Just Off The Key || Lizrei

Chapter 30: So Let this be the Chance, the Only One that Counts

Rei! I went to get your favorite curry from The Green Mango. And Skittles. And a Peppermint Pattie. Also, bacon because the dogs are being good. I won't be long. I made you cookies, so you can have those while you wait. –Liz

Also, I love you little bear.

Rei smiled at the note. Two years, and the elephant at the bottom of the paper hadn't changed. This one was smiling just as brightly as always. Its trunk reached up and touched the wonky writing, happily looping under the "bear."

There were only five cookies left. Rei took them all and moved to the living room to collapse on the couch, holding her treasures over her head and away from the animal swarm. She shoved a few fluffy faces away so that she could take a bite.

Or a mouthful. A whole cookie, because two years had not dulled her appreciation for them at all.

"You're such a mess, Cornelius." Rei mumbled around her mouthful, spitting out crumbs and leaning forward to pluck some kind of stuffed animal fluff off the dog's head. She wondered what he'd destroyed. But she did not want to find out.

Cornelius sat back with both his paws on the couch, staring at Rei with his little demon eyes. She looked away to do her quick head count.

Giant white ball of fluff? Check. Currently lying on his back, waiting for a belly rub.

Gigantic chocolate rabbit? Check.

Orange Jelly Bean? Check. Rolling dementedly around in the corner with a catnip toy.

Two chubby cats who like to climb things? Check. Currently halfway up the curtains.

Impossibly excited golden retriever with bright brown eyes? Check. He had gray hairs growing around his nose now. But they couldn't be seen at the moment through the mud on his face.

Huge fish tank, complete with a turtle called Franklin? Check. Any day where none of the other animals were found swimming in the aquarium was a success to Rei. And finding no dead fish was just a miracle. Liz had been horrified when she'd caught Rei flushing both Splishy and Splashy down the toilet. At the same time.

Like a mass murder. Mass fish body disposal.

Rei stuffed the rest of her cookie in her mouth and surveyed the living room, and what little she could see of the kitchen, for their latest addition.

Charizard.

A bright red golden retriever whose snout had been irreparably damaged after being forced to hold a fire cracker in his mouth. Liz had named him, because he'd "harnessed the power of the fire" and overcome the whole ordeal. He was a sweetheart with kind eyes, but he'd rarely let anybody near him unless Liz was in the room.

Rei got up to find him after rubbing Cloud's tummy. She smiled, knowing exactly where he'd be. Liz liked to sit with him in the cozy little office, rubbing the part of his nose that he still had and feeding him Sugar Puffs, telling him that he was perfect and handsome just the way he was.

Because Liz knew they could understand her.

"Hey, Char." Rei said softly, opening the door to the office and stepping inside. She let the other animals follow. Barnaby and Cornelius sauntered right up to the trophy cases like they had won the Tony that was inside. Charizard's tail thumped. He liked every single animal in that house. Sure, he was disfigured and his breathing sounded like a broken jet engine trying to take off underwater, but his heart worked just fine.

Rei kind of wanted to put firecrackers in the mouths of the people who did it to Char. She didn't tell this to anybody, because she was almost intense enough to go through with it, but it was on her mind. Liz agreed. Liz would probably put a cannon in their mouths.