|SUN |MOON |TRUTH| (COMPLETE T.W SERIES)

S2 - Missing Persons

ONE WEEK LATER

"Alright, is that all for this delivery?" I asked the driver, waiting outside of the clinic as I placed the last box of medications on the counter.

"You'll get another delivery in two days with the rest of the vaccinations, but for now Deaton only asked for antibiotics."

"...okay, then. Where do I sign?"

Standing at the top of the steps, I wiped my hands down the sides of my pants as the sound of a loud engine drives past the road, pressing on the gas before a loud puff of smoke blows from his gasket.

"Don't you find that obnoxious?" The driver asked, handing me his tablet.

"What?"

"Teenagers nowadays with their sports cars, you'd think after all of the fighting they do for global warning that they would be more cautious."

"...says the guy to drives a 6-cylinder truck for living." I mumbled, handing the tablet back.

"Well, until they make electric cars...I guess we'll all be dying of inhilation smoke."

"If we make it that long." I joked, stepping away from the door as the screen closes shut.

Squeezing past the 4 foot piles of medications sitting on the floor and counters of the exam room, I walked around swinging the cabinet doors open and placing the empty plastic drawers on the counter. With a few straggling pills and empty syringes left over from the last shipment, I placed them off to the side, preparing to organize the rest of new medication when I hear the dogs barking from the back room. Having been silent for most of the afternoon since their run in the woods, I stepped aside, entering from the lobby to the back room when I looked through the back glass.

Locked inside their kennels with a bowl water and a bone, a few of them remained in their beds all curled up in the corner while a large dog, a rottweiler named Riley was sitting at the edge of her door. Digging at the lock with her paw, I swung the door open continuing to watch her as she cried quietly before looking back at the other sleepy dogs beside her.

"...are they boring you?" I mumbled, seeing her tild her head to the side.

"Well, if you would stop howling then maybe they wouldn't ignore you...that's how they find the weak link."

Crying a bit more as she dug her nails from under the kennel door, I stood their watching her until she grew tired and laid back down. With nothing but the medications to put away, I had an hour left before Deaton came back from an on-site call and while the thought of Riley doing nothing in the exam room was not something I needed, she was still cute to look at.

"Alright...but you can't get on the table, I already cleaned it."

Flicking the keys off the thumb tack on the wall, I quietly inserted it into the lock, grabbing Riley by her collar as I sense her desperately trying to squeeze through the door.

"Quietly now." I whispered, peaking over my shoulders at the rest of the sleepy dogs, before letting her out once she made it halfway out the door.

Reuniting with the piles of boxes, I waited at the door as Riley circled around the old foam bed Deaton kept for the elderly dogs. Smelling and digging her paws between the tights corners, she eventually curled up, letting her head rest on her paw as I started to place the vaccines into their assigned tray.

It had been a long week for me. And not the 'School's too much and Finstock is too harsh' kind of week, handling that part of the day was easy. I went to class, took tests and turned in homework, and went on with my day before heading to practice. Running up and down the field was the only getaway I had outside of the clinic, during those 90 minutes, I wasn't worried or angry about anything else other than my opponent. But like I said, it only lasted 90 minutes. As soon as the ball was out of sight and my cleats were gone, I felt miserable. Weak and self-conscious about every decision I made. And while on the outside I looked put together, I was fighting with my own demons.