Layers

Chapter 2 - Fern

The little sleep I'd gotten last night was disturbed by the deafening silence of the early morning. My head pounded from the lack of sleep. I'd only gotten around 2 or 3 hours in last night, the fear getting to me. The reminder of that panic-stricken fear from the night before happily stepped towards me. Tail wagging and a light-minded look on her furry face, Hazel began lapping her tongue across my cheeks and the rest of my face.

I took this as her way of apologizing. "You're fine. Still gonna need to replace that vase though." I joked quietly, lightly pushing her away so I could stand from the makeshift bed I had in the homemade shelter of my basement. I gathered myself and called for Hazel to follow me out of the basement, sighing as I noticed the broken glass on my carpeted floor. "You had to knock over that one, didn't you?" My spirits dropped just a bit as I realized she'd knocked over a vase I'd received from Lila just last year. It was a departing gift that left me with a reminder of my beautiful girlfriend. Maybe I can fix it?

I hum in thought, prompting myself to pick up the broken shards. Not now. I'll have to wait to put them back together. Right now I need to work. The way things work here is you get things done during the day. And even that's a risk. I finish with the broken vase and place the pieces back on the table where it previously sat. I go to the kitchen, checking to see what I need. Money's low right now, so I have to be careful. I need to grab some meat later though, I've been living on microwaveable dinners for far too long now. "What do you think?" I glanced down at the dog, remembering one of my old friends from back home.

• • •

"Why do you talk to your dog like he's going to answer? You do know he won't, right?" She quirked an eyebrow playfully. "You never know. Acker may start spewing the same stuff you do." I answered, poking fun at her comment. "Yeah right. By the time that happens I should be married with 4 kids." She finished with a simple chuckle. She hated the idea of marriage, and she despised the thought of having children of her own. "Oh yes, and little miss Fern will have another on the way in no time~" Lila butted in, jutting her finger towards Fern's chest, ignoring the scowl she received from the blonde. "As if."

• • •

That was 3 years ago, senior year of high school. A year before Acker passed, and 4 months before Fern moved. She kept contact for a while, but it ended after about a year or so. I don't doubt she's busy, that girl was brilliant. Maybe I should try to contact her.

Looking to my little Bernese pup. "Fern would hate how spoiled you are, you know that? Could you imagine? You, not being spoiled to bits. Dreadful." I laughed a bit, picking up a small tub of lunch meat. I opened the packaged turkey slices and tossed her folded piece. Placing everything back in the fridge, I closed the appliance, heading to my room to get dressed. "Get ready to go, Haze. We need food." I thought over my last few sentences and rolled my eyes, digging through my closet for something to wear.

We did in fact need food. Most of us here did. That just happened to include the beast lurking outside.