The Pretty Sister

Wishing for Too Much

Chapter 18

“Choco, come here,” said Alice quietly. Choco remained in the same place. Alice huffed in disappointment. Even the dog ignored her.  She just wished for once. Someone would listen to her. She turned back to one of those housewives of so and so shows. She would so love to be that glamorous with her good-looking husband and 2.5 kids. However, the drama she could definitely do without. 

All she ever wanted was to be married ever since she was a little girl. She had never been good at school. Her looks were average at most. She had always been good at taking care of others especially kids. Billy, however, was looking less and less like the father of these little kids. He was growing more and more distant. When she had called to tell him she would be late, he barely stayed on the phone. He didn’t seem to even care. He was ‘busy’. He was always busy. She threw her back on the couch. Once again, Alice was starting to regret following Billy. She was staring at the ceiling when she heard it. 

There was a sound as if something hit the door. She walked to the door. 

“Is there anyone there?” She peeked through the peephole and saw the top of a black knitted cap. 

“Do you want something?” She felt something brush her feet. She looked down to find a card. She looked back up to the hole. They were gone. She opened the card. It was one of those Hallmark cards that said ‘been thinkin of you’. It had a puppy with big, sad eyes.  The inside read: 

You only need me. Get rid of guard dog or you might make me jealous. 

Alice opened the door. She screamed as she looked down. It was a bloody dog on its side. She bent close to try to look at it, but realized there was no organs. The fur was real. The dog definitely looked real. It was like one of those dogs that went through taxidermy or whatever. She fell back on butt in surprise. The blood must have been fake. Or at least, she hoped so. She felt something on her back. She jumped and scooted closer to the dog only to realize it was Choco. 

“Now you come to me. Thanks buddy.” Choco nuzzled her cheek. She looked around the hall. What was she going to do? She couldn’t leave it there, but she didn’t want to touch it. Not sure what to do, she did nothing. So she sat there, thinking poor dog. To die and be mutilated like this by some psycho. 

“What the hell?!” yelled someone. Alice looked up into the surprised eyes of her boss and her bodyguards. Brick made a move toward Alice, but Chris had already shot over. 

“Alice, are you okay?” He stepped precariously over the body. Then, he pulled her to the couch. 

“Let’s sit down. What happened?”

“I heard something at the door. I went to check. There was someone with a knit cap on the other side of the door. When I called out to them, they put a card under the door. I opened the door and found that,” she said pointed accusingly to the dog. “I didn’t know what to do, so I just . . .” she trailed off as tears began to fall. 

“It’s okay. We are here now.” Chris pulled her tight to him. He patted her back as he held her face on his shoulder. She felt safe. And comforted. 

“I want to go home.” This time, Fiona stepped forward. 

“I am so sorry that you had to go through this. Take the day off tomorrow, okay? Don’t worry about me.”

Alice nodded. “Thanks.” 

“I’ll go with you,” said Chris as he grabbed her arm. 

“You don’t have to do that. My boyfriend is at home. I will be fine.” That was a lie. She didn’t know if he would be. Lately, he was out a lot with his other actor buddies. He called it ‘networking’.