"Home" - Chapter X

X.

I didn’t get a chance to ask Adam which way the dog ran, so I started walking quickly up the block toward the busy part of downtown, thinking that perhaps the dog would be attracted to the noise.


After a few moments, I saw the dog come around a nearby corner and start walking toward me.


“There you are!” I said, relieved. “Well, I guess we better head back and try to convince Adam to let you…”


I lost my train of thought. Something didn’t make sense. I was going to go back to… where? Well, I suppose it didn’t matter. I was pretty hungry, so probably the best thing to do would be to go get some food.


The dog and I started walking toward a tavern that had a sign on their door indicating that pets were allowed to come inside with their owners.
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The hostess asked if I wanted to sit inside or out. I told her that we would prefer to eat inside.


I sat at a table in the back, and the dog laid at my feet while I ordered some food for myself and some scraps for him.


About half way through the meal, I realized that I didn’t have my purse with me. I had probably left it in the car in my hurry to find the dog.


I looked around the restaurant, and noticed that there was a woman at the bar who had slumped over with her head on the counter. Her purse was hanging on the back of her chair, unzipped.


I looked down at the dog, who was looking at the woman again. I glanced around to find the bartender, who I located at the back of the restaurant, talking on the phone with his back turned.


I walked over to the bar, pulled a twenty out of the woman’s purse, and sat back down in my seat.


We finished our food, put the cash on the table, and left the bar.
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I crossed the street and sat down in a doorway to watch the door of the bar. I felt confused again, incoherent. Any thought that started to form became fuzzy and disconnected. At one point, an image crossed my mind - a little boy and a man, sitting on the stoop of a house that looked familiar. I struggled against the fog that started to overwhelm that image, but it quickly dissolved and my mind went blank again.

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Evening started to close in, and it began to get cold. I was still staring at the door of the bar when the drunk who had been passed out at the counter was escorted out by the bartender. She was stumbling and cursing, and started off down the street away from the bar.


I stood up and crossed the street to walk behind her.


I followed her for a number of blocks, until she stopped to enter an apartment building. I stopped walking and stood in the shadows of the building next door. The dog quietly ran up behind her and slipped through the door before it closed.


Some small amount of time went by and I went to the apartment building to open the door for the dog. His eyes were glowing fiercely, and his muzzle looked wet and sticky. I noticed these things, and felt the faint glimmer of panic start in my chest. It wasn’t long before the sensation faded, and I felt myself drift back into a fog.


We crossed the street to a vacant warehouse. The dog and I entered the building through a gap in the boards covering one of the windows.


I sat on the floor, which was covered in dust and dirt. It was cold in the building; the crumbling structure and gapped planks covering the windows offered little protection against the winter air. I looked at the dog to see if he would let me come close for some warmth. He bared his teeth at me and growled.

I started to feel defeated and overwhelmed. The fog that had been overpowering my thoughts all day slipped away, and I started thinking about Adam and Micah. I missed them so much. I looked back at the dog, who was sleeping a few feet away. I knew he was aware of me, even in his sleep. I slumped over and laid on the cold floor.