eyes open she put her paw on his nose and tilted her head wondering about Sean. He had no idea what she saw or what her tiny little kitty brain thought of him, but he thought it would’ve been amusing to know.

He started to sit up and felt his chest hurt like it had been burned, but he saw no physical mark. He tried to recall what happened, but couldn’t remember anything beyond following Chris on her usual path home. His apartment was dark and he stood up to hit the light switch next to the door. Everything was still locked and the door hadn’t been torn off the hinges, so he figured he probably came in through the window.

Why though? His werewolf alter ego had never shown up here at the apartment, at least not to his knowledge. As he turned around he saw a very familiar girl lying on his couch, and the sudden sight made him jump back into his front door. He was thankful the sound didn’t’ wake her, because what a sight that would be with him standing there wearing nothing.

He looked Chris over real fast as he made a run for his bedroom to get dressed. The front of her shirt was torn down past her belly exposing half her chest. Thankfully her bra was still there covering her up, otherwise that would probably contribute to even more awkward questions if she awoke. Most importantly she was breathing, and that was enough to reassure him he had a second to get decent.

He threw on black sweats and a blue t-shirt with a red dragon that wrapped around the back and front twice over. He hurried back over to her after hastily grabbing a sheet from his closet at the end of the hallway.

Sean looked Chris over again double checking to see if he could find anything else wrong with her. Now that he was dressed and his panic subsided he was more aware of the burning feeling he had in the center of his chest. He wondered if maybe she might’ve had something similar happen to her so he took a moment to look more closely, but saw nothing.

Chris started to stir, and he immediately jumped to his feet suddenly very much aware of what part of her body he was staring at. He quickly unfolded the sheet and threw it over her hoping that she wasn’t aware enough yet to realize he was there. She started to move her head and that’s when he saw some of the dried blood caked onto the couch where her head had been resting.

“Ow, ow, ow,” Chris moaned as she tried to lift herself up. She brought both of her hands up to the sides of her skull as if to hold it in place.

“Are you okay?” Sean asked.

“Wha… who?” Chris tried to open her eyes but had a dazed and confused look on her face. She moved her arm up to help block out the ceiling light as though it was too bright and hurt her eyes.

Sean felt like it was the stupidest question he could ask her, and that he needed to get a grip on himself and start taking care of Chris the way he should. He told her, “Try not to move,” as he padded into the kitchen to get some wet washcloths to clean her up and maybe get a better look at her wound. As he stepped into the kitchen he understood how he, as a werewolf, had gotten into the apartment. Half of the triple window was smashed inward and broken on the floor. There were more than a few shards of glass lying about and he tried to avoid stepping on them. He would worry about dealing with that problem later, after he took care of Chris.

He returned to her and knelt down next to the couch so he could get a better look at the back of her head without her having to move it too much. She still moaned and weekly protested him touching the severe injury. Sean stuck a towel under her head to catch any dripping water as he cleaned the blood caked on her hair. He got it clean enough to see that her skin was split open, but he couldn’t see bone.

“I can’t see any white, so you may not have any fractures, but I still think we should get you to a hospital,” Sean told her as got up and walked back into the kitchen where his phone was charging on the kitchen counter.

“Nooo…” Chris moaned. She sounded like her head really hurt and she was barely aware of what was happening to her. Sean feared she might have suffered a concussion, and understood the best thing he could do was to keep her awake until an ambulance arrived. He hoped that somehow he wouldn’t get shoved into the spotlight and be forced to answer a bunch of question to which he could make no satisfactory answer unless he lied. A situation like that could open up a whole new world of problems that he wasn’t ready for. He tried to concentrate on one thing at a time, and for the moment that was making sure Chris received medical attention.

Sean walked back into the living room and leaned on the other end of the couch where Chris’ feet were. “I need to call for an ambulance,” he said as he started punching in numbers on his cell phone.

“No!” This time Chris was much more insistent. Her eyes were open by a slither and she reached out with her hand in Sean’s general direction as if she were trying to grab for something that kept on moving. To Sean’s surprise the phone in his hand leapt from his to hers, as though Chris had willed it. He had already known that she was telepathic, but telekinetic too? This was a first!

Sean stared at her in amazement as she did her best to focus on the tiny numbers and press them to get the numbers she wanted to appear on the screen. By the time he had gotten over what she did she was holding the phone up to ear waiting for someone to answer. “Who did she call?” he wondered.

“Tara?” Chris said weekly.

Sean tried to listen, but his ears weren’t sensitive enough to pick up the sound. That was hardly a problem for him though. All he had to do was concentrate on the sound and he could feel his ears tingle ever so slightly like a small amount of electricity was going through them. With his hearing was enhanced he was able to pick up on what was being said on the other end.

“Tara, I need your help.”

“Where are you!?” Sean could hear the reply of the female voice from the other end sounding urgent.

“I…I… don’t know.”Chris tried to look around seeing the place for the first time, and looking confused. It was evident that she was having trouble comprehending her surroundings.

Sean went to Chris’ side. “Let me talk to your friend,” he said as he gently coaxed the phone from her hands. “I can tell them what happened and tell them how to get here. Okay?”

Chris relinquished the phone as Sean could hear “Tara” on the other end shout, “Chris, who was that? Are you okay?”

“Hello?” Sean said into his phone.

“Hello, who is this?” the other woman said.

“My name is Se... Jonathan and I found your friend. I think she had gotten hit in the head by something and probably needs to get medical attention.”

“Where are you?” Tara asked.

Sean could hear in the background another voice ask, “T, what’s going on?” It sounded like another female. It was possible that she was listening to a headset, because he could hear the sound of music pop to life with a low bass. Sean gave Tara directions on how to get to his apartment, and tried to tell her that he was going to call an ambulance and that she might want to meet her at the hospital.

He was surprised when Tara told him in a very stern voice, “No! You stay! I’ll be right there,” and then she hung up.

“Great!” Sean thought to himself. “Just what I need, more drama.” He had no idea what he was going to tell this Tara person when she showed up, or what might happen afterwards. Would Chris’s friends be special in some way too? Would they accuse Sean of being responsible for what happened to Chris? He hoped not. He started to feel panicky as all sorts of different possible scenarios played out in his mind’s eye.

He carefully checked Chris’ wound again to make sure it wasn’t still bleeding. She flailed her arms at him with eyes still remaining closed, protesting his proximity, but at least he was able to get a good enough look to tell that the bleeding had stopped. If she felt well enough to be pushing him away then she would probably be all right until her friends arrived. Maybe they would make things easier by taking Chris themselves to get medical attention?

Sean tried his best to clean up the mess in the kitchen as fast as he could, and got a heavy blanket to hang over the hole in the wall where the window had been torn out. With any luck the destruction in the kitchen wouldn’t come into question. Sean unlocked his door and kept an eye out down the hall for his unknown visitor while at the same time keeping an eye on Chris listening to her heart rate and any other signs of her falling to sleep. She occasionally moaned and complained about a headache, but she never got settled enough to doze off.

Within minutes he saw two female strangers come out of the stairwell unfamiliar with where they were. The first one was short, at or under five feet. She had brown hair which was severely wavy looking as though it was permanently stuck in a perm and it didn’t go past her shoulders. She wore a brown wool sweater, jeans, and brown leather boots that were laced in front and had a thin white cotton collar going around the top. Her face had a small scattering of freckles on her cheeks and a determined look.

The second girl was taller, perhaps a smidge taller than Sean. Her blond hair fell in gentle waves passed her shoulder. She had fair skin and her face was free of any kind of blemish what so ever. She wore white sneakers, grey sweatpants, and a white shirt that was mostly covered up by a red sweatshirt with the zipper halfway pulled up. Despite the baggy clothes she was wearing it seemed to Sean that she could easily be one of those girls seen on the cover of a swimsuit magazine.

Sean waved them down the hall to him as the shorter girl started to ask if he was the guy that had called. They both walked passed him and into his apartment, and as they did so, Sean thought there was something odd about them. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something hidden within the information his senses picked up told him that they were special in some way. Immediately as soon as both girls entered they rushed over to their friend lying on Sean’s couch.

“Oh my god,” the blond stated as she hovered over Chris’ head where the towel below had absorbed most of the washed off blood.

“What happened?” the other shorter girl asked directing her question at Sean like an accusation.

“Hey,” Sean said throwing his open hands up like someone proving he was unarmed, “I didn’t do this to her.” For a split second Sean wondered about that statement and hoped that it was true. “She was getting attacked by some street thugs, and I happened to see her get pulled into an alley. When I rushed down to see what I could do to help I saw them all over her.”

Sean didn’t know what to say after that, because at that point the beast inside him came alive so fast he didn’t even know it was happening until it was too late. He could remember his nose was burning with a horrible smell similar to what he had picked up in the restaurant but way more intense. It was as though his senses experienced an onslaught of something so horrible and foul he had no name for it, and it triggered a deep instinctual need for him to destroy whatever it was offending him. It went deeper than the engrained hatred he had for vampires. There was no controlling the rage he had felt.

The short girl stood there staring at him waiting for Sean to say more. “And what else happened? How did she hurt?” Her voice matched the one he had spoken to on the phone, so he assumed she was Tara.

“I… I don’t know for sure. It could’ve happened before I got there. I don’t know. After I got rid of them I took her back here, since my place wasn’t too far.”

“What do you mean ‘too far’? Where did this happen?”

Now the short girl was looking at him with suspicion and doubt. Sean realized too late that he had just messed up his story. The street Chris was walking on was five blocks or more away from his apartment. It was nowhere near where all this had happened. Sean didn’t know what else to say so he kept his mouth shut and shrugged his shoulders. Apparently his lack of an answer did not please his inquisitor, and she frowned at him with distrust as she turned to her friend that the blond had been talking to in a low whisper.

Sean wished he had been paying more attention, so that he could’ve overheard what they were saying to each other, but Tara had distracted him with her forceful attitude. Both girls helped Chris to her feet, softly giving her words of encouragement. She let the sheet that was mostly covering her fall to the ground, and she did her best to pull her ruined shirt up and wrap herself in her sweatshirt. Sean saw that she couldn’t zipper it up because there was a small section at the bottom missing teeth.

“Wait a second! Let me get her something that she can wear,” Sean said, and he started to hurry off to his bed room.

“Don’t bother!” Tara told him. Both she and the blond helped Chris to the front door, and they started down the hallway.

Sean went out into the hall and watched them walk off. “I didn’t do this to her. I helped her.” He felt as though Tara thought otherwise, and that she didn’t trust him. He stood there thinking about what happened, and decided he couldn’t blame her. He wasn’t exactly forthcoming with the truth when she had asked for it, and she picked up right away that he was hiding something.

Sean walked back into his place not knowing what to think of the night’s events and wondered if it would come back to bite him in the rear. Not knowing what else to do he went back to his bedroom and got dressed properly. In his haste he neglected to put on any under clothing, and he corrected that now. He slid on his sneakers and headed back out onto the street. He had to get back to that alleyway and see if he could recover his wallet with his false ID. Without it he didn’t know what he would do.