"Home" - Chapter XII

XII.

When I finally dared to look up, the room was empty of all of the visitors. My dog was sitting in the middle of the room. He looked larger somehow. He turned to look at me, and his eyes were intensely bright.

He went to lay in the corner again.

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When morning came, he rose and looked at me.

He started walking to the stairs. I stood up and followed him out of the basement.

We again walked toward the central part of downtown. As we walked, I tried desperately to see if I could fight against the constant cloud that flattened my thoughts. I knew that there was no way for me to escape the dog.  He was too fast, and his control over me was too complete.  I felt that he probably had to let me function at a minimum level, and so couldn’t keep my mind completely blank.  I thought there must be some way to break the hold for just a second, long enough to get help.

I could sense that the dog knew my thoughts.  I could see a derisive look on his face.  I could even feel the fog become lighter, then heavier, then lighter again.  He was mocking me.

We rounded a corner, again near the tavern from which the drunken woman had emerged just the night before.  I saw them.  Across the street, there was a man standing next to the tavern, talking to someone.  He had one hand on a stroller, and what looked like papers in his other hand. It was Adam!

“Ad...!” I yelled. The shout stuck in my throat and I couldn’t breath. I felt as if I were being strangled. I fell forward onto my knees, holding my throat, and the fog slammed into my mind so abruptly that I was barely conscious as the dog locked his teeth onto my shoulder and dragged me back around the corner and into a nearby alley.

I then felt myself rise and run with the dog down the alley. I could hear shouting behind me, but it didn’t register as more than just a faint echo in my mind.

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The next few days were a blur as the dog kept me in an almost comatose state of consciousness. One thing I was aware of, though, is that I was doing things that were against my nature.

The dog had focused on someone in particular, and I was being used to gather information on that person.  I would wait on a stoop, or by a tree, and as they left their house in the morning, I would go inside and take things.  I took paperwork, money, and anything else that was lying around.  I would gather information from their computer, writing down various pieces of information.  All of the data and items I collected were brought back to the basement in Eli’s house.

I was also helping the dog feed by finding ways for him to get into and out of certain buildings downtown.

We kept to the shadows and the back alleys, hidden away from possible sightings by passers-by.

We returned frequently to the basement where I would sit down in the same corner and stare into the gloom.  Not thinking or moving until the dog was ready to go back out again.