Behind Blue Eyes

22

March 22nd

It's a lazy, lazy Monday morning. I play with Max as he roams up and down the front of me. He's so precious; I really need to get some toys for him.

There's a light knock on my door. "Come in" I say.

My mom slowly opens the door. "Hey, honey, good morning."

"Good morning to you, too" I say back.

"How did you sleep?"

"I slept OK. How about you?"

"Oh, fine, I always sleep fine" she half jokes. "Can I sit down?"

"Of course."

She closes the door and sits on the end of my bed. Her eyes flash back and forth from me to Max.

"There's some people downstairs that would like to see you" she says.

"What people? Are you guys sending me away?" I ask, panicked.

"No, no, no, you can relax hon, it's nothing like that."

"Then what is it?'

She sighs. "Come with me. And bring Max with you, please."

She gets up and leaves my room. Now, I'm really confused; if people are here to see me, why would I need to bring Max with me? Regardless, I get out of bed, grab Max and head downstairs.

Seated at the table are mom, dad and... the older couple from a couple days ago. Why are they here?

David walks over to me before I can even sit down. "Don't freak out, keep yourself calm" he whispers.

"Why would I freak out?" I whisper back.

"Just stay calm" he whispers again. What is going on?

"Honey, have a seat" Dad tells me. "These nice folks wanted to have a word with you."

"Hi" I say, looking at them as I sit down.

"This is Gene and Ilene Richards" Mom tells me.

"It's nice to meet you" the man, presumably Gene, tells me.

"I'm sorry" I say, "what is this about, exactly?"

There's silence at first.

"Did I do something to upset you guys or cause any trouble?"

"Oh, no, not at all" the woman, presumably Ilene, reassures. "The opposite, actually."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Take a deep breath" David whispers in my ear.

"That little kitty you're holding actually belongs to us" Ilene says with the brightest smile she can muster.

My heart immediately lodges in my throat. This can't be friggin' happening. This has got to be fake.

"You're joking, right?"

"Not at all" Gene says. "You remember when we had been looking your way the other day? Well, it's because we had thought that was our little guy that had run out on us a few weeks ago."

"Y-you must be mistaken" I stutter. "This guy is a stray that was scratching on my window. He was could, shivering and dirty."

"Poor thing" Ilene says.

"I can assure you, he's no stray" Gene says. He pulls out a manilla folder and opens it, flipping it around for me to see inside. I begin to leaf through the papers. Theres at least four photos of Max, one of them being him inside a tiny cage with a sign that says "just adopted!" and nother being the couple holding him up and smiling. The next paper is an adoption certificate. Their names are signed on the dotted lines at the bottom.

Fuck... he really does belong to them. I close the folder and slide it back over to them. I feel anger wash over me.

"Shouldn't you guys have him revoked? You let him escape and didn't come knocking on our door to see if he had ran here."

"Samantha" mom scolds.

"No, no" Gene puts his hands up. "It's quite alright. Believe me, I get it. I understand the frustration. But the law states that If he's being taken care of by another resident and we find him within a certain amount of time, this case thirty days or less, the pet must come back to us."

He pulls out a paper I must have missed when rifling through. I look at it and, indeed, it's a printout of adoption rules from the shelter they got him from and laws to boot.

I take one look at Max. He has no idea what's going on, but I do. "Can I at least say goodbye?" I ask, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Of course" Ilene says. "And if it's any consolation, you can come visit us and him anytime. We live just at the end of the Cul de sac."

It's in no way any consolation, but I can't say that out loud. I look in Max's eyes one last time. I pet his soft little head. I give him one last kiss on his head. I look him in his eyes and barely muster a "goodbye." But I do. I stand up and walk over to give him to them. He falls neatly into their laps.

"Thank you, sweetheart" Ilene says. I turn and look at David. I hand him my phone. "Call Paul" I say softly. I don't turn back around or look back. I just walk briskly upstairs; I'm not gonna cry in front of all of them.

---

There's another knock on my door. "Go away" I shout through tears and a now raspy voice.

The door opens, anyway, revealing Paul. "It's just me."

Feeling like an ass, I stand up and run to him, falling into his arms and breaking down even further into a broken mess.

"W-w-w-what's wrong?" He asks, rubbing my back.

"They took Max" I cry.

"They took him?"

I nod.

"How?"

"He was adopted. This couple found him and he ran away on them, but because they found him in a certain amount of time, they-they-they-they-"

"Ok, shhhhhhh" he holds me tighter. "I'm gonna stay the night with y-y-y-you, OK?"

I don't say anything at first. "Is that OK?" he asks.

I nod. "Don't leave me, please."

"I won't."

---

Paul stayed with me the rest of the evening and all night. I literally cried myself to sleep. The last thing I remember is falling asleep on his chest. He probably hates me, now.