Swept Under the Rug

Gaining Trust

The next morning, Stretch woke up, quickly got dressed and started heading towards the front door to see if he could catch a cab to Roxanne's place. He had suspicions that he wanted to get cleared up. He made a quick once around to see if Madam Toriel was up. When he couldn't find her, he assumed that she was either already working or was waiting for him at the door. Sure enough, upon reaching her estate's entrance, the head of the Dreemur family was standing by the doorway. Taking a breath, Stretch calmly went up to the door.

"Not going to stay for breakfast?" Toriel asked.

"As much as I'd like to," Stretch replied, "There's something I need to do today."

"You're off to warn that Roxanne girl about me."

There was a short silence before Stretch turned to face his employer.

"She already knows how dangerous you can be," He explained, "She doesn't need to be warned." He quickly opened the door, only to be gently stopped by Toriel.

"I know you want to help this girl," She started, "but if she has something to do with this Reaper like you suspect, I will be forced to take action to stop her."

Stretch sighed, "I understand ma'am."

He quickly left, not wanting to make the conversation go on any longer than it needed to. He hoped to the stars that his suspicions were incorrect.

Roxanne was cleaning her apartment while her brother was out delivering groceries. As she was cleaning the window, she looked to the streets below and saw a cab pulling up. She quickly put her cleaning supplies away and went down to the complex's entrance. She smiled as she saw Stretch walking to the door.

"Didn't think you'd remember where I lived." She called out.

Stretch didn't answer and gently took Roxanne by the arm. "Listen, I want to talk with you inside. This is important."

Roxanne's eyebrow raised, "Okay then."

Once entering the apartment, Roxanne locked the door behind the two of them and started putting on a kettle for coffee.

"So, what's so important that we have to be so secretive about it?"

Stretch slowly turned to Roxanne, looking deep into her eye sockets. "Be honest with me Roxy, are you the Reaper?"

Roxanne immediately took offense to Stretch' question. "What!? What even gave you that idea?" She nearly shouted.

"I'm not saying you are the Reaper," Stretch argued, "I'm just asking if you're the Reaper."

"No!" Roxanne nearly screamed. "Jeez, do you go around asking every woman question like that."

"What? No I-" Stretch caught himself before he continued to speak. "Listen, I'm just trying to-"

Before Stretch could respond, the kettle on the stove started to whistle. Roxanne quickly took the kettle off before it boiled over.

"How do you like your coffee?" She asked, trying to calm herself down.

"I'll just take it black." Stretch replied. "Anyways, I'm just here to-"

"Protect me from your boss?" Roxanne snapped. "I saw her when you at the lounge watching my show. I'm not stupid!"

There was a silence in Roxanne's apartment, Stretch nearly forgot that he would have to explain why he was with Madam Toriel.

"Roxanne..." He tried to explain,

"Save it." She replied, "I don't want hear it." Roxanne pushed Stretch out of the way and started to walk off. "For all I know, Toriel sent you here to get rid of me."

"She didn't send me-"

"Then why are you here? To get rid of me yourself!? To please your witch of a boss? To get-"

Stretch slammed his fist against the wall, missing Roxanne's face by a mere inch and instantly causing her to stop talking.

"Will you keep your mouth shut and just listen to me for ten minutes?" Stretch asked, his voice low and stern.

Roxanne slowly nodded, not wanting to make a wrong move with someone who worked for the most dangerous monster in the city.

"Toriel didn't send me here to get rid of you, and I'm not here to get rid of you myself." Stretch explained, "I'm here, because I want to help you get out of here with your life."

Roxanne looked deep into Stretch's eyes. "How can I be certain that I can trust you? I've had plenty of strangers come up to me and offer help, only to stab me in the back a week later."

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to earn it." Stretch replied sincerely.

Roxanne looked into Stretch's eyes again, "Anything?"

"Anything."

Roxanne took a breath before finally speaking again. "Fine, then the first thing I want you to do is go to the butcher's down the street and get me my weekly order."

Stretch looked at Roxanne with a puzzled expression. "That's it?"

"For now." She replied, "I'll let you know what you'll have to do next when you come back."

Stretch slowly gave Roxanne space. "I just need the address of this place."

Roxanne grabbed a piece of paper and quickly wrote down the needed address. "Here." She suddenly pulled the paper away before Stretch could take it from her. "But let me make one thing clear. I may not be the Reaper, but that doesn't mean I can't find a way to contact them and have them break your spirit."

Stretch quickly grabbed the written address and left for the door. "I'll keep that in mind." He stopped midway to the door. "And don't worry about my boss. She already knows I'm doing this. She seems okay with it."

After Stretch left, Roxanne took a deep breath. "Yeah...for now."

A scratching sound from further in the apartment caught Roxanne's attention. Locking her door tightly, she quickly closed the curtains and made sure no one was watching. As she drew closer to the source, the scratching sound became more intense.

"I know, I know, I'm coming Anubis." Roxanne called.

Once she opened the door, a part wolf, part dragon looking monster slowly exited the room.

"Bad man...gone Roxie?" The 8 foot tall creature asked, leaning down to give the skeleton a nuzzle and kisses.

"He's gone for now Anubis." She replied, petting him to return his affectionate gestures. "He'll be back later with your lunch for tomorrow. So for now, even if he doesn't have his flower on, please don't hurt him."

"Kay Roxie." Anubis replied, "Go outside?"

"Tonight Anubis." Roxanne replied, "Remember, you need to be the Reaper's hound. If someone were to see you in the daylight..."

"Hurt?"

Roxanne nodded, petting Anubis' human-like face. "That's right. They might try to hurt you."

"No hurt Roxie..." Anubis whined, "No hurt Eddie..."

"Don'tworry Anubis." Roxanne smiled, "Me and Eddie will still be here to protect you.Just like when we first met."