Puppylove

Chapter 6

Alejandro listened to rain beating the roof as he lay in bed. The sound was like a thousand little hammers forging something with great urgency. He lay silently, spread eagle, waiting, listening to the rain. Then his phone made a familiar ding, and he rushed to check the screen. It was Fetcher sending him a text message, as he had expected. Ever since Alejandro had given him his number, the big bad, or rather drunk, wolf had taken full advantage in sending him these amusing tiny digital letters every day after their parting. The poor little post carrier gnome in his phone must have been rather tired and disgruntled by now. Alejandro took the message he held out with his little digital hand, and opened it, smiling.

"The forecast said the rain would end today afternoon. I'm sick of being inside. See you at our place when it's sunny again?"

Alejandro's grin widened. He typed a quick answer.

"The last few days have been rather dull and monotonous, I would love to! Should I bring some sushi with me as well? sushi roll, sun, tree, leaf"

"You aren't supposed to type the emojis out!" came Fetcher's answer immediately, accompanied by five "XD"s. "Yes, please bring them :3" he added with another message.

Alejandro laughed to himself.

"Great, see you later then," he sent a final text and closed his phone. After setting it down, he lay in his bed a moment longer, listening to the still persistently raining weather. That would still take a few hours to clear. Slowly he got up and moped his way to the kitchen to prepare something to gift to Fetcher.

The reason for his low mood was rather pathetic, and what got him the most was how he should have been able to foresee it. Mr Mazie hadn't gotten angry from finding Fetcher yet again in his kitchen in the morning, half-naked, but he had been sufficiently miffed to send Tilly to school to socialize with kids her age for once. Due to this, Alejandro had been left alone for the better part of a week now.

To lighten his mood, he resorted to turning on the CD player Mr Mazie had on the living room bookshelf and listening to the album still left inside. He tapped his foot to the consistent rhythm of the jolly singing of a gruff male voice about rockstars and stupidity, and soon he couldn't resist the temptation to bounce his whole body along with it as he sliced off thin pieces of fish.

Once he had finished that, he moved into the living room to properly dance. Once the album finished playing, he realized he still had more than half an hour to kill, assuming the forecast was at all correct, and he felt again dejected. Looking around, he remembered how dusty everything in the room was. Mr Mazie had made an effort to try and make the room halfway presentable with more people constantly visiting these days, but Alejndaro could see streaks on poorly dusted surfaces. He happily rewound the CD and started wiping everything to the rhythm. Before he could even get half of the room done, however, he noticed the warm sunny spot in the middle of the room, beaming in from the window. He quickly finished scrubbing the coffee table, then grabbed the sushi and ran out the back door so fast he burned himself slightly before he could get his umbrella open.

Finding his way to the Place was rather routine at this point. Alejandro sat under a tree and watched the rain clouds drift away with the wind, still mercilessly pouring down on everything they passed. He too started once again drifting into his own thoughts. With his eyes, he followed the people walking around the town square, along the narrow, walkable streets, and the last thing his eyes settled on was a small dot slowly making its way away from town along a dirt road, inch by inch.

The slow movement reminded him of the zombie half a month ago. He frowned as he remembered its faith. Such a waste of a soul. Alejandro knew the consensus view on zombies was that they had none, but he begged to differ. He knew what it was to be an undead, he knew how good zombies could be after a charming ritual. He knew the consensus on that too, that the act was stripping the creature of even the slightest bit of individuality and free will. He knew better, however.