Marie's Path

Chapter 17

Marie took the dog to the back door of the house. Quietly, she eased open the door going into the laundry room. Holding the door open for the dog, he hesitated and whined.

"Come on," she coaxed, "it's okay."

He cautiously stepped inside. Marie wasn't sure which of the guys were there, so she tried to be quiet. After she opened her mouth earlier, she didn't feel like being around anyone. The thought of anyone else finding out her secret made her feel sick. It felt like a dark cloud was swirling around her and she didn't know what to do about it.

A faded memory kept tugging at the back of her mind, but she couldn't get a grasp on it. She knew it was somewhat related to what happened with her father. But whatever it was stayed just out of reach.

Leading the dog through the laundry room to the kitchen, she looked down at him. He was slinking, keeping his head and body low, his eyes kept darting up toward the ceiling. She felt so sorry for him and knelt down in front of him.

"Has it been a long time since you've been inside a house?" She ran a hand along his head and neck. "It's alright, nothing's going to hurt you."

"Puppy!" Marc exclaimed coming in and kneeling next to Marie. The dog cowered back from Marc. "It's okay boy," he told the scared dog as he held the top of his hand near the dog's nose. The dog, even being scared, still wanted to please, and curiosity won out. He cautiously sniffed at Marc's hand.

Both Marie and Marc reached for the dog running their hands along his neck. They stilled when their fingers touched. Marie could feel Marc's eyes on her. Finally, she met his gaze.

"You planning on keeping him?"

Startled, Marie turned. She cringed seeing Axel.

With his arms crossed, he leaned against the counter watching them. It felt like he was assessing her. If that were the case, Marie knew in that short amount of time it told him everything he needed to know.

Marie shrugged, but didn't answer, not wanting to admit that it's exactly what she wanted to do.

"What do you think Axel? A two year old?" Marc asked as he continued petting the dog.

"Not quite, I'd say a year and a half at the most."

"Hey, he's got a collar." Marc started unhooking it. "It's tight, if it went for much longer it would have started digging into his neck." Marc held a dirty green collar in his hand. The dog sniffed at it.

"No tag, but it looks like someone wrote on it in permanent marker. It's faded, but it looks like it says Chase.The s is backwards. Oh, there's more on the inside. 'Neva div up'. I think a kid did this." Marc chuckled and looked down at the dog. "Is that your name, Chase?"

Chase perked up at Marc. He hadn't heard his name spoken for a long time.

"Wookit here Chase. A gween cowar jus for you. I'm gonna put your name on it wite here." Chase watched as Cole carefully wrote on the collar. He didn't understand what his boy was doing. But it was fun. They were together. "I kinda know my wetters, mom showed me how your name wooks. An here I wote neva div up. Now ya got da same fing as we do on our gween wists bans."

Axel looked at Marie. "Don't get too attached," he warned her.

Marie nodded once, but didn't look at him. She knew he was talking about the dog, but her mind went straight for the Toma team. She could easily get attached. She already was with Jay. But she knew what she was, the offspring of two seriously messed up sick people. A bad seed. And if left unchecked could easily make her mother's words ring true.