PUPPY

CHAPTER 23

Days have passed by and I have a feeling that since I told him about my family we connected even more. I'm happy right now, really happy.

"Puppy, could you help me?" Neil shouted from the other side of the apartment. I followed his voice to his studio.

"What's up?" I said as I walked into the room.

The cupboard was upside down. Two shelves were on the floor, one was leaning against the wall and he was holding one in his hand and trying to screw it on.

"Can you hold this for me?"

I did as he said and he finally screwed the shelf on, but when I let it go, it fell on the floor. Neil cursed something before picking up the stand.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to put the cupboard from IKEA together, without any success. The instructions are terrible. There's probably something missing."

"What now?"

He looked down at the pieces of furniture and said: "I'm gonna' pick everything and go down to the store, I still have time." We packed all the pieces back in the box and he was already on his way.

I was walking around his apartment bored to death when I remembered a ghost of mine. I walked into the bedroom to the old closet. I put my hand on the doorknob and I instantly started sweating. An unsettling mood surrounded me.

Think of it like a band-aid.

One!

Two!

Three!

The door opened and I let out a sigh of disappointment. It was just a closet filled with clothes. As I looked up, I saw a couple of boxes. I got on my tippy toes and tried to reach it. I was almost there when my phone rang. I slammed the door behind me and walked toward the sound.

"Yes, Amalia speaking!" I shouted.

"Is this the way to talk to your mother!?" my mother angrily replied.

A cold shiver ran down my spine. This is bad, this is really bad. I couldn't even manage to form a sentence in my head when she already spoke: "I'll be short, so listen well. I arranged that Cassandra sees you for free. I'll send you, her address. Come here as soon as possible. Before you get any ideas, you either come to us or the police will pay you and your "boyfriend" a visit!" After that, she hung up.

I started to play with the lock on my collar.

What should I do?

Everything is so obvious. I'm not supposed to go.

I have to call Neil.

I picked up the phone and dialled his number.

"We're sorry, the number you have dialled can't be reached right now. Please check the number and dial again," the voice on the other side said.

My breathing was fast, the room was getting small and my mind was about to go blank.

I have to protect Neil!

I quickly changed into a pair of light-wash jeans and a black turtleneck. I picked up my coat and my bag and got out.

Somehow, I managed to get to the address in one piece.

"Welcome, Amalia," she said as she let me inside her apartment. My mother was nowhere to be seen. "Your family went sightseeing." As I followed her, I noticed that she must be around my mother's age. She was even slimmer than her. The little hair that she had left on her head was teased so that her head looked like a fishbowl. She was wearing a black dress. Her place was a small one-bed apartment filled with essentials. It was cosy and yet suffocating.