The Dirty Part

Chapter Seven

Jason didn't come back that night. As much as she tried not to, Joann began to worry when she awoke the next morning and he still hadn't come home. Was there something important he hadn't told her? Did his job, whatever it was, have a high mortality rate? She made food and left it in the fridge, three different options for when he finally did return. She didn't know his likes and dislikes and she also appreciated something to keep her busy.

She walked Atlas and cleaned as much of the house as she could and washed his clothes and swept. She knew she couldn't stay here like this. She still didn't have any of her belongs. She didn't need much, but a couple changes of clothes and her toothbrush were the least of the essentials.

Knowing he wouldn't take lightly to her borrowing his car she dished out the last of her cash to call a taxi. She left a note for Jason saying where she was going and that she would lock up the house when she left. Then she said goodbye to Atlas and took the spare key she had found with her.

When the taxi finally pulled to a stop in front of the cold white front of her house an instant shiver chased up her spine as if she had been dropped into icy water. The muscles in her very chest constricted and she forced herself to take a deep breath.

"It should only take a few minutes," she mumbled to the driver.

"No. One way," he said, his accent thick.

"What?" she asked.

"Price was for one way," he repeated. She sighed. She had no more money.

"Right, sorry," she said. "Thanks anyway." The she got out and watched the taxi until it disappeared out of the drive. She needed to call the vet's office again and see if she could pick up a few hours when Jason wasn't home. Maybe she could walk there from his house.

When she turned back to the house she felt again the immediate weight on her body, pressing down on her like suffocating hands. She swallowed hard, telling herself it was all in her mind and quickly walked up the front steps, unlocking the door. She hadn't heard any sign from him since before she broke up with Paul. Perhaps he'd taken her last warning seriously.

She walked into the house, turning on the lights immediately to took around for signs anyone had been inside, but all looked exactly as she'd left it, empty and barren of the furniture she'd sold off a long time ago to pay bills. All was eerily silent after getting used to having Atlas's panting beside her.

She quickly made her way upstairs and grabbed a backpack, putting in it all that she would need to live at Jason's. A sad smile pulled at her lips as she realized all that mattered to her fit neatly into the single backpack. The bland carpet and walls that she looked at for so long she wouldn't miss in the least. Even being there for only two days, Jason's house, as cold and detached as it tried to be, felt more lived in and more like a home than this one that she'd spent her entire childhood in. She'd always chalked the feeling up to maybe the house had died with her parents. Either way she looked forward to the day she could afford to sell it and move somewhere far away.

She quickly dialed her closest friend, hoping someone could give her a ride back to Jason's. She didn't dare call him while he was off doing his mysterious work. All of her friends were away at school or with jobs of their own so it wasn't often she got to see anyone anymore. Their lives were all moving on while she was stuck here. No one answered and she re-searched her contacts desperately trying to think of someone else that could help her.

Her blood turned to ice the moment she saw an incoming call. She let it vibrate for a moment in her hand, paralyzed with fear at the bold red text that read BLOCKED. Her mind raced like a helpless deer pinned in a headlight beam. There was only ever one blocked number that tried to reach her. Shakily she managed to hit the reject button and locked her phone. Already her breathing was fast, her heart pounding in her chest. The sweat at the nape of her neck was cold. She stepped backwards until she could lean against the wall. She wanted no open space at her back. This feeling was familiar now, the overwhelming vulnerability. Her head spun dizzily with the sheer panic that rose so quickly inside her. She knew she had to get a grip or she was no better off that a spotlighted deer. Her phone buzzed again with a text.